It’s Thursday! I’ve had a quiet week. It’s been windy here, but I still took a walk and sat on my patio one day. Other than that, I’ve been reading. I do have a busy weekend coming up. Linda’s son and granddaughter are coming in, so my Mom and Christie will come down to visit on Saturday. I have the library book chat Saturday morning. And, Sunday’s dinner at Linda and Kevin’s will be barbecue ribs and the sides. What about you? What have you been doing?
I’m reading a translation of a Japanese bestseller, My Grandfather, the Master Detective by Masateru Konishi, translated by Louise Heal Kawai. It’s a story of generations, a granddaughter and her grandfather, a retired school principal who has Lewy body dementia. However, he’s still sharp when it comes to solving mysteries that are reminiscent of classic translated mysteries. He and his granddaughter, Kaede, are fans of Agatha Christie, John Dickson Carr, and Ellery Queen. They use that love to solve mysteries, each chapter connected to a story that needs to be solved.
What about you? What are you reading this week?
David and I are currently in Victoria, British Columbia for a short getaway. Yesterday was the first day here – torrential rain all day long so we were ‘forced’ to spend time in a couple of bookstores, where we successfully found some treasures to take home. The weather was better today, if somewhat windy and chilly at 3C (34.5F). We walked to a restaurant for dinner in a hailstorm; I loved being out in it! So far we’ve just been browsing in shops and stopping in various places for tea and snacks, but tomorrow we’ll go further afield to explore another area. Or maybe go for a walk somewhere tranquil; the flowering cherry trees are in full bloom right now.
Books this week:
MURDER AT THE MAYFAIR HOTEL by C.J. Archer
First in a series, in which there are twelve books so far.
A cozy mystery set in 1899, just at the turn of the century in the luxury Mayfair Hotel. I do enjoy books set in hotels and this was a fun, diverting read.
Cleopatra Fox was raised by her grandparents from the age of 10 after her parents died in an accident. Now 23, her grandmother and last remaining immediate family member, has died. She’s invited by her estranged Aunt Lilian and Uncle Sir Ronald Bainbridge, owners of the Mayfair Hotel to come live at the hotel. Having no money, Cleo gratefully accepts the offer. Once there, she wants to be ‘useful’ but her offers are turned down because she’s a member of the Bainbridge family and is not expected to work.
Then one of the guests is murdered. On Christmas Eve. Cleo decides to do a bit of sleuthing, hoping if she can uncover the identity of the killer her uncle will realize she’s useful and will find something for her to do in the hotel. In her eagerness she tends to jump to conclusions which naturally causes trouble, but she perseveres. With the New Year’s Eve ball at the hotel in jeopardy due to guests cancelling because of the murder, she’s more than ever determined to uncover the murderer.
It was entertaining watching her make her way through her ‘investigation’, and to see how she managed to navigate her way between the two different worlds of the hotel staff and that of society life at the same time as trying to find her place within her new family – making friends and foes in each.
I hope Cleo’s character traits will be explored more in the subsequent books but this first book of the series did a good job of setting the stage and introducing several characters and making us care about them in one way or another. I will certainly be seeking out the next book, Murder at the Piccadilly Playhouse.
I also read A WIDOW’S CHARM by Caitlyn Paxson but I’ll have to tell you about it next week because my iPad is being uncooperative now. Grrrr.
I’m sorry you and David have lousy weather for your getaway, but you’ve made the best of it with bookstores, tea, and snacks. Enjoy your time together!
Murder at the Mayfair Hotel sounds good, except for the sleuth jumping to conclusions. I’m not fond of amateurs who do that.
Lindy, I saw your reply to me last week that you and David have read many of the books in Iona Whishaw’s series about Lane Winslow, a British woman who was a spy during World War II and moved to Canada to get away from that life. I liked the second book, Death in a Darkening Mist, even more than the first book I read and I plan to read more in the series. I had forgotten that the series had so many books in it so I have lots to look forward to. I will find the next book to read sometime later this year.
Your visit to Victoria sounds lovely, including the rain and hail.
I had someone over to finally finish up a couple of products. And I’m happy to have that done. Haven’t done much toward putting my spare room back to it’s normal mess and I can clear out the living room, but I’ll get to it.
Not sure it will be this weekend since Saturday is the LA Times Festival of Books and Sunday evening I’m going to a MercyMe concert. Should be a fun weekend.
Reading wise, I am in that in between books stage. Earlier tonight, I finished up DEATH ON COZUMEL ISLAND by Cindy Quayle. It was okay. I did mostly like the characters, but the plot was slow and the writing needed some polish. It’s a little too painfully obvious that it is a first novel.
So Thursday, I’ll be starting BETWEEN A ROQUEFORT AND A HARD PLACE by Linda Reilly. I usually enjoy this series, although it can be a little uneven. Hopefully, this is one I’ll enjoy.
Oh, the LA Festival of Books! I love book festivals. I’m usually exhausted before the end of the day, and ready to quit, but they’re always fun. Enjoy your weekend, Mark. Even if the books are a little uneven right now.
I always wanted to go. My husband is not a book reader! He loves reading Chinese newspapers instead.
Hello, everyone. On Monday, I got back from six days in Berlin. Really, it was nine hours each way on a quiet train, reading, and four days in the city. Although Berlin has some wonderful modern buildings, I don’t find it a beautiful city. Instead, it’s full of historic sites and great art to admire—plus lively people and good places to eat. I went to visit an American woman friend there whom I hadn’t seen in a couple of years, and we took the subway and trams from place to place, exploring the city and having a great time talking as we toured.
Because SPLINTERED JUSTICE was nominated for a Barry in the paperback category, I decided to read the other five nominees. I’ll vote for my own book, of course, but I was curious about the competition. These are:
CRIMSON THAW, Bruce Robert Coffin (Severn River)
MAKING A KILLING, Cara Hunter (William Morrow)
IF TWO ARE DEAD, Rick Mofina (MIRA)
WOLF SIX, Alex Shaw (Boldwood Books)
THE DENTIST, Tim Sullivan (Atlantic Crime)
I’d already read The Dentist, which I liked but didn’t love, and listened to If Two Are Dead, which I found slow and repetitive. So I used the train rides to read Crimson Thaw, the first book in a new series featuring Brock Justice, a Maine detective starting his career over in a small town with a rookie woman partner. It’s a good police procedural, although I thought Making a Killing was better. It’s the seventh in Cara Hunter’s series with DCI Adam Fawley and works best if you’ve read her first book, Close to Home, because it reexamines that case. Making a Killing is violent in a way that I find disturbing, but full of twists.
Wolf Six is also the start of a new series about a Russian-trained assassin working as a contract killer in the US. He has a conscience of sorts and is trying to find an old friend who has been kidnapped. It’s not the kind of book I usually read (thriller rather than mystery), but I think it’s the one I enjoyed the most of the five, although I’m not sure why. Perhaps because I write police procedurals, I’m more critical of how other people present theirs, whereas a thriller like this seems more like fantasy or science fiction—you have to suspend disbelief and go with it.
As a break after listening to and reading four mysteries in a row, I’ve turned to a romantasy by Heather Fawcett called Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries. I’m enjoying it not so much for the different Fae Folk it describes as for the character and personality of the heroine, Emily Wilde, a dedicated academic researcher of fairies. She isn’t very good at talking to people. (We’re not talking about yet another protagonist on the spectrum, just someone shy and blunt.) But because of her extensive research and experience, she’s brilliant at understanding and conversing with all kinds of magical creatures. The plot is entertaining, but it is Emily, her courage, and her interactions with humans and fairies that make the book really fun. I’m not quite finished, but I think I can safely say it will end well.
I’m also in the middle of listening to Restoration, a novel by Rose Tremain that was shortlisted for a Booker Prize in 1989. I’m enjoying it very much. It’s a serious historical novel told in the first person by the son of the royal glovemaker under Charles II, who became king after England’s Stuart monarchy was restored in 1660. The hero, Robert Merivel, finds favor with the king and is given a title and lands, but later loses everything when he displeases the king. I’m now at a place in the book where he is working with a group of Quakers at an insane asylum in the rainy Fen country. I don’t know what will happen to him next. What makes the book so appealing is the way Merivel tells the story of his life and his many failures and mistakes: with humor, self-deprecation, and great thoughtfulness. He’s hugely likable.
I liked the Hunter and Sullivan books, but as promised I will vote for SPLINTERED JUSTICE, Kim. I love the Bonn setting, which is totally new to me. We visited Switzerland several times in the ’70s, but Geneva, Lucerne, Basel and Zurich, not Bonn. We’ve never been to Berlin – still divided in the days we were in Germany – but really liked Munich on our two visits there. My favorite Berlin story was when this pretentious friend of ours traveled there and accidentally got off the train at the wrong stop and found himself in East Berlin!
That story sounds funny now, Jeff, but it might not have been so funny at the time, getting off in East Berlin.
No, definitely not funny! But we still got a kick out of the story (after the fact, knowing he was safe) because our friend was so full of himself. I’d have been hysterical too.
I really like Cara Hunter’s books, most of the time, Kim, but that one fell kind of flat for me. Big fan of Tim Sullivan, as you know, but The Monk was better than The Dentist.
Good morning. I’ve had a good week but didn’t get much reading done. On Sunday we went to a museum in PA that has an exhibit of Eric Carle’s artwork (he wrote and illustrated The Very Hungry Caterpillar amongst others.) They had a batch of his books for people to read and since Roger had never read any of his books we read The Very Lonely Firefly. He got a kick out of the last page where all of the fireflies light up and blink. There’s a used bookstore near the museum so of course I had to stop there.
During the week I was contacted through Ancestry by a historian who was commissioned by a second or third cousin to do a book about his branch of the family tree. I checked him out and he was legit so I agreed to interview my mom for him. She’s the only one still alive who knew both her grandparents and the cousin’s grandparents. She really perked up and I could tell she was having a lot of fun telling me stories about her childhood and I enjoyed hearing some stories she’d never told me before.
I also found out why when I was growing up family vacations always meant renting a cabin somewhere, usually on a farm with horses or on a lake where we could go boating or fishing. That was what my parents’ families had done up in the Catskills when they were kids growing up in New York City. I always enjoyed the vacations so I have no complaints.
I only finished one book this week, a Korean translation, THE SECOND CHANCE CONVENIENCE STORE by Kim Ho-yeon. After a homeless man returns her wallet intact, an elderly convenience store owner invites him to the store for lunch and eventually hires him to work the night shift even though he can’t remember who he is or his real name.
Now, I’m going to have to look for The Very Lonely Firefly, Sandy. I want to see that ending. I love fireflies, or, as we call them here, lightning bugs.
That’s really interesting that a genealogist contacted you. Even better, though, that you had the chance to interview your mom. I enjoy talking genealogy with my mom. She and I are both aware that there is no one else left who will remember some of the stories. It’s sad that we’ve lost those stories.
Good morning, all. It’s been a week of settling in after three months in Florida, and a warming trend – 80s! – though one that won’t last, as Monday could be cold again. We did our taxes (bigger refund, yay!), went to the dentist (me) and the ENT (Jackie), etc. Unpacking and getting back to normal didn’t take us too long, and things are good for the most part.
To books, then. Jackie finished what she was reading and is into Christine Feehan’s DEADLY STORMS, a book she is enjoying. She has two more library books lined up, by Carley Fortune and Jayne Ann Krentz.
I did finish The Best of Manhunt 4: The Jack Ritchie Stories. There were two new collections waiting for me when we got home, and by coincidence one was a new Jack Ritchie, CARDULA AND THE LOCKED ROOMS. Cardula is, simply put, a vampire PI, a man who has “lived” for hundreds of years but now needs to make money to pay the rent, something you don’t generally read about in vampire stories. I thought it took a little while for Ritchie to get it down right, but after 5 of the 9 stories, he’s improved enough for me to enjoy them. The second half of the book is locked room stories, which I’ll get to next, and the other new collection is a huge (378 pages) collection of stories by John Dickson Carr, one of the all-time masters of the locked room and impossible crimes subgenre.
What with everything else going on I didn’t have a lot of time for reading, but I did finish a book Lesa brought to my (our) attention, Lucy Mangan’s Bookish: How Reading Shapes Our Lives. It certainly gives mine shape, as my newly purchased T-shirt states: “A Day Without Reading is Like…Sorry, I Have No Idea.” I haven’t read any other of Mangan’s books, and I have the feeling this one repeats some stuff covered in her BOOKWORM: A Memoir of Childhood Reading, something I’d like to read. We don’t always have the same taste in books – her love of Dan Brown’s books is not one we share – but it’s pretty good overall.
What with everything going on, I had to rush the last couple of days to finish my current book before it was due at the library, but I was really enjoying it so did not want to give up. Anyway, I did manage to finish Devon Mihesuah’s Blood Relay. I’m sure most of us have heard or read about the many missing and/or murdered indigenous women – the Hilary Swank series ALASKA DAILY covered that issue there. This first novel is set mostly in Oklahoma, and women are most of the main characters. Experienced cops Perry Antelope (who has been a cop for over 20 years, 14 as a detective) and Sophia Burns (a former Las Vegas street cop, after her Olympic shot putting career was ended by injury) are desperate to find the missing Dels Billy, an Indian Horse Relay rider, who was abducted after a race. The milieu, the characters, the setting are all fresh and different, for once the main cop has a stable home live with a husband who is a professor and two stable teenage kids, and I liked the way women were in most of the major roles. If there is a sequel, I would read it.
I had to return a few books to the library. One was a reread I simply didn’t have time for at the moment (non fiction), one I tried but just didn’t get involved with, at least not quickly enough to push through in the time I had left on it, one was too depressing, and the other … But don’t worry, I have four more books to choose from! I just need to decide which I want to read and in what order. Plus, some are non fiction so I can read them at the same time as the novels.
First, the late James Sallis was a favorite of mine. Other than his poetry, I’ve read most of his books. Now he has two new posthumous books. The first is a reprint of two of his books on the genre, DIFFICULT LIVES AND HITCHING RIDES. The first is about James Thompson, Chester Himes, and David Goodis, and the other is shorter essays, also mostly about noir writers. The second Sallis book sounds interesting, WORLD’S EDGE: A Mosaic Novel, where he took five short stories and wove them into a novel. Will let you know if I read these.
Next, I read an interesting review of Jill Lepore’s new book of essays, THE DEADLINE (which is at the library, waiting to be picked up), so also went back and downloaded her fascinating sounding JOE GOULD’S TEETH. I am a HUGE fan of Joseph Mitchell’s UP IN THE OLD HOTEL and other writing he did for The New Yorker, about Old New York and the crazy characters we have here. Joe Gould was one of them, a man who supposedly wrote thousands of pages of “an exhaustive history of modern life” while living as a Greenwich Village bohemian. Lepore was also fascinated by this story and investigated what really happened to Gould famous “lost” book.
I believe Lesa recommended Kevin Hearne and his modern Druid Atticus O’Sullivan, so I downloaded the first of The Iron Druid Chronicles, HOUNDED. We’ll see. I like the idea that it is set in Tempe, Arizona.
I think there is at least one other book, so we’ll just have to see what grabs me and how it goes.
Have a good week, everyone. I am so glad Spring is here and all the pink and white buds are flowering.
Good morning, Jeff! It takes a little while to settle back in, even when I just go visit my mom for a little while. Unpacking, laundry, putting things away, getting groceries, and catching up with appointments. Sounds as if you’re there, though.
I like Kevin Hearne’s Iron Druid, Atticus, but my favorite character is the Irish Wolfhound, Oberon. I like the way Hearne blends various mythologies and religions. But, I finally tired of the series, and quit after five or six.Atticus just got beaten up too much for my taste. I’ll be curious as to what you think.
John Dickson Carr and his locked room mysteries are mentioned quite often in My Grandfather, the Master Detective, the book I’m reading.
I would love to read My Grandfather, the Master Detective by Masateru Konishi, translated by Louise Heal Kawai.!!!
Currently reading something very different from what I usually read, The Jump
Natalie Keller Reinert. About a girl from a low income family who saved up $2,000 for a retired thoroughbred horse, named Roxie. All she can think of is horses and competing with them. Her parents want her to finish high school and go to college. Her Aunt has an old cow barn where the horse, Roxie, is kept. And her aunt tells her to follow her dreams and become a professional horse rider. Her parents want her to be practical so they are very reluctant. The girl, Brook, is an extreme introvert; she has a boyfriend, but probably more of a friend than anything else. She reads and watches videos. and wants to be a student trainee (sort of an internship. Her horse, Roxie, seems to prefer relaxing in retirement. She has never been away from home, unsure of how to make friends. Her life is tied up in horses, but she faces so many obstacles like a lack of money and social development.
I enjoy these books translated from the Japanese and Korean. It’s funny, though, Carol. There’s a character in this book who doesn’t like the translations into Japanese of the mystery classics. He thinks the classics are too old fashioned, and he doesn’t know if the translations are accurate.
I’ll look forward to your review of your current book, Lesa – it sounds interesting! My husband is traveling this week, so I am using the time to do some deep cleaning around the house that I normally don’t have time for. We’ve had more rain than we need, and unfortunately with all of the melting snow from the rain, it has required an entire town to have to evacuate and has closed down major corridors due to bridge and street instabilities. It’s been a tough year so far, weather wise. I think that we will all breathe a sigh of relief when warm weather gets here to stay.
I finished one book this week – All Booked Up by Melody Carson. Reva is a 61 year old who has lost her husband and is trying to make ends meet so that she can stay in her Victorian house with her large library of books. After attending a grief support group at her local library, she meets a woman who is looking for a more affordable place to live. She shares with Reva that she has always loved her house and suggests that she could live in her attic. Fast forward what seems like two weeks later, she has accumulated three random strangers and one friend to rent out rooms in her house. What a surprise that relationship issues amongst the five women ensues. There were parts of the book that I appreciated, especially when she was sharing her grieving process, but the majority of the book just felt frivolous.
Well, darn, Mary. I liked the concept of All Booked Up. I’m sorry that it felt frivolous and just didn’t work. The thought of five people in the one house sounds interesting. I know college students do it, but I’ve always wondered if it would work with adults who are older, often set in their ways.
You know, it sometimes seems odd to ask about everyone’s weather, but we wouldn’t know about the floods, evacuations, and weird weather where you are, or the threats of tornadoes and heat where Kevin is. Blooming season and allergies where Glen lives. It’s all such a part of our lives. The weather does make a difference.
Mornin’, all!
Edgar winner David Housewright’s Rushmore McKenzie series is one of my faves. Thanks to NetGalley I was able to read the 23rd in the series which features the extended cast if characters, including Nina, McKenzie’s wife and owner of Rick’s, a well know restaurant and jazz bar. I love Rushmore McKenzie and friends, their long friendships, their integrity, their humor.
Fear the Reaper: A McKenzie Novel (Twin Cities P.I. Mac McKenzie Novels Book 23)
by David Housewright
After taking down a man wielding an AR-15 a small town winery, Rushmore McKenzie has to find out who, if anyone, was the shooter’s target before he, or someone else, tries again.
Once a police detective in St. Paul, Minnesota, Rushmore McKenzie, after becoming an unexpected millionaire, now is an unlicensed private investigator, doing the occasional investigative favor. Off on a weekend getaway to northwestern Wisconsin, McKenzie, with a group of five, including his childhood friend and current police detective Bobby Dunston, stop off at a local winery. When a man walks up carrying an AR-15, which he raises, props the butt against his shoulder, and sights down the barrel – but before he can do anything, Bobby Dunston yells ‘gun’ and he and McKenzie take the man down.
The would-be shooter was arrested, and normally, that would be the end of it. But Wisconsin is an open carry state and the police can’t prove that the gunman was intended to do anything. But it does appear that he might have been looking for one specific target. And, if so, that person is not out of danger. Now, before the gunman is released, McKenzie decides to find out who was the real target and why, before it is too late.
Last week I mentioned that I was reading Barbara O’Neal’s A THOUSAND PAINTED HOURS. i finished it. it will be on my list of favorites this year.
Hi Kaye,
You convinced me. You and Aubrey rave about the David Housewright books, and I’ve never read one. It looks like the first in the series is in at the library, and I make a weekly Friday trip there. I’m going to pick it up tomorrow.
Let me know what you think, please!
This week has been very strange weather wise. On Sunday and Monday, it rained all day and the ski resort got 20 inches of snow. They closed in March due to a lack of snow which is a bummer. Last night, we got lightening, wind and a horrific rainstorm. This morning we’re back to cold weather. I’m heading to Utah tomorrow to see the tulip festival. Fingers crossed we have good weather.
This week, I read the following:
Killer Vibes – Jack Friday
Peter Key is a bum whose goal in life is to score his next hit. He’s getting kicked out of his home and he suddenly finds out he inherits a house from his deceased uncle who he barely knew. The attorney in charge of the will, finds him and takes him to Austin,Texas where the house is. His uncle dies a half a million dollars in debt but no problem, the house is worth over a million if he sells it. What’s interesting is he took the loan out the day before he died. Why? As he begins to investigate why his uncle died in accident that doesn’t appear to be an accident, Peter encounters a lot of shady characters that want him dead as well. The first part of the book was slow going but after the neighbor was killed in a car, identical to the one Peter drove, the pace really picked up and got a lot more interesting. I did find Peter’s excess pot smoking annoying.
Beach Blonde Betrayal – Elaine Viets.
Situated in Florida, Norah McCarthy’s and the quirky residents of her Florodora apartment complex are enjoying life until several women end up death on the beach. The killer uses a purple scarf to strangle his victims. One of the residents, Mickey meets the man of her dreams, and he wants to marry her as quickly as possible. Norah is suspicious of him. He seems to be a little too slick for her taste. Norah’s boyfriend, Dean, is in the witness protection program and recognizes the boyfriend as someone he uses as an informant when he was a cop. Lots of red herrings in the book. A good solid cozy mystery.
Both books courtesy of NetGalley.
I’ve only read a few of Viets’s books, but I liked them. I’ve seen her a few times at conventions in the days when we still went. I think she was from St. Louis, where her early books were set, then moved to Florida.
I hosted Elaine Viets at the first Lee County Reading Festival. She brought a giant inflatable pink flamingo with her. The Pink Flamingo Murders must have been her current one at the time.
I read all of Elaine Viets dead end job mysteries and enjoyed them. I will give this one a try. Thank you!
Bev, your weather sounds so strange. I’m sorry the ski resort had to close because of lack of snow, and then in April there’s 20 inches. I hope your weather becomes a little more normal. I’m going to comment about Elaine Viets below Jeff’s comment.
Good morning! Last Thursday I carpooled with 21 other Drama Queens (about four per car) to see MJ: The Musical in Sacramento, and I am happy to report it was spectacular! The actor playing Michael Jackson was the alternate (the part is challenging vocally and every other way), and he was wonderful. I can’t imagine the other actor could have been any better. He was about Michael’s height, and both his speaking and singing voices were spot-on–the same timbre, vibrato, and the little “hiccups” Michael was famous for and the quiet speaking voice. The premise was that he was being interviewed while preparing for the Dangerous tour in 1992. The show was beautifully designed, including lots of scenes with the Jackson 5 at various ages. And everyone in the show had a wonderful voice, which is a must for me. Of course, the dancing and choreography were also terrific. I was also happy that there was no direct reference to Michael’s child abuse allegations.
Here’s what I finished this week:
In THE ITALIAN SECRET by Tara Moss, set in 1948 Australia, the intrepid Billie Walker has taken over her late father’s private investigation business and is continuing its success. But while dealing with a disastrous divorce case brought by a young wife with a violent husband, Billie finds herself suddenly in danger from a persistent criminal who threatens her own life and the lives of others in her world. She also begins to wonder about the truth of her beloved father’s personal life, as she discovers a cache of letters and a previously unseen photo of him, along with a woman and young child, taken before she herself was born. Aiming to get to the bottom of her father’s story and to improve her ailing mother’s health, Billie schedules a trip for herself, her mother, and her mother’s maid/companion on a luxury cruise to Naples in first class. The cruise takes six weeks and is not without some scary moments, but in Naples Billie launches a quest to find out what happened to the woman and child in the picture. The book also features occasional flashbacks to 1907 and 1943, in an effort to set the scene for the final revelations. There were attempts at a romantic element with two of the men in Billie’s life, but neither was developed. While I enjoyed the author’s descriptions of the cruise ship and of Naples, I found the story, and especially Billie’s actions, to be both superficial and over the top. The ending, while somewhat satisfying, felt far-fetched and unrealistic. Note: I didn’t realize this was the third in a series, as it was a selection by my book club. I don’t know if reading the two previous series books would have changed my reaction to this book. And I have to say that those in my book club liked it a little more than I did.
In Lucy Connelly’s fifth Scottish Isle cozy mystery, DEATH AT A SCOTTISH HALLOWEEN, American Dr. Emilia McRoy is thriving as the town doctor and medical examiner in Sea Isle, a quaint Scottish village, which is a relief after her frenetic ER doctor career in Seattle and her failed marriage. She continues to live and work in a lovely house owned by local constable Ewan Campbell and is forging a relationship with Ewan that may be moving to a new level beyond colleagues and friends. It’s the week culminating with All Hallows Eve, beginning with a haunted house with each room created by a different team to be as scary as possible. Em’s team features killer doctors and a bloody butcher knife she brought from home. It’s all in good fun until the knife is found skewering a dead man in one of the other rooms. Dr .Em and her group of close friends–the Scooby Gang–start to sift through a group of suspects to help the police find the murderer, but soon there is another suspicious death. Is it murder, or a series of unfortunate events and conditions? More importantly, is it a coincidence that the deceased have one strange thing in common? Dr. Emilia is a character who is easy to root for, as are the supporting cast and the charming venue. I’d like to see more development from Ewan in future series entries. (August)
In Katherine Center’s THE SHIPPERS, when JoJo Burton’s wedding crashes and burns before it even gets started, she’s determined to put her chronic romantic failures behind her and fall in love at her sister’s wedding, just six weeks after hers was to have happened. Ashley’s wedding guests will all spend a week on a cruise, culminating in the big event, so JoJo thinks she has plenty of time to catch the eye of a childhood crush who gave her her first kiss. But it’s not an easy task, aggravated by the unexpected appearance of JoJo’s supportive best friend throughout their school years, who had left to live in another country without letting her know why, or for how long. Two attractive men at the same extended wedding celebration!? Who will JoJo choose: the one who reminds her a bit too much of her former fiance or or the one who betrayed her and disappeared from her life? This is a rom-com, so it’s not difficult to figure out what will happen, but getting there is fun for the reader, as various social events play out during the week. At the same time, JoJo’s parents have reached an impasse in their marriage and seem likely to divorce, but they don’t want the bride to know until the cruise is over. And, of course, there are a few roadblocks for the bride and groom as well. It’s an entertaining story, well told–especially in the second half of the book–with (mostly) likeable characters, the right amount of humor, and some memorably heartfelt scenes. JoJo is a mathematician trying to make math principles help her figure out what she really wants in her life, and the man who wins her at the end is focusing on his soulmate. I found this book to be one of the author’s better novels. (May)
I’m glad you liked MJ: The Musical, Margie. I was just okay with it. I think it was because I wasn’t never a fan of Michael Jackson or his music. I just didn’t care. And, I felt as if his father was abusive and pushed him too hard to take care of the family. Not one of my favorite shows. My college roommate loved it, and Linda liked it more than I did.
I think I’ll pass on both of your books this week.
I’m reading that exact book! It’s in my commuter bag now. I’m about half way and I appreciate the quirky little mysteries threaded through out and learning about this type of dementia. I can see why this book won an award.
That’s a good way to describe the mysteries, Becky. Quirky. I have about a hundred pages to go, so I’l finish today. I can see why it works as a commuter book. It’s one you can pick up and put down.
Lesa, MY GRANDFATHER, THE MASTER DETECTIVE is on my wish list to buy later this year, possibly. I look forward to seeing if you liked it or not. It is has been a bit windy here too.
Glen is still reading A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING by Bill Bryson. He has about 50 pages to read and he will have finished it. It is a long book.
I am reading two books, both of them mysteries. One is spy fiction, THE ROMEO FLAG by Carolyn Hougan, an espionage novel first published in 1989, and then reissued by Felony & Mayhem in 2005. (I consider espionage books to be mysteries.) It is set in 1980 in the US and I am finding it a very good read. It connects back to events in 1941 in Shanghai, which is interesting. It is pretty long, 500 pages, and very dense with many characters.
The second book is THE IVY TREE by Mary Stewart, first published in 1961, and I am liking it a lot. I wasn’t sure I would. I am reading an ebook version and this is only my second ebook of the year. It is longer than I expected, at 400 pages, and I am only 40 pages in. If I continue to enjoy this book I will seek out more books by Mary Stewart to read. I cannot remember if I read her books when I was younger or not.
Tracy, I think I read THE ROMEO FLAG when it first came out, though it’s so long ago I don’t remember it, other than I liked it. I’m still thinking about that Bryson book, only I have so many other things on hand at the moment.
Jeff, I am glad that THE ROMEO FLAG was reprinted by Felony & Mayhem, otherwise I probably would not have ever known about it.
I would like to read the Bryson book, but I don’t think I can handle a 500 page nonfiction book right now, and I have others that he wrote that I am more interested in.
I agree, Tracy. Espionage fiction should be considered a subgenre of mystery. I’m not really interested in that area of mystery, just as I’m not a fan of legal mysteries. Give me a good police procedural or PI novel. And, I read a lot of amateur sleuths, even though those are unlikely in real life. I can suspend disbelief, unless the sleuth gets too ridiculous.
Lesa, I like PI and police procedural mysteries because they don’t require a lot of suspension of disbelief, but sometimes I get very irritated when policemen break the rules or go off the rails. For some reason I am easily hooked on spies and their stories, in all the various interpretations, realistic or not.
That Sunday dinner of barbecue ribs and sides sounds great.
Fingers crossed we get some of that rain they have been promising today.
Two books for me this week. Start at the End by Emma Grey was very good. Audrey and Fraser fall in love until an unforeseeable tragedy happens. If they had each done something different would the outcome have been different. The book then evolves into a sliding door situation telling the perspective from both Audrey and Fraser. I got a little confused when that part occurred but then it became clear what was happening. The author’s husband died from a sudden heart attack at an early age which caused her to think how their son would have turned out if the other parent died first.
My second book definitely had Hallmark vibes and was a little cheesy. A Postcard from Puffin Island by Christie Barlow had Verity Calloway running away from her home after her engagement imploded and her ex-fiancée moved across the street with his new girlfriend. Kitting out a travel van, she planned on finding herself starting in Amsterdam with a friend. When the friend bailed, she ended up on Puffin Island a place she only had heard about from stories told by her late grandmother. Naturally, in a matter of days she finds herself ingrained into the community with a possible true love. It wasn’t bad just not that good.
Enjoy your visit with your Mom and sister, Lesa as well as the book chat!
Happy Reading!
So many of those books about a woman running away from home, a love life or job, are not plausible. I agree, Sharon. But, depending on the location, I find them fun sometimes. I always laugh when Rosemary complains about the ones set in Scotland when someone inherits a bookshop or business.
We had thunder storms, hail storms, and funnel clouds this weekend. Like a fool, I was out driving in it.
Sunday is the Sacramento Book Festival. I hope I can go.
This week I read:
Artificracy: When Machines Become Citizens by David Vivancos; All about the future of AI by the sort of optimistic technocrat who should be kept in a padded cell.
The Dark Side of the Island by Jack Higgins; Early Higgins about a WWII vet returning to a Greek Island 15 years after the war. Everybody thinks he gave up secrets to the Nazis when he was captured.
Hawken Fury by David Robbins; Our Trapper hero is minding his own business when a sweetheart from Back East comes calling, needing a favor. He should have got on his fastest horse immediately and rode West.
We Burn Our Dead by Ted Laughton; Viking Mercenaries are meandering around, and wake up a Cthulu-esque menace. Reminded me of some of Robert E. Howard’s weird fiction.
Man In The Water by David Housewright; Mac Macenzie goes to the launching of a boat, even though it’s really too early in the season. Some lady asks for help finding her husband. They find him all right. I’ve read a mystery or two in my time, so I figured it out pretty early. Out of nowhere, Mac goes into some sort of soliloquy about how he’s all tolerant. It reminded me of used car salesmen calling themselves honest.
A Delicious Deception by Lucy Burdette; Our Sleuth is 8 1/2 months pregnant and decides to go to a custody exchange between sketchy parents she doesn’t know. That’s right. A TSTL moment starts the novel. I finished it, but wasn’t too impressed.
Ha! Lucy Burdette’s amateur sleuth had a TSTL moment. Don’t you hate those, Glen? Did you yourself have one last weekend, out driving around in your storms, or did the storm come up while you were out driving around? (smile)
A technocrat should be kept in a padded cell. I like that one, Glen.
Good Friday morning from NE Dallas. Checking in late, again, and still sick with whatever the heck it is that I have got. Pollen counts are insane here, still, so I am hoping it is still just the damn pollen.
Been feeling too bad to write out reviews in longhand, as I do, and then type them so the two I have to do are not at all done.
I have DEATH AT A SCOTTISH HALLOWEEN in my TBR pile from NetGalley, but have not started. NetGalley is down today so that might have been just as well before I pulled something else. Both the reviews I have to do are on ARCs from there.
Current read is also a NetGalley one as it is the new DS George Cross deal coming later this year, THE TAILOR.
Under the severe weather gun for overnight tonight. We do need rain as all of Texas is under drought conditions, but don’t need the rough crap woth it.
I’m really sorry you’re still feeling miserable Kevin. Hard to get through the days if each one is a slog.
Well, darn, Kevin. Maybe if you get rain, the pollen won’t be so bad? I don’t know. I just hope you don’t get terrible storms.
I always say take care of yourself, but I mean it.