I hope you’re enjoying your week. My sister, Linda, and I did an overnight trip on Sunday. First, her husband, Kevin, made an early dinner so we could eat before we hit the road. We were only driving two hours away, but we were going to a concert, so staying overnight. There isn’t much open in New Philadelphia on a Sunday night, so we ended up at a bar for a light dinner. Here’s my funny story. I was in a hurry when I texted before shutting down my phone for the concert. So, I meant to text that Linda and I had apple caramel sangria (yum!). Instead, I wrote apple “carnal” sangria. Linda said of course my reader friends would catch the mistake on Facebook. Some of the comments were funny. We went to see Celtic Thunder, an Irish singing group. They started nineteen years ago. I’ve been following them since 2010. They became a refuge after my husband died. I think I’ve been to eleven of their shows, plus about five shows by individual group members. It’s still fun to see them all these years later.
I turned around the next morning and headed home, because so many historic sites are not open on Mondays. The Performing Arts Center there is gorgeous. If I go back again, I hope to go to one or two of the sites nearby. Schoenbrunn Village and Gnadenhutten are both Moravian villages, two of the earliest settlements in Ohio. I hope to get there soon.
So, a short road trip and a concert for me, followed by blog work for Treasures in My Closet and a book. What have you been doing this week?
I’m reading Ten Perfect Guests by Jonathan Santlofer. Think Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, with ten of the most dislikable people you ever wanted to meet. They all come to an isolated island following the death of an artist who had something to do with all of them, ex-husband, father, client, etc. And, it’s exactly what that common phrase says about car wrecks. I can see it coming with ten dislikable people. Which ones die? Which ones live? Who dunnit?
So, what are you reading this week?
Lesa, I’m pretty sure autocorrect is responsible for making your apple c….. sangria error. At least it was a funny one!
A busy week over here. Sunday morning at 8:00 a.m. our 16-year-old grandson had the surgery to fix his broken wrist, and is doing well. I had two medical appointments myself. I took our new upstairs neighbour to her CT scan appointment at the hospital. This same neighbour is teaching me how to play mahjong and suddenly I find myself conscripted to play every Thursday afternoon! How will I ever read my books?! Someone (well, two someones) broke into our building’s parking garage and damaged one car, went through several other cars that were unlocked, and stole two bicycles. And poor David, who is on the strata council had to check camera footage, call the police, deal with questions from other residents, arrange for a locksmith, etc. I hope this coming week will be calmer.
One and a half books this week:
I spent two precious afternoons reading half of ‘DISENCHANTED’ by Lucy Jane Wood. I had read the first book (Rewitched) in the series and I loved it, so was looking forward to this one, the third in the series.
Sage Hemlock is a witch, doesn’t want to embrace her ‘witchy side’, ignores it as much as possible, Then an ancient grimoire comes into her possession and unleashes a curse that puts the whole town into danger.
Many tedious repetitions later of how much, and why, she doesn’t want to use her powers. And many tedious repetitions later of how she’s afraid the coven will come after her and make her use her powers. I seldom give up on a book but this one just felt like a chore to read so after reading 150+ pages I gave up, all the while being annoyed that I’d spent as much time with it as I did.
A FIELD GUIDE TO DEATH & DECEIT by Michelle L. Cullen (Bk 2 of the Harry and Emma mysteries)
In the first book we were delightfully introduced to Harry – 69 years old, widower, retired anthropologist, cranky and bored as he recovers from a broken hip and Emma – 20-something years old, the caregiver assigned to Harry, and their first ‘case’ which involved the death of Harry’s neighbour. Harry and Emma’s relationship has become more of a father/daughter one and the two genuinely care about each other.
This time around, Harry receives an unexpected frantic phone call from his high school girlfriend Willow, asking him to please meet her at a remote farm. Even though he hasn’t spoken to Willow in five decades, for old time’s sake he does so but Emma smells a rat and refuses to let him go alone and so tags along. At the farm they find a dead farmer, a corn rake embedded in his back but no Willow to be seen. Hours of police interrogation later, Harry and Emma arrive home to find a weepy Willow waiting for Harry. She’s in trouble, she’s just lost $800,000+ in a real estate scam, she can’t find the realtor, and it’s all a mess.
Determined to help her, Harry reaches out to his semi-estranged brother Edgar for assistance. He’s definitely on the shady side but is likely to have useful contacts. Making a welcome reappearance from the first book are Connor, a teenage neighbour and computer wizard (although I don’t think he was given a big enough role to play) and Detective Nate, Emma’s love interest from the last book. There are again many characters, it’s impossible to know who to trust and bizarrely, Harry’s brother is one of them since he seems to be implicated in the goings on. It seems the only way to solve the case is to concoct an elaborate con to catch the killer and the scammer red-handed.
It was another fun read, and quite suspenseful towards the end. A bit more complicated/confusing than the first book and there was a bit less in the way of the feel-good personal relations amongst the main characters but I liked it and if there’s a third mystery adventure featuring the duo of Harry and Emma I’ll be reading it.