I’ve met this month’s deadline for mystery reviews, so I’m doing a little reading for myself at the end of the week. I haven’t finished The Widower’s Notebook by Jonathan Santlofer yet, but I will shortly. I have a few books to pick from, of course (ha – a few). I did pick up a debut novel today at the library. Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson is written in the form of letters between a professor in Denmark and a farm wife on an English farm. They’re brought together by a shared interest in the Tollund Man. Because I looked it up, I’ll share a link with you. (Yes, I know it’s Wikipedia, but I find that a good place to start, and then I can branch out.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tollund_Man
We’ll see if that’s really where I end up. What are you reading this week? What books or audiobooks have caught you’re attention? We’d love to know.
Currently reading Classical Spies about US archeologists in the OSS in WWII Greece. But now I want to read your book.
We're off to D.C. for a four day weekend, so I doubt I'll get much reading done, what with museums and seeing friends, other than some stories, probably. But I am currently reading three volumes of stories:
Edward D. Hoch, CHALLENGE THE IMPOSSIBLE – the final collection of Dr. Sam Hawthorne stories
Mary Robinette Kowal, WORD PUPPETS
Martin Edwards & Adrian Muller, eds., TEN YEAR STRETCH
The first and third are mysteries, the second science fiction & fantasy. I did finish O. Henry's STRICTLY BUSINESS (orig. 1910) and read THE DULWICH HORROR OF 1927, a so so novella by David Hambling.
I started Kenneth Cook's WAKE IN FRIGHT (Australia), made into one of the great movie versions (aka OUTBACK) in 1971, but will have to get back to that, as well as Colin Cotterill's DON'T EAT ME, the latest Dr, Siri novel. I'm also reading a short biography in the American Presidents series, WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON (who had the shortest tenure of any President, of course) by Gail Collins, one of my favorite columnists. And I went back (on the Kindle) to the newest Emma Caldridge book by Jamie Freveletti, a terrific thriller writer,
I'll probably bring the Hoch and Collins with the Kindle on the trip, just in case of down time.
I enjoyed reading two paranormal romances, both set in Kristen Painter’s Nocturne Falls universe. GEEKS IN love by Wynter Daniels which was actually two short stories and TOUCHED BY HER ELVEN MAGIC by Kira Nyte.
Right now I’m re reading a fantasy book The Black Wolves of Boston by Wen Spencer. The werewolves and their allies have to protect the world from the evil witches.
That's funny, Liz. I picked it up at the library, so maybe you can, too.
Enjoy your weekend, Jeff. You're right. No reading right now. I'd like to be going with you to D.C. Kowal was just at the Poisoned Pen with John Scalzi.
That one sounds familiar, Sandy – The Black Wolves of Boston. You'll have to tell us how it was.
I finished BELLEWETHER by Susanna Kearsley. It runs a close second to my favorite book by her, THE WINTER SEA. This one was based loosely on her family history.
I am close to finishing up TOUCAN KEEP A SECRET by Donna Andrews. Perhaps I have read too many of these as I am finding this just okay. I usually enjoy my visits with Meg and company a little more.
I put your book today on my reserve list at the library-sounds interesting.
Happy Reading!
I first read an ARC of FAMILY TRUST, due out in October. The Huangs are a privileged Chinese-American family in Silicon Valley faced with the impending death of scion Stanley. His children are both successful (but unfulfilled) tech company managers who would benefit from an inheritance from their father, and he has promised his second, much younger, wife that she will be taken care of financially. But no one knows how much money to expect as their lives become more complicated and less predictable. Although similar in theme to the CRAZY RICH ASIANS trilogy, this book is less outrageous, not as funny, and more of an in-depth slice of life. As the author is a well-educated Silicon Valley denizen, the setting is authentic and the story engrossing.
I usually enjoy Lisa Scottoline's Rosato & DiNunzio legal mysteries, but FEARED didn't quite measure up for me. I don't look for razor-sharp, convoluted plots in these books–there is a lot of focus on the professional and personal lives of the firm's attorneys–but I felt the resolution of the story strained credulity past the breaking point (twice!). No spoilers here, but I know Scottoline is capable of much better. As the book has 4.5 stars on Amazon, however, I guess I'm in the minority.
FOUR FUNERALS AND MAYBE A WEDDING by Rhys Bowen is another utterly charming entry in the Royal Spyness series. Lady Georgie's wedding to Darcy is finally scheduled, but she wonders where the financially-challenged couple will live–hopefully not in some drafty castle with tartan wallpaper in the bathrooms! Then her globetrotting former stepfather offers her his country home, which stands empty most of the time. But as Georgie moves in prior to the wedding (Darcy is off on another of his mysterious assignments), she discovers surly servants, a rundown house and garden, and a series of ever more troubling events, which may involve a murder or two. With the help of her mother and grandfather, both of whom had been planning their own weddings, and her oafish former maid Queenie (now a budding cook), she has to make things right before her big day. This delightful series never disappoints.
In MJ Rose's Tiffany Blues, I never really related to the protagonist, a young artist deeply affected by her tragic past, since she seemed unwilling to overcome her self-imposed limitations. She and her best friend are spending eight weeks honing their artistic skills in an exclusive artist's colony at the breathtaking estate of famed stained glass and jewelry designer Louis Comfort Tiffany on Long Island in the 1920's when events bring her past rushing back and threaten to expose the carefully built story she has created for herself. I found the ending rather abrupt and unrealistic.
A Dark and Twisting Path, the latest Writer's apprentice Mystery by Julia Buckley, finds Lena London still collaborating with bestselling crime fiction novelist Camilla Graham after the publication of their first book together. Her affair with Sam West is going strong after she helped exonerate him from the supposed murder of his ex-wife But the latter (very much alive) is now searching for her baby daughter, kidnapped by the infant's Greek tycoon father. Lots of havoc ensues in Blue Lake, Indiana, starting with the seemingly random murder of the town's mail carrier, which again points to Sam as the perpetrator. A superior traditional mystery with interesting characters who are (thankfully) not "over the top."
In How to Walk Away by Katherine Center, a disastrous accident puts just-engaged Margaret in the hospital for weeks and changes her life forever. She learns to move forward with the help of her imperfect mother, beloved father, estranged sister, and a drill instructor-like Scottish physical therapist assigned to her in the hospital–of course, he has problems of his own. Sounds like a downer but, surprisingly, the story is told with a light hand and without a lot of teeth-gnashing and is ultimately spirit-lifting. I totally enjoyed it.
I guess I'm getting too long-winded. I couldn't publish my comments today until I shortened them a bit (lots of reading this week)! I just wanted to say that I am also interested in MEET ME AT THE MUSEUM, which I put on hold a week or two ago at the library (ebook). I guess we'll all have to compare notes.
Since last week I finished the following
:
Desert Cut by Betty Webb
Bitter Bones (book 3) by N C Lewis
I am now reading:
Desert Lost by Betty Webb
Purrfect Murder ( book 1) by Nic Saint
Reading is a joy.
📚📚📚☕️
Sharon, Good to know Bellewether lived up to expectations. It's on my sooner or later list.
I hope we all like Meet Me at the Museum! I haven't read it yet, so we'll keep fingers crossed.
Margie, I'm so glad to know Rhys' book is a good one. It's on my just about to start pile.
Charlotte, You have a couple series there that I'm not at all familiar with. Hugs & happy reading!
Finished SEE ALSO PROOF this morning and I am on your blog looking to see if you reviewed it so I can link your review with mine for next week. I know you read it as we talked aboit it a little bit on FB and the google search I did turned up zip. So, I am looking the hard way. If only there was an index for yoru reviews…..lol
Reading wise, in large print via the library, I started STAY HIDDEN by Paul Doiron this morning. Another favorite series of mine.
And I found it from last April and have it linked in for my review which will run Tuesday.
Thank you, Kevin! There's not really an index, but if you go up to the search box in the top left, you can search for the author or title. I put in See Also Proof, and it came up immediately. If it's the author, it will bring up every time I talked about Larry Sweazy. That works! And, thank you!
Good to know, Lesa. I like to checkwhether you have reviewed something (usually I remember) before I post what I've read. The search box works like a dream!
Jeffrey Myserson — I would be very interested to know why you felt The Dulwich Horror was only so-so – plot, pacing, failed expectation? Are you a fan of HPL? Any feedback is good…
Thank you, Margie! I use it often (smile).
David, I'm not sure when you'll get a message if Jeff has already left for D.C. Hopefully, he's still around to answer you.
David, I think after George Kelley's rave reviews, I wad expecting something different. I probably – mistakenly – confused it with the new series, which – clearly – I'm going to have to get to next.
Thanks, Lesa. We are on Bethesda now.
Lately my reading is re-reading. I tried Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell but it was another of these books – seem to be quite a few lately – that are very dark, very sad and I just didn't see the point in finishing it. I agree w/ your 8/22 entry, when you said you didn't like jeopardy books – I hate kids in jeopardy. So I went back to three old reliables from the 90s, books I read and really liked that still have a well dusted place on my shelves. Alphabetical by authors –
THE REVENGE OF KALI-RA by KK Beck. hilarious off beat send-up of Hollywood when a famous actress decides she has to play the infamous 20s pulp character Kali Ra, Queen of Doom. It's high on my why-isn't-this-a-movie list.
CUT TO THE QUICK, by Kate Ross – The first in the four Julian Kestrel Regency mysteries. This one is a country manor murder, wonderful characters. Sadly, Ross died quite young after the 4th in the series came out.
PLOT TWIST, by Jane Rubino – This is the 4th in her series – another Hollywood send-up, a famous sleuth is going to play the series' amateur sleuth in a TV movie and the whole production comes to her home town in NJ – and the plot twist is great.
Reading Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America's Most Powerful Mobster by Stephen L. Carter. I am amazed about her life so far. How does a woman like exist?
Also, All the Things That Could Go Wrong
by Stewart Foster about a boy who has OCD real bad.
I'm a Sherlock Holmes fan and the founder of The Dogs in the Nighttime, a Baker Street Irregular scion chapter. I am reading Sherry Thomas's "A Study in Scarlet Woman." It is fabulous!
Okay, Lesa, I have seen that box in the upper left, but I never thought it was a search box for your blog. I thought it was for blogger as a whole. So, I did it the very long way by figuring out when the book was published and going backwards in time from today. I figured you probably had an early copy so if I did not find it by March posts you would not have reviewed it.
Now I know….and knowing is half the battle. GI JOE!!!
Kevin
(suffering childhood Saturday morning flashbacks)
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