It’s been a good week, but I already told you we made good progress on Mom’s birthday party. We also attended a family baptism, and the lunch afterwards before we headed home. Since then, I’ve been reading, running errands, and working. What about you? What have you been doing? What are you reading?
Like Mark, I often seem to be just starting a new book when I write this for Thursday. However, I did spend part of yesterday working on the blog. Friday’s Treasures in My Closet for June is ready to go. And, I’m giving you a week. Next Friday, we’re going to talk about Favorite Library Memories. Maybe it’s a memory of your childhood library. Maybe it’s going to a library as an adult or child. I have a few memories to share, but I’m a librarian so that’s natural. I hope you have one or a couple to share.
As I said, I’m just starting a book. I finished a good one, and now I’m trying out several of them for Saturdays review. I’m about to start Fergus Craig’s I’m Not the Only Murderer in My Retirement Home. Here’s the summary. After a decades-long stint in prison, former serial killer Carol is looking to kick back and relax in her new retirement home…until a fellow resident drops dead and Carol has to prove she actually didn’t do it this time….
Carol is delighted to be leaving her tiny prison cell behind to take her place in a luxury retirement home. She’s hoping her past as a serial killer won’t come to light so she can make a few friends and find some murder-free hobbies. But it’s not long before a fellow resident—who happens to be a former police commissioner—drops dead, and Carol’s true identity is leaked—making catching up over daily activities of bingo and baking rather awkward.
Just her luck, Carol soon realizes that the victim wasn’t the only former law enforcement officer at Sheldon Oaks—it’s filled to the brim with former cops, barristers, and government representatives, her newfound friends included. And everyone thinks Carol’s guilt is a no-brainer, but she is ready to prove them dead wrong…without killing anyone, for once.
We’ll see how this one goes. Tell us what you’re reading, please.
What have I been doing this week? Being worried, mostly. Briefly, David’s numbers have gone up again. Before radiation we were told there was an 85% chance it would be curative, and now here we are with numbers significantly higher than before radiation. No idea where that leaves us now. I don’t want to dwell on it in this space so I’m going to go straight to books I’ve read this week. Thank goodness for books; reading has been such an important part of my life, right from when I was a young child.
MANIC PIXIE DREAM EARL by Jenny Holiday (#2 in the Earls Trip series)
The premise of the book sounds like such fun. From the book blurb – ‘When not writing, poet Edward Astley, Viscount Featherfinch, spends his time fending off young ladies of the ton – and some of its young men – and avoiding his cruel father. As heir to the earldom, Edward knows he must marry someday. Alas, he is already hopelessly in love with someone. Hopeless because not only is Miss Julianna Evans not a member of the aristocracy, she is employed. She is a magazine editor – and the only one ever to publish his poems. Also, in all their years of increasingly personal correspondence, they’ve never met.
Also, she thinks he’s a woman. Named Euphemia.’
Julianna often suggests they meet but the suggestion is always turned down, and she wonders why. When she learns details about a trip that Euphemia is planning, on impulse she spends her savings to go to the same place and surprise Euphemia. ‘He is very, very surprised. As is she.’
The trip the Viscount is going on is of course the two-week annual Earls Trip that he takes with Earl Harcourt and Earl Marsden. The three of them are the very best of friends; it doesn’t matter what comes up, they support each other wholeheartedly. We learned about these trips in the first book called Earls Trip; a book I absolutely loved. But I have to say I did not enjoy this second book nearly as much. It was not as interesting, there wasn’t enough of the delightful banter between the Earls, I didn’t particularly connect with Julianna’s character, and the events that took place weren’t as believable. But I’ll still read book 3 when it comes out in October, and hope it’s more like the first one.
THE BROKEN AFTERNOON by Simon Mason
Second book in the DI Ryan Wilkins police procedural series. I read the first one earlier this year (A Killing in November).
From the book cover:
‘When a four-year-old girl goes missing in plain sight outside her nursery in Oxford, DI Ray Wilkins is called to the scene. His former partner, Ryan Wilkins, one of the youngest ever Detective Inspectors in the Thames Valley force, dishonourably discharged three months ago, watches him deliver a press conference, confirming a lead.
But while Ray’s investigation stalls, Ryan brings his unique talents to unauthorized and quite illegal inquiries, forcing him into a confrontation with the very officials who have thrown him out of the force.’
As with the first book, I was immediately engrossed. Top-notch writing, nail-biting suspense, red herrings, twists and turns, and I did not figure out who the perpetrator was. Above all though, it’s the characterization that is the best thing about the book. As with the first book, I was surprised at the level of emotion and insight into the lives of the characters of this police procedural. The only thing I found difficult was reading about the disappearance of four-year-old Poppy and the effect it had on her mother; I could feel every emotion and picture every scene, and it was distressing. The author gets right in there and makes it all so believable. Genius, if upsetting this time around.
My only consolation is that since the author has now written about this topic, the same plotline isn’t likely to appear again; it’s over and done with now (I hope) so I should be able to just ‘enjoy’ further installments of the series and not be so gutted while reading. Still, if a book can make you feel something I suppose the author has written a successful story.
But, I’m not starting a new book as I type this. 😉 (And yes, I know I often say I am. But the irony.)
I’m about a third of the way into Murder on the Marlow Belle, the fourth book in the Marlow Murder Club series from Robert Thorogood. The president of the local drama society was killed on a boat with a limited number of people on board. So far, I’m enjoying it. I find these characters fun, which helps.