Is that snow melting where you are, or are you one of the lucky people in California or other warm climates who didn’t have it? I had four days off last week due to the snow, so I’m not complaining. I didn’t have to drive to work in it. And, I had my first vaccine on Saturday! Now, two and a half weeks left until the next one.
Before we talk about books, I want to mention an author. Margaret Maron, author of the Deborah Knott and Sigrid Harald books, MWA Grand Master, died on Tuesday. I only met her once, so I won’t presume to try to write a tribute or obituary. But, my friend, Kaye Wilkinson Barley, who writes here sometimes, counted Margaret Maron as a close and cherished friend. Kaye did a beautiful tribute on her blog, http://www.meanderingsandmuses.com/. You can read it there, and see some lovely photos.
Now, on to happier news. Let’s talk about what we’re reading this week. I’m reading the first in Carlene O’Connor’s Home to Ireland mystery series, Murder in Galway. Tara Meehan had never been to Ireland, but her mother asked her to take her ashes home and apologize to her brother, Johnny. But, when Tara arrives in Galway, her uncle is missing, presumed a suspect in the murder of the wealthiest man around. I’m enjoying this cozy mystery, partially because I’ve been to Galway, and I recognize several of the sites the author describes. So, it’s good to go “Home to Ireland”.
What about you? What have you been reading this week? Are you doing okay?
Good morning Lesa,
We’re in a period of days that are in the 40s so the snow is finally melting. I have hope that I might actually be able to get to my garden and plant my peas in March.
This week I read
CLOSELY HARBORED SECRETS by Bree Baker. A cozy set on North Carolina’s outer banks.
DOUBLE OR MUFFIN by Victoria Hamilton. After they are kicked out of their hotel, a crew comes to Wynter Castle to finish filming a reality show. I liked the story but felt that there were way too many characters to keep track of.
CROSSED BY DEATH by ACF Bookens. The first in a new series about a single mother in Virginia who makes her living salvaging items from old buildings. Of course she finds a dead body on her latest job. I liked this one and am looking forward to the next.
A VAMPYRE’S SUNSET by Jeff Schanz. Can a human and a living vampyre find their happily ever after? Only if they can defeat the vampire drug lord who’s out for revenge.
Big fan of Bree Baker’s books, Sandy. I hope you enjoyed that one, too. Our snow is melting here, too, which is great!
I did hear about Margaret, a lovely person indeed, and one whose books I really liked, both the Deborah Knott series and her short stories. I liked Kaye’s tribute and pictures very much. When I used to sell books at Malice, she always came over to say hello – we discussed the years she had lived in Brooklyn, for one thing – and even bought the occasional used book from me. Another friend told me that she had three boxes of books to mail home from the first convention, and while she was waiting for a ride to the post office, Margaret happened by and offered to drive her there to mail her stuff.
RIP
Yes, the snow is melting a lot. Yesterday we were at 54 degrees, the warmest it has been here since Christmas Day! When it is warm and sunny every day, believe me, you do NOT appreciate it as much as you do when you’ve had a frigid month with 26 inches of snow.
So glad to hear you got the first vaccine! We are going for our second shots this morning, Can’t wait.
Reading. I finished the collections by Sara Paretsky and Antonya Nelson, and I am reading two anthologies of stories. First is Rick Ollerman, ed. Bullets and Other Hurting Things, the tribute collection to Bill Crider. The other is Jonathan Santlofer, ed. It Occurs to Me That I Am America. I only discovered this one when I read the powerful Sara Paretsky story set in a dystopian near future (that we might have had if Trump had been re-elected), “Safety First” (originally published in this volume). Some of the authors I’ve read so far include Charlaine Harris, Brendan DuBois, and Patricia Abbott in the Crider volume, and Paretsky, Russell Banks, Louise Erdrich, and Michael Cunningham in the other.
I read The Orphan’s Guilt by Archer Mayor, #31 in his Joe Gunther series set in Vermont, which I thought was definitely a lesser effort. In recent books he has been giving more space to two young women – a local reporter (and daughter of his girlfriend, the State Medical Examiner) and a private investigator with an interesting back story at the expense of Joe and his team, who are, of course, still present. Or maybe the story is just not as interesting as some of the previous works.
Now I’m reading the sixth Peter Ash book by Nick Petrie, The Breaker, this one set in Milwaukee where Ash and his love June and his buddy/helper Lewis are now living. Peter and Lewis thwart a killing at a mall, but they still don’t know what was behind it. I know some people really liked the last one, set in Iceland, but for me it pushed things beyond what I consider a believable level and wasn’t up to the rest of the series. Or maybe it was that Ash was alone with his friends home thousands of miles away. Either way, so far this one is more to my taste.
Jackie got an email that the J. D. Robb is at the library so I imagine she will be reading that as soon as she gets it and finishes the new Iris Johansen book (CHAOS).
I am sorry the latest Archer Mayor book was not as good. I am just starting The Disposable Man and am so far really enjoying the series. Glad you are getting your second shot!
Jeff, I’ve heard nothing but wonderful things about Margaret Maron, for years. As I said, I only met her once. Kaye’s tribute was beautiful, wasn’t it? My copy of Bullets and Other Hurting Things arrived yesterday. You’ll probably get to it before I do. It’s hard to pass up a J.D. Robb.
Sometimes, I have that problem with the Ash problem when an author takes a character out of the home territory. I know other readers do as well. It’s usually not as good as when they’re home.
Thanks to the serendipity of the library holds list and Libby app, I’ve spent my reading week in the 1930’s.
Started off with William Kent Krueger’s THIS TENDER LAND, the journey of four children escaping an Indian boarding school via the Gilead River enroute to the Mississippi. While I enjoy the writer’s Cork O’Connor series, his stand alone novels really show his ability as a wonderful storyteller and writer.
Currently reading Kristin Hannah’s latest, THE FOUR WINDS. Very sad story of a farming family in NW Texas during the Dustbowl years. It shines a light on the bravery of everyday life, but depressing as nature claims the upper hand.
On a lighter note, BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME (Julie Claiborne Johnson), with potential divorcees waiting out 60-day residency near Reno, NV in 1932. A Hollywood designed dude ranch and a cast of characters sets the story in the brief period Reno was known as The Divorce Capital.
On the bright side, the regional fire department is sponsoring a vaccination clinic and I was able to register for one of the last openings on March 6th.
Congratulations on getting a spot on the vaccine list, MM! I watched an interesting virtual event last night with Kristin Hannah. She wrote The Four Winds before the pandemic, but she said now it really shows that we’ve been worse off before, and that times will get better.
I know. Aren’t William Kent Krueger’s standalones wonderful?
Good morning! Lesa, we may be having our second shots around the same time, as it sounds like yours was Pfizer( 21 days) and mine was Moderna (28 days). I’m scheduled for March 15, and once two weeks elapses after that date, I’ll be visiting a few stores I haven’t explored for months (wearing a mask, of course)! And my daughter-in-law has invited me to a joint mani-pedi session! I’m looking forward to it. .
I thought THE CHICKEN SISTERS by KJ Dell’Antonia was going to be a light-hearted book, but was I ever wrong! In small-town Kansas there are two fried chicken restaurants that were established a century ago. Mae and Amanda grew up in one of them, but their mother, Barbara, wouldn’t let Amanda in the door of the restaurant after she married the son of the of the other one’s owner. Older sister Mae left town for New York as soon as she could and built a home organization career and a family. Amanda’s husband and the sisters’ father were both killed in the same auto accident. Now Food Wars wants to highlight the two feuding restaurants and have celebrity judges award a huge cash prize to the winner. During the course of filming the show, all hell breaks loose–accusations of stealing one restaurant’s chicken recipe, revelations about Barbara’s dangerous issues (one known and one unknown to her daughters), career heartbreaks and desires, and family drama. Honestly, I didn’t care who won because I couldn’t bring myself to root for either of the sisters. It came together in the end, but I can’t recommend it.
In Rachel Lynn Solomon’s THE EX TALK, Shay has worked at a Seattle public radio affiliate for 10 years and is their youngest senior producer. But then her boss’s attention shifts to Dominic, a brash young man with a master’s in journalism from Northwestern (which he can’t stop mentioning). The radio station is falling on hard financial times, so they put on their hopes on a new show, where a former couple talk about dating and relationships, not to mention their own previous hookup. It’s Shay’s idea, but she never expects that she and Dominic will be the on-air hosts. They’ve never dated, but the boss wants them to pretend for the sake of the show. You just know that this will lead to all sorts of problems, including their credibility with the audience and their own fragile hearts. The story and the writing worked for me–I finished it in a day.
DIAMONDS ARE A GIRL’S BEST FRIEND is one of Jenny Colgan’s earlier books, reissued in 2020, and it’s quite different from her current books. Sophie is a young, well-to-do socialite, but when her newly remarried father dies suddenly, she is told that she can’t access her trust fund until she lives elsewhere and supports herself for 6 months. The only thing Sophie can afford is a room in a slovenly, run-down flat with four male college students as roommates. Unable to afford even the deposit, she is forced to clean up the place (and keep it clean) in order to stay. Earning a pitifully poor salary as an eccentric photographer’s assistant, she would really rather be honing her own photographic skills. At the same time, Sophie’s former “best friend” has stolen her boyfriend. What else can go wrong? I wasn’t crazy about the first half of the book, which reminded me of a Sophie Kinsella novel (not necessarily a bad thing, but not what I expect of Colgan). but the author redeemed herself in the latter half. I’m glad I stuck it out.
I read one of Robert Dugoni’s mysteries in 2006 and couldn’t finish it (his series books are probably much better now). But THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF SAM HELL is a non-mystery standalone, and I enjoyed it so much more! Sam is born with ocular albinism. He doesn’t have the look of an albino, except that his eyes are decidedly red, leading childhood bullies to call him “devil boy” and causing the principal of the local Catholic school, a nun, to reject him as a student until Sam’s mother puts her foot down. Fortunately, Sam’s friendship with the only black boy in his school and with a girl who was expelled from her previous school help him to come out of his shell, even though he will have to deal with a particular bully well into adulthood. The chapters alternate between Sam’s school life (he is an exceptional student) and his career as an ophthalmologist (wearing brown contacts), with his family and friends always playing major roles in his life. The story is sometimes heartbreaking, but ultimately inspiring. I highly recommend it.
You’re right, Margie. I did get the Pfizer vaccine, so we’re on about the same schedule. We had a lot of interest in The Chicken Sisters here as well. I wonder if readers had a similar reaction to yours. I enjoy your eclectic mix of books! Thank you.
Morning….. after the massive snow and ice mess here in Texas, we were 80 yesterday here in Dallas. We have several episodes of possible severe weather are in the forecast starting tonight. We may be getting that other form of ice, hail!
Sigh.
I did finally finish WHAT WAITS FOR YOU. I still have to write a review for it and have no idea how to go about it or what I think.
The grief is strong again as it cycles with me and I have not been able to do much of anything. Barry Ergang saw my comment on the new JD Robb review earlier this week and sent me the first one, NAKED IN DEATH. So, I have been reading that since he did that and am enjoying it for the most part.
I’m sorry, Kevin, about the grief and the weather. Just know I’m thinking of you. It’s been so many years since I read Naked in Death. I wonder how she introduced the characters. I should go back and start again, but I don’t have the time to read a book a week in that series, as you suggested!
Barry Ergang sent me a eBook copy of NAKED IN DEATH which I finished yesterday. Enjoyed it pverall, but the pov head hopping was definitely noticed.
Hmmm. I don’t think she does that in later books, Kevin. At least, I don’t remember it from the latest one.
Good Morning! We can see grass now but there are still the big piles of snow from shoveling. It is so nice outside (nearly 50) I am tempted to open a window or two. Hard to believe it was only last week when we were in the throes of winter.
I read two books this week. First was KATE AND CLARA’S CURIOUS CORNISH CRAFT SHOP by Ali McNamara. Kate and Jack were given an antique Singer sewing machine and art easel for their respective shops from an antique dealer. Every morning they woke up to find an exquisite piece of embroidery and a painting on the sewing machine and easel. With a little bit of magical realism they were able to see the 1950’s love story of Clara and Arty, the machine and easel’s original owners while discovering feelings for each other. They also were able to uncover the story behind an art gallery’s paintings. A clever take on the dual storylines. Not outstanding but a nice little comfort read.
Next I finished THE LAST GARDEN OF ENGLAND by Julia Kelly. This one had 3 storylines at a time. The first took place in 1907 where Venetia Smith was designing a massive garden complete with rooms for an estate in England. The second was during the 1940’s and was about the estate being turned into a hospital and the owner widow running it. The last was present day where the great granddaughter of the original owner was trying to bring the neglected garden back to its original state. Three storylines were a bit overwhelming with all the characters until I was able to sit and read large chunks of it in one sitting. I enjoyed this one as well.
Now I am reading WE’RE ALL DAMAGED by Matthew Norman.
Happy Reading!
Sharon, The weather! I know! I ran trash out yesterday, without a jacket on. Hard to believe the weather we had in the previous two weeks. I don’t think my mother finished The Last Garden in England. She didn’t care for the three storylines and all of the characters.
Sharon, thank you for the heads-up on The Last Garden in England. It will be the April selection for one of my book clubs, so it is helpful to know that I should read it in big chunks. Sometimes I try to read during the commercials of a TV show I’m watching, which will NOT be a good idea for this book. Actually, it’s not the best idea for any book, but it tends to work when I’m really enjoying the book.
We got to the hospital site twenty minutes early and there was NO wait at all. As soon as I signed in, I was taken inside and waited less than five minutes for the shot. It was so easy! No problems yet, and we are done.
Indiana did a great job with our vaccines, too, Jeff. Yesterday, Janet Rudolph told Kaye that she had the problems 2 days later, so I hope you and Jackie don’t have and aftereffects. Good luck!
Jackie feels a little headachy, but doesn’t know if it is from the vaccine or paranoia. I’m fine so far.
We’ve got winds here today. We seem to get bad winds every three or four days this winter. I hate wind. We need rain, but we are getting wind instead. And since I don’t have to drive to work since I’m still working from home, how would be a great time to get lots of rain. Plus there is something wonderful about staying inside on a rainy day.
Anyway, I should be finishing MURDER IN GREENWICH VILLAGE by Liz Freeland today. It’s a historical set in NYC (obviously) in 1913. It’s a little slow, but overall I’m enjoying it.
Mark, After the horrendous end of the year you had, I’m happy to hear you’re working from home, and don’t have to drive someplace, in wind or rain. I hope work is going better.
We had some pretty strong winds this week, but it could have been worse.
This week I re-read a couple of Cool & Lam books from Erle Stanley Gardner. I was just in the mood.
CliffHanger by Michael R. French; in a softly dystopic future, a high school election gets out of control. High school body elections seem to be a big deal these days, but when I was in school, nobody much cared, and the student body officers weren’t given a whole lot of respect or anything. I wonder if that’s really changed.
Kimiko Chou, Girl Samurai; Sort of a Japanese Mulan where a girl poses as the page of a ronin to get to Korea to find her father. No singing or funny animals, though.
Under The Volcano; A police detective in Quito, Ecuador solves crimes. Americans are involved in all of them. Doesn’t make me want to go to Quito.
Adam Undercover; Agent Cody Banks type of deal where a kid is trained as a spy by a super secret organization. There are a few holes, but good enough for a kids book.
One Jaded Rose; A woman in genteel poverty picks a +1 for a funeral and will reading off a dating site. The two fight all the time, pull of schemes and fall in love. I guess that’s how they do things in Australia.
Runaway Justice; A street lawyer in Austin tries to help a runaway boy who witnessed a murder. The crooks and the FBI are both after the kid. A few years ago, nobody would believe the FBI were this inept. Times have changed.
Sounds as if there was some good reading there, Glen, including the Cool & Lam. It was your last two sentences that got me, though. So true!
Hi Lesa – the day has flown away from me and it is already past 7 here.
It has been a beautiful day – the third we have had this week, with only one day of rain. I have had some great walks over the past few days; on Monday Nancy and I visited Castle Fraser (National Trust) and walked around the grounds of the estate. We were surprised to find some snow and ice lying, though only in a few isolated areas. Blue skies, birdsong, sunshine – a lovely morning.
Yesterday I went with another friend to Dunecht for a walk round the vast policies there. It is one of my favourite walks as it is so varied, and has spectacular view from the hill. I also like to see the little estate cottages dotted about, and to imagine how nice it would be to live in one.
And this morning another friend and I walked from Drumoak to Crathes along the old railway line path – again a lovely morning, though we both said it was a shame we couldn’t stop for coffee at Milton of Crathes (where there are some craft workshops and a cafe) as of course everything here is still firmly locked down. But it was sunny, the birds were singing, and spring was most definitely in the air – as you said Jeff, you appreciate it so much more after weeks of snow and ice.
Congratulations to everyone who has had their vaccines! I still haven’t had mine, but friends in the next age group up have now had theirs, so I am hopeful that mine will happen soon. My daughter’s partner also got called in – he is only 34 and none of us, including him, knew why, but his GP was adamant that he was to come. We’ve now discovered that the priority category has been widened to include those who had severe childhood illnesses, even if they are now fit and well – and he had childhood epilepsy,so that must be why.
On the book front, I have read ‘Little Plum’ by Rumer Godden. When my younger daughter was little she and I both loved Godden’s The Dolls’ House, which is in some ways quite a creepy little story about a group of dolls, one of whom, the extremely scary Miss Marchpane, is a character no-one forgets in a hurry. Little Plum is slighlty more conformist – it’s about a little girl who has two Japanese dolls called Miss Happiness and Miss Flower. Into the big house next door moves a wealthy but troubled family. The daughter of that house appears very stuck up, and she wants a Japanese doll of her own, so acquires Miss Plum. The rest of the story is about how things eventually work out between the two little girls and the dolls. Rumer Godden’s children’s stories are so readable, her characters so real – Madeleine and I also used to enjoy ‘The Diddakoi’, about a young (as she would then have been called) gypsy girl living in a caravan with her grandmother. Last year I also read one of Godden’s novels for adults ‘The Battle of the Villa Fiorita’, and I have previously read ‘The Peacock Summer.’
I am also reading ‘The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie’ by Alan Bradley. It got great reviews when it came out in, I think, 2009. I vaguely remember starting to read it around that time and giving up, though I’m now not sure why. I’ve decided to give it another go – has anyone on here read it?
On TV I have just watched ‘Unorthodox’, which I thought was fantastic. I expect you have all seen it before me, but for anyone who hasn’t, it’s based on a true story. and is about a young woman brought up in an ultra-orthodox Jewish community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, who is married off very young but then, for various reasons, decides to run away to Berlin. The story line itself is gripping, but I was also fascinated by all the details of the way of life of this community, about which I previously knew nothing. We do have some orthodox Jewish communities in the UK, but not nearly as many as you have in the US, and none at all in my area, so I am woefully uninformed on this subject.
The performance of every single actor in this series was perfect. Shira Haas was outstanding as Esty, but I was also very much impressed by Amit Rahev, who played her husband, Yanky. In the last episode in particular he really conveyed the conflict his character felt between his devotion to his family’s very traditional and strict way of life, and his love for this woman who has decided that she can no longer be a part of it. I think the series was especially good because it did not attempt to make everything black and white – it showed the good and the bad of different ways of living.
So good luck with the weather and the vaccines everyone! (Jeff, I have heard other people say there is sometimes a worse reaction after the second dose, so take care! But I don’t think it lasts long.)
Glad you liked UNORTHODOX so much, Rosemary. So did we. As a matter of fact, after watching it I went out and got the book (which has some major differences from the television adaptation, understandably) and liked it too.
Rosemary, I’m so glad you live somewhere where you can get out and walk in nature, and enjoy it. Your descriptions are always so beautiful. Thank you.
Me, me! I read most of Alan Bradley’s Flavia de Luce books. Donna, my best friend, has read them all and loves them. I liked the early ones because they were fresh and original. And, I met him at The Poisoned Pen and had drinks afterwards when he toured the U.S. for one of his early books, and he acknowledged me in the second or third book. Of course, I don’t know if that was only in a U.S. edition. I haven’t read any of the recent books.
Good luck with your weather as well. I hope you can get your vaccine soon. I’m glad your daughter’s partner was able to get his.
Sending hugs, Rosemary!
Hi Lesa — we got two or three inches of snow last evening but the roads were completely clear when I headed out this morning to get my 2nd COVID shot. Yay! Now I’m hurrying to get my online chores done in case I get hit with some of the vaccine fatigue (or I might just pretend I have it and take a nap anyway). Currently I’m reading The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. The story line is clever but sometimes overtly preachy. Still, the characters are interesting and I do want to know how it turns out.
Great news about the roads, and even better news about your COVID shot, Pat. I hope you don’t get hit bad, other than maybe the need for a nap (smile). I don’t remember if anyone mentioned The House in the Cerulean Sea here yet. Thank you for your comments!
Would love to read that book My dad’s family came from Northern England and Donegal and Galway, I want to dig out my notes and try to figure why they came here. It was not the potato famine, I remember the dates were wrong for that. I found FB group on Donegal that I keep up with.
I am reading Broken Roads by Ira Wagler. It is memoir, he grew up Amsh. He complains a lot in the beginning of the book and I almost stopped reading it. I am up to where he finished law school in Pennsylvania and got married. He is proud of the law school that he went to and from his description, I would have hated it there. I had applied to the I.U. Law school when I was much younger, just married and my 1st husband was there working towards degree. I got in but I decided not to go because I did not like the law textbooks! I also attended a few of the classes, and they were just like in the famous that I cannot remember the name of! Got my degrees after Psychology, in Counseling and Guidance. I loved the books but could not find a job in Bloomington. They were strong on nepotism. I tried for a position in Financial Aid and was runner-up for the job but lost to a fellow who volunteered to work for I.U., for two years free! I could not compete against. Anyway, the book that I am reading makes me think that the law he went to was very easy!
I have leaned something about myself, I tend to go where the books were great, but the jobs were few. I thought about being a librarian, but we needed the money so I worked for Ma Bell, I finally ended up in IRS in the legal department! I enjoyed working there for one thing it was to look for where the rich and sometimes were hiding it. I love mysteries in real life and in books. I did not know how law could connect!!! Oh well, all that was triggered by a book that I am not enjoying!!!
Carolee, I thought I recognized Ira Wagler’s name. I read his book that came out 9 years before the one you’re reading – Growing Up Amish. I haven’t read Broken Roads, though. The first one was interesting because it was about leaving the Amish culture when he was 17, and why he left.
That’s interesting that you learned something about yourself. I’m glad you ended up somewhere where you enjoyed the work!
With all the talk of snow, do I dare share that it’s 80 degrees today? I’ve finally begun my nightly ritual of audiobooks while Bill returns to work in the evenings for tax season. First up is the third in the Bromance Book Club series by Lyssa Kay Adams – CRAZY STUPID BROMANCE. Love the characters, the premise, and even the suspense. Enjoying it a lot.
A nightly ritual, Sandie! That means I may have a review or two coming my way eventually (smile). Isn’t that selfish of me? 80 degrees sounds wonderful, but I can do without Florida’s humidity. Please tell Bill I said hi. It might be the only time you get to say that to him all of tax season.
And he says hi in return! He’s only working til 11 PM or so right now, so I still get to see him at bedtime. That’ll change to a later hour soon enough.
I’m glad you’re still getting a chance to see him now and then!