I’m actually not reading today, but driving to Ohio for a family wedding. It’s my last trip until August. I’ll have to catch up with all of you this evening. However, I just finished Rhys Bowen’s August release,Love and Death Among the Cheetahs. It’s a Royal Spyness mystery. Georgie and Darcy are on their honeymoon, and he surprises her with a trip to Kenya. The English aristocrats that live there have a lifestyle of drinking, drunks and sleeping around. Then, there’s that murder they all want to pass off as an attack by a wild animal.
What are you reading this week? Please share. As I said, I’ll catch up in the evening.
I got a lot of reading done this week since we finally caught up on yard work.
MURDER WITH COLLARD GREENS AND HOT SAUCE by A.L. Herbert. I didn’t enjoy it as much as the previous books in the series. Too much of the book was spent talking about hair care and clothing, plus the characters we’re too over the top in this one.
A DAUGHTER’S TRUTH by Laura Bradford. This isn’t a mystery but is a story about an Amish woman in her early twenties who discovers that she’s not who she’s grown up believing she was.
TAMING OF THE TABBY by Kathi Daley is a quick murder mystery with a cat who helps the main characters solve it.
NO RETURN ADDRESS by Gail Anderson-Dargarz is a very short book about a woman who receives a package in the mail from her mother on the 1st anniversary of her mother’s death
A DREAM OF DEATH by Connie Berry is a murder mystery set on a Scottish island. I liked the writing style and the unusual setting.
Did you like the Lady Georgie book Lesa? I've considered passing on this one as her last couple have not been my favorite.
This week's reading was all about escapism. I finished THE KEY TO HAPPY ENDINGS by Tif Marcelo. Three sisters take over their parents' wedding planning business. Usual sisterly angst occurs but gets tied up in a nice bow. It was good.
Now I am reading THE Flat Share by Beth O'leary. It is delightful. Leon and Tiffy share the flat but their paths never cross. They communicate via Post-it Notes.
Enjoy your wedding in Ohio Lesa. We will be leaving Ohio tomorrow to go to Chicagoland to see our grandsons play The Baseball.
Happy Reading!
I guess it is Summer Travel Season indeed. We'll be doing most of our travels in July, at least until Bouchercon in Dallas in early November.
But I digress. Reading. After finishing DARK CITY LIGHTS, I read a collection of science fiction stories written in 1959-60, THE EDGE OF TOMORROW by Howard Fast, author of SPARTACUS and CITIZEN TOM PAINE and literally dozens of others. Readable, but nothing special. (I bought the old paperback, which originally sold for 50 cents, online for $3.59.)
Somewhat surprisingly, I did enjoy MY SISTER, THE SERIAL KILLER by Nigerian author Oyinkan Braithwaite (library book). Korede is a nurse, tall and plain, while her sister Ayoola is beautiful and attracts every man, several of whom end up dead. Then Korede gets the call to deal with the cleanup. I like a short book with short chapters (it reminded me a little of Ken Bruen in that way), and it kept me reading to find out what happened.
THE SATAPUR MOONSTONE is a worthy follow-up to the award-winning Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey. This book focuses on 1920s Indian attorney Perveen Mistry's investigation into two untimely deaths in a royal family and a dispute between two surviving maharanis about the education of the younger woman's remaining children. The strength of this book is its immersion into the life of these sequestered women and the strict protocol that surrounded them, as well as the actions of anyone (especially Perveen) who dared to interact with the members of a royal family in an Indian princely state. I could feel Perveen's constant fear and frustration, as well as her determination to prevail. Excellent series.
In Clara McKenna's MURDER AT MORRINGTON HALL, the start of a promising series set in 1905, Stella, the daughter of a wealthy Kentucky man, doesn't realize she is part of the deal when she accompanies her father to deliver several race horses to an aristocratic but financially challenged family in England. It seems she is expected to marry the dashing young playboy of the family in a few days' time, an arrangement brokered by her cold father. But the murder of the local vicar, who was to have performed the ceremony, delays the marriage, and Stella grudgingly begins to believe that "Lyndy" might not be a bad match for her after all, as the two assist with the investigation I enjoyed the irrepressible, brash, "fish out of water" Stella and look forward to future installments.
EDUCATED is Tara Westover's memoir about her harrowing childhood and early adulthood in Idaho with a father who didn't believe in formal education for his children, ruled them with an iron fist, denigrated them ceaselessly, and insisted they participate in dangerous activities related to the family junkyard. It was at times difficult to read, but utterly engrossing. The story continues through Tara's efforts to distance herself from the family, including one brother who has abused her physically (not sexually) and psychologically, and ultimately leads to her acceptance at prestigious universities and the opening of her mind to a world outside of her home. All the while, however, she struggles with the feeling that any adversities she has experienced were her own fault. A worthwhile and heart-breaking read.
I'm looking forward to that book from Rhys Bowen.
I've just passed the half way point on Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody by Barbara Ross. I'm loving it! Hoping to finish it up today.
I love the way you start out here by saying, "I'm actually not reading today," as if everyone reading you will be shocked by a day you are not reading. That's perfect.
This week I read :
You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Kills You by Robert Randisi; a Ratpack mystery focusing on Marilyn Monroe. I read a book about Monroe by Randisi's contemporary, Max Allan Collins recently, and it was interesting to see how they saw some of the same people.
Death Runs Adrift; a Maine cozy about lobster traps.
Left For Dead by Pete Nelson; About the sinking of the Indianapolis, and how a little kids' report saved the captain of the ship from scapegoating by the Navy.
The Longest Siege; About Tobruk in WWII.
Murder in Belleville; an American writing about a French PI, who doesn't seem to actally be French.
Lesa, enjoyed your pictures yesterday.
It is nice you were able to go.
Enjoy this weekend.
Hugs
Sandy, I'm glad you liked the Connie Berry book. I liked the voice, too.
I liked this one, Sharon, but I'm not sure my sister will, and she's read all of them. Might be too much Kenya and bed-hopping for her. I need to read the Flatmates up on my pile. My cousin really liked it, too.
Not a digression at all, Jeff. I just wrote about vacation the other day. My Sister, The Serial Killer still doesn't sound like my cup of tea. I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Margie! I'm so glad you liked Murder at Morrington Hall. It looked promising and I brought it home the other day. I really do need to read the books by Sujata Massey. They sound like ones I'd enjoy, but I just haven't had time.
I think you'll like the Rhys Bowen one, Mark.
Thanks, Sam. It is shocking! And, I still haven't read today. Usually not much time when I'm with Mom.
Glen, Is Murder in Belleville by Cara Black?
Thank you, Charlotte! Hugs!
I'm #2 in the hold queue at the library for Love and Death Among the Cheetahs –still on order, I think. I have enjoyed every entry in this series, so I'm really looking forward to it.
I just finished Murders on Elderberry Road by Sally Goldenbaum. Since I love her Seaside Knitters series, I thought I would check out this earlier one. Nice light, fun read. I will look for the next in the series. A Few of the Girls by maeve Binchy – short stories. Guilt by Jonathan Kellerman because I enjoy this series. I'm in the middle of The Tightrope Walker by Dorothy Gilman whose books I always enjoy but seemed to have missed this one. Hope to finally finish Pretty Paper by Willie Nelson this week, it is slow going as I'm not really enjoying it.
Just finished the Maddie Day Murder on Cape Cod – a Barnes and Noble exclusive. It was very entertaining. I like all of her books and characters both as Maddie Day and Edith Maxwell. I started Dorothea Benton Frank's The Queen Bee. It is somewhat uneven and Holly needs to get a life. Based on the recommendations here to stick with it, I will do so today.
Finishing up ARCs of Strangled Eggs and Ham by Maddie Day and starting A Nearly Normal Family by M. T. Edvardsson, and on the side continuing to slowly work my way through the Deborah Harkness Discovery of Witches books again and non-fiction Behave – The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst. That last one is really interesting but very slow going.
Lesa, yes, Murder in Belleville is by Cara Black. I got three books in a trade, and thought they were a translation of some kind. It wasn't until I started reading that I realized the author was an American.
Currently reading The Favorite Daughter by Kaira Rouda and Unsolved by James Patterson
House Rules by Jodi Picoult, tomorrow I will be listening to disc the story is so far.
Working on my TBR list A Vision of Lucy is full of humor.
Also received graphic which I which I won from LibraryThing, This Land is My Land: A Graphic History of Big Dreams, Micronations, and…
by Andy Warner (Author)=.
I am really dragging, My anemia is very bad right now, hoping to get the iron infusions starting very soon