I’m actually going to the movies and lunch on Sunday. I don’t know if any of you have seen the previews for “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris”, but it looks charming.
Okay. I’m going to age myself here, but I’ve never minded. Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris by Paul Gallico came out in 1958. I probably read it in 1972 or 1973. I went through a Paul Gallico phase when I read many of his adult and children’s books. Nowadays, his sports writing would be so politically incorrect, and some of his fiction has been called “banal”, but I loved The Snow Goose and the Mrs. ‘Arris books. He’s the author of The Poseidon Adventure, as well as the book that was made into “The Pride of the Yankees”, and so many other titles you’d probably recognize. A number of his books have been made into movies and TV adaptations. I’m looking forward to the movie.
Would you believe I’m about to start a Christmas mystery? Leslie Budewitz’ latest Spice Shop mystery, Peppermint Barked, will be released on Tuesday. Since I’m just about to start it, I’ll give you part of the blurb. “A Dickens of a Christmas turns deadly…
“As the holiday season lights up Seattle’s famed Pike Place Market, Pepper Reece’s beloved Spice Shop is brimming with cinnamon, nutmeg, and shoppers eager to stuff their stockings. Add to the mix a tasty staff competition—a peppermint bark-off—along with Victorian costumes for this year’s Dickensian Christmas theme, and Pepper almost forgets to be nervous about meeting her fisherman boyfriend’s brother for the first time.
“But when a young woman working in her friend Vinny’s wine shop is brutally assaulted, costumed revelers and holiday cheer are the last things on Pepper’s mind. Who would want to hurt Beth? Or were they looking for Vinny instead?”
What about you? What are you reading this week, or what’s going on in your life?
Summer finally arrived in full force and it’s just hot! Fortunately, just a high layer of smoke drifting in from the Washburn Fire in Yosemite. We drove over to see my sister earlier this week. She lives a couple hours west on the other side of the Sierra. But it was even hotter there.
Jess Kidd’s 2020 THINGS IN JARS is a treat of a story. Secrets abound in the foggy underworld in 1863 London where nothing is quite what it seems. Sir Edmund is a collector, an insatiable, relentless collector with an interest in anomalies and aberrations. And everyone is hiding something.
And an arc of ALASKA IS FOR THE BIRDS, juvenile non-fiction. A wonderful celebration in rhyme and illustrations of fourteen birds representing both permanent and migratory species.
And for those of you that collect words, a group of Ptarmigan is called an invisibleness
Oh, what a coincidence! I just finished reading an ARC of Jennifer Bohnet’s Christmas on the Riviera. And it wad fun.
From NetGalley: “As a toddler Elodie Jacques was abandoned by her mother and left in the care of her French grandmother, Gabriella in Dartmouth, Devon.
Now 24 years old, Elodie struggles to reconcile the deep anger for the mother she has never since seen.
When Gabriella unexpectedly announces she wants the two of them to spend Christmas and her 70th birthday in her home town of Juan-les-Pins in the South of France Elodie is thrilled.
Gabriella meanwhile has her own ulterior motives for wanting to return after 40 years, a daunting homecoming potentially filled with memories, secrets and recriminations.
With Juan-les-Pins pulsing with lights, decorations and the festive spirit, Christmas promises to be filled with fun. But when Elodie learns there is the possibility that her long absent mother may join them she hides her feelings behind a show of indifference and animosity.
Will there be the reconciliation that Gabriella longs for – or will the spirit of Christmas fail to work its magic?”
I am very jealous that you’re going to see Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris. I’m taking it quite personally that our one and only movie theater has chosen to not show it here in Boone. Grrrrrrrr!!!! I’m betting you’ll spot a few familiar places.
Oh, Kaye! I’m just so mad that Boone isn’t showing Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris. I want you to see it with the setting and the gorgeous dresses. It just sounds like your type of movie. And, I bet I’ll see some places I recognize! Hugs, my friend.
You’re right, MM. July has just been hot. And, it sounds as if it’s even hotter where you are than here.
An invisibleness! I love that. Aren’t some of those juvenile books just marvelous?
Really enjoying Nonna Marie and the Missing Bride. This weekend I won’t have as much reading/writing time, only because I have a kid birthday party and Agatha Christie book club on Sunday…my first Tommy and Tuppence full novel. I must admit: there is a reason I’ve always avoided the duo. I never really cared for them in the short story form. Young, energetic espionage couples? Eh. A little too silly for me personally.
I’m so glad you enjoyed Nonna Marie, Becky. I admired her, and her wisdom. It will be interesting to see what the rest of the readers in your club think of Tommy and Tuppence.
My favorite of Agatha Christie’s characters in her short stories was Harley Quin.
Hi Lesa and everyone,
It’s been hot here by our standards but definitely not by yours! Today is cloudy and much cooler – around 60F.
I’ve read Mrs ‘Arris Goes to Paris, Lesa, but I had no idea it was being made into a film. I’ll be interested to hear how it comes over. I had no idea that Gallico wrote The Poseidon Adventure, or that he was a sports writer. The only thing of his that I had heard of, apart from the Mrs Harris books, was The Snow Goose.
I’m reading Elizabeth Strout’s OLIVE KITTERIDGE. So far (about half way through) I’m sort of enjoying it, and will certainly finish it, but I do feel it’s a bit self-consciously Literary. Lots of description, all of it good, but sometimes i do find myself thinking ‘let’s just get on with the story here Elizabeth!’
The central character, Olive, reminds me quite a lot of my late mother-in-law, who like Olive was a retired teacher, couldn’t care less what people thought, and said the first thing that came into her head at all times. Olive, however, does have a softer side – she is, for example, secretly devastated by the fact that her only son, for whom she and her husband had built a house near their own, has married a woman she can’t stand and moved away to California.
The book is really a collection of interlinked short stories about various inhabitants of a small coastal town in Maine. So far each story has had a sad, wistful, air, though the one I have just read did involve a hostage situation – I didn’t see that one coming, I’m finding the unrelenting gloom a bit of a downer in some ways, but I’ll press on. And after that I’ll choose something from my 20 Books of Summer list that promises to be a bit more fun.
I did finish Katie Fforde’s ARTISTIC LICENCE and it did not improve one jot. Honestly I don’t know why I keep going back to some authors. Predictable, ridiculous, and extremely unsavoury at some points – and I was perhaps unreasonably annoyed that neither Fforde nor her editor seemed to realise that the Republic of Ireland has not been ‘British’ for almost a hundred years. I wrote a fuller review on my blog: https://sconesandchaiseslongues.blogspot.com/2022/07/20-books-of-summer-2022-artistic.html.
A blogger whose opinions I value recommended Josie George’s A STILL LIFE, and I was pleasantly surprised to find it in our library system for once. Haven’t started it yet but it looks interesting – Josie George has had chronic illness since childhood and is confined to a small area around her home. The back of the book says:
‘This is a story about meeting illness and pain with courage, joy, ingenuity and hope. In a world which values progress and productivity above all else, Josie sets out a quietly radical alternative to treasure life for life itself.’
One of the reviewers says;
‘There is bravery here, but not martyrdom, not sanctimony. She is a real person, broken and yet whole, flawed and yet entire.’
Yesterday I attended a talk at the Aberdeen Art Gallery about the BOOK OF DEER. This is a very important medieval artefact relating to the monastery at Deer, now a small village in the heart of the farmlands of Buchan (north of Aberdeen.) It is believed to be the sole liturgical remnant of the Celtic Church of Scotland and the earliest known example of written Gaelic (it’s not all in Gaelic, there are just some notes in it.) It is a pivotal source of information about life in Buchan from the 10th century onwards, and can be related to markings on Pictish stones found in the area.
Why then has a Scottish gallery had to pay £12,000 to BORROW this book for just a few months? Because, as is so often the case, it has ended up in the possession of Cambridge University (thank you George I) and they are not for giving it back. Cultural appropriation is alive and well.
Anyway, the talk was good, and I then went to see the book itself. I found what I thought was the right display, started reading the inscriptions in the book…. and found they were a list of breads made in Aberdeen city. I didn’t think the speaker had mentioned anything about groceries…and realised the room also contained a n exhibition of books from the medieval archives. When I found the Book of Deer itself – in a separate case – it was tiny; I had imagined some huge tome akin to the illustrated prayer books that used, in my day, to be left lying around on the pews in King’s College Chapel. But there were lots of information boards about the history of the book, the things it tells us, and the many digs that have tried – so far unsuccessfully – to locate the site of the old monastery.
On the radio I am listening to CONDITION PURPLE by Peter Turnbull, first broadcast in 1990. I believe the author wrote several books about the fictional P Division in Glasgow, all featuring Detective Chief Inspector Donoghue and his team. This one is about the murder of a sex worker in Blythswood Square (incidentally once the home of Madeleine Smith, who in 1857 was tried for the arsenic poisoning of her lover Pierre Emile L’Angelier..)
I haven’t watched much TV over the past few days, but I have recorded the film SON OF SAM – has anyone seen it? I’m sure it’s going to be quite gory for me, but the listing suggests it is a good record of a certain time in New York City.
I hope everyone has a good week and isn’t too hot.
Rosemary
Rosemary, it was a very scary time in New York in 1976-77, when Son of Sam was on the loose. My wife thought that the “artist’s rendering” picture they put out – which, in the end, looked nothing like the actual killer – looked exactly like a teacher in her school. (Needless to say, it wasn’t him.) Since we live in Brooklyn and several of the killings were she was extremely nervous.
Yes, Peter Turnbull wrote 10 books in the Glasgow series before switching to York-based Hennessey and Yellich for what has been at least 25 books since. I read all the Donoghue books and have read about half of the newer ones,
We’re watching series two of LONDON KILLS and I’m enjoying it quite a bit. THE SPLIT, not so much.
Thanks for the background Jeff.
I gave up on The Split, I just got so fed up with all those spoilt, self-centered people strutting about being unfaithful and also stitching each other up in the office. Ugh. I’m enjoying Kingdom though.
Rosemary, I just gave my friend, Donna, a copy of Kittredge’s forthcoming book. She’s a fan, but I just don’t read much literary.
I did find your information about Book of Deer and the history fascinating. I’m so happy you post here regularly. I learn so much that I wouldn’t normally know. Thank you!
And, if you come back and read this, next week I want to know how Charlie is doing.
Haha Lesa – I forgot to mention him! He’s had a stomach upset, for which the vet prescribed probiotics. I thought it would be fairly easy to administer these, as Mr C is generally pretty amenable.
His amenability did not extend to having a syringe-full of gunk pushed into his mouth…he went completely bananas and in the end I had to wait for David to come back two days later so that we could mount a two-pronged attack. They seem to have worked though; normal service resumed. at least so far…
I’ll remember to give you an up-to-date report next week!
I loved Olive Kitteridge and the follow-up, Olive Again. I chose OK for my book club when it came out and we all agreed we each had our own inner Olive!
Son of Sam was an especially scary time in NYC. I was concerned for myself because many of the areas he had targeted were places that I frequented. One of the first victims went to my high school in the Bronx. I was very happy when they finally caught him.
That must have been terrifying Kathleen.
I know how much fear there was in Yorkshire when Peter Sutcliffe was murdering so many women (he was the so-called Yorkshire Ripper) and in Ipswich when Steve Wright, ‘the Suffolk Strangler’, was on the loose (the latter murders are the subject of an interesting film, London Road [Olivia Colman is one of the actors], which looks not at the killer himself but at the effect his actions have on a small community in a shabby area of the city – the fear, but also the suspicion and the rifts this causes between neighbours and even couples. It’s quite unusual in that some of the dialogue is sung – which sounds odd, but I thought it worked well.)
Good morning. I’ve read a number of Paul Gallico’s books over the years and my mom still has a few including I think one of the Mrs. ‘Arris books. This past weekend my boyfriend and I saw In the Heights at a local playhouse and then had a nice dinner out. Last night our town had a rock band playing in the park and, if it’s nice on Saturday night, another town is putting on Bye Bye Birdie on their outdoor stage.
I read STAR-CROSSED WITCH by Deanna Chase. A paranormal romance featuring a matchmaker, a ghostly wannabe matchmaker and a curse. It took me a bit to get into it but I wound up enjoying the story.
I’m currently reading an ARC of A KILLING IN COSTUMES By Zac Bissonnette. A small Palm Springs movie memorabilia store is bidding against a giant auction company for the right to sell a collection of movie costumes. Unfortunately I’m just not connecting with any of the characters so the book is a miss for me.
Oh, Sandy, that’s disappointing about A Killing in Costumes. I’ll have an interview with Zac Bissonnette on my blog just around release date.
I like Paul Gallico’s books.
Greetings from New Jersey
It is going to be a hot and humid day here in New Jersey. Nothing like it has been in other parts of the country. We have been very lucky so far this summer with the weather. Nothing too crazy. Fingers crossed that it continues.
I have continued to enjoy the books I have been reading. Among them are:
The Family You Make by Jill Shalvis (not my favorite by this author but enjoyable just the same).
Out of the Clear Blue Sky – Kristen Higgins (loved the characters and setting (Cape Cod). Some laugh out loud moments. Story was a tad too long).
A Pretty Deceit (#4 in the Verity Kent series) – Anna Lee Huber (historical mystery with a touch of espionage thrown in. One of my favorite genres. This is a series that must be read in order for a full understanding of the relationships and story line).
I have continued reading the Chesapeake Bay series by Nora Roberts. There are four books in all, each dealing with a different Quinn brother. Each book picks up right where the other left off. There is a story line that is woven throughout the books that requires you to read all of them for it to be resolved. I am currently on book #3 Inner Harbor.
Happy reading week. Stay safe and cool.
I love Nora Roberts’ series, Kathleen. Now, I can’t remember if I read the Chesapeake Bay series or not. I might have to go downstairs (I’m at the library), and check.
I’m glad you had some good books this week. Enjoy your weather!
Lesa, if you have not read it, I highly recommend it. You will fall in love with the Quinn boys!
I’m going to have to check. Thank you!
Kathleen, my wife is a big Nora Roberts/J. D. Robb fan and the Chesapeake series is one of her favorites.
I remember my mother giving me Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris! I loved the book and didn’t know that a movie was made! I will start checking to see if it comes here.
My eye surgery went well but my left eye is sore and the vision is slowly moving from blurry to better.
Did not get far in the Maeve Binchey book, too difficult to read.
But I read more in Frances Finkel book. The print is small but there are large wide spaces between the lines. Christmas, the passenger pigen goes with Frances on solo flights. There was an avairy at the base for wounded and recovering pigeons and Frances brought Christmas to meet the other birds. A few of the birds had earned medals for work behind enemy lines One bird, Mocker, flew 51 mission and one the last one, one eye and piece of his head got blown off by an explosion but he still delivered his message about where the enemy was and he recovered and got a medal for bravery. Then there was Chickpea. Nazis blew off her leg, she delivered the message, someone fixed up an artifical leg.
Meanwhile, Frances is flying big planes, she and the other women were interviewed and the army didn’t like the spin on the article. They sent her for another interview in Hollywood and she got asked to dance by Greg Peck! Unformately, the photo of them dancing went narionwide and Project Peanut (ferryng the planes by the women pilots almost got scrapped. There were allegations that the women were taking jobs away from men! (But the women had more flight time and experiemce!) It got saved. Frances got recognized by people she didn’t know and that did not was not good. She went to a barber and got her hair cut like a boy and people did not recognize her any more.
More to come when I have read it.
I hope the movie comes someplace close, Carolee. Or, I hope it does, if it’s good. I’ll report back next week.
I hope your vision continues to improve!
When I first started reading more or less indiscriminately, one of the first sources was my mother’s subscription of Readers Digest Condensed Books. These came out four times a year and each hardcover had abridged versions of five (or so) of the popular books of the day. I remember reading Douglas Wallop’s THE YEAR THE YANKEES LOST THE PENNANT (Spring 1955), later adapted into the musical (and movie) DAMN YANKEES. (THat same volume had another book I remember reading, THE DAY LINCOLN WAS SHOT by Jim Bishop.) I recognize many of the titles, even if I didn’t read the book (like THE TRIBE THAT LOST ITS HEAD and GOOD MORNING, MISS DOVE.). Anyway, this is a roundabout way of saying MRS. ‘ARRIS GOES TO PARIS was a Winter 1959 selection, along with such titles as THE UGLY AMERICAN. One more that I read and loved: THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY (I also loved the John Wayne movie) by Ernest K. Gann (Autumn 1954).
My memory isn’t that good, by the way. I looked these up on Wikipedia.
/end nostalgic wallow, on to the reading. We were away last week for four days in Connecticut with cousins of mine and had a good time. There was plenty of eating but not much time for reading, I’m afraid. and since we got back I’ve been hard to please. First (and this may be a solo opinion, so don’t take my word for it) I tried Robert Thorogood’s THE MARLOW MURDER CLUB because we enjoy his DEATH IN PARADISE on television and because it was being sold as another THURSDAY MURDER CLUB. It’s nowhere close. Thorogood is no Richard Osman and this one just didn’t cut it for me (or Jackie, who was reading it at the same time). There is none of the sly humor of the Osman books and basically, I found it a pretty flat wannabe. I made it to 21% read before I gave up because I just didn’t believe in the characters, so I just didn’t care what happened. I mean, why was the Vicar’s wife hiding in a cupboard?
Better, perhaps, but not for me (at least not this week) was the new book from James (CONDOR) Grady, THIS TRAIN. It is basically a disjointed thriller clearly meant for the screen rather than the page, about your basica bunch of disparate people on a Seattle to Chicago train where something sinister is clearly going to happen. You can almost see the scene introudicing each big name star playing the lead roles as he introduces them. Not for me either, I’m afraid.
So what am I reading? Well, I quickly finished Lee Goldberg’s fourth Eve Ronin book, MOVIELAND, just before we left last week. It’s by far the longest of the series to date, with Eve in the forefront and Duncan offstage much of the time. It is supposed to be based on a true series of shootings around the park in Malibu. I think I liked it better than the earlier ones.
I’m reading three books of short stories (as usual) but won’t go into details until I fnish them. Jean Rhys, THE COLLECTED SHORT STORIES. David Alexander, GOLDEN AGE MEGAPACK collection (these are generally 99 cents each ebooks). Ann Packer, MENDOCINO AND OTHER STORIES. And I just downloaded the urban fantasy collection edited by Jim Butcher and Kerrie Hughes, HEROIC HEARTS.
Currently reading book three, THE LOST, in Jeffrey B. Burton’s K-9 series starring Mac Reid and Vira. Jackie is reading Lara Adrian, KING OF MIDNIGHT, supposedly the last book in the series.
PS – Let me add, I am olld but not that old. My mother’s books may have been from the mid-1950s, but I didn’t start reading them until at least 1959, when I was 10.
And, I didn’t start reading Paul Gallico in 1958 when Mrs. ‘Arris came out. Like you, I looked up some of the information about his books because I didn’t remember a number of them, and didn’t know his background. As I said, I also read a number of his juvenile books.
I totally agree with you about The Marlow Murder Club. It was no Thursday Murder Club. And, I wasn’t fond of the main character.
I agree, Jeff. I think I liked Movieland the best of the books in this series.
MacE Reid
I read Shadows Reel by C. J. Box – very fair – his other books were much, much better. Also read The Darkest Place by Philip Margolin – also fair – he has a lot of books so not sure if I’ll try another one. We can’t complain about the weather in CT compared to other parts of the country – went to the beach last week when I was off and going again tomorrow. Came back to the office this week to have unexplainable computer problems – nothing makes me more stressed than computers!!
Computers and cars, Donna, because I depend on both, and can’t do anything about them myself when they go wrong.
Cars -UGH – about 75% of the stuff on cars now no one has any clue what they are.
It took me several years before a friend told me about a button I now use regularly on my car.
As for MRS. ‘ARRIS, there was a 1992 television movie version starring Angela Lansbury and directed by her son.
Oh, I didn’t know that was a TV adaptation. I saw it listed with her and Omar Shariff.
Good morning, all! Getting ready to go for a long weekend to Yogi Bear’s Camp Jellystone. Yes, the grandkids will be there, and yes, I insisted on getting my own cabin. I’m definitely not a camper! But it should be fun. Here’s what I finished this week.
I have always enjoyed Julia Buckley’s writing, and with DEATH IN CASTLE DARK, she begins a new series, A Dinner and a Murder Mysteries, under a pseudonym. I am often drawn to books with a theater setting, and this one is set in a picture-perfect castle near Chicago, where dinner murder mysteries are staged for paying guests who are all given the role of police inspector. At the same time, the troupe members are offered beautiful, rent-free room and board in the castle as perks of the job. Nora is a struggling actor/singer/pianist who accepts an offer to join the troupe to gain theatrical experience and quickly makes friends with some of her castmates. But the story turns dark when one of the actors is murdered, and there is more than one castle resident who has reason to be concerned. A couple of other chilling incidents occur, making (almost) everyone wonder if they are next. The author writes superior cozies and characters you can root for. I’m looking forward to seeing how the characters and setting advance in the future, and there may be some romance afoot. Lesa, thank you for reminding me about this series with your recent review of the second book. I almost forgot I had purchased this paperback last year!.
I love Terry Shames’ Samuel Craddock Mysteries and have read all of them, so I was delighted to find MURDER AT THE JUBILEE RALLY, the ninth in the series and the first new entry since 2019. What makes them special is that Samuel, a small-town Chief of Police who was called back out of retirement a while back, narrates his stories in the present tense, giving the reader an in-depth perspective on his step-by-step analysis and investigation procedures, his interactions with the people in his life, and–most interesting of all–his opinions and emotions as he carries out with aplomb what can truly be a difficult job. This time around there is a week-long motorcycle rally on the outskirts of Jarrett Creek, Texas, and local entrepreneurs are in conflict as to whether to close their businesses for the duration so the sometimes-rowdy cyclists aren’t tempted to come into town. Samuel is called upon to come up with a compromise, but that doesn’t prevent the murder of one of the female business owners early in the event. It is a difficult investigation because there are so many possible suspects, and there are secrets in the deceased’s life that add further complications. At the same time, Samuel’s teenage niece is acting out, and her harried mother brings her to Samuel for a visit in the hopes of turning her behavior around. If you’re looking for some relief from violent, intense thrillers, you will surely find it in the low-key, gripping stories that only an expert lawman such as Samuel can tell. I recommend checking out the entire series. (October)
One of the things I enjoyed most about Serena Kaylor’s self-assured debut YA romance, LONG STORY SHORT, is the sharp repartee 16-year-old Beatrice uses to defend herself from just about everyone else in the story. Bea is something of a wunderkind, having graduated from high school early after being homeschooled. Without telling anyone, she applies to–and is accepted by–Oxford University to study advanced mathematics, but her parents don’t think she is mature enough yet to live and study far from her home in Berkeley, CA. Bea has lived a rigid, solitary life, wearing her “uniform” of unflattering polo shirt and khakis every day and eating according to a self-imposed menu that never changes from week to week. She doesn’t have any friends, and an unfortunate incident with a boy has led her to meet regularly with a therapist. Her parents’ solution is to mandate a summer Shakespeare theater camp in Connecticut, where their daughter must complete a list of goals in order to gain their approval for matriculating at Oxford in the fall. The goals include making a friend, hugging at least three people, and a host of other things that would be “normal” for any other teenager, but most of them are nearly unthinkable to Bea. It’s fun to see how she is slowly and reluctantly sucked into friendship with her roommate and a few others who are willing to overlook her prickly personality and determined to help her attain her goals while learning to experience a teenager’s life that she has never known. The supporting characters are well written and entertaining, and the writing is often breezy but full of emotion. This author is one to watch. (late July)
I’m looking forward to Murder at the Jubilee Rally, Margie. I have to admit, I really only skimmed your review because I have a galley, and I don’t want to know the details ahead of time. I’ve read all the books in this series, too, so I’m excited to catch up with Samuel Craddock. I did read your conclusion, though, so I’m glad you liked it.
I’m happy to hear you liked Death in Castle Dark. I like this series, but, then, you and I both love theater.
Two books this week.
From Kindle Unlimited, Sisters Behaving Badly by Maddie Please. Two estranged sisters inherit their aunt’s house in France. They mend fences and discover what they truly want while fixing up the house to sell. I enjoy this author’s books not only because they are fun, but the main characters are my age.
Next, I read Flying Solo by LInda Holmes. Forty-year-old Laurie returns to her hometown in Maine to clear out her deceased Aunt Dot’s home. One of the main plotlines involved a wooden duck decoy that might be valuable. I loved how the history of the duck was discovered. The second romantic storyline involving Laurie reconnecting with a past love left me feeling unsatisfied. While the resolution was true to Laurie’s character, I felt disappointed. Overall, I enjoyed it but did not love it.
Enjoy your visit to the movies, Lesa. I think I remember seeing the Angela Lansbury version of it many years ago.
Happy Reading!
Isn’t it great when we can identify with the main characters because of age or similarity? That’s why so many novels with protagonists in their twenties no longer satisfy me, Sharon.
Sharon, thanks for the recommendation. I just “bought” it on Kindle. I’m not a Kindle Unlimited member, but as a Prime member it was still free. Sounds like a winner!
I hope you enjoy it Margie.
I’m about 50 pages away from the end of Murder in the English Post, a historical mystery from Jessica Ellicott. I’m enjoying it. Curious to see where things are going. I have my theory, but we will see if I’m right.
I read the first book in that series, Mark, and that was enough for me. Now, I’m curious as to whether or not the book goes where you expect.
It didn’t. And the ending was much better than I was expecting.
Oh, good!
Hi Lesa — I’m participating in the virtual version of Midwest Writers Workshop, proofreading the ARC for my upcoming release in frontier fiction, and looking forward to the next book in Linda Castillo’s series. Busy, busy!
I like it when I’m busy, Patricia, but downtime is important too. Take care of yourself!
I finished two books since last week, one espionage novel and a thriller set in Canada.
BOX 88 by Charles Cumming is about Lachlan Kite, an agent for a covert spy agency. Kite is abducted, possibly by terrorists, at the funeral of an old friend from boarding school. It turns out that the abduction is related to an event in the late 1980s when Lachlan was just out of boarding school, visiting his friend in France. That was the point at which Lachlan begins spying for Box 88, so the novel is about his introduction to the craft of spying and the current abduction. Readers who don’t like to hop back and forth in time throughout a book might have problems with the story but I loved it. Very long though, nearly 500 pages.
The other book, DEAD IN THE WATER by Ted Wood, is very short, 142 pages. It is the first book in a ten book crime fiction series set in small resort town in the Muskoka region of Ontario, Canada. I liked the story a lot, liked the main character Reid Bennett and his dog Sam, and certainly will try more of the books in the series. It may have a bit too much violence for me, but I will see how future books pan out.
A few weeks ago, when I was discussing Stuart Kaminsky’s series set in Russia, you mentioned that you had read the Lew Fonesca series set in Sarasota, Florida. That got me curious, so I started VENGEANCE, the first book in the series, last night. I am liking it a lot, and the style is entirely different from the Inspector Rostnikov series. I like variety.
Tracy, I love it when people read a variety of books. Then, you’re not in a rut, and can find something of interest. Sounds as if you enjoyed all of this week’s reading, which is great! I’m glad you’re enjoying Vengeance!
One more thing. If anyone here needs a good laugh – and who doesn’t, these days? – especially if you are old enough to remember the ’60s or ’70s – I’d recommend that you go to Amazon and buy Dave Barry’s BOOK OF BAD SONGS, available as an ebook for $1.99. If you remember egregiously bad songs like “Honey” I can almost guarantee hours of laughter.
/end unsolicited testimonial
Dave Barry is so good for a laugh. Thank you, Jeff!
I got this book at the library a few years back, and I found it hilarious! And yes, I’m old enough to remember.
Last weekend was nice, but this weekend is supposed to be hot. We got a bit of a break yesterday, which was nice.
I went to the monthly free concert at the Palladio last weekend. The band played all the usual songs such bands play. There was a scary moment last year, where I thought “Shut Up and Dance With Me” might become a standard, but nobody is singing it this year, thank goodness. One thing I will remember is that a woman in front of me sat in a chair, which collapsed into kindling. Don’t see that every day.
Lots of glitches on goodreads since Independence Day. Can’t get it to work right on any device.
This week I read:
Small Felonies 2 by Bill Pronzini; I won this book from this blog! A collection of short stories concerning crimes. A lot of guilt catching up to people stuff. I always wonder if that actually happens in this day and age.
Master of the Mini by Jim Kochanoff; An unathletic kid with a decathlete father finds a sport he is good at: Miniature Golf. From there, it’s the usual stuff, with bullies that seem little more than orcs. Why does bullying seem so much worse now that all the schools are into anti-bullying? Could it be kids don’t know how to deal with it any more?
No Mercy by John Gilstrap; Jonathan Graves rescues an abductee, and finds a conspiracy. A female sheriff who keeps saying it isn’t the wild west (where the heck has she been?) is pursuing him as well.
The Martyr’s Chapel by Dudley J. Delffs; a playwright modelled on Tennessee Williams is murdered at a small Christian college, and the minister investigates. I felt like the minister used to go to Renaissance Weekends with the Clinton a lot back in the day.
Jackpot by Susan Fleet; A serial killer is offing lottery winners. That’s why you go anonymous, people!
Levon’s Prey by Chuck Dixon; The child trafficking ring tries to hunt down levon. That’s not a good way to live a long life. One of the few series dealing with this subject matter that doesn’t risk glorifying the activity.
Winterkill by CJ Box; Joe Pickett sees a Forest Service employee shoot down a bunch of elk. Meanwhile, a bunch of drifter come to town,and a psychotic bureaucrat shows up. Probably couldn’t be published today.
Jim Hanvey, Detective by Octavius Roy Cohen; This book was discussed here a while back, so I got hold of a copy. Not bad early mystery. It wasn’t until around 1930, it was decided that mysteries much revolve around a murder. I believe it was SS Van Dine who codified it in his rules for mystery.
Glen, the band (Big Crush) at the July 2 celebration at the EDH Town Center did sing “Shut Up and Dance with Me”! So I guess it’s still with us.
I’m afraid I quit using Goodreads, Glen. I just couldn’t get it to accept reviews anymore. It’s a shame because it was helpful for my end of year posts, but that’s okay. It was really just double dipping. I keep my own list anyways.
I agree that Jim Hanvey wasn’t bad for early mysteries. And, I don’t mind at all if the mystery doesn’t revolve around a murder.
Interesting comment about Chuck Dixon’s series that it doesn’t glorify the activity.
Lesa, I hope you enjoy the trip to Seattle with me — on the page. I’m calling Peppermint Barked my “Beat the Heat” trick — just pretend it’s December!
I will! And, although the review was originally scheduled for Monday, Leslie, I’m moving things around, and I’m going to review it on release day on Tuesday.
I regret missing the EDH show, but I just couldn’t make it.
Lesa, I saw “Mrs. Harris” today with a friend. We just loved it. The acting, setting and especially seeing all the fabulous Dior gowns was a treat. I highly recommend it.
Great, Eileen! Thank you!
So, I am a little late here, but my current read is Murder at the Jubilee Rally by Terry Shames. I have a digital ARC via NetGalley.
And I will not rant about how freaking hot it is or the state of our power grid or the fact that much of next week the forecast calls for 105 and 106 every damn day. Dallas and the entire state is cooking and again this evening, one could smell smoke from various wildfires. If the steadily rising Covid counts were not reason enough nof to leave the house, the very air outside is a good enough reason.
Oh, you got an ARC, Kevin! That’s great. I’m glad you somehow were able to get one.
Oh, I agree. Stay in, and keep reading. There. They should make mugs like those Stay Calm and Carry On. Ours can say “Stay In and Keep Reading”.
Terry went to bat with me with her publisher. Because she did and I think the person currently running things figured out who I am and my history with them, went and changed settings, and set me up as pre approved for anything they do. That meant that I got Terry’s. While I was on a roll I grabbed two others before somebody took over and banished me again. lol
I so like the mug idea. Make it so.