Mailbox Monday-- Back to Polishing My Halo

I'm serving up a big holiday Thank You along with a virtual plate of cookies and cup of tea to Marcia for hosting my favorite meme. For someone like me who's insatiably curious about books, it's fun to see what arrived in everyone's mailboxes the previous week. If you'd like to join in or just take a look at all the goodies, click on that redhead to the left. She'll take you right to Marcia's blog, The Printed Page, which is the heart of all the Mailbox Monday action!

It's getting very close to Christmas, so I'd better polish my halo while I still have time! Last week I sent 9 books to new Paperback Swap (PBS) foster homes, and I received 3 from various sources. Here's the scoop on those three books:

--The Cluttered Corpse by Mary Jane Maffini (PBS), the second in the Charlotte Adams, personal organizer, mysteries. "When Charlotte Adams agrees to help Emmy Lou Rheinbeck organize her stuffed animal collection, she never imagines she'll find herself fending off pranksters whose shenanigans lead to murder." I read the first in the series a few months ago.

--The Pure in Heart by Susan Hill (from Vida at Overlook Press). After reading my review of the first Simon Serrailler mystery, The Various Haunts of Men, Vida very graciously offered to send me the second book in the series, bless 'er! "Inspector Serrailler, who's still brooding over the unsolved murder of a fellow officer a year earlier, has sought solace amid Italian ruins with his sketchbook, much to the disapproval of his father back in England. Summoned home to the cathedral town of Lafferton, Serrailler finds that murder, family breakups and the abduction of a schoolboy have occurred in his absence. Other worries include the impending death of his handicapped sister, Martha, and a mob attack on the home of the pedophile suspected of kidnapping nine-year-old David Angus. Meanwhile, down-and-out ex-con Andy Gunton finds dubious employment shipping cars for sleazy Lee Carter."

--The Glass Room by Simon Mawer (from Tony at Other Press LLC). I was drawn to this book because of the house it's based upon which was built in Czechoslovakia between the World Wars and contains a room with floor-to-ceiling glass walls overlooking a majestic view. I'm hoping that I'll enjoy the characters and the story as much as I did the description of the house and its setting!

That was my mailbox exploits last week. I hope all your mailboxes yielded just as much (if not more) joy!