It’s Thursday! Time to look back at the week, talk about the weather, what we’ve been doing, and what we’ve been reading. We had some glorious weather in the high 60s, followed by rain, and the temperatures are going to fall again. But, it is only March.
I’m reading two terrific books right now, one fiction, and one nonfiction. I’m going to talk about the nonfiction title. It’s just been released. I’ve only read three chapters, but it’s a quick read, and fascinating.
Jonna Mendez’ In True Face is subtitled “A Woman’s Life in the CIA, Unmasked”. Her co-author if Wyndham Wood. She describes herself as “Just a girl from Wichita, Kansas, seeking adventure, never dreaming that would translate into a life that was both covert and trailblazing”. Mendez makes no secret what life was like for young women in the late 60s, and the life of a young wife in the CIA in the late ’60s when Mendez met and married her husband, John Goeser. They met while both were working in Germany, and after he proposed, he told hr he was a civil servant working for the CIA. Although Jonna had other jobs, once she married John, she was eligible for an entry-level position as a CIA contract employee, a “contract wife”.
She talks about insiders and outsiders since she couldn’t tell lifelong friends or family what she really did. “Without warning or expectation, I opened a door and walked into the shadows. Many who’d once known me would never hear from the real me again.”
That’s as far as I am in the book. It’s so readable. Here’s a little more from the publisher’s summary.
Mendez had a talent for espionage, and she soon took on bigger and more significant roles at the Agency. She parlayed her interest in photography into an operational role overseas, an unlikely area for a woman in the CIA. Often underestimated, occasionally undermined, she lived under cover and served tours of duty all over the globe, rising first to become an international spy and ultimately to Chief of Disguise at CIA’s Office of Technical Service.
In True Face recounts not only the drama of Mendez’s high-stakes work—how this savvy operator parlayed her “everywoman” appeal into incredible subterfuge—but also the grit and good fortune it took for her to navigate a misogynistic world. This is the story of an incredible spy career and what it took to achieve it.
What about you? What have you been doing this week? What have you been reading?
Last Thursday night my son and I attended Mystic Pizza: the Musical at the Harris Center, and it became my favorite of the “Broadway” tours I’ve seen this season. I don’t believe this one has been to Broadway yet, but I hope it gets there. I haven’t seen the Mystic Pizza movie for years, but I believe it was Julia Roberts’ movie debut. The musical version has about 20 80s and 90s songs, and the actors’ voices were all stellar. It’s a really lively, fun musical, and it was especially fun sitting in the fourth row.
It was another mixed bag of reading this week. Here’s what I finished:
From the title of Catherine Mack’s EVERY TIME I GO ON VACATION, SOMEONE DIES, I was expecting a light-hearted mystery where the protagonist discovers dead bodies wherever she goes (Jessica Fletcher, anyone?). Instead, the title refers to the series of books written by Eleanor Dash, where dead bodies do indeed abound wherever her main character travels. On a trip to Rome ten years earlier, Eleanor herself had a dangerous escapade with her new flame, “detective” Connor Smith, that resulted in the death of one member of a notorious Italian gang family and the imprisonment of others. Arriving home, Eleanor was driven to capture the story in a book, which was a runaway hit. She used fake names for all of the characters except the dashing Connor, who is now almost as popular as the author with the fans, and who has demanded and received a share of the royalties ever since, through many sequels. Eleanor is tired of Connor and his blackmail and wants to kill his character off in her next novel, but meanwhile the two, along with other authors and fans, embark on a book tour of Italy. When Connor’s life is threatened and Eleanor has a near miss (or two) herself, it is clear that someone wants one or both of them dead. It is a fun premise, but this book just wasn’t for me. Eleanor’s protagonist (her name is mentioned maybe once?) narrates the book in flighty manner, including many unnecessary footnotes that add nothing to the plot and are especially annoying for ebook readers. At one point, she officially breaks the fourth wall to address readers directly, asking us how we feel, whether we suspect her of anything, who we think are the culprits. I just don’t enjoy this writing style and never felt any connection with the shallow main character. I also found Connor unlikable, not so strangely since most of the characters dislike him as well. Several other characters are so underdeveloped as to be almost indistinguishable from each other. I will say that there was an unexpected twist toward the end of the book, and those who enjoyed the book (many, based on the reviews), will be happy to know that a series is planned. (April)
Jeff Zentner’s first adult novel, COLTON GENTRY’S THIRD ACT, will definitely be on the list of my favorite reads of 2024. Although it ends in the most satisfying manner, I didn’t want it to end at all, and it inspired me to look for the author’s award-winning YA books next. Colton’s first and second acts are as a high school football star and then a country singer with mild success until one of his songs is a hit and he marries the most popular female country singer of the day. But after a personal tragedy, a failed marriage, a career-ending incident during a concert, and a stint in rehab, he finds himself at age 39 alone, broke, and living with his mother in his Kentucky hometown. A chance meeting with his high school sweetheart, Luann, leads to an employment opportunity he would never have expected, but it is not without many challenges to his sobriety and his penchant for running away when the chips are down. There are so many things I loved about this book, including the author’s beautiful writing style that evoked tears from me more than once. The character development of both Colton and Luann is absorbing and immersive–both are characters well worth rooting for. Supporting characters including Luann’s adorable 8-year-old twin girls, Colton’s ever-supportive mother, his steadfast friend Derrick, and his elderly dog Petey, are just as warmly drawn as the protagonists. (Jeff: Thank you for the very necessary footnote about Petey, by the way.) Parts of the book are wildly romantic, but it’s really a book about redemption, starting over, and all kinds of love. And then there’s the Southern food–I’m still salivating. It’s also about the unique and memorable details that make each character come to life. Highly recommended. (April)
In Molly MacRae’s COME SHELL OR HIGH WATER, the first in her new Haunted Shell Shop mystery series, fiftyish recent widow Maureen Nash is all about shells–she searches for unique ones, researches them, and even works telling stories about their history and folklore. On a trip to Ocracoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina, to find shells unearthed by a hurricane, Maureen rescues a huge, intricately carved shell from the waves and stumbles over a man’s dead body in the process. Knocked unconscious, she awakes in the town’s shell store, wondering what has happened to her. An elderly brother and sister who live nearby tell her that the dead man is the store’s proprietor, who said he was going to check on a mother and daughter at the end of the island but never returned. What follows involves the real reason Maureen came to the island (revealed later in the story), a plethora of murder suspects (including Maureen herself), and the ghost of an 18th Century pirate. I enjoyed being steeped in the culture and environment of Ocracoke, and–of course–learning about shells. I also appreciated Maureen’s lovely relationship with one of her adult sons. It took me a while to become accustomed to the writing style and pace–very different from the author’s earlier series. The pirate has potential, but I didn’t connect with him or with Maureen because we don’t know much about either of them yet. I would also like to learn more about Maureen’s late husband, since he is referred to in flashbacks. Because this is the first in a series, I expect that the main characters will become more nuanced and substantial as their stories progress. (June)
IMDB says Julia Roberts had an uncredited role in a lame comedy called Firehouse, and a a supporting role in the terrible Justine Bateman movie, Satisfaction before she was in Mystic Pizza.
Good to know, Glen!
Interesting. I had no idea they did a Mystic Pizza musical, Margie. I liked the movie, and we’ve eaten at the actual restaurant two or three times. We’ll be back in Mystic this summer, though I don’t think we’ll be eating there. Julia Roberts played a supporting role int he Justine Bateman vehicle, SATISFACTION, first, but MYSTIC PIZZA was her first starring role.
I see Glen beat me to the SATISFACTION comment.
Then, I’m going to have to watch for Mystic Pizza, Margie, based on your comments that it’s now your favorite. I’ve never seen the movie.
I’m glad at least one of your books was enjoyable this week!
This week it was rainy and cloudy. I worked the election, and turnout was so low. Only 30 people showed up. It was a long boring, and chilly day.
This week I read:
Ball Four Plus Ball Five by Jim Bouton; There were a number of these sort of cynical exposes of sports in the late 60’s early 70’s, where the athletes were revealed as a bunch of drunken, sometimes drugged perverts. There’s a whole section about how many of them were peeping Toms. That probably wouldn’t go down very well today. It’s amazing how little they were paid. $12,500 is probably their per diems now.
Keppan by John Donohue; Connor burke takes over the dojo after his sensei’s death. sinking into guilt, grief, and pain, he lets his PI brother talk him into investigate the death of a yoga celebrity. It brings him into conflict with the Russian mob, where his skill with a sword may or may not do him much good.
Storm in Paradise Valley by Charles G. West; A lawman hangs up the guns to a quiet life ranching. Of course, a mess of outlaws come around. The lawman is a peaceable man, like Wild Bill Elliott and The Rifleman used to say right before they plugged somebody.
Bantam of the Opera by Mary Daheim; A B&B owner’s place is rented by some opera stars. We get a lot of old fashioned Italian stereotypes. Is that still allowed?
Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep by Patricia H Rushford; a sort of cozy, sci fi, and PI genre mashup. Weird, but still not really memorable. I think I have another of these in the stack somewhere.
Fur Love or Money by Sofie Ryan; Sarah and the Angels get on the case when Sarah discovers a dead body in a storm cellar. The cadaver is a ponzi schemer everybody thought was dead. The good guys seem a little too good, in this one, if you ask me. There’s a TSTL moment, which is a bit unusual in this series. Still, I think the author, whichever name she uses, in her best books, asks tough questions that other cozies won’t even broach. And at least the cat isn’t magical here.
Oh, but I love the magical cats, Glen! (grin)
I haven’t read that one by Jim Bouton. I did read Ball Four years ago, and learned quite a lot that I didn’t know about baseball players. Then, I married a wannabe, and learned how juvenile they can be. (sigh)
We had rain today. It’s looking like the last rain, at least for the foreseeable future. It is March is So Cal, after all.
I’ve been sick all week. I think I’m starting to see the end, but still very congested, and I’ve lost my voice. Probably would have taken some sick days if I weren’t working from home. But it was quarter end, so I logged in and worked. Still got more to do tomorrow, but I think I’m getting a handle on things. I hope, anyway.
Oh yeah, we’re supposed to talk about our reading.
I’m currently working on LISTEN, DO YOU WANT TO KNOW A SECRET? by Teresa Trent. This is the third in her Swinging Sixties Mysteries. We had a good set up, and the murder has happened, but we’ve been so focused on the sub-plots, I feel like it’s been forgotten. I’m just over a third of the way into the book, so hopefully, it will get better soon.
Actually, Mark, we can talk about anything we want here – weather, work, sickness. You’re welcome even if you didn’t read a book this week. I don’t think I’ll be picking that one up, though. And, I hope you do feel better!
My “we’re supposed to talk about reading” line is one of those that sounded funny in my head but didn’t quite translate across the internet. I knew ramblings about my week like I was wouldn’t be an issue. So if you can imagine it in the way I said it in my head while typing it, you’ll be laughing. 🙂
The problem with this book I’m reading now? I’m supposed to be reviewing it for a blog tour. At the moment, I’m thinking it’s going to be lucky to get 3 stars from me, but we’ll see how the second half goes.
Oh, it did sound funny, Mark. I smiled, but also wanted to reassure everyone other topics are not off-limits either. But, always books!
Good morning Lesa and everyone,
We had a beautiful day at the start of the week – blue skies, sunshine and birdsong. Nancy and I had a long walk on the National Trust’s Drum estate, and realised, as we walked along, that we could not hear a single sound made by man – no cars, no planes, no people, not even a tractor to disturb the peace.
It’s lucky that we did walk on Monday, as the weather has been decidedly dreich ever since.
The weekend had been similar, though David and I did find the coffee shop at the coastal village of Newtonhill that I had been told about, and very nice it was too – fabulous almond croissants. I often find these to be a disappointment, but this café’s ones were delicious. The place must once have been the village stores (it’s still called Skateraw Store) but now it’s run by two very friendly art school graduates, and as well as the café it houses a little grocery shop. It was clearly very popular with locals, with lots of young families, and older people, many accompanied by dogs, popping in and out.
After that we visited the new exhibition at Arkade (artist-run studios in town). It is a collection of collages (but not the usual sort of collage) made by Ruth Cassidy, a woman in her 60s who, I am told, works in national security and does art for relaxation. I enjoyed it.
Last Thursday I attended the Aberdeen Cultural Summit at the university. I am still not entirely sure what to make of it – there was lots of talk about connectivity and mutual support, but very little in the way of practical suggestions.
The best speakers were two guys who are spearheading a campaign to re-open our only independent cinema, the Belmont, which closed a couple of years ago when its parent company, the Edinburgh Filmhouse, went under. They are working so hard to restore independent cinema to Aberdeen, and they are immensely down to earth and sensible in their approach.
One of the interesting points they made was that it is essential not to assume you know what people want – eg another cinema thought that the Polish community would want a season of alternative Polish films, but when that community was consulted, it said NO – what they wanted was the opportunity to see mainstream Polish films that are never shown outside Poland.
The other good point these guys made was that no-one is going to do the work for you – ‘you need to save yourselves, just get on with it.’
Last Friday evening David and I were at the Music Hall for a concert in tribute to Burt Bacharach. I had thought it would be good, but it was far more than that – there were seven singers, all of them Scottish, and every single one was outstanding. I especially enjoyed Justin Currie (lead singer of the band Del Amitri), whose rendition of ‘24 Hours to Tulsa’ was breathtakingly good, and Blue Rose Code (Ross Wilson), who sang ‘Walk On By’ with such pathos and passion. The camaraderie between the performers, who were supported by an excellent orchestra and two wonderful backing singers, was really moving.
Books!
I finished Ruth Jones’s NEVER GREENER – and never was I gladder to finish a book. It was terrible. Jones is such a good actor and screenwriter, but nobody seems to have told her that in a novel you do need to develop your characters, there are no actors to do it for you. The two main characters in this book are wholly despicable, and Jones was not up to the task of making them interesting, let alone sympathetic. They deserved all they got and much more besides, but neither of them ever seemed to realise that. Endless sex and infidelity, with nothing to lighten the load. Boring and annoying in equal measure.
I needed a book ‘set in a landlocked country’ for my 52 Book Club Challenge, so I decided to read ASTERIX IN SWITZERLAND. What a joy these comic books are. I hadn’t read one since my son was little, but I think I’ll read more now (luckily our library had some of them.) They are funny, clever, skilfully illustrated, and uplifting too.
In this one the local Roman governor is a corrupt and decadent layabout, so he’s horrified when a very upright inspector is sent out from Rome to find out where all the missing taxes are (they’ve all been spent on orgies.) The governor has the inspector poisoned, and the village (Asterix and Obelisk inhabit the only Gaul village still holding out against the Romans) medicine man needs a special plant to make the potion that will save him. It is only to be found on top of a high mountain in Switzerland, so Asterix and Obelisk are despatched to find it. Their adventures along the way are both hilarious and heroic, with lots of in-jokes about the Swiss (their obsessive tidiness, their equally obsessive timekeeping, etc) to keep both children and adults entertained.
I’m now reading COUNTRY GIRL, Edna O’Brien’s memoir. So far she has been the only child at home in a crumbling mansion, then a boarder at a strict school run by nuns, and now she has moved to Dublin and is enjoying the bright lights after her restrictive and very rural childhood. The Irish Catholicism that she describes so well seems as real to me, who first visited rural Ireland in the 1980s, as it was for her, a child of the 1920s-30s.
I’m also reading LOVE LIES A LOSS, the second part of Theodora Fitzgibbon’s autobiography. I don’t have the first part, so I am starting at the point where she has just arrived in New York with her American husband, Constantin. The war has recently ended.
They soon move to the Bahamas, because Constantin’s mother lives there, as does his equally wealthy Aunt Maud. It is fascinating to learn about life on the island in the late 1940s – even then it is full of people, who come down every year to avoid the winter weather, though of course there is also a permanent population. Theodora writes well about the local food, especially the fish (she later became a food writer) but also does quite a bit of complaining about how poor the couple is, while living in Aunt Maud’s large house (she’s gone back to Manhattan) and drifting from one cocktail party to the next. Everything’s relative! They know lots of famous people, including Picasso, Max Ernst and Graham Sutherland, from their earlier lives in London and New York.
And my current fiction book is NORA WEBSTER by Colm Toibin, which, like the other two, I am reading primarily for READING IRELAND 2024. It’s very good. Nora is a young widow living in Wexford with her two youngest children – her two older daughters are away at school or college. She has little money and is wondering how to make ends meet now her husband is gone. She’s also having to deal with her own grief and that of her boys, while fending off the incessant attentions of just about every person in the town, all of whom feel obliged to come and visit her (it being the Irish tradition, but also down to their small town nosiness – one even works the conversation round to whether Nora will now sell the family’s ramshackle holiday cottage, because she wants her own son, now living in England, to buy it.)
On television I am re-watching KEEPING FAITH, a Welsh TV drama series about a lawyer who is on maternity leave after having her third child. Her husband is also a partner in their law practice. One day he sets off for work but never arrives. At first she is sure he will turn up, but as time goes by she begins to realise that she is on her own. She starts to look for clues as to why he should have disappeared, and uncovers more and more evidence to suggest he was leading a double life. Meanwhile she is obliged to go back to work, finds out that the practice is bankrupt, and at the same time tries to help her young children come to terms with their new life. Her mother-in-law and sister-in-law are keen to point out that everything is no doubt her fault. As her life begins to unravel, she begins to hate the man who has done this to them all.
I’ve also found another Welsh series, one that I have not seen before – HINTERLAND. Not started that yet. I am getting so bad at falling asleep in front of the TV that this morning I actually got up early and watched the rest of one episode at 7am – at least at that time of say I should remember the plot. Possibly….
On Sounds I listened to Jon Ronson read his own book SO YOU’VE BEEN PUBLICLY SHAMED, which had some interesting things to say about the life-changing results of putting just one foot wrong in this age of social media. He also looked at how some people are trying to rehabilitate their reputations, while others have been totally destroyed. Some had been so stupid in the first place that, although I think everyone certainly deserves a second chance, I did feel that they still needed to examine their own behaviour and not just blame everything on twitter. Others, though, had done nothing wrong at all, and had instead been the victims of AI or identity theft.
Ronson himself became aware at one point that his identity had been stolen. He tracked down the people behind this, and they were completely unapologetic – they had a pseudo-political agenda and ended up questioning him rather than the other way round.
This Saturday we are going to the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh to see a play about the prison service (one of the UK’s most shameful institutions) – it’s called A GIANT ON THE BRIDGE, and it’s had good reviews so far. I will tell you about it next time.
Until then, I hope everyone has a good week and good weather.
Rosemary, we were not big fans of KEEPING FAITH. I think we watched the first series, but that was it. (There were three series overall.) We did like the very dark HINTERLAND, though. We’ve since seen stars Richard Harrington and Mali Harries in other shows – Harrington in SPPOKS (MI-5), as one of Keeley Hawes’s boyfriends (we’re rewatching that) and DEATH IN PARADISE, Harries in the charming THE INDIAN DOCTOR (also Welsh), which starred Sanjeev Bhaskar of UNFORGOTTEN.
We finished the second series of NO OFFENCE and have one to go. Also rewatching SCOTT & BAILEY (on series two). And we’re about to finish the second series of MUM.
Jeff – apologies for the late reply, and thank you for the tip about THE INDIAN DOCTOR, which I have not seen.
I started HINTERLAND but found it very scary! I might try it again, but earlier, one evening.
I know what you mean about KEEPING FAITH; I am persevering in spite of Eve Myles rather than because of her, though I suppose she might have been told to act Faith the way she does. The two little girls are very good.
Rosemary! You have such a descriptive post. I’m ready to come over just for the almond croissants. Your art exhibits sound interesting, and the tribute to Burt Bacharach sounds fun.
Next week is my music week – an Irish tenor on Wednesday, Mamma Mia! on Thursday, and The High Kings and Gaelic Storm on March 17. Celtic music for St. Patrick’s week.
The book might have been awful, but I enjoyed your review of Never Greener. I think you’ve been spending time with Glen.
Asterix is a great comic. They used to be very hard to come by here, but lately, you can get them much more easily.
That sounds like a fascinating biography, Lesa. As for me, I’m in the middle of the second in Mick Herron’s Slough House series, DEAD LIONS (2013). His writing is brilliant, and the book is very clever. I’m already looking forward to the third. I’m also reading a friend’s manuscript (a novella, not a mystery), and it’s very good–which is a relief! I know she’s a very skilled writer, but it’s always nerve-wracking to have to comment on a friend’s work.
It is fascinating, Kim. And, she and her husband married in Bern! I couldn’t sleep last night, so I got up and read another 100 pages before trying to go back to sleep.
We seem to have never ending rain this week. But it’s better than snow. Our library just started lending out jigsaw puzzles so we borrowed a couple to work on while we’re stuck inside.
I read Steven Havill’s newest Posadas County mystery, PERFECT OPPORTUNITY. I have to say that my mom liked it more than I did. I found the story slow and think it’s time for him to retire Bill Gastner except as a source of information. His being out and about in the desert on a motorized wheelchair helping solve crimes in his 80s just doesn’t work for me.
The latest Hamish Macbeth book, DEATH OF A SPY. The books have changed some since M.C. Beaton died but it was entertaining which is all I’ve ever looked for in this series.
My hometown library lends out jigsaw puzzles, Sandy, and my mother borrows quite a few. When I go home, we usually go over and pick out one or two to read.
I have Perfect Opportunity on a TBR pile. I’m guessing you’re right about Bill Gastner. I didn’t even read the last one.
Totally disagree about Gastner. For what that it worth. I thought the book was really good.
The Posada County books are among my favorites and I am happy there’s a new one. I believe Havill is around 79 years old, so I am always afraid each book will be the last.
More than a bit of snow this past weekend. The interstate was closed for at least two days. The wind caused several hours-long power outages, but we were prepared enough. Hopefully that was the last big storm of the season.
Quite the productive reading week though, three hits with one miss:
RESURRECTION WALK the thirty-eighth novel by the always readable Michael Connelly. Courtroom scenes, police detectives, DNA evidence and corruption. From the way the ending was written it might be the last in the Lincoln Lawyer series as Mickey Haller spends a night in jail reevaluating his life and does his own resurrection walk.
The fourth and concluding book in a local series, THE DYING TIME by Bernard Schopen, features PI /lawyer Jack Ross. Fun series for the local color and adventures. This final book involves an identity case, with the aging PI thinking about family and death.
I’ve enjoyed reading the Cat Kinsella police procedural series by Caz Frear. FIVE BAD DEEDS is her first stand-alone thriller. Ellen is a teacher, mother, wife and all-around good citizen. But someone is out to ruin her life. It’s a well planned story and intended to be thought-provoking, but unfortunately too full of selfish, manipulative characters for my taste.
I did acquire a new word (primarily UK) “gazump”: to unfairly acquire a property by making a better offer than one that has already been accepted by the seller.
And the always dependable Laurie R. King returns to the Mary Russell series with the 18th historical mystery, THE LANTERN’S DANCE. The story takes place in rural France with earlier portions in Chandernagore, India and the English countryside. The plotline is a grand puzzle with interesting characters and vivid descriptions.
I’m currently reading a popular nonfiction book and listening to a shortstory collection, so more next week.
MM, I totally agree with you. I really liked Caz Frears’ series, but could not get into this standalone at all. Who cares about these awful people? Not me. It was a big disappointment.
I hope you’re right about the last big storm of the season, MM. I know you’re used to them, though.
So many aging PIs and detectives in some of our favorite series! I’m wondering who will replace them.
I wonder too, sometimes with a real sense of dread that I’ll be reading nothing but nonfiction some day.
Connelly has already said, in various places, Resurrection Walk is NOT the last in the series.
That CIA book does sound good. It sounds like something we’ll be seeing on television one of these days.
We had a rainy day yesterday so stayed in, though it was nothing like the downpour we had over the weekend. Today is Thursday, so Brunch Day, and today we’re going south to meet several of my cousins, also retired and down here for the winter.
Books. Jackie had a particularly good week. First it was Ashley Poston’s THE DEAD ROMANTICS, a book she really got emotionally involved with. She had to keep reading to see how the improbable romance would be resolved, and she was happy with the end. Now it is J. D. Robb’s RANDOM IN DEATH, and I can tell how much she likes it by how much she quotes to me of the doings of Eve & Roarke & Peabody and the rest. Up next for her is the second Iris Yamashita book.
I read – quickly – Shannon Reed’s WHY WE READ: ON BOOKWORMS, LIBRARIES and JUST ONE MORE PAGE BEFORE LIGHTS OUT, a book I really liked. Reed has taught at levels from pre-school to high school to university, and clearly she loves books and reading. I even added a couple of things to my “to be read” list.
I’m currently reading three collections of short stories, though I should finish the first two today. First is Nathan Ballingrud’s horror-fantasy collection, NORTH AMERICAN LAKE MONSTERS, with several creepy stories.
Jeffrey Marks is now the co-publisher with Doug Greene of Crippen & Landru, the excellent publishers who reprint so many short story collections. He has one of his own, UNDER INVESTIGATION, which Kevin reviewed here last week, if you want to check back. The “detective” in this short collection is Ulysses S. Grant. The first story is set in the Capitol after the Civil War in 1865, but the rest take place on or near the battlefield during the war, many around Vicksburg in 1863. Whether it is murder or stolen papers, Grant uses his common sense to solve the case, while wanting to get back to his tent for another whisky. I’m enjoying these and it is available in a cheap Kindle edition.
Third is a series of interconnected short stories (that some consider a novel), Elizabeth Strout’s Pulitzer Prize-winning OLIVE KITTERIDGE, a book I’ve been meaning to read for years. Olive is a retired teacher (although in earlier stories she is still teaching), a prickly person. One story is from her husband’s perspective, and there are other characters who occasionally take center stage. Good book.
I’m 25% through the first Quentin Bates book about grumpy Icelandic cop Gunnhildur (Gunna) Gisladottir, set during the Icelandic financial crisis of 2008. (This was published in 2011.) A man drowns, supposedly a drunk who just fell in the harbor. But if so, how did he get to the village 100 km. north of Reykjavik? Of course, we know he was pushed in the water. I’ve read a number of Icelandic mysteries over the years, and so far this one is pretty good.
Have a good week.
Jeff, Mendez’ late husband was Tony Mendez, author of Argo. Both of her husbands were in the CIA, too. I’m really enjoying this book.
So happy to hear Jackie liked The Dead Romantics! She and I both know we don’t often get emotionally involved in a book, but that one sucks you in.
I liked Quentin Bates’ first book.
Enjoy your week, despite the rain!
Thanks you for the plug. Did not see the news he was now co-publisher. Very cool!
We have your weather, Lesa. A break from the rain and then it comes back tomorrow and Saturday. It was nearly 75° on Monday.
I read The Predictable Heartbreaks of Imogen Finch by Jacqueline Firkens this week. I didn’t care for it nuch.
I did like Everyone on this Train is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson. I actually liked it more than his first book.
On TV we are enjoying Vera and The Bay on Britbox. We also watched Britain by the Book with Martin Clunes on Acorn TV. His co-presenter and friend was rather a disaster but we loved the scenery and listening to him read poetry was a real treat.
Happy Reading!
We weren’t quite as warm as you, Sharon, but I did enjoy the spring weather for a couple days. I hope it’s here for good soon!
I’m always behind in my reading. I want to read Everyone on This Train is a Suspect, and just haven’t gotten around to it. But, I’m loving the two books I’m reading!
Wow, I want to read that book!
I just finished a book that I want to throw away, Welcome to the Club by DJ Paulette, desperate for low-priced books, I took it for a dollar on Amazon Vine. It was written by DJ in Britain and I had no clue about most of the names (except Elton John). It was a black woman’s venture into the man’s world of being a DJ, She faced sexual, racial, and sexual discrimination. I could feel her anger but she also fell into of a life of drugs, alcohol, and the loneliness of Covid 19. But I wanted her to go into how she got out of all that in the book. I knew where she had been but, the telling was a blur.
Yesterday, I received a win from GoodReads, Rearranged An Opera Singer’s Facial Cancer And Life Transposed by Kathleen Watt. I am eager to start this book, it will be a gruesome journey but I scanning through it, I am much more hopeful.
Carol, It’s an excellent book. I got up in the middle of the night, and read another 100 pages. I got it from the library, so maybe your library has it, or will get it soon. So readable!
Your book sounds quite intriguing, Lesa!
The one boom I’ve read recently that I really enjoyed and recommend is HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN by Joyce Maynard.
Description from NetGalley
From New York Times bestselling author Joyce Maynard comes the eagerly anticipated follow-up to her beloved novel Count the Ways—a complex story of three generations of a family and its remarkable, resilient, indomitable matriarch, Eleanor.
Following the death of her former husband, Cam, fifty-four-year-old Eleanor has moved back to the New Hampshire farm where they raised three children to care for their brain-injured son, Toby, now an adult. Toby’s older brother, Al, is married and living in Seattle with his wife; their sister, Ursula, lives in Vermont with her husband and two children. Although all appears stable, old resentments, anger, and bitterness simmer just beneath the surface.
How the Light Gets In follows Eleanor and her family through fifteen years (2010 to 2024) as their story plays out against a uniquely American backdrop and the events that transform their world (climate change, the January 6th insurrection, school violence) and shape their lives (later-life love, parental alienation, steadfast friendship). With her trademark sensitivity and insight, Joyce Maynard paints an indelible portrait of characters both familiar and new making their way over rough, messy, and treacherous terrain to find their way to what is, for each, a place to call “home.”
The one *boom* . . .
Aargh . . .
Book. The one book . . .
I’ve always found Maynard an interesting character, ever since she went public about her affair with JD Salinger when she was a teenager. I’ve read some of her non fiction books, starting with LOOKING BACK: A CHRONICLE OF GROWING UP OLD IN THE SIXTIES. It’s interesting that when she looked back at that book 50 years later, she wished she could change it all. But it is a good picture of that time and how she was then.
Oh, I don’t know, Kaye. I kind of like “the one boom”. I’m reading a “boom” right now. Kate Quinn’s July release, The Briar Club, is wonderful. Set during the McCarthy era in a boardinghouse in D.C. with women’s friendship and secrets. Just terrific! Boom! I like that.
Oh oh oh that is a book that is on my list! I have a “pending” request. BoOm, it sounds good!
Last weekend we were expecting rain, but it was pretty light. Then yesterday we got rain in the morning and afternoon, and it was a medium heavy rain. It was all welcome.
Tomorrow we are going to the Santa Barbara International Orchid Show. Lots of gorgeous displays of orchids and some for sale. We mainly enjoy the displays and take photos.
This week we watched an adaptation of a Miss Marple mystery, THE MOVING FINGER, with Joan Hickson. I enjoyed it. The plot was about poison pen letters being sent to just about everybody in the village.
This week I read THE SILVER SWAN by Benjamin Black (pseudonym of John Banville). Set in Ireland in the 1950s, it is the 2nd book about Quirke, a pathologist. A very unusual mystery; the pace is slow and it seems more like a character study or a lot of character studies thrown together. The writing is good, as expected, and I liked it.
I am currently reading DEFECTORS by Joseph Kanon about a group of defected American and British spies in Moscow during the Cold War. The first book I have read by Joseph Kanon, and I don’t think it will be my last.
Glen is reading THE HONJIN MURDERS by Seishi Yokomizo, first published in 1946. Since it is a Japanese mystery, and the first in a series (or at least the first translated), I am sure I will read it sometime this year.
Oh, enjoy the orchid show, Tracy. It sounds lovely.
Interesting that we’re both reading about spies during the Cold War. Enjoy Defectors.
Hi Lesa, It’s nice and sunny outside right now but lots of rain and possible thunderstorms for Saturday. Great day for reading! I am listening to The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood on audio for my commute. On kindle, switching between Why We Read by Shannon Reed & Summer’s End by Juneau Black (releases 7/9). My print book is No Exit by Taylor Adams.
I’ve read a couple of those, Katherine, The Marlow Murder Club and Why We Read. I hope you enjoy them.
We’ve had drizzle, and I’m expecting more this weekend.
To answer the question, my current read is— Cold to the Touch: A Thriller by Kerri Hakoda. I would describe it more as a Police Procedural than a thriller. Reading it by way of the publisher and NetGalley You can learn more at https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/book/307945
I agree with you, Kevin – more police procedural than thriller. I prefer police procedurals anyways.