Thirty-four degrees! It was thirty-four here when I got up this morning. Too cold for me, and I know it’s only going to get colder in the winter. We are going to have temperatures in the 70s by the weekend. More my type of weather.
I’m up at my Mom’s through the weekend, and then next week we’re going on a family train trip. So, I might not be around much, and I certainly won’t be reading much right now.
Here’s a heads-up on a March release, Lauren Willig’s The Girl from Greenwich Street. True crime fans and fans of historical mysteries may like this one. Based on the true story of a famous trial, this novel is Law and Order: 1800, as Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr investigate the shocking murder of a young woman who everyone—and no one—seemed to know.At the start of a new century, a shocking murder transfixes Manhattan, forcing bitter rivals Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr to work together to save a man from the gallows.
Just before Christmas 1799, Elma Sands slips out of her Quaker cousin’s boarding house—and doesn’t come home. Has she eloped? Run away? No one knows—until her body appears in the Manhattan Well. Her family insists they know who killed her. Handbills circulate around the city accusing a carpenter named Levi Weeks of seducing and murdering Elma. But privately, quietly, Levi’s wealthy brother calls in a special favor….Aaron Burr’s legal practice can’t finance both his expensive tastes and his ambition to win the 1800 New York elections. To defend Levi Weeks is a double win: a hefty fee plus a chance to grab headlines.
Alexander Hamilton has his own political aspirations; he isn’t going to let Burr monopolize the public’s attention. If Burr is defending Levi Weeks, then Hamilton will too. As the trial and the election draw near, Burr and Hamilton race against time to save a man’s life—and destroy each other.
I really liked this book. All of the trial transcript is taken from the actual transcript, but Willig made it interesting and readable.
I’ll remind you when it comes out.
What about you? How’s your weather? What are you reading right now?
Sex & Violins, edited by Sandra Murphy. The anthology comes out at the end of the month from Misti Media.
Well Glen, that title certainly paints a picture or two….:-)
Sorry, Kevin not Glen.
Love Rosemary’s answer. She’s right, Kevin.
It does. It also is accurate.
Several of us read Lee Goldberg’s CALICO last year. I followed up yesterday with a visit to the silver mining ghost town. 88 degrees in the early afternoon, plenty warm. Calico is part of the San Bernardino County Regional Parks system. Appropriately enough, the power was out for a few hours. The cutest moment was two small children chasing the native chukars, thinking they were chickens.
And one book to mention, A WORLD OF HURT by Mindy Mejia. It’s a wonderful thriller, pitting cops against drug dealers in the shadow of Covid. With a constantly shifting perspective of who the good guys are and which are the enemy. Great characters light up the plot.
What a great trip MM. And I’m going to look up A World of Hurt, in the probably over optimistic hope that our library might have it.
Oh, I think that’s great, MM, that you went to Calico. I think one or two other readers have been there. That’s probably more fun to see it after reading the book.
I loved CALICO and great that you were able to visit it.
That’s so cool! Calico was one of my favorites last year, and it’s fun to hear about the real-life place.
The most exciting thing this week was that our daughter and her husband went to Chicago so that he could run in the marathon. It was his first time there and he had a lot of fun. Very sore legs afterwards (why do people do this to themselves?!) but he said it was totally worth it. Completed the run in 3:33.01. Not quite as good as he’d been aiming for (which was 3:25) but he was happy with it anyway.
This week I read:
UKULELE OF DEATH by E.J. Copperman
This is the first book by E.J. Copperman that I’ve read, and I’m wondering if my introduction to his work should have begun with his Haunted Guesthouse mystery series instead. By his own admission, Ukulele of Death is ‘weirder than usual’.
It’s a light mystery with a slightly paranormal twist. Fran and Ken Stein are a brother/sister duo who have started a private detective agency to help adoptees and others find their missing parents, just as they themselves would like to find their own parents.
I don’t think it’s giving too much away to say that early on we discover that Fran and Ken weren’t ‘born’ so much as built/assembled by their parents. This has given them some abilities that do not quite fall into the realm of normalcy. Since a young age they’ve lived with their aunt because their parents supposedly died in a car crash.
A new client has hired Fran and Ken to find a particular rare ukulele because she believes it’s the key to finding her father. Oddly, as they investigate the case it seems to have a connection to their own parents and things get even more complicated.
I didn’t dislike the book, and I was interested to find out how everything came together in the end, but there wasn’t a lot in the way of characterization or description. There was a lot of dialogue, which is something I usually quite like, but the tone was generally sarcastic which was meant to be humorous, but because there was so much of it it became irritating/annoying. To me, anyway.
THE SECOND LIFE OF MIRIELLE WEST by Amanda Skenandore
Somehow I missed this book when it came out three years ago but I’m so happy to have discovered it now. What a great book!
Mirielle is a socialite wife in Los Angeles in the roaring 20s, is married to a silent-film star, and is the mother of two daughters. At the beginning of the novel we learn she suffers from depression, which is causing tension in her marriage. One day she burns her finger on a hair appliance, the doctor is called, and while there he examines a pale patch of skin on her hand. The unexpected and disastrous diagnosis is leprosy and she is immediately sent to Carville, a leper colony in Louisiana, to be forcibly quarantined there. (Carville was a real place, and the only colony for lepers in the United States at that time.) Mirielle’s life is completely upended; her wealth, social status, husband, children, even her real name – all gone in an instant.
The story is about her ‘second life’ now that she’s a patient at Carville. She goes into it kicking and screaming, in full denial of the diagnosis. This book is sad, heart-breaking, sensitively told, and at the same time so life-affirming. Through wonderful storytelling (not ‘lessons’) we learn much about leprosy and the myriad ways it manifested and the kinds of horrors that could – and did – befall. Almost worse than the physical aspect was the emotional one; the stigma of the disease, the constant fear and rejection by the outside world. The patients’ hopes, dreams, despair, and longing are intertwined with so much humanity, and all of it skilfully and oh so believably rendered. We come to care for each character, we feel it all, we ache for them and for all they’ve lost. And yet it’s not a depressing book, there isn’t a dull page in it anywhere, and at times the tension is almost unbearable.
A wonderful historical fiction novel – eye-opening, affecting, and thoroughly immersive. I loved it and it’s definitely one of the best books I’ve read so far this year.
Lindy, my daughter-in-law and also the daughter of a friend run a lot of marathons and also do triathlons. Like you I can’t imagine why they put themselves through these things, but they seem to love them. When we had a long arranged meal in Edinburgh for my husband’s 60th birthday, my son and DIL had forgotten the date and she had entered a triathlon the next day (they live several hours’ drive north of Edinburgh.) My daughter said, and I agreed, that that would have been, for us, the perfect excuse to get out of the triathlon – but instead they drove home through the night so that she could still do it – and despite lack of sleep she apparently did quite well.
The Second Life of Mirielle West sounds very interesting – I’ll look for it.
Lindy! Congratulations to your son-in-law for running the Chicago marathon. My niece is coming in this weekend to run the half marathon in Columbus. She’s done that before. Her brother, who has run the marathon, picks on her because she only runs the half. As a non-runner (a non-exerciser), I say more power to her.
The Second Life of Mirielle West sounds interesting. We don’t even think about leprosy today. I can’t imagine how lives changed!
While still making baby steps toward Hurricane Helene recovery here in the Western NC mountains 300 miles from the coast, which will take years, we had snow last night. But, you know, climate change is just a myth . . . (insert me saying BS).
I’m reading, thanks to NetGalley, the next J. D. Robb, Bonded on Death. I love, love, love this series.
Kaye! I’m so glad you got Bonded in Death. This one sounds a little different, too.
Oh, I’m sure it’s going to take years. I can’t even imagine how Hurricane Helene changed lives and communities. Sending love.
Things are cooling down here, and we even got a little bit of rain, like most years at this time.
Went to a Halloween Craft Show. It was a lot of fun, even though I don’t really regard animatronics a “craft.” Most of the food trucks were for Filipino food, which was a bit of a surprise.
This week I read:
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O’Brien; They made a movie out this which was probably too scary for most the kids that watched it. The book is scary too, but it isn’t on screen.
Death in a Strange Country by Donna Leon; A man with no identification is found in a canal. Brunetti begins investigating, and finds the man is an American, working in a fort. From there, it’s a vast conspiracy, that hits too close to home.
A Quiche Before Dying by Jill Churchill; A fairly early cozy. Yes, a certain set of Baby Boomers really were this smug in 1993. Too much CNN.
Oh, I remember Jill Churchill’s books, Glen. I used to read all of them. She did make me mad in one of them when it came to the guinea pig. I don’t know if you read or remember that one.
I don’t know if I ever read Mrs. Frisby because of the word rats in the title.
Lesa,
The movie was a huge deal back in the day. Every little kid saw it, because it was animated, but some of them, and some of their parents, regretted it, because it was intense for a kids’ movie.
Glen, I read all the Jill Churchill books too. Along with the Max and Annie books from Carolyn Hart that were about the same time frame.
My daughters watched The Secret of Nimh movie when it came out. I remember it being very dark. Dom DeLuise did one of the voices.
It’s cooled down to the 70’s this week. Actually, I’d be surprised if it got that warm here today. Fall is coming, and I’m not at all happy about it.
Reading wise, I’m working on The General’s Gold by Lyndee Walker & Bruce Robert Coffin. It’s part mystery but mostly treasure hunt. It started a little slowly (set up), but once it got going, it really took off and I’ve had a hard time putting it down.
I’m with you, Mark, not at all happy when it gets too cooler.
Kevin Tipple likes this series by Walker & Coffin.
That I do. I have the book, but am horribly behind.
Hi Lesa and everyone
I didn’t manage to call in here last week – time just got away from me. And once again I am writing this on Wednesday night because I can see that Thursday will be a bit frantic.
It’s very wet and windy here today, but a lot warmer than it has been. Just a couple of days ago I had to de-ice my car. So unpredictable – but that is par for the course in the UK.
Last week we went to a talk at the university about a caricaturist called Mary Dalry, who lived and worked in London in the mid 1700s. She was an interesting woman, working in what was largely a man’s world and, with her husband, becoming very successful. In those days caricatures were churned out overnight after any notable political or social event. They were reproduced on little cards the size of a phone screen and sold cheaply – they were, said the speaker, ‘the social media of their day’.
The lecturer who gave the talk has carried out extensive research into Mary’s life, but has come upon some frustrating lacunae that she simply cannot fill. She showed us a map of 18th century London; I had no idea that the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square is built on the site of the original St Martin’s workhouse – which is where poor Mary ended up, having suffered an undocumented and so far inexplicable fall in her fortunes. One of her daughters married and moved to Plymouth in Devon; she became immensely wealthy, but for reasons unknown she did not bail her mother out. Perhaps she simply did not know of Mary’s distress – it was a long way from London to the West Country in those days – or maybe they had fallen out.
After the lecture we went to one of my favourite cafes in Aberdeen, Kilau. It is on the High Street, which is one of the cobbled streets in Old Aberdeen – it’s nothing like a town ‘high street’, the buildings are small and as old as the university, and the only other shops are Kilau’s takeaway section, a Blackwell’s bookshop and a baker’s – fundamentally it’s an area for students and academics. Kilau’s sit-in area is upstairs, with an outside courtyard which is nice in summer. It serves lunches, but more importantly fabulous baking. The scones are 5* (and there aren’t many in Aberdeen to which I’d award that), served warm with French butter and good jam. So delicious. And the waiting staff are just lovely too. Unsurprisingly Kilau is always busy.
Books:
I read Louise Welsh’s TO THE DOGS, her latest novel, but I’m sorry to say I didn’t find it that good. It’s set in Glasgow, but for some reason we are never told that. It’s about Jim, a university criminology lecturer who has left behind his father’s violent and nefarious ways, and is leading a respectable life with his architect wife and two children. He’s in line to become the new Chancellor of the university, and he’s heavily involved in negotiations for the building of a new state-of-the-art centre – with the funding coming from Saudi Arabia.
Jim’s elder child is already something of a juvenile delinquent, involved in petty crime and frequently needing to be bailed out by his parents. When he gets in way above his head in a drugs deal, he’s not only sent to prison – the people he’s cheated are far more powerful than him, and they want the money he ‘owes’ them, with substantial interest on top. If they don’t get it, their contacts on the inside will kill him. Jim and his wife could turn their backs, but instead Jim tries to broker an entirely illegal deal to save his son’s skin. Meanwhile Jim’s students – and some of his staff – are incandescent at the idea of anything in the university being paid for by a repressive regime. How is he going to manage that issue, and more importantly how is he going to protect his son without risking his career and his respectability?
This could have been an interesting look at parental loyalties, and how far they can be stretched. Instead the plot became more and more complicated and unrealistic, and not a single one of the characters provoked any empathy, let alone sympathy. I’m not sure if that was because they simply were not well developed, or were just unpleasant people.
I felt Welsh was trying to do too many things here, with none of them properly developed – the parent/child thing, the university funding issues, the backhanders that various building companies may or may not have taken to win the contract. I imagine the author was trying to bring all of these themes together, but for me it just did not work.
I finished it, but only just.
I’ve also just re-read SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE by Claire Keegan, which I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned before. It’s a short, slight, but completely brilliant novel, maybe more of a novella, about an ordinary man who finds himself faced with a potentially life-changing decision.
Bill Furlong is a fuel merchant in 1980s New Ross in Ireland. He keeps his head down and works hard. Two of his five daughters are already at the best school in the town, which is run by the nuns. He needs to make sure the remaining three follow in their footsteps. But one winter’s day, when he is delivering to the convent, he comes across a miserable young woman locked in the coal shed. She has clearly just given birth. She begs him to help her.
Bill realises then what everyone else in the town already knows – the convent is one of the notorious Magdalen Laundries, which existed in Ireland as late as 1996. Unmarried girls who became pregnant were sent to these dreadful places and treated appallingly. Their babies were then taken away from them and sold to childless couples, some in Ireland and some in the US.
Bill must decide whether to help Sarah, risking his daughters’ education and also his own business and standing in the close-knit community, or turn a blind eye – for, as everyone he knows tells him, it’s dangerous to rock the boat when the Catholic church controls every single thing in the town. But Bill himself was the child of an unmarried servant girl; her employer, a Protestant woman with no children of her own, did not throw his mother out of the house, but instead treated both her and Bill kindly. He grew up in a warm and happy home, helped by Mrs Wilson and also the yard man, Ned. Now he can’t help but think what would have become of him if Mrs Wilson had not been prepared to ‘rock the boat’. Thousands of newborn babies died in Magdalen laundries; their bodies were found years later in mass graves. Bill could have been one of them, but thanks to Mrs Wilson he wasn’t.
SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE is a wonderful, subtle, gem of a story, told in few words but words that convey so much. And Keegan has such an ear for dialogue, you’d think you were in New Ross yourself. I can’t recommend this book highly enough.
Now I’m reading two books: the first is A COLD DAY FOR MURDER by Dana Stabenow, which I think was the first in her Kate Shugak series, all set in the Alaskan national park.
Kate is a native Aleut who, much against her grandmother’s wishes, left the park to work as a police officer in Anchorage. Now she’s back, living alone in a remote homestead with her half wolf, half dog companion, Mutt. After a violent incident that almost left her dead she has quit the police and is now working as a private investigator. In A Cold Day for Murder she is asked to find out what happened to a Park ranger who disappeared, and to the detective sent in by the Anchorage DA’s office to look for him – both have disappeared without trace.
I love these books because they tell me about life in a beautiful, remote, harsh part of the world which I am unlikely ever to visit. Stabenow does not write tourist brochures; she describes the stunning landscape of this sparsely populated part of Alaska, but doesn’t spare us the huge problems for the indigenous people, the effects of the oil pipeline on the various communities, and the complicated arrangements people have to make just to survive in the frozen north. Absolutely fascinating, and Kate is a great character too (though I like Mutt best…)
My second book is DIARY OF A YOUNG NATURALIST by Dara McAnulty, a young autistic man from Northern Ireland. It’s written in diary form, and chronicles Dara’s everyday life, his loving (and largely also autistic) family, the problems he has at school, the joy of the trips the family makes to places like Rathen Island, but most of all his deep love for nature and his close observations of birds, mammals and insects. The book won the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing, and turned Dara into something of a celebrity. He’s a great friend of the well know UK author and TV presenter Chris Packham.
I’ve also just borrowed a Louise Erdrich novel, THE NIGHT WATCHMAN, from the library, having heard Paul and Trevor singing her praises on THE MOOKSE AND THE GRIPES podcast. Has anybody else read anything by her?
We’ve been to a few concerts lately too.
Tom Robinson was absolutely fantastic. He’s been performing since I was at university, he’s now 74, has had a knee replacement, and explains that he can no longer come down and chat with people after the show, owing to his numerous post-covid chest infections, and also that he can never remember the words to any new songs, so has to write them down, then has to get his glasses out to read them – but my goodness he and his band were on excellent form and belted out all their hits.
The club was packed out with a very enthusiastic audience; we managed to be right at the front, and had a great night singing along with everyone to 2-4-6-8 Motorway, War Baby and Glad to be Gay. Tom is such a lovely man, so friendly and unassuming; his political views are as strong and sound as ever too; he’s an all-round good guy. The support was a young man called Rob Green – he was great too. Tom has been promoting him on his Radio 6 programme – he’s a big supporter of young musicians.
Then on Sunday evening we went to quite a different event – a small musical evening at Arkade, the artist-led studios that I try to support. One of the artists, Alan Davidson, is also a musician and records his albums down there. He had invited his friend PG Six (aka Pat Gubler), a folk singer from New York State, to perform. We had never heard of him but we enjoyed his set very much. It was all very laid back and friendly – most of the other people there were studio residents, some of whom I know, so it was good to catch up; it’s a very warm and welcoming community.
At the moment I am busy with applications for the micro-commissions that we offer at the art gallery. Every year we try to award three of these, one of £2,500 and two of £1,000. Last year we had about 10 applications – this year we have 29, and each one has to be carefully read, and scored according to eight different criteria. So far I am up to number 8 – and I really need to get this finished before going away again next Tuesday, when we are off to Manchester and Buxton (Peak District). In Manchester we will attend two concerts – Tindersticks and then G.O.A.T. I love Tindersticks but had never even heard of G.O.A.T until David said he wanted to see them. They perform in masks. Goodness knows what this will be like.
I hope to join in here next week, but I’ll be in Buxton and may not be able to. I miss everyone when I can’t take part though!
Have a good week all.
Rosemary, you are so much busier than we are! I’m enjoying your activities vicariously. I read a dozen or so of Dana Stabenow’s Alaskan series, but somewhere along the way I stopped. I totally agree on Claire Keegan.
We have one last episode on series three of THE TOWER to go. It’s OK but not a favorite. Gemma Whelan plays a much more admirable character here than she does in DI RAY. Also watching RIDLEY, one two-part episode at a time. We’re on series 3 of FAT FRIENDS, and looks like Val and Alan have both left.
I agree with Jeff. You’re always so busy! I love the sound of your Aberdeen trip, the lecture and the cafe!
I love Claire Keegan’s books. I wish there were more, but if she was more prolific, they might not be such beautiful, thoughtful books.
Even if you don’t join next week, we want to hear about G.O.A.T. eventually!
Rosemary, you make all the things you do, and places you go sound so interesting. The talk about Mary the caricaturist sounds fascinating. And I sure do wish I could try one of those scones from Kilau. A good scone is a wondrous thing.
It’s been in the 50s here the past few days. Next week’s supposed to be highs around 80 all week before it drops back into the 60s. A single room opened up at my mom’s assisted living facility so we moved her out of the shared room this week which meant I didn’t get a lot of reading time. I did find two novellas.
A Wish in the Wind by Kay Bratt is part of a series of romances set in a small Vermont town where people tie wishes to a tree and sometimes they come true.
Unbreakable by Mira Grant. Set in an alternate version of our world, children are tapped by heralds to become superheroes who protect our world from outside forces. After the last battle killed all but two of the protectors and lots of civilians, the government decided that we no longer need protectors and has locked the two survivors up for the past 13 years and painted them as evil.
I’m glad your mother got a single room, Sandy. I’m sure it makes a difference.
I like novellas. They make me feel as if I read something when I don’t have the time.
We had 100 degrees and the next day, it got up to 76! I want to go outside despite the warning of extremely high pollen account. Supposed to wear a heavy duty mask!
I finished a book that I won from LibraryThing: The Tears Behind The Dream: The True Story of a British Expatriate in Libya – From Bliss to War to Rape…by BAHIA K. I vow to need go to Libya where women are raped but the government doesn’t think it is possible and the only compensation offered is to marry the rapist!
Now, reading The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter. I won it back in June and after help from GoodReads, finally got the book. It is about an emotionally damaged cozy writer, divorced, and no family living wreck of a woman who gets invited to her idol of her youth, a prolific elderly mystery writer’s mansion in England. A handsome thriller writer of books ( with a lot of action scenes, car chases), not the type of book she likes.
It has funny moments and cozy insider references, not that deep but good when you are in pain with a PSA attack on your left hand. Kind of clever and lght.
Oh, I have a copy of The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year, Carol. Your comment made me even more interested in reading it.
I’m sorry. I know you’re in pain a lot, and you don’t complain about it. Sending hugs.
Thank you so much!
I’m enjoying the mood swings of Ohio weather right along with you, Lesa! I’m waiting until it warms up a little to walk the dog today. This book sounds pretty interesting! A couple of my friends love historical mysteries, and this would be right up their alley.
I’m currently reading The Moonstone. I read it a very long time ago, but now that I write, I’m rereading it with an appreciation for how it influenced the mystery genre. I’d forgotten what a long book it is, but the characters are so interesting that it flies by! I’m about halfway through it now and hoping to find a good BBC adaptation once I’ve finished the book.
Oh, you’re enjoying those weather mood swings more than I am, Kate. I could live with 70-80 all year.
It was an excellent book! In March, I’ll review the book, and you can remember then to tell people about it when they can get their hands on the book.
34 degrees! Yikes! That is way too cold for October. It turned a lot colder here too – the apartment building turned the heat on for the first time this morning, at 6 – but we’re supposed to have another stretch of 70s starting on Saturday. Our real problem, though, is the lack of rain, as it has been dry for the most part since the beginning of September. Oh well, the way I look at it is: one week to our anniversary, five weeks until Thanksgiving, 11 weeks (and a day) until we leave for Florida.
To books, then. Jackie read and enjoyed the latest Mercy Thoimpson book by Patricia Briggs, WINTER LOST, but said it was not like most of the rest of the series. She has now started the new J. D. Robb Eve Dallas book, PASSIONS IN DEATH.
As mentioned in a late comment last Thursday, I did race through the last half of James Byrne’s The Gatekeeper, first Dez Limerick book, and I’m sure I will be reading the second in due course.
If you like thrillers – fast moving books with a lot of action and tension hat keeps you turning the pages far into the night – you really need to read the books by former flight attendant T. J. Newman, starting with Falling and Drowning: The Rescue of Flight 1421. In the former, a pilot is informed mid-flight that if he doesn’t crash the plane as instructed, his family will be killed. This puts you in the action immediately, and Newman has some nice twists along the way. In her second book, a plane goes down in the Pacific off Hawaii shortly after takeoff, and they must devise a rescue plan to save the people still alive onboard…under water. In both of her books, people die, so there is real risk and jeopardy, sometimes for characters we care about.
So there was no way that I was going to miss her new book, the appropriately named Worst Case Scenario, another tremendous page turned. This time, rather than an outside threat, the disaster is human. The pilot of a plane with 295 people aboard has a massive heart attack. By horrible chance, the co-pilot is out of the cockpit at the time, and the plane crashes, catastrophically, into a nuclear power plant an hour from Minneapolis. Anyone who has seen a few disaster movies can predict some of what comes next, but you don’t want to miss it anyway, as the workers at the nuclear plane and the town’s first responders must team up to prevent a meltdown that will make Chernobyl look like a picnic. Needless to say, probably, but all of her books will be on the big screen in due course. This is your chance to read the books first.
I mentioned Edward D. Hoch’s The Will-O’-The-Wisp Mystery last week, I believe. This is the latest new collection of his stories. The first six stories were published, monthly, in 1971 as by “Mr. X” and tell the tale of six people who escaped in a prison transfer jailbreak, with one recaptured in each story. The second half is seven stories, all about Catholic Priest David Noone. There is nothing unusual about these – no “impossible” or supernatural element – but what makes them interesting to me is that they were written over a 40 year period, with the first published in 1963 when Noone was a young priest, and the last in 2004.
Current reading:
Philip K. Dick, The Minority Report and Other Classic Stories, the fifth and final collection of his collected stories I’ve been reading.
Lee Goldberg, Ashes Never Lie. After five books in the Eve Ronin series and one featuring arson investigators Walter Sharpe and Andrew Walker, Goldberg brings the teams together in this fast moving mystery. The arson team first investigates a new house burned to the ground before it was even occupied.
Was it arson or caused by faulty wiring. Another apparent arson not far away brings in the homicide team when a dead body is found in the ruins. Arson is clear in this one, but was it murder or suicide? So far, it looks like Ronin and Walker are working together on this, so my favorite character, Eve’s partner Duncan, has little to do, but we’ll see where it goes from here. As always, Lee Goldberg is well worth reading. We visited the Los Angeles area several times when my parents and sisters moved there in the mid-’70s, but we haven’t been there in years, and clearly it has changed a lot since then.
Have a good week.
I agree, Jeff. Way too cold for mid-October! I hope your place in Florida is okay after the couple hurricanes that hit there. As of now, looks like the next ones are going to peter out. Hope so!
Isn’t if fun to have a couple authors you anticipate? I like that series by Lee Goldberg. And, I love the Dez Limerick books.
And, tell Jackie I always enjoy the J.D. Robb books!
Hello, everyone. You are all getting much more reading done than I am. My excuse is that I’m getting the fourth manuscript in my Linder and Donatelli series ready for a final submission. Reading and re-reading AND CORRECTING my own book takes time away from reading other people’s stuff. But I finished THE MOTH CATCHER, the next in Ann Cleeves’s Vera series and also read a book by Barbara Kingsolver that I’d missed, UNSHELTERED (2018). It’s set in the same New Jersey town in the present and in the 1870s, and I thought it was excellent. (I loved listening to DEMON COPPERHEAD, but the book I just finished is quite a bit shorter!!) Now listening to a historical novel by Emma Donahue (Room, The Wonder) called LEARNED BY HEART. I think she’s very good at writing about children.
Congratulations on reaching that point with your fourth book, Kim! It sounds like you and I have similar reading tastes. I love Barbara Kingsolver and Ann Cleeves’s Vera books as well!
Thanks, Kate! We clearly do like the same books, which is fun! Do you have another favorite author to recommend?
As Kate said, Kim, congratulations on getting that far in the process of your latest book. Kate would certainly understand.
I’m surprised you found the time with the work you’re putting in!
Good morning! It’s 59 degrees right now in my neck of the woods in northern CA, with a high of 71 planned! That’s the lowest yet this season. Eighties and seventies will prevail for the next 10 days at least. And as Glen mentioned, there was a smattering of rain yesterday. On Monday I ventured out for my first card game post-accident, and it was wonderful. It was at the person’s house which is farthest away from me (20 minutes), but my son willingly took me and picked me up. One of my card-playing buddies will drive me next time. I managed to make it through 3 books again this year, mainly because two of them were fast reads.
In the third book in Heather Fawcett’s engaging fantasy series, EMILY WILDE’S COMPENDIUM OF LOST TALES, esteemed Cambridge University dryadology professor and researcher Emily Wilde has published her Faerie Encyclopaedia and her Map of the Otherlands and is embarking on the most dangerous adventure in her life. Now engaged to her former academic rival, the dashing Wendell Bambleby, Emily joins him in risking everything to restore Wendell to his rightful position as king of his fairy realm–and establishing herself as his queen. The couple’s playful but deeply sincere relationship is still in evidence, but it tends to take a back seat to the action in this book. Almost everything in the fairy realm is not what it appears to be, and Wendell’s enemies are plentiful, including supporters of the late queen, who met her end in a previous book. I have to say that I preferred the first two books, where there was a good balance between the mortal world and the fairy realm. Emily does spend some time with friends from her former life, but Wendell stays mostly in the realm, which makes the story a little less entertaining for me (I don’t read a lot of fantasy). I did enjoy the intricate descriptions of each venue and each character or group of characters they encounter, thanks to the author’s boundless creativity. Even the animal characters are memorable. I’m not sure whether this is the last book in the series, but I appreciate all three books as enthralling and imaginative. (February)
CHRISTMAS WITH THE QUEEN by co-authors Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb is a lovely story about two friends who haven’t seen each other since post-war times but whose lives manage to intertwine in the early to mid-1950s in a surprising way. Louisiana native Jack is a chef who finds himself taking a temporary position in the kitchens at Sandringham, British royalty’s country retreat, part of the team preparing food for the newly promoted Queen Elizabeth II, her family, and their guests during the Christmas holidays. Olive, a single mother who has realized her dream of working for the BBC but is still very much under the thumb of the men in her department, suddenly gets to sub for her ailing boss to document the Royal Family’s Christmas preparations and events at Sandringham. An instant romance? Not even close. Jack is mourning the unexpected loss of his young wife, and Olive has an off-and-on relationship with another of their friends, while sharing the care of her daughter with her parents. Jack dreams of opening up his own restaurant someday, while Olive can’t seem to get the big assignments that could further her career. Chapters focus on each of the two alternately, and the Queen even has a few chapters of her own. The story is told in a straightforward way and is a quick read (I finished it in a day). I thoroughly enjoyed the interactions between the protagonists and the Royals (and each other) and the insight into what life might be like for a fledging queen in a position recently vacated by her deceased father. Delightful and satisfying. (November)
I love a good epistolary novel, and Kim Fay’s KATE AND FRIDA: A Novel of Friendship, Food and Books is topnotch. I enjoyed the author’s earlier book, Love and Saffron (also epistolary), and I loved the new book even more. Communicating by mail in the early 1990s ever since Frida–living in Paris–ordered a book from the Seattle store in which Kate worked, the two 20-somethings have clicked on an ever-deeper level. Each aspires to become a professional writer–Frida a war correspondent, and Kate a novelist. They first bond over the books they recommend to each other and gradually become fast friends, finding they are able to communicate with each other far more easily than with some others in their lives. As time passes, both experience challenges, some with family or romantic relationships and others with their worldview and whether it makes sense in their lives. The perspectives they gain from each other are often invaluable, but they must still deal with crises in their own way. Frida and Kate are very different in how they approach life, and both are equally appealing. Each undergoes significant character development throughout the book, which is fascinating to read. Secondary characters are are also poignantly drawn and come alive on the pages. There are serious issues to be dealt with, but there is also an abundance of humor. I finished this book in a day and found the ending to be perfect–heartening and gratifying. Highly recommended. (March)
Margie, I shall definitely keep an eye out for Christmas With the Queen and for Kate and Frida.
Thanks.
Margie, I too love a good epistolary novel, and cannot wait to read Kim Fay’s KATE AND FRIDA.
Oh, I just got Kate and Frieda yesterday, Margie, and I’m looking forward to it!
Christmas with the Queen sounds good. I didn’t read the earlier books by Heather Fawcett, but can see why this latest one might not be up to the others.
We have your same weather, Lesa. I love the crisp mornings and cooler sunny afternoons. It is supposed to be 75 early next week.
Two books for me. Maybe Next Time by Cesca Major was a Groundhog Day plot where literary agent, Emma is overwhelmed by her job and two children. Every year on their first date anniversary her husband, Dan writes a thoughtful letter about the past year and thoughts on their relationship. On an especially hectic Monday Emma forgets the letter, a fight ensues, and Dan is killed while taking the dog out. Emma is devastated but the next day it is Monday and Dan is there in bed next to her. The rest of the book is Emma trying to change her life to change the outcome. This was a quick-ish read and I enjoyed it. The ending was a surprise.
Next I read The Murders in Great Diddling by Katarina Bivald. Several commenters here already reviewed it to include Lesa. I enjoyed it especially the part about the book festival.
Enjoy your train trip, Lesa.
Happy Reading!
Those mornings are a little too crisp for me, Sharon! And, I’m sitting here at 5:45 with a sweater on in the house. Rather not!
Maybe Next Time sounds good.
As I mentioned in a comment earlier in the week, I read GATHERING MIST by Margaret Mizushima. I thought it was her best book yet. She dropped the arc about her family mystery (thank heavens). It is set in the Olympic Mountains in Washington instead of Colorado and that worked for me as I now live in eastern Washington (Margaret has moved from CO to WA).
Now I can’t wait for one of my libraries to get NIGHT WOODS.
Cindy, I totally agree with you about Margaret Mizushima’s book. Like you, I’m glad she dropped that family storyline. I was tired of it. We seemed to get the same bag guys over and over.
I am amazed that your temperature there was so low this morning. I would not be liking that at all either. It is way too early for that. I am glad you are spending time with your mother this weekend and a family train trip sounds very good.
I read one book this week: THEN WE TAKE BERLIN by John Lawton, and I finished it at 2:00 a.m. this morning. I was mad at myself for staying up to finish it because the ending was a real disappointment. But I loved the book up to the last 30 pages, so I am still rating it highly. And I am motivated to start reading the next book in the series soon. I read all of Lawton’s other series about Frederick Troy, and I liked most of the books in that series.
Glen is now reading two books:
ICONS OF ENGLAND, essays edited by Bill Bryson. He is finding that one a mixed bag.
And THE BEST OF MCSWEENEY’S INTERNET TENDENCY, edited by Chris Monks and John Warner. This one he is enjoying more; it is composed of brief essays from the McSweeney’s Internet Tendency website, which can be described as bizarre and satirical.
I agree, Tracy. Too early for cold weather. Even my Mother said it was cold this morning, and she doesn’t dislike cold weather as much as I do.
Well, darn. I’d be upset, too, if I stayed up so late and the last thirty pages didn’t live up to the book.
Bizarre and satirical sounds like it could be fun in small doses.