The Spending $ Like I Had It Weekly Link Round-Up

 

I've been having one of those spells that we all have: large expenses cropping up like weeds and all demanding attention RIGHT NOW. Loads of fun, aren't they? (I know I'm preaching to the choir.)

At the beginning of the year, it dawned on me to check on our homeowners' insurance. Denis had taken care of it since we were first married, and the last time I'd had anything to do with it, it had been included in the mortgage. Good thing I checked! 

The insurance company had me do a DIY home inspection and then demanded that I do two things. One, I'd already done. ($$$) This second one was even more expensive: a new electrical panel. ($$$$$) I know it needs to be done, but what entity informed the insurance company and all these other places that I just won an obscene amount of money in the lottery? I wish I had! Ah well... cope and adjust.

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous. I really need to plan a visit to the Desert Botanical Garden. But before I head to the link corral, I'll share this photo with you...

Suzanne inadvertently left a pair of slippers behind. Every time I see them, I expect her to come walking through the kitchen door. *sigh*

Virtual hugs to you all. Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• The US saw a record high of 5,668 books banned in libraries in 2025.
• Read a book, flip off a Nazi: when reading meant resistance-- in pictures.
• Does reading do us any good?
• What will it take to get A.I. out of schools?
• What are the routines of so-called super-readers?
• Why cookbooks are the next frontier for narrative writing.
• How America learned to love Barnes & Noble again.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• A collection of maps owned by England's first queen spent centuries overlooked in a family library. Now, the rare volume is on sale for $1.6 million.
• A 13-year-old boy found this bronze coin in a field. It turned out to be the first ancient Greek artifact discovered in Berlin.
• Stained by nicotine and cocoa powder, these Edvard Munch paintings hung in a chocolate factory for a century. Now, they're going on public display for the first time.
• A 1,900-year-old souvenir cup featuring Hadrian's Wall and Roman forts has been discovered in Spain.
• Archaeologists discovered an Egyptian mummy with part of the Iliad in its abdomen.
• These historic snuffboxes associated with 18th-century monarchs were stolen in a shocking heist. Now, they're back on public display.

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• See the 1-in-50-million split-color lobster caught off the coast of Massachusetts. It's carrying two sets of genetic information.
• A rare "cloud jaguar" was spotted in the Honduran mountains for the first time in a decade, representing a win for conservationists.
• Gibraltar's famous monkeys are eating dirt, likely to alleviate stomach aches from munching on tourists' junk food.
• "Robo-bunnies" are the newest weapon in the fight against invasive Burmese pythons in Florida.
• Meet these delightful bookshop cats (and one dog).
• Platypus hair shares a puzzling feature with bird feathers, adding to the egg-laying mammal's list of unusual characteristics. 

►The Wanderer◄

• How to explore the Australian Outback by train.
• This dazzling Tiffany stained-glass window adorned a church for more than a century. Now it needs a new home.
• The long, strange trip of the Titanic victims whose remains surfaced hundreds of miles away, weeks after the ship sank.
• Visiting Arizona's tribal lands and celebrating Native heritage.
• The tallest building in every U.S. state.
• When America found itself ready to roll, Route 66, stretching from Chicago to Los Angeles, was the road of endless possibilities.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Lauren Weisberger's life after The Devil Wears Prada.
• Eccentric tycoon Charles Vance Miller left a fortune to the winner of a baby-making contest. The Great Stork Derby divided Canadians during the Great Depression.
• Just Wilde about hair.
• Meet entomologist and wildlife photographer Mark Moffett, zooming in on the weird and wonderful world of ants.
• Jeopardy! winner Tom Nissley champions books.
• Quaker Lydia Darragh eavesdropped on British soldiers plotting a surprise attack-- and surreptitiously warned George Washington.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• 7 novels about the secrets mothers keep.
• New mystery and thriller shows this spring.
• 6 flower shop cozy mystery books.
• Books set in libraries.
• 13 books that are perfect for Yellowstone fans.
• 16 historical novels about aviators and pilots.

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!

Family Treasures in the Desert

As promised, I'm starting to share some of the many photos I took while two of my UK nieces were visiting.

Let's begin with what I call day-to-day stuff.

Suzanne peeking around the corner to check on Windy the hummingbird.

This shed used to be stuffed to the gunwales until the three of us got to work!

They were in the pool every day.

In a local park. Denis's motto, "Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional" seems to run in the family. 😄

Waiting for me at the wound care clinic and delighting the receptionist with their accents. 

Waiting in line with me at the Social Security office. Not many tourists get to do these things. 😉

Hanging a small solar fountain that the hummingbirds have fallen in love with.

Installing solar wind spinners that were Christmas and birthday gifts.

A birthday milkshake.

Daisy completed the Moon Valley Park 5K Pirate Run.

We set up an assembly line to make needlepoint baskets.

Suzanne's basket

Daisy's basket. There are three more to come. I broke my needle midway through the third and had to wait for an emergency shipment-- and my fingers to recover!

Decorating the Cinco de Mayo tree.

Daisy did her second ride along with Fire Station 18. She's in the center wearing her NHS uniform.

This time she got to slide down the pole. 😊

On the plane back to the UK. 😭

Well, this is the first batch of pictures. You'll be seeing more in the near future!

A Glorious 22 Days Weekly Link Round-Up

 

It's amazing how quickly three weeks can fly by when two of my family treasures are visiting. Suzanne and Daisy brightened my life with their presence, their love, and their caring. I didn't want to see them leave. 

We accomplished a lot in the time they were here, and we managed to have some fun outings, too. I can hear you asking, and the answer is yes, I will be sharing photos in the near future. My two nieces got to see some places that aren't usual tourist stops, like my doctor's office and the Social Security Administration office, but we also did a lot of fun things. You'll have to wait for the photographic proof.

In the mean time, I will share the photo the Uber driver took of the three of us on the evening Suzanne and Daisy left. 

I miss them.

But enough of that. Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• How bookstores choose the books they stock.
• The era of the bookish influencer.
• The A.I. writing panic is completely missing the point.
• The "Great British Bake Off" of the 1600s would have been all alphabet cookies.
• For the first time ever, Amazon is cutting old Kindles off from the Kindle store.
• A Pew survey finds that readers still prefer print books.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• This medieval castle sits atop a prehistoric time capsule. New excavations could reveal the history of Neanderthals in Britain.
• The Titanic carried 3,500 life jackets, but almost all of them have been lost to history. This one just sold at auction for nearly $1 million.
• In times of trouble, the Maya rejected divine kingship. This newly discovered public building reveals how the transition to shared power unfolded.
• A pirate shipwreck off the coast of Cape Cod sets the historical record straight on West African gold.
• Archaeologists discovered a perfectly circular ancient Egyptian temple that may have been used for sacred water rituals.
• Take a look at a 4,500-year-old ancient Egyptian funeral "gown" that was in vogue during the Old Kingdom.

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• Scientists found 5.6 million burrowing bees beneath a cemetery in New York. The group is one of the largest on record.
• An endangered ocelot has traversed 4 Sky Islands in southeastern Arizona, setting a record and inspiring conservation efforts.
• Large invasive rodents called nutria are wreaking havoc in California. New research suggests someone deliberately introduced them.
• In the 1990s, a dog named Wishbone taught kids about Shakespeare and Homer. A new documentary tells his tale-- from his backflips to his historical hats.
• Does your cat always leave behind a half-full bowl of food? New research points to why our furry friends can be such picky eaters.
• European hedgehogs' hearing might be attuned to ultrasonic sounds. The discovery could help scientists save the declining species.

►The Wanderer◄

• The Colorado River may have pooled and spilled over to form the Grand Canyon, solving a long-standing mystery-- but not everyone agrees.
• Shakespeare's house in London was lost to history. A scholar discovered a map in the archives that revealed its exact location.
• Inside the secret apartment at the top of the Eiffel Tower.
• Songkran is Thailand's splashing New Year's festival, when everyone gets out a super soaker and prepares to get drenched.
• See 15 sensational scenes of Switzerland, Europe's alpine wonderland that's beautiful no matter the season.
• How the Rio Grande was engineered into a border.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• After poet John Keats' love story was cut short, his letters mysteriously disappeared-- until rare book dealers acted on a hunch.
• In the parlors of Black bibliophiles: how Arturo Schomburg built a library and made history.
• Born to a family of sharecroppers, topiary artist Pearl Fryar overcame discrimination to become the "Picasso of Plants."
• Jane Harper on Australian crime fiction, settings, and crafting slow-burn suspense.
• Punjabi Princess Sophia Duleep Singh fought for women's suffrage and sheltered refugees during World War II. A goddaughter of Queen Victoria, she rejected British Imperialism.
• What knitting has taught author Miranda Shulman about writing.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Your Orient Express reading list.
• 5 chillingly accurate movies that seemingly foresaw the rise of AI.
• 6 literary mysteries set in the 1980s.
• 26 books with older protagonists.
• 8 must-read international mysteries and thrillers.
• 8 binge-worthy British detective TV series.

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!

The Empty Nest

 

Unfortunately, the nest isn't empty because the hummingbird babies fledged and flew away. I was thrilled that Windy had decided to nest on one of my wind spinners, but I always had my doubts about the location. Nesting on something that is often in motion-- sometimes violently-- as well as not providing sufficient protection from the elements shows how inexperienced Windy was as a mother.

Suzanne, Daisy, and I enjoyed ourselves carefully keeping track of her sitting on her nest. We just wish that there had been a happier outcome.

The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton by Jennifer N. Brown

 

First Line: Tyburn, 1534. Elizabeth was at first unafraid at the Tree.

When sixteenth-century nun Elizabeth Barton was executed for her prophecy condemning Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, it was thought that all copies of those prophecies had been destroyed-- until historian Alison Sage discovered a manuscript. 

Her find catapults Sage into academic superstardom and earns her an invitation to the exclusive Codex Consortium. For one week, she will be living with other historians in a crumbling English manor house next to the ruined priory where Elizabeth herself once lived.

When a murder occurs, this promising conference turns into a nightmare. Everyone is a suspect, and everything seems to point to a local legend about a centuries-old treasure. Alison's research makes her the logical choice to solve the mystery, and she soon learns that the world of academia is every bit as dangerous as Elizabeth Barton's sixteenth-century England.

~

Debut novelist Jennifer Brown has crafted a strong dual timeline mystery featuring a fascinating bit of English history. Elizabeth Barton, better known as the Mad Maid of Kent, had a vision and became locally famous, drawing pilgrims to the priory where she lived. The resulting monetary windfall gathered men with ulterior motives around this naive, unschooled girl. 

While Elizabeth is navigating a very dangerous time in English history, historian Alison Sage is finding the paths of academia rather murky. Everyone at the conference is outstanding in their fields. Everyone has a degree. Everyone is published... and everyone seems to have their own agendas. But what are those agendas?

The strongest part of The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton is the mystery. What's going on at this conference? Will the Mad Maid of Kent's voice be heard once again? Yes, the history and the mystery are solid, and definitely held my interest. However, I never did fully engage with any of the characters, and since that is what I like most in the books I read, I was a bit disappointed.

Read this book for the history and the mystery, and you should enjoy it. Read it mainly for the characters, and you might find it lacking.

The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton by Jennifer N. Brown

eISBN: 9781250383600

St. Martin's Press © 2026

eBook, 307 pages

Dual Timeline Thriller, Standalone

Rating: B-

Source: Net Galley

The Monk by Tim Sullivan

 

First Line: George Cross was rarely shocked by anything he came across during his work as a detective sergeant in the Avon and Somerset police.

Detective George Cross likes his life to be ordered and predictable, but with the reappearance of his mother, he's left feeling confused and uncomfortable. That's undoubtedly why, when the savagely beaten body of a monk is found in a woodland outside Bristol, he throws himself into the investigation.

It's a case tailor-made for him. There are no leads whatsoever. No one knows anything about Brother Dominic's past, and everyone seemed to have loved him. But when Cross learns that Brother Dominic was a wealthy man, he may have found the true motive: greed.

~

I normally prefer spacing series books several months apart, but Tim Sullivan's Detective Sergeant George Cross mysteries have proven to be an exception. Each book, like this latest, The Monk, has a strong mystery and a developing cast of characters that can really get its hooks into a reader.

The dead man, Brother Dominic, is a bit of a mystery. Seemingly beloved by everyone who knew him, nothing is known of his past, and it's not until Cross begins digging into that past that the investigation gains momentum. Watching this man's diligent, unstoppable search for the truth is a true joy. 

Readers learn more about Cross from his reaction to monastic life on repeated visits to St. Eustace's, and we also learn more about the others. Detective Sergeant Josie Ottey has a growing fondness for Cross. She realizes that part of her job is paving the way for this oftentimes difficult man so he can "do his thing." Is she becoming Watson to his Holmes?

We also see how each of the major characters spends a weekend away from work. Character-driven readers should sink into the books in this series with a deep sigh of pleasure.

I love this series. Can you read them out of order? Yes, but I wouldn't recommend it. As strong as the mysteries are, watching the characters grow is the best part. Now that I've read The Monk, I'm looking forward to meeting with Cross and the others again soon.

The Monk by Tim Sullivan

eISBN: 9780802167729

Atlantic Crime © 2026

eBook, 408 pages

Police Procedural, #5 DS George Cross

Rating: A

Source: Net Galley

Surprise, Surprise!

Suzanne and Daisy will be here in a few hours, and I'm just about to settle down with a book and relax, but since I don't know when I'll be posting next, I had to share something with you.

I was looking out the dining room window yesterday morning while waiting for the cleaning lady when I noticed a hummingbird that kept coming back to one of the wind spinners hanging from the eaves at the front of the house. (Denis put the wind spinners up to deter the Gila woodpeckers from drilling holes in the house. It worked.)

When I took a closer look, I realized that she had a good reason to hang around that wind spinner. 

Notice how she chose the hummingbird-themed one. I hope a strong wind doesn't come up!

The Most Mysterious Bookshop in Paris by Mark Pryor

 

First Line: The darkness was complete and, for someone who'd never received so much as a parking ticket, the starless night sky and black leafless trees were a protection greatly valued as The Shadow slipped a key into the front door.

Former head of security at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, Hugo Marston, has retired. It's time to make his lifelong dream of owning a mystery and antiquarian bookshop come true. Then comes the call from J. Bradford Taylor, the U.S. Ambassador. A chocolatier has been targeted for blackmail, and the ambassador calls in Marston to investigate. Hugo must find a way to make the ambassador happy and get his bookshop ready for its grand opening at the same time.

~

A few years ago, I read the first of Mark Pryor's Hugo Marston mysteries, The Bookseller, and although I did like the book's window into Parisian life and its strong mystery, the characters failed to "click" with me. I decided to give Hugo another chance in Pryor's The Most Mysterious Bookshop in Paris, the first in his new Paris Bookshop series.

Once again, I was transported to Paris. I enjoyed watching Hugo and his assistant, Blake Holmes, talk mysteries while getting the shop ready for business. I learned a great deal about the chocolate business, and the 18th-century chateau and former convent was the perfect location for Eclat de Chocolat. I even learned about what is entailed in being given a Royal Warrant.

The mystery is strong and kept me guessing, but-- once again-- the cast just didn't click with this character-driven reader. Why? It's a mystery to me because I do like Hugo Marston and his friends. It's like real life, I suppose. I've met many people that I've liked, yet had no desire to further an acquaintance with them.

However, don't let my lukewarm reaction keep you from giving this book a try. There's a lot to like about it, and it may just be your perfect cup of tea.

The Most Mysterious Bookshop in Paris by Mark Pryor

eISBN: 9781496756404

Kensington © 2026

eBook, 272 pages

Thriller/Suspense, #1 Paris Bookshop

Rating: C+

Source: Net Galley