Thank you to everyone who dropped by yesterday, wished me Happy Thanksgiving, and even shared your Thanksgiving meals here. It’s just part of being friends, isn’t it?
I had a wonderful Thanksgiving afternoon at my sister’s and brother-in-law’s. I already told you who all was going to be there. We ate, talked, and played a game. It was just so good to all be together.
SJ Bennett’s Murder Most Royal: Her Majesty the Queen Investigates came out two months ago. I know several of you already talked about this third book in the series. I’ve read several Christmas books this year, and they’ve all been disappointing. Murder Most Royal is set in December 2016 when the Royal Family was at Sandringham. I’m halfway through this. Yes, there’s murder, but it’s still just what I needed in a Christmas story. And, unlike the two earlier books in the series, a lot of the family is there, so it’s more comfortable to read.
When a hand turns up in the sea near Norfolk, Queen Elizabeth identifies it by the signet ring. The case gets messier, though, and the Queen has her suspicions, so she turns to her Assistant Private Secretary, Rozie Oshodi, to do some legwork and investigating.
I hope you’re happy with this week’s reading. Tell us what you’ve been doing, and what you’re reading this week. We’d love to know!
I’m just getting into City of Betrayal by Victoria Thompson, the seventh in her Counterfeit Lady mysteries. I’m probably going to be pretty slow with it since I am visiting family for the holiday weekend and therefore don’t have as much reading time as normal.
No hurry, Mark. It’s better to enjoy family time than to find time for that book! Enjoy the weekend.
A little windy, but otherwise fairly good weather for Thanksgiving. Had two turkey dinners. (Once when I was on top of my game, I went to 8, but I don’t recommend it) Nobody talked about politics the whole time. The Forty-Niners won, but so did The Cowboys, so a mixed bag, football-wise.
This week I read:
The Lost Family Robinson by Alan Priest; A guy steals a time machine from The Vatican, and brings it to a family reunion. What could go wrong? Didn’t give me a time travel novel headache.
Buzzard Bait by Brett Cogburn; The author is the great grandson of the man Rooster Cogburn was based on. That’s about all to recommend this western.
Death by Podcasting by Landis Wade; The host of a literary podcast gets a text that one of his three guests will murder his cohost and himself. He panics, and then tries to prevent his death by figuring out who is the killer.
No Shortcuts to the Top by Ed Viesturs; A renowned mountain climber tells us about his adventures climbing the highest peaks on Earth. I read a lot about mountain climbing, but have absolutely no desire to actually do it.
…But it’s okay if I do it by Shirley Laffa; a neurotic woman tells us about more or less accidental faux pas, and the lessons learned. Actually pretty funny. Nice change for a book in the humor seciton.
Crime and Parchment by Daphne Silver; A woman working for the Library of Congress returns to her small Maryland hometown to find a treasure apparently possessed by her soon to be ex brother in law. There’s murder, mayhem, and all the most eligible bachelors in town fall for her. I don’t know which is the least believable.
Glen, we saw the first half of the Niners game at our Thanksgiving gathering in Chico and tried to listen to the rest (with some success, some not) on the radio on the way home. Go, Niners!
And 8 Thanksgiving dinners in one day in the past–wow, you’ll have to tell me about that some time. I’m all ears!
Oh, my gosh! Eight Thanksgiving dinners. I can see why you don’t recommend it Glen.
I like the sound of The Lost FamilyRobinson, and …But it’s okay if I do it.
I know which is the least believable – the most eligible bachelors part. Bah.
I just arrived back home from Thanksgiving at my daughter-in-law’s sister’s house in Chico, CA, a two-hour drive. I love being included in Melany’s family events–four sisters, each with a husband and children, plus the sisters’ parents. Lots of great food and great companionship–I loved every minute of it.
It was an interesting reading week, as you will see below. Just one miss (and one more that I had barely begun before I decided it wasn’t for me), but three other terrific reads.
Gigi Pandian’s Secret Staircase Mysteries just keep getting more and more entertaining. In the third in the series, A MIDNIGHT PUZZLE, the reputation of Secret Staircase Construction, Tempest Raj’s family’s business, is threatened. Client Julian Rhodes’ wife is seriously injured in a fall at home, and Julian is blaming the company for shoddy construction. But when Tempest is summoned to an old theater she is renting for her final show as a stage magician, she witnesses a brutal murder that calls into question everything she knows about the theater, her client, and who may be trying to incriminate her and ruin the business. What begins as two attacks turns into an opportunity for Tempest to find out what really happened to her aunt and her mother, also magicians, and perpetuated the family curse. Secret Staircase Construction is in the business of renovating structures to include “architectural elements like a built-in bookcase that slid open to reveal a secret library, a reading nook accessed by stepping through a door hidden behind a portrait, or a faux fireplace that led to a playroom when you pressed bricks in the right order.” Tempest joined the company after a disastrous show that ended her own career as a magician, but she has found she really enjoys working as a designer of architectural puzzles instead of magic effects. She is surrounded by her half-Indian, half-Scottish family and characters we have come to know in previous series entries, including an elderly magician preparing for his last tour, two men vying for her attention–one a magician, one a sculptor–and her librarian best friend and coworker, Ivy. Hovering in the background is someone she has nicknamed Moriarty, who may be either a nefarious stalker or a besotted supporter. And then there’s Tempest’s oversized lop-eared rabbit, Abra (short for Abracadabra). I absolutely love reading about the uber-creative changes the company has made to clients’ homes and about the life of a stage magician, and I admire the author’s research to make them feel authentic. The mysteries are all intricate, with suspenseful conclusions. In future entries, I am hoping for more depth to Tempest’s character, now that she can hopefully leave the past behind and more forward in her new career. (March)
I can’t say I’ve ever read anything like this from one of my favorite comfort-read authors, Jenny Colgan. THE SUMMER SKIES is not part of one of her numerous series (unless it’s the first in a new series) and not what I’ve come to expect from Colgan . . . but I’m so glad I read it. Morag is a pilot for her grandfather’s airplane service, specializing in flying one very small, very old plane to tiny Scottish islands that rely heavily on this service. She is still reeling from a recent near-miss where the other plane made a deadly crash. But she finally has a lovely boyfriend and has set her sights on a promotion to larger, long-haul airlines with exotic destinations. But a raging storm leaves her marooned on an island with only one (temporary) inhabitant–a grumpy ornithologist who grudgingly opens his house to her. Morag gobbles up too much of his homemade bread and makes fun of his closeness with chickens, a pet goat who comes inside to be fed, and a hawk. Left without much heat, no electrical power, and no way to communicate to the outside except in Morse Code, Gregor nevertheless helps Morag try to salvage her damaged aircraft before it’s too late. Along the way, he quietly tells her why he opts for this lonely life for at least part of every year. This is a story about discovering, when you least expect it, what you really long for in life. I found the flying scenes and musings much more engaging than I thought I would, and some scenes are suspenseful and thrilling at the same time. The characters were well drawn, even though I wish some of the details of Morag’s personality had been revealed a little earlier in the story (they seemed abrupt when we finally witnessed them). I particularly liked the supporting characters of Morag’s grandfather and her best friend and coworker, Nalitha. It may have been an entirely different subject than those in Colgan’s other books, but the engaging writing style and heart-warming emotions are what I have come to expect from Jenny Colgan. I even shed some tears toward the end of the book. In my humble opinion, Jenny Colgan can do no wrong.
I enjoyed Jean Kwok’s Searching for Sylvie Lee, so I was eager to read her book, THE LFETOVER WOMAN. Unfortunately, it was a DNF after I read more than half of the book. It’s about a Chinese woman who finds, years later, that the baby girl she was told had died was actually sent to an orphanage by her husband, and the wealthy American woman who adopted the child. I decided to stop reading when I found the American woman too unlikeable and didn’t want to read any more about the depressing life of the Chinese woman. It just wasn’t the right book for me, although there are many positive reviews from readers.
In the first August Snow Novel, AUGUST SNOW, by Stephen Mack Jones, we start to understand what makes half-African American, half-Mexican, ex-military, ex-cop, multi-millionaire August tick. He won a huge settlement from the city of Detroit with a wrongful termination suit that has left him with few friends in the police department. He is compassionate and generous with his money, and he can’t help pitching in when people he knows are in dire straits, even though he has yet to acquire a private investigator license. We learn that August has a history with a couple of women who were dear to him–one in Europe and one no longer alive–although they are not the focus of this first in the series. The plot revolves around wealthy business magnate Eleanor Paget, who knows August from a previous case involving her husband and his teenage mistress’s murder-suicide. Now she’s suspicious about some goings-on at the investment firm where she works, but August is turned off by her high-handed, disrespectful manner. When Eleanor is found dead a few days later, August commits himself to investigating her death, especially since his father had always told him that a man is measured by the people he didn’t help. It’s a terrific story–suspenseful and exciting, yet thoughtful and character-driven. There is violence, but it is not graphically depicted. Best of all, August Snow is an unforgettable character, and there are four more in the series to savor! Thank you, Lesa, for your review (of the most recent book), which turned me on to this series.
After reading a suspenseful, high-tension book, I like to read something completely opposite, and CHRISTMAS WITH THE LORDS by Hannah Langdon was just the thing. Its subtitle is “The Perfect Uplifting Christmas Romance,” and that’s it in a nutshell. Penny, age 38, is a primary school teacher looking for a change of scenery when her boyfriend of 10 years abruptly dumps her. She interviews for a temporary gig in the Dorset countryside as a nanny to four-year-old twins over the holidays and is hired immediately by Bunny, their overwhelmed mother. It’s a gorgeous house, owned by the woman’s cranky brother, and the town is quaint and festive. It’s easy to guess that Penny and Lando (short for Orlando–his brother is Ben for Benvolio) will end up together, but, as always, there are obstacles to overcome. Penny plans to swear off romantic relationships altogether and has lost any confidence she had about her worth, including her appearance. Lando once lived to party and make money in London, but a breakdown led him to come home to live and make beautiful word carvings in his workshop on the premises of the estate. His prior relationship with a gorgeous but demanding woman still haunts him. At the same time, Bunny is worried about her absent husband and the future of their marriage. I loved the fact that the mischievous young twins are positively delightful, rather than precocious brats, and that Penny’s mother–currently living in India with her husband and considering an open marriage–the twins’ eccentric grandfather and his new girlfriend, the household’s cook, and old and new friends are supportive and endearing, while Lando’s ex-girlfriend is a properly over-the-top villain. The Christmas spirit is palpable and heart-warming. I loved it, and look forward to the author’s next book.
Chico is a nice place. You should walk Bidwell Park sometime with a group.
I have enjoyed the Secret Staircase mysteries so far. A MIDNIGHT PUZZLE is on my TBR/ARC pile. And I also liked the earlier August Snow books, also discovered thanks to Lesa’s recommendations.
Margie,
Isn’t it wonderful to be included in just the right family gatherings? I’m glad you had such a nice Thanksgiving.
Really happy you enjoyed August Snow! As you said, four more in the series, too.
I think yours is the second positive review I’ve seen of Christmas with the Lords. I’ll have to look for that one.
Hi Lesa! Thanks very much for letting us know about this new “Her Majesty Investigates” book–I’m going to request it for Christmas.
I am reading STONE QUARRY, the sixth book in S J Rozan’s excellent series featuring New York-based private detectives Lydia Chin and Bill Smith. The first in the series, China Trade, was published in 2012, and the latest, The Mayor of New York, will be out on December 5. For years, I’ve been skipping around in the series, reading earlier and then later ones as I discovered them, so now I’m deliberately working my way through all the books in order and enjoying them very much. I can highly recommend them.
Oooh thanks for the heads-up about the new Lydia Chin/Bill Smith book on December 5. I am mostly caught up with this excellent series.
And, Kim? I’ll be reviewing Murder Most Royal soon, but have to say it worked as a mystery and a Christmas book.
SJ Rozan has a new book coming out April 2. It’s written with John Shen Yen Nee, and it’s called The Murder of Mr Ma. It’s set in post-World War I London, and features Chinese characters reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes and Watson. As a fan of the Holmes books, I really enjoyed that one.
Reading 3 books at once, so slowly progressing on each. Starting MURDER AND MAMON by Mia P. Manansala (book 4 in series). Tasty food scenes from the first chapter. Also started THE MYSTERY GUEST by Nita Prose (Molly the Maid #2). The first book, THE MAID, won a slew of awards this year and was one of my top reads of 2022. And I am 70% done listening to THE LIGHT WE CARRY: OVERCOMING IN UNCERTAIN TIMES by Michelle Obama.
I’ve done that, Grace. Three good books there. It makes for a nice change to switch off.
I’ve read all three of those, Grace! Fond memories.
I’ve already seen promotions for fourth “Her Majesty Investigates” book due out next spring. This one was published in the UK months ago timed for the coronation events, but I haven’t read it yet.
I’m finding these shorter winter days do allow more time for reading.
CENTRAL PARK WEST by James Comey (2023)
Focuses on a few interrelated cases of a Federal Prosecutor in NY City. More legal than crime, but good for a celebrity debut novel. Although not a good as the big name endorsements might lead one to believe.
CONFESSIONS ON THE 7:45 by Lisa Unger (2020)
Con artists and social media, infidelity, murder and family. The characters are introduced slowly, a bit too slowly, but the story morphs into a page-turner.
“You can not explain or come to understand the actions of deranged people”
THE RISE: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food by Marcus Samuelsson (2020) Part cookbook, part endorsement and part food history. I enjoyed the novelty.
THE DEVIL AND SHERLOCK HOLMES: Tales of Murder, Madness and Obsession by David Grann (2010)
About halfway through this collection of previously published articles, mostly from The New Yorker. Well written explorations of little known true occurrences. (Author of The Lost City of Z, Killers of the Flower Moon and The Wager)
And I might become an audiobook convert! I’ve been listening to Paul Doiron’s ALMOST MIDNIGHT while I walk and time just flies by.
I can understand when people enjoy listening to audiobooks when they walk, workout or drive, MM. I don’t do either of the first two, and I normally don’t do long drives. My best friend loves audiobooks narrated by the author, especially memoirs.
I like the sound of your last two books.
Cold here for a change, 38 F! I have my warm galaxy pants on. I have just started All Mortal Flesh by Jill Spencer-Fleming. I love the series but have had a big gap in reading it. Back to serious trouble for Clare Ferguson, an Episcopal priest. An affair with Police Chief Russ Van Alstanye and now his wife has been found dead.
Good morning. Thanksgiving was quiet since there were just the three of us so we’ll be eating leftovers for a while. Fortunately I can freeze some of the turkey.
I had a good reading week. I tried ARC by two new to me authors and liked both of them
MURDER OF AN AMISH BRIDEGROOM by Patricia John’s. Petunia, a single Amish woman in her twenties and, a self proclaimed old maid gets involved in helping to solve a murder when her best friend is arrested for it. I liked the characters and the story overall but I had to suspend my disbelief that the main character would be allowed to help the English detective solve the case.
DEATH BY DEMO by Callie Carpenter. Because she signed a prenup, the main character is shut out of their home renovation business and winds up with nothing but a rundown house. When she starts renovations she discovers a body behind a makeshift wall. I’ll be looking for book two in the series when it comes out.
Obsession by Stuart Woods is the 6th book in his Teddy Fay series. Teddy, an ex-CIA operative, searches for a kidnapped woman whilst also shooting a film as both the lead actor and the producer- all under different names and disguises.
Sometimes, quiet peaceful Thanksgivings are the best, Sandy. And, Thanksgiving leftovers are definitely the best!
It’s always good when the first in a mystery series leaves you wanting to read the next one, as with Callie Carpenter’s book.
I finally got a start on Lee Goldberg’s Calico. It’s great so far with descriptive landscape and interesting characters.
It’s very descriptive, Jody! I hope you continue to enjoy Calico.
Good Morning!
This week I finished Mrs. Claus and the Trouble with Turkeys by Liz Ireland. It’s been reviewed by several people on Thursdays with Lesa. I enjoy my yearly visit to Santaland.
Next was Three Good Things by Wendy Francis. The title really didn’t have much to do with the story. This was about 2 sisters, one married and one divorced. The married sister seemed to have it all together and the older sister ran a Kringle shop whose life becomes complicated when her ex-husband shows up just as she starts a relationship with another man. It was told pleasantly enough but it was just okay.
Last night I finished An Improper Gentleman by Audra Wells. The second closed door regency of the trilogy. This wasn’t as good as the first but perhaps it’s because I read it so close to the first book. It was light and fluffy and fun. Lord Archibald tries to break through Bridget’s broken heart.
Happy Reading!
Good afternoon, and Happy Reading to you, too, Sharon!
There’s just something about those Mrs. Santa books that are addicting. Not at all my normal reading, but I like Mrs. Claus.
Happy Birthday, Jeff! I believe Rosemary has a birthday around this time, so happy birthday as well!
We had a nice Thanksgiving yesterday. Despite not being a good cook and having my granddaughter, granddog and 2 month old grandson, everything turned out well and everything was ready at the same time(almost). A once in a lifetime event!
My daughter and her family are still living with us while waiting for the new house to be built. Due to my wonderful grandson, I am still reading the same book I started 4 weeks ago. My slow pace is not reflective of the quality of Dead Man’s Hand . This is an urban fantasy by James Butcher, son of the wonderful Jim Butcher. James writes with a good bit of humor and I am enjoying the book quite a bit. Maybe this week will be more onducive to reading!🤞
I just emailed birthday greetings to Jeff, Jennifer. And, Kaye’s birthday is coming up as well. Happy Birthday to all of you with November birthdays! In my family, we have a lot of December ones. Hard for buying gifts!
Someday, I’ll have to try James Butcher. As you said, Jim Butcher’s books are wonderful.
Oh, it’s more important to spend the time with your family than to worry about your reading. The books will be there when you’re ready.
I just finished PLAY OF SHADOWS, by Barbara Nickless. It’s the last in her Evan Wilding series, and all three are fantastic. Evan is a brilliant University of Chicago semiotics professor (signs and symbols expert) who consults with the police, in particular a detective named Addie Bisset. Each book delves into a different myth or symbol (in this book it’s the Minotaur) and weaves it into a great thriller.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Oh, it sounds good, Claire. I read the first in the series, liked it, and then forgot about it. Thank you for the reminder!
Happy Thanksgiving Leftovers Day! We started our day with Apple Pie for breakfast. Life is good.
I too have been disappointed in several Christmas novels this year. But two that I have enjoyed are:
One Christmas Eve by Shari Low
Christmas with the Lords by Hannah Langdon
Today I plan on giving The Christmas Postcards by Karen Swan a try. Fingers crossed.
And, that’s exactly what I had for lunch, Kaye, Thanksgiving Day leftovers. For me, it’s all about the stuffing. I love stuffing. We did have 3 kinds of pie, though!
Christmas with the Lords. I’m definitely going to have to look for that one.
After 3 recommendations for Christmas With the Lords I figured it was a sign and downloaded the audiobook from the library. That was the only format available but I like audiobooks so I checked it out.
Hi all and Happy Thanksgiving! After two days straight of cooking and washing dishes, I am enjoying sitting on the couch with leftovers and a book. Today I am reading *The Last Devil to Die* by Richard Osman, which many of you have read. The dementia-related part is heavy but I thought it well done. I also felt like the main characters had a little more emotional depth in this one.
I read a couple of space cozies this week, a mash-up of two of my favorite genres. The series is called Midsolar Murders, ha ha, and I appreciate that it considers just why so many murders happen in the vicinity of our reluctant sleuth. Plus aliens!
I’ve had to drive a lot for work and am still working my way through the audiobook of Stacy Schiff’s biography of Samuel Adams.
Richard Osman is a nice change from cooking and dishes, Trisha. I agree with what you said about the dementia-related part, and the main characters.
I may have to check out some space cozies!
Glen and our son have taken the cat to the vet. She has thyroid problems and the vet has been adjusting the dosage. I am hoping they get good news.
We enjoyed the movies we watched on Thanksgiving, they were both fun. We watched THE SKELETON OF CADAVERA, written and directed by Larry Blamire, and THE ROCKETEER, with Billy Campbell, Timothy Dalton, Jennifer Connelly, and Alan Arkin.
The only book I finished reading in the last week was CITY UNDER ONE ROOF by Iris Yamashita. I especially enjoy stories told from different points of view, and there were three characters that the book focused on. The isolated Alaskan city, and the bad weather trapping everyone in the city, was a perfect setting.
Now I am reading DRACULA. Even though I am enjoying it, it is taking me a while to get through it. Never read it before. I saw BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA with Gary Oldman at least four times over the years.
Glen finished reading a book last night: DOUBLE CROSS: THE TRUE STORY OF THE D-DAY SPIES by Ben McIntyre, published in 2012. He enjoyed it and had lots of tidbits of history and true life espionage during World War II to share with me. He has just started reading PREQUEL: AN AMERICAN FIGHT AGAINST FASCISM by Rachel Maddow.
Good luck with the cat, Tracy! I’d worry, too.
I read Dracula years ago. It’s not an easy read, no matter what you expect ahead of time.
Thanks Lesa and Jennifer for the birthday wishes. I don’t feel old, really, but when you say the number out loud it sounds OLD. (So I won’t.)
We had our Thanksgiving dinner yesterday and had the first half of the leftovers today. Yum. Stuffing is one of my favorite foods. We’re going to have another piece of my birthday/Thanksgiving chocolate pudding pie in a few minutes. I don’t like pumpkin.
Ah, that was tasty.
I for one want to hear more about those 8 Thanksgiving dinners.
Sorry to say I haven’t gotten a lot of reading done lately. Charles Beaumont, The Carnival and Other Stories. I’d consider this more fantasy than anything else (horror, science fiction), as is not a surprise from a writer mostly associated with The Twilight Zone.
I did read Paula Munier’s Home at Night. This is probably my favorite K-9 series. At the end of the last book, Mercy Carr, suddenly proposed marriage to her longtime beau, Vermont Game Warden Troy Warner, after her grandmother canceled her proposed wedding. Now a few months have passed and it is the week of Halloween, and Mercy and Troy are about ti buy a “haunted” house she first visited as a child many years before. But Mercy and her Belgian Malinois Elvis find the first of several dead bodies in the house, and things go from there. There is one big surprise reveal, but you won’t be surprised that all turns out well in the end. I really like the characters in this series (even her mother is nice for a change!), and the Vermont woods setting is a good one.
Retired LAPD detective Harry Bosch considers working for a defense lawyer “going to the dark side,” but medical issues make insurance necessary, and his half brother Mickey Haller – the Lincoln Lawyer – puts him on the payroll to drive him around (he works out of his car) and decide which convicted criminal’s case is worth a second look, which Haller does pro bono. Naturally, Bosch finds one and we go from there. I’ve only read 80 pages of the 400 so far, but they fairly race by, as Michael Connelly is one of the best mystery writers we have now.
Up next: Val McDermid’s new Karen Pirie book (yay!).
Jackie read Lora Leigh’s In Isabeau’s Eyes. She said “way too much graphic sex” so she skimmed a lot of it. She is now on Christine Feehan’s Dark Memory.
Jeff, You’re welcome. It’s nice to have a whole weekend to celebrate. And, with retirement, we don’t really have to wait until a holiday to celebrate, do we? But, the food makes waiting worthwhile!
I agree with others. Glen needs to tell us about those 8 Thanksgiving dinners. Maybe next week, Glen?
I loved Home at Night. And, you’re right. It wasn’t really a surprise.
Happy Birthday, Jeff. You are lucky to have it happen near to Thanksgiving (depending on where Thanksgiving lands, of course).
I have only read one Karen Pirie book and the fact that you are looking forward to the new one encourages me to read more of them.
Good evening…. My current read is Harbor Lights by James Lee Burke. It is a collection of short stories coming out in January. Got it via NetGalley.