Happy Thursday! Despite the fact that Christie and I weren’t able to go to Toronto, I’ve had a good week. I made it safely to Mom’s before the snow started on Saturday. And, we were able to go to a family Christmas party – good conversation, good fun, and a fun White Elephant game. We’ve already put one puzzle together (all books). Christie came on Tuesday, helped us finish the puzzle, and we all went to lunch together. Mom and I have just been enjoying our time together. I hope you’ve made time for a little reading, and time for family and friends.
I also hope you found time to read my interview yesterday with author Veronica Bond (Julia Buckley). I’m looking forward to her new book.
I’m currently reading All My Bones: An Old Juniper Bookshop Mystery by P.J. Nelson. Madeline Brimley, a bookstore owner, uncovers a body while gardening and investigates the murder to clear her friend’s name, discovering a rare “Grimm’s Fairy Tales” edition might hold the key.
I’m not very far into it, but that’s because I don’t read much when I’m at Mom’s, not because I’m not enjoying the book.
What about you? What have you been doing this week? What are you reading?
IMPORTANT – I checked last year’s blog to see what we did when Christmas Eve and Christmas Eve fell in the middle of the week. We did “What Are You Reading?” on December 26, the day after Christmas. I think we’ll do the same thing this year. I’ll do my Christmas Eve and Christmas Day posts, and then we’ll do “What Are You Reading?” next Friday. So, mark your calendars for Friday, December 26. If you’re around, we’ll talk books that day!
In the meantime, enjoy your holidays. I’ll drop notes, whether or not I’m reading. And, I will have posts on Dec. 24 and 25. Then, we’ll come together on Friday.
i enjoy hearing about your time with your family, Lesa. ❤
And, I enjoyed All My Bones: An Old Juniper Bookshop Mystery by P.J. Nelson.
I’m doing a lot of re-reading right now. Books that I remember reading that left an impression, and were somehow comforting.
I didn’t really remember much about The Dry Grass of August by Anna Jean Mayhew except that I found Ms. Mayew’s writing to be exceptional, and remembered being moved by the story.
Those feelings remain the same after reading it a second time.
The Dry Grass of August by Anna Jean Mayhew
Description from Amazon
In the segregated South, a young girl’s life is changed forever: “A beautifully written literary novel [and] a real page-turner.” —Lee Smith, New York Times-bestselling author of Blue Marlin
On a scorching day in August 1954, thirteen-year-old Jubie Watts leaves Charlotte, North Carolina, with her family for a Florida vacation. Crammed into the Packard along with Jubie are her three siblings, her mother, and the family’s black maid, Mary Luther. For as long as Jubie can remember, Mary has been there—cooking, cleaning, compensating for her father’s rages and her mother’s benign neglect, and loving Jubie unconditionally.
Bright and curious, Jubie takes note of the anti-integration signs they pass, and the racial tension that builds as they journey further south. But she could never have predicted the shocking turn their trip will take. Now, in the wake of tragedy, Jubie must confront her parents’ failings and limitations, decide where her own convictions lie, and make the tumultuous leap to independence . . .
Infused with the intensity of a changing time, here is a story of hope, heartbreak, and the love and courage that can transform us—from child to adult, from wounded to indomitable.
“Taut, thoughtful and complex.” —Publishers Weekly
I hadn’t heard of this book before Kaye, but I know about it now and it’s on my wish list. It sounds like it’s an emotional read. Thanks for talking about it.
Oh, a coming-of-age story, Kaye. This one sounds too sad for me, but I love coming-of-age stories. And, it must be a good one for you to read it twice.
Your time at your Mom’s sounds completely perfect so far Lesa.
The main thing that happened here this week was that David finally – after a two-month wait – had the PET scan. This will determine whether there is cancer anywhere else in his body. He was radioactive afterwards; not allowed to be near anyone under the age of 16 for at least eight hours and he had to be three arm lengths away from anyone else for the same number of hours. Very creepy. Results will be revealed this coming Monday, just three days before Christmas. Not that there’s ever a good time, but this seems particularly stressful.
Since there will be no more ‘What Are You Readings’ till afterwards, I’d like to wish all of you here (you feel like friends!) the very happiest of Christmases, filled with all the things and people you hold most dear. With special thoughts for those people only able to be held close in your heart now. For me those people are my parents and my uncle and they will quietly be with me during the holidays.
Books read this week:
THE ITALIAN SECRET by Tara Moss
This is the 3rd book in the Billie Walker mystery series. (the 1st is The War Widow)
The series takes place shortly after WWII and is about Bille, a former wartime journalist who has returned to her home in Sydney, Australia where she has taken over her father’s private investigation business after his death a few years ago.
On this outing, Billie has finally gotten around to clearing out her father’s filing cabinet and has come across some evidence that hints at a family secret from the past, and that answers might possibly be found in Italy of all places.
Her most recent case, just concluded, concerned a woman who thought her husband was cheating on her, and this woman was clearly also being physically abused by him. Although not directly related to the family secret Billie has just uncovered in the filing cabinet, it nevertheless has bearing on it.
Deciding to make somewhat of a holiday out of it for herself, her mother, and her mother’s helper/companion, Billie books passage on a luxury cruise to Italy. Yet even there, far from Australia, danger follows her as she attempts to find the answers she seeks about her father’s past.
Billie is just as determined to get to the truth in this third book as she was in the previous two. She’s smart, strong, independent (especially for those times), outspoken, and beautiful.
This entry showed us a bit of history about how the war impacted Italy and its residents. It started slowly I thought, and didn’t really pick up the pace until the second half, and it seemed more an adventure than it did a true mystery. But I liked spending time with Billie again. And while not strictly necessary, I would read the books in order to get the complete background of the characters.
A TERRIBLY NASTY BUSINESS by Julia Seales
Book #2 in the Beatrice Steele cozy historical Regency mystery series (#1 was A Most Agreeable Murder).
Beatrice, having solved her first murder with the help of the reserved Vivek Drake, is eager to leave the village of Swampshire for bigger and better opportunities in London, so she and her middle-aged chaperone Miss Bolton move there. She and Drake open a detective agency in Sweetbriar but they’re having a tough time of it because the great detective Sir Huxley also resides and works in London. This respected detective gets all the good cases, while Beatrice and Drake struggle along with small ones. Still, she has a lot to deal with:
-there’s been murder of a prominent man belonging to the Neighborhood Association of Gentlemen Sweetbriarians and she and Drake are pulled into the case
– there are ever present missives from her mother exhorting her to snag a rich husband in order to help with family income difficulties
– Beatrice’s business partnership with Drake is showing serious signs of strain even though they’d worked so well together on the case two years ago in Swampshire.
But first things first, in order to begin investigating this murder she needs to get herself invited to ‘the’ event of the Season at The Rose, where she will have opportunities to question the right people.
This was a great escapist read; funny, ridiculous, not mentally taxing, filled with amusingly eccentric secondary characters, and always entertaining. Perfect when taking breaks from wrapping Christmas presents or when procrastination seems the right way to go about your day. Some of the best parts were the newspaper ‘articles’, and random notes at the end of the chapters.
Thank you for this review Lindy. I just borrowed The War Widow from the library. We are traveling for the holidays and I am busy loading my Kindle. Happy holidays to all and safe travels to those who will be on the road.
Lindy, I always have quiet, perfect visits with my Mom.
Thank you. I knew we all wouldn’t be together before Christmas, but people always seem busier just before, and might not have time to talk books. So, I moved it to Friday. Thank you for your beautiful sentiments about the holiday. It is the time to think about those we love who are no longer here. My father has been gone for over thirty years. It’s one more reason I appreciate my time with my mother.
That is stressful to have to wait three days to hear the results of David’s PetScan. And, I know you’re a worrier. I would be worried, too. I hope the results are good ones that you want to share.
I read The War Widow, but I never followed up with other books in the series.
So glad that the PET scan was finally accomplished, but oh the timing of getting the results. Praying that all will be well. You will both be in my thoughts.
I am sorry it is so stressful for you over the holidays with your husband’s test, Lindy.
Sending good thoughts for good results.
What a terrible wait–and a terrible time to have to do it. My thoughts are with you and David, Lindy.
Thinking of you and David and sending good thoughts.
I am glad to hear that David finally had his test, but also can understand the stress you are under at this point. Really bad timing, as you say. I will be thinking of you and David also.
As one who had a wife that had many of these—please tell him to drink far more water than normal before Monday. The stuff can linger in the body longer than they say it will. Hydrate like crazy.
Thank you very much Kevin. I will tell him.
Still cold and foggy here every day. I think we got ten minutes of sunshine. So much for California Dreamin’. I’ve done a whole lot of Christmas shopping, but I’m finally done.
This week I read:
The Brakeman by CJ Petit; A western about a brakeman on a railroad (he doesn’t sing like Jimmie Rodgers). A maniacal engineer tries to kill him, and he falls off the train into a river. You think it’s some sort of survival and revenge story, but then he meets a family of squatters, and falls in love, and the whole thing starts to lose momentum.
Guns of Mars by Chuck Dixon; It’s 1,000 years after the events of the John Carter novels on Barsoom, and the planet is that much farther down its doom spiral. A Thark, a human bounty hunter, and one of the Artificial Men of Mars hunt for a source of water. A Spaghetti Western on Mars, is somewhat jarring considering the source material, but it really works.
The Revenger by Jon Messman: A literate Men’s Adventure novel during the salad days of the genre. The usual Vietnam vet encounters the mafia, and those liberals who excused their existence. When his son is kidnapped and dies, the sniper rifle comes out, and wimps are wasted. Like in all of these books the cops are completely useless, but not corrupt, which is a bit unusual. The climax is nice and bloody, a shootout on the ferry.
The Black Bat Archives by Norman A Daniels: Good old pulp. Bascially Batman with guns, and no comics code, and especially, no Robin.
The Lake Worth Monster by Lyle Blackburn; All about a series of goatman and/or bigfoot sightings in Texas. It’s amazing how much stuff is written about bigfoot.
Oh, I read a lot of John Carter of Mars books when I was a senior in high school, Glen. I really enjoyed them.
I had to smile at your comments about The Revenger – “The climax is nice and bloody”.
I have a friend who wrote a whole article about Bigfoot that was published in a college magazine, of all places.
Glad you are having a great time with your family. I’m supposed to be going to visit mine starting on Saturday, and I’m no where near ready to go. Maybe I shouldn’t have played last night instead of working on getting ready. Oh well. (And last night was hanging out with friends, not goofing off by myself.)
I have finished the last book I am going to review in 2025, so I’m doing a couple of rereads. Both books are by Elizabeth George Speare, who wrote Newbury Award winning Middle Grade books. I’ve got about 50 pages left in The Witch of Blackbird Pond, which I’ve been enjoying. Up next will be The Bronze Bow. I’d hoped to get to The Sign of the Beaver as well, but, like you, I don’t read as much when I’m with family, so I might start my first 2026 book next instead.
You sound like me, Mark. I never seem to get ready to travel until the night before, or even that morning if I’m going later in the day. I would have spent the time with friends, too. My college motto was “It’ll get done”, and I’d go with friends.
You’re right. As much as I love to read, I enjoy spending the time with family, and just set the book aside. It makes it slow going with some books.
I used to be much more uptight about getting ready early, but now we just pack the night before (or in the morning, if we’re leaving later in the day) for short trips. Now, three months in Florida does take more planning, and we will start a couple of days earlier for that. But you can always buy replacements if you forget something, right? We have forgotten chargers in the past, and that is one thing I always make sure we have.
I loved Elizabeth George Speare’s books as a child, Mark. You make me want to read them again!
As someone who finished the first one, they are worth revisiting. They aren’t written in a style I like these days, but still, so good.
Mark, Elizabeth George Speare was my favorite author growing up and I have re-read them many times as an adult.
Lindy, I am continuing to keep you and David in my thoughts and hope there will be good news.
As to books, I finished the best book I have read in several years, The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson. This is a dystopian fantasy, wonderful characters and many unexpected, jaw dropping twists. I highly recommend The Raven Scholar to anyone who enjoys terrific writing, suspense and great characters.
I hope everyone has a good weekend. It is warming a bit in metro Detroit. I am still hoping for that white Christmas!
Jennifer! The Raven Scholar must be quite a book to be the best one you’ve read in several years. It’s a wonderful feeling to read that kind of book, isn’t it? And, then I have such a hard time finding a good book to read afterwards. They don’t seem to measure up.
The Raven Scholar sounds great, thank you for highlighting it!
Well, this sounds like a book I might like to try Jennifer. I just looked it up. It will be quite a commitment at a hefty 672(!) pages but from your review I gather it didn’t feel anywhere near that many.
I love Elizabeth George Speare, and her books have been calling me for a while. It’s just a matter of finding the time to read them.
Ordered The Raven Scholar and cannot wait to start reading – Thank You!
We had six inches of snow last weekend and then a couple of very cold days so not much of it has melted. We’re supposed to get rain tonight so that may just cause more of a mess since most people don’t shovel out the storm drains.
Neither book that I read this week was very memorable.
Death by Carpet by P.F. Ford. A police detective who’s on leave because he was involved in an operation that went wrong is given the chance to redeem himself by investigating the case of a missing woman.
Murder at Brighton Beach by Lee Strauss. A murder mystery set during the 1920s. A Scotland Yard inspector and his private investigator wife just happen to be staying at a hotel where a man has disappeared.
I’m sorry, Sandy. I hope the weather doesn’t mess with your holiday plans. I’ve never been one who wants a white Christmas. To me, it just makes it harder for people to get where they’re going. Stay safe!
Well, I won’t add those books to my list since they were just okay.
I’m happy to hear that you are safely at your mom’s and enjoying family fun times. We are supposed to drive downstate this weekend to see the grandkids but the weather may have other plans for us. We weren’t able to go in November either. Praying that it’snot as bad as they are predicting.
On the kitchen renovation front, the installer came down with some kind of a bug last week, but was here a few days this week. I need just 8 more panels installed and then some clean-up on electrical. Might it be a Christmas miracle?!! Also we miscounted how many drawer pulls were necessary so those are now on order. I am finally, hopefully, seeing an end in sight!
On the reading front, I finished The Light a Candle Society book by Ruth Hogan. I applaud the premise of this book – the Light a Candle Society is comprised of a small group of friends, led by George McGlory, who make sure that no poor soul is buried without a proper send-off. The book is made up of small vignettes about the soon-to-be-deceased persons earlier years. Each vignette is then followed up with more detail as to how they came to be all alone in the world. The Light a Candle Society finds out more about each of the deceased and gives them a respectful funeral. Full of tender stories.
Happy Holidays everyone!
Happy Holidays, Mary. I hope the weather cooperates and you’re able to get to see your grandkids.
I’ve never been one to want a white Christmas. Too many people traveling and I always hope they get to family and friends safely. And, I’ve been one of those people trying to get home in a blizzard on Christmas Eve.
The Light a Candle Society sounds good. I know others have mentioned it before, but I appreciate the reminder. Thank you!
I’ve been reading more, I feel, since we’ve stayed in so much what with the colder than normal weather and some snow the other day. But it went up to 47 yesterday and is supposed to be in the 50s today and tomorrow, so that’s not nothing. Glad you’re having a good visit.
Books, then. Jackie did finish the Thursday Murder Club book by Richard Osman, THE IMPOSSIBLE FORTUNE, and is now reading the latest forensic sculptor Eve Duncan book by 87 year old (!) Iris Johansen, THE DEATH MASK.
I did finish IMAGINE A GREAT WHITE LIGHT by Sheila Schwartz (as previously mentioned) last Thursday. Since then I have read:
Tim Sullivan, The Ex-Wife. This is the third (though I read it fourth) novella about Bristol DS George Cross, and I liked it more than the later story I read last time (The Basket Case). Again, sign up on his website and get these stories for free. I still have two of his novels yet to read.
William Shaw, The Wild Swimmers</b). This is the latest in the DS Alexandra Cupidi series set along the Kent coast. Alex meets a group of women who swim regularly in the Channel when they discover one of their group is dead, possibly murdered. In addition, her friend DS Jill Ferriter gets a disturbing message from a man claiming to be her father. I've had to buy most of this series as the libraries only seem to have the first couple (including the prequel, THE BIRDWATCHER), but I've enjoyed them all and I'm glad to have them.
The First William P. McGivern Science Fiction Megapack is a pretty self-explanatory title, with pulpy stories from the ’40s and ’50s mostly (it seems), good if you want an old-fashioned kind of read. There is even one silly time travel story that would have warmed Bill Crider’s heart.
Lee Child, Fallen Star. This is the latest (sixth) in his Eve Ronin series, and after a couple where Eve worked mostly with arson investigator Andrew Walker, she is back with her partner Duncan (“Donuts”) Pavone, and the humor is back too. L.A. is filled with political corruption, it seems, and that may have something to do with a recent murder. Then a helicopter crashes on the hillside just east of Eve’s own home, and of course she takes charge of that investigation. Besides Duncan, Walker and his partner Sharpe appear, and there is a late cameo from Beth McDade, the cop in Lee’s great CALICO, out in Barstow (between LA and Las Vegas). The end suggests a new direction in the series. For whatever reason, my library did not get this one, so I had to buy a Kindle edition (which was quite reasonable). You definitely need to start with the first book, LOST HILLS.
I am also reading the Christmas anthology from the British Library edited by Martin Edwards, WHO KILLED FATHER CHRISTMAS. Up next: Paula Munier.
I’m glad you had time to read a little more, Jeff. I can’t believe Johansen is 87!
I brought along a copy of Tim Sullivan’s The Politician, but considering my reading rate right now, I probably won’t get to it while I’m here. Stay warm! You don’t have much longer before you can escape the cold and nasty weather.
I just read LOST HILLS a few weeks ago and have already bought the second book in the series. Just haven’t read it yet. Glad to know #6 is good, too.
Hi all, I am glad to be joining the conversation in a timely way this week. I’ve been busy with my classes (my last assignment is due Saturday) and don’t have a lot of great books to report on. With one huge exception though! HEART THE LOVER by Lily King was really good. It is a story about love and what we owe each other, our selves, and our vocations. It starts in those heady days in college when there is so much to be discovered and experienced, and that part is paired with a slice of the adult lives shaped by some of those young choices. It is better than my description would lead you to believe!
I’m glad you have a little time for personal reading, Trisha, with your classes.Enjoy a short break after Sunday.
I heard Lily King speak years ago in Nashville. She was very good.
Reading To the Moon and Back….slow and confusing. Waiting for Kim to pick up my new library reads…
At least I didn’t recommend To the Moon and Back, Carol Jeanne. I hope the new books are good ones!
Glad you are having a wonderful time at your mom’s, Lesa.
Two books for me. I really enjoyed catching up with Kate, Tom and Ivor in Connie Berry’s A Grave Deception. This story about an archaeological dig where a perfectly preserved body of a fourteenth- century woman was terrific. Kate and Tom also solve a 9-year-old cold case. I thought this was one of the best entries in the series and look forward to the next.
I didn’t care for my second book very much. The Second Chance Holiday Club by Kate Galley told the story of 76-year-old Evelyn Pringle and her disastrous trip to the Isle of Wight over Christmas after she discovers a letter to another woman in her late husband’s desk. This was billed as heartwarming and in the vein of Hazel Prior but I guess I missed that. It just wasn’t for me.
Merry Christmas and Happy Reading!
Merry Christmas, Sharon. I’m looking forward to Connie Berry’s new book, and even more now that you say it’s one of the best in the series!
How disappointing to pick a heartwarming book that falls flat.
Good morning and happy holidays to all! This week has been a lucky one–I won three games (Rummikub and two partnered card games), three days in a row! Only one required paying $5.00 and I got $15.00 back. No more games now until January. I’m looking forward to being with my grandkids tomorrow evening as their parents go to a festive dinner, and attending a holiday party on Saturday. Nick and I will be spending Christmas Eve and Christmas at Zach and Melany’s (and the grandkids’) house, and all I have left to do is wrap the gifts, defrost the fudge, and make some stuffing and eggnog bread (maybe some dips, too).
As Glen mentioned, the fog has continued unabated in Northern California, and now I see that rain is expected for the next five days. Christmas also looks rainy. I guess I’d better turn off the sprinklers for a while.
I just finished reading (last night) and reviewing the third book I finished this week. Here are my reviews:
According to author Wade Rouse, THAT’S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR is the book he was born to write. After multiple books written under the pseudonym of Viola Shipman, this is the first novel to bear his real name. Four older gay men–from 65 to 81 years of age–live together in Zsa Zsa Gabor’s former home in Palm Springs. Teddy owns a successful vintage clothing store. Barry is an actor who lost a promising part he played in the pilot of The Golden Girls and is a serial dater. Lawyer Sid was married for 35 years before coming out at age 60 and has never had a date with a man. And Ron is an interior designer who is still religious, even though his preacher father and his church have betrayed him. At a local community center, the four friends produce and act each month in a popular show they call The Golden Gays, a satire of The Golden GIrls, each playing the character that is most like him in real life. The men alternate as chapter narrators, and I must admit I had trouble keeping them straight for the first half of the book. The characters mostly talk about their disappointments, poor treatment by others, and family dysfunctions, which I found somewhat repetitive. But the story speeds up in the second half of the book, as Teddy’s long-estranged sister Trudy and her 17-year-old granddaughter Ava make an extended surprise visit to the pink house. Teddy’s and Trudy’s mutual hatred evolves over time, and secrets from both are revealed. The other men also experience character development and have adventures. The message of the book is that regardless of what you have experienced in life, you can get through it with friends who not only love you, but love you just as you are. (March)
In HIGHLAND HEARTS HOLIDAY BOOKSHOP, Rosie has finally had the clarity of mind to dismiss her latest boring boyfriend, and she is losing her dead-end job at the discount store as well. So when she finds she has inherited a bookshop in small-town Scotland from a distant relative, she is ready and willing to move away from her life in the US. When she arrives, she discovers that the bookshop has been closed for a while, but with the help of the women whose book club used to meet in the shop and who were friends with her deceased great-aunt, Rosie starts to whip the Highland Hearts Bookshop into shape once again. She also runs into Alexander, an attractive Scottish software engineer, who has sworn off dating after divorcing his wife. Alexander is also an avid birder who has just rescued an injured, adorable puffin. Together, they and the other women plan to make sure the bookshop finally wins the annual holiday window decoration contest. At the same time, Rosie discovers that her aunt also had a down-low matchmaking business which had an important component of “magick,” something she had hoped to pass on to her niece.This is the ideal charming holiday romance I had hoped for. The characters (and birds) are all delightful, the town and its holiday traditions are heart-warming, and the mysterious musical messages are definitely magical. The attraction between Rosie and Alexander develops quickly, and to my delight, there is only a smidgen of the usual family, relationship, and communication issues that can often threaten a couple’s success and delay a happy ending way too long. Tricia O’Malley is a new author to me and a very prolific one, so I suspect I will be looking for other romances from her when I’m in the mood for a feel-good story that is engrossing, uplifting, and a lot of fun. Thank you, Sharon, for this recommendation—it was just what I needed!
I am a big fan of author/pastor Jane Willan’s Sister Agatha and Father Selwyn cozy mysteries, so I was thrilled to learn that the fourth in the series, THE BEEKEEPER’S LAST CONFESSION, was published in September. It takes place in rural Wales, where the nuns and priest live at Gwenafwy Abbey, tending their gardens and producing their award winning Heavenly Gouda cheese. Sister Agatha is also trying, with little success, to find a publisher for her detective novel. But when her beloved older brother dies of cancer and she finds that he has left her a huge fortune, she wonders if he could have been involved in a diabolical plot that originated decades earlier and may have led to the death of several men. And when the beekeeper who has supplied the abbey with honey for many years is found dead in a suspicious manner right before the town’s Harvest Festival, Sister Agatha and the other nuns can’t help but investigate. What they learn is mysterious and potentially disastrous, and you won’t believe the intricate plan they put together to stop an insidious villain. Let’s just say that it engages the skills of a nun who bakes the most heavenly honey cakes, a nun who uses her ham radio to keep in touch with contacts near and far away, and a pink motor scooter-riding young nun who is as intrepid as Sister Agatha herself. This may be a cozy mystery, but the final scenes are highly suspenseful, very emotional, and ultimately immensely entertaining. This book delivers as one of the best in the series.
Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate!
Margie, I have THAT’S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR on my tablet. looking forward to reading it.
Margie, Your posts bring so much joy to so many. Thank you. I have family and friends who change their blog-reading schedule on Thursdays because they want to read your posts.
I’m glad you had a lucky week, and I hope you enjoy Christmas with your family. That Highland Hearts book sounds good. I’m glad Sharon recommended it.
Lesa, thank you. That’s so sweet and so wonderful to know. I’m really happy I started writing reviews for every book I read, starting a few years ago. It takes time, but it feels rewarding, and I’m glad others appreciate it as well. Have fun with your family this week and next!
Hello everyone. I’m glad you’re having fun at your mother’s, Lesa. My husband and I are looking forward to our family Christmas dinner on December 20, which is at my sister-in-law’s this year (my turn next year), and to our 32-year-old son visiting for three or four days starting December 24.
Last week, I mentioned I was reading OTHER PEOPLE’S HOUSES, by Clare Mackintosh, third in her Ffion Morgan series. I was intrigued in the first third, but I felt it lost momentum at some point, and by the end, I was disappointed in both the plot and Ffion. She’s supposed to be a feisty character, but I found her instead to be rude and stubborn, which didn’t endear her to me. I was listening to the latest Karen Pirie book at the same time, SILENT BONES by Val McDermid, and I thought
that one was terrific, as good as any of the others and better than some. Karen and her two assistants, who solve cold cases, are all appealing, and the plot is fascinating.
Two more good books to recommend: a disturbing but hilarious diary of a young doctor in London training in OB-GYN called THIS IS GOING TO HURT by Alex Kay. It’s full of detailed (and sometimes gruesome) medical information, which I found fascinating, and is, at the same time, a strong statement about how terribly young doctors are treated and paid during their training. The author himself reads the audiobook, which in this case is a huge success: he reads brilliantly, and you really feel like he’s talking to you.
Finally, I read and loved Julia Spencer-Fleming’s newest book, AT MIDNIGHT COMES THE CRY (#10). Her heroine, the Reverend Clare Fergusson, an Episcopalian priest in a small upstate New York town, is as likable as ever. Along with her husband, retired police chief Russ van Alstyne, she tackles the increasingly worrying activities of a white-supremacist group in her area. There are lots of serious moral issues in this book, but I found them well-handled, and the tension builds to a crescendo at the end. I can’t recommend this series and this book highly enough!
I’m about 1/3 of the way into a romantic novel my niece sent me, WHEN IN ROME, by Sarah Adams, which I’m finding boring. Nothing is happening, except that a man and a woman in their late twenties/early thirties keep finding endless reasons not to get involved with each other, even though they’re clearly in love and have no other attachments. Ho-hum. Even in romantic novels, there has to be a PLOT!!!
Kim, I read (and also enjoyed) THIS IS GOING TO HURT. They also made a TV series, starring Ben Whishaw as Kay. It was good, but I prefer the book.
Kim, I sometimes love the anticipation as much as the event itself. It’s fun to look forward to events, such as family dinners. We’re still talking about some of the funny comments at our family party last Sunday. I’m glad I’m close enough to attend now that I moved back to Ohio. I was way to far before. And, I’m glad your son is coming in for a few days.
The Karen Pirie books are definitely on my list for 2026.
Merry Christmas, Kim. I hope you enjoy your family get together.
Can’t believe Christmas is so close. Lesa, I am glad you having a good time with your family.
This week Glen read EVERY DAY I READ: 53 WAYS TO GET CLOSER TO BOOKS, by Hwang Bo-Reum, translated by Shannon Tan. He enjoyed it a lot. Now he is reading THE SECRET GUESTS by Benjamin Black (pseud. of John Banville). It is book one in the St. John Strafford series, per Goodreads. Set during World War II, the two young princesses Elizabeth and Margaret are sent for safety to an estate in Ireland. A female English secret agent and a Garda Detective Strafford are assigned to watch over them. Glen says it is beautifully written.
I have just started reading THE FROZEN PEOPLE by Elly Griffiths, the start of a new time travel/mystery series. I am liking it so far.
Tracy, I haven’t had a lot of luck reading Elly Griffiths, but this one sounds right up my alley.
Thank you, Tracy. And, I hope you and Glen have a wonderful holiday.
I’m going to give Every Day I Read a try. I’ll reserve it at the library when I get home.
Like Jeff, I’m not a big fan of Elly Griffiths’ books, but I’ll try The Frozen People.
Thank you!
Evening everyone….. My current read is Murder by Design by Lee Goldberg via NetGalley. Billed as a thriller as well as “Book 1 of Edison Bixby,” it is not a thriller so far. I am about halfway through it and it is weird. It also is not helped by the decision to make folks use the NetGalley Reader to read it.
That had to be downloaded to my iPad so that I could read this as one can’t just send the book to kindle like normal. It took my son fiddling with it for almost an hour to get it downloaded and then get the text set where I can actually freaking see it.
I always download as soon as I am approved. Here, that was not smart as they have a clock on it of, allegedly, sixty days and then it vanishes back. Allegedly you can download again, but considering that evert couple of days the system seems to drop five days off the period I have, I don’t have faith that it will work. So, I am reading this now and it comes out in MAY instead of reading the February stuff I have at NetGalley.
As to the book— It sort of seems based off of taking Nero Wolfe and Archie and twisting things. The NetGalley synopsis below is focused on the SECOND CASE they are working.
Description
In a world carefully constructed for murder, solving crimes takes a keen mind and eye in a witty, clever, and fresh reinvention of the whodunit by #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Goldberg.
Edison Bixby is wealthy, handsome, and, due to a traumatic brain injury, impulsively rude. He’s also a brilliant insurance investigator who solves baffling crimes by figuring out how the design of the man-made world around us makes them possible. Enter Wally Nash: a struggling actor hired to keep Bixby from offending everyone he meets.
Their first case together looks like a simple accident. Caroline Crowley took a nasty fall down a staircase at a shopping mall in front of dozens of witnesses. Video clearly shows the deadly misstep. But Bixby is certain she was murdered by design, subtly manipulated into causing her own demise. The mall itself made the crime intentional, if not inevitable.
Now Bixby must prove his outrageous theory before a very cunning killer gets others on his hit list to murder themselves, too.