Although we’re expecting icy rain overnight, I have no weather complaints for this past week, other than it was cold. And, I did nothing exciting this week, except read. So, I can move on right to books.
Don’t forget tomorrow is Favorites Friday. Lindy will have a list of her Favorites of 2024 up on the blog. Please stop by if you get a chance.
I’m caught up on current books for now, so I picked up the next Sheriff Dan Rhodes mystery by Bill Crider. Red, White & Blue Murder was released in 2003. There’s been a long drought in Blacklin County, Ohio, and Sheriff Rhodes worries about fire on the Fourth of July since the county hasn’t banned fireworks. The county makes it through, but a shack does go up in flames with the owner’s body inside. Sheriff Dan witnesses a second fire when an angry woman shoots into a fireworks stand.
What about you? What have you been doing this week? And, what are you reading?
Last Monday Glen and I started reporting for jury duty. We both got summons about a month apart, but we requested delays to the same day and so we were going in together for the same trial. We were there all day Monday, and I made it to the jury box but was released by one of the attorneys, so I am done. Glen still has to go back tomorrow (Thursday) to continue the jury selection process. We are hoping that they will finish the jury selection on Thursday and he won’t get selected.
We got rain last night and today, and are expecting more tomorrow. Which we need badly. I just hope Glen doesn’t get soaked getting to the courthouse. Lesa, you are getting well ahead of me in the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series; I will be reading DEATH BY ACCIDENT by Bill Crider in the next few months.
I am reading SILENT PARADE, the fourth book in Keigo Higashino’s Detective Galileo series. This is my third book for the Japanese Literary Challenge. I like the series and I think the books get better and better. I don’t see these books as traditional mysteries like those written by Agatha Christie, but the author sprinkles references to Christie’s books throughout the story.
Glen is reading HOME: AMERICAN WRITERS REMEMBER ROOMS OF THEIR OWN, an anthology of essays edited by Sharon Sloan Fiffer and Steve Fiffer. He is really enjoying this book.
Tracy, unless Glen would find being on a jury very interesting I hope he won’t be selected. Or that at least it’s a civil trial and not a criminal trial – those can go on for months.
I own a book that sounds very similar to the one Glen is currently reading. It’s called Home: A Celebration – Notable Voices Reflect on the Meaning of Home. Lots of lovely photos too.
Lindy, We are hoping Glen does not get selected because it could be a moderately long trial, one to two months.
Based on some descriptions of the book, I think the book Glen is reading could be similar to what you described. I thought it was more about a writer’s room, but I now think it is broader than that and about memories of rooms from one’s past. I am going to have to check it out more.
I’m glad you got out of jury duty, Tracy. Good luck to Glen, both with jury duty & the weather.
I’ve just been reading the Bill Crider books in order, Tracy, when I can fit them between other books. They’re all good.
And, I like the sound of Glen’s book. I hope it’s a thick one that will see him through jury selection and a possible trial.
Tracy, I think the jury selection system is quite different in the USA from here. Lawyers cannot challenge potential jury members unless they know something really seriously wrong about them – they certainly can’t ask for them to be discharged on the basis of their possible politics, or any other views they may hold, although the judge will of course direct them to ignore their own prejudices and opinions, and to focus only on the evidence before them.
We don’t have juries in civil cases, and the costs and other difficulties in assembling juries are now leading to suggestions (from the judiciary) that judges should hear many more criminal cases without one. No one wants to do jury service! As a former lawyer I am fortunate in being exempt, and going by the number of minor trials I sat through as a trainee, being a member of a jury must often be very, very boring. So few cases are ‘exciting’, and then, of course, there are the (relatively few) ones that are very distressing. I know we should all feel a sense of duty when asked to do these things, but I’m sure most people’s hearts sink when they see that letter come through the door.
Rosemary, it does sound like the handling of juries is different in the UK. I do feel guilty for wanting to avoid jury duty, but I cannot honestly say I want to participate. The case would have been interesting but still.
It makes sense to me that lawyers would be exempted from jury duty, but here they are not, and the attorneys spend a lot of time questioning lawyers and then just dismiss them anyway.
I was wondering how you got called together, as we always were called years apart. In fact, the last two times I was on jury duty it was Federal Court both times. The closest I came was a civil trial, but after the jury was picked, the judge used that to pressure both sides into a settlement, so we were freed.
Jeff, Glen and I have both been called for jury duty twice since retiring and I just feel past my prime for that kind of activity. I hope I never get called for Federal Court because that would be in L.A. I was amazed we actually did get called for the same trial, but when I was in the jury box and told the judge that my husband was also in the group called, she said that was fine as long as we would each make decisions on our own.
Tracy, the Eastern District of New York (where we live) covers Brooklyn and Queens but also Staten Island, Nassau and Suffolk Counties. The main Federal Court is in Downtown Brooklyn, which is fine for us, but there is a second one way out in Suffolk. I would have to leave very early in the morning to get there (much like you going to L.A., I imagine). I told them it was a hardship, that I would serve in Brooklyn but could not go to Suffolk. That was what happened. But some people just did what they were told, and some poor people I spoke to had to take a bus to the Long Island RR, take it into Brooklyn, then get the subway to the court. I told them to refuse and tell them it was a hardship.
After Jackie had her knee replacement, she got a note from her doctor saying that she was unable to serve because of the stairs, etc. They haven’t called her since. Also, since the pandemic, the courts were shut down and then only opened on a smaller basis.
I have been an alternate juror in a boring case, one attorney suing another attorney and a juror on a computer revenge case. On that one, we were divided and foreperson was trying to persuade to let the defendant get off because she felt sorry for him. I spoke up and persuaded the group that we have to decide if he rigged her business computers to lose all their date at the end of every month and thus tried to put her out of business. For me it was a clear choice, the jury ended up with an unanimous verdict. I am proud to stay that I stood up for justice and won.
The judge kept out information about gifts from the defendant. I am assuming that the foreperson felt sorry for him because of a jilted love affair. But to me, the important thing was that he committed a crime. Glad that I wasn’t picked up in the lawyer vs. lawyer suit! Legal terms galore in that one!
Good for you, Carol, for being a juror that stood up for justice and convinced other jurors that was the way to go!
I’ve never been on a regular jury, but I have been on a federal grand jury, as well as a Civil Grand jury, which only exists in a few states.
These were year long commitments, but I felt I like a made difference in both juries.
Glen, we have a friend in Baltimore who served on a grand jury for a year. I think they went in once a week, but I could be wrong.
Jeff,
On the Federal Grand Jury we usually went in biweekly. Every member wanted to roll over into the next term, it was such a positive experience, but they didn’t take any of us.
The Civil Grand Jury was different. They told us it would be maybe ten hours a week, but it was more like 40 hours. It was onerous, but we did make a difference in that we helped the county get a new dog pound.
Thanks for all the comments and interesting stories. Glen just called and let me know that he was not selected for the jury. My son and I are going to pick him up.
It’s been delightfully colder than normal here this past week. I’ve so enjoyed my early morning walks in the snow, with the temperature at -9C (which I think is 15.8F). Blissful.
Last week Rosemary wrote of a book about James Beard and I told her I would post his recipe for squares which I have been baking regularly for decades.
‘JAMES BEARD SQUARES’
Mix: 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp cinnamon, and a pinch of salt
Blend into: ½ cup milk and 1 egg, slightly beaten
Work in: ¼ cup melted butter
Bake in a greased and floured 8″x 8″ pan: at 400F for approx. 30 minutes till top is browned and coming away from the sides of the pan.
VARIATIONS
1. Omit cinnamon.Add 1 tsp vanilla extract to milk. Add ½ cup raisins.
2. Omit cinnamon. Add 1 tsp almond extract to milk.
3. Omit cinnamon. Reduce sugar to ¾ cup. Add 1 tsp vanilla extract to milk. Top with 2 thinly sliced apples, and sprinkle a bit of sugar and cinnamon and lemon juice over the top. Dot with butter.
On to the two books I read this week.
THE BELLS OF WESTMINSTER by Leonora Nattrass
An amusing historical mystery set in the late 1700s, loosely based on some actual events, and ‘narrated’ by Susan Bell – daughter of the Dean of Westminster. Being 23 years old she is already considered a spinster but is happy enough with her life in the abbey even though it lacks excitement of any kind. The Dean would like her to marry her cousin Lindley, a scientist, but she has no desire to get married.
Then one day a group of antiquarians arrives at the abbey with a letter from the king no less, which authorizes them to open the tomb of Edward the 1st to ascertain whether he had indeed been embalmed and to see if any treasures had been buried with him. Normal life at the abbey is upended and the story starts to take shape. Someone is murdered, Edward’s remains go missing, valuable items are stolen, Edward’s ghostly apparition is seen, Lindley experiments with electricity, and Susan tries to get to the bottom of all that has taken place.
There are many characters, many clues to follow, lots of mis-direction (I did not figure out who the perpetrator was before it was revealed), a little bit complicated at the beginning until I began to make sense of the characters and of the 1700s. I came to like the narration style which succeeded in making me feel I was experiencing what the abbey might have been like at the time with all its passages, tombs, vaults, architectural details, and a bit of understanding of what it must have been like to keep such a massive institution running.
Until about a quarter of the way through the book I wasn’t sure how I felt about it because it hadn’t really grabbed my attention yet, but the story got stronger as it progressed – with a light hand – and in the end I enjoyed and appreciated it, and was happy to have read it.
THE SECRET BOOK OF FLORA LEA by Patti Callahan Henry
This was the first book I’ve read by this author and it certainly won’t be the last. What a gorgeous, heart touching book. It’s told in the dual timelines of 1940 and 1960. Normally this style of story-telling isn’t my favourite but for this book it is absolutely perfect, and all the better for it.
Two sisters, 14-year-old Hazel and 5-year-old Flora are evacuated to the British countryside to keep them safe from bombings during the Blitz. To distract her little sister from the frightening uncertainty of being evacuees, Hazel spins a magical tale of a secret land that’s just for the two of them, where they will always be safe. Then the unthinkable happens and in a moment of inattention on Hazel’s part, little Flora disappears and her constant stuffed-animal companion is discovered on the bank of the River Thames. Guilt and torment follow Hazel, and twenty years on, her entire life and the choices she makes are still being defined by these feelings. She never ceases to look for and to hope that, somehow, Flora might still be alive however unlikely that is.
I don’t want to give away anything more because if you haven’t already read the book, I wouldn’t want to spoil any of it for you – the clues, the hope, the despair, the emotions, the characters, the wonderful storytelling; they should all be yours to discover and savour. Which I hope you will.
I can see why you’ve been baking that recipe for decades, Lindy. You can vary it so much, and with simple ingredients that are always in the house.
Well, The Bells of Westminster have an unusual setting and time period. I can see why it kept your attention after you got into it.
Lindy, thank you so much for this recipe! I look forward to trying it, maybe with the almond extract – yum! I didn’t find the recipe in Delights and Prejudices, but of course Beard wrote many, many cookbooks.
I have seen “The Bells of Westminster” on a number of book blogs but haven’t been able to reserve it from the library system as no library in our state currently has it! Is it worth buying? The description did pique my interest!
Mary, it’s no good asking me if a book is worth buying, since I tend to think all books are worth buying ha ha ha. I just happen to like the feel of reading a brand new book. I know that’s not what you’re asking though, and this book is newly published so only available in hardcover and therefore more expensive. If money is no object then I would say yes. The writing is quite formal and appropriate to the time period in which the book is set, so it reads a bit more slowly but it made the humorous bits funnier somehow. It’s not a ‘deep’ book by any means but I liked it because it was a bit different from most things I read. (But if you buy it and don’t like it, I will feel a crushing sense of guilt. I have a hard enough time saying what I think of the books I read, and it’s much harder if someone asks me outright if one of them is worth buying!)
Thank you!!
Thank you for sharing the recipe, Lindy. I look forward to baking it especially since it is in an 8×8 pan.
We had a little rain Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. We’re supposed to get more rain on Thursday. I don’t know if it is enough to be worrying about mudslides yet, but we’ve got a larger storm coming next week. If it’s not one thing, it’s another, right?
On the reading front, I’m working on Chocolate Can Be Deadly by Kim Davis. This is in her Cupcake Catering series. I’m enjoying catching up with the characters and wondering exactly what is going on. I should be finishing it up on Thursday. The book just came out, and it’s set around Valentine’s Day. Perfect timing, right?
From fires to mudslides? You just can’t catch a break, can you, Mark? I was so pleased when you said you had rain until you mentioned mudslides.
I didn’t even know there was a cupcake catering series.
Finally, a winter storm this week. We went the entire month of January with no measurable precipitation. Received almost 1.5 inches of rain so far, quite a bit for the high desert. And winds! 50-60 mph one night. We came through unscathed, although several folks in the valley woke to roof damage. Temperatures are now turning colder with snow forecast for today & tomorrow.
Thanks for the tip on The Hebridean Baker Lesa. I couldn’t access the Poisoned Pen interview, but found plenty of others on YouTube. So now I know! I’m just starting Coinneach Macleod’s 2022 book, more for the “wee stories” than the baking. The author was born & raised on the Isle of Lewis (the most northerly of the Outer Hebrides).
Reaching to the way-back (1908) for one of the earliest locked room mysteries, THE MYSTERY OF THE YELLOW ROOM. Young amateur sleuth & journalist, Rouletabille, tackles an apparently unsolvable puzzle with observation and logic. In the process, he pits his solution against the best detective of the Surete. The character was created by Gaston Leroux, a French writer and journalist (most famous for The Phantom of the Opera).
I also read the 1914 mystery in the series, THE SECRET OF THE NIGHT, set in Tsarist Russia. Both fascinating books.
Although only the sixth in the series I’ve read, A CHATEAU UNDER SIEGE is the 16th in the Bruno, Chief of Police series. I enjoy the series for its many layers. Friends & food & wine in the local village. Bruno’s dog and horses always get special attention. Local history and prehistory are indulged, including a battle reenactment in this book. Toss in a bit of international intrigue and Silicon Valley wealth to make a fascinating story.
Someone recommended the autobiographical ROUGH MAGIC: Riding the World’s Loneliest Horse Race written by the youngest person and first woman to win the Mongol Derby, Lara Prior-Palmer. I perhaps have a mild curiosity about horses or endurance races or Mongolia, for that matter, but quite an interesting story. The audio version is the way to go for this story.
You’re welcome, MM. I’m sure many readers found their way to The Hebridean Baker books because of Diana Gabaldon.
You really are reaching back into the past for The Mystery of the Yellow Room. And, I recognized Gaston Leroux’ name immediately.
Hi, MM. I’m glad you like Bruno, too. I’ve read all of Martin Walker’s Bruno, Chief of Police books to date, and I look forward to each one as it comes out. I’d say I need a break between them since there are 18 now, including the one coming out in 2025, and they can become a bit repetitive. But the plots are intriguing, the village and its locals charming and fun, and Bruno himself is a very appealing Superman–he always saves the day, but I like him so much more than, say, Jack Reacher!
We had some freezing rain overnight but fortunately we have no place to go this morning and it’s supposed to warm up and change to rain in a few hours.
I read THE RAINFALL MARKET by You Yeong-Gwan. If you write a letter to an abandoned house and receive a ticket in the mail you can go to the Rainfall Market and choose a different life. It sounded interesting but it really should have been shelved as a YA book. The writing was simplistic and I really didn’t care about the main character.
WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS by Wilson Rawls. The story is about a farm boy in rural Oklahoma and his coon hounds. I’m not sure how I missed reading this as a kid because I pretty much read any story with animals that the library had.
The Rainfall Market does sound interesting, Sandy. I’m sorry it didn’t work out.
I never read Where the Red Fern Grows because I saw it on TV, and cried so much that I couldn’t read the book.
That was my problem with OLD YELLER as a kid. How I cried, book and movie!
Hello Lesa and everyone! It’s a cold and gloomy gray day in Bern, but at four, one of my friends has invited me to the fanciest hotel in town for an afternoon tea to celebrate my birthday, which was last October. We agreed that we’d save the celebration for February because it was usually such a dreary month, and I’m so glad we did. I’m sure I’ll eat too much pastry and enjoy myself.
Many of you have recommended the Dez Limerick series by James Byrne, so I’m delighted to tell you that I’m about 80% through listening to the first one, THE GATEKEEPER, and getting a big kick out of it. Dez is such a likable tough guy! I’m looking forward to #2 and #3 in the series. The reader is good, too.
On my Kindle, I’m reading another of the books my sister sent me for Christmas. This one is THE BORROWED LIFE of FREDERICK FIFE by Anna Johnston. It’s set in Australia, and all the comments about how heart-warming and life-affirming it is are completely true. However, I have to confess that the main character is SO kind and loving and forgiving, and everyone around him comes to love him SO much that it all got to be too much for me. Like eating too much cotton candy. But this is, without a doubt, a feel-good book, the kind of thing to read when you are worried about the state of the world, as most of us are these days. I prefer Mick Herron’s cynical Slough House book, though.
Oh, what a nice event for your birthday, Kim! Tea at the fanciest hotel in town. I love it!
Exactly! That’s what I love about the Dez Limerick books, that he’s such a likable tough guy. So different from most heroes in thrillers.
Good afternoon from sunny Aberdeenshire – it’s still cold here, but it’s a beautiful day, and I hope to get out for a walk soon.
Our riverbank path has finally reopened after a long closure while dangerous trees were felled. I’m a bit nervous about how it will now look, but the work had to be done, and the river itself is always so beautiful. The wildlife down there – birds, otters, fish – will have been having such a peaceful time; I hope the return of humans won’t upset them too much.
Last night I went with my friend Karen to see the film of the Donmar Warehouse production of MACBETH. David Tennant and Cush Jumbo were absolutely outstanding as the lead characters, and really every single cast member was pitch perfect.
The entire play was performed on a simple square of white stage, with the audience on three sides and the chorus on the fourth. The only props throughout the whole thing were a few wine glasses, a dagger and some swords – but you hardly noticed this as Tennant and Jumbo were such powerful presences; I was transfixed by their acting.
On Sunday David and I went to Dundee. We visited the McManus Museum and Galleries, which are owned by the council. I had never been beyond the cafe and shop before, but this time we had a good look around.
The ground floor houses a permanent exhibition about the history of the city – it was so much more interesting than I had expected, with lots of social history. A display of traditional grocery items took me back to my own childhood – a young family was right beside me, and the father explained to his son that ‘these are the things grandma would have bought’ – !! That put me in my place! He particularly remarked on a box of Smarties, sweets that are now always sold in tubes. I well remember those boxes, which were seen mainly in theatres and cinemas.
Dundee’s traditional industries were Jam, Jute and Journalism – the jam making and the jute are now largely gone, but DC Thomson, publisher of such icons as The Beano, The Dandy and The People’s Friend, is still going strong. I am always so pleased to see an independent media company succeed, as almost all of the UK’s newspapers are owned and controlled by men like Rupert Murdoch, and spew out appalling racist rubbish every day. (The Guardian is an exception, also The National.)
Music has also played a big part in Dundee’s cultural life, so there were lots of album covers. concert advertisements, and even a life size model of a local drag artist who had appeared on Rue Paul’s Drag Race. And nowadays Dundee is an international centre for animation, video games and coding, so there was plenty about those too.
Upstairs was a display about two young women journalists whom DC Thomson had packed off to travel the world in the early 20th century. They reported back on everything they saw, in the USA, Asia, Africa – everywhere. Women rarely travelled alone in those days, so these two must have been exceptional characters.
David stayed in Dundee to see THE BRUTALIST, but I couldn’t face over three hours of a film about architecture, so I came home. He enjoyed it though.
BOOKS – I read PIGLET by Lottie Hazell. It’s rare for me to read a new book, but I’d heard a lot about this one and picked it up in my library. It’s about ‘Piglet’ (she was given this nickname by her family) who comes from a fairly ordinary working class family in the Midlands, but has moved to London, acquired a good job with a foody publisher, and is about to marry her ‘perfect’ boyfriend, Kit, who comes from a much wealthier background.
A short while before the ‘perfect’ wedding, Kit admits to something that is apparently so awful that Piglet doesn’t know whether or not to continue with their plans. We are never told what this revelation is, and instead have to guess from the varied reactions of Piglet’s family members and friends. Hazlett keeps us waiting till almost the very last page to find out what Piglet will do.
Food is the overarching metaphor in this book. At first that worked well, and Hazlett has a sharp ear for the ridiculous behavour and conversations of the chattering classes. The scenes with Kit’s affluent, self-assured parents are painful; they patronise Piglet, and manipulate her to doing things the way they want them done, in a passive-aggressive manner typical of their class, while she aspires desperately to be like them and more importantly, NOT like her own family, whom she finds embarrassing in their unsophisticated ways.
I enjoyed the first part of the book, but Hazlett stretched the food analogies far too far; every single thing had to be described by reference to two or three food-related adjectives. I also felt that the plot itself was too thin to sustain an entire novel, and would have been better as a short story. In the end I just wanted it to be over, and I couldn’t give it more than 2 stars, although many (not all) Goodreads reviewers seem to have loved it. I’m probably just too old and cynical!
I’m also reading edition 84 of Slightly Foxed, which has some great essays on topics as diverse as the real people behind Christopher Isherwood’s Mr Norris Changes Trains, Absent in the Spring, a novel written by Agatha Christie under the pen name of Mary Westmacott, and the ‘scandal’ of Crawfie (Marion Crawford) and the The Little Princesses – the book Crawford wrote about her time as nanny to the young Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, of which book the Queen Mother highly disapproved.
And I’ve just started the next Rose Trevalyn mystery by Janie Bolitho – BETRAYED IN CORNWALL. I’m also reading a self-published book about someone’s family history (I was asked to do this for a potential review). As ever with these things, I partly regret agreeing to read it, as although the story is interesting, the writing isn’t great and there is a lot of repetition. I’ll have to think of something to say though!
I discovered yesterday that DEWITHON, the Welsh reading event run every March, until last year, by Book Jotter (Paula Bardell-Headley), is to continue – hoorah. Paula decided to take a step back, having run Dewithon for some time, but Karen at BookerTalk has come forward to take it over. I really enjoyed taking part in this one last year – it’s very laid back, you can read as much or as little as you like, or contribute by reviewing a film, trying a recipe, writing about art or music – anything you like so long as it’s Welsh. I haven’t decided what I’ll do yet – any suggestions welcome!
On TV I’m still working my way through the exceptional SLOW HORSES (Fun fact: Anna has just told me that Jack Lowden, who plays River Cartwright in the show, is married to Sorcha Ronan), and am then going to try to fit in LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY before my Apple TV subscription runs out. Anna has also recommended THE NEWS READER on BBC i-Player. I think it’s an Australian show.
Have a good week all!
Every week it amazes me, Rosemary, how much you manage to squeeze in, with walks and movies and museums and cafes. I love it! Thank you for sharing so much.
And, thank you for the comments about Macbeth. It sounds wonderful!
Love Bill’s books, and especially appreciated that he dedicated one to me.
Sorry about the weather, especially as it has been great in South Florida, around 78-80 every day for the past week, and the same is predicted for the next week.
Big excitement here was, we got new phones. Jackie has been complaining about hers for months and was determined to get a new one here, so much easier than dealing with the unhelpful Verizon people in the store near us in New York Plus, there is a sale now, so you can buy and $800 or $1,000 phone and get an $800 rebate for turning in your old phone. Our old phones were cheap ones, under $300 each, so we came out ahead.
/end unsolicited commercial interruption
Books. Jackie has been reading more lately, just finished DARK HOPE by Christine Feehan, and has the new spinoff from the Black Dagger Brotherhood book by J. R. Ward, A BLOOM IN WINTER. next, followed by the new J. D. Robb, BONDED IN DEATH, so she’s pretty excited.
OK, when did retired women killers and spies become a thing? My guess is, Elizabeth in THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB (2020) and Helen Mirren in RED (2010) were the avatars. (And, of course, Mirren is playing Elizabeth in the THURSDAY movie. Could casting be any more perfect? I think not.) In any case, there have been a bunch of books featuring older women. Personally, I could not get into Robert Thorogood’s MARLOW MURDER CLUB (2021), though I enjoyed the television adaptation. There are a bunch of older women (and some men) in Clare Pooley’s HOW TO AGE DISGRACEFULLY (2024) too. Of course, most of these are just older people, not spies or killers like our books at hand.
First was Double Tap, the second Helen Warwick book (after SECOND SHOT) by Cindy Dees. In the first book, Helen is forcibly retired by her boss in the CIA after a long, successful career as an assassin. She was a somewhat neglectful mother, traveling around the world, so her husband mostly raised the kids, and she is ready to make amends, starting with babysitting her son’s dog, when an assassination team breaks into the house to kill her. They fail, and she mostly explains how a “little old lady” who “closed her eyes and pulled the trigger” managed to kill three armed intruders. Her awful son, however, just blames her for wrecking his house! Mainly, Helen needs to find and eliminate Scorpius, the Russian mole inside the CIA, which you finally believe she does at the end of a violent, fast moving book. But wait… turns out the guy she killed was just a minion of Scorpius and he is still out there So, on to book two. In this one (Double Tap) the CIA Director who forced her out, now forces her to come back and finish the hunt for (no, not Red October) Scorpius. One couldn’t help but think of the moment in GODFATHER Part 3 when Al Pacino laments, “Every time I think I’m out, they pull me back in!” This time it is Helen’s oldest son who is the focus, as he runs for District Attorney in D.C. and Helen has to protect him as well as look for Scorpius, plus fight off other people out to kill her. As with the first book, this is not really very realistic, but it moves quickly and is mostly an entertaining read. One thing: I might have missed it, but I don’t remember any reference to Helen’s husband being black in the first book, which she drops in here. And yes, there is a cliffhanger left wide open for book three.
The second book this week, also about a 60 year old former CIA agent, is Tess Gerritsen’s The Spy Coast. Maggie Bird is a retired CIA agent living in Purity, Maine, along the coast, along with several other retired former agents. (In an afterword, the author talks about where she got this idea from – real life.) Then a young woman who obviously knows who she is comes asking about a missing former agent, Diana. Next thing you know, thing young woman is left, murdered, in Maggie’s driveway. The local Police Chief, Jo Thibodeau, wants to know what is going on, and she is both sharp and persistent. But Maggie and her friends know how to keep their mouths shut. This all stems from an operation in Malta 16 years earlier. Reading these back to back was instructive. The writing and tone are very different. This one has a lot of flashbacks to show how Maggie got where she is now. There are killings, but they are all much more realistic (I guess you’d say) and less something you just sluff off and turn the page as in the Dees book. Book two of what the publisher is calling The Martini Club series is out in March. I’ll read it.
I know I mentioned Graham Swift’s England and Other Stories last time, and I did finish the book. Currently reading a collection of western stories by Dorothy M. Johnson, The Hanging Tree. The title story was made into a movie with Gary Cooper. She also wrote stories that became THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALLANCE and A MAN CALLED HORSE. The first story here is fact-based, about Cynthia Ann Parker, who was kidnapped by Comanches as an 8 year old and lived with them for 30 years, until being “rescued” as an adult, something she was not happy about.
I did pick up Deanna Raybourn’s Killers Of a Certain Age at the library yesterday, but I’m not sure I want to read another book about 60 year old women assassins directly after the last two books.
I did pick up
I think you might be right, Jeff, about the first signs of women senior assassins and spies. I also agree with you about the book The Marlow Murder Club. Just didn’t care for it. I never saw it on TV, though.
I think I might skip Killers of a Certain Age right now, too.
But, you’re weather! I’d take that anytime!
You’re right. I read the first chapter but decided to read one of Andrew Mayne’s Florida-set Underwater Investigation Unit books instead.
Sounds like a nice quiet week for you, Lesa! I am traveling to be with family this weekend – card games and pizza! Unfortunately, the weather is going to require me to leave earlier than intended, I think. So looking forward to it.
This week I finished “Silence in the Library (2nd in the Lily Adler series) by Katharine Schellman. I listened to the audio version of this book. I loved the first book in this series, but this book felt just a little slow to me. Lily gets involved in another murder – this time it was a longtime friend of her father’s. Suspects include his relatively new 2nd wife, his son (who stands to inherit), his nephew (also a potential beneficiary), a hidden mentally challenged son, and any number of servants. Lily, Jack and the inspector all band together to solve whodunnit.
Oh, cards and pizza with family sound wonderful, Mary. Enjoy your time with them. Nothing more fun. For me, nothing more relaxing.
I agree with you. The second Lily Adler wasn’t quite as good as the first, and seemed slow.
Have a good weekend!
I’ve been reading Hugh Howey’s Silo trilogy, the basis for the streaming TV series. These books are about the world’s last survivors, who live in 50 underground communities holding 10,000 occupants each. They have never been told the truth about why the silos were built and what really happened to the world outside, and discontent and the need for truth leads to periodic violent uprisings. There are no radiation-deformed monsters in these stories. The only monsters are the people who created the silos and made Earth uninhabitable, then found a way to make themselves live forever, always in charge. Brilliant writing, and so thought-provoking. Other than reading, I am drowning in anxiety like millions of other Americans. And I continue to work on learning to walk again. A new drug for CIDP, unlike anything ever available before, is helping me enormously. I was one of the first CIDP patients approved to take it.
Although I haven’t been posting, I have been reading this page most weeks. It’s an island of sanity in a crazy world. I am grateful to all of you for that.
Oh Sandra – I hope the anxiety related stress doesn’t impact your CIDP. Perhaps some good escapist reading can help.
Sandra! I’m so glad there’s a new drug that hasn’t given you some relief. I know how terrible you can feel with a chronic disease.
Like you, I’m suffering from extreme anxiety right now. Social Security, Medicare, and everything else that’s happening here. It’s such a mess.
I’m glad we all have this little “island of sanity” where we can talk about books, weather, the arts, whatever we want. I’m glad it has been a little bit of comfort right now.
Oops, sorry about the excess bolding.
Good morning from icy Michigan! We did not get as much ice as predicted, but the roads are treacherous, so we are staying in.
I read two very good books this week and one exceptional one. Two are by the same author, Angela Marsons, and are the latest installments in a long series. The books feature Detective Kim Stone and her team of Detective Inspectors. The book Guilty Mothers involves a series of murders linked by child beauty pagents. In 36 Hours, Kim and her team are racing against a killer who is leaving clues and a time-line. If the clues aren’t solved, someone will die. Not only does the team have to solve the clues to find the perpetrator, but they have to figure out who the potential victim is. Really enjoy this series.
For Christmas, I was given a young adult graphic novel, White Bird by R. J. Palacio. I do not care for graphic novels and thought to read it and get it over with. Well, it turned out to be an exceptional book. Set in a French village during WW 2, the story follows Sara, a young Jewish girl. She is rescued from a round up by a classmate, a young boy who has been ostracized and bullied because he has a disability. The book covers the war years and was just perfect. I will read it again and perhaps not be so quick to judge a graphic novel. Highly recommend.
Am halfway thru The Murder of Mr. Ma and am enjoying it enough to order the next book coming soon.
Hope everyone will have a nice weekend.
Thanks for the tip Jennifer. My library has two copies of The Railway Conspiracy (book 2 in the Dee and Lao series) on order. I’m #4 on the holds list.
Isn’t it nice that we can stay in, and don’t have to venture out when the roads are bad, Jennifer?
Now, I’m going to have to look up Angela Marsons’ series. Sounds as if it’s one I might like.
Have a relaxing weekend!
The icy rain passed us by but the thunder and lightning woke me up in the middle of the night. 50° for a high today.
Two books for me this week.
Eddie Winston is Looking for Love by Marianne Cronin was very sweet. Eddie is 90 years old and never been kissed. He is working in a charity shop in his retirement and rescues sentimental things. One day 27-year-old Bella walks in with a box of her dead boyfriend’s things. Eddie has a feeling she will be back and saves the box. When Bella does come back, an unlikely friendship develops and she makes it her mission to find him love. I enjoyed this gentle story very much.
My second book took me home to Cleveland with all the familiar streets and places. Murder Lo Mein is the 3rd of Vivien Chien’s Noodle House Mysteries. I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the first two. And I am hoping her detective boyfriend grows on me soon or I may stop. The plot of this one involved a noodle competition with one of the judges being murdered.
Happy Reading!
Thank you! Happy reading to you, too, Sharon!
I have the first of the Noodle House mysteries here at home, and I’m going to try that when I finish the Bill Crider book. You and Glen have recommended them highly.
Good morning! We had more rain this week, which is always welcome in Northern California, as there is no rain during the summer so we need to “stock up” during the winter months. It was nice to have a break yesterday, though. We’re back to rain today, but I have to do some errands, so I hope it’s not too heavy. I think I’ve hit a wall with my physical therapy. I’m tired of being stiff and sore, so I’m going to ask the therapist tomorrow if I can alternate days with Zumba and walking to let my body rest between PT sessions. As for reading, I only finished two books this week, but I am also reading Atomic Habits by James Clear to try to get rid of some of the habits that always plague me (mainly procrastination). Wish me luck!
The fifth in Mia P. Manansala’s Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mysteries, GUILT AND GINATAAN, continues the story of Lila and her co-owners of the Brew-ha Cafe, Adeena and Elena. The café is doing well and serving up scrumptious Filipino treats for the annual Shady Palms (IL) Corn Festival. But when one of them is implicated in the Mayor’s wife’s murder in the corn maze, their lives are turned upside down and emotions run high. Lila has previously helped solve other murders in Shady Palms, so she talks to people–both locals and strangers–to see what she can discover. Of course, she ultimately puts herself in danger, but that’s nothing new for Lila. The murder investigation uncovers some interesting facts, but I read this series for the descriptions of delectable food and drink, as well as insights into Lila’s life and the lives of her family and friends. And it is refreshing to see that Lila does have some character development, finally realizing and owning up to the fact that she too often tries to make everything about herself. Her intentions are good, but her emotions have a way of resulting in decisions and expressions that could alienate those dearest to her. I do enjoy her relationship with her dentist beau, who is a most engaging character, and with her adorable dachshund.This is a quick read, with recipes and even an excerpt of the next book in the series.
DEATH AT A HIGHLAND WEDDING, the fourth installment in Kelley Armstrong’s superlative time travel mystery series, is a worthy successor to the first three. Mallory, a (30ish) former homicide detective in Canada, is now thoroughly invested in her role as assistant to Duncan Grey, an undertaker and medical examiner in Victorian Edinburgh, Scotland. How she traveled there in 2019, jumping into the body of a young, buxom housemaid, is covered in A Rip in Time, the first in the series. Over time, Mallory has adapted her way of speaking and acting to Victorian standards, reverting to her sometimes profane natural speech pattern only when she is alone with those who know her real identity. She and Duncan often assist local detective Hugh McCreadie in his investigations, but this time they are all traveling to a country estate for the wedding of Hugh’s younger sister, Fiona, to a wealthy landowner. But when a Scottish wildcat is killed in a mysterious way and one of the human guests is also found dead, the wedding is delayed and a new investigation is afoot. There is so much to admire about this series. Mallory is the narrator and a fully-formed, very engaging character. I enjoy her explanations (to those in the know about her background) about medicine and customs in the 21st century as compared to the late 1800s, and chuckle when she is forced to be convincing in a body and role that is alien to her. Her insights in homicide investigations are very helpful to her colleagues, although she still has to struggle with what VIctorian women are supposed to be. There’s also a slow-moving attraction between Mallory and Duncan which may or may not ever be fulfilled. If you haven’t read this series, it’s a good idea to start at the beginning in order to fully understand what has already transpired. But reading this book as a standalone can also be rewarding, as you will enjoy the author’s accessible writing style, twisty plot, and characters–yes, even the lesser ones–that are beautifully drawn and fun to read. (May)
Margie, I have to admit I skipped straight to the end of your review of Death at a Highland Wedding. I have a copy, and really only wanted to know if you liked it or not. Happy to see your final comments!
Good luck with the therapist and the habits!
Slow reading week for me. I only finished one book.
I’ve been reading A DAUGHTER GUIDE TO MOTHERS AND MURDER by Dianne Freeman. This is the 8th book in the Countess of Harleigh Mystery series. Hard to believe, it’s been 8 books. Frances and her husband are in Paris on vacation when an acquaintance asks them to investigate a wealthy American who is courting her daughter. Less than a year before, the American’s wife had been murdered and the police chalked it up to a robbery going wrong. Frances and her husband are asked by the police to help investigate and they discovered some very interesting things along the way. I thought I had the murderer figured out early in the book, but boy, was I wrong! My copy came from NetGalley.
Thanks for the suggestions for a romantic suspense book. I decided to read Mary Stewart’s AIRS ABOVE THE GROUND. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.
We’re supposed to get snow tomorrow. We did get some on Monday but it’s all melted away.
Oh, I hope you enjoy Airs Above the Ground. I know I did when I read it years ago. I hope it holds up.
Bev, thank you for the comments about Dianne Freeman’s new one. Good to know you didn’t guess the killer!
Currently reading a book that I won from GoodReads, Charmed by Lorraine Zago Rosenthal. It is on the fluffy side and I have never understood women characters who think they are not complete with a man! It is also like a soap opera with ultra rich people feeling sorry for themselves with multiple marriages and the main character yet to be married. Now the author is starting to get into sudsy family problems. The book is gradually getting better but I hope that improvement continues. I think I have a bias against rich people who get free college educations, free cars, free housing. I have to think about that! Maybe I am not being fair!
I agree with you, Carol, about not really caring about those characters. My sister summed up a Danielle Steel book the other day. Rich woman has everything, loses everything, and comes back to have more than before. Maybe the rich “have everything” life isn’t for me.
Lesa,
I don’t know whether the “have everything life” is for me, either, but I think I’d like to give it a try, maybe some sort trial period with no commitments?
To be honest, whenever I read or hear about this sort of thing, I just think if they’re so darned miserable, they should take a vow of poverty and become a nun or a monk or something, but somehow, that almost never happens.
My nephew just got back from one of those destination weddings in Guatemala, Glen. The house they rented came with 3 maids and a gardener. He admitted he couldn’t live like that all the time.
Lesa, your sister’s description of Danielle Steele’s books is mine also. When they decided to ban them from our school district’s libraries, I was like have you read one?? No smut, just husband dies, main character is poor for a short time before finding a rich husband. A girl can dream, I guess.
It seems so odd with the choices of books that have been banned, Bev. But, you’re certainly right about Danielle Steel!
I need to read the summaries more carefully!
It rained on and off, with a lot of rain on Monday, and some local flooding, but nothing major.
Went to a couple of more Chinese New Year Parties. One of them had a double dragon dance, which was pretty cool.
Wednesday, I went to the Colusa Ag Show, to see what they had. Last year, this was a bigger show, with more exhibits. Still, it was fun seeing what they had. The biggest one of these shows is in Tulare.
This week I read:
Black Diamond by Martin Walker; Bruno investigates truffle counterfeiting and the murder of his friend, who of course was deeply involved in spyjinks back in the day. Most interesting to me was that the truffle industry still hasn’t recovered from WWI. We often underestimate how terrible it was, and that the effect are still with us. It took almost 100 years to pay for the war just economically. I remember reading 50 major poets died during the wat. I don’t think we even have 50 major poets in this day and age.
Murder in the Fells by Bruce Beckham; An American passport is found in a fox’s den in the Lake District. Skelgill and Company get on the case, and wind up tracing the victim’s sister throughout the Roman roads that still exist in Britain.
Muscle: The Untold Story of Muscle in Our Lives by Michael Joseph Gross; The title says it all, but there’s a lot of propaganda about strength training.
Infinite Courage by J Clifton Slater; Sisera once more goes into the breach. This is like one of those old WWII movies where a noncom whips the whole unit into shape, only this is based in Ancient Rome.
Killer Research by Jenn McKinlay; The sleuth is married, but she still investigates when the employee she used to hate, but is now helping to run for mayor, finds a dead body in the trunk of her car. We get a lot of folderol about the 60’s. I was trepidatious when I realized this book was about politics, but it was skillfully done so that it was readable by pretty much everybody on the political spectrum.
Kaihan: Bizarre Crimes That Shook Japan Volume 2 by Tara P Meyers; A true crime anthology about crimes that took place in Japan. Many are unsolved, and some are quite chilling. It was oddly comforting that their police force isn’t any better than ours.
Clive Cussler’s Desolation Code by Graham Brown; Kurt Austin is chilling on an island, when the governor asks him to rescue some beached whales. This sends NUMA on a crash course with clones, genetically modified bugs, AI, and other current topics. Doesn’t always make a lot of sense, but it is pretty exciting.
Black Diamond sounds interesting, Glen. That’s another series I haven’t tried yet, and need to. You’re the third person to mention it today. Guess I should be looking for the first in the series.
You’re like Rosemary in that your activities are always so varied – Lunar New Year’s Parties and Ag exhibits.
Mail Man..not bad…