At Midnight Comes the Cry by Julia Spencer-Fleming

 

First Line: The trouble started, as it so often does, behind the manure spreader.

Reverend Clare Fergusson and her husband, Russ van Alstyne (newly resigned from his position as chief of police), have plans to celebrate the perfect Christmas with their baby boy, Ethan. Those plans come to a screeching halt when white supremacists crash a beloved holiday parade. In no time at all, they find themselves yanked into a world of militias and murder.

Others are also drawn into this mess, including single mother and police officer Hadley Knox. She's worrying about her former partner, Kevin Flynn, who's taken leave from the Syracuse Police Department and then disappeared. 

Add to this a novice lawyer on an off-the-books investigation and a missing park service ranger, and it's plain to see that it's going to take a lot of work to have a Christmas that's merry and bright in Millers Kill, New York.

~

It is so good to have Clare Fergusson and Russ van Alstyne back! I have really missed Julia Spencer-Fleming's series, and it's wonderful to see that At Midnight Comes the Cry brings these beloved characters roaring back at full strength.

Although I have to admit that I'm sick to death of white supremacists in the news and really don't want to have them taking center stage in my fiction, the storyline is strong, and with Clare Fergusson in charge, it's not going to be the "same old, same old." 

For longtime fans, there's plenty of catching up to do with the author's wonderful cast of characters. We get to see Clare and Russ with their baby, and Hadley worrying about Kevin Flynn. A novice lawyer is going off the reservation from the state Attorney General's Office, and a forest ranger is looking for his missing uncle. Clare and Russ work together like a well-oiled machine in the hair-raising climactic scenes, too. (Of course!)

I haven't read anything about the fate of this series, but there is something mentioned at the end that makes me wonder if this is the last time we'll see Clare and Russ. If so, they end on a high note... and I'll miss them. 

At Midnight Comes the Cry by Julia Spencer-Fleming

eISBN: 9781250022677

Minotaur Books © 2025

eBook, 320 pages

Police Procedural, #10 Fergusson/Van Alstyne

Rating: A+

Source: Net Galley

A Soaking Up the Sun Weekly Link Round-Up

 

The weather has been absolutely glorious here in Phoenix. Temperatures in the 70s and 80s, light breezes, plenty of sunshine. I'd been staying indoors most of the summer, not just because of the heat but because I've been busy with paperwork and doing a major reorganization of all my stuff. (You know how stuff accumulates no matter how hard you try, right?)

I've been replenishing my stores of Vitamin D, filling hummingbird feeders, keeping those birdbaths and fountains filled, and having someone come in to trim the shrubbery that threatened to take over the property after all the rain we got in September.

November in Phoenix

I even got some good/sad news. My doctor and his staff contacted a different home health company to help me with my leg, and I'm looking forward to meeting my new nurse tomorrow. (I'm writing this on Tuesday.) The sad news? I will no longer be seeing Alex, the wonderful nurse I've seen for the past two years. He's become family to me, and I'm going to miss him like crazy. Hopefully, we will keep in touch, but I know how hard he works, and how busy he is. We shall see. 

I hope you all are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and well supplied with good books to read. Virtual hugs to everyone!

Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• AI regulation is not enough. We need AI morals. (I am in total agreement, especially since these times have shown us how many people in positions of power seem to have very few morals.)
• "Human written." Why Sarah Hall put a maker's mark on her new novel.
• The term "67" is "impossible to define." It just became Dictionary.com's Word of the Year for 2025.
• Margaret Mizushima on training her dogs to track missing persons.
• Why did these authors have their school visit cancelled? They were talking about their book about book bans.
• What does the trend of sprayed edges and special editions say about the state of publishing?

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• Ancient Roman-Era statues were taken during a brazen museum heist in Damascus.
• Anomalies in a Giza pyramid may indicate an unknown entrance.
• Scientists may finally have an explanation for the centuries-old 5,200 mystery holes in the Peruvian Andes. (Okay, why does the term "mystery holes" make me smile?)
• A maritime mystery was solved after a shipwreck was discovered off the UK coast. 
• 109-year-old messages in a bottle written by soldiers heading to fight in World War I have been discovered on an Australian beach.
• A study claims that a massive 3,000-year-old Maya site in Mexico depicts the cosmos and the "order of the universe."

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• Mr. Chow, the otter, loves being wrapped like a burrito after his bath.  Mr. Chow lives here in Phoenix, a place you normally wouldn't associate with these animals.
• While we're on the subject, meet another otter from here in the Phoenix metro area, Splash. Splash is the nation's first search and rescue otter.
• As record-breaking cold settles in across the southern U.S., Floridians are finding "frozen" iguanas. 
• Swedish musician Mattias Krantz is teaching a rescued octopus to play the piano.
• Charles Darwin couldn't find these legendary curly horses. Centuries later, they've reappeared.
• Colossal coconut crabs may hold the clue to Amelia Earhart's fate.

►The Wanderer◄

• 10 American towns that feel like they're in Europe.
• Crime and the City: County Kerry.
• Nobody knows what sank the Edmund Fitzgerald, but its doomed final voyage will always be America's defining shipwreck. (I love Gordon Lightfoot's song.)
• The world's most-visited castles and palaces.
• Ypsilanti, Michigan is fighting a $1.2 billion AI datacenter for America's nuclear weapon scientists.
• These 15 photographs capture the beautiful art of blown and stained glass.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• 72-year-old John William Boucher lied about his age to fight in World War I.
• Marion Pritchard, the Dutch resister who "lied, stole, and even killed" to save the lives of 150 Jewish children during World War II.
• William Merritt Chase, the accidental ally.
• Dr. Gladys West, the "hidden figure" who pioneered GPS technology.
• Thomas Stukeley, the swashbuckling Tudor mercenary who was killed in a battle that claimed the lives of three 16th-century kings.
• Minnie Murral, one woman's path to Jonestown.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• 10 songs based on historic events.
• Kirkus' Best Mysteries and Thrillers of 2025.
• Kirkus' Best Historical Fiction of 2025.
• 17 deadly and delicious Thanksgiving mysteries.
• 10 social media abbreviations that stump people the most.
• The 9 best French jewel theft films.

That's all for this week! No matter how busy you may be, don't forget that quality Me Time curled up with a good book!  

Mark Four More as Read

 

Here I go again, trying catch up on reviews of the books I've read. I am determined to get current, although this post isn't going to be the one to do it.

These are shorter reviews, mainly just my thoughts. If you'd like a synopsis or more information about a book, just click on the link in the book title to be taken to Amazon US.

It's time to get this show on the road!

The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis

Historical Fiction, 365 pages

eBook purchased from Amazon

Rating: A+

My Thoughts: I loved this dual timeline novel about the Lyons family. The 1913 timeline features the Lyons family, living in an apartment in the New York Public Library since Mr. Lyons is superintendent there. His wife, Laura, wants to be more than the traditional wife and mother, and while this creates tension, even more appears when valuable books are stolen from the library.

In 1993, Sadie Donovan is curator at the New York Public Library and the granddaughter of Laura Lyons, the famous essayist. Rare books, notes, and manuscripts for the exhibit she's running begin disappearing, causing her to team up with a private security expert. The investigation soon becomes personal. 

The inner workings of the library, the characters of Laura and Sadie, the mystery of the disappearing books and manuscripts, the dual timelines all combined to create a read that kept a stranglehold on my attention. A Best Read of 2025.

Artemis by Andy Weir

Science Fiction, 335 pages

eBook purchased from Amazon

Rating: A

My Thoughts: I absolutely loved Weir's previous novels, The Martian and Project Hail Mary, so I had to pick up this book about Earth's first and only lunar colony. We learn all about the ins and outs of the colony through the eyes of young Jazz Bashara, who's not above trying to commit the perfect crime in order to improve the quality of her life.

I liked the local cop's solution to a domestic violence case, and his use of a spray bottle made me laugh. I also enjoyed Jazz's voice. She drew me right into the story and kept me there. 

I do love the way Andy Weir's mind works, but he is a passionate technophile, and sometimes his descriptions of how things work in space can be a bit much. Fortunately, those parts are easy to skim through. I am definitely looking forward to what that mind of his cooks up next.

Carved in Blood by Michael Bennett

#3 Hana Westerman police procedural, 306 pages

eBook purchased from Amazon

Rating: A

My Thoughts: I continue to enjoy this series set in New Zealand. I'm learning a lot about the Maori culture through the strong plots and even stronger character of Hana Westerman. 

In this third book, Hana has been working with her father to help young locals to earn their driver's licenses-- those licenses being passports to their futures. When Hana's ex-husband is murdered, she's brought in to solve the case. 

This is an excellent series that I hope goes on for a good long time.

An Enemy in the Village by Martin Walker

#18 Bruno Chief of Police, 305 pages

Digital galley from Net Galley

Rating: B

My Thoughts: It's always a pleasure to visit with Bruno, the police chief of the small French town of St. Denis. (I always read these books with a French accent!) As Bruno works to solve the murder of a successful businesswoman, readers are treated to good food and good friends. And sparks fly between Bruno and Jilly, a woman who happens to have a basset hound just like he does. 

Will Bruno, who never has good luck in the romance department, finally find love? I'm looking forward to finding out.

There you go-- four more reviews that get me a bit closer to catching up. Have you read any of these? Which ones? What did you think? Of course, inquiring minds want to know!

The I've Been Dumped Weekly Link Round-Up

 

For quite awhile, someone at the agency responsible for sending a home health nurse to my house twice weekly to clean and bandage my leg has been wanting to get rid of me. I'm not quite sure why, other than having a leg that just does not want to heal completely, but that person had quite the bee in her bonnet. My home health nurse fought the good fight, but for every point he raised, she had a comeback. What kind of comeback? Let me tell you, she had some doozies. "She can either change the bandages herself [not limber enough] or she can pay someone to do it for her [when did I win the lottery?]." "She can sell her house and move into assisted living [not with a reverse mortgage, I can't]." 

See what I mean about doozies? Full of the milk of human kindness, she is. Of course, she's probably just trying to save the agency a penny or two, but...! Now I'm scrambling to find a replacement because she insisted on my discharge. Never fear, I shall persist and overcome. 😊

While this has been going on, the weather has been absolutely gorgeous, and I've been working on my Vitamin D levels... plus continuing my clear-out a shelf at a time. My mood is lighter, and I even have a bit of zip in my doodah. Nice, eh?

Now that I've got more zip, I'm thinking about how I want to decorate my house for the holidays. It's not going to be anything like the years when I had a forest of Christmas trees, but I'm finding that it can be fun to think small. And while I'm plotting, clearing out, knitting, and searching for a new home health nurse, I hope you're all doing well. Virtual hugs to you all!

Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• The surprising endurance of Martha Stewart's Entertaining.
• The new Harry Potter audiobook has launched on Audible.
• In praise of librarians in dangerous times.
• Authors' class action lawsuit against OpenAI is moving ahead.
• What's with all the sheep on book covers?
• Grokipedia is the antithesis of everything that makes Wikipedia good.
• The election that defined what "real Americans" ate and drank.
• The forgotten medieval habit of "two sleeps."

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• French archaeologists have uncovered a "vast Roman burial area" with cremation graves "fed" by liquid offerings.
• Thieves stole more than 1,000 artifacts from a California museum's storage facility.
• A 5,000-year-old "cultic space" discovered in Iraq dates to the time of the world's first cities.
• Decapitator nose ornament: 1,500-year-old gold jewelry depicting a bloodthirsty South American god.
• This Inca building-- the only surviving structure of its kind-- might have been designed to amplify sound and music.
• Archaeologists in Pompeii discovered an ancient bench where hopeful clients waited to be seen by an elite Roman.
• An ancient Egyptian statue of "Messi" found at the Saqqara necropolis is the only known example of its kind from the Old Kingdom.
• Archaeologists found a 300-year-old shipwreck in what used to be "one of the baddest pirate lairs on Earth."

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• How El Jefe, the lone Arizona jaguar who captivated a nation in 2016, became a rock star.
• Chimpanzees "think about thinking" in order to weigh evidence and plan their actions.
• A rare, out-of-place cuckoo sends birders flocking to Long Island in hopes of a once-in-a-lifetime sighting.
• These bats glow green under UV light, joining a growing list of photoluminescent mammals.
• Bowhead whales live long lives. Do they hold the key to human longevity?
• From playful otters to pint-size owls, these eight awesome animals call the Chesapeake Bay home.
• Celebrate man's best friend with these 15 photographs of good dogs.
• Aye-ayes: the strange nocturnal lemurs with long, creepy fingers.

►The Wanderer◄

• Crime and the City: the Falkland Islands.
• The skyline of Paris is filled with zinc rooftops, but can they survive climate change?
• New York, the city of 700 languages.
• Why Oklahoma's Route 66 is the ultimate American road trip for 2026. (I think any part of Route 66 is the ultimate road trip.)
• These 15 photographs illustrate the ancient beauty of Japan.
• An object in a satellite image defies explanation. Could it solve one of aviation's greatest mysteries?
• Aruba: black gold and boas.
• What it takes to tend the world's deadliest garden.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Artist Marco Grassi crates hyperrealistic paintings teeming with microscopic details.
• Designer Vera West created iconic costumes for Bride of Frankenstein and other classic monster movies. Her mysterious life ended tragically.
• It's almost impossible for Tristan Gooley to get lost. That's one reason he has millions of followers.
• Sixteen-year-old Isaque Carvalho Borges invented an A.I. tool to help cool down the world's hottest cities.
• Jen Pawol became the first female umpire in major league baseball history.
• Maria Mitchell, America's first woman astronomer and mentor to women in science.
• See hundreds of garments that Elizabeth II wore throughout her seven-decade reign.
• Jim Lovell, the Apollo 13 commander who thrived under pressure, died in August at the age of 97.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• The Jewish cozy mystery series that will keep you turning pages.
• 20 non-fiction reads your book club will love.
• 21 twisty new thrillers.
• These atmospheric historical novels are spellbinding.
• Cozy mysteries featuring animals other than cats.
• 13 nature books perfect for Sy Montgomery readers.
• 7 intriguing mysteries set in British institutions.
• Librarians recommend 8 books that changed the shape of politics and reading in America.

That's all for this week! No matter how busy you may be, don't forget that quality Me Time curled up with a good book!  

October 2025 at the Desert Botanical Garden

I took a trip to one of my favorite places, the Desert Botanical Garden, the week before Halloween. The weather was glorious, and for once the place wasn't heaving with people. In many of my favorite spots, I felt as though I had the place all to myself, which was quite nice. 

Here are some of the photos I took. I hope you enjoy your virtual visit.

Purple was the color of choice, with Texas sage, Mexican petunias, asters, lavender, and other beauties blooming like crazy. No place else on earth shows its appreciation for rain faster than the desert.

I love how light often gives the cactus a halo.

It's been years since I've seen these cardon cacti (which have been here at the Garden since 1938) so happy and swollen with water. Those storms we got at the end of September were badly needed.

The honeysuckle was blooming like mad.

Two women standing in front of one of the installations of the latest "draw" to the Garden: Desert Pulse. I wasn't that impressed, but I do think this would be much more impressive at night.

A male and female Gambel's quail.

I had almost three dozen quail surrounding me at the Patio Cafe. I always bring raw sunflower kernels to feed them, but this time I had a new treat: dried mealy worms, and they were quite the hit. I'll be bringing them more in the future.

This lizard was basking in the sun in a spot where it thought no one would see it. It didn't anticipate ole Eagle Eye here with my zoom lens!

Part of the Garden's Halloween display.

The Butterfly Pavilion has become so popular that it now has a nursery.

Monarch butterfly

This feeder was very popular.

The Butterfly Pavilion will be closing in a few days, but it will return in the spring.

It was nice to be outside in glorious weather and at one of my very favorite places, but I have to admit that I did miss Denis. Very much.

Return to Sender by Craig Johnson

 

First Line: "Nobody smiles anymore."

The longest postal route in the country is in the Red Desert of Wyoming, and it covers over three hundred miles a day. When Blair McGowan, the person responsible for that route, goes missing, there's a lot of territory to cover to try to find her. Who does the Postal Inspector for the State of Wyoming turn to? Sheriff Walt Longmire, who poses as a mail carrier to follow her trail. 

The trail eventually leads to a cult living out in the Red Desert, and Walt finds himself right up to his neck in intrigue.

~

I always enjoy any time that I spend with Walt Longmire, and Return to Sender is no exception-- especially since every time I picked up the book and looked at the cover, my favorite Elvis Presley song began playing in my mind.

Once again, author Craig Johnson brings another section of Wyoming to life. This time, the Red Desert, the largest living dune system in the United States. Walt is pretty much solo as he goes undercover as a mail carrier. Only Dog accompanies him in a rather unique mode of transport: an old Travelall.

Return to Sender is filled with Johnson's trademark humor ("Benny, the walking skid mark"), and Walt is carrying something with him that may shock longtime fans. As he works to find the missing Blair McGowan, he meets several characters that I wish I could see again, like World War II Polish Resistance fighter, Mrs. Wasserstein. The story is filled with twists and turns that kept me smiling.

Walt is still debating whether or not he should retire, and he's not helped any when he's put right in the middle of someone else's choice. What's he going to decide to do? I'm looking forward to finding out in the next book.

Return to Sender by Craig Johnson

ISBN:  9780593830703

Viking © 2025

Hardcover, 336 pages

Police Procedural, #21 Walt Longmire

Rating: A

Source: Purchased from The Poisoned Pen.

An Unplanned Treats Weekly Link Round-Up

 

This past Sunday was the first time in a long time that I've felt like "me." It's been so long that I was surprised when I realized it. Life does go on. 

I've been taking it easy with my clearing out and reorganizing things in the house. I overdid it to the point where my lower back was killing me and I could barely move my right arm. (I really don't want to check the odometer on my scooter either!) Life goes on, but some things never change... like the fact that I'm a goal-oriented person, and once I have a plan in mind, my common sense can get tossed out the window. A drawer at a time, a shelf at a time is my current mantra. 

Tucker, the woman who cuts my hair, is about to become a first-time grandma, and I told her to go through my stash of baby blankets and choose as many as she liked for her grandbaby. She chose two and gave them to her daughter Monday. It was a treat, and Taylor was thrilled, as you can see in the photo. 

Speaking of treats-- it is Halloween after all-- I received an unplanned one from a special person that made me smile. Unexpected acts of friendship and kindness can be such spirit lifters. May all of you receive some unplanned treats of your own. Virtual hugs to you all.

Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Ellery Adams on the allure of psychics and mediums in crime fiction.
• Miami Vice is back-- again!
• Agatha Christie's first published work has been discovered after 120 years.
• The case for whole books. (I didn't realize the educational system was moving away from having students read entire books?!?)
• The Harry Potter full-cast audiobook adds Bill Nighy as Slughorn, with eleven others.
• Breastfeeding has long been linked to reducing cancer risk. Scientists may have just discovered why.
• AI models get brain rot, too.
• How the Hardy Boys book series cracked the case of getting kids hooked on reading. (Admission here. As a child, I much preferred the Hardy Boys to Nancy Drew.)

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• 900 years ago, Indigenous Americans dragged, carried, or floated a 5-ton tree more than 100 miles to North America's largest city north of Mexico. (And I've been there, and once was not enough.)
• A 2,000-year-old sarcophagus was unsealed-- and the mummy inside is mind-blowing.
• A family found these rare Tudor coins buried in their backyard. Now the trove is heading to the auction block.
• The Roos Carr figures: Creepy 2,600-year-old carvings with "removable genitalia" and eyes that may have symbolized Odin's soothsayer powers.
• A pair of "holy" islands in an eerily green African lake hold centuries-old relics and mummified emperors.
• A treasure trove of shipwrecks along China's coast reveals how East met West on the Maritime Silk Road.

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• Horseshoe crab blood has long helped us make safe medicines. Now alternatives that spare the ancient creatures might be breaking through.
• See this year's hilarious finalists from the Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards, from gossiping leopards to breakdancing foxes.
• "Feisty" otters are once again hijacking surfboards in Santa Cruz.
• To hide from predators, some animals camouflage into their surroundings, while others display bright colors as a warning. What keeps them safest?
• Getting annoyed at your noisy neighbor? Spiders are, too. New research finds they'll build webs differently in loud conditions.
• Texas puma genes rescue Florida panthers from extinction-- for now.

►The Wanderer◄

• The Loch Ness Monster look-alike lurking beneath Lake Tahoe.
• A car backed up into the home where Shakespeare's daughter lived, causing serous damage.
• National Geographic's best places in the world to travel to in 2026.
• Why Paris designed its peculiarly popular grand graveyards to evoke a celebration of life amid all the death.
• Australian rainforests have become the first to emit more carbon than they absorb.
• One of Frank Lloyd Wright's rare Usonian automatic homes has achieved landmark status.
• Iceland is no longer mosquito free.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• See how Manet and Morisot's creative friendship influenced their artistic styles.
• The mystery Waterloo soldier depicted in a painting at London's National Army Museum has been identified.
• Thirteen-year-old painting prodigy Andres Valencia releases his first limited-edition print collection.
• Trailblazing dancer Misty Copeland performed one last time before retiring from the American Ballet Theater.
• The Amazon has been Peruvian artist Sara Flores' home, inspiration, and palette. Now the world is her gallery.
• Molly Young is the GOAT book recommender.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Halloween postcards, ca. 1900-1920.
• Seven supposedly haunted artworks.
• Esquire names its Best Books of 2025.
• Ten historic events that happened on Halloween.
• Ten novels featuring unabashedly unhinged female characters. 
• Twenty books that offer pure escapism, from Kirkus.
• Five delicious mysteries that focus on food and cooking.
• Stephen King thinks you should read these books.
• Twelve biographies of forgotten women of history.
• Thirteen mysteries and thrillers set on trains.

That's all for this week! No matter how busy you may be, don't forget that quality Me Time curled up with a good book!