Thursday, October 31, 2024

A Linkless Weekly Link Round-Up

 


One of the reasons I've cut back my blogging time is because I am having more trouble with my leg. New wounds opening. Lots of pain. Doctors rescheduling and relocating procedures to ensure that I spend most of my day getting shaken to bits on the Dial-a-Ride bus. If it sounds like I'm a bit down, I am. But I won't stay that way. (Too boring!)
 
I'm not about to give anyone a complete list of things I'm grumpy about, but the icing on the cake came a few minutes ago when I tried to respond to comments here on the blog. Every once in awhile, Blogger seems to delight in making its users rip out their hair. At least I seem to have found a way past its shenanigans. When it wouldn't let me reply to comments on the browser I prefer (Firefox), I simply switched to Chrome and didn't have a single problem. (Probably because Chrome and Blogger are both Google products.) I learned the wisdom of having more than one browser available on my computer from working on The Poisoned Pen Bookstore's Pinterest boards.

Anyway, I am in no mood to sit here for a couple of hours putting together a link round-up, so I'll catch you up on what I've been reading instead. Short reviews, with links to the books' synopses on Amazon US if you want to read them.
 


 
What I've Been Reading
 
 
464 pages
Rating: A+
 
My Thoughts: Holly Gibney is one of my favorite characters, and it's been a joy to watch her grow and develop. This is the story of an investigation carried out by a hypochrondriac in the time of Covid (Holly). King knows how to create villains that you love to hate, and it was easy for me to root for Holly as she slowly pieced together the clues it took to bring those killers down.
 
Moreover, I loved the last line; it gave me Holly Hope that there will be more from her. 



363 pages
Rating: B 
 
My Thoughts: When Trudi Adamson's husband is killed in a car accident, she soon learns that she's basically been sleepwalking through her life for years. It was mind-boggling to me how clueless she was to everything going on around her. Trudi has a steep learning curve, and as she learns who she can trust, I wondered just how much I could trust her. 
 
This was a good story, well told. I would've liked it better if I hadn't had such a strong reaction to Trudi and her blissful oblivion to the world around her. 



289 pages
Rating: C+ 

My Thoughts: A visit with Bruno is always a pleasure, but this entry in a favorite series of mine felt decidedly lackluster. Moving on from the atrocities of World War II, cryptocurrency, climate change, disaster preparedness? Check, check, check, and check. There's a question mark about Bruno's future as well, but the most telling factor in the book was the one dinner scene-- someone else did almost all the cooking!

This may be lackluster, but I'll be eager to read the next installment in Bruno's story.


272 pages
Rating: A+
 
My Thoughts: I was in the perfect mood for this book. It was filled with twists that I didn't see coming and characters that came to life with each turn of the page. A woman afraid of heights who commits suicide by jumping off a balcony... A wife who begins to think her husband is a serial killer... The only person that wife can turn to for help... I lapped it all up. The only thing that didn't quite set well with me was the appearance of P.I. Henry Kimball as a sort of deus ex machina at the end. But I certainly do enjoy the way Peter Swanson's mind works!



320 pages
Rating: A
 
My Thoughts: I rapidly fell under Lorraine Henry's (Aunty Lo's) spell. Records clerk in the basement of the local police station, everyone who works with her goes out of their way to remind her she's an outsider. 
 
Aunty Lo identifies strongly with the Maori and any other marginalized person, and when the police don't seem overly concerned about the disappearances of two Maori children, Aunty Lo finds herself teaming up with Justin Hayes, a police officer from the city to find them.
 
Even though one of the bad guys wasn't a surprise, I loved the setting, I loved Aunty Lo, and I'm definitely looking for more from Tom Baragwanath.
 
 
Rating: A+

My Thoughts: Written in 1955, I found Amberwell suited my mood perfectly for a charming and delightful (I know-- I don't use those words often) tale of a wealthy, eccentric family in their Scottish country house from the 1920s to the end of World War II. 

There's another book continuing with the characters, but I'm not sure I'll follow up with it. Sometimes the glow of the original is enough for me. Make sense?

 



400 pages
Rating: B+
 
My Thoughts: "The Cartographers is a work of fiction, but its inspiration is rooted in truth. This story is for anyone who's ever opened a map and gotten lost in it." Well, I've loved maps since I was a small child, and I can still get lost in one. As a child, I always wanted at least one road map every time my accompanying grownups would stop at a gas station. (The pleasure of sitting in the backseat and being the first one to unfold it!)
 
I loved all the information about cartography, but... as the real identity of each character was revealed, I wasn't surprised, and I really didn't buy into the "reality" of a little town called Agloe.


I feel a bit guilty about these short reviews, but I hope you enjoy them anyway. Have you read any of these books? Which ones? Did you have the same reactions to them as I did? Inquiring minds would love to know!

It's time to get this leg up. Enjoy your weekend!

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

November 2024 New Mystery Releases!

 
I've really been enjoying my reduced blogging time. It's been better for my persnickety legs, and I've had more reading time. I am going to continue with this, although I'll have to come up with a way to keep you abreast of what I've been reading (shorter format, less time sitting at the computer). We'll see what I come up with.
 
In the meantime, you know that I've been keeping track of new crime fiction to read. I've grouped my choices according to their release dates, and I've included links to author websites where available as well as the books' entries on Amazon US. Book covers and synopses are also courtesy of Amazon.
 
Let's see if I can tempt you with any of these titles!
 
 
=== November 5 ===
 
 
Series: #1 in the Maggie Walker cozy series set in western Massachusetts
336 pages
 
*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books
 
Synopsis: "After life threw Maggie Walker a few curveballs, she’s happy to be back in the small, Berkshires town where she spent so much time as a child. Marlowe holds many memories for her, and now it also offers a fresh start. Maggie has always loved gardening, so it’s only natural to sign on to help Violet Bloom set up a community garden.

When opening day arrives, Violet is nowhere to be found, and the gardeners are restless. Things go from bad to worse when Maggie finds a boot buried in one of the plots… and there’s a body attached to it. Suddenly, the police are looking for a killer and they keep asking questions about Violet. Maggie doesn’t believe her friend could do this, and she’s going to dig up the dirt needed to prove it.

The Gardener’s Plot takes readers to the heart of the Berkshires and introduces amateur sleuth Maggie Walker in Deborah J. Benoit’s Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award-winning debut.


Author: G.M. Malliet
Series: #6 in the DCI Arthur St. Just series set in England
240 pages

Synopsis: "Something is bothering Sir Flyte Rascallian, renowned art expert and Master of Hardwick College at the University of Cambridge. Are the grimy paintings he recently inherited from his aunt as worthless as he claims?

Curator Ambrose Nussknacker believes one of the paintings could be a genuine Rembrandt. Why is Sir Flyte so reluctant to get it authenticated, and so determined to avoid the tributes due to the discovery of one of the world’s great lost treasures?

When Sir Flyte is found murdered in the Master’s Lodge, Detective Chief Inspector Arthur St. Just must unravel his unusual actions to solve the death of the old master. College fellows, staff, and students all agree something was amiss. But as St. Just investigates, he quickly becomes entangled in a web of deception following the trail of priceless artwork people would kill to possess."
 
 
Series: #1 in the Marigold Manners historical mystery series set in New England.
320 pages
 
Synopsis: "Miss Marigold Manners may be steeped in the etiquette of her old-money Boston family, but she is also an accomplished, modern woman and an avid student of archaeology who can handle any situation with poise. When the death of her parents leaves her too destitute to pursue her academic career and she receives a letter from a distant relative on Great Misery Island, Marigold decides she must do what any person of superior sense and greater-than-average curiosity would: she mounts her trusty bicycle and heads up the craggy, fog-shrouded coast of New England for a date with fate.

Marigold arrives at Hatchet Farm, a moldering, gothic pile of a house inhabited by relatives so mired in the sins of the past, they have no future. She sets out to modernize the recluses with a brisk, ruthless efficiency, but her well-intentioned plans to manage their lives lead to malice—and murder. Marigold spies a body floating in the stormy waters surrounding the island, and her suspicions immediately turn to her hostile, weapon-wielding relatives when one of the local girls turns up missing. And she might not be the only one.

When another dead body is found in the garden of the estate, Marigold finds herself accused. She must enlist the help of an eccentric, colorful cast of friends and found family to save herself—and everything she holds dear. As secrets are uncovered and lies exposed, the question of “who done it?” turns into “who didn’t do it?” and Marigold must face a truth that shatters her steely poise and shakes her very sense of self.
 
 
=== November 7 ===
 
 
Standalone Thriller set in the UK.
352 pages

*UK Release

Synopsis: "A new job. A new home. A new start.

It's all Anna wants.

But in a closed rural community, strange traditions and a suspicion of outsiders mean everything is not as it seems.

Three teenage girls have vanished at the annual Gathering as they reach their sixteenth birthday.
No one seems to be investigating.
And a fourth girl begs Anna for help, fearing that she will be next to disappear.

Everyone has secrets.
Anna is watching everyone.
But who is watching Anna?

An unpredictable and wild page-turner, with shocks, surprises and a killer twist for a finale.
"


=== November 12 ===


Title: Those Opulent Days
Author: Jacquie Pham
Standalone historical mystery set in 1920s colonial Vietnam.
304 pages

Synopsis: "Duy, Phong, Minh, and Edmond have been best friends since childhood. Now, as young men running their families’ formidable businesses, they make up Saigon’s most powerful group of friends in 1928 Vietnam’s elite society.

Until one of them is murdered.

In a lavish mansion on a hill in Dalat, all four men have gathered for an evening of indulgence, but one of them won’t survive the night. Toggling between this fatal night and the six days leading up to it, told from the perspectives of the four men, their mothers, their servants, and their lovers, an intricate web of terror, loyalty, and well-kept secrets begins to unravel.

As the story creeps closer to the murder, and as each character becomes a suspect, the true villain begins to emerge: colonialism, the French occupation of Vietnam, and the massive economic differences that catapult the wealthy into the stratosphere while the poor starve on the streets."
 
 
=== November 19 ===
 
 
Series: A Walt Longmire prequel
208 pages
 
Synopsis: "Tooth and Claw follows Walt and Henry up to Alaska as they look for work after they both returned from serving in Vietnam. While working for an oil company in the bitter cold of winter, they soon encounter a ferocious polar bear who seems hell-bent on their destruction. But it’s not too long until they realize the danger does not lurk outside in the frozen Alaskan tundra, but with their co-workers who are after priceless treasure and will stop at nothing to get it.

Fans of Longmire will thrill to this pulse-pounding and bone-chilling novel of extreme adventure that adds another indelible chapter to the great story of Walt Longmire.


Title: The Bones of Bascom Hall
Authors: Betsy Draine and Michael Hinden
Series: #5 in the Nora Barnes and Toby Sandler series set in Wisconsin
224 pages
 
Synopsis: "Campus police at the University of Wisconsin–Madison are baffled by the discovery of human remains in the attic of the administration building. Drawn into the investigation, visiting professor Nora Barnes connects the bones to the Vietnam-era bombing of Sterling Hall. But someone doesn’t want her probing the past. She’s side-swiped by a car while riding a bicycle and almost crushed in the art library’s motorized book stacks. Meanwhile, her high-spirited husband, Toby Sandler, is hot on the trail of lost architectural plans drafted by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Inspired by an event that traumatized Madison and shocked the nation, this absorbing novel blends fact and fiction and is sure to delight both mystery enthusiasts and UW alumni.


Title: Silent Are the Dead
Author: D.M. Rowell
Series: #2 in the Mud Sawpole amateur sleuth series set on ancestral Kiowa tribal land. 
320 pages
 
Synopsis: "While back on tribal land, Mud Sawpole uncovers an illegal fracking operation underway that threatens the Kiowas’ ancestral homeland. But there’s an even greater threat: a local businessman involved in artifact thefts is murdered, and a respected tribe elder faces accusation of the crime. After being roped in by her cousin, Denny, they begin to investigate the death while also pursuing evidence to permanently stop frackers from destroying Kiowa land, water, and livelihoods.

When answers evade her, Mud heeds her grandfather's and great-aunt’s words of wisdom and embraces Kiowa tribal customs to find the answers that she seeks. But her ceremonial sweat leads to a vision with answers wrapped in more questions.


Mud and Denny race against the clock to uncover the real killer and must face the knowledge that there may be a traitor—and a murderer—in their midst. It’s already too late for one victim—and Mud may be next.


Author: Kristi Jones
World War II historical mystery featuring Women's Army Auxiliary Corps member Dottie Lincoln. Set in Algiers.
304 pages
 
Synopsis: "Algiers, North Africa, 1943. After her abusive German husband left her for dead and took their daughter with him behind enemy lines, Dottie Lincoln learned that it’s better to be a trained soldier rather than a victim. As a newly minted squad leader in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, she spends her days moving men and materials to the front and her nights attending mandatory dances to boost the morale of the men. Despite the grueling nature of her job, she has found a sanctuary amongst the women in the Army. When Ruth, a member of her squad, is murdered, she’s devastated and determined to get to the bottom of the murder.

Dottie’s company is the first group of American women assigned to a combat theater, and with Ruth’s death, the entire operation is being questioned. Determined to do everything she can to help win the war, bring justice to her friend, and hopefully reunite with her daughter, Dottie must rise to the occasion before the killer strikes again.

But when her past comes back to haunt her, Dottie must prove she’s not a German spy and put a stop to a deadly conspiracy that threatens the entire American war effort.


Amateur sleuth mystery set in Hawaii
288 pages
 
Synopsis: "After the newspaper she works for folds and the freelance assignments no longer pay the bills, Maya Wong reluctantly returns to her native Hawaiʻi to ghostwrite controversial land developer Parker Hamilton's biography. But when the Hamilton patriarch is found dead under suspicious circumstances, Maya is unwittingly drawn into the investigation.

Maya’s family and friends aren't happy about her work for Hamilton. And now, with her ex, Detective Koa Yamada, on the case, she’s forced to contend with the very person she was determined to avoid.

All too soon, Maya is dodging assailants and digging for clues while juggling girls’ nights out with her old BFFs and weekly family dinners. Convinced the police are after the wrong man, Maya is determined to stop the killer before it’s too late.

Exploring timely issues in Hawaiʻi, including locals getting priced out of paradise,
Ghosts of Waikīkī is an engrossing mystery in the vein of The Verifiers.


=== November 21 ===


Title: Deadfall
Series: #6 in the DCI Kelso Strang series set in Scotland.
384 pages

Synopsis: "There's something sinister about Drumdalloch Woods in the Black Isle near Inverness. It is a place of tangled growth and shadowy darkness, it has business opportunists, biological scientists and conflicted family members all competing for a say in its future. Then a body is found, and everything starts to look suspicious. 

As DCI Kelso Strang's investigation grows more complex, he unearths layers of hatred, greed and revenge that cast doubt even on the local police force. Having only just found happiness with his new girlfriend, Cat Fleming, Strang faces an existential threat not only to his career but to his very life.
"


=== November 28 ===


Author: Vaseem Khan
Series: #5 in the Malabar House historical series set in India.
352 pages 

*UK release

Synopsis: "Bombay, 1951. A political rally ends in tragedy when India's first female police detective, Persis Wadia, kills a lone gunman as he attempts to assassinate the divisive new defence minister, a man calling for war with India's new post-Independence neighbours.

With the Malabar House team tasked to hunt down the assassin's co-conspirators - aided by agents from Britain's MI6 security service - Persis is quickly relegated to the sidelines. But then she is given a second case, the burned body of an unidentified white man found on a Bombay beach. As she pursues both investigations - with and without official sanction - she soon finds herself headed to the country's capital, New Delhi, a city where ancient and modern India openly clash.

Meanwhile, Persis's colleague, Scotland Yard criminalist Archie Blackfinch, lies in a hospital fighting for his life as all around him the country tears itself apart in the prelude to war...
"


There are quite a few intriguing new mysteries coming out in November, aren't there? Did I manage to tempt you with any of them? Or... had you already been tempted? Which books? Inquiring minds would love to know! 

Thursday, October 24, 2024

A Let the Scheduling Commence Weekly Link Round-Up

 

 
Another quiet week has passed here at Casa Kittling with neither of us getting out to do anything other than keep appointments with various doctors. Speaking of doctors, the venous ablation was finally approved by my insurance company, and it has been scheduled as an out patient procedure next month, with all the accompanying follow-ups.

Temperatures are back up in the 90s, but after months of 100+, this still feels cool. I've been having fun watching a young Gila woodpecker learning to drink from the birdbath without hanging from the edge whenever a yellow-rumped warbler isn't splashing around, that is.

We might even start planning visits to our favorite outdoor places soon, so on that note, I'll leave you with another offering from my virtual closet.



Enjoy the weekend-- and the links!



►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄
 
►Book Banning & Censorship◄

 
►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

►The Wanderer◄

►Fascinating Folk◄
  • Diné (Navajo) leader Allie Young is using horses to bring "the greatest Native turnout ever" to the polls.
  • Anthony Bourdain on the life and legacy of a truly infamous cook: Typhoid Mary.
  • How Captain George Vancouver mapped and shaped the modern Pacific Northwest.
  • Desi Arnaz is getting a much-deserved historical marker in Miami Beach.
  • How Indigenous weaver DY Begay's mastery of color infuses her tapestries with a life force.
  • Zelda Fitzgerald on F. Scott's writing.
  • The unmasking of Madame Helena Blavatsky, 19th century occult imposter.
  • Controversial rare-book dealer Glenn Horowitz tries to rewrite his own ending.

►I ♥ Lists◄ 

That's all for this week! Don't forget to stop by next Friday when I'll probably 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!

Monday, October 21, 2024

The Secret War of Julia Child by Diane R. Chambers

 
First Line: Julia turned her face into the hot Santa Ana wind, which had swept in as if it owned the place, whipping the linen curtains, aerating the small room like a cook whisking cream.
 
 
Single, 6 foot 2, and thirty years old, Julia McWilliams began working for America's first espionage agency years before cooking or Paris ever entered her mind. Keenly ambitious, she moved from file clerk to head of General "Wild Bill" Donovan's secret File Registry as part of the Office of Strategic Services.
 
Her job took her to South Asia's remote front lines in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), India, and China where she found purpose, adventure, and love with mapmaker Paul Child.
 
 
 
 
~
 
I have to admit that I paid very little attention to Julia Child while I was growing up. She was just a woman with a funny voice who had a cooking program on television-- and I hated cooking. (I still do.) If not for the fact that I'm a fan of Meryl Streep's movies, I never would've watched Julie & Julia, and I never would've become fascinated by the woman with the funny voice-- and that fascination led me to Diana R. Chambers' The Secret War of Julia Child.

Julia Child had an unconventional mother who wanted more for her daughter. This made Julia keenly ambitious and determined to make her mark in the world. She knew she had to make a difference. I enjoyed the often poetic descriptions of the Asian landscape and how Julia sampled every bit of native cuisine that she could-- a harbinger of things to come-- but the book came up short in other areas.

One thing readers should keep in mind as they read this book is that it's not based on fact. As the author says, "I offer my story as one that exists only in the realm of possibility, a personal interpretation inspired by admiration and respect," and it is this that was the book's downfall. Julia as a spy, as a code breaker, and adept at plugging leaks? Yes, I can see that, but Chambers went on to add too much to Julia's fictional resume, almost making her an addition to the Marvel Universe of superheroes. This woman did make an impact on the world, so I don't think it was really necessary to "gild the lily."

The landscape, the food, the long, involved road to finding love with Paul Child... I enjoyed all these things, but Julia was no superhero.

The Secret War of Julia Child by Diane R. Chambers
eISBN: 9781464219054
Sourcebooks Landmark © 2024
eBook, 400 pages
 
Historical Fiction, Standalone
Rating: C+
Source: Net Galley

Thursday, October 17, 2024

The Could It Possibly Be Fall?? Weekly Link Round-Up

 


When I checked the forecast last night, I almost fell out of my chair. Rain? Temperatures below 80°? I have to be hallucinating! But regardless what the forecast says, I won't believe it until I actually experience it.

I've been enjoying playing hooky so much that I think I'll do the very same thing this coming week. One review and maybe a link round-up. I'm reading some very good books and reorganizing things that should've been cleared out long ago. For example-- I have a metal two-drawer file cabinet on one side of my desk, and it dawned on me the other night that I hadn't touched 99% of its contents in y-e-a-r-s. Bring out the trash bags, and now I have a lot less clutter around my desk. 
 
Don't tell anyone, but I'm making up a Halloween basket for my home health nurse. He's a treasure, and we love to laugh, joke around, and tell each other tall tales (with Denis pitching in a lot). I have his favorite candy and a child's snorkel and mask to put in a small Jack o' Lantern bucket. I can "hear" the raised eyebrows already. A child's snorkel and mask? Well... sometimes our tall tales are so good that one of us will look at the other and say, "It's getting pretty deep in here. Where's my snorkel?"

All week, we've had huge equipment from a crew of city tree trimmers in our yard, which makes me mourn the loss of our huge Aleppo pine all over again. When that tree was still alive, there's no way they could've used a good chunk of our property as a parking lot. I'm hoping not to be rudely wakened Monday morning by the beep beep beep beep of that huge truck reversing up our driveway. Wish us luck!
 

 

Have a good weekend, and enjoy the links!



►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄
 
►Book Banning & Censorship◄


►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄
 
►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄
 
►The Wanderer◄
 
►Fascinating Folk◄
 
►I ♥ Lists◄

That's all for this week! Don't forget to stop by next Friday when I'll probably 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!

Monday, October 14, 2024

The Waiting by Michael Connelly

 
First Line: She liked waiting for the wave more than riding the wave.
 
It's not a good way to start the day: when Renée Ballard goes back to her car after a morning's surfing, she finds it broken into and her badge, gun, and ID stolen. She can't report it without giving her enemies in the department ammunition to end her career as a detective. She works the burglary alone, finally going to Harry Bosch for help.
 
In the meantime, she and the Open/Unsolved Unit of the LAPD have gotten a DNA connection between a recently arrested man and a serial rapist and killer who went quiet twenty years ago. Could this young man be the son of the infamous Pillowcase Rapist? Even Renée doesn't expect the secrets and legal hurdles their investigation kicks up.
 
While all this is going on, Renée takes on a new volunteer to the cold case unit: Bosch's daughter, Maddie, now a patrol officer. But Maddie has an ulterior motive for accessing the city's old records: she's uncovered new evidence in a case that may be the most iconic in the city's history.
 
~
 
It's always a bit like Christmas when there's a new Ballard & Bosch mystery, and The Waiting put a big smile on my face. As Harry Bosch ages, I cherish every scene he's in, and although I know our time with him is undoubtedly limited, I really appreciate how Connelly is passing Harry's torch on to Renée Ballard and Harry's daughter, Maddie. 

Renée is more than happy to add Maddie to her handpicked team. Having another person with a badge will make her own job easier. Now if another team member, Colleen Hatteras, would stop being a bit of a thorn in Renée's side! Renée has done a fantastic job with her team. Since many of the cold cases are so old that the killers the team identifies are already dead or incarcerated, Renée has put a limit to the ones they'll work-- none should go back further than 1975.

The various cases that the team works are woven together beautifully, and Connelly always manages to teach me something about the bad guys. (Beware of some of those apps you love to use...) The case that Maddie came to the cold case team to work is indeed probably the most iconic in Los Angeles' history, and it was interesting to see how Connelly worked that out.

With another engrossing story under my belt, I'm back to waiting for the next time I'll see Renée, Maddie, and Harry. It can't be soon enough for me.

The Waiting by Michael Connelly
eISBN: 9780316563819
Little, Brown and Company © 2024
eBook, 387 pages
 
Police Procedural, #6 Ballard & Bosch
Rating: A+
Source: Net Galley