A Let's Hope This Works Weekly Link Round-Up

 

It's been almost a year since I began having all this trouble with my leg, and it shows no signs of stopping. Last week, my doctor referred me to a vascular surgeon. It might be that the valves in the veins of that leg are faulty and can be corrected by surgery. We'll see. I've made an appointment and have a very long Dial-a-Ride journey to look forward to. I've adopted a wait-and-see attitude, although I have had some valued feedback that confirmed something I'd thought of myself: that that type of surgery can be pretty hit-or-miss. Like I said, I haven't had the appointment yet, so it does no good to try to second-guess the outcome.

Denis and I have decided to go to an author event at The Poisoned Pen on Denis's birthday, so we have that to look forward to. (Susan Elia MacNeal, if you're curious.) 

Other than that, nothing earth-shattering has been happening around here. Denis put together a new nightstand for the guest room. The curtains and curtain rod in there are fixed. We're good to go!

 

A good springtime spot to sit.

 

Meanwhile, I hope things are going well for all of you, that the weather is fine, your health is good, and you have plenty of good books to read (and the time to read them). Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• The Industrial Revolution and the rise of policing.
• An overdue book was returned to a Colorado library after 105 years.
• A lost silent film featuring Clara Bow was discovered in a $20 box of old reels.
• Digital reading soars in Seattle, creating problems for local libraries.
• Amazon is filled with garbage eBooks. Here's how they get made.
• The problem with giant book preview lists.
• Audible will be turning all seven of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books into full-cast audiobooks.
• We're all reading wrong.
• But why a Penguin?

 

►Book Banning & Censorship◄

• Why book bans are bad for mental health.
• Few parents actually opt students out of Florida school library books. 
• In light of the temporary pause of partnership between Storybridge and the Amarillo Independent School District, a storm of debate has followed; raising questions about censorship, inclusivity and education.
• The Arkansas State Library Board rejects proposals to withhold funds based on content. 
• A bill to criminalize Alabama librarians for "obscene" content has failed in that state's senate.
• The Western Sydney Australia's Cumberland City Council has voted to overturn a ban on same-sex parenting books in libraries.
• An Idaho public library will become adults-only on July 1, 2024.
• As U.S. book bans intensify, public school textbooks have become the latest target. (Sorry, kids. We ripped out chapter five of your history text.)

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• DNA reveals that the ancient Indigenous lineage of the Blackfoot Confederacy goes back 18,000 years to the last ice age.
• Spectacular frescoes of Helen of Troy, Apollo, and Zeus have been unearthed among the ruins of Pompeii.
• Ancient skeletons unearthed in France reveal Mafia-style killings.
• An ancient Roman monument-- surrounding a treasure-filled spring-- has been found in France.
• A metal detectorist found a 6,000-year-old artifact in the forest that may have been a holy gift.
• An intimate artifact from a warship sunk off Key West was found stashed in a piece of furniture.
• Archaeologists say that a discovery in a Maya pyramid reveals a dramatic dynasty collapse. More from Smithsonian Magazine.
  
• An 1,800-year-old mini portrait of Alexander the Great was found in a field in Denmark.

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• Watch a female octopus drag a male around during sex in rare footage captured off an Indonesian island.
• A family in Oklahoma accidentally ended up with 50 baby octopuses after their pet-- thought to be male-- laid dozens of eggs. (Rather a fitting "next up" link after the first one, eh?)
• What Flaco the owl's death teaches us about making cities safer for birds.
• Scientists translate sleeping birds' silent songs into sound-- and they may have recorded a nightmare.
• Watch black cats lie in wait for a model train to exit a tunnel.
• Scientists have cloned two black-footed ferrets from frozen tissues in a conservation effort.
• Follow the soap opera-worthy relationship drama of the world's oldest common loons.
• Endangered ocelots may be expanding their range in Texas.

 

►The Wanderer◄

• Alaska's long history of serial killers.
• Soutra Aisle, the ruins of a world-renowned medieval hospital in Fala, Scotland.
• An ancient Maya practice could be the key to growing vegetables on Mars.
• I remember seeing the Duke of Wellington's mounting stone in London.
• This captivating Arizona garden is among the most beautiful in the U.S. 
• Twelve breathtaking images of the Northern Lights spotted in shocking places.
• Five movies you didn't know were filmed in Utah.
• Monet's Thames paintings will finally go on view in London nearly 120 years after the original exhibition was postponed.

 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• The unexpected history of the "Little Jack Horner" nursery rhyme.
• How Lizzie Borden got away with murder.
• Ellen Ochoa, former NASA astronaut and first Hispanic woman in space, has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
• Sixteen rare videos of iconic artists at work, from Monet to Matisse to Dalí.
• Abir Mukherjee on writing a conspiracy thriller "from a position of anger."
• Jack DuBrul on life and times with Clive Cussler.
• These American women left their country and took their talents to Paris.
• How Caribbean-born artist Guillaume Lethière became the toast of 18th-century France.

 

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Twelve memoirs from people who rose above impossible circumstances.
• Twelve books about female friendship.
• Twenty-one words created by Shakespeare (and four that weren't).
• Ten great books about books.
• Twenty-four of the best 2024 book covers so far.
• Eight cookbooks worth reading from cover to cover.
• Twelve unique bookmarks to save your place.
• Thirty author names you might be mispronouncing.

That's all for this week! Don't forget to stop by next Friday when I'll be sharing a freshly selected batch of links for your surfing pleasure.

No matter how busy you may be, don't forget that quality Me Time curled up with a good book!

The Craftsman by Sharon Bolton

 

First Line: On a spring day in 1612, a mill owner called Richard Baldwin, in the Pendle Forest of Lancashire chased two local women off his land, calling them "witches and whores", threatening to "burn the one and hang the other", and, in doing so, set in motion events that led to the imprisonment, trial and execution of nine women on the charge of murder by witchcraft: the infamous Pendle Witch Trials.

 

As a WPC, Florence Lovelady's career was made when she found and convicted coffin-maker Larry Grassbrook of a series of child murders in a Lancashire village. Thirty years later, she's now Assistant Commissioner, and Larry-- who spent the rest of his life in prison-- is now dead. 

 

But children have begun dying in the same way. Is there a copycat killer on the loose, or did Lovelady get it wrong all those years ago? When her own son goes missing under similar circumstances, not only does the case get reopened, it gets personal.

 

~

 

I first became acquainted with Sharon Bolton's talent through her series featuring Thames River Police Officer Lacey Flint. Not only did I love Flint's character, but I also loved the mysteries Bolton crafted-- and the respect for the River Thames that she fostered in me. So it's not surprising that I picked up The Craftsman. It did not disappoint.  

Bolton's retrospective of Lovelady's career over thirty years gives readers a chance to see how much (or how little) things have changed in the police force. It also shows Lovelady's strengths as an investigator. In addition, the Lancashire village setting is a character every bit as strong as Lovelady herself. (Bolton's a winner at crafting atmospheric settings.) When the killings begin again, the powers that be want everything hushed up. And when it looks as though Lovelady might have been wrong thirty years ago, the powers that be begin to turn on her. As one of the villagers tells her, "That's the patriarchy for you. It's what men do when they're afraid and they feel helpless and out of control. They turn on the outsider, usually a woman, and they blame her for everything that's going wrong. You've become the witch, my dear!" By this time, readers are fully on Lovelady's side and want her to find the answers quickly. 

There's already enough reason for Lovelady to be fully invested in finding out the truth, but when her own son goes missing, I had to smile at her reaction: "These people have no idea, no idea at all, what they unleashed when they went after my son." Now that's my kind of character-- and one of the main reasons why I enjoy Bolton's work so much. I learned that the author has written another book featuring Lovelady. It's a sure thing that I'll be reading it (The Buried).

The Craftsman by Sharon Bolton

eISBN: 9781250300041

St. Martin's Press © 2018

eBook, 432 pages

 

Police Procedural, #1 Florence Lovelady

Rating: A

Source: Purchased from Amazon.

June 2024 New Mystery Releases!

 

I need to stop being a scaredy cat. Ever since ParaTransit left Denis and me waiting on a cold, dark street corner for two and a half hours after an author event at The Poisoned Pen, I've been reluctant to attend any evening events at my favorite bookstore. Granted, most of them are available through YouTube, but it's certainly not the same as attending them in person. Of course, I can tell myself that the street corner won't be cold at this time of year...

While I'm mulling that over, let me share my picks for the best new crime fiction in July. I've grouped them according to their release dates, and the synopses and covers are courtesy of Amazon.

Let's see if I can tempt you with any of my choices...

 

=== June 4 ===

Title: Over the Edge

Author: Kathleen Bryant

Standalone thriller set in Sedona, Arizona.

304 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "After a disastrous mistake ended her career as a crime reporter, Del Cooper returns to Sedona and takes a gig with a down-on-its-luck tour company while she rebuilds her life. Her peaceful small-town escape ends when, hiking in a remote red rock canyon, she finds the broken body of a murdered man.

At first, she believes the murder is connected to a proposed land trade that will pave the way for a luxury development on the edge of town, but it seems money isn’t the killer’s only motive. As she digs deeper, she uncovers the small town’s darkest secrets, all leading her to Lee Ranch, a former filming location for Western movies. Two women disappear after Del interviews them, and rumors begin to spin faster than Sedona’s famed energy vortexes. But she knows the truth: Someone is watching her from the shadows.

Desperate for answers, Del ventures into the wilderness to lure the killer into the open. But out here in the red rocks, bodies can be lost forever."

Title: Nothing Can Erase You

Author: Michel Bussi

Standalone thriller set in the south of France.

463 pages

 

Synopsis: "Maddi Libéri is a successful doctor living an idyllic life in the South of France. On the morning of her son’s tenth birthday, they walk to the beach together. The boy presses for a quick swim, but when the surf is too rough, she sends him off to buy a baguette instead.

He never returns.

Ten years later, Maddi stands at the spot where she last saw her son. A pilgrimage of sorts. And she can’t believe her eyes. There, standing at the water’s edge, is a young boy―and he looks exactly like her son. Same face, same suit…even the same birthmark.

Rattled, Maddi becomes obsessed with the boy. She upends her life to get closer to him. And the more she learns about her son’s doppelgänger, the more unhinged she becomes. Dangerous secrets brought to light put people’s lives at risk, and plot twists reveal truths you’ll never see coming." 

Title: The Unwedding

Author: Ally Condie

Standalone thriller set in California.

352 pages

 

Synopsis: "Ellery Wainwright is alone at the edge of the world.
 
She and her husband, Luke, were supposed to spend their twentieth wedding anniversary together at the luxurious Resort at Broken Point in Big Sur, California. Where better to celebrate a marriage, a family, and a life together than at one of the most stunning places on earth?
 
But now she’s traveling solo.
 
To add insult to injury, there’s a wedding at Broken Point scheduled during her stay. Ellery remembers how it felt to be on the cusp of everything new and wonderful, with a loved and certain future glimmering just ahead. Now, she isn’t certain of anything except for her love for her kids and her growing realization that this place, though beautiful, is unsettling.
 
When Ellery discovers the body of the groom floating in the pool in the rain, she realizes that she is not the only one whose future is no longer guaranteed. Before the police can reach Broken Point, a mudslide takes out the road to the resort, leaving the guests trapped. When another guest dies, it’s clear something horrible is brewing.

Everyone at Broken Point has a secret. And everyone has a shadow. Including Ellery." 

Title: The Comfort of Ghosts

Author: Jacqueline Winspear

Series: #18 (and last) in the Maisie Dobbs historical mystery series set in 1945 London.

360 pages

Synopsis: "London, 1945: Four adolescent orphans with a dark wartime history are squatting in a vacant Belgravia mansion—the owners having fled London under heavy Luftwaffe bombing. Psychologist and Investigator Maisie Dobbs visits the mansion on behalf of the owners and discovers that a demobilized soldier, gravely ill and reeling from his experiences overseas, has taken shelter with the group.

Maisie’s quest to bring comfort to the youngsters and the ailing soldier brings to light a decades-old mystery concerning Maisie’s first husband, James Compton, who was killed while piloting an experimental fighter aircraft. As Maisie unravels the threads of her dead husband’s life, she is forced to examine her own painful past and question beliefs she has always accepted as true.

The award-winning Maisie Dobbs series has garnered hundreds of thousands of followers, readers drawn to a woman who is of her time, yet familiar in ours—and who inspires with her resilience and capacity for endurance. This final assignment of her own choosing not only opens a new future for Maisie and her family, but serves as a  fascinating portrayal of the challenges facing the people of Britain at the close of the Second World War."

Title: Holy City

Author: Henry Wise

Standalone thriller set in rural Virginia

352 pages

 

Synopsis: "After a decade of exile precipitated by the tragic death of his mother, Will Seems returns home from Richmond to rural Southern Virginia, taking a job as deputy sheriff in a landscape given way to crime and defeat. Impoverished and abandoned, this remote land of tobacco plantations, razed forests, and boarded-up homes seems stuck in the past in a state that is trying to forget its complex history and move on. 

Will's efforts to go about his life are wrecked when a mysterious, brutal homicide claims the life of an old friend, Tom Janders, forcing Will to face the true impetus for his return: not to honor his mother's memory, but to pay a debt to a Black friend who, in an act of selfless courage years ago, protected Will and suffered permanent disfigurement for it. 

Meanwhile, a man Will knows to be innocent is arrested for Tom's murder, and despite Will's pleas, his boss seems all too content to wrap up the case and move on. Will must weigh his personal guilt against his public duty when the local Black community hires Bennico Watts, an unpredictable private detective from Richmond, to help him find the real killer. It would seem an ideal pairing—she has experience, along with plenty of sand, and Will is privy to the details of the case—but it doesn't take long for either to realize they much prefer to operate alone. 

Bennico and Will clash as they each defend their untraditional ways on a wild ride that wends deep into the Snakefoot, an underworld wilderness that for hundreds of years has functioned as a hideout for outcasts—the forgotten and neglected and abused—leaving us enmeshed in the tangled history of a region and its people that leaves no one innocent, no one free, nothing sacred." 

Title: Tell Me Who You Are

Author: Louisa Luna

Standalone thriller set in New York City

352 pages

 

Synopsis: "Brooklyn psychiatrist Dr. Caroline Strange is certain she knows what's best for her patients, her family, and pretty much everyone else, but that all changes when a troubled young man arrives for his appointment and makes a pair of alarming confessions: I am going to kill someone, and I know who you really are.

Dr. Caroline is accustomed to hearing her patients’ deepest, darkest secrets, but it seems Nelson Schack may be one step ahead when detectives show up later that day, inquiring about a missing woman. It looks like Nelson has made good on his threat―yet somehow it’s Dr. Caroline who becomes the prime suspect.

Convinced the police are incompetent, Dr. Caroline takes matters into her own hands, chasing down the elusive Nelson and running headlong into a past she has spent her entire life trying to forget. As she closes in on her target, all the polished pieces of her manicured life splinter when people begin to question who she really is.

Harrowing, unpredictable, and compulsively readable, the award-winning author Louisa Luna’s Tell Me Who You Are is an utterly gripping psychological thriller that begs the question: Can a person ever really outrun their past?" 

=== June 18 ===

Title: Death in the Air

Author: Ram Murali

Standalone thriller set in the Indian Himalayas.

368 pages

 

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

 

Synopsis: "Ro Krishna is the American son of Indian parents, educated at the finest institutions, equally at home in London’s poshest clubs and on the squash court, but unmoored after he is dramatically forced to leave a high-profile job under mysterious circumstances. He decides it’s time to check in for some much-needed R&R at Samsara, a world-class spa for the global cosmopolitan elite nestled in the foothills of the Indian Himalayas. A person could be spiritually reborn in a place like this. Even a very rich person.

But a person—or several—could also die there. Samsara is the Sanskrit word for the karmic cycle of death and rebirth, after all. And as it turns out, the colorful cast of characters Ro meets—including a misanthropic politician; an American movie star preparing for his Bollywood crossover debut; a beautiful heiress to a family jewel fortune that barely survived Partition; and a bumbling white yogi inexplicably there to teach meditation—harbors a murderer among them. Maybe more than one.

As the death toll rises, Ro, a lawyer by training and a sleuth by circumstance, becomes embroiled in a vicious world under a gilded surface, where nothing is quite what it seems . . . including Ro himself. Death in the Air is a brilliant, teasing mystery from a remarkable new talent." 

=== June 25 ===

Title: All the Colors of the Dark

Author: Chris Whitaker

Standalone thriller set in 1975 Missouri.

608 pages

 

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

 

Synopsis: "1975 is a time of change in America. The Vietnam War is ending. Muhammad Ali is fighting Joe Frazier. And in the small town of Monta Clare, Missouri, girls are disappearing.
 
When the daughter of a wealthy family is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges—Patch, a local boy, who saves the girl, and, in doing so, leaves heartache in his wake.
 
Patch and those who love him soon discover that the line between triumph and tragedy has never been finer. And that their search for answers will lead them to truths that could mean losing one another.
 
A missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller, a love story, a unique twist on each, Chris Whitaker has written a novel about what lurks in the shadows of obsession and the blinding light of hope."

Well... how did I do? Do any of these strike your fancy? Which ones? The second that I saw Chris Whitaker had a new book, I had high hopes for it because I loved his previous, We Begin at the End, so much.

Death in the Details by Katie Tietjen

 

First Lines: Wednesday, October 16, 1946. "Twelve dollars and sixty-seven cents?"

 

Maple Bishop is no stranger to death. Her mother died. So did her brother. Now her husband has died in service to his country. But the discovery that her husband left her penniless puts everything into sharp focus for the grieving woman: she must find a way of earning money so she doesn't lose her home in this small Vermont town. 

 

Maple is the first female Boston City Law School graduate, but no one in town wants to hire her. Fortunately, her eye for detail and her skill have led her to craft intricate dollhouses, and she begins selling them. At first, business is going well until Maple delivers a dollhouse to a customer and finds him dead, hanging from a rafter in his barn.

 

Something about the supposed suicide doesn't seem right to Maple, and in an attempt to figure it out, she recreates the death scene in miniature-- what she calls "death in a nutshell." With the help of a rookie police officer, Maple uses her miniature to dig into the town's secrets... and that makes a murderer very unhappy.

 

~

 

With my interest in dollhouses and miniatures and the author finding inspiration in Frances Glessner Lee, the mother of forensic science, Death in the Details was a book I could not resist. For the most part, this is a very promising start to a new historical series.

The mystery is a strong one and used a factor in World War II life on the homefront that I seldom think about.  The cast of characters is also strong. Maple is smart, has a very handy photographic memory, and has a knack for gathering friends around her-- something which she doesn't seem to be completely aware of.

Her best friend Charlotte and Charlotte's husband Hank run the diner in town, and although I do like Charlotte, if she kept walking into my house unannounced, she wouldn't be my friend for long. Ben, a half-Japanese hardware store owner, Ginger Comstock ("Gossip Central"), and rookie police officer Kenny Quirk round out the major players. Oh, I almost forgot one! Sheriff Sam Scott started life as a cardboard lawman, but I am happy to say that he didn't stay that way.

But... as strong as the mystery and the characters are, one thing really annoyed me: slipshod editing. The book takes place in 1946. When the sheriff tells Maple "Don't get your pantyhose in a twist," it stopped me in my tracks. Did they have pantyhose in 1946? I had to stop and do a little investigating. No, they did not. So... when I find an error like that, it makes me suspicious. Yellowjackets that were hereafter referred to as bees didn't help, and then I found myself doing some digging on the subjects of seatbelts and plywood among other things.

Death in the Details is a strong mystery with a good cast of characters. Unfortunately, it is a bit weak in the details. Will I read the next book in the series? Yes, but I won't be in a rush to do so.

 

Death in the Details by Katie Tietjen

eISBN:  9781639107193

Crooked Lane Books © 2024

eBook, 288 pages

 

Historical Mystery, #1 Maple Bishop mystery

Rating: C+

Source: Purchased from Amazon.

On My Radar: A New Series from Todd Borg!

 

Reading Todd Borg's Owen McKenna series has been the trifecta of Character/Story/Setting for me for a long time, and I was over the moon when I found out that he was releasing a brand-new series-- and not just one book, but FOUR!

 

Fasten your seatbelts because this I have to share! 

 

 

eBook Available July 1, 2024!

 

 Synopsis: 

"UCLA Medieval History Professor Josie Strong didn’t realize she and her daughter Samantha had witnessed something that made powerful men want them dead. Their would-be assassin didn’t realize how hard they’d be to kill…

 

When the killer followed Josie and her daughter on their canoe trip vacation into the Quetico Wilderness in Canada, he knew they were unarmed. Killing them would be a simple task. But Professor Strong’s specialty is medieval weapons. She might be in the wilderness. But even in a dark forest, she can take ordinary materials and construct lethal weapons. The out-of-shape professor can become a warrior…"

 

 

eBook Available August 1, 2024!

Synopsis: 

"It was a brutal demand from the California Bureau of Investigation to medieval weapons expert Professor Josie Strong. Your 14-year-old daughter was picked up on a smuggling charge. Never mind whether she was framed. We’re going to send her to prison unless you help us find a twisted killer who is hiding in the Yosemite wilderness.

 

With no other options, Josie is forced to team up with a former student and professional hacker to find the missing killer. Instead, she finds evidence of a conspiracy and cover-up, and she and her daughter Samantha will be lucky to escape alive..."

 

 

eBook Available September 1, 2024!

Synopsis: 

"When a Forest Service Ranger is killed near Lake Tahoe, the ranger’s wife contacts the governor of California. She wants the governor, who is a family friend, to convince UCLA Professor Josie Strong to investigate. When Professor Strong resists the request, the governor cancels the professor’s classes and blackmails her into tracking down the killer. But the murderer is an Army-trained sniper. He has weapons and the best training, while all Josie Strong has is her medieval knowledge.

 

Josie designs a classic medieval trap. If she succeeds, she may get the murderer. If she fails, the penalty will be death..."

 

 

eBook Available October 1, 2024!

Synopsis:

 

"After UCLA Professor Josie Strong catches a sniper who murdered two people, the man is killed in an explosion. The governor of California pressures Professor Strong to investigate. He believes the professor can use her medieval weapon skills to uncover a conspiracy.

Josie's investigation takes her into the wilderness of the Sierra foothills, where she finds an old religious abbey that is headquarters for a crime syndicate. Josie designs a medieval ambush. She thinks her chance of success is minimal. But if she fails, a second sniper will kill Josie and her daughter Samantha." 

 

 

 

How much am I looking forward to this series? I've already pre-ordered them all, that's how much! 

 

Josie Strong sounds like just the sort of character I'll love, especially with her  arcane knowledge of medieval weaponry. I've already said that I trust Todd Borg to deliver Character/Story/Setting, so I'm sitting here, rubbing my hands in glee, eagerly awaiting these books! If you haven't already given Todd Borg's writing a try, what a wonderful way to start! 

A Blackouts Can Be a Good Thing Weekly Link Round-Up

 

I know having a loose screw in the metalwork that's holding his spine together has to be bothering Denis, but he's doing a good job of hiding it (for the most part). That's a good thing, since he faced a setback last Friday. When he went in to have a high-resolution MRI done, he found that he'd been scheduled for a low-resolution one that would take at least three hours. Why anyone would think that a surgeon would want a low-resolution scan done... But that's beside the point. Now he has to wait to get one scheduled with the Big Gun Machine that does high-resolution scans in ten minutes. While that was going on, I was having my own kind of fun at the wound care clinic. 

It really made me smile when an author contacted me, wanting me to attend her author event at The Poisoned Pen next month. I would love to go, but it's in the evening, and the last time Denis and I took ParaTransit there, we spent over two hours waiting on a cold, dark street for them to pick us up and take us home. At least it won't be cold in June, so that's something to take into consideration.

Chalk up another incident that proves it stinks to get crippled up. Denis pulled the curtains closed in the guest bedroom, and the curtain rod and curtains pulled out of the wall. I'd always wanted to put blackout/thermal curtains at that window because it gets the lion's share of direct blazing desert sun in the summer, so the time had been thrust upon us. Problem was neither one of us were capable of taking on the task anymore. (And I can remember me and my drill putting up all-new curtain rods when I bought the house.) So we hired someone to come in Saturday afternoon to do the job for us. Those curtains make so much difference!

 

An acacia tree in bloom.

I hope all your scans are the right ones and that all of your curtains are staying right where they should be-- Enjoy the links!

 

 

 

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• What phones are doing to reading.
• Book clubs are having a moment.
• What writers spend in a week of their lives.
• A survey has found that generative AI is proving a major threat to the work of translators.
• Bookmory review: Better than Goodreads, but with some caveats.
• Why the elderly make the best customers: On bookselling in an aging town.
• This father shares what happens when you give your child books instead of a smartphone.
• The problem with BookTok isn't the pretty influencers or the fantasy books.

 

►Book Banning & Censorship◄

• "I can say things other people are afraid to": Margaret Atwood on censorship, literary feuds, and Trump.
• The Preston (Idaho) Library has restricted public access after a new library law passage.
• Speaking of that Idaho law, library officials say that the new law about harmful material is vague and difficult to implement. 
• Librarians are under siege in Montgomery County, Texas.
• Battling against activism in North Carolina's school "Battle of the Books" selections.
• A new librarianship emerges in the era of censorship demands.
• Here's who's behind the battle of the school book fairs.
• Arkansas' Jason Rapert pledges to keep advocating for book censorship as the next library board meeting nears.
• Book bans, threats, and cancellations: Asian American authors face growing challenges.
• The Cy-Fair (Texas) Independent School District is planning to eliminate some librarian positions to close a $138 million deficit. 
• "Afraid of knowledge": Randi Washington, the President of the American Federation of Teachers, takes on book bans.
• Why these Alabama citizens are suing the Prattville library board.
• A Minnesota bill to ban book bans is now on the governor's desk.

 

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• Microplastics are contaminating ancient archaeological sites.
• In Colonial Williamsburg, thieving rats save history.
• A trove of Viking combs sheds light on an English town's medieval history.
• An 8,200-year-old campsite on "Paleo-Archaic" peoples has been discovered on a US Air Force base in New Mexico.
• Viking Age women with cone-shaped skulls likely learned the head-binding practice from a far-flung region.
• Medieval English coins were made with melted Byzantine silver.
• This is what being in your twenties was like in 18th-century London.
• Everything you heard about chastity belts is a lie.

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• Black-capped chickadees are masters of memory, and scientists are finding out why.
• How Singapore became an unexpected stronghold for a critically endangered bird.
• The fifteen most popular cat breeds in the world.
• A chiropractor gave a giraffe with a stiff neck a pain-relieving adjustment.
• Sea otters have helped bolster California's kelp forest.
• 77,000 baby salmon survived a truck crash in Oregon by leaping into a nearby creek.
• Decoding the sacred genetics of Japan's Sika deer.
• Watch a pair of courting cottontails play a game of leapfrog.

 

►The Wanderer◄

• I would love to visit New Zealand's Kapiti Island Nature Reserve.
• The world's largest wildlife crossing will help animals walk safely over eight lanes of California traffic.
• The Golden Age of Australian Crime and Mystery TV continues.
• The Louvre is thinking about moving the Mona Lisa to its own room underground.
• I'd also like to visit the Sinchi Warmi Amazon Lodge in Ecuador, a jungle hideaway run entirely by Indigenous Kichwa women.
• Los Angeles as setting and character.
• Why trains make the perfect thriller and mystery setting.
• The most common last name in every country, mapped.

 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• The 18th-century baron who lent his name to Munchausen Syndrome.
• The colorful criminal escapades of the Gunn Brothers of San Francisco and Manhattan, and the classic 1942 noir novel that came out of it all.
• Paul Yamazaki on the important, joyous work of running an independent bookstore.
• Hazel Ying Lee, the Chinese-American aviatrix who overcame racism to fly for the U.S. during World War II.
• Six badass librarians who changed history.
• Sybil Ludington, the 16-year-old revolutionary hero who rode twice as far as Paul Revere.
• At her globe-spanning nightclubs, Black entertainer Ada "Bricktop" Smith hosted a Who's Who of the 20th century.
• Filipina spy Josefina "Joey" Guerrero used her leprosy as a cover to thwart the Japanese during World War II.

 

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Sixteen books to read if you're fascinated by the Titanic.
• The 81 best, worst, and strangest Dr. Watson portrayals of all-time, ranked.
• These legal thrillers set in New York City will keep you up all night.
• Seven more legal thrillers.
• Seven books by autistic authors.
• Bookish items to help you manage your TBR list.
• Ten extremely valuable author signatures.
• 2024: A year of literary true crime.

That's all for this week! Don't forget to stop by next Friday when I'll be sharing a freshly selected batch of links for your surfing pleasure.

No matter how busy you may be, don't forget that quality Me Time curled up with a good book!

The Blood Promise by Liz Mistry

 

First Lines from Prologue: Inverness. 15 years earlier, 14th December. The stench as the constable kicked in the door-- rich and meaty and dense, like a felled stag, its carcass left to rot in the summer sun-- should have been warning enough that what was to come wouldn't be pretty.

 

Imogen Clark wakes up on her sixteenth birthday to a nightmare: her parents are both dead at the breakfast table, and their killer has left a note.

Detective Constables Jasmine (Jazzy) Solanki and Annie (Queenie) McQueen join the investigation, but it doesn't take long for Jazzy to feel that the murders are a twisted message for her. Jazzy shares the same birthday as Imogen, and she believes this is more than a coincidence.

When Jazzy makes the connection between the killer and the stalker who has been following her for years, she is forced to confront the past which she's desperately been keeping hidden. She must pull out all the stops to find this killer before she becomes the next victim.

~

Detective Constables Jasmine (Jazzy) Solanki and Annie (Queenie) McQueen have recently been demoted and put on the D (Dunce) Team in Inverness. Jazzy has learned that telling the bald truth isn't always the best line of action and avid knitter Queenie is famous for "Needlegate". In The Blood Promise, Liz Mistry has teamed two diametrically opposite characters into a strong serial killer mystery.

Although I did like the story, I did have problems with the two main characters. At first, Queenie was in-your-face comic relief with her non-stop knitting, flatulence, and garlic breath. When some of her backstory was revealed, I found that I could accept Queenie, but I still didn't like her.

On the other hand, Jazzy, daughter of a Hindu mother and Muslim father, is portrayed as an often brilliant investigator who doesn't always know when to keep her mouth shut. Although my heart went out to this character as her tortured backstory was revealed, she had so many instances of PTSD meltdowns, I wondered how she could be such a good police officer. She experienced so much angst that it often bogged down the pace of the story. (I also wondered how two disgraced and demoted officers could so quickly be put in charge of major parts of the murder investigation.)

The different angle to an often-tired serial killer investigation certainly made it interesting, and I did like the setting. Even though I did have problems with the two main characters, I find myself wanting to read the next book in the series. With the origins of so much of Jazzy's troubled past revealed, I really want to know how she'll behave in a new investigation.

The Blood Promise by Liz Mistry

eISBN: 9780008686437

HarperCollins © 2024

eBook, 336 pages

 

Police Procedural, #1 Solanki & McQueen mystery

Rating: B-

Source: Net Galley

April at the Desert Botanical Garden

Although Denis and I had gone to the Desert Botanical Garden at the beginning of April while Daisy and Suzanne were here, we had to go again because spring is Prime Time there.

Come along as we wander through the place that was recently voted one of the most beautiful gardens in the U.S.

I love coming to the garden when the palo verdes are in bloom.

Although... if you hate the color yellow, you might want to give the place a miss in the spring!

The fishhook barrel cacti were all showing off.

This probably isn't a good time of year to visit for allergy sufferers either.

Most people passed by this female desert spiny lizard without seeing her.

Pam's Pink Honeysuckle

Pretties in the Heritage Garden

The Heritage Garden has become one of my favorite places to explore.

Iceberg Rose

Dagger Cholla

These mama squirrels liked my raw sunflower kernels at the Patio Cafe.

One of the paths you can wander.

Some cacti blooms aren't as photogenic as others.

This Red Foxtail Cactus belongs to the Woolly Cactus family.

See what I mean about it not being quite as photogenic?

Now we're back to the photogenic ones!

The pincushion cactus

A spring moon says she, tongue in cheek.

Where the sunshine truly is golden.

The Texas Olive

On the Desert Wildflower Trail

Iconic Arizona. Palo verdes, cholla, saguaros, and a brilliant blue sky.

Thanks for coming along with us on this trip to the Desert Botanical Garden. We're contemplating another visit because it's baby Gambel's quail season now. There's always a reason to go back!