First, how are you doing? Last week didn’t sound great for several of us. Take care of yourselves. Many of us check the messages to see how everyone else is doing.
I’m in Ohio this week. I can tell you I’m not reading a thing, but I’m feeling great. I’m visiting with my mother and sisters, as I said yesterday. We are practicing social distancing with the rest of the world. We’re spending our time at Mom’s or at cemeteries. We’re doing genealogy.
Even though I’m not reading, I brought six boxes of books with me for family and the Little Library in the yard next to Mom’s. So, I’m still sharing books.
How about you? What are you reading this week? Most important, are you doing okay?
I'm glad you are enjoying your time in Ohio, Lesa.
This week I finished EIGHTY DAYS TO ELSEWHERE by K. C. Dyer. It was good but I felt she rather lost her way with the refugee storyline. I did spend time on Google looking up some of the locations mentioned like the sail hotel in Yokohama and the hillside escalators in Hong Kong.
Next I finished JACKIE AND MARIA by Gill Paul. Rather gossipy in nature but good. I like her books about the Romanov family better.
Now I am reading Donna Andrew's THE FALCON ALWAYS WINGS TWICE. This series is always like visiting an old friend.
Happy Reading!
Today I get to be one of the first commenters! The new blogpost wasn't up when I first tried at 7:00 my time (PDT), but I checked again after breakfast, so here we go.
I re-read THE LITTLE FRENCH BISTRO by Nina George for a book club meeting, and I'm so glad I did. The author (and her translator) have done a magnificent job with a story that is atmospheric, evocative, and beautiful. Marianne has spent 41 years married to a man who doesn't respect her, belittles her, and never makes her feel special. On a trip to Paris with her husband, Marianne leaves the group and tries to drown herself in the Seine. After she is rescued, she heads for the coast, to Bretagne (Brittany) to get away from her husband, and still aiming to end her life. But in a small Breton town she finds a community that accepts her and she learns to be the person she has lost over the years. At age 60, she recaptures her youth, her ability to love, and an interest in life that had been well buried. Stories of the secondary characters are all interesting as well. I loved it and it made me want to re-read two other George books that I read years ago.
It's always a pleasure to spend time with Armand Gamache and his family, and in ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE by Louise Penny his family really is the heart of the story. They're all either visiting, living or working in Paris throughout most of the book, which starts with Armand's elderly godfather, Stephen, becoming the victim of hit-and-run that lands him in a coma. And another grisly scene awaits Armand and his wife when they go to Stephen's apartment. Lesa has written a beautiful review without spoilers, which is difficult to do, so I'll just say that I appreciated the very clever and exciting plot and, especially, the contributions of everyone in Armand's family, even his very pregnant daughter, Annie, to figuring out why Stephen was targeted. The ending was especially touching. This 16-book series is one of the best.
Lucy Burdette's latest, The Key Lime Crime sounds like fun and it's on my library hold list, but since I've never read the Key West Food Critic series, I thought I should start with the first, AN APPETITE FOR MURDER. Hayley Snow moved to Key West with her new boyfriend, Chad, a divorce lawyer. Hayley is in the midst of auditioning for the job of food critic for a new local magazine when she finds Chad in bed with restaurant entrepreneur Kristen. And when Kristen is poisoned with a key lime pie, Hayley is the prime suspect. There seems to be a dearth of other persons of interest, and Hayley's defense attorney appears incompetent, so it's up to her to dive in and uncover the real culprit. She seems a bit too careless with her own safety, but I like the character and feel certain she will mature as the series progresses. I enjoyed the other denizens of the marina where she lives on a friend's boat, as well as her close friend, clinical psychologist Eric. I wouldn't object if she dumped her tarot card reader, though.
Hugs to the women in Huron!! I can hear all the laughter from here.
I've read a LOT of good stuff this past week.
Cold Wind by Paige Shelton (ARC) – I love this new series.
Shadows in Death by J. D. Robb – What can I say? A new J.D. Robb always makes me happy.
We Run the Tides by Vendela Vida (ARC)
The Last Correspondent by Soraya M. Lane (ARC) (this is one your mom might really like, Lesa)
The Woman Outside My Door by Rachel Ryan (ARC)
The Perfect Guests by Emma Rous (ARC)
The Lies That Bind by Emily Giffin
Every Now and Then by Lesley Kagen (ARC)
Heartbreak Bay by Rachel Caine (ARC)
All recommended
Sharon, FALCON is a wonderful addition to the series.
Margie, I'm with you on the Tarot card reader, but sadly he's part of every book.
I'm doing better this week. Worked most of the day Saturday and a few hours on Monday, so I'm more than ready for this upcoming weekend. No fires near me, but it is so smoky out it looks like fog outside. Not as bad as where my family is, where it looks horrible, but still spooky.
This week, I'm reading MRS. CLAUS AND THE SANTALAND SLAYINGS by Liz Ireland, which I am completely loving. It comes out at the end of the month, and at 40% in, I highly recommend it.
I'm also listening to HARD COLD WINTER by Glen Erik Hamilton. Definitely not one of my normal cozies, but so far I'm enjoying it. I'm not that far into it yet.
Six boxes of books? Wow. I brought three books to the basement library in the laundry room. We're doing well. We actually ate out in restaurants twice this week for the first time since March 19. Indoor dining is still forbidden until September 30 here, but both places had backyard outdoor garden dining, neither was crowded, and everything was fine. The problem today is 100% humidity and air you can almost see, but not breathe. Otherwise, it's all good.
Reading. First was BROKEN GROUND, previously mentioned, the Val McDermid book. I liked the previous Insp. Karen Pirie book better, but this was good as always with McDermid. Then I finished CITY OF NETS by Otto Friedrich, the very interesting book about Hollywood from 1939 to 1950, with a lot about the anti-Communist hysteria and the blacklist (which started in 1951).
LESS THAN A MOMENT was the latest Posados County book by Steven A. Havill, a series I have followed from the beginning, set in a smallish town on the New Mexico border with Mexico. Normally I'd have read this much earlier in the year, but I had to wait months for the library to reopen (no Kindle copy was available). You really need to start at the beginning to know the characters and what is going on. If you do, they will feel like old friends by now.
I've read a number of the short, fast moving thrillers by the late French writer Jean-Patrick Manchette. (My favorites are THREE TO KILL and THE PRONE GUNMAN.) I'm trying to catch up with the rest. FATALE, as the title suggests, is about a female killer. I read it in a day. Next was NO ROOM AT THE MORGUE, his first of two about hapless PI Eugene Tarpon, pretty much of an unsuccessful loser who falls into a case with a femme fatale, leftist militants, American gangsters, a retired journalist giving him guidance, and virtually every cliche of the hard boiled detective sub-genre, all told in a breezy (much more so than FATALE), fast moving style. Sadly, I don't think the sequel is available in an English translation.
Years ago I read HAPPY ALL THE TIME by the late Laurie Colwin (sadly, dead of a heart attack at 48), but I'd never read her short stories, so downloaded the complete collection on Kindle from the library. Two of the stories in the first collection, PASSION AND AFFECT, feature the characters later in HAPPY ALL THE TIME.
As soon as I finish the Manchette today I will be starting the new Carl Hiaasen book, SQUEEZE ME. I can always use a dose of his humor.
Hi Lesa, I’m so glad you’re having a good visit with your family. I am interested in the fact that you are not reading while you are there – when I go away anywhere my number one packing priority is enough books to see me through, even though I may only get time to read in bed.
I have just finished The Gardens off Covington by Joan Medlicott. It’s the second book in the Covington series – I read the first one ages ago and had this one on my shelf but for some reason only just got round to reading it; sometimes it just has to be the right time for a certain book.
The Covington books are very cosy, but when I am in the mood I really enjoy reading about the three older lades, Grace, Hannah and Amelia, who have decided to live together in a farmhouse left to Amelia by her cousin. In this instalment Hannah is trying to fight the development of land opposite the house, but finds that not all of the community agree with her. Amelia meets a new man who turns out to be more trouble than he is worth, and Grace starts a tearoom with her partner Bob, and tries to help Bob’s grandson when his widowed father decides to remarry. Medlicott writes well, and manages to keep all the little stories of everyday life together, and the characters interesting and real. I’ve just ordered the next book.
I’m now reading Agatha Christie’s first Poirot story – The Mysterious Affair at Styles. I’ve been disappointed by the various ‘Golden Age of Crime’ books republished by the British Library, but Christie really was a step above all of the other writers at that time – although her novels are still very plot-based, she does flesh out her characters and make them engaging, so whether or not (usually not) I work out whodunnit I enjoy reading about the Belgian detective and the ever-mystified Hastings.
My 93 year old mother had a health scare this week, so I had a few very anxious days, but after a day of tests the consultant is almost 100% sure it’s nothing serious, so last night I decided to be nice to myself, made my favourite dinner and watched my favourite, undemanding, TV series, and was grateful despite our trying times.
Enjoy the rest of your trip!
Rosemary
Lesa, enjoy your vacation.
This week I read:
An ARC of Murder in Devil’s Cove by Melissa Bourbon. It’s not quite a cozy mystery but it does have an amateur sleuth.
The Last Curtain Call by Juliet Blackwell. I felt that this one spent too much time on the ghosts and not enough time on the building renovation.
An ARC of Broomsticks and Board Games by Amy McNulty. A mystery featuring a spooky board game group. I enjoyed this one.
The air is filled with smoke, and ashes are falling from the sky, but I'm staying inside with the air purifier on full blast.
I read one physical book today, Blood and Oil, about the prince that recently took over Saudi Arabia. Factual, but lacking context. What should concern the authors the most is that Khashoggi, a journalist was killed, and hardly anybody cared. At least a plurality of Americans think journalists are enemies of the people, and for good reason. If I were a journalist, that would scare the hell out of me, but the authors are just too arrogant see it.
e-books:
Son of Darkness–A plane crashes into a deserted farmhouse in England, and the police find a lot of dead bodies, some of them eaten. Some Lovecraft influence, but not too heavy.
Keys to BitCoin–Non-fiction about crypto-currency. I feel like I know a lot more, but I'm not going to invest yet.
Declaration of the Rights of Magicians–Allo-history about magic in the French Revolution. Maybe a little TOO historically accurate.
I am still reading A Murder in Time and I like it better as it goes on. Have almost finished Shadows of the Dead by Spencer Kope – the third in the series and not as good IMHO as the first two.
I'm reading The Last Great Road Bum by Hector Tobar. It's a novel based on a true story, so it's as much biography as fiction.
We're doing okay, and are keeping our fingers crossed that the snow and rain we had tamp down that Cameron Peak wildfire enough for firefighters to get control. The smoky days we had last week/weekend were awful. I feel sorry for Californians because their smoke is even worse than here in Colorado.
I'm reading Read or Alive by Nora Page. On audio I am listening to Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Crosby.
Enjoy your visit with family.
Very nice post. I am still reading A Murder in Time and I like it better as it goes on. Keep sharing the same…
Thank you, Den. My pleasure to share what I’m reading!