The School for Mysteries: A Midlife Fairytale Adventure

Nurse Phoebe #2

by Carolyn Jourdan

Witty banter, suspense, and romantic comedy make for an entertaining romp set in the present day, but touching on history from medieval Chartres to the American Civil War.

By Wall Street Journal multi-bestselling author Carolyn Jourdan whose previous novel of mystery and romantic suspense, Out on a Limb was ranked #1 in Mystery and #1 in Medical Fiction on Amazon. Her newest book, The School for Mysteries, is described as "Great fun! A witty romantic adventure and an hilarious successor to Mrs. Pollifax and makes you realize if Jessica Fletcher had been a nurse, there would've been a lot fewer dead bodies littering Cabot Cove."

In The School for Mysteries Phoebe McFarland has just lost her job as a rural home health care nurse in White Oak, Tennessee, a sleepy rural community nestled in the mist-shrouded Smoky Mountains. But then she's unexpectedly offered a ritzy-sounding position as a private duty nurse to an enigmatic scholar.

Unfortunately before she can start her upscale new life, Phoebe is unwittingly caught up in a medical emergency with Nick, a total stranger. The mismatched couple is forced to cooperate as they flee professional killers who now have Phoebe in their crosshairs as well.

Will Phoebe and friends be able to prevent some scary guys from killing her and Nick over a mysterious book that's not even finished?

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal, Contemporary, Mystery Thriller, Amazon

209 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 28, 2014

About the author

USA Today,Top-10 Audible & 6-time Top-10 Wall Street Journal best selling Author of Memoir, Biography, Wildlife, and Mystery

USA Today Best Seller Out on a Limb was also voted a Best Kindle Book of 2014.
#9 Wall Street Journal Best Seller Medicine Men in 2022.
#9 Wall Street Journal Best Seller Heart in the Right Place in 2017.
#7 NYT-Audible Best Seller Bear in the Back Seat in 2016.
#6 Wall Street Journal Best Seller Medicine Men in 2015.
#5 Wall Street Journal Best Seller Medicine Men in 2014.
#9 Wall Street Journal Best Seller Bear in the Back Seat in 2013.
#7 Wall Street Journal Best Seller Heart in the Right Place in 2012.

Visit Carolyn online at her website, her personal Facebook page, her Facebook Author page, her Twitter page, or her Instagram page.

Jourdan's newest books are Dangerous Beauty: Stories from the Wilds of Yellowstone and Waltzing with Wildlife: 10 Things NOT to do in Our National Parks.

Other recent works are Nurses: The Art of Caring, Radiologists at Work: Saving Lives With the Lights Off, and Talking to Skeletons: Behind the Scenes With a Radiologist.

The nurse book is a collection of the most memorable moments from the careers of over 60 nurses. It covers nearly 70 years of practice from World War II to the present day.

The extraordinary situations described here are the result of more than 1,000 years of hands-on bedside knowledge. The vignettes contain wisdom and insight gained the hard way, from long experience in the trenches (sometimes in actual trenches) performing tasks that range from the most humble to the most skilled.

The radiology books form a set of companion books, one dealing with the most memorable moments of 40 radiologists and the other chronicling 7 extraordinary nights spent shadowing a single radiologist.

Bear in the Back Seat - Adventures of a Wildlife Ranger in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a series of true stories from “[a]n extraordinary landscape populated with befuddled bears, hormonally-crazed elk, homicidal wild boars, hopelessly timid wolves, and nine million tourists, some of whom are clueless."

In Kim DeLozier’s world, when sedated wild black bears wake up unexpectedly in the back seat of a helicopter in mid-flight, or in his car as he’s driving down the highway, or in his office while he’s talking on the phone, it’s just another day in the park.

In Out on a Limb Phoebe McFarland has just moved back to her hometown of White Oak, Tennessee, a sleepy rural community nestled in the mist-shrouded ridges and isolated hollows of the Smoky Mountains.

Now she spends her days working as a rural home health care nurse, making calls on a quirky roster of housebound characters she’s determined to take care of whether they cooperate or not.

She applies this same optimism to her love life, despite the fact that she’s been dating for 38 years without locating any husband material. When she runs into her childhood sweetheart, Henry Matthews, a wildlife ranger for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, it looks like she might’ve found her man.

But Phoebe and Henry’s chance for romance has to be put on hold while they undertake a desperate search for a young woman who mysteriously vanished from the park during a gathering of world famous biologists and botanists, including a charismatic Frog Whisperer.

Medicine Men

Reviews

[Sabine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I loved the first book in the series and the of this book started out being just as good as the other one. The mystery starts almost where the previous one ended out. The same town in the smokey mountains, with the same main cast, but then it it took an unexpected turn and lost all the established connections and became a whole different kind of story. I finished the book but I am very disappointed and will not read any more from this series.

[Caryn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ridiculous

Ridiculous

Like others, I thought the book started with promise. I was willing to overlook the obvious bits of preaching, but when it became clear that I would have to accept basic economic history as dangerous secret knowledge that is the motive to murder, and the ridiculous expenditures of a powerful evil cabal ... it simply strained plausibility to the breaking point. I regret the waste of time, and I read cozy mysteries to pleasantly waste time.

[Beth · Rating 1 out of 5]

This started out very well, with quirky characters, unique circumstances, and witty dialog. But it rapidly fell apart with gaping plot holes, nonsensical actions and motivations, and an incredible lack of proof reading and editing. (The past tense of "lend credence" is not "leant credence", for example.) I think this author has great ideas, but she should not attempt to publish without making use of thorough substantive and copy editing services.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Decidedly fiction that defies pigeonholing! Begins with a really startling event, progresses through appreciation of the Appalachians and the solidarity of the people, and spends much time with specific conspiracies and an unusual take on mysticism. It's really a wild ride that I didn't want to end!
When I was surfing through kindle books that I had which have audio for reduced price, I found that I had the ebook in my TBR pile since July of 2014!
Pam Dougherty is really great as narrator!

[Linda Knight · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing

I enjoy reading about the people in and around the Smoky Mountains. This tale took me away from the beauty of the mountains into a mystery I couldn’t figure out. I kept waiting for the story to turn back to the mountains, but the end just left me cold. Very disappointed.

[Abby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fun, but abruptly cuts off

This does not stand on its own. In the middle of an adventure, it just stopped, and I'd have to buy the next book to see where it goes. I enjoy series, but I feel the ending could have been handled better Syu it was more of a standalone book. Between that and the numerous editing errors, I won't continue this series.

[bex · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not what I expected. Very religious towards the end. Or perhaps spiritual is a better word. Not exactly stuff wrong with it but not to my taste. I enjoyed it initially but then it went somewhere else entirely. 2.5*

Do not read this if you actually expect to read a mystery novel!

[Margo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed with this follow-up to "Nurse Phoebe #1." It started off well (a man falling from the skies!) and ensuing events were entertaining. But then it just got too "fairy tale" -- some might even say wacko -- and I felt Jourdan strayed from the things that made #1 good.

[Mai · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting read, but ultimately not to my taste. A rather odd mixture of secular and spiritual, a number of instances of telling rather than showing, but also some very well written and fun passages.

[Ann Salmon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing and so exciting to read ,so much information and I loved it I wanted to be there on the car chase it was brilliant writing all of it was . I know for a fact I have been places in the world and I know I had been there before "dayjarvo". Love love love it

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Um, ok. alrighty then...

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book until the author started using reincarnation as an explanation for events. At that point the story just seemed to unravel.

[Kathi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun little read. I read it while waiting on a flight. A very delayed flight.

[Kathy Nielsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The School of mysteries

This book is thought provoking, at times funny, and always exciting! An adventure worth reading! I enjoyed the characters and their solutions to problems.

[Lynne Sternett · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little too out there. I did enjoy the previous books though.

[Jo-jean Keller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting journeys through the mind and the world.

[Marilyn Groves · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting story line, fun main characters, wonderful little ditties on aging and Tennessee and the residents of the Smoky Mountains.

So why only two stars? The beating over your head of Christianity. Sermonizing, Bible quoting, trashing another writer because he wrote a book of FICTION this author didn't like, etc.

I won't read another by her. Comparing the main character to Mrs. Pollifax would only be accurate if Mrs. Pollifax was a closet soapbox preacher.

I finished it, don't know why. I'm glad it was a freebie, and will be deleting off my Kindle.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was hard to put down. It was kind of confusing. At the end it got more confusing. I felt like there needed to be a little more foreshadowing, to make it all go together. The characters were good, Pheobe, Nick and her patient/ mentor. It felt a little unraveled at the end. It seems Nick should have reappeared, but didn't. All of this to say, I actually enjoyed this book very much. Interesting things to think about.

[Sarahanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this. I hope the story will continue - there are certainly enough threads hanging for more books. The tone was a bit heavy handed. A little "YOU WILL SUSPEND DISBELIEF NOW!" feeling. Whether to further the plotline or to espouse an actual theology/worldview, the push of it was offputting.

[Aleea J. Brewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whirlwind Week

Nurse Phoebe's week is one of excitement and I don't think I will be able to put this book away yet. It seriously requires a re-read soon. A great many concepts are presented which needs additional consideration before I move to the next one. Really kept me going, finished it in a day. Next reading will go slower and try to understand.

[LLona Cunningham]

I have to stop at the 40% mark -- too much preaching is interfering with the story's progress. That's a shame, too, because the seed is there for a good plot. It just falls way too short to develop into an interesting story.

[Heather McBride · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book started out exciting but by the end of it I was thoroughly bored, confused, and not quite sure where the story was going... I was going to give 2 stars for the 1st half but the book is terrible! I would not recommend it to anyone to read...

[April · Rating 2 out of 5]

Odd story with lots of action, but the story doesn't seem to have a clear point or ending. I like some of the ideas on expanding consciousness, but it seems to be just be inserted with not enough connection between themes.

[Kate Belt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent writing, intriguing story, engaging characters, well researched. Her knowledge of theology, history and O Magnum Mysterium fascinate me. I'd never heard of the School for Mysteries before reading this book.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this story so much at the beginning, but then, it took a left turn. The beginning was filled with action and adventure. Later, the story focused on a secret society with religious connotations and revisionist history.

[Åshild · Rating 4 out of 5]

A 3,5 rather than a 4 maybe, but I quite enjoyed it in spite of poor some poor ratings here on goodreads.

[Sue D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed it....2 days to read. But the ending......NO! what's next? don't leave me hanging.........

[Linda Baker · Rating 1 out of 5]

I started out liking the narrative voice of The School for Mysteries but quickly lost interest. I like fantasy but was unable to sustain belief on this one. Not for me.

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

Good

this isn't the type of book I usually read but it's one that keeps you reading and wondering what's next.

[Michele bookloverforever · Rating 3 out of 5]

retrieving rosicrucian artifacts....via paranormal abilities. an amusing and cozy da vinci code....