Happy Thursday! And, while you’re all still reading, next week we’re going to do What Are You Reading? on Wednesday. Some of us will be traveling, others cooking, and others just busy on Thursday. I’m sure I’ll be around in the morning, so if you happen to forget about it being a day early, I’ll still check in to see what you have to say. This year, I know a number of us are going to be stretching to find something to be grateful for, but I”ll always be thankful for all of you and books to read.
Now, for my first weather complaint for November. Snow! We’re supposed to have snow on Thursday morning this week. Since I’m writing this on Wednesday night, I know it won’t accumulate, and it will melt quickly since it was 60 on Wednesday, but everyone here knows I hate snow. Hate, hate, hate snow.
I do think my sister, Linda, and I are going to do something today, though. We might go to a movie, “Conclave” or “Red One”. We might go to Lancaster (Ohio) to the Decorative Arts Center. We might just have lunch together. Whatever we do, it’s nice just to have time together.
In the meantime, I’ve just started Craig Johnson’s novella, Tooth and Claw. He says it’s in the vein of Wait for Signs or Spirit of Steamboat. I’m liking it so far. Henry Standing Bear is telling retired sheriff Lucian Connally the true story from 1970 about his visit to Alaska where Walt Longmire was working after he returned from Vietnam. They encounter a polar bear that seems to be bent on killing them. But, the men they’re with may be worse.
It’s a perfect book for cold weather reading. However, I’ll be honest. Spirit of Steamboat will always be one of my favorite books, my Christmas read. This won’t replace that one.
What about you? What are you doing this week before Thanksgiving? What are you reading?
Lesa, although Thanksgiving is already over in Canada, I am also ever so grateful for books to read! They saved me all during my dysfunctional family childhood and have remained a necessary part of my life to this day, even though I don’t ‘need’ them in the same way as I did back then. But I will always feel grounded and safe if I’m surrounded by my books. When we moved last year and I had to cull my collection, every book that didn’t make the cut felt like I was betraying a friend. It was awful.
I’ve been very busy this week. Every year I say it but this year I’m making a true effort to get the bulk of Christmas thinking, shopping, wrapping, and family dinner (for 13 people) organizational planning done by the end of November so that I can be free to relax and enjoy all the wonderful pleasures of December instead of being overloaded with things to do. We’ll see how far I actually manage to get. The current Canada Post strike isn’t helping matters at all mind you.
Only one book this week:
A GRIM REAPER’S GUIDE TO CATCHING A KILLER by Maxie Dara
An entertaining cozy mystery with a twist. Kathy works for S.C.Y.T.H.E.. She’s a grim reaper whose job it is to collect the souls from people who have died, and transport them to be ‘processed’ so they can go on to wherever they’re meant to be next. This is safe, routine work.
Kathy has problems though – she’s in her 40s, has self-esteem issues, is pregnant with her soon-to-be ex-husband’s baby, and she’s terribly afraid she won’t be a good enough mother. As stressful as all of that is, by far her biggest problem right now is that she’s come to collect the soul of a 17-year-old dead boy named Conner but it’s not there. This has never happened to her before. Why is the soul not still with the boy’s body, and where on earth can it be?! Find it she does however, but even so, things don’t go smoothly because Conner says he was murdered and refuses to go with her until she finds out who killed him and why. Time is of the essence because ‘processing’ always needs to be done within 45 days otherwise the soul is doomed to be a ghost in the place they died forever more.
This was a fun, page-turning read where the mystery almost took a back seat to the surprisingly touching and emotional story of friendship and found family under the most unusual of circumstances.
Snow–I don’t miss it from my PA days. Sometimes we get a sprinkle, which immediately disappears (where I am in northern CA). However, we are already having a lot of rain, and sometimes the temps have dipped into the early 30s at night. Brrr! OK, don’t those of you in colder climes start mocking me. It was cool and windy on Sunday afternoon, but we had a great time celebrating Autumn’s 6th birthday in a nearby park. She invited her whole kindergarten class, and while I’m sure not every child attended, those who did brought siblings and parents. I think it might have been the bouncy house, the pinata, and the food that brought them there, and there was a playground there as well. Plus, one woman did face painting for an hour, then balloon animals for an hour. A paradise for 5- and 6-year-olds, but the adults had fun, too. I forgot to mention that another girl in Autumn’s class had a birthday the day before hers, and her parents suggested they have a joint party. It was a great idea. Afterwards, we went back to Autumn’s house and watched her open her many presents, including ours. Today is her actual birthday. Here’s what I’ve been reading:
Many of Wade Rouse’s novels, written under the pen name of Viola Shipman, are heartwarming tributes to family, love, and the challenge of following one’s hopes and dreams in the face of others’ disapproval. THE PAGE TURNER, by contrast, has so different a tone from other Shipman novels that I had a difficult time identifying empathetic characters, and I found little of it to be charming or heartwarming. Emma is a recent college graduate whose parents own a publishing house, The Mighty Pages, that focuses mainly on highbrow literary novels, including the ones written by the patriarch himself. The exception is the romances of their highest-selling author, Marcus Flare. Emma prefers romances herself and has written a thoughtful one over the past four years, but she hasn’t dared to tell her parents about it, knowing they will look down on her for writing in that genre. She was much closer to her grandma, GiGi, who introduced her to books that encouraged her ambition. But GiGi is no longer alive, and Emma is no longer close to her older sister, Jess, a prominent book influencer who has bought into their parents’ literary tastes. For the first half of the book, I couldn’t tell where the plot was going. There were many pages of Emma’s complaints and musings about her unsupportive family and the way men treat women in books, as exemplified by Flare’s misogynistic romances. It felt to me like a feminist diatribe rather than a stimulating plot. As a result, I did not engage with the character of Emma. Several of the other characters also come across as one-note, in particular the odious Flare and Emma’s seemingly clueless mother. There is some redemption late in the book for one of these, but not the other. I also consider the plot about how Emma’s first and only novel is treated by the publishing world unconvincing. There is more plot in the latter half of the book, and the ending is satisfying. However, this book is a miss overall for me. I would highly recommend other Viola Shipman books such as The Wishing Bridge (a charming Christmas-adjacent novel from 2023), The Heirloom Garden, and the Summer Cottage. (April)
In Gigi Pandian’s 4th Secret Staircase Mystery, former stage magician Tempest Raj and her friends are conducting a dress rehearsal of a murder mystery play Tempest has written along with her best friend, Ivy. It is an interactive play that encourages attendees to discover clues in an escape room on a different floor of the premises. As part of the town’s annual “summer stroll,” these interlocking events will celebrate the opening of a new library focusing entirely on classic murder mysteries. But the rehearsal yields unexpected results, including a dead body that suddenly appears . . . then disappears. As a former magician herself, Tempest uses her skills, along with those of others in her circle of friends, to figure out exactly how a body can disappear when no one has entered or left the building, and who might have both the opportunity and the motive for such a crime. I enjoyed spending time with Tempest, Ivy, and two of Tempest’s almost-boyfriends–a magician self-styled as The Hindi Houdini and a talented sculptor–not to mention her grandparents, who produce delicious Indian and Scottish delicacies from their treehouse abode. and Tempest’s furry companion, a large lop-eared rabbit named Abra. This time around, there isn’t as much about how her family’s Secret Staircase Construction builds illusions into the homes of customers who appreciate a touch of magic in their living spaces. And we still don’t have a lot of information about Tempest’s personal life. But I truly appreciated watching the mystery being solved by this interesting group of friends. (March)
Allison Montclair’s Sparks & Bainbridge Mystery series is one of my favorites. In the 7th entry, AN EXCELLENT THING IN A WOMAN, set in London in 1947, Iris Sparks and Gwen Bainbridge are proprietors of The Right Sort marriage bureau. They, feel that one of their clients may be a good match for a young Parisian dancer who claims she needs to get married quickly so she doesn’t have to return to France. But they are unnerved when the woman’s dead body is discovered–the third of their customers to be murdered since they opened the bureau. Could it be that an unsatisfactory first date ended in tragedy, or are there other intrigues in play? At the same time, the pair are facing compelling personal issues. Iris is desolate after the murder of her boyfriend, Archie, and Gwen is in the throes of a new intimate relationship with Salvatore (Sally), a good friend of Iris’s since their Cambridge days. I loved the depiction of early television, as the BBC cobbles together diverse programs for those few who have purchased a TV. Sally is the stage manager for a show that is intended to entertain British viewers with a look at dancers, singers, and puppeteers from across the Channel and finds himself the number one suspect in the young dancer’s murder. I marveled at the way Iris and Gwen once again get involved in a police investigation and are able to put together clues, suspicions, knowledge, and personal experience to help solve the mystery, sometimes in the face of personal danger. It was also fascinating to learn more about what Iris did in World War II–still protected by the British government–and how incidents from her past might be clues to a current mystery. I think Sparks & Bainbridge are one of the most engaging duos in historical mysteries–both in their personal lives and in their chosen career, which often becomes entangled with law enforcement. And Allison Montclair, who is actually Alan Gordon, has managed to very effectively create and develop these females into admirable, relatable characters who never fail to engage and delight me. I’m not sure what the title means, nor why this book is substantially shorter than its series predecessors, but neither affected my satisfying reading experience. (February)
I forgot to mention that the Gigi Pandian book’s title is THE LIBRARY GAME.