How’s everyone faring this week? I left the house once in the last week, but now I have two days in a row of dentist appointments, and I have to go out in these temperatures. There was a high of 11 degrees yesterday when I left the house. And, I know people in the southeast were not prepared for snow!
My sister and I did go see “Peter Pan” last week. It was fun. I was impressed with the sound. We could actually hear the singers’ words over the orchestra. That’s so rare nowadays when I go to a musical.
On to the subject of books.
I’m currently reading a debut mystery, Shadow at the Morgue by Cara Devlin. It’s my setting and time period, 1880s in London. But, I’m about halfway through, and I’ve bogged down. I don’t know if it’s because the topic is becoming familiar. Leonora Spencer works illegally in the morgue run by her uncle, an assistant coroner. Jasper Reid, who works at Scotland Yard, knows of Leonora’s work, but he can’t take action without upsetting the man who adopted him, retired Chief Superintendent, Gregory Reid, who rescued Leonora after the slaughter of her family when she was a child.
After a break-in at the morgue, Leonora is determined to learn why a man, later found murdered, broke in and stole a locket from. a corpse. Jasper doesn’t find it an important case, but he’s determined to keep Leonora out of trouble.
As I said, I’m bogged down at the moment. Maybe it’s because I just finished a terrific book that’s released next week. Next week is a good one for fans of thrillers with the release of Andrew Welsh-Huggins’ The Mailman, James Byrne’s Chain Reaction, and John McMahon’s Head Cases. Fans of books with unusual protagonists will want to watch for all three of these.
And, after you tell us “What Are You Reading?”, you’ll want to watch for tomorrow’s blog. Margie’s post of her favorites of 2024 will be up, and I know there are some of you who are always eager to read Margie’s lists.
Hello everyone. It’s been a quiet-ish week here; no major calamities although our 14-year-old grandson had food poisoning while at his hockey tournament in Seattle on the weekend, which meant he had to sit out some games, poor guy. But he’s better now and his team won the tournament in overtime. It’s delightfully chilly here in the mornings this week and I’ve been loving going out for walks as soon as it starts to get light outside. Blissful.
This week I read:
DOWN A DARK RIVER by Karen Odden (first mentioned here by someone else; Mary M?)
I haven’t read many books yet this year (am a slow, savour-the-book kind of reader) but this one is already a strong contender for this year’s list of my favourites.
We join Scotland Yard in 1878 just after a huge corruption scandal (which was a real event) which left only a very few senior inspectors to do the work of many, one of whom is Michael Corravan. Irish, grew up in rough and seedy Whitechapel, a bare-knuckles boxer who worked on the docks and eventually became a member of the River Police. From there he transferred to Scotland Yard where the new director, Vincent, is trying hard to rebuild public faith. To that end he wants cases solved as quickly as possible and wants to make sure there isn’t a hint of scandal – Scotland Yard must stay out of the newspapers.
Corravan is working on the case of the disappearance of the wife of a wealthy Mayfair gentleman, but is forced to hand the case over to his young colleague, Mr. Stiles, in order to deal with a new case assigned to him. A young woman has been murdered, placed in a small boat, and left to float down the Thames. Soon another young woman is discovered in the same circumstances., yet there is no connection between the two women. It’s imperative that the case be solved quickly so that Scotland Yard isn’t seen to be floundering but also to prevent widespread panic at the thought that someone out there is killing young women. But Corravan is struggling – he doesn’t think he needs help, he tends to barrel his way through things, and he seems not to care whether or not he offends anyone in the process, but he’s tenacious and keeps digging for clues. He has a wonderful assistant in Mr. Stiles who is quietly intelligent, empathetic, and just as dogged as Corravan in his own way.
There is longish list of characters at the beginning of the book but the author is skilled at introducing them into the story and I never once felt the need to consult the list.
I loved this book. The writing is top-notch, every character is utterly convincing, we are privy to the backstory of many of them which in turn makes us invested in the characters, the narrative compels you to keep reading, and there isn’t a dull page to be found. You absolutely feel Corravan’s frustration when he isn’t getting anywhere with the case, and you feel the emotions of the characters as if they were your own. And something rare in a mystery, there is real emotional growth in the main character. I also learned how the phrase ‘red herring’ came to be. I love when reading a book teaches me little snippets of things I didn’t know before.
Thanks Lindy. You make Down a Dark River sound like something I would enjoy. I’ve placed a hold at the library. I must have missed the earlier mention… or got distracted.
I am so glad that you loved this book! The 2nd one is equally as good! (Under a Veiled Moon).
Lindy, I’m going to look for this one, and the first one in the series. Unfortunately, my library has neither (still hoping they will restore the Link+ system that lets me request books all over California, and they keep promising).
Hi Margie, I suspect it would be best to read these in order, so do start with Down a Dark River. I hope you can find it somewhere! I’m having trouble finding the second book; not available to order at any of my usual stores. Luckily I can get it at the library, which is what I shall have to do. There are two reasons I like to buy books, one is that my husband will often read the same ones but not necessarily right when I’ve finished so by then the library will want it back and he will forget all about the book in the meantime. Also, I’ve been put in charge of overseeing the bookshelves in our apartment building lobby, and if I only get books from the library I have nothing to put on the shelves. It’s a real dilemma ha ha ha.
Thanks, Lindy. I was mistaken that Down a Dark River was the second book. But no matter–I found them both at AbeBooks.com for a total of about $12.00+ including shipping so I’m a happy camper. I really appreciate your recommendation, as they sound like books that I will enjoy.
Well, it’s about time you had a quieter week, Lindy, with some time to read. Down a Dark River does sound good. And, it’s my time period and setting. Thank you.
I hope your doctor visit tomorrow goes well.
Wow Lesa. Imagine you remembering about my doctor apppointment. Thank you! I’m in a bit of a fret about it.
We had a new fire breakout near me today. It’s the Hughes Fire. It’s actually the town north of me. And it’s on the east side of town, so my office is closer than I am in my condo. I feel like my condo is far enough away I’m not that worried, at least at the moment. Don’t think the office is in any danger either, but I will be keeping an eye on it. Hopefully, we actually get the light rain they are predicting for the weekend. But before we get there, we have more wind tomorrow.
On the reading front, I am once again between books.
I just finished WRITTEN IN BLOOD, the second in Sheila Lowe’s Claudia Rose series. I really didn’t care for it. The pacing was all off. There were some things that a good edit should have caught. And that made me wonder if some of the other issues that bugged me were the result of lazy writing/bad editing or just my poor memory. I already have several other books in the series, but not the next one. Not sure about going on after this one.
I’m about to start FRAMED FOR MURDER by Marla A. White. This is the first in a series from a localish writer (not my town, but the next one south). I got it at a local bookfair this summer. Hopefully, I’ll enjoy it.
I saw the evacuation notices for that fire yesterday afternoon Mark. Incredibly fast moving, the notice said a football field length every few seconds. Hopefully the winds die down soon.
Oh, Mark. I’ll be thinking of you, and hope the winds do die down as MM said, and that your office and home are spared. I’m sorry. It must be so worrying.
The firefighters made real progress today, and it has slowed down. I think the worst is behind us.
Good morning, all. I woke up at 6:45 – I thought – but when I came in here (kitchen/living room) I discovered that, oops, it was only 5:45. By then I was wide awake. This has been a wet, very cool week for South Florida, but we are very thankful to be here, even if it is 60ish and rainy, rather that at home, where it was 11 degrees, real feel 2. Our friends near New Orleans had almost 10 inches of snow, which is unheard of. Schools there have been closed all week. So yeah, windy and rainy rather than freezing and snowy? I’ll take it any time. Besides, the rain will finally be over today, and we’re supposed to be back int he 70s starting Sunday. I hope your weather improves soon too.
Books, then. Jackie just finished the latest Paula Munier book, THE NIGHT WOODS, with Mercy Carr finally giving birth. Not sure what she’s reading next – I believe it is a Cynthia Eden book, before the newest Christine Feehan book.
Lesa was one of two people touting James Byrne’s The Gatekeeper last year, the first about Dez Limerick, and I loved the book. With book three coming out next week, I got the second book, Deadlock, from the library and raced through it. If it is not quite as good as the first, it is well worth reading and I enjoyed it a lot. Dez gets a call from a friend (he’s played backup in her band) that her sister, a journalist, was threatened and attacked, she’s not sure why. He flies to Portland (which is Byrne’s home town, by the way) to offer his services. This leads to a fight (physically and otherwise) with the leadership of a huge local company, and many bodies later, Dez emerges triumphant. I’m looking forward to book three.
Jennifer Rowe’s 1993 collection, Death In Store, features amateur Aussie writer/sleuth Verity (Birdie) Birdwood, sometimes in Sydney and other times around the country, solving various crimes, including murder. This was recommended by a friend, but at first I didn’t care for it much. Birdie is pretty much a colorless, prickly character who doesn’t engender much interest or sympathy, and I found her friend Kate even more annoying. Also, how do you have a collection of stories without a table of contents? This one does. I knew there were eight stories, but I had to flip through the book to find them, as well as see where they began and ended, not to mention how long they were. The title story features the murder of the Santa at Sydney’s leading department store. I also thought that for a 30 year old collection, it seemed even more dated than that. But, in the end, I found the last couple of stories I read better, and overall I would give it a passing grade, though it won’t make my best list and I won’t seek out her other books, all of which I think feature Birdwood.
In between his longer works, Craig Johnson has written several of what he calls novellas – frankly, I consider 190 pages way too long to be a novella – about Sheriff Walt Longmire. The latest is Tooth and Claw, his second consecutive book taking Walt and his best friend, Henry Standing Bear, back to the past. The previous book had them getting ready to report for service in Vietnam in the 1960s. Now, they are done with Vietnam, and Henry comes to visit Walt at his security job, at the top of Alaska in December 1970. They end up fighting for their lives against the biggest polar bear anyone has ever seen, an animal impossibly huge and fast who seems to like killing men. Of course, we know our heroes will survive. Not the greatest Longmire story, but a fast, short read, easy enough to slip in between longer books.
For me those longer books are All The Colors Of The Dark, which I talked about last week (nearly 600 pages) and The God Of the Woods by Liz Moore, which is nearly 500 pages. First, an aside. When my brother and I were kids, my parents sent us to sleepaway camp six straight summers, ages 8 to 13 for me (my brother is a year younger). This was one of the formative experiences of my life. Even though I last set foot in the camp (just south of the New York-Pennsylvania border) nearly 60 years ago, there is nothing about the camp I don’t remember. I can picture every inch of it in my mind this second, could describe it in as much detail as you want, from the mess hall, assembly point, barn, campfire, cabins, stables (it was a horseback riding camp), rifle range, archery area, lake, etc., including many fellow campers. My last year there, at 13, I had the responsibility of taking care of a horse, which involved bring her in from the pasture in the morning, feeding and brushing her, cleaning out the stall, saddling and bridling her and riding for an hour first period after breakfast, then reversing all that at the end of the day. Occasionally we went on horseback overnights. You’d right out in late afternoon for an hour or more, camp out in your sleeping bag, then ride back the next morning. If another group was on the trip, you’d have to get them ready and be there when they returned in the morning. As I said, this was a formative part of my life, down to having my first girlfriend.
All this is a preface to say there was no way I would NOT read a novel set at an eight week summer camp in upstate New York in 1975 (though my experience was a decade earlier), namely The God Of The Woods. After 100 pages, all I can say is, Liz Moore gets it exactly right. There are very strong similarities between my experiences and those in her book, which is set a couple of hundred miles upstate in the Adirondacks. The whole “townie” vs. college student thing – locals are hired for physical labor, only college students are hired as counselors – is also true to life. Fourteen years earlier, Peter (Bear) Van Laar IV, then 14, disappeared from the camp his family owns, never to be seen again. Now his sister Barbara, 13 and born a year after his disappearance, insists on going to the camp herself, and likewise disappears. That is as far as I’ve gotten so far, but the book goes back and forth from the 1950s to 1961 to 1975, with each chapter clearly marked as to when it is set. So yes, this one is well worth the long library wait. I’m sure I will finish it in a few days.
One last book. Graham Swift wrote the very good Last Orders, which was made into a good movie with Michael Caine, Tom Courtenay, Ray Winstone and Helen Mirren, among others. England And Other Stories (2014) is his second short story collection (he has a third collection coming this year), and I’m enjoying it.
Have a safe week, everyone. Looking forward to Margie’s list tomorrow.
Jeff, I loved reading about your sleepaway camp experiences. What a great thing that must have been! And learning so many things along the way while having fun at the same time. Thank you for this aside of yours – it has made me want to read The God of the Woods, although I think it will be a lot creepier than your camp story.
(My mother at the very same age as you were, 8-13, was in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in Indonesia during the war. Also a very formative experience, only not a good one at all. Lots of lifelong baggage from that.)
Thanks, Lindy.
How dreadful Lindy. This reminded me of the TV series Tenko, in which a group of women and children are captured at the fall of Singapore in 1942, and placed in a Japanese POW camp on a fictitious island (probably meant to be Sumatra). The series first aired well over 40 years ago but I still remember it so well, in particular the first episode, when the women and their children are standing on the shore, expecting a British ship to appear to take them to safety – then a Japanese one appears on the horizon. The terror on their faces remains with me still.
How interesting. I have not heard of it. Wonder if it’s still available, although it would be emotionally draining to watch. Yikes.
My father was in a different Japanese POW camp, from when he was 12 till age 17. Terrible. He was tortured. And he got very ill. Although he made it through everything, he was a damaged man. He felt so guilty for having survived when his best friend did not, that he could not bring himself to enjoy his life. Very sad.
It was an excellent series Lindy (though of course it would probably seem dated in its production techniques now). I think it was a joint collaboration between the BBC and an Australian TV channel.
From what i can see, it might be available on Apple TV or ITVX, but I don’t know if those channels exist in the US, nor whether they all share the same content.
And yes, I do think it would be a harrowing watch. It was very well acted (or a least I thought so at the time.)
I wondered about your weather, Jeff. I knew you were in southeastern Florida, so knew you wouldn’t have snow. My Mom and I even said last night that we hoped you told us about your weather. Just a weird winter.
The second Dez Limerick was the weakest of the three. I think you’ll like Chain Reaction.
Thank you for adding your background information before talking about The God of the Woods. Did you see it was nominated yesterday for Best Novel for an Edgar?
Loved All The Colors Of The Dark and The God Of the Woods by Liz Moore.
When we lived in New Jersey, my parents used to send me to day camp every summer. One summer, my friend and I wandered off the beaten path and got into some poison ivy. That ended our camp days for the summer. But I everything those days at camp so livid even though it’s been probably 50 years.
We saw a show that a local theater put together, Iconic Broadway. It was a mix of show tunes interspersed with information about the shows and the songwriters. The show was a lot of fun and fortunately we had tickets for Saturday since they had to cancel Sunday’s performance due to snow and ice.
I only read one book this week. Ancient Shores by Jack McDevitt. A farmer in North Dakota finds a yacht buried on his land. When they dig it up it’s in perfect condition and it’s made from an element that shouldn’t exist on Earth. The book came out in the 90s so some of it’s dated but it explores what would happen if we had proof of alien visitors.
Iconic Broadway sounds fun, Sandy. I’m glad you were able to see it before the weather turned nasty.
Oh, I used to read an occasional novel by Jack McDevitt. They always had a science fiction element.
We’ve had a week of nighttime low temperatures, but sunny days. A fast-moving storm is forecast for Friday night, but as we haven’t any precipitation in a while, it will be welcome.
I must have remembered the cover instead of your actual review, Lesa, but I downloaded THE CHRISTMAS GUEST by Peter Swanson. At least I didn’t read it until mid-January. Creepy was the adjective that came to mind.
In anticipation of the next Cormac Reilly novel by Dervla McTiernan, I reread THE GOOD TURN. The Unquiet Grave is scheduled for release later this year. Set in Ireland and featuring the determined detective Cormac Reilly, these novels offer a great blend of suspense, intrigue, and engaging characters. I also found the two short prequels in the series THE ROOMMATE and THE SISTERS which I hadn’t read before.
Finally, I listened to THREE BAGS FULL: A SHEEP DETECTIVE STORY. A flock of sheep in a rural Irish village investigate the murder of their shepherd.
A review in The Independent found “the sheep to be a successful and appealing parable for humanity, and concluded that the book has charm without whimsy, and is touching without being sentimental”.
I was a bit surprised that a book published in German in 2005 and translated the following year was getting attention now. But an upcoming mystery/comedy movie is based on the novel. It stars Hugh Jackman & Emma Thompson (Feb 2026)
MM, I remember when Three Bags Full first came out. I took it home from the library, but couldn’t bring myself to read a mystery that featured sheep as the protagonists. I don’t know why because I’ve read ones with cats, but sheep just didn’t work for me. I’ll be curious to see if the movie does well or just dies.
Creepy is a perfect description of The Christmas Guest.
Hi everyone, it’s cold here in Idaho. This morning was 13 degrees. I’m ready for warmer temperatures. We have a possibility of some on Saturday.
This week, I read “Open Season” courtesy of NetGallery. Alex and Milo embark on another serial killer crime investigation. This time, they find a “want to be “actress dead, and she connected to a loser producer who is also found dead. Different locations, different methods. The producer is found shot in the neck without a trace to who did it. The actress died of a drug overdose. As they start to investigate, they find more and more incidents that are similar to the producer’s death including a cold case. They begin to focus their attention on a rapper who had a slim connection to both of the original victims. When they go to interview him, they find him wheelchair bound and not a likely suspect. The more they dig, the more red herrings there are. I figured out the killer early in the book, but it was still an entertaining read. I’m a big fan of the Alex Delaware series and this is a great addition.
I finished “Rogue Lawyer” by John Grisham in time for my book club. I believe this is a stand alone and not a part of series. Sebastian Rudd is a lawyer who takes on people who other lawyers wouldn’t even consider. He is an investor in a cage fighter who kills a referee after losing a fight. The cage fighter doesn’t have a chance, but Rudd tries to defend him along with his other clients – a crime lord on death row, a member of a satanic cult, and a homeowner who mistakenly shot a cop when he invaded the homeowner’s house. Lots of action and a quick read.
In addition to finishing the “Rogue Lawyer”, I finished the audiobook of “Suspect” by Scott Turow. It was okay. The ending was rather predictable. I hope his “Innocent” series is better.
Then I read “Faculty Lounge” by Jennifer Marshall. I’m not sure if someone on here recommended it but whoever did, thank you! It starts out with a substitute teacher dying in the teacher’s lounge and how it affects the staff. The teacher had worked at the school for a long time before retiring and then came back to substitute because he missed teaching. The teacher asked to have his ashes scattered in the courtyard of the school and that sets off a series of hilarious events. I work for a school district, and I could so relate to the stories in the book. The bureaucracy is overwhelming and the amount of testing we do each year is ridiculous. I can’t imagine a teacher retiring and wanting to come back as sub, at least not in my district. The challenges are real.
I just started reading “Conclave” by Robert Harris. I seen the movie and thought it was well done but there were parts to it that I was a little confused on.
Right with you, Bev. Ready for warmer temperatures, too.
Isn’t it fun to read a book when you have the knowledge and background to go with it? No wonder you liked “Faculty Lounge”.
Bev, I have a copy of Faculty Lounge at home, but haven’t read it yet. My daughter, who is a teacher, borrowed it from me a while ago and she also said it was very good.
Your Faculty Lounge review reminds me: at one point, Jackie disliked her principal so much that she wrote a book that killed him off! It was called THE PENCIL CASE, and the Principal was found dead with a #2 pencil in his heart. (Obviously, he was not killed with the pencil, but it was put there after the murder weapon was removed.) She did get some interest in it, but ultimately, it wasn’t published. Also, the Principal retired and she got on very well with his replacement.
I love that story, Jeff. I know Sue Grafton wrote her first book when going through a nasty divorce. I’m sorry Jackie was inspired to write a book that wasn’t published.
Bev, I have also seen Conclave – and I too loved it but found some parts a bit confusing. My daughter has lent me the book and I need to get on and read it – I’m hoping all will become clear!
It’s been a long time ago that we’ve had such cold temps and this much snow. I am ready for a warm up! 30 degrees will seem downright balmy!
I finished reading “How to Seal Your Own Fate” by Kristen Perrin – the 2nd in the Castle Knoll Files series. I so loved the first book in this series and was so excited to read this ARC. One thing to note, it is important to have read the first book as this builds on it and doesn’t provide much in the way of memory aides to assist the reader. France’s great niece, Annie Adams, has inherited the Gravesdown estate and is settling into living in the Hall. When out for a walk, she runs into a strange lady who turns out to be Peony Lane, the fortune teller who foretold France’s murder. Peony hints that France’s stash of folders, that contain secrets on many of the townsfolk, need to be reviewed to determine who murdered Olivia Gravesdown. Long assumed that Olivia, along with her husband and father-in-law, were killed in a car accident, Peony’s directive to Annie starts her down the path to dispelling these commonly held beliefs. Annie dives into solving this murder with the help of France’s diaries, Inspector Crane, Archie Foyle and Birdy Sparrow, eventually exposing who murdered the Gravesdowns. An enjoyable read, but not as good as the first book.
I also listened to the epic 16 hour audio book “The Hunter” by Tana French. Trey’s father, the good for nothing Johnny, arrives back home intent on swindling the town folks out of their money by convincing them that there is gold in them there hills. Johnny is in deep debt and brings the man who he owes money to along as his accomplice. He spins a convincing tale and soon people are paying to get in on the action. But as all tales eventually go, the truth wins out, and then a murder occurs, and Trey, intent on revenge, spins her own tale to the detective as to who is to blame for the murder. Lyrical in its telling, and so descriptive in its detail that the people of the town almost feel like they could walk right into your living room for a chat. A tale of growing up, learning about what’s important and a look into men’s souls. Excellent – if a tad bit long.
I never thought I’d agree, Mary, that 30 sounds balmy, but I’m tired of these single figure temperatures. I’ve been turning on my fireplace every night about 6:30 because it tends to get cold in here then.
That second book in the Kristen Perrin series sounds fascinating.
Good morning! It’s been a VERY busy week–two game get-togethers, a quick trip to the dentist to check my extraction (all good), a book club meeting (theme: historical fiction), a Zoom movie meetup (discussed Molly’s Game–intriguing and chilling), trying to put my February newsletter for Sisters in Crime NorCal to bed, and prepping for today’s Toastmasters Open House–I am the Toastmaster of the Day (emcee). And I’m off to physical therapy in a couple of hours. Whew! I’m amazed I was able to finish three books this week.
The subtitles for Dave Barry’s latest book, CLASS CLOWN, say it all: The Memoirs of a Professional Wiseass: How I Went 77 Years Without Growing up. This well-loved humor writer and I graduated from high school a year apart (I’m two years younger), and he spent some years in suburban Philadelphia, where I grew up. So I could definitely relate to his references about fallout shelters, the polio vaccine, high school cliques (I’d forgotten about the “hoods”), the Twist, Sputnik, Davy Crockett, home ec (girls only) and shop (boys only), and hippies, not to mention the Vietnam War and the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK, Although Barry has written countless columns and about 40 books, this is his first memoir, and he covers his education, family life, friendships, and all phases of his career–including how he morphed from writing consultant and traditional journalist to humorist. There are some serious stories, but most of the book is written with his trademark dry (and often outrageous) humor, sprinkled with many entertaining excerpts from his newspaper columns. I was particularly tickled by the way the public reacted to his writing. On one hand, many readers sent in suggestions for future skewering, funny articles, and positive reactions to his writing. On the other, it is hilarious (scary?) how many readers actually took everything he wrote as serious and flayed him for making what they thought were falsehoods and inaccuracies in his writing. Some even decided to shun him because of his views on Neil Diamond songs and the Hoosier State. If you’re not familiar with Dave Barry, you might not know that he won a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary, was a guest on Letterman, Carson, and Oprah, “ran for President” every 4 years starting in the 80s (slogan: It’s Time We Demand Less!), and has long been a member (guitarist/singer) of the rock band, Rock Bottom Remainders, that also includes such authors as Stephen King and Amy Tan. Personally, I love his sense of humor and his writing and often want to read it out loud to whoever will listen, if I can contain my giggles. Right now, I most appreciate his philosophy of life: It’s gonna be OK. My favorite book of his is Dave Barry’s Book of Bad Songs, but I love this one as well. (May)
In FAR AND AWAY, a home switch novel by Amy Poeppel, a family needs to get away from Dallas in a hurry when their high school senior son is expelled the day before graduation for “sexist actions.” and a family from Berlin needs to move to the US when the medical researcher father gets a better offer from his company after a crushing blow to his ego. Of course, neither family has time to ask too many questions about their new (temporary) home before confronting the reality of what they had signed up for. The Berlin apartment is lovely but much too small, and the Dallas “smart home” confounds the new residents. But the author makes it all work through her uniquely detailed characters. The Dallas patriarch is a scientist who has agreed to be mostly incommunicado for six months as the only male in a biosphere simulating life on Mars, and eventually emerges a different person. The German man finds himself opening up and becoming more social in the freewheeling Dallas atmosphere. Both of the mothers are savvy professionals who struggle to juggle their careers with their family responsibilities. And the younger members of the families–two teenagers and 8-year-old twin girls– have their own adventures, with unexpected results. I didn’t buy the premise of the young man being expelled without the opportunity to explain himself, but otherwise I found the intertwining stories both entertaining and satisfying. (June)
n her second Orchid Isle Mystery, WATERS OF DESTRUCTION, Leslie Karst deftly delivers a plot and characters that have the ring of authenticity regarding Hawai’i’s Big Island, where the author and her spouse live for part of each year. After vacationing on the island, retired spouses Valerie and Kristen have moved to Hilo and into their comfy new home. Looking for opportunities to keep herself busy and to get to know some of their new neighbors, former caterer Valerie agrees to work part-time at the local restaurant. She’s filling the slot of one of the bartenders, who has disappeared suddenly after an employee event and is later found drowned. Knowing that Valerie had previously helped solve a murder after a volcano eruption, the restaurant manager asks her to sniff around and see if this was an accident or possibly a murder, and Valerie is happy to comply. At the same time, she and Kristen–the more athletic of the two–are learning the sport of group canoe paddling, and Kristen is helping a new friend build a lanai on her property. It was interesting getting to know the restaurant employees, as Valerie picks up more and more clues, although nothing–at first–adds up. I appreciated the way the author caught readers up twice on the clues and suspicions Valerie had collected, which made me want to try to figure out the guilty party (although the number of persons of interest and the twisty plot happily prevented me from doing so). I enjoyed being immersed in the culture of Hilo as well, not to mention the food and the special cocktails Valerie created (recipes included at the end of the book). There is even a lengthy glossary of Hawai’ian, pidgin, and local vernacular words and phrases at the end, although I wished I had known it before completing the book. This is a series that has become a must-read for me, and I will definitely be looking for the next in the series. (April)
Margie, I know Dave Barry pretty well. I’ve been on his blog for 20 years and I first met him in 2006. Very funny and a nice guy. Will definitely read this.
Margie, I shall have to seek out Class Clown now. Sounds delightful.
Whew, Margie. Your schedule wears me out just reading it! I’m amazed you found reading time!
But, I placed a hold on Class Clown. I lived in Florida for eighteen years, so I know how accurate his columns actually are. And, I’m younger, but recognize so much of what you mentioned at the beginning of the review.
I just finished a new mystery, “Ghostss Of Waikiki” that takes place in Honolulu. It has a girl who is a ghost writer for the first time and has returned home to write about the Hamilton family one of the famous founding familys. Charles Hamilton the patriarch of the family is killed. Maya becomes an amateur detective, Koa, a childhood friend and former lover and a slew of friends are featured. Good is described and will make you hungry.
Oh, those books with good food descriptions always get to me, Lynn. They do make me hungry!
Last week when I was about a third of the way through David Nicholls’s YOU ARE HERE, I wrote you that I didn’t like how he made his two protagonists look foolish and pathetic. Now that I’ve finished the book, I can recommend it (it’s very well-written), as long as you’re willing to accept on faith that the characters will become more appealing as the story proceeds. Afterward, I read another of Alexander McCall Smith’s Isabel Dalhousie books, #14, and enjoyed being once again in Edinburgh with Isabel, who is independently wealthy, edits an academic journal of applied ethics, and worries about the morally right thing to do in every situation. The books are very wordy and digressive, but I know what to expect and enjoy the gentle dilemmas they always present to Isabel and her musician husband, Jamie. Still, I’ll wait a while before I read another one.
I’m listening to yet another one of Mick Herron’s Slough House spy books about a group of disgraced British secret service agents who always end up saving the day. This one is called, as a matter of fact, SLOUGH HOUSE. It’s the second to last one in the series so far, and I’ll be sad when I finish the last one. However, I imagine Herron will write more.
I’m about to start reading THE BONES OF BASCOM HALL, which takes place on the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison. It’s the fifth in a series that I like, and I’ll tell you more about it next week.
Kim, I probably would have stopped reading You Are Here if I didn’t like the way the protagonists were handled. I’m glad that changed in the course of the book.
I’m looking forward to hearing about The Bones of Bascom Hall. I’ve been on that campus, and I’ll be interested to see how it’s portrayed.
Kim, I’ve just started watching Mick Herron’s Slough House stories on televison (see below) – I so enjoyed the first series.
However, I really cannot stand Isobel Dalhousie! I enjoyed the Scotland Street books for a while, but oh my goodness I find Isobel so smug and boring. I didn’t stick with that series for long. The only thing I now remember about the books I did read is Isobel’s trip to the Island of Jura, as I went there more recently (on the little ferry from Islay). It’s an interesting place – most of it is a huge stalking estate, but the little village beside the dock is largely community run, with a shop, a cafe, and of course the distillery, which my husband took a tour round while I sat beside the water’s edge, watched the swans in the bay, and read my novel. Very peaceful.
No books ro rave about this week. But the thene is a very clear pattern of escapism.
Summer Light on Nantucket by Nancy Thayer –
Description from NetGalley
A touching novel about parenthood, first love, family bonds, and rekindled relationships from the New York Times bestselling author and beloved Nantucket storyteller Nancy Thayer.
Blythe Benedict is content. Her life didn’t end when her marriage did. In fact, she’s more than happy living in her comfortable house in Boston, working as a middle school teacher, and raising four wonderful children. With three of her kids in the throes of teenagerhood and one not too far behind them, Blythe has plenty of drama to keep her busy every single day.
But no amount of that drama could change the family’s beloved annual summer trip to Nantucket. Blythe has always treasured the months spent at her island home-away-from-home, and has fond memories of her children growing up there. But this summer’s getaway proves to be much more than she bargained for.
Yes, there are sunny days enjoyed at the beach. But Blythe must contend with teenage angst, her ex-mother-in-law’s declining health, and a troubling secret involving her ex-husband. Meanwhile, Blythe reconnects with her first love, her former high school sweetheart Aaden. But their second-time-around romance becomes complicated when another intriguing man enters the picture.
It’s all a bit out of Blythe’s comfort zone. This particular island summer may not be as relaxing as Blythe had hoped, but she’s never felt that life has given her more than she can handle—especially when she has the love and support of her family around her.
The Last Carolina Summer by Karen White –
Description from NetGalley
Beloved New York Times bestselling author Karen White returns with a brand-new contemporary stand-alone novel about sisterhood, secrets and one woman’s reckoning with the past
As a child, Phoebe Manigault developed the gift of premonition after she was struck by lightning in the creeks near her Charleston home. Plagued throughout her life by mysterious dreams, and always living in the shadow of her beautiful sister, Addie, Phoebe eventually moves to the West Coast, as far from her family as possible. Now, years later, she is summoned back to South Carolina, to help Addie care for their ailing mother.
As Phoebe’s return lures her back into deep-rooted tensions and conflicts, she is drawn toward Celeste, whose granddaughter went missing years ago. Their connection, woven through shared losses and hope, brings comfort to Phoebe, while Celeste’s adult grandson Liam resurrects complicated emotions tied to Phoebe’s past.
But the longer Phoebe spends in her childhood home, the more her recurring nightmares intensify—bringing her closer to the shocking truth that will irrevocably change everything. Unfolding against the lush backdrop of the South Carolina Lowcountry, That Last Carolina Summer is an unforgettable family drama and mystery about the unbreakable bonds of family and the gift of second chances.
Other People’s Summers by Sarah Morgan –
Description from NetGalley
A famous actress whose life is unraveling flees to an idyllic English lakeside resort and the best friend she ghosted in this poignant and witty story from the USA TODAY bestselling author of The Book Club Hotel.
In school, Milly Beckett and Nicole Raven were as close as sisters. Now, years later, a gulf separates them, and not just because of the different spheres they inhabit. Nicole is a global superstar with the world at her fingertips, but when scandal breaks, she turns to the only person she trusts.
Fresh from a painful divorce and struggling to balance her work and raising her daughter alone, Milly is tempted to refuse her friend’s plea for help. Nicole wasn’t there for her when she needed her most, and that’s hard to forgive. But Nicole is desperate and Milly agrees to give her the sanctuary she needs.
Against a stunning Lake District backdrop, stilted small talk gradually gives way to soul-deep revelations as the two women slowly find their way back to one another. Living with Milly gives Nicole a glimpse of a different path for herself, and Milly starts to see a life beyond her divorce, including the possibility of a new romance. But Nicole can’t stay hidden forever—and neither can the secret she’s been keeping from Milly, a secret that threatens both her future happiness and the fragile bond between them.
Heartwarming and hopeful, Other People’s Summers explores the beauty of friendship, the power of forgiveness, the impact of the choices we make and the many ways in which life can surprise us.
So much time for escapism reading, though, Kaye, when the news is off limits, isn’t there? David and I talked just last night and both of us have turned off the news, for now. We know we’ll go back, but neither of us are ready.
Escapism sounds perfect at the moment.
I finished 3 books this week.
The Night in Question by Susan Fletcher was my favorite. Florrie Butterfield is one legged and 87 living in an assisted living facility. When two residents wind up dead, Florrie is convinced neither was an accident. The story is told through flashbacks with the great loves of Florrie’s life. This is a hard book to synopsize but it really is worth the read.
Glen has mentioned the Vivien Chien noodle house mysteries here several times and he’s gotten me hooked. Dim Sum of All Fears is the second installment. In this one the new owners of the shop next to the restaurant are found dead. I like Lana Lee as the protagonist, and I love reading the familiarity of the Cleveland area.
Done and Dusted by Lyla Sage was very popular on my Instagram feed but just not for me. Clementine Ryder returns to the family ranch after a bad accident while barrel racing in Colorado. She immediately attracts the attention of the town’s bad boy and sparks ensue. I can see why those younger than me might enjoy it, but I thought the character of Luke Brooks was too in touch with his caveman side.
We finished Vienna Blood on PBS Passport last night and are disappointed the series is ending and we are savoring All Creatures Great and Small by only watching one episode a week.
I hope all of you are still safe in California.
Happy Warmer Temperatures and Happy Reading!
Sharon, I really should read the Vivien Chien noodle house mysteries now that you and Glen are both recommending them. And, like you, I’m familiar with the Cleveland area, so I should read them.
I didn’t watch Vienna Blood, but it always looked good on the commercials.
I too was sorry that Vienna Blood ended, Sharon, I enjoyed it very much.
Didn’t get up to much this week. I’m glad Margie was able to take up the slack! Tik Tok didn’t shut down, so there went all my spare time.
This week I read SeinLanguage by Jerry Seinfeld; Remember when almost every comedian had a book out? Those days are probably gone forever. This is a very 90’s book, and technology has passed a lot of the humor by. Seinfeld seems to have lost his timing recently, but it was good to be reminded of him at the top of his game.
Antiques Slay Belles by Barbara Collins; The Borne girls get on the case when someone is poisoned at a Christmas Party. There’s a deadline, as Brandy’s son is going to come live with them on the condition of no more murder investigations. This series doesn’t seem to be for everyone, but this is up to the standard. It reads like it might be the end, but I read there will be at least one more.
Dry Bones in the Valley by Tom Bouman; a murder mystery that focuses on fracking in Pennsylvania. It seems even more dated than the Seinfeld book.
Glen, Sorry about the dated books. And, I guess I just never got Seinfeld.
Hi everyone,
I’m very late coming here today (it’s 8pm in the UK) – I’ve been out all day, and since then we have been battening everything down as we have an amber warning for wind from midnight onwards, so we have been outside collecting up all the small garden items, laying the bird table on its side, etc etc. We are fortunate to live in a dip (which is not fortunate for ice and snow, but provides some shelter from high winds) but even so we thought we had better do as the Scottish government has asked everyone to.
The Central Belt, including Edinburgh, has a red warning, which is much worse, so I will call Anna in a minute and check in on her. If we have a power cut, which is very likely up here as the electricity comes from pylons high up on the hills, we will not be able to communicate for a while, so i had better contact people now.
But I am thinking of all the people affected by the fires in California, and really our issues are so minor that they are hardly worth mentioning. Mark, I do hope you are OK and stay that way. I am thinking of you.
Books – I have been on a bit of a reading roll lately, brought about by new resolution to keep my phone out of the bedroom, and instead to pick up my book when I wake up at silly hours of the morning. So this week I have read;
LIES OF SILENCE by Brian Moore. Moore was an Irish writer, and Lies of Silence was Booker-nominated a few years ago. It’s about a Belfast hotel manager. Michael Dillon, who is about to leave his wife and move to London with his new (and much younger) girlfriend, Andrea.
The book is set at the height of the Troubles, The Dillons live in a respectable suburb, and are little bothered by the sectarian violence. If they go shopping in the city centre, they will be routinely searched before passing the army barricades, and the hotel where Michael works has already been bombed once, although the IRA gave a warning, so no-one was injured. Apart from this, everyone is carrying on with normal life as best they can (as in DERRY GIRLS, for those who have seen it.)
Dillon has resolved to tell Moira that their marriage is over – but on the very night that he intends to do so, masked IRA men break into the house and hold both of them at gunpoint. They then force Dillon to drive his car – with a bomb in the boot – back to the hotel and park it there. He will have time to escape. They will hold Moira hostage until he has carried out their orders.
The hotel is full with the families of students attending their graduations from the university, plus a conference hosting a notorious Unionist minister (clearly based on Rev Ian Paisly, a man who stirred up no end of trouble and hatred for many years). Michael and Moira are non-practising Catholics, and do not approve of the IRA or the Ulster Defence Association (the Protestant extremists).
Michael faces a moral dilemma. Does he contact the police and get the hotel evacuated, or does he go through with the IRA’s orders? If he contacts the police, Moira’s life is at risk. If he doesn’t, many innocent pople (not just the awful cleric) will die.
This book is a gripping page-tuner, but also an immensely thought-provoking one. The characters are so nuanced, nothing is black and white – even the IRA men in their house are really just young lads radicalised by poverty and lack of education. And Michael is fully aware that the Catholic community has been abused, ignored and denied its rights by the Westminster government (Northern Ireland still being a part of the UK) for generations.
I won’t go any further into the plot in case anyone wants to read the book, but I really could barely put this down, and finished it in two days.
BURIED IN CORNWALL by Janie Bolitho – the third in the Rose Trevalyn murder mystery series. This one was quite an improvement on the second book, although Rose still annoyed me a lot with her meddling, her determination to put herself in unnecessary danger and her refusal to co-operate with Jack, the police detective with whom she has had a relationship.
In this story, Rose goes out to paint near an abandoned tin mine, and hears screams from an unknown person. The police investigate but find nothing. In the meantime Rose is enjoying becoming part of the artistic community of St Ives. After a soiree at a smart gallery, a young woman goes missing. Eventually her body is found on a beach below cliffs. There is no shortage of suspects – including Nick, Rose’s latest love interest, and even Rose herself.
As with the first two books in the series, I enjoyed the supporting characters and the descriptions of life in a Cornish village more than the somewhat contrived plot. Barry, Rose’s friend (who would like to be more than a friend), is a really sympathetic character – though I do wonder how Rose manages to have quite so many men flocking round her like bees round a honeypot (especially when she is so annoying!) Most of my single female friends report a very different experience.
SLIGHTLY FOXED: BESIDE THE SEASIDE. Slightly Foxed is a quarterly periodical, containing literary-type articles of all sorts. Some are contributed by well known authors, others by readers who have submitted them for publication. This volume had a particularly interesting piece about Muriel Spark’s THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE. I am currently writing a review of A LEAP IN THE DARK, the fictionalised story of Deacon Brodie, a respectable 18th century Edinburgh councillor who at night took on his other role of master criminal. The Slightly Foxed article pointed out that Muriel Spark almost certainly named her anti-heroine Brodie with Deacon Brodie in mind. Like him, there are at least two sides to Jean – and both of these multi-faceted characters reflect the dual personality of Edinburgh itself, a city of wealth and respectability beneath which a very different character lurks.
I am so grateful to the author of the article, Christopher Rush, for drawing my attention to things that were really right under my nose.
I am now about to start THE STEPFORD WIVES by Ira Levin. I have never seen the film of this book, so am coming to it fresh – it looks interesting.
I took advantage of a special offer to get one month of Apple TV free, just so that I could watch the acclaimed spy thriller SLOW HORSES (based on Mick Herron’s book of the same name.) It did not disappoint – I was so into it that I watched the entire thing in 3 days. Gary Oldman as I had never seen him before, managing a bunch of spy rejects who have all messed up one way or another and have been sent to ‘Slough House- a run down outpost – to cover things nobody else can be bothered with, and Kristin Scott Thomas giving her iciest-of-ice-maiden performances as the station head of M15.
A young Muslim student is kidnapped by a far right organisation, who threaten to decapitate him if their demands are not met. Kristin Scott Thomas has her own reasons for wanting to save him – but one of the Slough House team (the ‘Slow Horses’) is also determined to get involved (though Gary Oldman’s character does all he can to stop him.) And of course nothing is as straightforward as it seems. I loved it.
This week we also went to our local arts centre to see KNEECAP, about some no-hope Irish speaking young drug dealers in Belfast who, by coincidence, meet a respectable school music teacher who, like them, wants to protect and promote Irish Gaelic. They end up forming a rap group – who rap in Irish. They are fiercely republican (although the Troubles have long ended – ‘we are the ceasefire generation’) and becoming very successful with Belfast’s youth – but their rap is very political, very anti-Westminster, and full of references to drugs. The local unionist police chief is out for their blood. Kneecap is very very funny, but also makes some very good points about the importance of a community’s heritage and culture.
Last year I saw a powerful installation by a young Scottish artist, in which she listed the many, many indigenous languages that have been lost. She wrote all of their names onto a long and fragile swathe of white fabric, which was draped across the entrance hall of the Royal Scottish Academy. The artist wanted to highlight the fact that, if a community loses its indigenous language, it also loses its identity.
Today David and I attended an excellent talk by the archivist of Grampian Hospitals Trust, who talked us through the development of the Foresterhill site, which accommodates our Royal Infirmary, our Maternity Hospital, and our Childrens’ Hospital. In the 1700s such hospitals as there were were housed in old and highly unsuitable tenement buildings in disparate parts of the city – but one man realised the many advantages there would be in bringing them all together on one, purpose-built, site, and the generosity of the Aberdonian public allowed this to become a reality.
The archivist showed us some fascinating photographs of the old hospitals and the development of the new site (which has of course been changed many times over the years) – during the First World War, the children’s hospital was moved to another site (then green fields, now part of the inner city and an upmarket housing development) because of the possibility of Zepellin air raids. This hospital incorporated OUTSIDE wards, which had roofs but no doors, and which housed children throughout Aberdeen’s winters (which were of course even colder then than they are now.) The authorities were very keen on fresh air – I suppose it was a case of kill or cure, and the archivist said that most children did in fact recover and go home, although this was partly because only cases seen as likely to be curable were admitted in the first place.
The National Health Service did not see the light of day until 1948, so in those days patients who could afford it were expected to pay their way, whilst charitable donations funded the care of the poor.
We had one beautifully sunny (though cold) day this past week – Nancy and I walked at the beach; the sea looked spectacular under the blue skies, the waves were gentle, seabirds scuttled about on the sand, and so many people were enjoying one of the first ice-free days in weeks. Goodness only knows what the sea will be like tomorrow. I am certainly not going anywhere near that beach, nor indeed outside at all if I can help it. We are so lucky just to be able to stay home.
i hope everyone – especially Mark – has a safe and pleasant week, and Lindy, I wish you the very best of luck with your doctor’s appointment; let us know how you get on, we’ll all be thinking of you, I’m sure.
Rosemary, your talk of a likely power cut where you are had me reading your post at breakneck speed, just so I could get it read in case your power went out – which is obviously ridiculous since clearly your post was safely in my inbox. I do wonder about myself sometimes. I’ll go back and read it properly now, and I hope you’ll all be alright over there with those high winds.
Rosemary, I’m sure you won’t read this until Friday, if you even have power then. Good luck in the windstorm. And, I hope Anna and the boys are okay.
You attend such interesting programs and exhibits. Both of the ones you saw this week, especially the one about indigenous languages sound fascinating.
I’ll be interested to see if The Stepford Wives holds up after all these years.
Stay safe!
Rosemary, I’m curious – have you seen PROTECTION, with Siobhan Finneran. Or THE JETTY (Jenna Coleman)? Or the Irish-Kiwi co-production of THE GONE (Richard Flood)? Just curious as to your take, if you have, as we started watching all of them.
Jeff, I haven’t seen any of those series, nor even heard of two of them. (I have seen trailers for The Jetty, but not watched any of it.) I always say you know more about British TV than I do! I will now look all of these up – thanks for the tips.
Rosemary, Thanks for the review of LIES OF SILENCE by Brian Moore. I have as a long-term goal to read all of Brian Moore’s books, but I have only read two so far. Thus, I have a long way to go.
Well this is the first I have ever read Tracy. I would definitely read more now. I always thought he would write well, but I didn’t realise he would also create such tight and exciting plots.
Lesa, I am sorry you are still having to endure very cold weather and have to go out into it for dentist appointments!!! And I am sorry Mark is so close to the Hughes fire.
Since I am so late today I will keep it brief. I recently finished read THIRTEEN GUESTS by J. Jefferson Farjeon, a country house mystery published in 1936. I liked it a lot, and plan to read the second book in a short series featuring the same Inspector, SEVEN BODIES.
I am currently reading ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE by Elizabeth Strout. It is a novel told in connected short stories which I started a week or so ago.
Glen is close to finishing THE DEMON OF UNREST: A SAGA OF HUBRIS, HEARTBREAK, AND HEROISM AT THE DAWN OF THE CIVIL WAR by Erik Larson.
Oh, I’ll live, Tracy. That’s just weather. Thank you!
Thirteen Guests sounds good, a country house mystery featuring a police inspector. I’ll have to look for it. Thanks!
I took a break from the short story anthology I was reading in order to read Lethal Prey by John Sandford. I needed a break and a sheer escapism read and Davenport and Flowers fit that bill. They are working a cold case.
Oh, a cold case with Davenport and Flowers. Thanks for the reminder, Kevin!
Glad to help out.