Ships and Stings and Wedding Rings (The Chronicles of St Mary’s #6.5)

This little story is meant to serve as a sweet little appetizer to tide one over until the next book. It isn’t working. I’m hungrier than ever to return to the world of St. Mary’s. I hope it doesn’t come to this, but I’m fairly certain that, if I had to, I could hunt Jodi Taylor down, imprison her in a very inaccessible stone tower and force her to do nothing but write St. Mary’s stories non-stop.

Consider that a warning.

I think this may be my favorite of all the short stories I’ve read thus far. It felt like it gave some important insight into some of the characters. A jump (not initially involving Max) comes back with….a problem. Max and Company set off to right the wrong.

While she probably should have just told Dr. Bairstow what was going on and not gotten involved, as we all know by now, that is NOT Max’s style.

Max, Peterson, and Markham set off to Ancient Egypt and shenanigans ensue. I think I may be falling in love with Markham. If he’s around, it’s bound to be a good time. Screw the Time Police…Markham needs his own series!

Loved this one, and definitely recommend it!

I love Max. I love her sardonic wit, and her insane adventures, and her love for Leon, and her dedication to history. I love the fact the instead of a statuesque blonde she’s a short, slightly plump, plucky ginger.

I’m not so fond of the fact that now that I have read everything she appears in, some twice, it is clear that author Jodi Taylor writes much too slowly, wasting time eating, sleeping, and occasionally using the facilities… all times she is obviously should be writing.

This is another Christmas novella, following the St. Mary’s tradition which demands that something go drastically wrong and have to be pulled out of the fire (sometimes literally) at the last moment.

This time, it’s ancient Egypt, and it’s Max, Peterson and Markham on the rescue team. An historian studying ancient Egyptian ship building techniques left something behind in the past, which could create problems. That which was left was a Glock semi-automatic handgun which could be disastrous.

Street urchins and larger street urchins figure in the story, along with street merchants out to make a moderately honest buck, almost naked laborers, bug bites and rashes, and even possible Nile crocodiles all have their roles to play in this seasonal romp.

My only problem with Jodi Taylor’s writing is that there is nothing like enough of it. Whenever I read one of her books or novellas I want to review it twice, just so as to give it ten stars… A shame Amazon frowns on such things.

Taylor hooked me immediately with the problem that needed to be solved in this adventure. The rising sense of horror at what happened felt very visceral, and what’s even better is that the threads that came about to create this situation were beautifully laid in previous installments of this series.

The time travel adventure itself also struck a fantastic balance of just enough detail to immerse myself without leaving me desperate for more information or bogged down in unnecessary info dumps.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, there were some literal laugh out loud moments. And I’d say that Max and Leon can stop being so damn cute any time now, except that’s a lie. Max and Leon’s relationship will always be one of my favorite things about this world.

I always totally look forward to the St. Mary’s Christmas short stories. One – they’ve become a tradition to read as soon as I’m able. Two – it’s a little taste of St. Mary’s antics between the usual novels. And three – they’re amusing. This one is just as successful as the rest and adds details to a few side characters stories too. Worth the read.

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