A Mrs. Miracle Christmas

 Still reading my Christmas book stash, as you can tell by A Mrs. Miracle Christmas (#1,031) by Debbie Macomber.  I must admit, her Dashing Through the Snow (See my post of 12/13/2021.) is much more to my taste.  I would classify A Mrs. Miracle Christmas as a Christian fiction work because of its heavy emphasis on faith and Scriptures.

Here, Mrs. Miracle (and her friends Shirley, Goodness and Mercy) appear again in the story of a young couple struggling with infertility and caring for a beloved grandmother whom they are slowing losing to dementia.  After having a foster baby reclaimed by a birth parent only a few days before his adoption was to be finalized, Laurel and Zach have decided they cannot endure any more heartbreak.  They will never become parents.  Laurel is lost in her despair, but Zach still maintains a spark of hope, and that is where Mrs. Miracle comes in.  On the surface, she is sent by the Caring Angels agency to provide companionship to Helen, so that Laurel and Zach are free to go to their jobs without worrying about Helen home alone and isolated.  But when Helen shows amazing improvement, and claims Mrs. Miracle is an angel, well, what should the couple do?  There's a miracle in it for everyone.

An Island Christmas

Nantucket is the charming island of An Island Christmas (#1,030) by Nancy Thayer.  One of this year's Hallmark Channel's Christmas movies, A Nantucket Christmas, was based on one of her previous books.  I did watch it, and was terribly disappointed that the movie was filmed in the Pacific Northwest instead of Nantucket.  Nantucket with mountains?  I don't think so!

Nevertheless, I did enjoy An Island Christmas.  The course of true love never does run smooth as Felicia Gordon and her outdoor-loving fiance Archie Galloway, return to Nantucket for a Christmas wedding to please her parents.  Jilly has never quite approved of Archie and the couple's adventurous lifestyle.  She's sure Felicia would be better off with her childhood best friend Steve, who has just bought the house next door...

Things play out as they're meant to, and the pleasure is in reading how it all works out for the best.  A cozy Christmas read.

The Rose Code

Kate Quinn has planted an Easter Egg in her latest novel about Bletchley Park, the clandestine British think tank which broke the German Enigma codes, The Rose Code (#1,029).  Maybe I should say she planted a Faberge egg, since it's related to the royal family!

A socialite, a shop girl and a timid crossword puzzle whiz, all with secrets of their own, walk into a cryptanalyst unit...

The story jumps between two timelines: the unlikely friendship of three women based on their recruitment to work at Bletchley Park during World War II, and the period just before Princess Elizabeth's wedding to Prince Philip.  Codes that Osla, Mab and Beth struggled to break, and which eventually broke apart their friendship, are still at play years later with deadly consequences.  The Rose Code is the work of a traitor at Bletchley who is still in a position of influence. Beth, Mab and Osla must overcome their differences to work together to break this seemingly unbreakable code before they lose everything.

It's an engrossing read, based largely on composites of real people, and how in their own ways, they strove to aid the war effort.  If travel is ever possible again in our future, I'll add the restored Bletchley Park to my bucket list to visit.  If not, The Rose Code will give you a fair idea of how it must have functioned and how valuable their contributions were.

Rogue Protocol

 Rogue Protocol (#1,028) is the third entry in Martha Wells' The Murderbot Diaries.  It's just as entertaining as the previous two novellas, and just as full of danger and ethical choices our AI SecUnit never thought it would have to make before it disabled the internal governor which compelled it to obey orders from humans without questions or thoughts.

Our Murderbot is still trying to track down the reasons behind the attacks on the survey crew in the first book, All Systems Red, and solve the mystery of why it apparently massacred a group of humans on a remote station. (See my posts of 9/16/2021 & 11/16/2021.) Was that an implanted suggestion, or did it really happen?  Again, Murderbot is side-tracked by the humans on the transport unit it has stowed away on to reach its final destination.  Despite itself and its best efforts, Murderbot comes to the rescue (Just barely!) once more.

I can't wait to find out what happens next to Murderbot, one of my favorite snarky characters!

The Santa Suit

Yup, I'm still on my pre-Christmas holiday reading binge with Mary Kay Andrews' The Santa Suit (#1,027).  This one came recommended by my librarian, as I've never read any of Ms. Andrews' books before.  It was a lovely story, indeed, of second chances and the true meaning of the Christmas spirit.

Ivy Perkins is divorced and bitter when she decides to buy a country farmhouse in the mountains of North Carolina sight unseen.  It's not exactly as pictured, and much to her surprise, chock-a-block full of the former owners' furniture and mementos.  Fortunately, her real estate agent is on hand to help Ivy with some of the basic repairs to the property.  Ezra Wheeler goes out of his way to help his newest client.  It doesn't hurt that he's mighty easy on the eyes to boot, even though Ivy has sworn off romance for good!

While sorting through the closet in her new bedroom, Ivy finds a beautifully tailored red velvet Santa Claus suit with all the accessories, including a touching note from long ago little girl tucked in an inner pocket.  When Ivy learns from her new friends in town that the house was formerly owned by Santa Bob and Mrs. Santa Betty Rae Rose who brightened the entire community with their Christmas spirit and behind-the-scenes charities, Ivy decides to try to find out what ever happened to the little girl whose note so touched Santa Bob all those years ago.

You might need a kleenex or two for this touching tale!

Dashing Through the Snow

I do love reading Christmas books this time of year, and Debbie Macomber is one of my favorite authors.  (My husband still regrets the many emails he receives each year encouraging him to read Debbie Macomber's latest books after buying me one for Christmas a few years ago!)  I found Dashing Through the Snow (#1,026) on display at my library and thoroughly enjoyed it.

When Ashley Davison and Dash Sutherland are forced to share a car to drive from San Francisco to Seattle, they have no idea that the FBI are on their tail, or that this trip will change both of their lives.  And of course there's a dog involved!  An abandoned puppy to be precise.  It's all a merry mélange of mistaken identities, can't miss deadlines and snow.  

The cover of the book, which came out in 2015, says that Dashing Through the Snow was soon to be a Hallmark Movie.  I've been watching out for it to see if it comes up on the list this season because the book was a hoot, and I'd like to see what they did with it in the movie version.  Something else to look forward to!

The Dictionary of Lost Words

 I think that Pip Williams' novel The Dictionary of Lost Words (#1,025) about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) could have done with some judicious pruning.  Quite a lot of pruning, actually.  Her premise is that the words of women and the common folk were largely ignored when compiling this massive work.  Fair point, since it was guided by a group of white, well-educated academics, headed by James Murray.

Williams' protagonist here is Esme Nicols.  She is the daughter of one of Murray's work team in the Scriptorium, a corrugated tin shed in Murray's garden where most of the work was conducted.  Esme is only five when the book begins, but she starts out by not returning a slip with a word destined for the dictionary which has fallen under the table where she sits.  The word written on this putative slip was "bondmaid".  It never did make it into the original published version, and so Esme's career as an untrustworthy adjunct to this historical work begins.  She begins to collect and hoard words from other sources, many vulgar, but all in usage so common that they never achieve the status of academic notice.  

Personally, I did not care for the character of Esme at all.  She was whiny and dependent on others, especially a servant of the Murrays, Lizzie Lester, to prop her up emotionally, and basically wait on her hand and foot.  The only time she seems to take any initiative is when she manages to get herself pregnant.  Of course, she gives up the child which allows her to be angst-full for the rest of this seemingly interminable book.  I can't believe this book was nominated for a Goodreads Best Historical Fiction Book for 2021!

If you want to read a truly interesting book about the OED, I'd recommend the non-fiction The Madman and the Professor by Simon Winchester.  It won't take nearly as long to read, either!

The Other Black Girl

 I thought from the blurbs I read about The Other Black Girl (#1,024) by Zakiya Dalila Harris that it would be an interesting read.  I was wrong.  After struggling through two chapters, I wondered why I was wasting my time.  This is the rare book I did not care to finish.

The Apollo Murders

Before I talk about astronaut Chris Hadfield's thriller The Apollo Murders (#1,023), I have a confession to make.  My husband and I are space nerds.  We keep track of when the launches from the Kennedy Space Center are scheduled, and watch for lift off on our computer before rushing outside to watch the spacecraft pop up on our horizon.  The night launches are the most spectacular!  We've even gone up a few times to watch in person.  The wall of sound coming at you after liftoff is astonishing.

So who better to write a mystery/thriller centered around Apollo 18, a moon launch mission, than an experienced astronaut?  If the answer is Chris Hadfield, nobody.  There are only three astronauts in an Apollo capsule, so how could there be any surprises?  You'll find out if you read this taut thriller.  Hadfield has taken his experiences in space and put them in a relatable setting here.  With surprising plot twists, he ratchets up the tension in the race to survive the journey with its secret mission alive.

It's a bit long, and packed with space jargon, but if you have any interest in space, this is the book for you.  I couldn't put it down.

Dial A For Aunties

Dial A For Aunties (#1,022) by Jesse Q. Sutanto is coming soon to your Netflix streaming service, and I hope they do this screwball romcom justice!

Meddy has been raised by her single mom with the help(?) of her four Chinese-Indonesian aunties.  She's even joined their successful wedding services business after college as their photographer.  But that's not what she really wants out of life; she still yearns for Nathan, the one who got away when they graduated.  Meddy's Ma can't understand why Meddy won't date, so on the eve of a huge event at the opening of a swank island resort off the California coast, she's cornered her daughter into going on a blind date.

Things do not go well, and Meddy accidentally kills her date.  What to do with the body?  Ma and aunties to the rescue, or are things somehow going even worse?  As the complications pile on, you won't believe where this romp will take her next!

If you loved Crazy Rich Asians, Dial A For Aunties should be on your reading list.  Can't wait for the sequel!  Yes! These is one!!!  Just wish I had a Netflix subscription!

Artificial Condition

Artificial Condition (#1,021) is the second book in Martha Wells' series The Murderbot Diaries. (See my post of  9/16/2021.)  It's really more of a novella than a full-length book, but the enjoyment of reading about this snarky, independent robot is just as potent.

Here, Murderbot is trying to get to the bottom of its role in a supposed massacre on a mining planet.  Its human owner has given it permission to try to settle the mystery surrounding its origins and subsequent disgrace under its previous corporate owner.  Getting to that mining planet proves to be a bit of a problem, but Murderbot pairs up with ART, the bot running a university's research ship and cadges a ride.  To get an employee pass to get onto the restricted surface, ART suggests answering a ad for a group visiting the planet looking for a security consultant.  Job secured, but complications ensue and even more questions are raised.  Don't things always go south?

Love this series!  They're best read in order, and I can't wait to read the next installment.

The Personal Librarian

Everyone seems to be raving about The Personal Librarian (#1,020), a novel based on the life of Belle da Costa Greene, J.P. Morgan's real life personal librarian.  Her life was, in fact, remarkable, as she carved out a niche in the rarified world of rare book, document and art collectors on behalf of her employer.  She was considered to be the premier career woman of her day on both sides of the Atlantic.  That she managed to do this with no academic or formal training for her position with the Pierpont Morgan Library, teaching herself what she needed to know along the way makes her story even more remarkable.  Plus she had an layer of stress: she was black, passing as white in an increasingly segregated America.

Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray co-authored this book to cover all aspects of Belle's life and times.  This is a very "woke" rendition of Belle's story.  Interestingly enough, the authors never mention in their lengthy notes at the end of the novel that Belle's secret was not uncovered until more than fifty years after her death, when the author of an extensive biography on J.P. Morgan uncovered it in her research in 1999.  Belle had destroyed her own papers to conceal her secret, but she was outed in the end.  Would Belle herself have wanted that to be the focus of this novel?  I'm not sure she would have.  Her legacy lives on in the now public collections and exhibitions of the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City.

A Rogue's Company - A Sparks & Bainbridge Mystery

Allison Montclair is out with the third installment, A Rogue's Company (#1,019),  of her witty post-war mystery series set in bomb-ravaged London.  (See my posts of 9/30/19 & 5/13/21.)  How do the proprietors of The Right Sort Marriage Bureau manage to find themselves in such dangerous situations?  Ladylike Gwen Bainbridge has decided she needs to acquire some of the same self-defense skills her partner Sparks learned during the War.  Luckily, Sparks knows just the right person, and the pair pick up a new client in the bargain.  But it's the other client who comes through their doors who adds an unexpected element to their business and sets off a perilous chain of events.  

Lord Bainbridge is back from Africa, determined to send young Ronnie off to St. Frideswide's School, the place Gwen's husband hated so.  She still has not been able to wrest back custody of Ronnie from her in-laws after her breakdown following Ronald's death.  Since the Right Sort's new client is from Africa, and has been spotted watching the Bainbridge's house and following Lord Bainbridge's car, Gwen and Sparks' suspicions are aroused that Lord Bainbridge may have been up to something shady in Africa, especially after a body is found near his club.

Gwen will soon need those self-defense skills she's been practicing as she finds herself and her father-in-law the victims of a kidnapping.  Can even Sparks rescue her this time?

The characters in this series are a wonderful blend; an aristocrat, secret agents, a crime boss and his gang, and a larger-than-life man of the world among others.  This series is best read from the beginning to understand all the subtext and appreciate where the characters have been, although it's impossible to predict where they will find themselves next, all done with a droll sense of humor.  Can't wait for the next one!

The Ride of Her Life: The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America

I had a read a review somewhere of Elizabeth Letts' latest book, The Ride of Her Life: The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America. (#1,018), and decided it sounded interesting.  That isn't the half of this amazing true story of Annie Wilkins.

Her journey began in 1954 as she decided to ride from her home in Minot, Maine to California.  She was in her early sixties, recovering from a severe illness in her isolated farmhouse with no electricity, running water or heat other than her wood-burning stove.  Her uncle had died from the same illness and she was just about to lose her farm for the back taxes.  Her only companion was her beloved dog, Depeche Toi, little "Hurry Up".  She had no reason to stay in Maine, but there was a bit of wanderlust in her family.  Why not set out to see the shores of California?  She just needed to find the right horse at the right price.

How she managed to achieve in goal makes for utterly fascinating reading, especially if you are familiar with any of the roads she traveled on with Tarzan, her sturdy Morgan horse, Rex, her Tennessee Walking Horse gifted to her along the way, and of course, the intrepid Depeche Toi.  She was a news phenomenon in her day, so why is it that her story today is mostly unknown?  It won't be after Elizabeth Letts inspiring book makes its way onto bookshelves across the country.  Highly recommended portrait of an everyday woman beating the odds with her courage, determination and faith in the basic goodness of Americans.

A Psalm For The Wild Built

When a traveling tea monk encounters the first robot to appear in human-occupied lands in over two hundred years, Becky Chambers weaves a charming tale about the ultimate meaning of life in A Psalm For The Wild Built (#1,017).

On Panga, Sibling Dex is unsure of his vocation in the City, so he leaves it to pursue the wandering life of a tea monk instead, offering tea and counsel to anyone who wishes to talk to him.  It's a good life, and he knows he is doing good, but still, there's something missing...

This is a very slim volume, but a very enjoyable one, too.  You don't have to be a sci-fi fan to appreciate the motivation behind Dex's quest.  Highly recommended for a thoughtful read.

Matrix

The book critics have been raving about Lauren Groff's latest book Matrix (#1,016).  Me, not so much.  The book centers around the character Marie de France, the first woman credited with writing French poetry in the twelfth century.  Nothing much else is known about her.  Here Lauren Groff has cast her as a royal bastard in love with Eleanor of Aquitaine, banished from court and sent to a remote and impoverished abbey.  Marie's determination to bring herself back to Eleanor's notice drives her to turn the abbey upside down as prioress and restore its fortunes.  It's basically a fantasy with heavy feminist and lesbian overtones.

There are some beautiful passages here, meditations on monastic living and the beauties of nature.  But there are also some curious things about this story.  Not one male character is given a name, and men in general are mentioned only in passing as brutes, rapists and thieves of money and power.  Marie feels she alone can protect the women under her care and goes to elaborate lengths to do so.  

Another thing that I find a bit hard to believe here was that Marie enters the abbey with no belief in gods,  In fact, she looks down on those who do believe.  Yet her earliest memory is being on crusade with her mother and aunts, and of her sole surviving aunt entering a convent.  This doesn't jibe with her memory of being brought up pagan.  Oh, well, that's probably just me.  Marie goes on to live a long and successful life in her isolated abbey.  

Sorry, but this book will never make my recommended reading list.  I will however, commend a visit to Regina Laudis Abbey in Bethlehem, Connecticut to you to further your knowledge of what abbey life is really like.  You'll come away refreshed.

The Women of Troy

The Women of Troy (#1,015) follows Pat Barker's best-selling tale of the Trojan War The Silence of the Girls. (See my post of ).  In it, she continues the story of Briseis, a barely-mentioned character from The Iliad.  She was given to Achilles as a prize of war after his successful raid on her home city on the way to Troy.  As a slave living in their siege camp , she has been witness to the Greeks' triumphs and tragedies.  Pregnant with the great Achilles' child, she is given in marriage to Alcimus, one of his allies.  No longer a slave, but a wife, she has enough freedom to the unhappy women who arrive in the camp after the fall of Troy.  Marooned on the desolate shore by a constant and unnatural wind, tensions mount and the camp becomes a tinderbox of emotions, hatreds and rivalries.

Pat Barker puts you right in the middle of the action in her books.  It's not pretty or romanticized, but Briseis and the other women's plights seem so real, it's as if you are there, looking over their shoulders as they struggle with their new status (or lack thereof).  We meet the many familiar characters from the Iliad, but these are almost all men, though you will recognize Hecuba, Cassandra and Andromache.  This chapter of the saga ends as the last Greek ships are finally ready to embark for their home cities.  Who knows what awaits the women of Troy there? 

If you have a passing familiarity with The Iliad and The Odyssey, you can pick up The Women of Troy and enjoy it on its own merits.  If you're a fan of writers like Mary Renault, add this book to your shelves.

Fuzz

It's been far too long since science writer Mary Roach has given us her unique exploration of a subject most people tend not to think about.  In this case, it's Fuzz - When Nature Breaks The Law (#1,014) complete with an embroidered patch illustrating the topic which I feel Ms. Roach should have been wearing on her shoulder as she interviewed the experts in this book.  It's the perfect touch. (See my posts of 1/4/2011, 3/21/2011/ 3/28/2011, 4/25/203, 5/14/203, 7/8/2016.)

Mary Roach is one of the very few authors who can make me laugh out loud as I read her books.  How does she do it, when much of what she describes is so disgusting?  And it's not just me.  Lulu Garcia Navarro recently interviewed Ms. Roach on NPR's Weekend Edition.  Lulu didn't know quite what to say after Mary launched into her dramatic re-enactment of the classic "deer in the headlights" scenario (which she covers in this book).  In the end, Lulu wound up telling Mary how much she enjoyed interviewing her as they were both laughing.  (You can listen to this interview on the NPR website if you're so inclined!)

In Fuzz we are treated to a panoply of animals and plants intersecting with us to the detriment of humans.  Some encounters are deadly (think bird strikes on planes), some are annoying (being mugged by a macaque monkey in India) and some have profound economic effects (birds eating one of North and South Dakota's major cash crops - sunflower seeds).  How humans deal with these issues reveals as much about us as it does the nature involved in the perceived problems.

You'll be fascinated by what you learn along the way, and always entertained by Mary Roach's snarky humor.  Who else would whip out her phone app in the middle of a predator lecture to measure the decibel level of the speaker's voice?  I just wish you could order your own personal copy of the badge on the cover.  You've earned it by reading this science book, scout!  Oh, and thanks for the woodchuck clarification, Mary!

The Woman They Could Not Silence

 In October there always seems to be an uptick in reading horror stories.  Well, The Woman They Could Not Silence (#1,013) by Kate Moore certainly qualifies!  What makes it absolutely horrifying is that Ms. Moore has given us the factual story of Elizabeth Packard, an Illinois woman who in the 1860s was committed to the Illinois State Hospital for the Insane.  She was committed, perfectly legally, by her husband.  It wasn't an uncommon story at the time.

Elizabeth was educated, a skilled homemaker and the devoted mother of six children.  Theophilus Packard, a preacher, was her father's choice as her husband.  He would allow no difference of opinion or beliefs from his own, so when Elizabeth attended Bible classes and began to express her own thoughts about religion, he was appalled.  Since, as a preacher, he was a man of influence in their town, he began to lay the groundwork for Elizabeth's imprisonment in an insane asylum as a crazy person.  The law in Illinois, and most other states, was on his side.  He found an ally in the Hospital's Superintendent, Andrew McFarland.  And therein lies the tale.

Once committed, it was next to impossible to leave.  In Elizabeth's own words "What is the testimony of an insane person worth?  Nothing."  Yet fight against the forces arrayed against her she did.  Physical and mental torture made her even more determined to win free, if not for her own sake, then for the many other women who were kept there against their wills, though perfectly sane.

How she accomplished this miracle and left a lasting legacy in her wake which is only recently becoming recognized again as it was in her own time is the subject of this book.  If any one you know has ever been treated for a mental illness, they owe a debt of gratitude to Elizabeth Packard for her legislative initiatives.  Much still remains to be accomplished as the self-same tactics of Theophilus Packard and Andrew McFarland in dismissing the concerns and complaints of women are prominently on display today.  Think of it the next time you hear a woman called "Crazy!" by her male accuser.  How infuriating that this is still an effective tool.

The Man Who Died Twice

Richard Osman has given us another delightful entry in his Thursday Murder Club series: The Man Who Died Twice (#1,012).  (See my post of 5/4/2020.)  His colorful cast of senior citizens is back (except, of course, for those who died in the first book!).  Things have gotten a bit dull around Cooper's Chase lately.  The construction development continues at the top of their hill, but life hasn't really changed much for Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahaim.  Not until the day Elizabeth receives an invitation to tea at a neighboring unit.  The name on the note is someone from her distant past.  Since that person never actually existed, who could possibly be summoning her now?

The tempo begins to pick up around Cooper's Chase after Ibrahaim is badly mugged.  The Thursday Murder Club gang closes ranks with Chris and Donna from the Fairhaven police to lend their aid, tangling with a powerful local drug dealer, assorted murders and a fortune in stolen diamonds.  Red herrings abound, and can the eyes really believe what they see?  The mysteries (and there are several!) aren't tied up until the very last line of The Man Who Died Twice.  What fun!

Yours Cheerfully

Emmy Lake and her best friend Bunty are back in Yours Cheerfully (#1,011), AJ Pearce's follow-up to her best-selling Dear Mrs. Bird (See my post of 8/7/2018.).  And even better news; it appears that this will be an on-going series, since it's subtitled The Emmy Lake Chronicles.

It's 1941 in war-torn London.  Emmy is settling into her advice columnist job at Women's Friend magazine after the departure of Mrs. Bird, their long-time incumbent.  Emmy's impassioned response to a reader in real trouble has hurried along the doyenne's exit. Signing Mrs. Bird's name to a letter she would have consigned to the trash was the final straw.  Emmy can't help but feel the need to seek real help for those women who need it most in these troubled times.  Fortunately, Mr. Collins, her boss, agrees with Emmy's passion and her ability to put her finger on women's issues which need addressing.  When he invites her to attend an important meeting with him at the Ministry of Information, Emmy is all nerves.  The British Government wishes women's magazines to focus their efforts on recruiting women for war work.  Naturally, Emmy has ideas on what the magazine can do, and everyone there pitches in immediately.

Besides keeping up with the re-named advice column Cheerfully Yours, Emmy is assigned to write a series of articles on women taking their places in the workforce.  Her trip to a munitions factory nets her firm friends, and tests her commitment to do all she can to support the war efforts and the difficulties the women face on the job.  Oh, and did I mention that Emmy has a steady boyfriend?

It's just as engaging a read as Dear Mrs. Bird, and I am so happy to know that the adventures of Emmy and Bunty will continue.  It's only just the beginning of 1942...

The Secrets of Wishtide - A Laetitia Rodd Mystery

 I've found a new "must read" mystery series in The Secrets of Wishtide - A Laetitia Rodd Mystery (#1,010).  Kate Saunders has created a delightful new detective in the person of Mrs. Laetitia Rodd, recently widowed relict of a clergyman.  Now in reduced circumstances, her brother, a prominent criminal attorney in Dickensian London, is able to throw some income her way by hiring her to investigate cases on his behalf.

In this first outing, the wealthy Calderstone family patriarch wishes to discretely get rid of an unsuitable bride for their handsome son.  Sir James wants the background of Mrs. Helen Orme investigated and her reputation discredited.  Mrs. Rodd doesn't feel entirely comfortable with the ruse of acting as governess to his two daughters at Wishtide while she makes quiet inquiries, but her brother persuades her to undertake the project.  What she uncovers is a nest of secrets with a very wicked person behind a string of seemingly unrelated murders.

If you feel that you are reading a Dickens novel while you are devouring this book, it's because Kate Saunders has based some of her characters on those in David Copperfield, but it's not necessary to be familiar with that novel on order to thoroughly enjoy this one!

I liked it so well, I was only about a quarter of the way through The Secrets of Wishtide before I had to check the website Fantastic Fiction  to see if there other books in this series.  I was delighted to find that there are!  

To Catch A King - Charles II's Great Escape

 Charles Spencer's non-fiction work To Catch A King - Charles II's Great Escape (#1,009) focuses on a very brief period of Charles II's life after his defeat at the Battle of Worcester, but those few weeks were literally a matter of life and death for him.  After the execution of his father, Charles I, at the hands of the Parliament, his fate would have been the same had he been captured.  When you read the facts of the matter, it's astonishing that he was able to escape from the net the Parliamentarians had set for him.

Spencer makes the most of this cat and mouse tale, despite the fact that the reader knows the eventual outcome.  There were principled folks on both sides of the English Civil Wars, but there were villains, too.  Many of the riskiest actions were taken by ordinary people in defense of what they believed to be right, and we meet many of them here.

It's a well written, well researched book about a turbulent time when the balance of power in England ultimately shifted.

I was surprised to find a personal connection to my own family's history in this book.  I always knew that one of my ancestors was originally from Berwick, Scotland, and that he was brought to what is now the Saugus Iron Works in Massachusetts as a prisoner of war.  I never connected the date those Scottish prisoners arrived there with the aftermath of the bloody Battle of Worcester.  It's a National Park Service site now, but there were a number of prisoners whose names were never recorded there before their contracts were bought, and they were moved off the site to New Hampshire.  My forebear was one of those.  The facts fit so perfectly that one of those unknowns was undoubtedly my ancestor.  Who knew I would find that nugget buried here in To Catch A King?

Time's Convert

 I've just now gotten around to reading Deborah Harkness' Time's Convert (#1,008), the fourth book in her All Souls Trilogy.  (See my posts of 4/1/2011, 7/31/2012 & 8/18/2014.)  You may have caught the TV adaptation of these earlier books, called A Discovery of Witches on the AMC network.

Time's Convert doesn't focus strictly on Diana Bishop and Matthew Clairmont's story, but they are still major characters here, as the central figure is Marcus, a son of Matthew.  He is about to mate with Phoebe, who has determined to become a vampire to match Marcus, but the protocols of the Congregation must be observed.  Marcus is therefore banished for their waiting period to Les Revenants, home to Diana, Matthew, their twin toddlers and assorted friends and relatives.  Marcus's restlessness leads him to confide in Diana about his making at the hands of Matthew at the time of the American Revolution, and his subsequent adventures as he grows into his role as a vampire and accomplished surgeon.

Again, Ms. Harkness' background as a historian shows up here with her factual references to little known aspects of colonial American history and culture.  It's a fascinating read, but my complaint is still the same as it has been throughout this series - so many minor characters and referrals to events in earlier books make for confusing reading if you're not completely up to date with previous plots.  I did recommend in post for The Book of Life that the reader might be best served by lining up all of books in the All Souls Trilogy and reading them back-to-back.  The same is true with Time's Convert.  I've enjoyed this series, but it does require some effort on the part of the reader.  Maybe the pandemic is the perfect time to read them all!

All Systems Red

All Systems Red (#1,007) by Martha Wells is the first book in her series The Murderbot Diaries.  It's really more of a novella than a full length novel, but oh, what an interesting read it is!

Mostly machine, but with organic components, SecurityOne is part of the rental package which a survey team is using to explore a new planet, looking for resources and knowledge.  SecurityOne, who thinks of itself as Murderbot, isn't interested in any of that.  It's just another contract to be filled before it moves onto the next.  That is, until the inexplicable and dangerous glitches begin to add up.  When they can't rouse another survey team working on the other side of the planet, the leader decides to go check things out.  That's when things get really nasty.  Murderbot will have to choose whether to protect its human team or risk being destroyed itself.

The plot is so clever and intriguing I couldn't put the book down until I'd finished it.  I can't wait to continue with this series!  I'm amazed no one has made this into a movie or TV series yet.  Highly recommended if you're a sci-fi fan.  If you're not one yet, this book might be a good place to start.

Dog Eat Dog

What could be better than to spend the first few days of the fall season with a new David Rosenfelt Andy Carpenter Mystery?  In Dog Eat Dog (#1,006) Andy reluctantly acquires a new client when a man is arrested after saving a pug dog from a vicious beating witnessed by Andy and his wife Laurie.  Matt Jantzen, it turns out, has a warrant for a double murder in Maine.  Andy agrees to represent him at his extradition hearing, and that will be as far as it goes.  Hah!

Since Matt doesn't have any money, and he did save Hunter, the pug (now in Andy & Laurie's custody) who else is going to represent him?  Andy goes to Maine to find him an attorney to take over his defense.  The State apparently has the goods on Matt with DNA found on one of the victims.  Charlie Tilton is a local lawyer who agrees to work with Andy on the defense, but Andy is soon sucked into a world of drugs, militias and threats.  Marcus Clark, the scariest man imaginable if he is not on your side is dispatched by Laurie to protect Andy and aid the investigation.  The rest of the team gradually arrives on the scene to crack the case and more than a few lobster rolls in this entertaining mystery!

David Rosenfelt is now a Maine resident, and the places he mentions in this book are real - the Cod Cove Inn is every bit as lovely and welcoming as described here, and the lobster rolls are, in fact, ubiquitous!  I can't wait to sample one or four myself next week when we visit.  Fun to read about familiar places!

When The Stars Go Dark

Paula McLain's latest book, and her first crime novel, When The Stars Go Dark (#1,005) is both dark and personal.  Anna Hart, a detective who specializes in missing and kidnapped children and teens, is in a terrible place in her life.  She's driven to return to the one place which offered her a true home as she was bounced around the foster care system growing up.  Hap and Eden, the couple who took her in in Mendicino, California, taught her a number of survival lessons, both physical and emotional.  Perhaps by returning there, she can find some balance in her own life.

As luck would have it, she arrives in Mendicino just as a teenager has gone missing, an echo of an earlier tragedy when Anna was still living there.  The sheriff is an old friend and totally out of his depth, so Anna volunteers to lend her expertise to the search for Cameron Curtis.  Soon another girl goes missing in a nearby town.  As Anna becomes obsessed with finding Cameron she begins to wonder if the perpetrator might be hiding in plain sight.  Following her instincts leads her to the right solution, but will she survive to see justice done?

It took me a bit to get into this book, but I'm glad I stuck with it as the layers unpeel in Anna's story.  The reader doesn't learn the nature of Anna's personal demon until the end of the book.  As Ms. McLain says, this book is deeply personal to her, and she provides a number of good resources for further exploration of the topic of missing and abused children at the end.  She really is the consummate storyteller.

Island Queen

Island Queen (#1,004) by Vanessa Riley is a big novel based on the real-life Dorothy Kirwan Thomas.  Born in slavery on Monserrat, she survived slave revolts, insurrections, rape and economic oppression, yet she managed along the way to birth ten children, free herself and most of the members of her family, become mistress to a future British king and one of the wealthiest and most influential women of the Caribbean, as well as a slave holder herself.  It's a fascinating tale that will make you wonder why you've never heard of this amazing woman before.

Dolly, as she is known, loves not wisely, but too well over the course of her long life.  Four principal relationships set the course of her life for good and ill.  The drive to earn enough money to be able to control her own life and those of her children make her a runaway slave on the island of Dominica.  She settles in there to amass her first fortune. When she catches the eye of Captain William Henry at a mulatto ball there, her ambition and restlessness move her on to cross the sea with a son of King George.  Learning the ways of British society will become an essential asset in setting fashions and influencing politics in the colonies.

Loss also plays a key role in Dolly's story.  She looses relatives and relationships, but she carries on, never alone.  It's an inspiring story and told here in riveting prose.  Ms. Riley's original inspiration to tell Dorothy Kirwan Thomas' story?  Jane Austen's unfinished novel Sanditon.  The character of Miss Lambe, the wealthy mulatto island heiress, made her wonder if such people really existed.  She found Dolly.

Cover art always interests me.  Here, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the hat Dolly describes in the book near the end as her favorite is captured accurately on the cover.  Dolly does so love her hats!  Highly recommended.

A Comedy of Terrors

In Lindsey Davis' latest installment of her ancient Roman mystery series, A Comedy of Terrors (#1,003), Flavia Albia isn't exactly thrilled to be spending Saturnalia trying to make the holidays joyous for her husband's two young nephews, now part of their household.  Preparations are frantic as Faustus is determined to make the festivities happy for the orphaned little ones.  Peddlers are out everywhere in Rome, trying to sell their trinkets, but the nut sellers are particularly persistent.  Tossing nuts at everyone is part of the tradition, but this year, someone is muscling in on the trade with subpar goods.  If the merchants won't play ball, they are coming to particularly nasty ends.

Although Flavia's husband is almost at the end of his aedile's term, when members of their own household are laid low after consuming Xeno's pies, Faustus sets out to find out who is supplying the rotten goods.  It's well within his purview, but he's painting a target on his own home. With the household turned upside down by Saturnalian antics, it's too easy to make lethal threats look like innocent jests.  Io, Saturnalia!

Flavia Albia and her husband have been through so much, it's hard to remember that they are still newlyweds, especially since they now have a ready-made family.  Flavia is having some difficulty adjusting to life as a working mother, but she will do whatever is necessary to keep her independence.  It certainly does make for entertaining reading!

While Justice Sleeps

While Justice Sleeps (#1,002) is the first novel of Stacey Abrams which I've read, but based on this political thriller, it won't be the last.  She's chosen an interesting launching point for the plot of this book - that there is no provision in the Constitution for how to deal with the incapacitation of a Supreme Court Justice, and the opportunities that exist to meddle with the situation for political gain.

Avery Keene is merely Justice Howard Wynn's law clerk when he is taken ill.  Much to everyone's surprise and consternation Justice Wynn has appointed Avery as his legal guardian.  He has entrusted the position to her based on his assessment of her intelligence and devotion to duty, no matter how difficult.  And the Justice knew it would be difficult; he has uncovered evidence that there is a monstrous conspiracy at the highest levels of government, and that everything hinges on a case pending before the Supreme Court.  It is of utmost importance that he remain alive until the end of the current session.  But will Avery be able to follow the trail of crumbs he has left her swiftly enough to avoid disaster?

It makes for an entertaining and thought-provoking read.  It certainly kept me up at night turning the pages!  Highly recommended.  Hmm.  Maybe I'll have to check out some of her romance novels... 

Eternal

A love triangle is at the heart of Lisa Scottoline's historical novel Eternal (#1,001).  Set in Rome during the thirties and forties, it follows the lives and fortunes of Elisabetta, Marco and Sandro; best friends from their youth and destined to be marked by fortunes of war.

Marco is handsome and appealing, the son of a famous Italian cyclist and ardent Fascist.  He, too joins his future to the Fascist Party and becomes a rising star.  His best friend, Sandro, is from a well-to-do Jewish family long established in Rome.  Sandro is a mathematical genius and has been accepted as a high school student into an independent study program under a brilliant professor dubbed the "Einstein of Italy".  His star is seemingly on the rise.  Both Marco and Sandro are in love with Elisabetta, a lively girl from Trastevere with ambitions to become a novelist or journalist.  The trio are inseparable until jealousy and the politics of the time tear them apart through Fascist Race Laws and their alliance with the Nazis.

Elisabetta's mentor asks her what her favorite books are about.  Her answer?  Families and love.  That simple description suits Eternal to a T.  I found it engrossing, this story of unrest and war told through the eyes of ordinary people.  Marco, Sandro and Elisabetta's network of family and friends make for a fascinating cast, adding their narratives as events progress.

Ms. Scottoline sorts out the facts from the fiction at the end of the book and provides guidance for future reading, should you wish to know more.  And please tell me you weren't craving some form of pasta by the time you finished this book!

My one quibble with this book, and it's a small one, is I wish that the editors had decided to italicize all the foreign words (Italian, Latin, German) instead of bolding them.  It would have been far less intrusive, and the dialogue intended to be emphasized would have stood out more.

Tender Is the Bite

For someone who has never owned, nor is ever likely to own a dog, I sure seem to read an awful lot of books about them!  I was so excited to see Spencer Quinn's latest Chet & Bernie mystery arrive in my Hold queue at the library.  Tender Is the Bite (#1,000) has Chet in rare form as he and his human partner Bernie are followed by what turns out to be a potential client.  But before she can tell them why she wants to retain their services, she is spooked and takes off.  

Although the mystery woman has not actually hired them to investigate, Bernie is convinced she's in trouble and follows up on his own.  That puts the Little Detective Agency on someone's radar, but who's behind both the threats and the attempts to buy them off?  In the meantime, Bernie's neighbors are in the midst of a heated political campaign rivalry supporting the Senatorial race's vastly different candidates.  A showdown is inevitable.

Chet is none too pleased to find that a ferret is involved in their case.  His past experiences with them have not been positive.  But what takes the cake for Chet (although if he were taking anything, he'd much rather it be some tasty barbeque bones, or a juicy ribeye steak!) is the appearance of Trixie.  She looks just like him, with an all black coat and one white ear, but what's even worse, she acts like him!  How can this be?  Trixie's owner Weatherly has made an impression on Bernie, too.  I suspect we'll be seeing more of both characters in the future.  Bring it on!

When Harry Met Minnie

Someone in one of my book clubs mentioned When Harry Met Minnie (#999) as a worthwhile memoir to read if you love dogs (or even if you don't!).  Martha Teichner is a familiar face to those who watch CBS Sunday Morning, but I hadn't heard of her.  After reading her story of re-homing a bull terrier, (think the Target dog) I'm sure I'd be a fan if I were home to watch her.

Minnie is Martha's bull terrier companion who was missing Goose, another Teichner bull terrier.  After his death, she continued to mope in a way that Ms. Teichner assures us only a bull terrier can do.  In a chance encounter at NYC's Union Square Farmer's Market, she runs into an acquaintance who knows of another bull terrier who will soon be in need of a new home, due to the terminal illness of his owner.  Enter Harry Fertig, and his human Carol Fertig.

Not at all sure she's up to the task of taking on an older bull terrier with many medical issues, Ms. Teichner and Carol Fertig embark on a chaperoned courtship for Minnie and Harry.  Their stories are charming, poignant, exasperating and inspiring in turn.  Be sure to have a tissue ready as you read this touching human and canine love story.

Stargazer

 Stargazer (#998) is the latest entry in Anne Hillerman's Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito mystery series.  Things are stretched thin in Navajo law enforcement across the Four Corners, so Sargeant Jim Chee is filling in for Captain Largo, away at a conference.  That makes him temporarily Bernadette Manuelito's boss, and uncomfortable fit all the way around.  She runs into a badly beaten woman, a dead infant, and a herd of stray cattle all while trying to serve a warrant.  She finds the wanted man, but she fails to bring him in.  Things are not going well with the tension in the office.

So Bernie's glad to be called in to aid in a suicide investigation in another short-handed jurisdiction.  Steve Jones, a well-known astronomer working at the Very Large Array of radio telescopes near Alamo, New Mexico, was found by a young boy out hunting rabbits. His fancy Jaguar is pulled off the road with his body inside, a bullet wound to his head.  The gun is there, and there are no signs of a struggle, so it seems case closed.  Until Maya Kelsey walks into the local police station and confesses to murdering him.

The fact that Maya was Bernie's former roommate complicates matters.  She is convinced that Maya would not have done it, but Maya is adamant.  But if the murderer is not Maya, who else has motive and opportunity?  Their investigation leads them into some out of the way places and explores Navajo star mythology in this intriguing outing.  Is it time for Bernie to take on new challenges?  Stay tuned!

Animal Instinct

 Animal Instinct (#997) is David Rosenfelt's second book in his  K Team spinoff series based on his popular Andy Carpenter mysteries.  Most of the characters are crossovers from that series, but the focus here is on former policeman Corey Douglas and his retired K9 partner Simon Garfunkle.  He's formed a PI partnership with Laurie Collins, an ex-cop who also happens to be Andy Carpenter's wife, and the scary but effective Marcus Clark.  Same snappy dialogue and intricate plotting we've come to expect, but Simon plays a more active role in the business than Andy's beloved golden retriever, Tara, does.  Not casting any aspersions here; it's more a practical matter of Simon's training.

One of Corey's old cases comes back to haunt him here.  When he responded to a domestic abuse call at the home of Lisa Yates, he could never prove that her boyfriend Gerald Kline was responsible.  Now she's been murdered in what the police are calling a "drive by shooting", but Corey can't help but wonder if Kline has finally crossed the line.  When Corey goes to confront him, he finds Kline dead, and himself charged with his murder.  With Andy defending him, and the rest of his team behind him, they are in a race to prove that there's a much larger and lucrative conspiracy going on to frame Corey Douglas and erase any other loose ends before the perpetrators disappear.

Cyber crime has been in the headlines, and it rears its ugly head here in Animal Instincts.  With Corey Douglas' freedom on the line, this is a nail biter and an absorbing read, leavened with typical Rosenfelt humor.  Recommended.

2034: A Novel of the Next World War

 As I was reading 2034: A Novel of the Next World War (#996) yesterday, I heard on the news that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austen was going out to the South China Sea to promote the American fleet's Freedom of Navigation cruises in the face of Chinese proliferation of attempts to enlarge their territorial claims in the area.  Ironically, it is one of those very Freedom of Navigation cruises which sets off the entire chain of events leading to an escalating world war in 2034.

The reason this novel by Elliot Ackerman and retired Admiral James Stavridis is so compelling and down right frightening is that it is so plausible. We are experiencing more and greater cyber intrusions in our lives as it is.  What if the retaliation for such acts become physical attacks?  As Americans in the western states are well aware, it doesn't take any more than the smallest spark to ignite a huge conflagration.  With nuclear weapons involved, can a line be drawn before it is too late for everyone?

Thanks, Joyce, for recommending this nail biter of a novel!  If you have trouble sleeping at night, this book probably won't help...

The Road Trip

Beth O'Leary's latest novel The Road Trip (#995) is much in demand at my local library  Why is the very person Addie Gilbert least wants to see the same one who literally runs into her in the predawn hours of an all-day road trip to a friend's wedding in Scotland?  The Mercedes Dylan Abbott is riding in is totalled, but time is running out to make it in time for the wedding over a holiday weekend.  It's sure going to be a rough ride when the only option for all five invited guests is to squeeze into the battered Mini Addie is driving. Throw in Addie's devoted sister Deb, a random wedding guest from Chichester who also needed a ride to Cherry and Krishna's affair, Dylan Abbott, Addie's ex, and his best friend, Marcus, and there are endless possibilities for conflict, most of which the reader will not see coming.

It certainly is emotionally fraught as the plot alternates between Then and Now, the bumpy road trip and the equally bumpy backstory of how Dylan and Addie became exes.  Lots of jealousy, sexual tension and posh surroundings.  And that's not even counting the characters outside the Mini!

A thoroughly enjoyable beach read, although for my money, I have to admit preferring Beth O'Leary's previous novel The Switch (See my post of 3/2/2021.) which I see has been optioned by Amblin Partners and Steven Spielberg.  Perhaps it will be coming to a small or large screen near you.  I hope so!

Surviving Savannah

 Patti Callahan has done a good job in her novel Surviving Savannah (#994) in reviving the story of one of the South's forgotten tragedies - the sinking of the steamship Pulaski off the coast of North Carolina in 1838 .  With its loss of the cream of Savannah and Charleston society onboard the wreck has been likened to "the Titanic of the South".

Ms. Callahan has chosen to tell her story through dual timelines: Everly Winthrop, a modern day Savannah native who teaches history, and through the women of the fictional Longstreet family who board the doomed ship along with many other family members that long ago day.

Everly has suffered her own tragic loss and is stuck emotionally until she is offered a chance to curate an exhibit on the newly-discovered remains of the Pulaski.  It takes some persuading, but soon she is deeply immersed in concentrating the focus of the exhibit on the Longstreet family, making the loss of life personal to museum visitors.  The chapters alternate between Augusta Longstreet, sister of the financial backer of the steamship, Lilly Forsythe, her niece who is aboard with her husband, infant and slave nurse, and Everly herself.

The chapters describing the events which led to the sinking of the Pulaski and the fate of the passengers - who survived; who did not - are harrowing and the best part of the book, as are the extensive resources Patti Callahan has included at the end for those who wish to know more.

With that said, I did not find the fictional romances here convincing, but that's probably just me, because I know others who have raved about this book.  One other nit: I hated the cover of this book.  Why couldn't the illustrator/photographer have found a model with clothing of the proper era?  It isn't that hard to find online these days.  And why use sailing vessels when the whole tragedy occurred because of the boiler explosion of the latest available ship technology - the steamship?  I know it's just me, but it does irritate me.  I can't take the contents as seriously when the cover isn't even minimally researched.  You can decide for yourself.

The Midnight Library

 I resisted reading Matt Haig's novel The Midnight Library (#993) for a long time because it has been on the New York Times Bestseller's List seemingly forever.  I don't often care for books that linger there.  Now I understand why it's been at the top for so long.

What if you want to die but are instead given the chance to pick a different life, one that you regretted not choosing in your present life?  What would you choose instead?  That's the choice facing Nora Seed, whose life has been full of disappointments.  Being fired from her dead-end job in dreary Bedford, England, pushed her in the direction of suicide, but really, having a mere acquaintance ring her bell to tell her that her beloved cat is dead was the final straw...

When she finds herself in The Midnight Library, the librarian guides her through facing her life regrets and choosing how to address them by picking a book from the endless shelves of possibilities that will lead her into a life she could have lived, had she made different decisions.  The array is dazzling, but how to choose a new life is a delicious dilemma.  We follow Nora through many alternate and intriguing lives, but all seem to missing something intangible...  When she finally arrives at the life she was meant to live, it is both inevitable and perfect.

An emotionally gripping and thoroughly satisfying read.  Highly recommended!

The Boys' Club

Want another reason to hate lawyers?  Read The Boys' Club (#992) by Erica Katz, who is, of course, a lawyer who works for one of the Big Money Firms she skewers in this novel.

Alex Vogel has graduated from Harvard and been recruited by one of the top law practices in New York City, despite having worked her last internship for an animal shelter.  No money to be made there!  She's bright, attractive and ambitious; determined to claw her way into the most powerful group in Klasko & Fitch.  Mergers & Acquisitions is where the power rests.  All other groups in the practice are mere supporters of this money-making monolith.  It's all about the money, the prestige, the designer clothes, the expense account restaurants, the free-flowing liquor and drugs, heavy emphasis on the money.  Soon Alex is practically living at the office, breaking up with her live-in boyfriend, slipping into office affairs and disposing of any morals she might have had going in.  It's not a pretty picture, until she realizes she's being dangled as sexual bait for K & F's biggest client.  When she is physically assaulted, she has to take a stand.  (But only for other women in Big Money Firms, mind you!)

An unpleasant book about an unpleasant person with not even a clear moral imperative to uplift the story even the slightest.  Money gets away with everything, with the lawyers there to back the the evildoers and profit from them.  Ugh.  My advice, for which I won't even charge you?  Don't waste your time on The Boys' Club, or enrich Erica Katz further in her side job.

The Hidden Palace

 It's taken Helene Wecker a long time to publish The Hidden Palace (#991), a follow-up novel to her award-winning fantasy novel, The Golem and the Jinni (See my post of 7/4/2013.).  My husband and I both wished that there hadn't been such a time gap between reading the two, since there isn't much backstory provided here and it took a little effort to recall the plot and characters across hundreds of books read in between.

Other than that quibble, though, Ms. Wecker's writing is still just as compelling as she brings the Lower East Side of New York City to life in the early years of the twentieth century.  The golem and the jinni of the title are still together, though not without conflicts.  Into this turbulent mix are introduced two new characters: another golem and another jinni.  How they come to be, and to arrive in America, form a new and connected narratives.  Fire and clay.  That's what it takes to create a fabulous story.

If you are a fan of The Golem and the Jinni, you won't want to miss The Hidden Palace.

The Heir Affair

If you read my 6/15/21 post on The Royal We, you know that I already had Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan's sequel, The Heir Affair (#990) on my bookshelf.  It was just as entertaining as the first book, with a number of twists and turns I did not see coming.  (How ironic that on the way to posting this review, I came across a news feed that said "Kate Middleton given a new job and Prince William announces it!")

Bex and her Prince Nicholas are off to a somewhat rocky start to their marriage, as Bex has been pilloried in the press.  Hiding out in Scotland, they must make the fraught decision to return to London and take up their royal duties.  For Bex, of course, that means producing an heir to the throne.  The Queen has granted them their first official royal residence in Kensington Palace, an apartment formerly occupied by her bachelorette sister, Georgina.  Crammed full of trinkets and treasures amassed over the course of her wild celebrity lifestyle, Bex has the main job of sorting out Georgina's things before redecorating their new home. While she's at it, she makes some discoveries with the potential to change everything.

It's a wild ride again, with the principal characters based on figures easily recognizable to royal watchers.  But then again, if you weren't one to start off, you probably wouldn't be reading these books in the first place.  Do be sure to read them in order, though.  Thoroughly enjoyable!

Finlay Donovan Is Killing It

What a great read!  Elle Cosimano's mystery Finlay Donovan Is Killing It (#989) will keep you turning the pages to see what could possibly happen next.  

Finlay, divorced mother of two young children, is definitely not living the good life.  She's way behind on all her bills, and even worse, she doesn't even have enough of a manuscript to show her agent that she isn't in violation of her contract. When Sylvia demands an in-person meeting at a local Panera's, someone is listening in on the conversation about her book plot.  The problem is, the listener thinks Finlay is a hitman discussing a job.  Finlay finds a name, a phone number, and the promise of enough money to clear up her financial situation on her tray at Panera's.  She couldn't possibly kill someone, but she's intrigued by the desperation behind the note.  What if she just checked things out, for book research purposes...

One thing leads to another, and before she knows it, Finlay's in over her head with a dead body in her minivan.  The more she tries to clean things up, the worse the situation gets.

I absolutely loved this book!  I hovered between chuckling and nail-biting as the plot progressed.  I sure hope the teaser in the epilogue is leading to another mystery featuring Finlay Donovan and her plucky nanny/accountant Vero.  Can't wait!

The Chicken Sisters

 Several people whose opinion about books I respect told me that they loved KF Dell'Antonia's novel The Chicken Sisters (#988).  Heck, even Reese Witherspoon chose this book for her reading club!  Me, though - not a fan.

I don't watch reality TV, so I'm not a fan of the fictional Food Wars TV reality show driving the plot between estranged sisters in rural Kansas.  Mae has left it far behind in her escape to New York and her own struggling career as a social media influencer who comes back to help her mother's fried chicken restaurant, Mimi's, win the hundred thousand dollar prize.  Amanda, her younger sister, has remained in town, but she married into the rival restaurant Frannie's family.  Her mother barely speaks to her, and she is not allowed over the threshold of Mimi's.  Her heart is really with the chickens she draws, but refuses to eat.  Much fighting, angst and unpleasantness ensue.

Frankly, I did not like any of the characters, even though the author did try to focus a spotlight on mental health issues.  After reading this, I felt pretty much the way I would have after eating a meal at one of these restaurants: bloated and uncomfortable.  Not for me.

The Royal We

Thoroughly enjoyed The Royal We (#987), written jointly by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan.  If you're a romantic at heart, who wouldn't love this modern update of a commoner who gets her prince?  Or does she?  (I don't think I'm giving anything away by saying that I put off reading The Heir Affair, its sequel, until I got my hands on The Royal We.)

When American Rebecca Porter applies for a semester abroad at Oxford, little does she realize that one of her dorm mates will change her life forever.  Prince Nicholas, oldest son of the Prince of Wales, is there as well.  The tightly-knit cluster of students who have known him since childhood accept Bex into their circle.  When Bex's twin sister Lacey learns who she is living with at Oxford, she's anxious to meet Nick's younger ginger-haired brother Freddie, her favorite pin-up.  Complications and heartbreaks ensue.

It's easy to pick out who the real-life models are for most of the characters- Prince William, Kate Middleton (Except in this case, Bex is American, to throw in an extra fillip and Oxford substitutes for Saint Andrews.), Princess Diana, Prince Charles, Prince Harry, even Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mum. But since this is a novel, Cocks and Morgan have plenty of leeway to create whole levels of perfectly plausible mayhem behind the scenes.  Such fun to dish without doing any actual harm to anyone involved, unlike the characters in The Royal We.

You may want to change your mind about putting yourself in Bex's (and Nick's!) place after reading this novel, but still, it's fun to dream, isn't it, when you don't have to do any of the heavy lifting!  A brilliant beach read.  Can't wait to start The Heir Affair!

Project Hail Mary

 I just finished reading Andy Weir's latest sci-fi novel, Project Hail Mary (#986).  At almost 700 pages in the Large Print edition, I was still sorry to get to the last page, it was that good.

Ryland Grace didn't ask to be on a suicide mission to save planet Earth, but here he is deep in outer space with only a foggy memory at first of what he is supposed to do when he wakes from a coma.  The time perspective shifts back and forth between his present day dilemmas (and there are quite a few!) and the events which led this junior high school science teacher to be onboard a spacecraft.  It's thrilling, nail-biting and, told in Ryland's wry voice, funny.

The science is dumbed down enough so that the average non-scientific reader will be able to comprehend most of the finer plot points without insulting said reader's (me being one!) intelligence.  You can't help but root for Ryland even though you know he's doomed to die...  Or is he?

Without giving away too much of the plot, I'll just say that like his previous best-seller, The Martian  (See my post of 4/7/2014.), I think this would make a terrific movie.

Interesting cover art on the book, too.  It took me several days to notice the scientific notation in the title.  Clever!  Highly recommended.

Last Train to Paradise

 It was reading Chanel Cleeton's novel The Last Train to Key West recently which finally spurred me into reading Les Standiford's account of the building of Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railroad's (FEC) extension to Key West, Last Train to Paradise (#985).  What a monumental undertaking!  Although its existence as a railroad was relatively brief after the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 destroyed large sections of it, its indelible impact on the Keys cannot be denied.

The FEC itself still exists to this day, and is part of my everyday life; I crisscross its tracks in the course of my errands and appointments, and hear its engine whistles blowing at night.  I've often visited Henry Flagler's Palm Beach mansion Whitehall, and toured his personal railroad car housed on the grounds.  I've driven down to Key West on the Overseas Highway which replaced Flagler's railroad from Homestead to Key West and appreciated the stunning views, but until I read this book, I had never really considered the vision, the effort and the cost that went into building that incredible connection to the furthest flung of the Florida Keys.  I will never see it again the same way after reading Last Train to Paradise.  And lest you think that this is some dry, prosy local history, bear in mind that Les Standiford was a successful thriller/mystery writer before he turned to non-fiction.  His narration here is every bit as gripping, but it's about real people and real events.  The Centennial Edition and re-printing of his lavishly illustrated book was gifted to my local library by the Flagler Museum, and is worth seeking out to visualize just what was entailed with the construction of this "Eighth Wonder of the World".

Anyone can tell you who John D. Rockefeller was, but how many know who his partner in Standard Oil was?  If you read Last Train to Paradise, you'll be amazed that more people don't know the name Henry Flagler.  Don't be one of them!  Thanks, Chanel Cleeton for pointing me in this book's direction!

How To Raise An Elephant

 In the latest installment of Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, How To Raise An Elephant (#984), you know you're in for a cozy story of ordinary Botswana folks' problems, and Precious Ramotswe's commonsensical solutions.

Leave it to part time mechanic/part time detective Charlie to borrow Mma Ramotswe's beloved tiny white van and return it with a damaged rear bumper, strange smell and no explanation about either.  Precious is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery.  But she and Mma Makutsi have had a visitor to their office.  A distant cousin of Precious has come to ask her for a favor, a favor that both women feel needs further investigation.  

In the meantime, Precious and Mr. J.L.B. Maketoni have new neighbors next door.  Judging by the raised voices, all is not well over there.  Precious would never pry, but she is a detective, so she's noticed a few odd things about them...

Reading this story makes me even sorrier that we missed our trip to Botswana last year.  It is evident in his writing how much McCall Smith loves this country.  He can write effectively about the need for elephant conservation without belaboring his readers.  His approach to getting people to do the right thing comes across in Precious' warm moral compass.  A treat, as always.

Shipped

 No great literature here in Shipped (#983) by Angie Hockman, but it nicely does what it sets out to do: to entertain with modern twists on an age old story.  It's perfect for beach reading.

When Henley Evans locks horns with a Zoom co-worker in a race to win a coveted promotion at SeaQuest, the company decides to send them both on one of the ecology-oriented cruises to the Galapagos.  Neither has ever been on an adventure cruise before, but both are determined to highlight the best aspects of their trip to promote increased sales.  Complications ensue.

You know they will wind up together in the end, but all the fun is how they get there!  Loved the projectile vomiting scene!  Would definitely read more by Ms. Hockman. 

The Lost Apothecary

 In Sarah Jenner's debut novel, The Lost Apothecary (#982), she switches between telling the stories of three women: two in 1791 London, and a present day American tourist in London.  Because this is fiction, you know that their stories are bound to intersect.

Nella is a female apothecary in 1791 London whose specialty, learned from her mother, is treating women's problems, the ones male physicians can't be bothered with.  After her mother's death, Nella's practice has taken a more sinister turn; she still provides solutions to women's problems, but now that includes the troublesome men in their lives. Enter Eliza, whose mistress wishes to be rid of her philandering husband.  She is intrigued by Nella's hidden workshop and pesters her to learn more.

Meanwhile, Caroline has just arrived in present day London on her romantic tenth anniversary trip.  But she's alone, as things did not happen as she expected.  Her safe, comfortable life and marriage have fallen apart in the last few days and she needs time on her own to think.  What happened to her own plans for her life and career?  A chance encounter with a tour guide persuades her to join a mudlarking expedition on the banks of the river Thames.  The discovery of a tiny glass vial etched with the image of a bear sets in motion the events which will lead to finding the Lost Apothecary.

It was a good read, and it's easy to understand why this book has made it onto so many Book Club reading lists.  Moral conundrums abound here, both past and present.  But, oh, why can't the editors cull the anachronisms before sending the book to press?  It's not using your "smarts" to "okay" a historical fiction novel which tries otherwise to fit the eighteenth century language!  It's so jarring!  It's my own personal hobbyhorse, but I'm going to continue to ride it!

The Last Train to Key West

Chanel Cleeton deftly blends the stories of three very different women who all find themselves in Key West, Florida the fateful Labor Day weekend of 1935 in her latest novel The Last Train to Key West (#981).  Alternating viewpoints, we first meet Helen, an abused and heavily pregnant waitress working at Ruby's Diner near the train station.  She is near the end of her emotional tether.  Next, Mirta is a brand new Cuban bride fresh off the ferry from Havana.  She knows little about her husband Anthony yet, except that he is rich and involved in criminal activities in New York and Cuba.  She doesn't even know how to order Anthony's coffee when they stop in at Ruby's.  Lastly, we meet Elizabeth, a striking redhead who has fled her fiancé in New York City to find a man.  All she knows is that the last letter from him was postmarked Key West, Florida.  Now that she's here, how will she locate him when she can't even afford the piece of Ruby's famous key lime pie that her waitress has just put in front of her?

The fates of these women are bound together as a monstrous hurricane approaches the Florida Keys.  By the time the forecasts are confirmed, it's too late for most of the people in the Keys to evacuate.  In a last ditch attempt to rescue the hundreds of WWI veterans who are living in makeshift camps while they work on building the Overseas Highway, the government has sent a train for them and waiting civilians.  It will literally be the last train to Key West.

I must admit, I picked up this book because of the historical background.  The Labor Day hurricane of 1935 was one of the most destructive storms to hit the United States.  The loss of life and property was staggering, as described here.  You may not be able to appreciate just how isolated the Keys are unless you have driven from the mainland to Key West over miles of bridges.  Ms. Cleeton captures that extremely well here, as well as the elements of lawlessness and independence which still prevail to a great extent there today.  If you only think of Hemingway and sunset drinking rituals when you think of Key West, this is an interesting way to broaden your perspective.

A Royal Affair - A Sparks & Bainbridge Mystery

 I think I enjoyed A Royal Affair (#980) even more than Allison Montclair's debut novel in the Sparks & Bainbridge Mystery series, The Right Sort of Man (See my post of 9/30/19.)  As London begins to rebuild itself after the ravages of WWII, people need help rebuilding their lives as well.  Thus, the Right Sort Marriage Bureau was born from a chance meeting at a wedding.

Gwen Bainbridge, an aristocratic war widow, has teamed up with Iris Sparks, a woman of many useful skills gained from her work during the war.  Their fledgling business had some success, most notably in aiding the police in solving the murder of one of their clients.  A new customer turns out to be Gwen's cousin, who works for the Queen.  She wants to hire the pair to vet a marriage prospect.  Princess Elizabeth has been sent letters demanding money in exchange for some potentially damaging letters concerning Prince Philip of Greece.  The Palace needs to know through discreet sources what the nature of the threat is, and whether or not it is real.

As Gwen and Iris search for answers in murky political waters, the stakes are upped when they discover a body at a rendezvous, and traps laid for them.  Above all, the happiness of the future monarch hangs in the balance.

A Royal Affair was an especially poignant read, as I had just watched Prince Philip's funeral on TV.  At least there was no doubt that Sparks & Bainbridge would get to the bottom of this affair!  These mysteries contain just the right balance of action, humor and moral dilemmas to keep things interesting.  Gwen is struggling to regain custody of her beloved son from her controlling in-laws after her breakdown following her husband's death.  Iris, though brash and confident on the outside, is trying to cope with the psychic wounds and betrayals from her Intelligence work during the war.  Both find unexpected friendship and purpose through the Right Sort Marriage Bureau.  Please keep more mysteries coming!

I just have to add one more comment about the cover art on A Royal Affair.  Ugh!  The more I looked at the main figure, the uglier it got - the claw-like hands, the bulging left buttock, and out of proportion body.  Not to mention that the kiss the figure is watching never happens in the book.  It's not even hinted at!  I hope they find a new person to illustrate future Sparks & Bainbridge Mysteries, or I may be forced to cover them in brown paper before I can read them!  Just my opinion.

Perestroika in Paris

 I was quite taken by Jane Smiley's novel Perestroika in Paris (#979).  I suppose some would characterize this story of a racehorse who wonders off into central Paris as a fantasy since the animals talk, but I think of it more in line with one of the greatest children's classics, Charlotte's Web.  The predicaments and feelings of both the animals and the humans in this story are as real and heartfelt.

The cast of characters here include Perestroika herself, a dog living on her wits, an aging raven, a pair of ducks and even some rats!  Even though these animals are on their own, they must intersect with humans, for good or ill.  Chief among them is the small boy Etienne who discovers this band.  We learn that he has problems of his own, living in an old mansion with only his ancient great-grandmother.  Add to them the local gendarme, the groundskeeper of the Champs du Mars who spots evidence left by Perestroika, and several observant shopkeepers and you have quite the ensemble.

I think the lesson in this engaging story is that when you take care of each other, you take care of yourselves.  Charmingly told, and not to be missed.

The Thursday Murder Club

 Oh, how I enjoyed Richard Osman's debut novel The Thursday Murder Club (#978)!  It's not quite like any other murder mystery book I've ever read, and that's one of its major appeals.

Set in a posh English retirement community, Cooper's Chase inhabitants have many opportunities for enrichment activities.  It just so happens that an eclectic group of them have formed The Thursday Murder Club (because Thursday is when the Jigsaw Room is available for them to meet).  One of the original members is a former police detective, so the group happily spends its time reviewing her cold case files and trying to crack them.

This colorful group possess a wide variety of skills and talents, including roping in two members of the Fairhaven Police.  PC De Freitas and DI Hudson both think that lecturing these senior citizens will merely involve lecturing them on having window locks and knowing who is at your door before you let them in.  Instead, they find themselves very much on the receiving end of pertinent information from the club when an actual murder takes place with implications for Cooper's Chase.

It's an absolute delight with the requisite red herrings and satisfying solution(s).  It's rare that a book can make me laugh out loud, but this one did!  Don't miss it.  I sincerely hope Richard Osman has more to come from The Thursday Murder Club!

 

The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany

 What a satisfying read The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany (#977) is!  Lori Nelson Spielman's tale of an Italian American family under the spell of a two hundred year old curse dooming the second born daughters to lives without love hits all the right notes.

Emilia Antonelli has been brought up under the thumb of her unforgiving nonna.  At twenty-nine she's settled into an apartment in her grandmother's house, works in the family shop as a baker, and has given up on romance after an accident nearly takes the life of her college boyfriend.  Life is good though, she thinks.  That is, until the day Aunt Poppy, the family black sheep, invites Emmie and her cousin Luciana, both second born daughters as she is herself, on an all expense-paid trip to Italy.  On her eightieth birthday, Poppy will reunite with the love of her life on the steps of the cathedral in Ravello, and break the curse for all second daughters in the Fontana family.

How the trip changes everyone involved is a roller coaster ride of emotions, family secrets, longing and disappointments spread across Bensonhurst, New York, Venice, Florence, Ravello and Amalfi, Italy.  I couldn't wait to find out what happened next in this family saga!  No wonder I had to wait so long for it to become available at the library.

I think Ms. Spielman only got two things wrong in her book; Ravello is perched so high above the Tyrrenhian Sea you cannot hear the music of the sparkling ocean - you have to be in Amalfi for that.  Second, I certainly don't associate the smell of damp concrete with the beautiful cathedral in Ravello.  It's a beautiful spot inside and out.  I hope Ms. Spielman is lucky enough to find this out for herself one day.  In the meantime, this novel is a wonderful way to armchair travel.

The Crow Trap

 I have enjoyed watching the BritBox series Vera on PBS.  It's based on the Vera Stanhope detective novels by Anne Cleeves.  After reading the first book in this series, The Crow Trap (#976), I'm inclined to think I'll enjoy the TV series more than the books.  Billed on the cover as a psychological thriller, it seemed to take on awfully long time to get to the point.

In a remote locale, with a potential mine to be re-opened on uplands near a national park, the characters circle around an environmental impact study, greed, mental illness and long-held grievances with nothing tying the disparate parts together until halfway through this lengthy book.  Vera Stanhope herself only has an unidentified cameo in the first three hundred pages.  That's a long time to wait.

I must say, Brenda Blevin has tidied up Vera's character considerably for the small screen.  She's no fashion plate, but neither is she the bag lady encountered in print by the three women at a funeral.  The one thing that is the same in both is the stark beauty of the northern English landscape and coast.  There the camera definitely has the advantage.  Can't say I'll be in a hurry to read other entries in this series, even though it's provided a great base for quality TV.

One Thread Pulled - The Dance with Mr. Darcy

 Diana J. Oaks has penned a tribute novel to Jane Austen's beloved Pride and Prejudice.  In One Thread Pulled - the Dance with Mr. Darcy (#975) the plot of the original novel is followed closely until the ball at Netherfield Park.  From there, all bets are off as Ms. Oaks introduces a murder and its subsequent investigation, an attempted murder and the disposal of other, minor characters in new and different roles.  It's all the pleasure of reading Jane Austen combined with the thrill of not knowing precisely where this novel is taking you.

As much as I enjoyed reading this take on Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy, I have a feeling that the story is far from over on the final page.  If you enjoy dipping into the many, many iterations of Jane Austen's novels, One Thread Pulled  is a worthy entry.  Is it wrong of me to wish Ms. Oaks had dealt more harshly with Mr. Collins?  I suppose one can't have everything...

Anonymous Sources

 Who better to write a thriller about a female reporter than Mary Louise Kelly, currently reporting on air on NPR?  Anonymous Sources (#974) is her debut novel, but I'm happy to say it's not her last.  I tracked down Anonymous Sources online because I enjoyed The Bullet, her next book, so much.  (See my post of 7/22/20.)

Alexandra James is assigned to cover the death of a student at Harvard in a fall from a dormitory roof, as she has the Higher Education beat at Boston's New England Chronicle.  She's annoyed to be pulled away from a dinner engagement, but when she finds out that Thomas Carlyle is the son of the President's Chief Counsel in Washington, she realizes that the story will go national.  She persuades her boss to send her to Cambridge University, where Thom has just completed a year as the Harvard Scholar.  Her own year spent at Cambridge, she argues, will give her an "in" to interview Thom's girlfriend and fellow students, and dig up human interest angles the other news media won't have.

What she finds out leads her to suspect that Thom did not commit suicide, and that her questions have put her directly in the crosshairs of a plot that leads directly to Washington, D.C.

Really interesting character development, and a taut plot make this book hard to put down.  It's a real adrenaline rush from someone who knows the ins and outs of her protagonist's profession.  Don't miss this one even if it does keep you up at night! 

The Jane Austen Society

 I have very mixed feelings about Natalie Jenner's debut novel The Jane Austen Society (#973).  The actual action in this novel centers around WWII, when intrepid villagers decide to use their love of Jane Austen's literature to band together and create a group dedicated to the study and preservation of her work.  It helps that they live in Chawton, where Miss Austen resided for a number of years near her brother's family.

Sometimes I felt like I had dropped into the middle of a serious-minded book club whose members were trying to one-up each in their knowledge of Austen arcana, with their profound insights and ability to quote her various works verbatim at length.  This led to much mental eye-rolling on my part.

At other times, I felt the characters (all fictional, of course!) were competing for who had had the most traumatic experiences in their pasts, or whose secrets could potentially damage them more than any other character.  Was it the nearly mute farm worker whose chance encounter with an American woman led to his obsession with Jane Austen's books?  Or the widowed doctor who can't cope with his loss?  Or the agoraphobic daughter of the nearby Great House whose father is bent on destroying her life?  Or could it be the glamorous American film star whose fiancé is using her to his advantage?  Hmm.  Even though Jane Austen's characters had similar tragedies and traumas befall them, Miss Austen never found it necessary to provide the graphic details of such sordid encounters as are found here.

I'm glad the real Jane Austen Society exists, with a mission similar to the one stated in this book.  Just don't be deluded into thinking that these characters had anything remotely to do with the factual foundation.

And before I go, may I also say the linguistic anachronisms in The Jane Austen Society bothered me as well.  It breaks the rhythm of the narration when one of these clunkers pops out of the dialogue at you.  

In its defense, the Large Print edition did have an attractive cover.

Fortune and Glory - Tantalizing Twenty-Seven

 In Janet Evanovich's latest, Fortune and Glory - Tantalizing Twenty-Seven (#972), Bond Apprehension Agent Stephanie Plum is at a crossroads; she and her grandmother hold the keys to a mysterious stash held by the remaining members of the Lazy-Boys.  Her grandmother was married to Jimmy for only about twenty minutes, but he left her everything in his will, and she's determined to find that treasure.  That puts a large target on Grandma Mazur's back, and by default, Stephanie's as well.  Her Indy instincts kick in for the treasure hunting, but Stephanie's no longer sure she wants to spend the rest of her life this way, bringing in one unsavory fugitive after another.  Besides, she's currently split up with on-again, off-again cop boyfriend Joe Morelli.  Is Ranger the way to go, or is he not willing to commit?

Stephanie wrestles with all these dilemmas while being shot at, torched, and covered with goop.  Not only are the surviving members of the Lazy-Boys after the treasure, but they're eliminating any potential rivals.  And who is the glamorous woman who also seems to be everywhere Stephanie goes, including Joe Morelli's house?

More great characters introduced in Fortune and Glory, including a new member of Stephanie's posse.  And as usual, Stephanie manages to go through Ranger's cars as though they're chewing gum.  Janet Evanovich will be bringing the mysterious Gabriela back in her next book, so of course there's more fun to look forward to. 

The Lost Diary of Venice

 I hate it when the illustrator obviously hasn't bothered to do even a decent skim of the text he/she is supposed to be creating a cover for.  Such is the case with Margaux DeRoux's debut novel The Lost Diary of Venice (#971).  I expected to find a romance with the plot switching between a modern day book conservator/restorer working on a late sixteenth century work of a Venetian artist and that artist's romance hidden in the palimpsest he created.  Instead, the romance in both centuries were blighted, the coincidences a little too much to swallow and the violent history, though accurate, was of an unexpectedly graphic nature.  If you're in search of happy endings, you won't find them in this book.  The old saw is true: you really can't judge a book by its cover.

On the other hand, the treatise translated in fiction actually does exist, although the artist was from Milan, not Venice. The battle of Lepanto, considering its impact on the history of Western Europe rarely seems to figure in fictional accounts, so it's interesting that the author decides to use the tensions arising from the threats to Christian Europe, and especially to Venice, the powerful maritime power, for her story - class, wealth, religion, ambition, power and beauty all play a role here.  So does magic to some extent, which to me, at least, seemed somewhat out of place here.

I did read it through to the end, but would I read another of DeRoux's books?  I'm thinking my shelves would have to be pretty empty before I spent more time on her work.

The Kitchen Front

 Jennifer Ryan seems to have found her fiction niche with wartime Britain.  Her third book, The Kitchen Front (#970), is centered around a BBC-sponsored cooking contest.  Open only to professional cooks, the winner's reward will be to add a much-needed feminine voice to the radio program The Kitchen Front.  The Ministry of Food has done its best to provide nutritional tips and tricks for the strict food rationing system, but they know they could attract a wider audience by adding a knowledgeable woman presenter.

Ambrose Hart, the program's current solo presenter, has a home in Fenley Village, outside London.  To make the contest easy on himself, he decides to keep the competition local, and divide it into three sections spread across three months: Starters, Main Course and Dessert.  Points will be awarded for each course, with the winner accumulating the most points overall.  Frankly, he's not expecting much...

Enter Audrey, the widow with three boys and a pie-baking business; Lady Gwendoline, the lady of the local manor, and Ministry of Food demonstrator; Zelda the cordon bleu chef relegated to a local factory's canteen; and finally Mrs. Quince and Nell.  Mrs. Quince has a formidable reputation throughout southern England as one of the best manor house cooks in the country.  Nell as her protégé has been taking over the burden of cooking as Mrs. Quince ages.  Now the stage is set for some cut-throat competition as each of the women struggles to produce a delicious entry with the scarce materials available on hand, keeping in mind what the average housewife might be able to duplicate with ingredients rationed or home-grown.  The rivalry between the women is personal, but the stakes can be life-changing.  Their stories interweave during the three months of the contest and the reader is drawn into their lives, personal tragedies and triumphs.

Jennifer Ryan can certainly tell a mesmerizing tale, as I found in her two earlier books: The Chilbury Ladies' Choir and The Spies of Shilling Lane.  (See my posts of 12/27/2017 & 7/15/2019.).  She's delved deep into the Ministry of Food's archives to present the difficulties the average British family faced in maintaining a nutritious and healthy diet.  She's even included some of the Ministry's recipes the contestants prepare during the course of the book.  I've read them over, but quite honestly, I'd probably starve before I could bring myself to prepare most of them!  A wonderful and satisfying read.

The Russian Cage

 I am really enjoying Charlaine Harris' magical Western series, the Gunnie Rose books.  The Russian Cage (#969) is the third installment and picks up shortly after the previous books. (See my posts of 9/30/2019 & 2/27/20.)  Lizbeth Rose is a professional gun-for-hire living in the Texoma territory of what used to be the United States.  She has her own small house not far from her mother and stepfather, but there's a hole in her chest where her heart used to be after Prince Eli took it and her half sister Felicia to safety in the Holy Russian Empire on the West Coast.  Lizbeth isn't happy, but she knows Eli did what he had to do.  That she can live with.

Until the day she gets a letter from Felicia, telling her in code that Eli is in prison, and begging her to come to his aid.  Without hesitation, Lizbeth sets out for San Diego where she meets up with some familiar and powerful grigoris from their previous adventures in Mexico, most of whom are not the least bit pleased to see her, either.  Even worse, Lizbeth must face up to meeting the rest of Eli's family and convincing them she's trying to help Eli.  She needs to find out why he was arrested, and spring him from jail.  That will take some canny political maneuvering in a language she doesn't understand, while in an imperial court plots against Tsar Alexi abound which are tied to Eli's fate.  If only she could carry her guns in the Holy Russian Empire!

It's an exciting tale with plenty of action and quick thinking, great characters, some unexpected encounters and a satisfying ending.  I can't wait until the next book in this series comes out!