I can’t quite recall when author Pepper Basham came onto my radar, but I have grown to love her writing and storytelling more with each Basham novel I read. The author creates rich and relatable characters in robust and entertaining plots. When I read The Mistletoe Countess in 2021, I first met Grace and Frederick and fell in love with the duo. The adoration of the amateur sleuthing couple was universal, and readers convinced Basham she should build a series around the Percys, and the Freddie and Grace Mysteries Series was born. I read The Cairo Curse earlier this year with slight reservations, unsure about a romance featuring a married couple. But Basham proves again why she has a devoted following as she pulled it off beautifully. I decided then that any Freddie and Grace Mystery would be auto-added to my TBR. Did Basham succeed again with The Juliet Code?
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Newlyweds Lord and Lady Astley Finally Reach Their Honeymoon Destination Only to Encounter a New Mystery in Need of Solving
Frederick and Grace Percy finally make it to Italy to enjoy a delayed honeymoon and explore the beauties of the historic city of Venice. To their surprise, their friend, Detective Jack Miracle, is also in the city, investigating a series of art heists starting at the house of eccentric millionaire, Laraby Covington. Drawn into a world of boat races, mysterious houses, and parties of the rich and unusual in Venice, Frederick and Grace learn of the existence of the Juliet paintings, (Renaissance paintings feature Shakespeare’s tragic heroine) rumored to hold a secret code to an underground vault of similarly treasured artwork assumed lost over the centuries. As Freddie and Grace are pulled deeper into the mystery and their beloved Detective Jack disappears, can they use their wits and work as a team to find the thieves and Jack before it’s too late?
The Juliet Code is a Freddie and Grace Mystery, sequel to The Mistletoe Countess and The Cairo Curse.
MY THOUGHTS:
The Juliet Code launches immediately into adventure, with a hijacked gondola ride and a subsequent chase to run down a purse-snatcher. It was exciting to jump back into sleuthing with Freddie and Grace. This charming couple is so endearing, and their character growth over each book is fun to read. In this story, Grace is grappling with fear and a bit of residual trauma from her Egyptian ordeal, while Freddie wrestles with his tendencies toward being overprotective and trying to control circumstances. As she’s known to do well, Basham again deftly weaves faith into her story in a genuine and compelling way.
Even though this story isn’t a traditional romance in the sense of two characters falling in love over the course of the novel, Freddie and Grace fall more deeply in love in these sequels, and Basham definitely keeps the swoony romance alive between Freddie and Grace in The Juliet Code. Their sizzling chemistry, growing understanding and deepening love of one another, flirty banter, and sweet devotion to each other present a lovely picture of marriage, and I am here for it!
The setting in Venice is divine. Basham paints beautiful word pictures depicting historic Italy, from the Venetian canals and architecture to a grand villa on a private Italian island complete with hidden rooms and secret passageways. A large, varied cast of characters provides plenty of possible suspects in the art theft case, and while I had some suspicions about who the villains were, Basham’s twists and turns kept me guessing. I welcomed the return of the Percys’ dear friend, Detective Jack Miracle, and hope to see more of him in future novels in the series, as well as his promising love interest.
Overall, I declare The Juliet Code another gem from the talented Pepper Basham and highly recommend it. It can be read as a standalone, but do yourself a favor and read The Mistletoe Countess and The Cairo Curse first, and you’re sure to fall in love with Freddie and Grace as you enjoy adventure alongside them.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Pepper D. Basham has been telling tales ever since she was a little girl. When her grandmother called her a “writer” at the age of ten, Pepper took it as gospel and has enjoyed various types of writing styles ever since. A native of the Blue Ridge Mountains, mom of five, speech-language pathologist, and lover of chocolate, Pepper enjoys sprinkling her native Appalachian culture into her fiction wherever she can. She currently resides in the lovely mountains of Asheville, NC, where she works with kids who have special needs, searches for unique hats, and plots new ways to annoy her wonderful friends at her writing blog, The Writer’s Alley.
Great review, Laura. I enjoy her stories and admire her ability to write such likeable and engaging characters.
Yes, I agree! Pepper has become one of my favorites!