A Christmas Vanishing

It's become a tradition for my husband to put a copy of Anne Perry's annual Christmas novel under the tree for me.  This year it was A Christmas Vanishing (#1,192) which featured Chalotte Pitt's grandmother as the main character.  It seems fitting that this is the last book I will blog on for 2023, as A Christmas Vanishing is Anne Perry's final holiday novel.  She will be sorely missed in the coming years.

The reason her books had become a Christmas tradition was that these small novels always contained moral food for thought.  Yes, sometimes all you want to do is go along for a mindless ride with a holiday romance or "feel good" book, but if you stop to ponder the true meaning behind the holiday, your soul yearns for more.  Anne Perry's books always provided it.

Here, Mariah Ellison, Charlotte Pitt's grandmother from the popular mystery series, is invited to spend Christmas with an old acquaintance whom she hasn't seen for many years.  But a stay in a quiet country village she is fond of seems just the ticket.  The problem is that when Mariah arrives at Sadie Alsop's doorstep, her husband informs her that she is not at home, and that Mariah, despite being invited, is not welcome to stay.  

Why would Sadie invite her, and then not be there to greet her?  And where will Mariah stay for the night?  Something is not right, and Mariah intends to get to the bottom of it.  What she uncovers is a number of uncomfortable truths, not least about herself...

As always, Ms. Perry's holiday novel ends with a promise of hope.

I hope your New Year will bring many good things with it.

Bright Lights, Big Christmas

Bright Lights, Big Christmas (#1,191) by Mary Kay Andrews puts a different spin on this holiday romance.  Kerry Tolliver is feeling stuck in small town Tarburton, North Carolina, after she is fired from her graphics art job in Charlottesville.  She lost her position in a corporate merge, but she can't seem to settle.  When her estranged father suffers a heart attack just before Thanksgiving, Kerry is forced to help her grumpy older brother with the Tolliver Family Tree Farm stand in the heart of New York's West Village.

Jammed into a tiny trailer with no functioning kitchen or plumbing, Murphy introduces her to the neighbors on Abingdon Square, where he and their father have set up their Christmas tree lot for years.  Everyone knows and likes Murphy, so they welcome Kerry, too.  Despite the freezing weather, it doesn't take long for Kerry to meet a charming man with his young son in a parking misunderstanding.  Soon she finds her creative juices stirring as she creates a series of drawings for a book for young Austin.  When two brothers set up a rival tree stand across the street, things begin to get complicated...

You can see where this is all going, but you won't mind a bit as you settle down with this Christmas cozy!

Twas the Bite Before Christmas

What's Christmas reading without an Andy Carpenter mystery?  This year, it's Twas the Bite Before Christmas (#1,190).  It opens at the Tara Foundation Christmas party when Homicide Chief Pete Stanton arrives to arrest one of the dog shelter's volunteers.  On his way into the squad car, Derek Moore begs Andy to take care of his two rescue dogs, Sasha and Jake while he's in jail.

Of course Andy, Laurie and their son Ricky take in the golden and the dalmatian along with their own three dogs.  And of course, Andy agrees to temporarily represent Derek on murder charges.  The police believe they have an open and shut case, but when Andy starts digging, things just don't add up - the evidence is way too convenient.  If Derek is being framed, who could be behind it, and why?

It's a fun ride, and my husband and I both figured out a couple of the plot points before author David Rosenfelt reveals them in the narrative.  It was almost like a special Christmas gift because we were smart enough to solve part of it!

Loved all of Ricky and Laurie's over-the-top Christmas enthusiasm offset by Andy's "bah, humbug" riffs.  Plus, the cover photo of the dalmatian with the gingerbread cookie in his mouth is adorable. No wonder  David Rosenfelt's books always make my Christmas List of "To Reads".

Hunting The Falcon - Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and the Marriage That Shook Europe

I really enjoyed reading this latest non-fiction exploration of the Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn saga by John Guy and Julia Fox entitled Hunting The Falcon - Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and the Marriage That Shook Europe (#1,189).  Yes, it's a pretty dense read (I do have to stop and read the footnotes.) but it emphasizes aspects of this famous relationship which I had never thought about, or even been aware of in most of the other materials I have read about this couple.  Their respective upbringings and the political situation in Europe took center stage here, not the romantical or sexual aspects.  What a difference that shift of focus makes, and how it sheds light on what happened here.

Henry's absolute conviction that anything he thought or wanted was right reminded me forcibly of yet another modern day bloated, narcissistic politician with strong revenge motivations.  The only current distinction between the two at this point is that Henry had the literal power of life and death over his victims.  His pursuit of Anne is a case in point.  He wanted what he couldn't have.  Once he was convinced (with not a little help from those around him with axes to grind) that Anne had betrayed him, there was no turning back.  Not only did he have her put to death, he demolished every trace of her existence that he could find, including all her falcon badges carved everywhere in the royal residences.  Yet it was cutting off his nose to spite his face, as he never found another woman whom he trusted with his thoughts the way he did with Anne.

If you read Tudor history, add this book to your Must Read List.  It's good to get a different perspective, even hundreds of years after the facts.

The Housekeepers

I thought Alex Hay's debut novel, The Housekeepers (#1,188) got off to a great start, but for me, it bogged down in the middle and never really regained its momentum.  The monstrous house on Park Lane in London is a major character in this novel, which no one but its builder seemed to love.  Many suffered within its walls, and for a number of the characters, that's enough motivation to strip it down to its bare bones.

How that plays out is the crux of this novel.  Did I admire or even sympathize very much with the wronged staff and family?  Not really.  I couldn't even quite grasp the motivations of some of them, so that precluded my emotional buy-in to the novel.

An interesting glimpse into a bygone time and lifestyle, but this book would never make my list of favorites.

The Blonde Identity

The Blonde Identity (#1,187) by Ally Carter hits all the right notes for an action-packed rom-com.  A blonde with amnesia wakes to find a man standing over her in the street, urging her to get up and "Run!"  She does, but she has no idea why or where she is, or where she might be going, or who's after her.  You really don't need to know much more than that!

It all gets sorted out satisfactorily by the end.  I just hope for two things: one, that there's going to be a sequel (the ending makes that seem likely, fingers crossed!) and two, that someone optioned this book for the movies, it was so much fun!

Run, do not walk, to get your own copy!

Whale Day and Other Poems

I shouldn't admit to gobbling the entire Whale Day and Other Poems (#1,186) by Billy Collins in one sitting, but I did.  Plus, I had the pleasure of introducing Billy Collins' poems to several people who were not acquainted with his work.

Did I have a favorite?  It would be hard to choose, but Whale Day was so appropriate for the cruise I just took, I could hardly stand it!  I also loved The Function of Poetry.

Even if you're like me, and you're not convinced you can love poetry, try reading Billy Collins.  His work surprises, delights and makes you think "Huh."  What more could you ask for?

The Little Village of Book Lovers

Okay, I picked this book based on its title alone, The Little Village of Book Lovers (#1,185).  I didn't realize until I got it home that it was by Nina George.  She wrote the best seller The Little Paris Bookshop.  Most readers loved it.  I didn't.  After dipping into this book for a few pages, I knew this one wasn't for me, either.  Next book, please.

Wreck The Halls

Oh, dear.  I had forgotten to cancel my hold on Tessa Bailey's holiday novel Wreck The Halls (#1,184) before it arrived in my library pile.  I tried, I really did, but I just couldn't cope with all the throbbing and moisture in a Christmas book.  Gave up after a couple of chapters.  Next book, please.

The Last Devil To Die

This is the fourth entry in Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club series.  We encounter many of the same characters from prior novels in The Last Devil To Die (#1,183) and understanding their back stories is key to enjoying this mystery.

Elizabeth and Stephen are at a crossroads as Stephen's dementia worsens.  Past and present are difficult to separate, but when one of his oldest friends is murdered, his confusion will ultimately lead to busting a major drug ring and foiling the theft of antiquities.

Joyce finally seems to be finding her own place in the world, stepping into Elizabeth's shoes quite successfully on several occasions.   Ron seems to have settled into a steady relationship, leaving Ibrahaim somewhat on his own.  Luckily for the Thursday Murder Club, several new people have recently moved into Coopers Chase.  Are there potential new members of their exclusive club among them?  To find out, you'll have to read The Last Devil To Die for yourself.  You'll enjoy your time there.

Drowning - The Rescue of Flight 1421

T.J. Newman has done it again with her novel Drowning - The Rescue of Flight 1421 (#1,182).  I am glad that it's going to be several months before I have to fly over water again after reading this one!  Mere minutes after taking off from Honolulu, Flight 1421 suffers a catastrophic failure and is forced to ditch the plane in the water.

The point of view changes from one survivor to another as the reality of the crash sets in.  The actions they take in the immediate aftermath will determine whether they live or die.  But just when you think they might be all right, something else happens to lessen their chances.

Their experience makes for harrowing, but page-turning reading.  Just don't take it with you on your own flight!

The Night Watchman

I've had Louise Erdrich's The Night Watchman (#1,181) on my "To Read" pile for quite a while.  I decided that a cruise would give me the leisure to appreciate the book.  I was right to save it for this moment.  The subject of the novel is a member of the Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota, ThomasWazhushk.  He tries to be active in tribal Chippewa affairs, fighting against the indifference of the Federal bureaucracy.  Mostly his wins are small, but when he reads about a Utah Congressman's efforts to "terminate" the Turtle Mountain Reservation as a separate entity, forcing the Chippewa off their already meager property and disbanding them as a tribe, something in Thomas snaps.  He cannot let this happen.

Louise Erdrich has famously used her own grandfather as the source for building the character of Thomas, and has peopled the novel with a host of interesting personalities.  Family, friends, tribal and work connections all play a role here.

I guess I was expecting a serious "literary" novel.  What I got instead was an engaging portrait of people just trying to leave their own stamp on the world in the place they were born.  In truth, I found the book hard to put down once I started it.  I'm just sorry it took me so long.  If you haven't discovered what a wonderful writer Louise Erdrich is, The Night Watchman is a great place to start.

Starter Villain

This is my first John Scalzi novel, but I have a feeling Starter Villain (#1,180) won't be my last.  Not only do cats play a pivotal role in this book, so do dolphins and whales.  It was the perfect book to be reading on a transatlantic cruise, where we saw both whales and dolphins.  But having been owned by cats, I thought Mr. Scalzi captured their personalities perfectly.  They are smarter than you, and they don't hesitate to prove it.  

Here, they are out to help out hapless substitute teacher Charlie who lost everything in his divorce but the house he grew up in.  His two older, very well-heeled half siblings are intent on selling the modest house out from under him after their father dies.  Charlie can't even scrape together the down payment for the neighborhood pub he wants to buy.  Everything changes the day the bank turns him down for the loan and he returns home to find his uncle's agent on his doorstep with an offer he can't refuse, provided Charlie agrees to attend said uncle's funeral.  Did I mention the uncle is a multi-billionaire?  Hang on for a very wild and fun ride!

Personally, I would have bought this book based on the cover art alone!  Loved it!

Good Night, Irene

I heard the author, Luis Alberto Urrea, interviewed on NPR, and after listening wanted to read his latest novel Good Night, Irene (#1,179).  It's loosely based on his mother's service during WWII as a Red Cross volunteer.  These intrepid women were trained to drive GMC trucks equipped with coffee urns and donut making machines.  They followed the troops into combat areas, supplying hot coffee, donuts and, most importantly, smiles and news from home to the men and boys a long way from home.  Service could be dangerous, but it was important enough that General George Patton asked the "Donut Dollies" as they were nicknamed, to accompany him and bear witness to the horrors of Buchenwald concentration camp.

Though this is, of course, a novel, it is based on the true services provided by the Red Cross during the War.  I found it hard to put down as the story follows the exploits of the three-woman crew of the Rapid City Clubmobile.  Irene Woodward from New York and Dorothy Dunford from Indiana each have their own reasons for wanting to volunteer, but their experiences on these mobile units together create an indelible bond.  Through training, a hazardous crossing to England, and transfer to the Continent, the girls on the truck encounter romance, places they've longed to see and, most of all, work, work, work with an unceasing smile on their faces.  They, like the men they see at their Donut Dugouts, wonder if they will survive to make it home.

This book reminded me in many ways of Fannie Flagg's wonderful novel The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion (See my post of 5/22/2014.) in which she highlights the World War II service of the WASPS, women who flew planes from factories to military bases to free up male pilots for combat.  The so-called "Donut Dollies" are another group of unsung heroic women supporting the troops on the front line.  Until I heard Mr. Urrea on the radio and read his book, I had no idea such a service had even existed, let alone how much morale boosting they provided where most needed.  You'll come away from this book admiring the spirit and sacrifice of these women.  Highly recommended.

Silver Alert

 I was on a roll yesterday discarding books.  The second one in one evening was Lee Smith's Silver Alert (#1,179).  It's supposed to be about a rich older man in Key West who takes off with his wife's nail technician on a final wild ride.  The first two chapters were promising, as they describe the wife's early onset dementia, and the care he takes for her despite hostile input from his assorted children and step-children.  We learn in the second chapter that the manicurist is not who she presents herself to be, also interesting.  And then the next chapter is poetry.  I lost the thread of the story and any interest in continuing with it.  Again, life is too short to waste.  Maybe you'll like it, but it's definitely not for me.

Unfortunately Yours

I am obviously way too old for Unfortunately Yours (#1,178) by Tessa Bailey.  According to the cover blurbs, she's a best-selling New York Times author and an Entertainment Weekly favorite.  I, on the other hand, only made it through (almost) three pages before I tossed it.  But not before counting fifteen swears, references to sex, and especially the male lead's genitalia in what is supposed to be a rom-com.  Ugh.  Life's too short to waste my time on this.

Lessons In Chemistry

Lessons In Chemistry (#1,177), Bonnie Garmus' best-selling book turned out to be not at all what I expected.  I thought it would be a cutesy feel-good story that managed to stay perched on the top of the Best Sellers list despite the fact that it seemed to be aimed solely at female audience.  I am happy to say I was wrong.  Lessons In Chemistry is fierce and funny, touching, terrible and oh-so true.

Elizabeth Zott is a modern Everywoman.  She dares to think and act for herself even when others take credit for every good thing she does.  Her story sure sounded familiar to me!  She wasn't taken seriously as a chemist until, in desperation, she turns those skills into cuisine.  It's not the cooking that counts on Elizabeth's show however, it's the connections she makes with her audience by crediting them with equal intelligence.

Bonnie Garmus' characters are wonderfully drawn.  But I do have to admit to having a soft spot for Six-Thirty.  Thanks for giving him his own wonderful interior life!

This is often not an easy book to read, especially if you're female, and have ever had any similar experiences (and who among us hasn't!), but I did like the way the author left things at the end.  This is one of the most satisfying books I've read in a long, long time.  I'm sorry I won't get to see Brie Larson bring Elizabeth Zott to life on the screen.

One tiny nit at the end, though.   I know Bonnie Garmus loved the cover of this book, but I have to say I didn't.  I think it contributes to the image of this book being a piece of inconsequential fluff.  I wish the illustration had a bit more bite to it, like Elizabeth.  Just my opinion.

The Island of Extraordinary Captives: A Painter, A Poet, An Heiress, and a Spy In a World War II British Internment Camp

I found The Island of Extraordinary Captives: A Painter, A Poet, An Heiress, And A Spy In A World War II British Internment Camp (#1,176) while I was browsing the non-fiction section of New Books at our local library.  How could I resist a title like that?  Its author, Simon Parkin, tells how he came across his subject quite by accident while researching a previous book.

Imagine all the creative people living under the Nazi Regime whose work did not suit the Reich's ideology - writers, artists, musicians, journalists and Jews - escaping if they were able the reach of the Nazis in Britain, only to be rounded up in Britain and sent to internment camps as "enemy aliens" even if they had been resident in Britain for years.  That is precisely what happened, and many of these gifted individuals wound up in the Hutchinson Internment Camp on the Isle of Man out in the Irish Sea.

Mr. Parkin tells us who some of these extraordinary people were, the stories of how they wound up at Hutchinson and how they occupied themselves while they were there.  Mr. Parkin goes on the chronicle what happened to a number of these refugees over the years, and how many went on to faithfully serve the country which had put them there in terrible isolation.  It's a bit of British history that you don't usually find in books about World War II, but an illuminating one.  If you like history, add this book to your list.

The Girl Who Wrote In Silk

The only reason I read Kelli Estes' novel The Girl Who Wrote In Silk (#1,175) was because it was available in my library's Book Clubs Book Bags.  I'm not sure how this book sneaked past all the buzzy notice on Good Reads and Library Thing because it was an absorbing read with tons of issues to talk about at my upcoming book club meeting.  When I mentioned The Girl Who Wrote In Silk to my other book club, the response was overwhelmingly positive from others who had already read it.

The plot ping pongs between two timelines with two different female protagonists: an 1880s American born Chinese woman living in Seattle when her family is driven out by the white population one terror-filled night, and a modern day young woman from a prominent Seattle shipping conglomerate who goes to Orcas Island in the San Juan Straits to sort out the summer estate her beloved aunt left to her.

Their stories are intertwined as the author gradually reveals through the discovery of an exquisite embroidered sleeve found concealed under a staircase in the cottage where Inara Erikson's aunt lived.  Bringing her find to a professor of Asian Studies at the University of Washington sets in motion a train of events affecting Inara's family while revealing Mei Lien's story.

Contemporary readers may be surprised by some of the American history central to the plot; it's not generally taught in schools.  Definitely a worthwhile read.

Murder Your Employer - The McMasters Guide to Homicide

What a droll read Rupert Holmes' latest is!  Murder Your Employer - The McMasters Guide to Homicide (#1,174) is presented as a rather dry mid-nineteenth century textbook.  But, oh! dear reader, the contents!  Ever had the urge to do away with an unpleasant boss?  This book promises to set you on the right path if you are unable to afford the pricey tuition to attend the McMasters Conservatory of the Applied Arts in person.  

After reading about the experiences of several students of the Conservatory, how could you not wish to attend?  The food, the settings, the classes all sound so enticing.  Of course, you do have to deal with the consequences of failing your Masters Thesis - the deletion of your intended target.  If unsuccessful, you yourself will be eliminated.  But no pressure!

Will the students described here succeed or fail?  The journey to find out is all of the fun of this highly entertaining novel.  Highly recommended.

All The Dead Shall Weep

All The Dead Shall Weep (#1,173) by Charlaine Harris is another entertaining entry in the Gunnie Rose series.  And the cover blurb is by William Kent Krueger!  Who knew?

As she is now properly known, Princess Lizbeth Rose Savarov is happy to welcome her half-sister Felicia to her isolated hometown.  Felicia is accompanied on her journey by Eli Savarov's brother Peter, enjoying a flirtation along the way.  On a less happy note, no sooner have the Savarov's guests arrived then their town is attacked by an unknown militia group.  Eli announces that he and Peter will be leaving shortly afterwards.

Hurt and confused, Lizbeth isn't quite sure whether either of them will ever be back again.  Felicia tries to cheer her up with tales of the Rasputin Academy where she is currently enrolled as a budding grigori.  When the two women are attacked again, it becomes apparent that Lizbeth is the intended target.  Who is after her, and why?  

Always a fun read, especially when you know there's more to come!

The River We Remember

I so enjoy curling up with a book by William Kent Krueger.  I just had the pleasure of reading The River We Remember (#1,172).  At its root, it's a murder mystery.  The richest man in town, Jimmy Quinn, is found dead in the Alabaster River in Jewel, Minnesota.  

So many people in town had a reason to wish him dead, but local sheriff Brody Dern would like to sweep it all the rug and act as though Jimmy's death was a suicide.  Fortunately, his deputy won't let him.  Things are still simmering in town a few years after World War II, with many veterans of World War I still around.  In fact, there's even a veteran in town who fought in the Indian Wars of the late 1800s.  There's plenty of resentment against Indians, Germans and Japanese.  It spills over onto the chief suspect in Jimmy Quinn's death: Noah Bluestone, a career Marine who happens to be a Sioux with a Japanese wife he brought home with him to his small farm.  Noah and Kyoko both worked for Jimmy Quinn and his second wife Marta for a time. When Brody Dern does finally arrest him, Noah Bluestone refuses to defend himself; neither will he admit to the crime.  Who is he covering for?  Things come to a shocking end before the facts which led to Jimmy Quinn's death are finally revealed and the lives of many citizens of Jewel are changed forever.

This is everything you can hope for in a book; a gripping story, plot twists and turns, and the landscape itself as an important character.  A thoroughly satisfying read, and highly recommended.  No wonder I'm a fan!

Tides of Fire

Tides of Fire (#1,171) is the latest in James Rollins' Sigma Force series.  Although there are plenty of human foes here, the main enemy is nature itself, in the form of volcanic eruptions and a mysterious ancient species of black coral.

The Chinese have inadvertently set off a series of catastrophic events when they fired an ELF wave at the depths of the ocean after one of their technologically advanced submarines went down in unexplained circumstances in one of the ocean's deepest areas - the Tonga Trench.  Scrambling to retrieve it before anyone from the West can leads to a full-blown Chinese assault on a pioneering oceanographic research installation.  Sigma Force is sent to help.

Hair-raising adventures and seemingly inescapable situations abound here, but as always in a Rollins novel, the scariest parts are those based on fact, not fiction.  The Ring of Fire surrounding the Pacific is real, as we are reminded during relatively minor eruptions.  What if there to be another event greater than Krakatoa or Mount Tambora?  This is the kind of book that may keep you up nights!

Good Dog, Bad Cop

David Rosenfelt has shifted the emphasis to a K Team member, Corey Douglas, in Good Dog, Bad Cop (#1,170) a spinoff novel from his popular Andy Carpenter mystery series.  It has the twists and turns and the humor that you would expect.

The K Team, comprised of Corey Douglas, his retired K9 partner Simon Garfunkle, Laurie Carpenter and Marcus Clark have been hired by the Paterson, New Jersey Homicide Chief Pete Stanton to clean up some of the cold cases sitting in the department's files.  The best thing about the gig?  They get to choose which cases to take on.  Corey's mentor Jimmy Dietrich was found dead on a drifting boat with Susan Avery, the wife of a cop murdered while on a stakeout.  Was it a suicide/murder?  There is no evidence one way or the other.  Corey persuades the team to take on the case to clear Jimmy's reputation.  They have no idea that they've stepped into something much, much bigger...

If you like Andy Carpenter mysteries, you'll eat this one up.  Andy even makes some bonus appearances!

The Vaster Wilds

I must say that Lauren Groff's writing is astonishing.  In The Vaster Wilds (#1,169), she has outdone herself.  The girl who is the protagonist here slowly reveals herself as she escapes the rickety palisade of the fort of the starving Englishmen of Jamestown in 1609.  Outside are the Indians lying in wait in a vast unknown wilderness.  What could be so powerfully wrong that it drives her to chance her life on such a perilous undertaking?

Lamentation Callat's tale is harrowing and horrifying.  She endures the privations of the wild and eludes those who follow her.  Just as you think she might prevail, another obstacle is placed in her path until, at the end, she succumbs.  Surely that will come as no surprise to the reader.  I was disappointed, though, that Ms. Groff could not allow the girl to die until she had beaten every last bit of hope and faith from her, dooming her to die a lost soul.  It's certainly a nihilistic view of life.  Not a read for the faint of heart.

The Maltese Iguana

Ordinarily I love Tim Dorsey's manic Florida novels.  They're packed with interesting tidbits of Florida history and trivia.  I am going to make an exception for The Maltese Iguana (#1,168).  Not enough Serge A. Storm and way too much pot culture and Central America political tinkering by way of Miami covert groups.  Dare I say with only one villain offed by Serge in the whole book that it actually was a bit tedious, and an effort to finish?  Hope he comes up with something better next time!

Beyond That, The Sea

When you read the cover blurb for Laura Spence-Ash's debut novel Beyond That, The Sea (#1,167) you may be forgiven for thinking "Oh, no!  Not another WWII novel!".  But if you decide to skip it, you'll be missing one of the best books I've read in a long time.  

World War II is the catalyst for this book.  Eleven-year-old Beatrix Thompson is sent from London by her parents to live overseas with an American family for the duration of the war.  How that decision changes the lives of each one of characters of the Thompson family and the Gregorys with their two boys outside Boston is charted in the emotional landscape of this novel.  Everyone's point of view is explored, and although the war is the triggering factor, it's the internal events that are key here.  How Bea is changed by, and changes her environments beyond the war is the crux.

I had just one small nit to pick here.  I grew up in the Boston area, and when Bea and Mrs. Gregory go to Boston to buy Bea a party dress, the book says they go to Downtown Crossing.  Probably Ms. Spence-Ash is too young to know that that term wasn't used until about thirty or forty years later than the period in the book.  Yes, Jordan Marsh had wonderful blueberry muffins, but my mother and I preferred the chicken pot pies at Filene's elegant dining room across the street!  Long's jeweler on Summer Street brings back many memories of picking out an opal ring for my sixteenth birthday, a gold bangle for my high school graduation and my own engagement and wedding rings.  Those were the days...

It's a terrific book.  I don't understand why it hasn't been given more press: there is enough here to keep book clubs occupied for several meetings!  Settle in for a soul-satisfying read with Beyond That, The Sea.  Highly recommended.

Witch King

Everybody seems to have been waiting for Martha Wells' newest novel, the fantasy Witch King (#1,166).  It is definitely worth the wait!  While for me, Murderbot will always be my favorite Wells character, Kai-Enna, Fourth Prince of the underearth, comes pretty close.

Kai is a demon awakened in a watery tomb by a lesser Expositor wishing to steal his powers.  Needless to say, it does not go well for the sorcerer.  The question is, how did Kai wind up there in the first place? And who put him there?  The rest of the novel follows Kai's pursuit of the truth and his search for his companions across two timelines.  

It's a nail-biting adventure story set in the varying well drawn kingdoms of a world conquered by the Hierarchs, a hitherto unknown people with seemingly omnipotent powers.  Kai finds himself caught up in a nascent rebellion against his own instincts.  The Past is prelude to the Future.

We have not seen the last of Kai and his interspecies cohort as they, like the crew of the starship Enterprise, set out to find new worlds and adventures.  Looking forward to reading about them!

Killers of a Certain Age

A quartet of older women are sent on a lavish, all-expenses-paid cruise to celebrate their retirement.  What could go wrong?  The women are professional assassins and they accidentally stumble onto a plot to eliminate them, along with all the other passengers on board.  Sounds like an intriguing premise for a book, doesn't it?

I wasn't even halfway through Deanna Raeburn's Killers of a Certain Age (#1,165) when it became due at the library.  I have to admit I wasn't even tempted to hang on to it to finish it.  I found it surprisingly crude.  I've read other books based on this same trope, and they have all handled it so much better, why bother to continue to waste my time on it?  Did not finish.  Do not regret it.

Rogue Justice

What if an ex-pat with a grudge against the US Justice system decided to plant the seeds for a massive cyberattack that no one will see coming?  That's the premise of Stacy Abrams latest thriller Rogue Justice (#1,164).  Avery Keene is back, Supreme Court Justice Wynn's law clerk who uncovered an unholy mess by following the breadcrumbs the Justice left her before succumbing to a medically induced coma.  Her life has been occupied with that political fallout when she is approached at a conference by the law clerk of an Idaho judge.  He is convinced the judge has been manipulated into committing suicide by person or persons unknown after making a controversial decision.  He thrusts his proof into Avery's hands and flees.  Moments later, he is dead and Avery is reluctantly drawn into an investigation again.  At least this time she has the backing of friends and an FBI agent in her corner.  Buckle up.  It's a wild ride.

So much of the action in this novel is driven by the events in While Justice Sleeps, you are much better off reading these two books in order, preferably one right after the other to keep things straight in your mind.  If you want a book that will keep you up at night, Rogue Justice should do the trick.  There's lots to digest in these nightmare scenarios.  Good thing Avery has an eidetic memory!  Recommended.

The Poisoner's Ring

The Poisoner's Ring (#1,163) is a follow-up to Kelley Armstrong's A Rip Through Time, which I will now have to go back and read.  It's a time travel novel set in Edinburgh in 1869.  In this case Mallory Mitchell is a Canadian homicide detective who in the original book finds herself suddenly in the body of a nineteen-year-old maid in an undertaker's household.  

This time, her employer, Dr. Duncan Gray, has had a couple of suspicious cases come through his funeral parlor which the police surgeon uses as his morgue, victims of apparent poisoning.  Are the wives responsible for getting rid of their husbands?  At first it appears so, but when Dr. Gray's brother-in-law Lord Leslie becomes the latest victim, and his sister Lady Annis is accused of poisoning him, things are too close to home to warrant a casual investigation.

This book doesn't take itself too seriously, and that's the delightful part of it.  Mallory Mitchell struggles with adapting to Victorian manners and mores (not to mention the constricting clothes!).  Because Dr. Gray and his sister Isla have accepted Mallory's story, they make use of the knowledge Mallory is able to contribute to the investigations that Duncan Gray can't help but conduct.

Did I mention that it's a really good mystery on top of all this?  It keeps you guessing until the end. Recommended.

Breaking Creed

I came across Breaking Creed (#1,162) by Alex Cava on a clever library display celebrating the "Dog Days of Summer".  I had read a couple of entries in this thriller series about a Marine vet with PTSD who finds a new calling in training service dogs of all types - search and rescue, cadaver, sniffer dogs - and using them himself when tapped by various agencies along with his informal FBI profiler partner Maggie O'Dell, but had missed this particular book.

Ryder Creed is on a fairly routine assignment at the Atlanta airport with Grace, his favorite dog, searching for signs of a drug cartel's shipment rumored to be passing through Hartsfield when Grace alerts on a teenaged girl, not a piece of luggage.  The girl begs Ryder to help her.  On impulse, he smuggles her out of the airport, thus painting a target on his own back.  The cartel wants its property back, and they will stop at nothing to reclaim it.

Meanwhile, FBI profiler Maggie O'Dell is called in by her boss to look into a body floating in the Potomac River.  A tattoo on the badly decomposed body leads her to suspect a drug connection.  Although her boss denies the possibility, a high-ranking Senator is in his office when Maggie goes to make her report.  Soon she finds herself crossing paths with Ryder Creed...again.

It's a twisted tale of money, greed, and power.  If deadly creepy-crawly creatures are the stuff of your nightmares, this is probably not a book you want to be reading at bedtime.  But if you are the type of person who needs to find out what happens next, even if it means staying up all night, Breaking Creed will do the trick!  This is a great series.

The Diamond Eye

How appropriate to read about a real-life Ukranian heroine in Kate Quinn's latest historical novel, The Diamond Eye (#1,161) while Putin's assault on Ukraine is covered every day in our local news!  Lyudmila Pavlichenko rushed to enlist the day the war with Nazi Germany began.  A library researcher working on her doctoral dissertation is not exactly who most people would picture becoming a feared and prolific sniper, but she did indeed, earning the title Lady Death.  Ms. Quinn has used the bare bones of Mila Pavlichenko's life to weave a fascinating narrative of war on the Russian front in desperate circumstances.  Mila's good will trip to the US with other wounded student/soldiers was one of Stalin's efforts to change Roosevelt's mind about sending American troops to aid their allies in Eastern Europe.  Her resulting friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt lasted the rest of their lives.

Ms. Quinn has cleverly interwoven the story of another sharpshooter into the story, someone who originally has a very different target in mind to provide some tension to Mila's American visit.  Unlike most of the characters in this gripping novel, this sniper is fictional.  Even the men Mila was romantically involved with during her life are based, as much as possible, on the known facts.  Married at fifteen, she was left with a son, a compelling reason to defend her homeland.  In The Diamond Eye, Mila encounters her husband again in the Red Army, but she also meets the man she considered her second husband for the rest of her life after a whirlwind romance.  And then, there is her sniper partner.  Closer than close, they must live and breathe in unison to survive their sniper assignments.  He will eventually become her third husband here.  Ms. Quinn's Notes help to separate the fact from the fiction about them all.

If you find Lyudmila Pavlichenko as fascinating as I did, Kate Quinn has provided links to books, videos, and photos of the real-life woman who inspired this novel and who charmed the people she met on her good will tours abroad.  To think such courage existed within our own lifetimes is humbling.  Add The Diamond Eye to your "Must Read" List.

The Dark Days Club

I've been glued to Alison Goodman's novel The Dark Days Club (#1,160) for the past few days.  It's hard to explain the appeal, since I'm not usually a fan of paranormal romances, but this one pulled me in and wouldn't let go, like the Deceivers in the book.  It's kind of like Buffy the Vampire Slayer Vanquishes the Regency Ballroom.

As the book opens, Lady Helen Wrexham is about to be presented at the Queen's Drawing Room, the event of a Regency-era miss's emergence in the social world of her time.  Brought up by her aunt and uncle, she is also cautioned, never, ever to mention her mother, Lady Catherine, dead these many years.  To her surprise, it is the Queen who mentions her mother.  The ball is now rolling to introduce Lady Helen not only to polite society, but also to a seamy underworld that is slowly becoming apparent to her in new physical powers and perceptions.  

Lord Carlston puts himself in Lady Helen's path, testing her new-found abilities, much to her dismay.  Although a family connection, Carlston's past is scandalous, and only the patronage of the famous Beau Brummell permits him to be received in decent households.

But what if Lady Helen's new powers have a purpose behind them?  What if it is her duty to use these powers to save humanity from the clutches of the Grand Deceiver?  The answer is not revealed in Book One, The Dark Days Club.  I can't wait for the sequel to appear to find out if my guess about the identity of the Grand Deceiver is correct!

Fatal Legacy

Flavia Albia is really trying to settle into more discrete cases by taking on an investigation into the legal status of the father of a prospective bride.  Is he, or is he not, a full citizen?  The results of Flavia's investigation are the gist of Fatal Legacy (#1,159), Lindsey Davis' latest mystery set in ancient Rome.  Whether or not the marriage will take place depends on it.

As usual, the more Flavia pokes into the matter, the more questions arise, especially about the ownership of a disputed orchard.  Everyone in the case seems to be claiming the property.  It's even one of the motivations behind the prospective bride and groom's thwarted elopement.  Flavia is determined to get to the bottom of things and fulfill her commission despite the obstacles placed in her way.  It all hinges on family, and Flavia herself is aided by her own family in the case.  Just when you think everything is finally revealed, there's another surprise, right up to the final page.  No wonder I love this series!

I know I haven't said anything about cover art in a while, but I do feel compelled to comment on the cover of Fatal Legacy.  The publisher has settled on the same trope of an attractive Roman woman clutching a weapon behind her back in the foreground with a scene purportedly from the novel in the background.  In this book's case I could not discern any relationship between the artwork and the storyline.  There are several Roman soldiers with absurdly modeled breastplates when the only soldier in the book is Flavia's houseguest, a recovering amputee.  Oh, and did I mention that Flavia Albia's exposed spinal column sits firmly to the left of her neck?  Hmm.  Don't the artists bother to even skim the works, or speak to the editors about the plot points?  Nothing is more aggravating to a fan of the book than this kind of out-of-sync illustration.   I suppose you can always use the old grammar school trick of covering the book with a plain brown wrapper because you don't want to miss this latest installment of Flavia Albia's adventures.  

Death Comes To Marlow

Another helping of the intrepid trio of ladies from The Marlow Murder Club?  Yes, please!  Death Comes to Marlow (#1,158) by Robert Thorogood serves up a nifty locked room murder.

Sir Peter Bailey is murdered at his own pre-wedding party with all the local nobs and worthies in attendance.  He's crushed to death by a massive bookcase in his locked study.  Since all the main suspects were in plain view by those attending the lawn party, how could it actually be murder?  Leave it to Judith, Suzie and Becks to prove that it was, indeed, murder most foul.  But their ally on the police force, Tanika, has been bumped from the case when her superior returns from his sick leave to grab all the glory in this domestic accident.

It's all quite cleverly done, with a cast of flawed characters, witty dialog and plenty of red herrings.  If you loved the first installment, you'll feel right at home with Death Comes To Marlow.  Set aside an uninterrupted block of time to enjoy this one all in one bite!

Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions

I'd like to thank the library docent who misfiled Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions (#1,157) in the New Books section of my local library.  This is actually the first in a translated series by Mario Giordano set in a small village on the coast of Sicily.  It features the eponymous sixty-year-old German widow whose stated aim in life, as she tells her three sisters-in-law, is to drink herself peacefully to death while overlooking the sea.

Well, Poldi manages to find the perfect house to meet her objectives, but she can't help but take an interest in those around her.  When her handsome young part-time handyman goes missing, it just seems natural to ask around to see if anyone else has seen him.  One thing leads to another after Poldi finds his body on the beach when she goes for an early swim...

This isn't quite like any other book I've ever read.  Poldi herself is a bold, brassy, eccentric and delightful protagonist.  The story is told mainly through the eyes of her German nephew whom she's invited to spend several months a year with her at her Sicilian home as he works on his book.  The language paints a vivid portrait of the scenery, social mores and especially the food culture of Poldi's adopted country.  She's not afraid to take the bull by the horns, and if that means making a play for the handsome police inspector assigned to the case, so be it.  It's an absolute breath of fresh air.  Now I can't wait to book my own Sicilian holiday!  In the meantime, I have several more of Auntie Poldi's adventures to catch up on...

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice For Murderers

I didn't think Jesse Q. Sutanto could outdo herself after her Dial A For Aunties series, but somehow, she has in Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice For Murderers (#1,156).  And she's done it featuring an elderly Chinese woman running a tea house in San Francisco's Chinatown which has only one reliable customer a day.  That is, until she comes down early one morning from her upstairs apartment to find a dead body sprawled in the middle of her tea shop.  Vera finds a flash drive clutched in the dead man's hand and fails to mention it to the police.  She decides right then and there to "assist" the police by solving the murder for them.  They don't even think it's a murder!  Vera knows better and sets out to identify the killer.  Somehow, her list of suspects turns into friends she can help with their own problems - too bad one of them will turn out to be the killer!

It's funny, it's touching and it's a darn good mystery!  Vera's instincts are right on the money, and oh, the food she cooks!  Better have the number of your favorite Chinese restaurant on speed dial while you're reading this one!  Ms. Sutanto put her Aunties series on hold to write Vera Wong.  I hope there's more to come from Vera in the future!  (It would make a great TV series!)  Highly recommended!

Untold Power

I had heard Rebecca Boggs Roberts interviewed about her book Untold Power (#1,155) and decided then I wanted to read it, but I had to wait awhile before a print copy of Edith Bolling Galt Wilson's biography became available.  It did not disappoint.  You may or may not remember that while Woodrow Wilson was in office, he had a major, debilitating stroke.  No one outside of a handful of trusted Wilson confidants actually knew just how serious his condition was as Edith orchestrated every detail of his care and contacts.  In essence, she was running the country!  Afterwards, newspapers of the time accused Edith of usurping power to become the "Presidentress".  For the rest of her life, she denied it.

Ms. Roberts' narrative flows right along, from Edith's impoverished Virginia girlhood (although a descendant of one of Virginia's First Families), to her escape to Washington, D.C. to visit a married sister to her eventual marriage to the older Mr. Galt, owner of a prominent jewelry store.  After a taste of travel and the better things in life, Edith was widowed and happy to be on her own.  However, well-meaning friends engineered a meeting with the also recently widowed Woodrow Wilson, and the rest, as they say, is history.  After Woodrow's death, Edith devoted the rest of her life to polishing his reputation and quashing any negative publicity.  

I came away with very ambivalent feelings about Edith Wilson.  In many ways, her devotion to her second husband was admirable, yet she did share so many of his views.  She was brought up to think of the Civil War as a glorious cause, and that the South would surely rise again. (Woodrow apparently thought the Federal Government stole Robert E. Lee's property to turn it into Arlington National Cemetery and refused to entertain the thought of being buried there!) Racism was thus inevitably part of her upbringing.  The Southern version of True Womanhood also influenced her opposition to Women's Suffragism - a woman's role was to stand firmly behind her man, helping him in more subtle ways - a stance she perfected in her own life.  Although she was a dutiful wife to Galt, her true devotion was to Woodrow Wilson, as though she was only married to him.  In her own memoir, Edith, as Roberts points out, disposes of her first husband in a third of a sentence.  This, after twelve years of marriage.  Their only son who died as an infant is never mentioned at all!

Yet, when everything around her was falling to pieces at the White House, Edith had it in her to step up to the plate, keep the government running, and not take credit for it.  She stage-managed interviews with the President to keep those pesky Republicans from finding out just how ill he really was although they were in the same room with him.  That takes colossal nerve and stamina.

She also had a tremendous impact on the future role of the First Lady.  First to stand behind her husband at his swearing-in, first to travel abroad with him on a State Visit (a first in itself), first to campaign alongside her husband - the list goes on.

Edith Bolling Galt Wilson really did lead a remarkable life.  Her influence lives on today.  Read about for yourself in Untold Power.

Flop Dead Gorgeous

As Andy Carpenter will be only too happy to tell you, he once dated famous Hollywood star Jenny Nichols in high school.  In David Rosenfelt's Flop Dead Gorgeous (#1,154) Andy Carpenter is happy now to be just friends with this celebrity.  Since she adopted her little French poodle Mamie from the Tara Foundation a few years ago, Mamie is almost as famous as Jenny herself, appearing with her everywhere, which puts Jenny high on Andy's list of favorite people.  He and Laurie have hosted Jenny several times while she's filming a romcom in New York City.  But when her obnoxious co-star Ryan Griffin crashes a private party at Joe's Sports Bar with his bodyguards in tow (sacred ground for Andy and his friends) he senses that not everything is copacetic about the production.  That impression is reinforced when Jenny calls Andy in the early morning hours to tell him that she found Ryan dead in her mother's secluded New Jersey home with a knife in his back.

Andy knows Jenny couldn't possibly have committed such a violent murder, but the scene has been staged so carefully it will be difficult to convince a jury of her innocence.  Just when Andy thought maybe his retirement from law was actually working...

As Andy and his team dig deeper, there are plenty of reasons why someone would want Ryan dead.  The question is who?  Can they find the motivation and the actual murderer before the jury convicts Jenny?  The clock is ticking.

I think my favorite line in this mystery is when Andy is forced to fly to Los Angeles to track down evidence.  He thinks the 405 should be named the Marquis de Sade Freeway.  Having driven it recently, I agree!

The New Neighbor

CIA agent Beth Bradford's life is collapsing all around her in The New Neighbor (#1,153), Karen Cleveland's latest thriller.  Her youngest child is off to college, one daughter is married, the other living in London.  They've put their house on a quiet cul-de-sac in Langley, Virginia, on the market, much to her regret since her friends and social support network are there, but the house is too big for them now, especially when husband Mike announces that he's not moving into their temporary rental unit; he has his own apartment.  Beth never saw it coming.  When she returns to her job at Langley a few days early, her access to her unit is denied.  After almost twenty years of tracking down an elusive Iranian agent whose job is to recruit American assets with jobs in key intelligence and technology sectors, Beth is being taken off the case and reassigned!  And she's so, so close to finding The Neighbor, as the asset is known...

That's the set up for this twisty tale told from Beth's perspective (with a few too many bolded words in the dialogue for my taste).  Her pursuit of the truth leads her to suspect everyone on her old cul-de-sac, including the new neighbors who moved into her former house.  Could one of her trusted friends be betraying their country?  The answer is shocking.

I really enjoyed this book, my husband not so much.  He did feel it was a trifle overwrought, but still entertaining enough.  A perfect book for a long plane ride, or an afternoon at the beach.

Lady Tan's Circle of Women

Lisa See's latest novel, Lady Tan's Circle of Women (#1,152) is in the same league as my favorites from her earlier works: Peony In Love and Snowflower's Secret Fan.  I found this book based on an actual female doctor working during the Ming Dynasty gripping.  This Lady Tan Yuxian is loosely based on what is known about her, but she is principally known because she published a book about her cases.  Since she was a woman, she was confined to treating only women, but in the elite households of the time, that certainly gave her plenty of scope!

This book has life-and-death situations and nail-biting suspense, but the most interesting part of the book for me, were the glimpses into the claustrophobic world of elite women of that time period.  Women might only expect to see two places in their life: the home they were born into and the home they marry into.  Yet there were elaborate rules built in the conduct of everyday life.  Yuxian managed the almost impossible - to have a profession other than wife, mother, and dutiful daughter-in-law: both her grandparents were doctors and chose to pass along their wisdom to her.  What a wonderful imagining of how things might have been.

Isn't it ironic that it was the pandemic which pushed Lisa See into writing this book since she was confined to her own home with limited resources?  I really appreciate the outcome!

Unladylike Lessons In Love

Well, the title of this "Regency" novel certainly delivers on its promise: Lila Marleigh's behavior is anything but ladylike in this steamy romance.  Unladylike Lessons In Love (#1,151) by Amita Murray sucked me in with its promise of Regency-era romance and mystery.  Except for the fact that Amita Murray admits to consuming Georgette Heyer (the absolute Queen of Regency romances!) like candy when she was younger, I would have guessed she learned everything she knows about the time period from Bridgerton! (No wonder Julia Quinn's blurb is posted right at the top of the book's cover!).

The premise and the mystery involved were both enough to keep me reading, even though I skipped over the steamy bits (that was a lot of pages!).  But, oh! those bucketful's of anachronisms and twenty-first century slang reminded me firmly that context means nothing to this author.

Apparently this is the first of a series of mysteries featuring the illegitimate daughters of an Englishman stationed in India for many years, but brought up as English young ladies by his abandoned wife.  I won't be torturing myself any further.  If you want to know what the ideal is for this genre, read Georgette Heyer herself - she's never been out of print!

Murder Before Evensong - A Canon Clements Mystery

Murder Before Evensong (#1,150) by The Reverend Richard Coles is the quintessential British murder mystery.  It involves a small village in the countryside where the parish church is still firmly attached to the local lord's substantial estate.  Therefore, any and all murders occurring in the area are an affront to the lord of the manor.  Since the first murder takes place in the church itself, naturally the rector becomes involved.  As if Daniel Clements didn't have enough on his plate to start with!

Daniel's mother Audrey is now living in the rectory with him, and she's never been one to leave things alone.  To make things worse Theo, his actor brother, has just been given in role in a new TV series in which he will be playing a priest.  He can't see why Daniel won't let him tag along on even the most private moments of pastoral counseling.  And since he starred in a long-term cop series, he thinks he is qualified to sit in on the police investigation as well.  As other murders happen, Daniel slowly begins to discern a pattern that will lead to the discovery of the murderer's identity.

It's all quite entertaining.  If you know anything about Anglican or Episcopalian worship, you will delight in how spot-on the references are.  They should be, since the author is a priest himself, who has also had a number one hit single, and appeared on Strictly Come Dancing, the British version of Dancing With the Stars.  I hope there will be future entries in this promising new mystery series!

The Best Strangers In The World - Stories From A Life Spent Listening

Having listened to Ari Shapiro himself for a number of years on NPR, I was interested in picking up his book of essays, The Best Strangers In The World - Stories From A Life Spent Listening (#1,149).  I must admit that I heard his distinctive voice narrating as I read!  I quite enjoyed this collection, in which he reveals quite a bit about himself.

If you are a regular listener to NPR yourself, you will probably enjoy this book.  If your taste in media runs more towards Fox, find something else.  This book won't suit you.

Mistress of Bhatia House

I've been meaning to read one Sujata Massey's mysteries set in 1920s India, featuring Perveen Mistry, daughter of a Parsi lawyer, who has read law herself at Oxford.  Mistress of Bhatia House (#1,148) is the third entry in this series.  Perveen is struggling to find a place in British-dominated Bombay to practice law alongside her father, but neither society will cooperate, refusing to let her sit for the Bar in either England or India.  She does what she can as a solicitor, but she cannot be in a courtroom.

Perveen is present at a fundraising tea for a new Women & Children's Hospital at a prominent Indian family's home in order to bring her sister-in-law's donation in person.  While there, she witnesses a child's garment catch fire, and his ayah throw herself on the boy to smother the flames.  She is badly burned in this act of heroism, but the family is reluctant to allow Sunanda treatment or rest.  Perveen happens to be at the police station later when she sees Sunanda brought in chains from a police wagon.  She's been arrested, and the more questions Perveen asks, the murkier the situation becomes.  No one can find any trace of the man who brought the official complaint against her, and to Perveen's ears, the circumstances seem suspicious.  She winds up bailing out Sunanda and bringing her home to the chaotic Mistry household with its newborn baby and feuding parents.  

A suspicious death, an unspeakable crime, and a society at odds with itself all make for an intriguing blend of mystery and social injustices woven into a story unlike anything else I have read.  I will definitely be tracking down Sujata Massey's first book in this series The Widows of Malabar Hill (which won the Agatha Award) to delve further into the Bombay of a century ago.  If you are looking for an excellent new mystery series, put these books on your list!

Network Effect

Murderbot has to be one of my favorite literary characters.  Funny, because I almost never used to read science fiction, but my husband has persuaded me to dip my toes in those waters.  If all books were as good as Martha Wells Murderbot Series, that's probably all I would read these days.  #5 in that series is Network Effect (#1,147).

Murderbot is trying its best to settle into life with its group of humans in the Preservation after preventing an assassination attempt on its leader, Dr. Mensah.  Although it was kept quiet, Mensah has decided it  would be best for everyone to launch a mapping mission off-world, with her adolescent daughter, Amena, and one of her marital partners on board the vessel.  It's supposed to be a routine research trip, but of course, it doesn't turn out that way.  Their ship is attacked and Murderbot and Amena are kidnapped by a group of hostile and unknown aliens.  Dragged through a wormhole, Murderbot has no idea where they are, or why they were taken; it just knows that no one is messing with its humans!

As entertaining a read as this is, it is not a stand-alone novel.  Characters are reintroduced and earlier situations are brought into play here.  If you haven't read the earlier books in this series, you won't understand half of the action, so be sure to read those first.  One of my favorite series, and I know there are more to come!  Yay!

The Way Of The Bear

Anne Hillerman's latest Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito novel, The Way of the Bear (#1,146) is set in Utah's Bears Ears National Monument.  Jim Chee has been tasked by his new boss with meeting with a wealthy donor nearby who intends to give money to a memorial for Fallen Navajo Policemen.  While he's there, he wants to take advantage of a chance to advance his training in traditional healing with the elders at Navajo Mountain.  His wife Bernadette has just suffered a major disappointment in being passed over for a detective position with the Navajo Police, so Jim urges her to come with him to hike and soothe her soul with the beauty of the National Monument and its sacred sights.  

It seems a sunset hike can never be just a sunset hike for Bernie, as she falls into an unmarked trench along the trail.  She picks herself up with no permanent damage, but she can't say the same for the nearby petroglyphs: they have been vandalized in a way to suggest witchcraft.  On her way back to her truck, she is pursued and shot at by a couple of people in a beat up pickup truck.  That starts a train of events that will lead to both Chee and Manuelito becoming involved with murders and smuggled fossils from Bears Ears.

It's an engrossing mystery, set in a landscape I would very much like to see for myself.  If you're a fan of both Tony and Anne Hillerman, you won't want to miss this book.

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder

I've waited patiently for David Grann's latest non-fiction work The Wager: a Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder (#1,145) to appear on my Holds List ever since I heard him being interviewed about the book on NPR.  The story of these eighteenth-century British sailors is quite astonishing, not least because any of the men aboard The Wager made it home to England alive.

The Wager had originally set off from England as one of a small fleet tasked by the Government with a secret mission: to find and capture a Spanish galleon loaded with its annual shipment of silver, gold and other valuables before it could reach Spain.  The best prospect was to search the waters off the western coast of South America.  But the greatest danger on the voyage wasn't the Spanish enemy; it was the weather off Cape Horn, one of the most treacherous coasts of the world.  Unrelenting storms, winds and raging seas soon separated the British ships and The Wager found itself wrecked just off the shore of Wager Island.  The crew was already starving, and those that made it successfully onto the island found that there was virtually nothing there to eat.  Things went downhill from there...

Miraculously, years after the ships departed England, a ragtag group of survivors showed up in Plymouth, England with a wonderous tale to tell of their adventures.  All seemed to be going well until a few more years passed, and another group of survivors made it back to British shores with an equally miraculous, but totally contradictory tale of their survival.  What was the British Admiralty to do, except to court martial them all?  Seemingly having escaped death by drowning, starvation or capture by the enemy, were they to be executed for mutiny by their own British Navy?

David Grann has spun an amazing story out of the long-forgotten documents housed in the British archives.  The sensation of its time, the fate of the crew of The Wager has largely faded into the past until David Grann has shed new light on the consequences of her voyage.  It's a compelling read.

Going Rogue

Going Rogue (#1,144) is Rise and Shine Twenty-Nine in Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum Series.  Stephanie's boss and cousin Vinnie sets things in motion when he decides to pocket a game token coin placed with him as collateral for a bail bond.  After its former owner turns up as full of bullet holes as Swiss cheese, the people after the coin turn their attention to Vinnie's business.  Of course, he no longer has the coin, and has no idea of where it could be, but that's just the beginning...

Stephanie in the meantime is after two Fail To Appear clients, one a bomb-maker. (And he's the easy one!)  The really tough client is Bella, Joe Morelli's Sicilian grandmother, widely feared throughout the Burg.  After Connie, their office manager is kidnapped, things escalate.  Can Stephanie survive this one?  And wait - is she actually thinking about settling down??!!

Love these books.  They're perfect for getting your mind off your problems and the summer heat!

Wow, No Thank You: Essays

Wow, No Thank You: Essays (#1, 143) by Samantha Irby.  I have to say the thing I liked the most about this book is the cover.  It features a plump, lop-eared bunny sitting up.  I don't even like rabbits that much, but I would take that bunny home in a heartbeat!  I also like the cover of her latest book, Quietly Hostile, which features a hissing skunk.

As for the essays themselves, I would have to say that they are definitely not my cup of tea.  Enough said.  I did not bother to finish this book, but I'm sure it will find plenty of readers.

How To Sell A Haunted House

I don't know how I got the mistaken notion that Grady Hendrix's novel How To Sell A Haunted House (#1, 142) was a light, cozy mystery.  Be warned, it's NOT!  It's a full-blown horror novel complete with creepy dolls, puppets and taxidermy.  I don't normally read horror, but I have to admit this one did hook me in.

When Louise and Mark's parents die suddenly in an accident, it means that Louise has to come home to Charleston to help settle their estate with her estranged brother.  Mark has his own ideas about the house, their childhood home, and the funeral itself.  Dividing an inheritance like this is a nightmare waiting to happen all by itself, but wait!  In this case, there's more - much, much more...

The book has a number of horrifying twists, but I have to admit, Grady Hendrix knows how to grab and hold your attention!  I couldn't stop reading to find out what was going to happen next.  I may never read another one of his books because of the intense creep factor, but if this is what floats your boat, add it to your "To Read" List!  You won't be disappointed.

One nit to pick, however: hated the cover art on this one.  Don't the people putting the covers together ever even skim the books they are supposedly illustrating?  The house that is central to this book is clearly described as a one-story brick ranch, so why is a two-story clapboard house on the cover?  Ugh!!  I suppose most people don't even notice.

Homegrown - Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism

I can remember exactly where I was when I heard the news about the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Kansas back on April 19, 1995.  The news was shocking at the time.  Since then, I have visited the Memorial erected on the site of the former Murrah Building, and have worked with folks at one of the hospitals overwhelmed with casualties that day.  That's why I was interested to see that our local library had a copy of journalist Jeffrey Toobin's book Homegrown - Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism (#1,141).

Mr. Toobin is thorough in his research on Timothy McVeigh, and what led him to take the actions he did that fateful day.  Right up to his execution he had no remorse for what he had done.  In fact, he was disappointed that an uprising against the Federal Government did not follow in the aftermath of the bombing.  He hoped his "Army" of like-minded people would appear.  

Perhaps not then, but Mr. Toobin draws parallels with the acceptance of many of McVeigh's radical views as mainstream ideas by many members of today's Republican Party.  Violence is increasingly acceptable, tolerated and even encouraged as evidenced by those who roamed the halls of Congress on January 6th searching for Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi, and those who egged them on.

Is anywhere safe in America today?  Probably not.  It seems Franklin's prediction may be about to come true.

Killing Me

Amber Jamison is in the wrong place at the wrong time.  She knew there was a serial killer loose in her Tennessee city, but she never believed that she could be his victim.  But she wakes to find herself in the killer's workshop in Killing Me (#1,140) by Michelle Gagnon.  But just in the nick of time, she is rescued by a mysterious figure clad all in black who intends to leave Amber right where she is.  Amber's not buying that.  

Cover blurbs claim Killing Me is laugh-out-loud funny, but I didn't find it so.  It's a queer murder mystery with a host of eccentric characters, none of whom I found particularly sympathetic.  Amber herself is a grifter with a past, trying to go straight (not sexually!) who becomes obsessed with her rescuer.  She can't afford to have the police looking into her case, so she hightails it for Las Vegas, just like most gamblers do.

I wouldn't rate it much above a "meh", but that's me.  I won't be back for the promised sequel.

Swamp Story

I just love stories about the crazy things that happen in Florida, fictional and non-fictional!  Dave Barry has provided a fun read in his latest novel, Swamp Story (#1,139).  It is set, fittingly, in the Everglades where skanky characters are trying variously, to make a hit reality TV show, search for a legendary trove of lost Confederate gold, and gin up interest in an old Bait & Beer store on the Tamiami Trail by creating a mythical Melon Monster haunting the swamp.

Mix in a beautiful woman, a baby, a few drug dealers, social media sensations and an Eastern European criminal organization, and you have more than enough action to keep the pot (!) boiling merrily along.  Oh, and then there's the Python Challenge and a hungry gator.  What more could you ask for in a great summer beach read?

Yellowface

Wow!  Irony heaped upon irony here in R.F. Kuang's latest novel Yellowface (#1,138).  The book world is abuzz over this brutal sendup of what it takes to get a book onto the bestseller list.  This book has it all; racism, tokenism, hubris and just general bad behavior.  So what else is new in fiction?

The basic premise is that white (unsuccessful) writer June Heyward is celebrating (?) the success of her college classmate Athena Liu's best seller when Athena dies in front of her.  What no one knows is that Athena has just completed her latest novel and the manuscript is right there, in the apartment!  Athena was never one to discuss her works in progress, so it's easy enough for June to pick up the manuscript and pass it off as her own, to acclaim all around.  But how long can she sustain the charade, especially when her own work is finally getting the recognition it deserves?

Even book bloggers like me get their lumps in this one!

The Cradle of Ice

It struck me as I was reading the second novel in James Rollins' fantasy triology, The Cradle of Ice (#1,137) just what an old-fashioned book it is in many ways.  And I mean that in the best possible way!  Why did I read all the time when I was a child?  What kept me glued to the pages of the adventure stories and historical fiction I devoured?  It was mostly the way the author spun out his or her tale to keep me turning those pages breathlessly.  I was totally immersed in that world.  That's how I felt reading The Cradle of Ice.

The foundation had been laid in The Starless Crown, so the story just picked up and swept you along into even more new worlds with their own dangerous (and helpful!) creatures.  Magic and mishaps, not to mention downright skullduggery and betrayals, keep the disparate story lines moving along at a brisk pace.  Will our valiant crew of misfits be able to save their world from Moonfall?  They're making progress here, but with steep costs to them personally.  After finishing this meaty installment, there's still another volume to go!  Who will survive?  And will I survive the wait?

One of the things I really enjoyed about this book was Rollins' use of language.  Before each section, he has invented quotes from various ancient sources in his mythic realms, complete with archaic spelling, which lend an air of authenticity to the proceedings.  With the illustrations of his fantasy beasts scattered throughout, what's not to enjoy?  Savor this one when you have plenty of time to linger...

Pines

Pines (#1,136) is Blake Crouch's homage to the old TV program Twin Peaks.  It's the first of a trilogy which starts out as your typical thriller: Secret Service Agent Ethan Burke is sent from his Seattle home office to investigate the disappearance of two other Secret Services agents in the remote Idaho town of Wayward Pines.  He and his fellow agent are involved in a car accident when they arrive, but when Burke awakes, he has no memory of what actually happened to him.  Nor can he find anyone else in this picture-perfect town who remembers the accident, or what happened to his wallet, badge or gun.

There are chase scenes and mysterious activities around town, culminating in Burke's discovery of the decaying body of one of the agents he was sent to find, but his report of the crime leads instead to his own desperate attempt to escape Wayward Pines.

It's not until the very end that the reader learns the truth of what's been happening in town, and that puts this story very firmly in sci-fi territory.  I'm looking forward to reading, as Paul Harvey would have said "The rest of the story..."

The Mountain In The Sea

I did enjoy Ray Nayler's science fiction novel The Mountain In The Sea (#1,135) because I've read a number of books, both fiction and nonfiction, about octopuses and found them very interesting, yet I didn't pass it along to my husband, an avid sci-fi fan.

Nayler's novel, placed in a not-too-distant future, relies so heavily on the neural network aspect of octopuses (and men and AI) that the plot of the novel seems to disappear totally at times.  Are the octopuses found dwelling in a protected marine habitat off the coast of Vietnam the enemy of man, or not?  The multi-billion dollar corporations and governments vying to control and/or destroy them seem to think so.  The researcher sent to the island, Ha Nguyen, is determined to communicate with them.  Who will succeed in the struggle for total domination?  Unclear to me, but I did like the idea that such an octopus population might be possible...

Probably not a book for every reader, but worth a look.

The Last Kingdom

Cotton Malone is back in Steve Berry's The Last Kingdom (#1,134).  This time the action takes place in Austria, home to the fairy tale castles of Ludwig II.  Did Ludwig, or did he not sign a secret contract with the then king of Hawaii?  Both the document and his body seem to missing...

The search is on, and all kinds of nefarious players are involved.  Cotton is dragged into the action by Luke Daniels, an up-and-coming Magellen Billet agent, and nephew of ex-president Daniels.  Cotton is glad to lend a hand, but honestly, isn't he getting a little old for all the physical stuff, even if it is exhilarating?

This book definitely makes me want to put Neuschwanstein, Linderhof and Herrencheimsee on my list of places to visit!  The premise of the book is an interesting one, as well.  If true, what a difference it would make for all of us Americans!  With Cotton on the job, I don't think we have to worry,

How To Kill Men And Get Away With It

This debut novel by Katy Brent is the book I wished I had on the plane with me!  How To Kill Men And Get Away With It (#1,133) is due out in June.  A well-to-do London influencer has her own problems with men since her heart was broken by her one and only true boyfriend many years ago.  Kitty Collins' looks and Posts guarantee her plenty of attention, though - usually the wrong kind!  She and her girlfriends share their lives and romantic ups and downs with each other in amusing fashion.  But Kitty has a secret - she's not going to tolerate any man who abuses women and children.  It's far easier to get rid of them - permanently!

This is bound to be a success with the right audience.  If you're willing to be a little shocked, entertained, and ultimately root for Kitty Collins, you'll find this a page-turning summer read.  Hey, if you can watch Dexter on TV, you'll have a ball with Kitty.  Recommended.

The Telling Room: A Tale of Love, Betrayal, Revenge, and the World's Greatest Piece of Cheese

The Telling Room: A Tale of Love, Betrayal, Revenge, and the World's Greatest Piece of Cheese (#1,132) has sat on my bedside table for years now, waiting for just the right moment to read it.  I remember that Michael Paterniti's nonfiction book caused quite a bit of stir when it first came out almost a decade ago.  I figured a long plane ride would be the perfect place to delve into it.  My first clue should have been when our section of an international flight had an entertainment systems failure.  No movies, no attendant call button, but worst of all, no overhead reading light during an eight hour flight!

Once I did have a chance to start reading it, it was so full of footnotes upon footnotes that I had a hard time keeping track of the main story line.  In retrospect, that might have been intentional, since when it comes right down to it, it's the author's obsession with a story about cheese which prevented him for years from bothering to find out what the rest of the story was.  He even moved his entire family to a remote Spanish village for a year in pursuit of his own personal fairy tale.

In the end, he was totally taken in by a fabulist.  There essentially was no there there.  I sure wish I had the time spent waiting for something concrete to happen in this book back.  I have absolutely no regrets in leaving this book behind in France.  It was not worth lugging it home again.  Read it yourself if you must, but don't say I didn't warn you!

The Emperor's Conspiracy

I've had The Emperor's Conspiracy (#1,131) sitting by my bed for quite a while now, but all this time I've been thinking it was set in Napoleon Bonaparte's France.  It's not.  This Regency mystery by Michelle Diener was a pleasant surprise.  The heroine, Miss Charlotte Raven, is the ward of an influential lady in society.  To all appearances, Charlotte is the perfect product of that society.  Only she and her guardian Lady Howe are amongst the very few people who know Charlotte's true origin.

It's that background which gets Charlie mixed up inadvertently with a Crown investigation into missing British guineas.  Cash is being smuggled out of England at an alarming rate, but for what purpose and who is behind it?  Someone is playing deadly games and Lord Edward Durnham is determined to find out who.

It's a different set up for this high stakes romance set in the ballrooms and the slums of Regency London.  If you're looking for a romance with a little more substance, The Emperor's Conspiracy might just be your ticket.

Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun

I seem to be reading the third book in several series this month!  The latest is Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun (#1,130) by Elle Cosimano.  Finlay is still trying to get out from under the thumb of Russian crime tsar Feliks Zhirov by disposing of the tell-tale Aston Martin he saddled her with, and simultaneously finding enough money for her live-in nanny to escape the clutches of an Atlantic City mobster.  Vero is into him for a cool quarter million dollars.  In other words, nothing much has changed from the previous book!

Feliks has given Finlay the assignment of identifying an assassin-for-hire who goes by the name Easy Clean.  Finlay and Vero have narrowed the field down to him being a cop.  But which cop?  What better way to find out and stay out of Felik's range than to enroll in the week-long Citizens Police Academy?  Well, it makes sense to them, and provides the reader with a series of hilarious (and dangerous) mis-adventures.  Will Finlay ever get up the courage to admit to hot cop Nick that she has feelings for him?  Will she ever be able to get her ex-husband Steve out of her life?  (But definitely not the kids' lives!)  And why is Vero getting so deeply invested in her role as a pseudo cop?  The action never stops, and neither does Finlay!  You can just see where the next book in the series is going, and I, for one, can't wait!

Since the action does pick right up from the previous two books, don't make the mistake of trying to get into the Finlay Donovan series by starting with Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun; nothing will make sense to you. 

The Bullet That Missed

The Thursday Murder Club sleuths again in Richard Osman's The Bullet That Missed (#1,129).  This time they've settled on the death of a TV journalist who died ten years ago when her car went over a tall cliff into the sea.  In fact, the intrepid silver brigade has manuevered Mike Waghorn into conducting an interview with Ron Ritchie onsite at Coopers Chase.  Once they've lowered Mike's guard by judicious use of alcohol, they hope to get the inside scoop on his former co-presenter, Bethany Waites.  Was anything suspicious going on in her life at the time she vanished?

They succeed in capturing Mike's interest, but in the meantime, Elizabeth and her husband Stephen are kidnapped on their daily walk.  The hoods are removed from their heads in a well-stocked library to face an unknown man.  The Viking has an order for Elizabeth: kill Viktor Illyich.  If she refuses, the Viking will kill Joyce Meadows instead to ensure Elizabeth's compliance.

Love, hate, greed, friendship, spycraft, worsening dementia and cryptocurrency - it's all grist for the mill in this thoroughly enjoyable third installment of Richard Osman's mystery series featuring the inhabitants of an English assisted-living facility, aided by the frenemies they've made within the local constabulary.  Does anyone come out alive at the end, and is the mystery of Bethany Waites solved?  I'm sure you can guess, but all the fun is in getting there.

Did I mention that a delightful new member of the cast has made his debut?  It's Alan - Joyce's rescue dog!  Love is in the air all around.

The Family Man

I recently enjoyed hearing Elinor Lipman speak at our local BookMania! event sponsored by our county library system.  She was on a panel which discussed not just romance, but the power of friendship - the ties that bind us to others.  After listening to the witty discussion by the panelists, I decided I had to read more of Ms. Lipman's work, not in any particular order.  Thus, The Family Man (#1,128) because it was available in large print!

I must say this book delivered!  The eponymous Family Man is Henry Archer, a successful New York City attorney.  He hears from his ex-wife that her husband of twenty-four (and a half!) years has died.  Under the terms of the pre-nup Denise signed, she gets nothing unless they had celebrated their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.  Can Henry please take a look and see what he can do?

That starts the ball rolling on an off-beat tale which results in several happy endings.  No, Denise and Henry are not reunited; did I mention that Henry is gay and cannot abide his former wife?  Henry has never gotten over the loss of his stepdaughter Thalia when Denise divorced him.  She was adopted by the new husband at age three and was cut out of his life.  He finds her again in the most highly improbable circumstances and finally has a chance to become the father he always wanted to be.

It's funny, it's rude and the emotions are real in this entertaining novel.  It was the perfect antidote to the constant depressing news of the day.  Looking for something to lift your spirits?  The Family Man will do the trick!

The Falcon's Eyes

Francesca Stanfill's latest novel The Falcon's Eyes (#1,127) is subtitled A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine, but I think that's a misnomer.  It's really the reason I picked up this book, as I will be visiting France soon.  However, Eleanor is really a lesser character in the book.  It's really about Isabelle de LaPalisse, an impoverished daughter of a noble family married off to an older, wealthy man for the advantages he can provide her family.

When the book sticks to Isabelle's story, the action moves right along.  After her marriage as Isabelle gradually learns her husband's true nature and his obsession with falconry, things become darker for her.  Her failure to produce a living heir for Gerard leads to their divorce and Isabelle's banishment to an abbey.  Because she can read and write, she is deemed suitable to become a companion to the imprisoned Queen Eleanor in England.

I basically enjoyed the book, but I found that it sagged after Isabelle went to England.  At over eight hundred pages, I thought it could be judiciously pruned without harming the flow of the narrative.  Things did pick up again towards the end, with a cliff-hanger ending.  It's left to the reader to determine what happens to Isabelle.  Some readers may not be happy about that, but I thought it was a suitable ending.

It did make me want to visit the Abbey of Fontevraud, where not only Eleanor of Aquitaine, but her second husband, Henry II of England, and her beloved son, Richard the Lionheart, are buried as well.  Recommended with reservations.

Dinners With Ruth - A Memoir on the Power of Friendships

One of our book club members who reads mostly nonfiction mentioned that she had read Dinners With Ruth - A Memoir on the Power of Friendship (#1,126) by Nina Totenberg.  Since I am a fan of both Nina Totenberg and Ruth Bader Ginsberg, I rushed home to reserve the book so I could read it for myself.  The interesting thing to me was that our book club member was a fan of neither women, but still thought the book was worthwhile.

As I read it, I could hear Nina's voice in my head narrating.  Whenever Nina does a piece on the Supreme Court on NPR, she makes the complex issues fit together in a way that makes sense.  I feel that I now have a grasp of the issues at stake.  Given the complexity of the law, that is not an easy task!

Nina's relationship with Ruth Bader Ginsberg was a blessing and a retreat for both of them, as is evident in this memoir.  Neither had an easy path as each blazed her trail in her chosen field.  The miracle was that their paths intersected at the right time and place.

Not only does Nina talk about her relationship with Ruth, but she talks about her two husbands, her early widowhood, the many justices she met and befriended along the way, and, of course, her co-workers at NPR, particularly Linda Wertheimer and Cokie Roberts.  Socializing in Washington, D.C. was an important part of life there, and Nina and her first husband Floyd Haskell, a former Senator, and her second husband, surgeon David Reines, were very much a part of it.  It was a fascinating glimpse into her life to imagine her cooking for her own dinner parties!

Nina Totenberg has covered the Supreme Court long enough to be taken aback by recent changes in the makeup and actions of the current Court.  I'm not sure she'll ever retire, but she'll be covering a different animal in the future.

Theft of an Idol

Theft of an Idol (#1,125) is the third entry in Dana Stabenow's brilliant series set in the Egypt of Cleopatra's time.  The mysteries just keep getting better!

Tetisheri is now established as The Eye of Cleopatra, her personal agent.  Her identity as such is revealed only to those who need to know it.  On this particular day, the whole court is assembled at the Odeon in Alexandria, eagerly awaiting the appearance of a famous actress, Herminia.  When she fails to appear, the show goes on with an understudy taking her place.  The crowd is disappointed, but still entertained.  On the way out, Cleopatra speaks briefly to Tetisheri.  She is charged with finding Herminia and reporting back to the Queen.

Tetisheri investigates with the handsome Appollodorus at her side, but no one really seems to know much about Herminia.  Is that deliberate?  Sheri begins to suspect that there is much more behind the disappearance than a favorite entertainer going missing.  When the bodies begin to pile up, and she is targeted for death herself, she is still in the dark.  Tetisheri's first experience of wielding the power of the Queen leaves her shaken, but she is finally rewarded with an answer to the mystery at the heart of it all.

I could hardly put this book down!  This series is best read from the beginning, Death of an Eye and Disappearance of a Scribe.  I can't wait to go to Egypt and see these places for myself.

Hester

Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter has always been one of my favorites, so when I read that Laurie Lico Albanese's new novel Hester (#1,124) was positing a potential inspiration for his Hester Prynne, I couldn't wait to read it.  Overall, I thought Ms. Albanese's book fulfilled her promise.

Isobel Gamble is a Scottish immigrant, married to a ne'er-do-well apothecary forced to flee to the New World due to debts.  She encounters Nathaniel Hathorne by the docks in Salem upon landing.  Both are struck by that first glimpse.  What could these two possibly have in common?  

Well, Isobel bewitches Nat with her red hair and blue-green eyes.  Not surprising, as she is descended from witches and has the blessing (or curse) of synesthesia, the ability to see, hear, or taste things imbued with unique colors.  Isobel's needle, when she is not mindful, produces scarlet As, blue Bs, yellow Cs and so forth.  Her mother long ago cautioned her to hide her ability, or she will be persecuted for it.

Nat, on the other hand, is the great great grandson of the only judge in the Salem Witchcraft Trials who refused to repent his role in the proceedings.  Nat is at a loose end, having graduated college, but unable to find any well-paying employment.  He writes, but his work so far has not been well received.

The obvious answer then is sexual attraction.  But just as Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne are doomed in The Scarlet Letter, so are Isobel Gamble and Nat Hathorne in Hester.  No good can come of it, except Margaret, Isobel's own Pearl.

I just had to keep reading to see what would happen next here.  If you are a Hawthorne fan, you should definitely add Hester to your reading list for a different perspective on him.  What an interesting origin story for the Scarlet Letter itself!

Two Wars and a Wedding

I won a copy of Lauren Willig's latest novel Two Wars and a Wedding (#1,123) in a GoodReads giveaway.  I entered the giveaway because I'm a fan of her work, so I was delighted to win it.

Her heroine, Betsy Hayes, is a strong-minded Smith graduate who acts impulsively and wants what she wants.  She's not always likeable, but as her backstory is spun out over the course of two parallel conflicts, she grows on you.  The narrative toggles between Betsy's involvement as a nurse in the Greek uprising against their Turkish overlords in the late 1890s and her determination to spare her best friend from Smith, Ava Saltonstall, the same brutal introduction to life by taking her place as a nurse in the Spanish-American War in 1898.

Although she is a wealthy heiress, things do not always go as Betsy plans: she is admitted to the American School in Athens because she wants to be an archaeologist, but the Professor in charge won't allow women on the dig sites.  When she's distracted by the social scene in Athens, her head is turned by a handsome Frenchman involved in the digs at Delphi.  Her friend Ava joins the Athenian socialites who are taking a First Aid Course, in case they should be needed at the front, where trouble is brewing with the Turks, so Betsy plays along.  Betsy fails the test but insists on having Queen Olga recommend her for the Red Cross, despite Ava's protests that she is unprepared to render actual aid.  But Betsy, being Betsy, goes ahead and comes out at the end a much sadder and not-necessarily-wiser woman.  Hence, her desire to protect Ava from making the same mistake by volunteering to go to Cuba with the troops.

In Tampa, Betsy meets up with her Yale Prom date, Peter, who is there with many of his gung-ho Ivy League classmates like the famous Hold 'em Holt in the Rough Riders Cavalry.  Soon, it's a rush to the front and the chaos of war, led by men who failed to prepare or provision properly.  And no, she doesn't prevent Ava from joining the Red Cross.  Their paths cross as Betsy struggles to take care of the sick and wounded under her care.

I found the backgrounds of these two conflicts very interesting, as I don't know much about either.  I think an author has succeeded if he or she makes you want to read more about the people, places or events they write about.  I also appreciated the shout out to Gilbert & Sullivan.  As a former Savoyard, I had the pleasure of performing in The Gondoliers myself.  I also appreciated the nod to the late, great Elizabeth Peters/Barbara Michaels/Barbara Mertz in the reference to the famous fictional archaeologist Amelia Peabody in the series which began with Crocodile on the Sandbank, still one of my all-time favorite books.  (I'll be re-reading her Red Lands, Black Lands written under her own name, Barbara Mertz, with her Egyptology credentials before I go there next year.)

So much to like about this book, and so much more to dig into.  I just had one minor quibble; I think the title of the book should have been Two Wars and Two Weddings.  You'll just have to read it for yourself to find out if you agree with me on that!

Thank You For Listening

Not one, but TWO of my librarian friends highly recommended Julia Whelan's Thank You For Listening (#1,122).  After reading it, I can certainly see why.  Although I am not a fan of audiobooks myself, many of my friends are, and this novel features an audiobook narrator as its main character.  Narrating books wasn't her first choice, but after a horrendous accident while shooting a movie, Sewanee Chester turned her Juilliard drama training to good use in audiobooks, where she's made a name for herself.  She just won't narrate Romance.

That is until one of her first authors requested in her will that Sewanee co-narrate her final novel with Brock McNight, the mysterious voice of many a bestselling steamy romance.  For Julia French, Sewanee is willing to consider it...

But a chance meeting at a Las Vegas Book Convention throws a monkeywrench into her carefully guarded plans, and her expectations upside-down.

Just a delightful, heart-breaking read with a HEA ending (if you're not into Romance, that's Happily Ever After).  I read it, but I understand on good authority that the audio version of the book is terrific as well!