Esme Cahill Fails Spectacularly

Marie Bostwick's novel Esme Cahill Fails Spectacularly (#1,273) has been sitting in the pile beside my bed for a while now.  But when I picked it up the other day, it turned out to be just the book I needed.  That's kind of a theme in Esme, too.  Things happen to Esme she doesn't want to deal with, or can't wait to move beyond, but somehow, everything works out for the best...

Esme thinks she's left the remote fishing lodge her grandparents run just outside of Asheville, South Carolina behind when she escapes to New York to pursue a career in books.  Writing them, editing them, she really doesn't care as long as she's part of that world.  But her beloved grandmother asks her to come home, so Esme reluctantly prepares to visit.  But she's left it too long, and her grandmother is gone.  Not only that, but she's insulted one of her publishing house's biggest authors, so now she no longer has a job to go back to.

How Esme finds her way by starting over again on a new path makes this a relatable story, and a pleasure to read.  Family and friends make the world a bigger place if you are willing to look beyond the covers...

This book contained some twists I did not see coming, nor did it have a neatly tied up ending, and it was all the better for it.  Recommended.

What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust

I was very excited to read Alan Bradley's latest Flavia de Luce novel What the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust (#1,272) especially after discovering that the first book in the series, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is being made into a TV series.  While I liked this book very much, I did think it was much darker in tone.  Young Flavia has always delighted in murder, but up until this point, the crimes have been pretty much one-offs with Flavia playing the starring role in their solution.  Here, she realizes what a small cog she actually is in the scheme of things.

Flavia's father is dead, her oldest sister is on her honeymoon in Europe and her other sister Daffy has plans for her future which she has not bothered share across the breakfast table.  Life at Buckshaw has settled into a dull routine, broken only by the antics of her brattish cousin Undine, a constant thorn in Flavia's side.  But the morning that Major Greyleigh's body is found in his cottage nearby, and their housekeeper Mrs. Mullet is the chief suspect in his death, everything changes.  No one Flavia has grown up with is exactly whom she thinks they are as one secret after another is revealed and even Flavia's life is on the line.

So much to deal with and Flavia is still not old enough to qualify for her official driver's license!  She's growing up fast, but she's still barely a teenager.  The weight and responsibilities of duty are settling on her shoulders... I can't wait to see where this series will go next.

The Healing Season of Pottery

The Healing Season of Pottery (#1,271) by Yeon Somin has been a major best-seller in Korea and is now available to American readers through the translation by Clare Richards.  I found it an interesting read on many levels.

Junming has been working for a number of years in an extremely high-pressure job in broadcasting.  That is until the day she has a major meltdown at work and walks out.  She retreats into her apartment in an area outside Seoul which is slowly becoming gentrified.  It takes her months to venture outside again.  She stumbles across a pottery workshop which she mistakes for a cafe, and that mistake changes her life.

Taking the time to make things by hand gives her time to heal her mind and heart.  This is Junming's story.  Oh, and there's a cat....

I've quite enjoyed a number of Japanese books I've read in translation recently.  I liked this one as well, although I did notice differences between the cultures I really hadn't thought about.  Most of the untranslated Korean terms were totally unfamiliar even though they were easy to figure out in context.  Most of the food described here I had never heard of, not having had the benefit of a local Korean restaurant nearby.  I certainly did think it was worth the time I happily spent with these characters.  I recommend it as something different to savor.

The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife

The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife (#1,270) is a novel of mistaken identity set in Australia.  A down on his luck senior citizen is caught up by the staff of a nursing home who think Frederick is a wheelchair-bound resident named Bernard.  Much as Fred tries to tell them that he's not, he winds up at the home where he learns he bears an uncanny resemblance to the man whose body he had discovered by the river.  But for someone who has just been evicted from his apartment, and who has not eaten a square meal in days, the temptation to enjoy the food and the comfort of the bed is too much.  Maybe he'll just stay for a day or two...

But as he gradually makes friends and a difference to the nursing home community, one member of the staff is suspicious.  Bernard has never been this nice - and what about his incontinence?  It's suddenly gone.  But Denise has problems of her own.

The story itself is very touching, but after hearing this book described as "cute", I was surprised by the pre-adolescent glee the author, Anna Johnston, takes in including bodily functions at every, and I do mean every, opportunity.  To be honest, it almost put me off reading beyond the first few pages.  But I hung in there and was glad I did for the uplifting ending.

We Solve Murders

Richard Osman has switched from his popular Thursday Murder Club series to a new mystery series with equally quirky characters in We Solve Murders (#1,269).  I found it highly entertaining.

Amy Wheeler works for an exclusive personal protection agency.  Her current assignment is to guard a glamorous author of uncertain age but massive worldwide appeal who has received a credible death threat from a Russian oligarch.  They're on her private island, so hard can it be?  As it turns out, extremely hard!  Not only is someone out to kill Rosie D'Antonio, but Amy, too.  Which is funny, because one of her company's clients was recently killed on a boat only about fifty miles from Rosie's island hideaway.  Coincidence?  Amy is beginning to suspect not...

The driver behind this book is the hunt to discover just who is the mysterious person pulling the strings for a series of disparate events.  Is it someone at Amy's company?  Or someone else entirely?  The fun in this book is in the chase all over the world in pursuit of the puppet master.

Try it; I'll bet you'll like it! I can't wait for more from We Solve Murders.

Shades of Grey

We accidentally read the second book in this planned trilogy first: Red Side Story, but after reading Shades of Grey (#1268) by Jasper Fforde, much is explained that we missed the first time around.  It's social satire at its best, so it really would make sense to read them in order.

Edward Russett is a young man on the cusp of discovering the strength of his color perception.  The Ishihara will determine what your role in the community will be, who you are eligible to marry and other key factors.  Once tested, the results cannot be changed.  But Eddie's father has taken on a temporary assignment in East Carmine, far from home, and his life is turned upside down.  Eddie is a Red, which in the color hierarchy is looked down upon by the Yellows and especially the Purples.  But to be fair, everyone looks down on the Greys, the class which performs all the meaningful work in society.  It doesn't take Eddie long to figure out who in East Carmine to be wary of, and who to cultivate.

When Eddie falls hard for a Grey, Jane, a totally unsuitable attachment (He is, after all, half promised to an Oxblood back in Vermillion, a big step up chromatically.) he begins to question many of the rules governing their lives.  Why must things be done a certain way?  And why are huge swathes of the past routinely eradicated?  And that's a problem by itself, one which those above him socially are determined to eliminate.  Can Eddie survive to make it to the second book?  You'll have to read it for yourself to find out.

Where does Jasper Fforde come up with these ideas?

Spirit Crossing

The title Spirit Crossing (#1,267) by William Kent Krueger is a clever play on themes in this Cork O'Connor mystery.  

One thread follows the protests against an oil pipeline construction across a river in virgin North Woods territory named Spirit Crossing.  It is a sacred place to the various indigenous tribes in the area. Others object to the despoilation of the pristine area.  The clashes between the protesters and the police have gotten quite heated, and right in the thick of it is Cork's son Steven and his fiancé.

Another thread concerns Cork's seven-year-old grandson Waaboo.  On a family outing to pick blueberries at a secret patch, Waaboo is seen talking to someone who isn't there.  But her grave is concealed in the blueberry patch, and he feels her presence.  When the police excavate a young female body, the hope is initially that it is a missing senator's daughter, but the remains are identified as Native.  Although the FBI loses interest, unfortunately, the discovery puts Waaboo in the crosshairs of a killer.

Yet another thread involves Annie, Cork's daughter who has been living in Guatemala for years.  She's home for her brother's wedding, but she comes with her own dark secret.

Love and loss, care of people and places, the dark "othering" of those who are different are all intertwined in this moving mystery.

William Kent Krueger is one of the best American writers today.  It you've never read any of his books, you should definitely add him to your "To Read" list!

Dog Day Afternoon

Andy Carpenter manages to keep everyone guessing about his client's guilt or innocence right up until the end again in David Rosenfeldt's Dog Day Afternoon (#1,266).  As reluctant as Andy is to take on yet another new client, when Marcus Clark asks him to do it as a favor for him, how can Andy refuse?  Marcus has kept him alive on a number of occasions in order to be able to continue his law practice.

Everything in the case against Nick Williams points directly to him as the gunman in a horrific mass shooting at a law office.  The only problem is that Nick claims that he remembers nothing from the time he left the back door of his apartment to go to work until he wakes up chained to a wall in a deserted building for several days.  Marcus has mentored this young man and he believes he was set up to take the fall for the murders.  All he needs is to have Andy prove it...

Oh, and of course there's a dog named Daisy involved!  A golden retriever, so how can Andy resist?

Another fun outing with an ending I did not see coming.

On Call - A Doctor's Journey in Public Service

It's amazing how much I've forgotten about the course of public health events over the last fifty or so years which affected all of our lives in American and beyond.  Dr. Anthony S. Fauci played a key role in influencing the outcomes of a surprising number of crises.  He was the right man in the right place at the right time, as he is first to acknowledge in his memoir On Call - A Doctor's Journey in Public Service (#1,265).

I was impressed by a number of things in Dr. Fauci's book; his incredible work ethic, stamina and willingness to get his hands dirty by continuing his patient-centered work.  And always in the background, his faith and his family.  Not least, Dr. Fauci was able to explain complex scientific concepts in a way that was easily comprehensible to a lay reader.  No wonder he was sought after as a teacher and mentor.

His book inspired my admiration for the man.  I was surprised recently when reading Stephanie Grisham's White House tell-all at the energy she employed at lashing out at him personally during the Covid debacle.  All I could think of was that it must be difficult to be around someone who possesses integrity when you have none.

If you doubt there are still good people out there, read On Call.  Your faith in humanity will be restored, and you'll learn a few things along the way.  Highly recommended.

The Ministry of Time

Kaliane Bradley's science fiction novel, The Ministry Of Time (#1,264) got a lot of buzz before being published, so I was anxious to read it.  The premise is that the unnamed protagonist works for the British government in the near future as a "bridge" - someone assigned to a person from the past brought through a time portal to the present day.  The job of the bridge is to ease their subject, known by the year from which they came, into modern life.  Our bridge's assignment is a real person - an Arctic explorer lost on a British naval expedition in 1848.

As the novel progresses, she begins to have doubts about the morality of this experiment and her own role in it.  Just what will the government do with the knowledge it is gleaning?  Is she willing to go along with it?

It's an interesting premise, but I'm not sure how I feel about its execution.  But if it gets the reader interested in polar explorations, I guess it has accomplished a worthy purpose.  You'll have to read it for yourself.

The Good, The Bad and The Aunties

In The Good, The Bad and the Aunties (#1,263) the third outing in this entertaining series by Jesse Q. Sutanto, Meddy has finally married her handsome husband, and reluctantly cuts short their European honeymoon to rendezvous with her mother and aunties as they visit family back home in Jakarta, Indonesia.  As delightful as the visit to introduce her husband to a cast of seemingly thousands of cousins is, a surprising side to one of her aunties is revealed as an old sweetheart appears to woo his childhood sweetheart at traditional New Year's celebrations.

But of course, nothing can go smoothly!  It seems he's a highly connected "businessman" who inadvertently involves Meddy's family in a life-and-death situation.  Can Meddy come to the rescue in time?

A mystery, a comedy, and sadly, the final installment in this charming series.  But what a way to end things.  It's sure put Jakarta on my list of places to see before I die!

I'll Take Your Questions Now

 As I was reading Stephanie Grisham's memoir I'll Take Your Questions Now - What I Saw at the Trump White House (#1,262) I couldn't quite figure out what Ms. Grisham's point was in writing this book: revenge? self-justification? guilt? money?  Maybe a blend of all of the above?

Did I learn anything new from this book?  Not really.  Just that Melania Trump sleeps a lot and can't be bothered with anything that doesn't directly forward her own interests.  Apparently, Donald Trump is just as mercurial and angry as he has been portrayed by the mainstream media, despite Ms. Grisham's claim that they don't give him credit for all the good work he's done.

Power and money.  That's all anyone in Trump world cares about.  I'm sorry the sale of this electronic copy contributed to Ms. Grisham's pockets.

A Most Agreeable Murder

I had been saving Julia Seales' debut novel A Most Agreeable Murder (#1,261) as a special treat.  Reader, I was most disagreeably disappointed.  It promised a Regency romance style murder mystery with an enticing cover.  The contents, sad to say, did not quite measure up.

I think Ms. Seales tried too hard.  The results came across as "cutsie" rather than tongue in cheek with "fainties" and "squelchies" in a fairytale setting.  A younger sister as an unidentified werewolf?  The only weather in the village was rain and violent hailstorms?  A proper young lady whose sole ambition was to solve murders?  The parents as caricatures of the senior Bennetts?  It was all a bit much for my taste.

It might be perfect for some readers, but I am not one.

The Paranormal Ranger

I read Stanley Milford Jr.'s book The Paranormal Ranger - A Navajo Investigator's Search for the Unexplained (#1,260) with a great deal of interest.  Acting as a law enforcement officer, Milford and his partner were assigned to investigate incidents and complaints in the Navajo Nation which could not be explained by normal methods.

Being raised by a Navajo father in the summers and receiving a traditional Western education where he lived with his mother enabled Milford to embrace both sides of his cultural heritage including the acceptance of a spirit world.  He writes about the Navajo creation myth and its influence to explain some of the uncanny things he came across.  That is really the part of the book I found most interesting.  It built on bits and pieces I have learned about the Navajo way of life from the popular Tony and Anne Hillerman novels.

Some of what I read surprised me - I knew about witches and Skinwalkers, but I had not realized that Big Foot and UFO sightings were not uncommon in this part of the world.  Since Stanley Milford Jr. had had a number of these experiences himself, it put him in a position to respond to similar sightings across the vast Navajo Nation and take these occurrences seriously.  He was in a unique position to make these people reporting odd things feel heard and seen.

It's a thoughtful presentation of one man's experiences with the unknown from a culturally different perspective.  Definitely worth a read with an open mind.

The Third Wife of Faraday House

I picked up B.R. Myers' novel The Third Wife of Faraday House (#1,259) because of its jaunty cover.  What I found inside was a fun Gothic novel set in Nova Scotia just after the conclusion of the War of 1812.  

Emeline Fitzpatrick's only asset is her beauty.  Her guardians have raised her to make the most of her looks, because she's not the sharpest knife in the drawer.  So when she disgraces herself with a dashing Naval officer at a ball in Halifax, she is given a choice: be sent to a convent as a nun,or marry a sea captain with a large estate in need of a third wife.  Emeline chooses Captain Faraday.

The problem is, when she arrives at his isolated island, she finds that his second wife is still alive!  She's dying, but what is Emeline supposed to do in the meantime?  Things go bump in the night, mysterious accidents happen, a handsome reverend is there to administer last rites, and her husband-to-be is hardly the man of her dreams.  Apparently the only person she can trust is Georgina, whom she is there to replace...

 I did enjoy Third Wife despite its plethora of anachronisms.  I found I didn't mind them in a book whose purpose was to entertain not enlighten.  In fact, I made a game out of picking out as many as I could find as I read along.  It's a fun read, just in time for Halloween.

The Palace - From the Tudors to the Windsors, 500 Years of British History at Hampton Court

Having fond memories of visiting Hampton Court Palace back in the 1970s, I was interested to see The Palace - From the Tudors to the Windsors, 500 Years of British History at Hampton Court (#1,258) appear on my monthly library Recommended Reads list.  Naturally, I checked it out and spent some entertaining hours perusing its pages.

Gareth Russell's book skips through the different monarchs, condensing factual events and emphasizing the juicier bits of gossip about the people (of all different social classes) who lived at Hampton Court at some time, or participated in events there which reverberate to the present day.  Despite having read a fair amount of British history, I still learned a surprising amount of information which was quite new to me.  Probably anyone who has even a passing interest in Henry VIII and his messy marriages knows about Katherine Howard's desperate bid to reach him at Hampton before her execution - hence one of the "ghostly" legends.  But more importantly, it was at Hampton Court that the King James version of the Bible was put into motion through meetings held in chambers which no longer exist, thanks to renovations.  From the trivial to the profound, you will find it here in Mr. Russell's book.

I did read this book with two bookmarks: one to mark my place in the chapters, and one to mark the chapter's corresponding footnotes as I read.  There's enough information in the footnotes to make it worthwhile to review them.

It's an interesting concept to present history through the building where it took place (although it did wander quite far from Hampton Court at times!).  If you're an Anglophile, you'll probably love it, even though it does lean more towards the Tudors & Stuarts than the Bridgerton era Hanoverians.

The Conspiracy to End America

Interesting that Stuart Stevens, a long-time Republican political consultant has come down so strongly on the side of the Democrats for the upcoming election.  He, like a coalition of frankly not enough Republicans, is of the opinion that not only Donald Trump, but also the mainstream Republican Party are firmly set on their path to destroy democracy in America and replace it with an autocracy similar to those  in Hungary and Russia.  He lays out his theory and his proofs in The Conspiracy to End America (#1,257).

Since this book was published in 2023, a number of things that he predicted have already come to pass - questioning the integrity of elections while making it harder for non-Republicans to vote, re-shaping the judiciary in the image of the right-wing Federalist Society, and the surprising people who actually stormed the Capitol.  They're not who you might have imagined.  All this, and he didn't even have a chance to read or comment on Project 2025!

Stuart Stevens thinks everyone should read his book before the upcoming election.  He's right. 

A Woman of Pleasure

A Woman of Pleasure (#1,256) is the first English translation (by Juliet Winters Carpenter) of award-winning Japanese writer Kiyoko Murata's work.  It's not for the faint of heart.

Aoi Ichi is the daughter of a diving family from the island of Iwo Jima.  She admires her mother and older sister who both free dive to earn a meager living, far outearning her fisherman father.  She is surprised to find herself bundled aboard a ferry to a port near Nagasaki one day in 1903.  She and other girls her own age is collected there by the agent of Shinonome House, a grand house of pleasure in the licensed district.  There her life completely changes when she learns that she has been sold to the house and must work off the debt incurred by payment to her father.  She is lucky.  She has been deemed worthy of training as a higher-class courtesan.

Since the house does cater to a wealthier clientele, all the girls are also trained how to read and write, how to arrange flowers and how to dance, sing and play instruments.  But much of their time is also spent in learning the physical arts of how to best please their customers and earn a loyal following.  If they can rise to the top, they may be able to free themselves from their financial burdens and aspire even to marriage.  If not, their debt mounts at the brothel.  If they cannot pay at the end of their contract, they will be turned out and forced to work in one of the unlicensed "hells".

How Aoi Ichi manages her life, bears her training and somehow finds some small joys makes for a brutal, but worthwhile story with unforgettable characters.  

The Queen of Poisons

The Queen of Poisons (#1,255) is the third in Robert Thorogood's Marlow Mystery Club series, soon coming to a PBS/Masterpiece station near you.

This time around, Susie is actually present at the Marlow Building Council meeting when the murder takes place.  Geoffrey is beloved by everyone in town.  Nobody has a bad word to say about someone who goes out of his way to help those around him in any possible way.  Only the Building Permit Committee members plus Susie in the visitors' gallery were present when it happened.  So how, exactly, did it happen?

Malika goes right to the source and deputizes Judith, Susie and Becks as civilian advisors to the police with official lanyards and all.  But she's sorely mistaken if she thinks she's going to rein in the dynamic trio as they use their unique skills and connections to work out "whodunnit".

I've got to say, I did not see the end coming!

Arkangel

I'm continuing on the Russian roll with James Rollins' latest Sigma Force novel Arkangel (#1,254).  The folks at Sigma are still recovering from the bombing of their underground headquarters at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.  But the world doesn't stand still as the Russians seek to push their claims to the entire Arctic region by finding and claiming Hyperborea, a mythical land supposedly located somewhere near the North Pole.  

Even the Greeks and Romans wrote about their contacts with inhabitants of this land, but the Russian Empress Catherine the Great pursued it.  What is written about those explorations is used as justification in the Kremlin and the Russian military for subjugating all of Europe, starting with the Crimea and Ukraine, with the full blessing and backing of the Russian Orthodox Church.  

Sigma's formidable enemy has been recruited to aid Russia in its quest, and Valya Mikhailov intends to take advantage by destroying the agency.  Non-stop action here with the usual scientific undergirding to make the threats to mankind all the more plausible.  Throw in some despicable villains and a potential new love interest for former K-9 Army Ranger Tucker Wayne and his dogs, and what's not to like about this reliable thriller series?  At the end, as usual, Rollins separates fact from fiction in his novel, and it's always amazing to me just how much of his story is built on facts.  Though you could read Arkangel as a stand-alone novel, much of the plot does rely on events from previous books in this series.  Be warned.  Tick-tock.

Opportunity Rings

I'm not sure how I happened upon Opportunity Rings (#1,253) by Sheryl Steinberg, but it was a quite enjoyable bit of fluff set at the dawn of the smart phone era.  When it came out in 2009, the technology being discussed and explained to the reader was cutting edge stuff.  Now it's a nostalgic look back at the way things used to be before the vast majority of people of all ages became permanently welded to their phones, and multimillionaire "influencers" were still in the future.

But Erica Swift, the marketing director for one of the first mobile phones to add a few additional functions, is ahead of her time without having to actually, you know, know the tech.  That's why she has her best friend at the firm, Teddy, there to "mansplain" things to her.  Erica is going through some rocky times herself.  She's stunned when her husband announces out of the blue that he's leaving Erica for his boss, an older woman.  But her best friend Sloane is there to buck her up - she'll arrange for the best divorce lawyer in her husband's firm to handle Erica's divorce.  And in the meantime, she keeps Erica busy with a whole series of rich, eligible blind dates.  Sloane's only too happy to lend her closet full of designer dresses and shoes to the cause!  You know there's going to be a happy ending here.  The biggest question just might be: With whom?

There's no heavy lifting required in this trip down Memory Lane.  It's perfect for the beach or the bubble bath.

The Excitements

I don't know why CJ Wray's novel The Excitements (#1,252) hasn't gotten more buzz; I found it a thoroughly satisfying read.  What's not to like about two female WWII veterans behaving badly?

Josephine and Penny Williamson are being feted everywhere as two of the dwindling number of WWII vets in Britain.  Why, they've met Charles and Camilla!  But these sweet and doddering old ladies are not at all what they appear to be, and they like it that way.

The book jumps back and forth in time to tell their stories before, during and after the war.  Now they've settled into an enjoyable life with their great-nephew Andrew thinking up "excitements" to keep his beloved aunts occupied.  When they are nominated for France's Legion of Honor, Andrew takes over the planning of their trip to coincide with a business trip for his Mayfair art gallery.  His friend is hosting a black-tie exhibit for a major jewelry auction, and the aunties express an interest in attending.  Only nothing about the trip goes as planned, as in a space of a few days, secrets kept for decades are gradually spilled.  And oh, are they juicy!

It's all about the power of family and friends as the story unfolds.  Penny and Josephine are heroines unlike any others I've encountered.

I just have one minor nit.  I hated the cover art on this book.  The older women shown don't pull me in, and don't remotely resemble Josephine or Penny at various points in their lives.  But do yourself a favor and pick up this book anyway.  You'll be glad you did!

A Daughter of Fair Verona

So Christina Dodd can write romcoms!  Case in point: A Daughter of Fair Verona (#1,251), a riff on the classic Romeo and Juliet.  What if they didn't die at the end, but instead settle into becoming leading lights in Verona society, running a successful wine business and raising a passel of kids?

Lady Rosaline is their oldest daughter, and the sensible one in the family.  She's successfully matched off her three previous fiancés with their ideal mate while adroitly avoiding matrimony herself.  Until her parents match her with the infamous Duke Stephano. He's already outlived three wives, so Rosie is going to be his good luck charm.  Too bad for him when he turns out dead with a knife in his chest in the Montague's garden at the couple's betrothal party.  Since everyone suspects Rosie of wielding the knife (she didn't, as much as she would have liked to!) she has to get to the bottom of things.  To complicate matters even more, Rosie finally meets her one true love!  Could things get any worse?  Well, yes, they can!

A really fun romp of a read.  I'll read anything by Christina Dodd that comes out in this series, and lucky for us, it looks promising!

The Briar Club

I've heard mixed reviews about Kate Quinn's latest novel The Briar Club (#1,250), but I have to come down firmly in the "Loved it!" camp.  It's somewhat of a departure from her recent best-selling WWII era books, like Diamond Eye and The Rose Code.  

Set in a women's boarding house in Washington, D.C. in the early 1950s, America is still recovering from WWII.  Many of the women called to fill the positions in the Washington bureaucracy vacated by men during the war are still there, trying to scrape by.  Briarwood House caters to these single women.  The plot opens with a gory murder there on Thanksgiving Day.  If only the house could talk!  But wait, Briarwood House is a character here, adding a charming bit of whimsey to the tale.

Each section of the book is devoted to one of the women living under its roof: Grace, who fixes and feeds everybody; Nora who is proud of her position at the National Archives, but whose personal life is in turmoil; Bea can't quite get over the fact that her knee injury has knocked her out of professional baseball; Arlene, working enthusiastically for the House Unamerican Activities Committee under Joe McCarthy; Fliss, the perfect British mother who is slowly buckling under the weight of that perfection...  There are others, plus the Nilsson family who actually run the boarding house.  One thing is clear right from the start: each of these women is hiding secrets with deadly consequences.

I loved this book for the same reasons I loved Clare Pooley's two recent novels, or Sara Nisha Adams' books.  They all address the issue of community in a positive way while entertaining the heck out of the reader at the same time.  If only all the books we pick up turned out to be treasures like these!

Red Star Falling

I seem to be on a Russian kick with Red Star Falling (#1,249), the latest collaboration between Steve Berry and Grant Blackwood.  This is the second book in a series featuring Luke Daniels, a young Magellan Billet agent benefitting from his encounters with the legendary Cotton Malone.

Luke is in Europe, finishing up an assignment when he receives a cryptic message from an agent he thought was killed during a botched operation on the Ukranian/Russian border.  Could John Vincent still possibly be alive in a secret Russian prison?  Luke is determined to find out.  John has discovered a plot to unleash a deadly Soviet weapon on the Kremlin.  But who is behind the plot, and why?  More importantly, can Luke stop it?

Impossible escapes, tight and plausible plotting and nothing less than the fate of the world are stake here.  Buckle in and enjoy the ride!

The Man From St. Petersburg

The Man From St. Petersburg (#1,248) is one of Ken Follett's early novels, written more than forty years ago.  Even after I finished this book, I couldn't decide whether or not I liked it, though judging by the reaction of my other book club members, I seem to be in the minority.

In 1914, Europe appears to be on the brink of war.  One man, a Russian anarchist, is determined to hasten things along by assassinating a Russian diplomat sent to London to negotiate an Anglo-Russian alliance. Prince Orlov is a relative of both the Czar and the Earl of Walden, so a social visit to his English family for the London Season provides a convenient cover for diplomatic negotiations.   Although the twists and turns of the plot are relentless, this is very much a character-driven novel.  

Long-held secrets and thwarted passions play a huge role in the plot.  In fact, I was surprised by just how much sex drove the action.  Without giving away too much, the Earl of Walden's entire family become thoroughly embroiled in the plot, from his Russian wife Lydia, to his debutante daughter Charlotte. 

Honestly, other than the Earl himself, I did not like any of the main characters.  I thought Lydia's character was the embodiment of male sexual fantasy.  No wonder daughter Charlotte grew up so defiant!  Feliks, the assassin, has a backstory which is supposed to make him more sympathetic, but I could only see him as an amoral master manipulator.  But what bothered me the most were the incredible coincidences which kept popping up.  It got to the point where you could see the reveals coming up way in advance.

I guess after writing this, I come down more on the side of not liking this book, as much as I admire Mr. Follett's later work, but if you are one of the legion of Follett fans, you may want to judge for yourself.

The Lion Women of Tehran

Marjan Kamali's latest novel, The Lion Women of Tehran (#1,247) follows the friendship of two women who meet in Tehran when they are seven in the 1950s.  They live through tempestuous times in Iranian politics while negotiating their own paths through different social strata.  It makes for an interesting read.

Elli's family comes down in the world when her father dies, and she is forced to move from a mansion to the lowest part of town.  Her mother cannot cope with the change in circumstances, but Elli finds a warm substitute family when she meets Homa, a bright and engaging neighbor.  They become fast friends, competing to be the best, especially at school.  Homa's ambition is to become a female judge in a Persian society that is gradually opening up to women.  Elli isn't so sure what she wants out of life.

As the girls grow older, and enter university, Homa is drawn into political action.  Elli is more concerned with the young man she has met.  Homa's activism will eventually embroil both of them in danger from the Shah's Secret Police.  As Elli dutifully follows her husband to America as he takes up a teaching post at a New York University, Homa is jailed in Tehran.  The circumstances don't come to light until many years later, when Homa reaches out to Elli to shelter her daughter from a worsening situation in Iran.

Betrayal and heartbreak are at the center of this story, as the status of women in Iran deteriorates in the radical Islamic state which follows the Shah's ouster.  Much of the background will be familiar to you if you are old enough to have read the headlines of the time.  Ms. Kamali's novel puts a human face on that time and place in history.

What You Leave Behind

I think Wanda M. Morris just keeps getting better and better with each succeeding book.  What You Leave Behind (#1246) is her third novel.  This one is set in the Gullah Geechee culture of Georgia's Golden Isles.

Deena Woods' life is on a downward spiral.  She's lost her beloved mother, her job at a prestigious Atlanta law firm, her marriage and her home, all within a few months.  She's come back to her childhood home in Brunswick, Georgia and a dead-end job.  Her father has remarried, and Deena feels uncomfortable with his new wife, so she spends a lot of her time driving aimlessly around the area.  One afternoon, she stops by a wide expanse of marsh and beachfront.  When she gets out of her car for a few breaths of fresh air, she is confronted by an old black man armed with a gun.  He orders her off his property after demanding  to know who sent her there.  Deena is thoroughly confused, but his threats are real, so as she tries to get away from him and his dog, she trips over a root and knocks herself out.  When she awakens in Holcomb Gardener's trailer to a barrage of questions about her purpose in coming there, she can't answer them.  Gardener allows her to leave, but on her way out, she is chased by a black SUV back to town.  Deena is determined to find out what is going on and why the old man kept saying he would never sell his land.

The more she digs, the stranger things become.  Someone in Brunswick and beyond is cheating poor people, black and white, out of their properties by using a legal loophole.  "They" are making tons of money, and don't take kindly to interference, as Deena soon finds out.

There's a bit of a woo-woo factor here, but I thought it enhanced the atmosphere of the book and its emphasis on Gullah-Geechee culture.  A little bit of romance and lots of redemption here. And the legal loophole at the heart of the story is unfortunately, very real, as Ms. Morris explains.  Highly recommended!

Glorious Exploits

Glorious Exploits (#1245) by Ferdia Lennon made it all the way to Greece with me, since it's set in ancient Syracuse during the Peloponnesian War, but I was so busy I never had time to read it.  I picked it up the other day, intending to sit back for an enjoyable read.

Apparently, the Booker Prize winners who contributed the cover blurbs saw something in this book that I did not.  I don't consider a character who haunts a quarry where the captured Athenian soldiers are imprisoned in order to beat a few to death with a club each time hilarious fun.  I was so unamused by the first several chapters written in a contemporary Dublin accent that I put it down.  Frankly, I'm sorry I read that far.  It's your time to waste.

How To Age Disgracefully

I love Clare Pooley.  Furthermore, I think I've convinced the members of one of my book clubs to love her, too, after they read Iona Iverson's Guide to Commuting.  Now Ms. Poole's hit literary gold again with a wonderful London Senior Citizens' Social Club with a most unlikely cast of characters in How To Age Disgracefully (#1244).  Besides the intrepid band of seniors, these include a middle-aged woman venturing back into the working world after a long hiatus, a bunch of adorable preschoolers from the day care center that shares their building, and assorted cops, robbers and drug dealers. Even Clare Pooley herself admits to not knowing what was going to happen to them all, but she managed to work it all out in humorous, heartbreaking and totally unexpected ways!

When the ceiling of the Mandel Community Center meeting room collapses during the initial meeting of the Senior Citizens' Social Club, taking out one of its members, everyone else bands together to prevent the City Councilors from razing the building and erecting a posh luxury apartment tower in its place.  But where are the people who use the Community Center on a regular basis supposed to go?  The Council rep has no answers but tells them they'll need to raise a hundred thousand pounds in a ridiculously short amount of time to have any chance of saving it.  The Council certainly didn't count on septuagenarians rising to the challenge.  Cake, anyone?

I cannot recommend Ms. Pooley's work highly enough.  If you're old enough to join the Senior Citizens' Social Club yourself, you'll appreciate these folks making themselves thoroughly seen again!

Death On The Tiber

In Lindsey Davis' Death On The Tiber (#1,243) Flavia Albia is settling nicely into her life with her second husband.  In fact, she's strolling the Tiber waterfront with Tiberius Manlius Faustus as he searches for the perfect marble column for a temple he's refurbishing.  But nothing is ever simple in their family.  Tiberius is recognized as a former city magistrate and is called over to inspect what a river dredger has brought up.  It's the body of a woman.  So why are the Emperor's Special Units interested?  They don't seem to care about the woman herself, but rather the man she was allegedly seeking in Rome.  But when it turns out the woman was from Britannia, Albia takes a personal interest.  Especially when she discovers that the man in question is a long-ago enemy of hers.

Gang warfare is about to break out again in Rome after the funeral of one of its long-time leaders.  Turf wars over territory, leadership and horse racing are a daily occurrence with the fearsome special imperial troops stationed within the city take a role in suppressing activities with their own violence.  Suddenly, Rome isn't safe for anyone...

I just love this mystery series set in the reign of Domitian.  Flavia Albia is independent, snarky and determined to face up to her ancient adversary as the men in her life do their utmost to keep her safe.  I really wish I could see Albia's mongrel Barley dancing on the back of their household donkey Mercury!  It apparently stops the foot traffic in the Roman markets!

The Fellowship Of Puzzlemakers

I can't do without my daily fix of the New York Times Crossword puzzle.  So much so that when my local paper (yes, I still read a physical newspaper!) stopped carrying the NYT crossword, I found out I could subscribe to the Games app of the NYT.  I haven't looked back since!  With that said, how could I not be intrigued by a novel with the title The Fellowship Of Puzzlemakers (#1,242) with a nod to jigsaw puzzles on its cover?  

Samuel Burr has cleverly centered his tale of an orphan left on the doorstep of a mansion inhabited by a group of older puzzlemakers, all busily contributing their earnings from their various pursuits to a communal purse.  Young Clayton Stumper has been happy in this intellectual cocoon, but when Pippa Allsbrook, the women who has raised him as her own dies, she leaves him with a string of clues which she promises will lead to his true identity.  Brogue-wearing Clayton seems older than his actual age and is reluctant at first to leave the only home he has ever known in pursuit of the wider world.  Yet this is what his beloved mother wishes for him, so he follows the first clue to London...

The plot jumps between Pippa's story and Clayton's search for himself as the reader is invited to solve the clues along with Clayton (mastery of these clues is not required on the part of the reader!) which adds to the fun.  It's a lovely book about the many kinds of love, even if you are not a particularly keen puzzle-solver yourself.  Highly recommended for those looking for something different in a "feel good" book.

Fugitive Telemetry

Murderbot is back in Fugitive Telemetry (#1,241) by Martha Wells!  Now that Murderbot has found a more permanent home guarding Dr. Mensah on Preservation Station, it's been there long enough to be thoroughly bored.  And snarky.  It's not allowed to freely access the station's many feeds (It did promise not to.), but nobody will leave it alone long enough to hunker down and watch its favorite media feed The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon.  How else is it supposed to figure out human behavior, except through watching soap operas?!  That is, until the day a murdered human is found on Preservation Station.  Can Muderbot assist?  Of course it can in this murder mystery!

Such a fun read, if you like snarky characters.  Murderbot is one of the best, and its internal dialog makes me laugh out loud, especially when you totally agree with it.  I've noticed one interesting thing about this Martha Wells series - Murderbot is a construct, not human, yet you can't help but relate to it.  In fact, I always think of Murderbot as a she, but in talking about the book with my husband, he refers to the Murderbot character as he.  Ms. Wells uses they/them pronouns in referring to other constructs in the books.  I guess it's up to you to decide what to call Murderbot internally once you form an attachment.  I know I'm looking forward to further adventures!

The Demon of Unrest - A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War

In the Acknowledgments section of Erik Larson's best-selling book, The Demon of Unrest - A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War (#1,240) he jokingly claims that one of his early reviewers now possesses "a truly effective doorstop".  While he's not wrong about it being a literally weighty tome, he isn't giving his multitude of readers credit for reading this fascinating narrative of a myriad of people places and things which contributed to the start of the Civil War.  Central to this is examining what led to the South Carolinians firing upon Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor.  His conclusion?  Slavery was the root cause.

That is still controversial today, according to sources at my local library, and the proliferation of confederate flags on display all around us.  Yet it was all done to preserve a way of life and an economy based on cotton, dependent on an enslaved force to do the actual work so that the upper class could practice their notion of "chivalry" in comfort.  Abraham Lincoln did not begin his term in office as an abolitionist; his desire was to let the states who wished to secede over the question of slavery maintain their economic status quo (including slavery!) and peacefully rejoin the Union.  It didn't work out that way...

I had no idea who many of the people were who played significant roles in instigating the Civil War, or those who worked equally diligently to prevent it.  Who knew a rogue Supreme Court justice would be accused of treasonous behavior for "aiding and abetting" the enemy - i.e. the Secession States?  Or that Florida helped turned the tide toward secession?  Or that certifying the vote for Lincoln's presidency would upend American politics in a way akin to the Trump/Biden January 6th debacle?

As always with Erik Larson's books, he buries some interesting information in his chapter Notes, so be sure to check these out.  Prepare to settle in for a long and enlightening read.

Lost Birds

Anne Hillerman continues the popular Navajo mystery series begun by her father Tony Hillerman with Lost Birds (#1,239).  Joe Leaphorn has taken on a case in his retirement, trying to track family for an adopted woman who suspects her biological family may be Navajo.  It's taking up much more of his time than he would like, since the only clues he has to go on are a photo of an Indian couple taken near the iconic Elephant Feet rock formations, and a small silver and turquoise baby bracelet.  Both were left by Stella's adopted mother in an envelope to be opened after her death.

As Joe is trying to buckle down to work on this "Lost Bird" case, another potential client calls him for help tracking down a missing wife.  The call is interrupted by a large explosion in the background.  Bernie Manuelito is called in to help investigate the explosion at the Eagle Roost school, where a body is found in a car.  Bernie and Joe find their work intersecting over the case.

As always, there is plenty of interesting background on Navajo culture and customs as Joe Leaphorn, Bernie Manuelito and Jim Chee try to put together the pieces while dealing with painful personal issues.  Always a satisfying read, although I must admit, I now picture Joe, Bernie and Jim as played by the actors in the Dark Winds TV adaption of these mysteries!

Disturbing The Dead

Disturbing The Dead (#1,238) is the third entry in Kelley Armstrong's A Rip Through Time series. I'm really enjoying this time-travel mystery series set in 1860s Edinburgh.  Mallory Atkinson is a present-day police detective from Vancouver visiting her dying grandmother in Edinburgh when she is transported back to the body of a Victorian housemaid.  (All of which is detailed in A Rip Through Time.)

Mallory is now settling into the eccentric household in which she finds herself - Dr. Gray, the non-practicing physician who runs a funeral parlor and does the odd autopsy for the police, and his widowed chemist sister, Mrs. Ballantyne.  Mallory's skills have proven of use to her employers and so she is included in an invitation to an exclusive mummy-unwrapping party at the mansion of an eminent Egyptologist, Sir Alastair Christie.  When the time comes to unwrap the mummy, the guests are in for the surprise of the social season...

Lots of red herrings, and a difficult decision for Mallory move the plot smartly along.  It's not quite your usual cast of characters, but the chemistry between the ensemble is fun to read about as relationships develop apace.  If you're looking for a new mystery series with a twist, try A Rip Through Time.  I'm already anticipating Mallory and Dr. Gray's next adventure!

Running With Sherman - The Donkey With The Heart Of A Hero

Someone at my library book club mentioned recently reading Running With Sherman - The Donkey With The Heart Of A Hero (#1,237) by Christopher McDougall.  It originally came out in 2019, so this memoir has been around for a few years, although I don't ever recall hearing about it before.  That's a shame, because I found this quite an enjoyable read.

Christopher McDougall has been a war correspondent, covering some brutal conflicts, which led to him seeking more peaceful surroundings for his wife and family.  What could be further from the hustle and bustle of American life than the Amish country in Pennsylvania?  Settling into the rural lifestyle, daughter Sophie decides she wants a donkey as a pet.  Word spreads among the McDougall's neighbors, and soon Christopher is picking up his Amish friend to check out a donkey being kept in atrocious conditions by an animal hoarder.  Sherman is in such bad shape when McDougall arrives on the scene that it's doubtful Sherman will even survive the night in his new home.

How his friends and neighbors help the McDougalls help Sherman heal and survive is a heart-warming story.  Yes, that's a cliche, but in this case, it's true.  In order to keep going in life, Sherman had to be given a purpose, and that purpose for Christopher was burro racing in mountainous terrain with his human companion.  Who even knew that burro-racing was a thing, with its own professional circuit?  I certainly didn't!  But training for his first event took the whole village's efforts.

What makes this book so interesting are the many tangents McDougall follows about the people, places and causes he encounters on his quest to keep Sherman alive and happy.  Many photos of their mutual journey are included in the text.  This memoir is well worth your time!

The Widows of Malabar Hill

A friend introduced me to this mystery series set in 1920s Bombay.  It features Perveen Mistry, Oxford educated daughter of a prominent Parsi family, and currently the only practicing female solicitor in Bombay in her family's law firm.  

In her latest entry, The Widows of Malabar Hill (#1,236), Sujata Massey juxtaposes some of Perveen's unhappy personal history with a case involving three widows of a Muslim businessman.  While reviewing some of the routine paperwork connected with the case, Perveen comes across some questionable documents signed by the widows.  Not only their own incomes, but those of their children will be greatly affected by these papers, and not for the better.  Perveen seeks an opinion from her father, but since the ladies live in purdah, behind screens, he cannot answer her questions as he dealt only Mr. Farid himself.  Perveen sees the perfect opportunity to make herself useful in this situation - she, as a woman, can enter the women's quarter of the house and speak to the widows directly.  It sounds like a great idea until her questions lead to murder and kidnappings...

It's not just the mysteries themselves which make this series so intriguing.  It's the interplay of characters between British and Indian, Muslim, Hindu and Parsi, the haves and have-nots that make the books so rich in atmosphere.  Perveen herself has a foot in both worlds in many cases.  She's still not sure exactly where she fits into things, but she does know that she wants to be admitted to the Bar in India.

You could read The Widows of Malabar Hill as a stand-alone book, but I think it's best read in its proper place in the series.  You can easily find that on Fantastic Fiction.  Highly recommended!

That Librarian

After school librarian Amanda Jones spoke at a Library Board meeting in Louisiana, she was targeted by a pair of activists whose mission is to censor and weed out books they object to out of both public- and public-school libraries in the name of protecting "the children".  Cyber-bullying, lies, and actual death threats became an everyday part of her life.  That Librarian (#1,235) is the story of how she handled the pressures and fought back to preserve the rights of everyone (That's you and me!) to read what they choose.

Ms. Jones gradually came to realize that the hate campaign against her was well-funded, organized, and followed a recognizable pattern as others who spoke up against banning books in their own neighborhoods were targeted.  Like the Nazis, their aim is to marginalize and erase cultures and whole groups of people by defunding public schools, libraries and anywhere else people are able to read and educate themselves to think critically.  Her view is that privatizing education and libraries serves to line the pockets of a self-serving group of white Christian nationalists by enlisting eager foot soldiers like Moms For Liberty (theirs, not yours!) to do their dirty work.  Unfortunately, in many areas it's working.

Although I agree with Ms. Jones' conclusions - I've seen them at work in my own area - I must admit I did find reading her memoir repetitive.  It's illustrated with screen shots she captured during her continuing ordeal, some bullying and some praising.  That did get old fast.  Still, the core of what Amanda Jones and those fighting alongside her to protect is important.  If you want others to do your thinking for you, don't bother to show up to defend your local library and librarians.  If you don't want others telling you what to think and do, stand up now, before it's too late.  Remember, the Germans willing elected Adolf Hitler.  Didn't turn out too well for them, did it?

The Murder of Mr. Wickham

Imagine an English country house party where all the guests are your favorite couples from Jane Austen novels. That's what The Murder of Mr. Wickham (#1,234) is all about.  What fun for Janeites! (except for Mr. Wickham, of course!).  Claudia Gray has set her novel in 1820, so readers will be familiar with just about everyone but the Darcy's oldest son Jonathan, and the Tilney's young daughter Juliet as the Knightleys host a ragtag assembly of friends and connections.

After Wickham shows up uninvited and meets his demise soon afterwards, it becomes clear just about everyone in the house had reason to wish him gone from their lives.  Equally clear to Jonathan and Juliet is that someone in their house party had to have done the deed.  But whom?

That's the delicious part of this book.  You really don't want any of your favorite characters to be the guilty party.  But as they say, getting there is half the fun!

The even better news is that Claudia Gray has already written two more sequels to The Murder of Mr. Wickham. Can't wait to read the further adventures of Jonathan and Juliet.

The Fox Wife

I have been saving The Fox Wife (#1,233) for just the right time when I could settle down and really enjoy reading it.  I was so glad I did!  I even persuaded my husband to read Yangsze Choo's latest novel.  It's historical fiction mixed with Chinese folk tales about foxes who can shape-shift into irresistibly attractive men and women meets detective story.

A young woman from the grasslands of northern China is tracking a photographer who has done her harm.  It's the early 1900s, and the political situation in China is volatile, with a Dowager Empress clinging to power, and an infant Emperor.  Russia and Japan are taking notice.  It's not safe for a woman traveling alone.

Meanwhile, a young woman is found frozen to death on the back doorstep of a local restaurant.  She is a stranger to everyone in the area.  The restaurant owner is afraid of losing business if word gets out, so he hires Detective Bao to identify the women and where she came from to make the problem go away.

As the story switches back and forth between these protagonists, their pursuits become entwined...

The characters are so intriguing in this book, I couldn't wait to find out what would happen next.  Yangsze Choo can really spin a tale.  Put aside some quiet time to enjoy this fantastic read!

I also wanted to add that I loved the cover art on this book.  Just looking at it on the top of my "To Read" pile made me want to dive right into it.  Kudos to the cover artist!

The Wide, Wide Sea - Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook

Hampton Sides writes nonfiction in such a compelling way that it's hard to put down one of his books once you pick it up.  It's certainly true of his latest - The Wide, Wide Sea - Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook (#1,232).  Cook's secret royal remit on this journey was to reach the 65th north latitude west of the North American continent and search for the elusive Northwest Passage, creating a shipping shortcut from Asia to England.  There were many perils along the way, political, geographical and meteorological.  Yet most of his crews survived the harrowing trip.  Cook himself did not.  And that, in itself, is the subject of much speculation.  The facts of Cook's death at the hands of Hawaiians are well-documented, but the cause behind it is not.

To me, it was remarkable that while Captain Cook on the Resolution, and Captain Clerke on the Discovery were exploring the South Seas and the Pacific Northwest, the American Revolution was raging on the North American continent.  France and Spain were both now officially at war with Great Britain, adding to the dangers of the expedition.  Yet still, the two ships landed at island after island where few, if any, Europeans had set foot, not even the Spanish or Portuguese, who laid claim to the entire Pacific.

This book was full of "Huh, I did not know that!" moments of reading.  A few of the places described in the book we have been to, most we have not, but like Cook himself, we always want to see the next thing.  His side trip to Russia just so he could set foot on the continent of Asia is a perfect example of what drove him most of his life.

If you are an armchair traveler, especially if you have ever spent any time on a boat, this is the perfect read for you.  Make sure you pick up a hardback edition so you will have the benefit of the color plates and illustrations.

Egypt's Golden Couple - When Akhenaten And Nefertiti Were Gods On Earth

I decided to track down Egypt's Golden Couple - When Akhenaten And Nefertiti Were Gods On Earth (#1,231) at our local library to begin reading up before our Nile cruise this winter.  Written by a pair of married Egyptologists, John and Colleen Darnell, the cover blurbs promised new insights into this controversial pair.  I was disappointed.

The authors introduced each chapter with a fictional episode based on carvings, sculptures and artifacts of the period.  They then concluded with a non-fiction essay on a topic related directly or tangentially to Akhenaten and Nefertiti.  A number of these had to do with correctly interpreting hieroglyphics concerning the royal pair.  Since I have no interest in diacritical markings of a technical nature, I found these chapters tedious, even though I plowed through them.

In the end, did I learn anything about Akhenaten and Nefertiti I didn't already know?  Yes, a few things.  Would I recommend this book to a casual reader who merely has curiosity about ancient Egypt and wishes to expand his or her knowledge?  No.  It's like trying to follow a sand flea as it jumps from topic to topic.  If you already have a background in ancient Egyptian history, this might be a good addition to your library.

Summers At The Saint

Talk about your perfect beach read - Summers At The Saint (#1,230) by Mary Kay Andrews fits the bill!  The Saint in the title is the St. Ceclia Resort, an exclusive enclave on a Georgia coastal island.  Families come and spend the "season" year after year.  Many have bought properties on the island and are members of the Saint.

So why is such a posh place losing money hand over fist?  And why is it so difficult to hang onto experienced staff?  These are just a few of the problems Resort Owner/Manager Traci Eddings is dealing with as the latest summer season is almost upon them.  The people she recruits for some crucial positions don't meet with the General Manager's approval, though.  Especially when those new hires start to question irregularities they notice while doing their jobs...

It's a suspenseful read with more violence than I might have expected after reading other books by Ms. Andrews.  Still, it moved the story forward.  I really enjoyed this book, and it would be a perfect fit for your own beach bag.

A Short Walk Through A Wide World

Douglas Weterbeke's A Short Walk Through A Wide World (#1,1229) is fantastical in all the right ways.  I've never read a book quite like this.  Aubrey Tourvel is just nine years old when she picks up a wooden puzzle ball outside a recently deceased neighbor's house in Paris.  Nothing is ever the same for her again.  Although she drops it down a well, it reappears the next day in her satchel.  And that's when Aubrey starts bleeding to death.  The only way to make the bleeding stop temporarily is to move on to a new location - over and over and over again.

A Short Walk chronicles Aubrey's adventures over the many years of her life.  Always on the move, she meets all sorts of people, but she can never stay long enough to build a relationship with most.  Her only respites are in the underground libraries which pop up in unexpected places.  There she can find endless shelves of fascinating books, food when she needs it, and comfortable places to rest.  When she emerges, she is always in a far different place than where she entered.  Aubrey slowly realizes she is not living in the same world as those who dwell on the surface.

More than just an adventure story, A Short Walk Through A Wide World probes Aubrey's interior life as well, and that's just as interesting.  No wonder this book has gotten so much buzz from the literary critics.  It might not be to everyone's taste, but I loved it.  Can't wait to see what Mr. Weterbeke has up his sleeve for us next!

The Royal Game

Perfect summer reading for royal fans, Linda Keir's The Royal Game (#1,228) combines an unlikely royal romance with aspects of a thriller.  It works well here.

Jennie Jensen is an American musician who's had success when a song she wrote was picked up as the main theme in a hit movie.  It's allowed her some financial freedom - enough to tour Mediterranean hot spots with her acoustic guitar.  She's living her dream when a rich, entitled Englishman disrupts her performance one balmy evening in Mallorca.  It turns out Hugh, the Prince of Wales, is a fan.  The rest, as they say, is history.

But an American as the Princess of Wales?  Many people don't want that to happen, and some are very determined to prevent it.  After all, look at what happened to Princess Penelope, Hugh's mother; she was killed in a tragic plane crash.  But as small snubs and mishaps begin to pile up, Jennie begins to wonder.  Was the Princess paranoid, or was someone out to get her?

The danger adds a special edge to this otherwise conventional love story, but it's enough to make this book a real page turner.  I thoroughly enjoyed this romance by writing team Linda Joffe Hull and Keir Graff.  Maybe it's the male perspective that helps propel the story.  Anyway, if you love reading all things royal, definitely add The Royal Game to your list.

The Murder of Mr. Ma

Looking for something different in a mystery?  The Murder of Mr. Ma (#1,227) by co-authors John Shen Yen Nee and SJ Rozan might fit the bill.  In classic form, the mystery kicks off with the murder of a moderately successful Chinese antiquities dealer living in London in 1924.  He was killed by a butterfly sword which was on display in his shop.

Since the victim was Chinese, the London Police aren't taking much of an interest in the case.  Enter two legendary Chinese cultural icons - Judge Dee Ren Jie and scholar Loa She - to investigate.  As the body count rises, the pair find commonalities in the victims - all members during World War I of the Chinese Labor Corps based in France on the front lines.

There's a slowly unraveling motive behind the killings, hostile police, a number of kung fu style fights featuring Judge Dee, and visits to some of the seamiest parts of London including its opium dens.  Nobody is whom they appear to be...

This was a lot of fun to read and imagine (Yes, it would make a great movie or tv adaptation!  Loved that the authors referenced the Frankie Drake tv mystery series for visual clues!).  Dee and Lao's English is usually more posh and polished than that of the characters they meet.  Though based on real people, their pairing here would have been impossible in real life, since they actually lived hundreds of years apart.  But here, they cozy up to Bertrand Russell and Ezra Pound without missing a beat.  I certainly hope this appealing pair of sleuths will be undertaking future cases!

You Dreamed of Empires

I remember hearing an interview on NPR when You Dreamed of Empires (#1,226) was first published.  It's Alvaro Enrigue's re-imagining of the confrontation between Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortes and the Aztec emperor Moctezuma (translated by Natasha Wimmer).   It sounded so off-the-wall that I immediately wrote down the title and author to add to my "To Read" list.  It's taken my local library a long time to finally acquire this slim volume, but I read it in essentially one go.

Most of the action in this bizarre story takes place on a day when Cortes and his soldiers are invited into the capital city of Tenoxtitlan.  Moctezuma's councilors cannot understand the emperor's actions.  Why not squash these invaders as they deserve?  But Cortes has one thing that Moctezuma has determined he wants for future conquests: the horses.

The descriptions of the ancient Aztec city and the customs of its peoples are utterly fascinating.  It sounds so civilized - except for the constant blood sacrifices of almost anything that breathes.

If you remember your history, you know how this story ended in fact.  After reading about the actions of the conquistadors here, I have to admit, I prefer Enrigue's alternative, highly satisfactory ending.  It's a weird book, but if you have the stomach for it, worth the time.

The Tainted Cup

I do love a good murder mystery!  Robert Jackson Bennett's The Tainted Cup (#1,225) is one of the best I've come across in a long, long time.  Many whodunit fans will miss this one entirely because it is labeled science fiction.  Set in an empire beset by leviathans attacking from beyond its heavily fortified sea walls, it is also plagued with a series of unnatural deaths.  An official Investigator, Ana, and her recently appointed apprentice Assistant Investigator, Din, are assigned to look into the matters.  Are the deaths merely unfortunate contagions, or is there a pattern and motive behind these disparate events?

Din is the eyes for Ana, who belongs to a race so sensitive to outside stimuli she must work through a proxy.  He still doesn't know the full range of his abilities, but Ana has chosen him based on what she suspects about him.  Together, they make a formidable team - like Sherlock and Watson.  When they draw close to the truth of the matter during an impending breach of the sea walls by the second rampaging titan in a matter of days, someone is planning to take advantage of the chaos to rid themselves of these impediments.

The world Bennett has built is fascinating with its dangerous landscapes, magical plants controlled by the bureaucracy, and of course, the hierarchy that controls, and is controlled by the empire and the wealthiest power players.  I really hated to see this book come to an end, I enjoyed it so much.  I am very glad to see that there will be a second book in this series to be released next February.  I can't wait!

Lies And Weddings

I just finished Kevin Kwan's latest dishy novel Lies And Weddings (#1,224).  Who doesn't love reading about over-the-top society weddings being ruined by an inconvenient volcanic eruption? And it just keeps getting better from there!

The main characters in this romp are the Earl of Greshambury and his family along with their neighbors, the Tongs.  Despite the lavish spending by the Countess Arabella (a former Hong Kong super model) Francis, the Earl, has never had the courage to tell her economize as their fortune slowly disappears over the decades.  When push comes to shove, the solution to their financial woes is obvious: their two lovely daughters and the hunky son Rufus, Viscount St. Ives, must all marry money.  Piles and piles of money. 

 You know that's never going to work out.  Rufus has been in love with the girl next door for years.  Eden Tong doesn't believe anything will come of it due to his social position, even though she returns his regard.  Besides, both she and her father have busy medical practices to keep them occupied when not being summoned up to the Manor to treat the Greshams.

The plot skips merrily around the watering holes of the rich and famous as scheming mothers jockey for the most eligible catches on any continent...  Will love win in the end?  Oh, I think it's got a pretty good chance with Kevin Kwan pulling the strings. (And writing those delicious catty little footnotes!)

Do, by all means, add Lies And Weddings to your summer reading book bag!

The Berry Pickers

The Berry Pickers (#1,223) by Amanda Peters has justly received favorable buzz.  The pleasure in reading this novel is not the suspense - we know from the beginning that the two Points of View will converge, like a well-written Regency romance.  It's how the writer gets us there that matters.

Back in the 60's, a four-year-old Mi'kmaq girl named Ruthie goes missing from the berry fields in Maine which her migrant worker family and friends are harvesting.  Meanwhile, Norma is having bad dreams in her middle-class Maine home.  Her mother smothers her with attention, but Norma remembers smells and flashes of another mother.  Although she speaks to a family friend about her dreams, nothing comes of it. The journey on both sides to fill in the missing gaps in their emotional lives plays out, bittersweet.

Well worth the time.

Becoming Madam Secretary

I heard about Becoming Madam Secretary (#1,222) at one of my book clubs.  It's Stephanie Dray's fictionalized biographical novel about Frances Perkins.  She became the Secretary of Labor and first female Cabinet Secretary in the Administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  If you've ever earned or received a Social Security benefit, you have Miss Perkins to thank for it.  For someone who so broadly affected everyday Americans' lives, it is astonishing how few people have ever heard of her, or realize her significance.

Ms. Dray has done an admirable job of fixing that knowledge gap.  She makes Frances Perkins' life relatable and compelling.  She certainly did not have an easy life, but she was driven by her conviction to do the "right thing" and make people's lives better.  She was fortunate to have met up with the powerful movers and shakers of her era to make her forward progress possible.  It's quite a story.  Highly recommended.

Just one minor quibble: Frances Perkins was known for wearing the then-fashionable tricorn hats.  In fact, Ms. Dray even states in her prelude "...in a fur-trimmed coat and my trademark tricorn hat".  So why, in both the standard and large-print editions of Becoming Madam Secretary does the cover art show her in generic round-brimmed hat?  Oh, well.  At least her story's out there now.

Red Side Story

Red Side Story (#1,221) is the sequel to Jasper Fforde's Shades of Grey, but you can read this novel all by itself without having too much difficulty figuring out what happened in the first book.  Chromatacia is a land where your fate is determined by which color spectrum of light you can see, and how strongly you perceive that color.  The higher your sensitivity to it, the higher you are socially.

Eddie Russet is a strong Red, but he and his companion Jane Brunswick, a Green, are accused of murdering a Yellow while on an expedition for the Collective.  If they are found guilty (which they most certainly will be), it's off to the Green Room with them, where they will be executed by soporific exposure to Green.

Not only are Eddie and Jane not guilty, but their venture beyond the Outer Boundaries of East Carmine have raised many questions for the pair.  Things they've been told all their lives just don't seem to be adding up...  And just who is running the show?

Wildly imaginative, this book is provocative in its rendering of the social order (which is a literal thing in the book!)  It will make you think as you laugh at the improbableness of so many of the situations here.  Great fodder for a book club!

The Atlas Maneuver

Steve Berry's latest Cotton Malone thriller, The Atlas Maneuver (#1,220) is set in the mysterious financial world of bitcoin.  What would happen to monetary systems across the planet if one person decided to take total control?

As laid out in this novel, it's frighteningly plausible.  Things have worth if people believe they have worth is the lesson behind this book.  And it's surprising how ordinary a monstrous person can seem if they have proper distance between them and the strings they are pulling.  If you are a fan of bitcoin, or most decidedly not, you'll enjoy this caper.

West With Giraffes

There's a kernel of truth in the plot of West With Giraffes (#1,219) by Lynda Rutledge.  A pair of giraffes being shipped to the fledgling San Diego Zoo barely survive the Hurricane of 1938 on board their ship.  Once they arrive in New York City, there remains the problem of how to transport them across the country to the Zoo.  It's never been done before, but their journey keeps America captivated as war breaks out in Europe.

That part of the book is all true, but the characters and events that accompany Boy and Girl on their cross-country journey are fictitious.  Woody Nickel is a refugee from the Dustbowl disaster when he washes up in New York City.  He's never seen such a place, or such creatures as the giraffes.  He barely survived the storm himself and has no idea what to do with himself, but he wants to stay with those giraffes.  How he manages to make himself part of the crew moving them with one mishap after another makes for an engaging tale, and all seems to be going well for him until the Zoo man and the female reporter following them find themselves in Texas where Woody comes from.  Told from Woody's old age, the mysteries are gradually revealed. It seems he has a past, after all...

The Head That Wears The Crown

I have to admit, I was not expecting much from Mariah Stewart's recent novel The Head That Wears The Crown (#1,218), but I liked the diamond necklace and tiara on the book's cover, so why not?  I was very pleasantly surprised by just how much I enjoyed this novel.  

Annie Gilberti is just trying to make ends meet.  She's a divorced Philadelphia mother of two teens living a hectic life when she realizes that she is being stalked by a tall, dark and handsome man as she runs her Saturday errands.  He's there when she comes out of church the next day and asks to speak to her.  What could possibly go wrong?  It turns out Annie is the heir to a small Grand Duchy in Europe she's never heard of, but the people there want her to come back as their ruler.  So much history her Grandmother, the exiled Grand Duchess, never told her growing up!  With both her grandmother and mother gone, Annie is left on her own to decide what to do.  She feels she owes it to herself to check out San Gilberti.

What Annie does on her arrival makes for a diverting read as she becomes a positive force for good in her own life and that of her family, but also for the Grand Duchy of San Gilberti.  Yes, there's a romance, but that's a secondary plot line here as Annie discovers the best possible version of herself.  Yay, Annie!

The Iliad

The very first book I purchased to download onto my Christmas Kindle was Emily Wilson's translation of The Iliad (#1,217).  Since we were going to be visiting Troy amongst other ports on a cruise, what could be better or more atmospheric than reading the words of Homer as we glided across the "wine dark sea" towards the place where it all happened?  I'd never read any version of this classic work since the Classics Illustrated comic book version as a child.

Ms. Wilson's translation, as it turned out, was ideal for my purposes.  Her aim was to make the English poetry "sing" as it had in the ancient Greek dialects.  This is a work meant to be spoken, not just read, and it was hard sometimes to stop myself from disturbing everyone else around me with the rhythms of the verses.  Also, her introductory section sets up the work perfectly for the non-scholastic reader in providing context for the poem.  No wonder The New York Times named this particular translation to the top 100 books of the year when it came out several years ago!

With that said: Yikes!!!  There was so much sex and violence in The Iliad that I'm amazed that the Classics Illustrated folks even attempted to produce a kiddie version.  I think we tend to conflate The Iliad and The Odyssey, so to me it was somewhat surprising what didn't happen in The Iliad.  For instance, the Trojan Horse doesn't appear until The Odyssey.  And Achilles spends most of the poem pouting in his tent over a wrong done him by Agamemnon over a woman.  I've always thought of him as an action hero, but not so much here.  And to be honest, Trojan Hector wasn't much better.  The ancient Greeks did love their gossip!  It's wonderful to still be surprised by a classic that you think you know so well...

If you've never read The Iliad, there's no time like the present, but do yourself a favor and make sure you find Emily Wilson's translation.  You won't regret it.

The Source

I recently finished James Michener's epic novel The Source (#1,216) while traveling.  Set in Israel in 1964, this book was contemporary fiction when it was first published.  Although somewhat dated today, it is amazing how little has changed since then on the political front, and the quest for territory.  It is as relevant today as the day it was originally published.

The plot concerns an archaeological dig of a previously undisturbed tell, or mound, near the present day city of Acre.  Two exploratory shafts are sunk to bedrock, and the crew find sufficient artifacts to make the excavation site viable for at least a ten year period.  The plot switches back and forth between the tensions on the worksite and the neighboring kibbutz, and as each separate level of the site is exposed, an imagining of the lives of the descendants of Ur in succeeding time periods.  From the Stone Age to the British withdrawal from Palestine in 1947, each layer tells its own compelling story.

There is so much to explore here that my book club expanded its discussion to two meetings!

This is my first James Michener novel.  He was legendary for his research on his books, and I can tell you that I learned quite a lot as I read this fascinating book.  To really appreciate it, you'll need to devote a significant chunk of time to read it, but I think you'll find it's time well spent.

The Underground Library

Jennifer Ryan hooked me with her first WWII novel, The Chilbury Ladies' Choir (See my post of 12/27/2017.) and I've looked forward eagerly to each new stand-alone book.  Her latest is The Underground Library (#1,215).

Here Ms. Ryan interweaves the stories of three young women who find themselves in the London neighborhood of Bethnal Green at the outbreak of WWII.  Katie's family owns a large house on the Park, and her life is seemingly set as she spends the final summer working at the Bethnal Green Library before she heads off to university in the fall.  Juliet arrives to take up her new post as Deputy Director of the Bethnal Green Library, escaping her small country town and her controlling parents.  Sofie is a young German Jewish refugee sent by her abusive employer to the library to find him a book of maps.

Each chapter is told from a different point of view, tracing the impact the Bethnal Green Library has on each of them, even as it is bombed by the Nazis and subsequently moved down into the London Underground for safety, to serve the community which gathers each night to escape the bombs themselves.  It's an engrossing tale.

In the Acknowledgements, Ms. Ryan mentions Simon Parkin's fascinating non-fiction work The Island of Extraordinary Captives.  I came across this book in my own library recently, and both my husband and I read it with a great deal of interest.  I hope Jennifer Ryan's shout out will encourage people to read it who might not otherwise have ever heard of it.  (See my post of 10/31/2023.)

As always, highly recommended.

The Silence In Her Eyes

After hearing author Armando Lucas Correa speak about his latest novel, The Silence In Her Eyes (#1,214), I knew I wanted to read it.  Known for his historical novels, Silence was a pet project for him.  It's a thriller centered on a young woman who suffers from a neurological condition called akinetopsia.  Leah has motion blindness.  Although she can see, the image remains still until she blinks her eyes.  Much can change around her in the time it takes her to blink.

Leah's mother has recently died, leaving her alone in an enormous pre-war apartment.  When a young woman in the throes of a nasty divorce moves in next door, Leah can hear them fighting.  After Leah befriends Alice, everything changes for her; someone comes into her apartment, leaving a strong and distinctive scent behind.  No one believes her, though, even when she senses someone watching and following her...

In this cat-and-mouse thriller, it really is a question of who is preying on whom.

Twisty, it certainly kept me guessing until the end!

Women of Good Fortune

The cover blurb for Sophie Wan's novel Women of Good Fortune (#1,213) calls the book "Joyous, indulgent, immensely clever."  While I might agree with the "immensely clever" comment, I would never call this book either "joyous" or "indulgent".  

Three women in Shanghai have been friends for years.  None of them are happy with their lives as the book opens.  Jane is married, but hates her looks, herself and her husband, not necessarily in that order.  Rina lived and was educated in the US.  She is unmarried, but at an age in China where her strivings in the corporate world are guaranteed to take her nowhere.  She stays in Shanghai to take care of her ailing parents.  Lulu, the third member of the trio, has seemingly hit the jackpot.  She is about to marry the heir of one of the wealthiest families in Shanghai.  Why isn't she happier about the life of luxury she is about to enter?  Could it be because of all the demands her own family is placing on her?

The action of the novel revolves around the plot these three women devise to steal the millions of yuans which will be gifted to the happy couple at the lavish wedding ceremony attended by the cream of Shanghainese society.  Lulu can head off to Thailand during the ceremony unwed as she's always dreamed, Jane can have her plastic surgery, and Rina?  Rina will do what she always does best - organize and take care of everyone else's needs.

Will the story have a happy ending?  Not the way these three pictured it.

The Wedding Date

The Wedding Date (#1,212) by Jasmine Guillory is one of her earlier books, but I snatched it up when I saw it on display at my local library.  I loved one of her more recent books, By The Book.  It was one of the most enjoyable romances I've read in years.

I still enjoyed The Wedding Date, but I think there was a lot less plot, and waaayyy more sex!  I realize that's what publishers think sells books, but for me, it's the story behind how the couple got there.  There was a definite "meet cute" here, lots of food, and plenty of anguishing about a less than perfect body for the heroine to keep me reading, though, even if I did skip over the sex scenes to get to the good parts.  Oh, and did I mention that this is an interracial romance?

I have a feeling I'm going to enjoy her later works more, but I'm still glad to have discovered Jasmine Guillory.

The Ninth Man

If you've read Steve Berry's popular Cotton Malone thriller series, you'll be familiar with Luke Daniels, a spin-off character from those books in The Ninth Man (#1,211).  Berry has co-authored this book with Grant Blackwood, but they've done a seamless job blending their writing into an interesting plot with several unexpected twists.

Luke Daniels, former Army Ranger and nephew of a former US president, is relaxing in London after completing his latest assignment for the Magellan Billet when he receives an urgent text from a former colleague.  When Luke arrives at the Belgian home of Jillian Stein's grandfather, he finds himself in the middle of a fire storm.  Her grandfather has been murdered, and those responsible will not stop until they retrieve a rifle hidden away by Benji Stein.  Who is after it, and now them, and for what purpose?  The stakes are life and death in this cat and mouse game involving a controversial day in American history.

Okay, I did not see the end of this one coming!  Tense thriller, with a promise of at least two more to come from this writing team.  Can't wait.

The Reading List

The Reading List (#1,210) by Sara Nisha Adams is a wonderful book.  It contains not one, but two reading lists within its pages.  

In the neighborhood around Wembley Stadium in London, a number of isolated people come across neat, hand-written lists of book titles, with the heading "In Case You Need It". Although they don't know it yet, they do have a common connection: the local library, perennially in danger of being closed down by the Civic Council.  As each person embarks on their own journey by reading through the list, we meet them in their struggles and heartaches and see how the act of reading lifts them out of themselves and into a greater community.  But the question remains: who wrote this particular reading list, and why?  We do find out in the end in a thoroughly satisfying conclusion.

Maybe I related to this book because I've read all but one of the novels on the "In Case You Need It" list.  I plan to remedy that omission in the near future.  This is a debut novel from Ms. Adams.  I hope we hear more from this talented writer.

Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Lord

Hmm.  Not sure how I feel about Celeste Connally's Regency mystery Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord (#1,209).  The cover blurb promises "Bridgerton meets Agatha Christie".  I can't tell whether or not the comparison to Bridgerton is fair or not, since I've neither read nor seen either series.  As for Agatha Christie - not exactly in her league.  It's easy to spot the ending well in advance.

The premise is that the lords in Lady Petra Forsythe's social circle are sharing the name of a gentleman who will, for a price, arrange for the troublesome women in the peer's life to be taken to an estate in the country "for her health".  Most are never seen again, and some are rumored to have died.  One of Lady Petra's friends has been removed thusly from London society when she succumbs to her depression.  Based on overheard snippets at a ball, Lady Petra doubts very much that the story of her death is true, so she investigates, putting her directly in the crosshairs of the villain of the piece.

And of course she falls right into the trap set for her in her very own house, no less!  And of course the handsome hunk comes to her rescue.  But wait!  The dangling thread about the cause of Lady Petra's fiance's death in a fall down stairs shortly before their wedding is used to cast doubt three years later on Lady Petra's childhood friend and new main squeeze.  I guess there will be more, but I won't be reading any sequels.  Sorry, Ms. Connally.  I much prefer Georgette Heyer.

The Year of the Locust

I had to keep lugging the 800 page copy of The Year of the Locust (#1,208) around with me because it was so hard to put down.  It may have been a long wait for Terry Hayes' next thriller after I Am Pilgrim, but I think it was definitely worthwhile.

Kane, his latest protagonist, is a Denied Area Access Agent working for the CIA - the most stealthy of spies sent in country against all odds to carry out their missions.  In this book, he is up against the faceless Abu Muslim al-Tundra, determined to destroy anyone not part of his fundamentalist Islamic sect by any means possible.  His methods are extreme and frighteningly plausible and his reach is global.

This time Kane has a bigger stake in the game when he's sent in - he's seen Abu Muslim al-Tundra's face, and he is leaving his partner behind on this mission.  He's also seen what the future can be if al-Tundra succeeds.

The plot does take a distinct turn towards sci-fi towards the end, but bear with it; the conclusion is oh-so-satisfying!

Horse

After reading Horse (#1,207), I am reminded of why Geraldine Brooks is one of my favorite authors.  In it she interweaves several stories: a painting of a thoroughbred horse discarded in a curbside pile; Theo, the art student who discovers it and is determined to track down its provenance; Jess, the manager of a lab at the Smithsonian Museum who helps him and is tasked with helping a British researcher with a skeleton in the Smithsonian attic; and Jarrett, the enslaved boy who grows up with the horse and bonds with him indelibly.

The horse, it turns out, is real.  Lexington was one of the finest thoroughbreds ever raised and raced in the United States in the mid-nineteenth century.  He sired many prize-winning horses, including Preakness, for whom one of the Triple Crown Races is named.

It's also the story of racism, both before, during and after the Civil War, as well is in the contemporary love story.

The story does jump back and forth in time, and the plot is presented from many points of view.  I found it absolutely fascinating.  I've always had an interest in horse racing, but I learned so much in reading this book that it made me realize just how little I did know.  It's a piece of American history not many know about.

Since I had to read it for my book club, I couldn't wait for the hard copy book to become available to me, so this is the first novel I've read on my Kindle.  Was I ever grateful for the dictionary function built into it as I encountered lots of unfamiliar vocabulary!  

This was a great book on so many different levels.  It provided plenty of fodder (pardon the horsey pun) for book club discussion and was a universal hit with my group.  

The Frozen River

In her latest historical fiction, Ariel Lawhon has taken the diaries of real-life Maine midwife Martha Ballard and used her entries as the basis for an intriguing murder mystery set in the small town of Hallowell, Maine during one brutal winter when the Kennebec River froze solid from November to April in the late 1780s.  

The Frozen River (#1,206) is an engaging read as the fictional Martha stands by a victim of a rape by two men while her husband was away.  When one of the men's body is found frozen in the river, Martha is called in to observe the body.  In her role as midwife, she has standing with the court to testify on certain matters. But when she testifies the death was the result of murder, she creates a furor in the town.  It soon becomes clear that the other powerful man in town accused of the rape is determined to get his revenge on anyone who dares to speak out against him.  That includes the Ballard family and their lumber mill.

It is told in such a way that you want to read just one more chapter...

A minor nit about some of the anachronisms that creep into the book, but most people probably won't even notice them.  It certainly doesn't prevent it from being a well-told story about a remarkable woman who managed to leave her mark on history.  Recommended.

Chesapeake Requiem - A Year With the Watermen of Vanishing Tangier Island

In Chesapeake Requiem - A year With the Watermen of Vanishing Tangier Island (#1,205) journalist Earl Swift spent a year living on Tangier Island, set in the Virginia area of Chesapeake Bay.  Tangier has been in the news recently because it is vanishing into the Bay, large chunks of it washing off its shoreline as the island simultaneously sinks.  What will the islanders who have lived there for many generations do as their land shrinks and the crabs and oysters that provide their livelihood become scarcer and scarcer? And there are fewer and fewer opportunities for their young folks.

Mr. Swift tells their stories in a sympathetic way only possible by becoming one of their community.  He crabbed with them, sat in their "Situation Room" where the men gathered to discuss everything, attended their church services and ate with them.

The islanders have appealed for help to the Army Corps of Engineers, hoping that they would build a breakwater to stem the corrosion, but the wheels of government grind so slowly that likely if the Corps do decide to reinforce part of the island, it will only benefit a potential wildlife preserve, not the people.

Mr. Swift puts the reader right in the middle of island life, and by the time you have finished reading this compelling book, you will feel that you know many of these folks.  Right now, the only thing you can do is stayed tuned to the news to see what will happen to them.

If you live in a coastal area anywhere in America, this book should be mandatory reading.