EXCERPT: COMPANION WANTED FOR ELDERLY WOMAN – NORTH NORFOLK Temporary position. Live-in. BOX:765034 Job specifications: Live-in companion wanted for an elderly woman. You will have your own room with a private bathroom in a substantial home on a large country estate in North Norfolk. The position is temporary – seven days in the last week of August during a family wedding party. Your duties will be light. No persona care is involved. The woman requires, in essence, a friendly person to be her companion while the family are otherwise engaged with wedding preparations. You must be efficient, quick-witted and happy to join the family for their very special occasion. If the applicant is successful, there is the potential for a permanent position in the woman’s London home. . .
Gina Knight is looking forward to the prospect of retirement with her husband of forty-three years. Until, to her surprise, said husband decides he needs to ‘find himself’ â alone â and disappears to Santa Fe, leaving divorce papers in his wake.
Now Gina needs a new role in life, not to mention somewhere to live, so she applies for the position of Companion to elderly Dorothy Reed. At eighty-nine, âDotâ needs someone to help her around the house â or at least, her family seems to think so. Her companionâs first role would be to accompany Dot for a week-long extravagant wedding party.
But when Georgina arrives at the large Norfolk estate where the wedding will take place, she quickly discovers Dot has an ulterior motive for hiring her. While the other guests are busy sipping champagne and playing croquet, Dot needs Georgina to help her solve a mystery â about a missing painting, which she believes is hidden somewhere in the house.
Because, after all, who would suspect two old ladies of getting up to mischief?
MY THOUGHTS: I loved these two main characters! Eighty-nine-year-old Dot Reed and seventy-one-year-old Gina Knight just seem to hit it off. Dot really didn’t want a companion until she met Gina, who has a skill that Dot needs to fulfil her quest. Gina just wants out of the marital home which is in the process of being sold.
Gina doesn’t have a lot of self-confidence, shaken by a departing husband who describes her as ‘beige and unexciting.’ Dorothy tends to be impulsive and a holder of grudges. At first glance these two have nothing in common, but in truth both are quick-witted and suspicious. Juliet, Dot’s thirteen-year-old granddaughter makes the third person in the search for stolen goods in the host’s home.
Old Girls Behaving Badly is humorous romp (without being at all silly!) under cover of the upcoming nuptials in a large and stately manor house with staircases, cellars and hidden rooms. Dot and Gina made me think of an aged Nancy Drew!
This read is a lot of fun. It deals with divorce in the elderly, grief, finding your feet again and finding new friends in unexpected places. Every time I think about Old Girls Behaving Badly, I smile. The way Kate Galley has ended this book makes me believe there may be a second book on the horizon. I sincerely hope so.
ââââ.4
#OldGirlsBehavingBadly #NetGalley
THE AUTHOR: Kate Galley lives in Buckinghamshire with her husband, children and Meg, their Patterdale Terrier. Much of Kate’s inspiration co0mes from the varied lives of her client as a mobile hairdresser.
DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Boldwood Books via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of Old Girls Behaving Badly by Kate Galley for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
Yay!!!! Only three new ARCs arrived in my inbox this week! Excuse me while I do a little dance . . .
My first new title is a publisher’s widget – The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley. I see this isn’t getting great reviews, but I have enjoyed everything else I have read by her, so we’ll see . . . It certainly sounds enticing!
Midsummer, the Dorset coast
In the shadows of an ancient wood, guests gather for the opening weekend of The Manor: a beautiful new countryside retreat.
But under the burning midsummer sun, darkness stirs. Old friends and enemies circulate among the guests. And the candles have barely been lit for a solstice supper when the body is found.
It all began with a secret, fifteen years ago. Now the past has crashed the party. And itâll end in murder atâŠ
THE MIDNIGHT FEAST
I have read so many amazing reviews about Goyhood by new-to-me author Rueven Fenton that I just couldn’t resist requesting it.
But his mother’s untimely death brings a shocking revelation: Mayer and his ne’er-do-well twin brother David aren’t, in fact, Jewish. Traumatized and spiritually bereft, Mayer’s only recourse is to convert to Judaism. But the earliest date he can get is a week from now. What are two estranged brothers to do in the interim?
So begins the Belkins’ Rumspringa through America’s Deep South with Mom’s ashes in tow, plus two tagalongs: an insightful Instagram influencer named Charlayne Valentine and Popeye, a one-eyed dog. As the crew gets tangled up in a series of increasingly surreal adventures, Mayer grapples with a God who betrayed him and an emotionally withdrawn wife in Brooklyn who has yet to learn her husband is a counterfeit Jew.
And to round out this weeks books is the latest in the Josie ‘nosey’ Parker cosy mystery series by Fiona Leitch – The Cornish Campsite Murder.
Jodie âNoseyâ Parker is back in 2024 with a brand new Cornish mystery to unravelâŠ
As they prepare for a weekend of camping and being elbow deep in shortcrust pastry, Jodie hadnât bargained on witnessing a fight between members of the lead band.
But when the body of one of the band members is found dead not far from the campsite, Jodie finds it hard to believe it was an accident. Especially when the other members had so much to gainâŠ
I still have 22 pending requests, 2 past publication date but which are not archived until some time later in May.
I have 515 books on my NetGalley shelf, one less than last week. Hey, I’ll take it. It’s a gain, or a loss, however you want to look at it! At least it makes my 72% feedback ratio a little more secure . . .
Goodreads group, All About Books is having another readathon starting at 12.01 am Friday 26 April and finishing at 11.59 p.m. Sunday 28 April for which I have signed up.
I have completed 8/9 books and all four books by Australian authors for my Aussie Readers April challenge. I will read the 9th and remaining book after I have finished my current read. I will easily complete this challenge before the end of the month.
I have just signed up for the May Aussie Reader’s challenge. The featured author is Sophie Green.
I have read 7/14 books for the Autumn Aussie Readers challenge, so I am right on target!
I have completed my first task of 24 for the World Book Day Challenge which I need to complete before 23 April 2025.
When I was at the library recently, our librarian introduced me to Beanstack an online reading library-based reading challenge but I didn’t get around to signing up for it until yesterday. There is a timer where you can log your reading minutes, Book bingo on which I have this morning completed my first square, and a place to publish your reviews. There are several other features that I haven’t yet had time to explore but will do as soon as possible.
My annual goals I am just going to update at the end of each month, and as it is the last Wednesday of the month, here goes –
I have read 87 of my goal of 225 books for my 2024 Goodreads Reading challenge- 18 books ahead of schedule; and 64 of my goal of 150 NetGalley titles. I can always increase my goals later in the year.
I have read 13 of my goal of 20 Backlist titles for 2024. These titles must have been on my shelf for longer than 12 months to qualify.
I have read 22 of my 24 book goal for my 2024 library love challenge, so I may need to reset that goal too.
I selected the My Precious (I had my earbuds surgically implanted) level of 30+ audiobooks for 2024. I have so far listened to 19/30.
Another few days and we’ll be 1/3 of the way through the year!
Dustin and Luke fly back from Perth Thursday night – that week has gone by fast! Luke loved the reptile park so much that they made a return visit yesterday and Luke got to feed a snake! He was so excited. He keeps messaging me telling me what he’s doing. He’ll be spending time with his Australian grandad for the last two days of his visit which will be nice for both of them.
I have a busy morning ahead. I need to tidy up my office desk as I have mislaid two vital bits of paper. My friend Annette is staying tonight after we get back from seeing Dragon in concert so I need to make up a bed for her. Pete’s dinner is simmering away in the crockpot, but I need to get some food in for the weekend, do laundry, and sort out what I am wearing tonight. The day is going to be beautiful, but not that warm. It will be hot inside the event centre but cold outside. What to wear???? Boots, definitely. I hate to have cold feet!
EXCERPT: ‘Your train was cancelled yesterday, so you went for a walk and found this weird charity shop, saw a strange clock, got locked in and then got out again?’ Marguerite’s podgy hand flew to her mouth, almost batting the tantric crystals clean across the scuffed floor tiles of Mrs Hall’s Pantry. ‘Oh goodness gracious me,’ she said, and gave a neighing peal of laughter. ‘You must think I’m a complete numpty!’ Pat smiled faintly, making a considerable effort not to look as if she agreed. ‘I went back,’ said Marguerite. ‘I wasn’t working this morning, so I went back to the charity shop. I wanted to go back and see how much this clock I saw cost. At that point I hadn’t twigged that it wasn’t real.’ She paused dramatically. ‘And?’ ‘It wasn’t there!’ ‘The clock?’ ‘No, the whole shop. When I went back this morning, the whole shop had just vanished!’
ABOUT ‘A CLOCK STOPPED DEAD’: Retired schoolteachers and amateur sleuths Liz, Pat and Thelma are giving up their coffee morning for a brand-new mystery. The perfect cosy crime story for fans of The Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osman
But when their good friend Marguerite claims to have uncovered a mysterious charity shop that has since vanished, they simply canât resist investigating.
Before long, our trio of unlikely sleuths find themselves embroiled in a race against the clock to get to the bottom of this mystery â but who has a secret to hide and how far will they go to keep it concealed?
MY THOUGHTS: I quite enjoyed catching up with this trio of ex-school teachers, but I didn’t love it as much as I wanted to. I think, because there is simply too much dialogue. Far too much. Understandable perhaps with the author being a playwright first and foremost. So I shall temper that comment by saying ‘far too much dialogue for a novel.’ I find it very hard to get a sense of place or character with so much dialogue and so little of anything else.
I do love the characters, Pat, Liz and Thelma. There’s a little conflict between them in this installment that leaves Pat wondering if, after twenty-five years, give or take, they were all growing apart now that the common bond of teaching that had drawn them together was gone.
There are adjustments to be made all round. Two of the women have their adult children return home unexpectedly, Pat has to come to terms with her aging, and Thelma has something to learn about her husband.
There are some beautifully humorous moments such as when Pat’s husband Rod is trying to plan a holiday for them, and the feud between Polly, Thelma’s workmate at a (different) charity shop, and the manager of said shop. The window display scene is priceless.
But the mystery . . . the mystery is messy and hard to follow. There are psuedo-supernatural elements that only cloud the issues, too many extra characters and simply too much going on with all the different side-stories. The author seems to have thrown everything but the kitchen sink into this – but wait, I may be wrong, he may well have thrown the kitchen sink in as well – I’m sure there was a mention of dishes being done . . .
To be quite honest, I was more interested in what was going on in the lives of these three women than I was in the mystery.
I do love the lead ins to each chapter, a la Winnie-the-Pooh, e.g. CHAPTER FIVE Two friends don’t fall out and a plan is hatched
My least favorite book of the series so far. (sorry!đŹ) And I should perhaps mention that although there is a complete mystery in each of these books, I don’t really think that this would read easily as a stand-alone. There’s a lot of back history to these characters.
âââ.5
#AClockStoppedDeadJMHall #NetGalley
THE AUTHOR: J.M. Hall is an author, playwright and deputy head of a primary school. His plays have been produced in theatres across the UK as well as for radio.
DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Avon Books UK via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of A Clock Stopped Dead by J.M. Hall for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
Ten! Yes, ten new titles arrived to review this week. What was I thinking? But so many of my favorite authors have put books up on NetGalley this week, that I just couldn’t resist!
So, what are these titles?
If Something Happens to Me by Alex Finlay. I have enjoyed every book I have read by this author; he sure knows how to write a tense and absorbing read!
The crushing blow to the head. Hands yanking him from the vehicle. His girlfriendâs piercing screamâŠ
For the past five years, Ryan Richardson has relived that terrible night. With no trace of Ali after she is abducted, a cloud of suspicion hangs over him, though he is never charged. Trying to put his past behind him, Ryan changes his name and enters law school.
Itâs on a summer trip to Italy that he gets the call: his missing car has finally been found, submerged in a lake in his hometown. But inside the car are two dead men. The only trace of Ali is a cryptic note, the envelope in her handwriting stating If something happens to me…
Reeling from the news, Ryan sees the man who has haunted his nightmares since the night Ali was taken. But how could that be possible, so far from home? His search for answers leads him to England and France, but the truth may lie in the shape of two very different people back in the USA.
Dog Days by Wendy Corsi Straub is the next instalment of the Lily Dale mysteries. I have come to feel a great affection for these characters.
After attending a family wedding in Chicago, young widow Bella Jordan is returning to the guesthouse she runs in Lily Dale – the quirky upstate New York lakeside village famous for its spiritual mediums – when she catches a glimpse of the impossible at the airport: her late husband Sam.
A former science teacher, Bella is grounded in facts and logic. She doesn’t believe in ghosts. But even when she’s back home with the competing distractions of her quirky guests, small son Max, resident pet cats and a very unexpected litter of puppies, Bella can’t find a good explanation for what she’s seen.
The situation gets even stranger when her psychic friend Odelia tells her that she made contact with Sam’s spirit and he shared a significant name: Kevin . . . Bacon!
Bella doesn’t know what to think, but when she glimpses Sam again and things start to vanish around her, she knows she has to get to the bottom of the strange happenings – even if that means letting go for good . . .
Fiona Walker is an author whose books I can never wait to get my hands on! Her latest is The Art of Murder.
Welcome to the beautiful English village of Inkbury. Tucked deep in the North Wessex Downs, its only claim to fame is the picturesque riverside that once appeared in a Richard Curtis movie. That is, until the murderâŠ
Former stand-up comic Juno Mulligan has been suffering a serious sense-of-humour failure. Not only has she lost the love of her life, but sheâs having to relocate to the (admittedly idyllic) village of Inkbury to watch out for her elderly mother, who sheâs genuinely worried might be marrying a wife-killer.
But before they have a chance, the local art dealer washes up distinctly dead in the villageâs famous river. His lover is in the frame, but Juno and Phoebe suspect that there is a deeper secret⊠One that relates to Phoebeâs own past and Junoâs present.
Will the unofficial Village Detective Agency solve the mystery before the killer strikes again? In sleepy Inkbury, as they soon discover, living oneâs best midlife can be murder.
Beth Moran is an author who always gives me all the feels with her heartwarming novels. It Had To Be You is one I just had to read.
Growing up, sisters Libby and Nicky never knew who theyâd find at breakfast.
Their parents fostered children of all ages, and although the girls loved playing their part in providing a safe haven, it meant that life was rarely peaceful.
Now as a single mother of two, Libbyâs life is still anything but peaceful. In her work as an antenatal coach, as well as for the charity she and Nicky run for teenage mothers, Libby uses all the skills she learnt growing up surrounded by children. Her days are full, caring for her family, the mothers-to-be and the latest strays she has welcomed into her home. But in the dark of the lonely nights, Libby worries sheâs falling apart at the seams.
One troubled boy and a reckless decision she made thirteen years ago still haunts her.
Two hearts that were broken, still not mended.
The time has come for Libby to look out for herself. As her family, friends and her community have known forever, Libby is one of a kind, and if she can just learn to love herself, she may be able to welcome back the love she let slip through her fingers.
I have heard a lot about, but whom I have never read until now. The Blood Promise is the first installment in a new Scottish crime series.
A deadly gift
Imogen Clark wakes up on her 16th birthday to find her parents dead at the breakfast table, along with a message from their killer.
A twist of fate
Detectives Jazzy Solanki and Annie McQueen join the investigation, but the more they discover, the more Jazzy suspects that the killing is a twisted message for her. Jazzy shares the same birthday as Imogen, and believes that this is more than a coincidence.
A race to catch a killer
When Jazzy discovers the connection between the killer and the stalker who has been following her for years, she is forced to confront the dark past she was desperate to keep hidden. She must stop at nothing to solve the case, before she becomes the next victimâŠ
The first of two Australian titles this week is Down the Track by Stella Quinn, also a new-to-me author.
Dr Joanne Tan is an expert in a lot of things. Love isn’t one of them.
Being thirty-something, broke, divorced and in a cold war with her ten-year-old son is a lot, but Jo’s handling it. Just. At least she is until her job at the Natural History Museum is put in jeopardy. An invitation to dig up dinosaur bones on a remote Queensland sheep station arrives at just the right time.
It’s not her first trip to Yindi Creek, but it’s not as though anyone will remember her from fifteen years ago … And by anyone, of course, she means the pilot she had that fling with. The fling that taught her she’s far safer sticking to science …
Gavin ‘Hux’ Huxtable, helicopter pilot and reluctant sheep-shearer, has turned his broken heart into a secret (and successful) writing career. But running into Jo again, all these years down the track, stirs up a lot more than outback country dust.
A missing person, a fossilised legbone and a nosy country cop force Jo and Hux together and the sparks that start flying don’t go unnoticed by the locals …
Digging up the past isn’t easy. Digging up the truth can be even harder.
Susan Loves Books is to blame for this title! I saw it on her post and had to have it! The Irish Key by Daisy O’Shea is the first in The Emerald Isles series.
âTake the key, my pet. I canât ever go back. The last letter I had from Ireland was clear about that. But one day you may need a safe haven, and itâs the one thing I can give you. Ireland is in your blood, it will keep you safe.â
When Grace arrives tired, tearful and rain-soaked in Roone Bay, the little Irish village where her grandmother Caitlin grew up, she is overwhelmed with longing for Caitlinâs safe, warm arms. The crumbling wreck of Caitlinâs once-beautiful childhood cottage â whose key Grace was given on her wedding day as a secret refuge if she ever needed it â is not the fresh start sheâd hoped for. But with her young daughter Olivia to look after and a painful past to hide from, Grace has to stay strong.
Plucking up the courage to ask for help from her kind new neighbours â including quietly rugged carpenter Sean Murphy â Grace gets to work making the house habitable. Soon the view of the deep emerald sea has her captivated, Olivia is blossoming, and Sean makes her laugh in a way sheâd forgotten she couldâŠ
As she learns more about her family history, with Sean by her side, Graceâs curiosity unearths only further mystery. What drove Caitlin away from Ireland, never to return? But when Grace uncovers a long-lost letter to Caitlin that reveals the heartbreaking truth, she is suddenly threatened by her own devastating secrets.
Grace may have finally found a home for her little family. But when faced with everything she ran from, will the past tear her apart once more? Or will Grace find the strength to stand up for her daughter, her love for Sean, and her new life in Ireland?
David Mark is an author I read religiously. When the Bough Breaks is his latest offering and also the start of a new series.
Traffic cop Sal Delaney’s past is catching up with her . . .
North of England. Cumbria. Salome Delaney didn’t have a great start in life. But her abusive childhood came to a tragic conclusion with the killing of her tyrant mother, Trina, by a jealous ex-boyfriend. At least, that’s what the police say. Sal has never believed kind Wulf, who tried to protect her from her mother’s dark side, could have committed such a crime, but the evidence was irrefutable . . . and who else could have done it?
Now an adult, with a good job as a Collison Investigation Officer, Sal’s done her best to put the past behind her. But one snowy morning she’s called to an accident scene, and she recognizes the body – Barry Ford, the man her mother left Wulf for, all those years ago.
It soon becomes clear this wasn’t just an accident – it was murder. And Wulf, now out of prison, lives very close by . . .
The question of who really killed her mother has haunted Sal her whole life, but as she launches a complex investigation, which gets darker by the hour, she starts to wonder if she really wants to know the answer after all.
Two of this weeks new ARCs are audiobooks – the first is The Intruders, written by Louise Jensen and narrated by Helen Keeley.
They were told to leave. They should have listened.
The perfect opportunityâŠ
A manor house available rent-free to house-sitters is an offer too good to miss for Cass and James, who have been saving for a deposit on their own home for so long.
Although it had been abandoned for almost thirty years, after a home invasion left almost all the inhabitants dead, it is an amazing chance for them to build their future.
But is it worth the price?
Shortly after moving in things take a sinister turn. Objects disappear and turn up in odd places, the clock always stops at the same time, the house is strangely oppressive and sometimes it feels like Cass and James are not alone.
Newington House may have bad energy, and a dark reputation. But surely thereâs no reason for history to repeat itself, is there?
The second audiobook is also my second Australian title this week – Red River Road is written by Anna Downes, a new-to-me author, and narrated by Maddy Withington.
Katy Sweeney is looking for her sister. A year earlier, just three weeks into a solo vanlife trip, her free-spirited younger sister, Phoebe, vanished without a trace on the remote, achingly beautiful coastal highway in Western Australia. With no witnesses, no leads, and no DNA evidence, the case has gone cold. But Katy refuses to give up on her.
Using Phoebeâs social media accounts as a map, Katy retraces her sisterâs steps, searching for any clues the police may have missed. Was Phoebe being followed? Who had she met along the way, and how dangerous were they?
And then Katyâs path collides with that of Beth, who is on the run from her own dark past. Katy realizes that Beth might be her bestâand onlyâchance of finding the truth, and the two women form an uneasy alliance to find out what really happened to Phoebe in this wild, beautiful, and perilous place.
I think I need to ban myself from NetGalley for a while! What do you think?
Enjoy the remainder of your week, and happy reading!đđ
Happy Sunday! I think I will be having a little nap after I have finished this post. I am exhausted after Luke’s birthday party yesterday, even though I slept well last night. I Had forgotten how active five seven to nine-year-olds could be. They had sack races, played tag and hide-n-seek (which Luke when he was much younger called hide-and-sneak). The most sedate thing they did all day was play pass the parcel, and then that was more throw than pass. The birthday cake I made was beautiful, nice and moist, but the adults ate more of it than the children did. I also saw one or two tucking into the fairy bread! It was nice to meet the parents of Luke’s friends. His best friend Ryan has just moved five minutes down the road so I am sure they will now be seeing a lot more of each other out of school than when Ryan’s family was living in the city.
So, what am I currently reading? I am starting The Day Shelley Woodhouse Woke Up by Laura Pearson. I have loved all the books I have read by this author and can’t wait to get stuck into this one.
When Shelley Woodhouse wakes up in hospital from a coma, the first thing she says is that her husband must be arrested.
Heâs the reason sheâs in here. She knows it. She remembers what he did. Clearly as anything.
But there are things Shelley has forgotten too, including parts of her childhood. And as those start to come back to her, so do other memories. Ones with the power to change everything.
But can she trust these new memories, or what anyone around her is telling her? And who is the mysterious hospital volunteer who brings her food and keeps making her smile? Is it possible to find your future when you’re confused about your past?
I started The Last Best Chance by Brooke Dunnell this morning. I enjoyed The Glass House by this author last year, but have still to find my feet with this. To be fair, I am only twenty pages in . . .
When Rachel, a forty-something single woman, finds herself running out of options on her path to motherhood, she seeks treatment at a fertility clinic in Central Europe. Telling half-truths to her family and the clinic’ s medical team, Rachel questions how far she will go to become a mother, even though she struggles to articulate her desire to become one. Meanwhile, expat Jess loves her new life with Viktor despite their struggle to make ends meet and her confusion about her life’ s purpose. Viktor and his friends live their lives passionately while Jess just seems to be living. With the city preparing for a green-energy expo, Jess sees the opportunity to ignite a career dream, while Rachel fears that it might jeopardise her dream of having a child. Will a chance encounter between the two women give each what she desires?
I am listening to one of my 2018 back titles, What Happened to Us by Faith Hogan, and loving it.
Sometimes the end is only the beginning…
After ten years together, Dubliner Carrie Nolan is devastated when she’s dumped by Kevin Mulvey without even a backwards glance. But on reflection, she had been sacrificing her own long-term happiness by pandering to his excessive ego â well, not anymore!
While Kevin is ‘living the dream’ with his beautiful new Brazilian girlfriend, Carrie seeks solace from a circle of mismatched strangers who need her as much as she needs them.
Then suddenly a catastrophic sequence of events leaves Carrie unsure if there’s anyone she can trust.
How far do you need to fall before you realise it’s never too late to start again?
And the coming week? I only have one read for review scheduled this week – what a relief! I can hopefully catch up on a couple of titles I have skipped past. We are 14 (I think) weeks into the year, and I have 14 titles that I have bypassed so far this year. This time last year I was completely up to date with all my scheduled reads for review.
My next read up will be The Clock Stopped Dead by J.M. Hall, a cosy mystery featuring three retired schoolteachers turned amateur sleuths. I enjoyed the first tow books in the series and have no reason to think that this will be any different.
Retired schoolteachers and amateur sleuths Liz, Pat and Thelma are giving up their coffee morning for a brand-new mystery.
But when their good friend tells them about an unsettling experience she had in a sinister-feeling charity shop, they simply canât resist investigatingâŠ
Because the entire shop has vanished into thin air.
Before long, our trio of unlikely sleuths find themselves embroiled in a race against the clock to get to the bottom of this mystery â but who has a secret to hide and how far will they go to keep it concealed?
Now, I’m not quite sure how a whole charity shop can vanish into thin air, but I am looking forward to finding out.
Enjoy whatever is left of your weekend, and keep on reading! đđ
Happy hump day! I need earmuffs on today! The roofing guys are here today putting on the new guttering and downpiping. We have been very lucky with the weather after it rained all night. We just had one heavy shower while they were having their lunch. Our next major task will be to get the roof painted.
I received seven new ARCs from NetGalley this week – I’m not doing very well at cutting down to two a week, am I? I still have 21 requests pending – 3 of them audiobooks.
I continue my love affair with Barbara O’Neill with Memories of the Lost.
Months after her mother passes away, artist Tillie Morrisey sees a painting in a gallery that leaves her inexplicably lightheaded and unsteady. When a handsome stranger comes to her aid, their connection is so immediate it seems fated, though Liam is only visiting for a few days.
Working on her own art has always been a refuge, but after discovering a document among her motherâs belongings that suggests Tillieâs life has been a lie, she begins to suffer from a series of fugue states, with memories surfacing that she isnât even sure are her own. As her confusion and grief mount and, prompted by a lead on the painting that started it all, Tillie heads to a seaside village in England. There, she hopes to discover the source of her uncanny inspirations, sort out her feelings about Liam, and unravel truths that her mother kept hidden for decades.
I am excited to receive my very first book by Annie Rains – The Charmed Friends of Trove Isle. I have requested, and requested, and finally succeeded!
Ten years after she left her hometown of Trove Isle, NC, Melody Palmer is back to receive an unexpected inheritanceâher great auntâs thrift store, Hidden Treasures. There, in a glass case beneath the register, Melody spies the long-lost charm bracelet she shared with her high school friends, Liz and Bri, and her younger sister, Alyssa. After a devastating prom night accident, it disappeared, and the girlsâ friendship evaporated with it. Slipping the bracelet on her arm for safekeeping, Melody soon finds herself crossing paths with her former friends once more.
While Melody fled, Liz has stayed in Trove Isle, helping with her parentsâ business instead of pursuing her photography goals. Guilt still weighs on her after that fateful night when they lost Alyssa. For Bri, the consequences were even more stark. After spiraling into self-destruction, Bri served four years in a womenâs state prison and is about to be releasedâbut can Trove Isle ever feel like home again?
Yet despite everything thatâs changed, the promise that the bracelet once heldâof adventures, achievements, love, and lifelong friendshipâhasnât quite faded. And together, they might yet find a way to reconcile their pasts and futures, one charm at a time . . .
Frieda McFadden is another author whom I have continually requested, but never previously succeeded in being granted copies. The Book Gods must have been smiling on me this week because I have received One by One.
One by one, they will get what they deserve…
Claire Matchett needs this trip. It will be a break from work and raising children. A chance to repair her damaged marriage. A week of hiking and hot tubbing with friends at a luxurious hotel in the woods, disconnected from the pressures of real life.
Then, on a lonely dirt road, Claire’s minivan breaks down. With no cell reception, the group has no choice but to walk the rest of the way to their remote accommodation. But the forest is dark and difficult to navigate and, hours later, they are lost. Hopelessly lost.
As they venture deeper into the woods, the members of their party are struck down mysteriously, one by one. Are they being hunted? And by whatâor who? As Claire’s dream vacation descends into a nightmare, something becomes clear: only one of them will return home alive.
It was the teaser on the cover of The Suspect by Rob Rinder that reeled me in . . . How could I resist <i>The whole country saw it happen . . . BUT WHO DID IT?</i>
When the UK’s favourite breakfast TV presenter dies live on air in front of millions of viewers, the nation is left devastated.
More devastated still when it becomes clear that her death was not an accident.
The evidence points to one culprit: celebrity chef Sebastian Brooks. But junior barrister Adam Green is about to discover that the case is not as open-and-shut as it first seemed.
And although her angelic persona would suggest otherwise, she was not short of enemies in the glittery TV world . . .
Can Adam uncover the truth?
Jessica Redland has a new title hitting the shelves in May – A New Dawn at Owl’s Lodge. I just love her warm, friendly, feelgood books!
Could one chance meeting change your life forever?
Zara is at a crossroads in life. While she adores her job as a producer’s assistant working on hit TV shows, travelling around the country means she doesn’t truly feel that she has a home. With a fractured relationship with her family and unrequited love weighing heavily on her heart, she is torn about what her next step in life should be…
Snowy is hiding from the world. He’s devoted his life to home schooling his young son and caring for sick owls at his home, Owl’s Lodge, deep in the Yorkshire Wolds countryside. While he’s passionate about both, it’s a lonely existence and he’s starting to question his decisions. But how do you step back into a world you’ve pushed away for years…?
When Zara brings an injured owl to Owl’s Lodge, its frosty, reclusive owner is far from welcoming. Despite hostilities, there’s a connection that neither could ever have prepared themselves for. As they discover a shared passion, a new friendship blossoms, but both Zara and Snowy are used to shutting people out.
Can they both find the courage to open up and the strength to move on from their pasts? And what could this mean for their future happiness?
It was the cover that attracted me to The Essential Elizabeth Stone by new-to-me author Jennifer Banash. I looked at it and thought ‘Wow – I bet that’s hurting her feet!’ So then I just had to know why she is standing there.
For more than thirty years, Elizabeth Stone has been an irreplaceable fixture in homes around the world, a food and lifestyle icon with a brand as warm and inviting as New England brown bread. Until, after her sudden passing, she leaves her legacy and her multimillion-dollar empire to her daughter, Juliet, who is expected to step seamlessly into her shoes.
Juliet finds herself at both a personal and professional crossroads in her life, fearing she wonât be good enough to maintain the image and brand of a woman she adored. With the company in financial trouble, Juliet is urged to write the definitive biography of her motherâself-made entrepreneur, perfect mom, and homespun everywoman whose own childhood in Maine was filled with comfort food and simple elegance. But other than what little Juliet has been told, she doesnât know much about her motherâs past.
The truth is, no one does.
As she digs through her motherâs possessions, tracking down those who knew her, Juliet is stunned to uncover a lifetime of secrets and lies. As she uncovers the truth, she is forced to reckon with her grief over missing someone she isnât sure she ever really knew. Faced with decisions about the fate of her motherâs empire, as well as Julietâs own marriage and future, she will first have to answer the question on everyoneâs mindâwho was Elizabeth Stone?
I loved Alice Castle’s Beth Haldane Mystery series, so I couldn’t resist picking up the first book in her new series, Murder at an English Pub.
When retired doctor Sarah Vane moves to Merstairs, she has no idea that the quaint seaside town isnât quite as friendly it seems, and something sinister is bubbling under the picturesque surfaceâŠ
Recently widowed and looking for a fresh start away from city life, Sarah Vane moves into a lovely little cottage by the sea. The rustic charm is everything she hoped it would be, but her new home doesnât quite have enough space for her things. Her old friend Daphne offers to store Sarahâs boxes in her messy beach hut, but while clearing it out, they are shocked to find a heavy trunk⊠containing a dead body.
They immediately recognise the poor man as pub landlord Gus Trubshaw. Sarah concludes that he was suffocated, but who could have wanted jolly Gus dead? Unimpressed by the policeâs lack of interest, Sarah realises she will have to solve the case herself.
Soon, Sarah discovers that not everyone loved Gus as much as sheâd thought. Could the killer be scoutmaster Bill, who was recently banned from the pub? Or perhaps it was antique store owner, Charles, who owned the beach hut before Daphne? Or was it brewery director Mr. Grimes, who was livid with Gus for squeezing him on the purchase price of his delicious ale?
Just when the clues are starting to fall into place, the prime suspect is found strangled on the beach. And when Sarah discovers a deadly secret that links the two murders, sheâs certain that a dangerous killer is roaming the streets of Merstairs. With the town in a panic, time is ticking for Sarah. Will she solve the mystery before itâs last orders for another victim?
So, 21 pending requests – up 5 from last week. I must admit to having been mood reading rather than sticking to my scheduled reads. I do need to get back on track!
510 unread titles on my shelf – up 4 from last week, only 1 of which is an audiobook and which I am currently listening to.
My feedback ratio is hanging in there at 72% – I don’t know how.
I am currently participating in the Goodreads All About Books group March/April readathon which ends midnight 7th April.
I should just squeak in with my March Aussie Readers Challenge. I have finished 8/10 books, am 1/3 of the way through the 9th, and about to begin the 10th, and have completed all 5 reads by Australian authors.
I have made zero progress on my autumn Aussie Readers challenge. đŹ But I will . . . I will!
Stop by and let me know how your week is progressing. Happy reading and keep smiling. đđ
Happy hump day! It’s Wednesday and Pete’s Mum and sister will be here shortly so excuse me if this post is a bit hurried and not as chatty as usual.
I thought I w3as going to have a very light week with only two ARCs dropping into my inbox until this morning when there was a veritable avalanche! I now have seven . . . .
I received a publisher’s widget for The Trial by Jo Spain. If you have been following me for some time you will know that I absolutely adore her books, so I was really excited to be asked to read it rather than having to request it.
2014, Dublin: at St Edmunds, an elite college on the outskirts of the city, twenty-year-old medical student Theo gets up one morning, leaving behind his sleeping girlfriend, Dani, and his studies – never to be seen again. With too many unanswered questions, Dani simply can’t accept Theo’s disappearance and reports him missing, even though no one else seems concerned, including Theo’s father.
Ten years later, Dani returns to the college as a history professor. With her mother suffering from severe dementia, and her past at St Edmunds still haunting her, she’s trying for a new start. But not all is as it seems behind the cloistered college walls – meanwhile, Dani is hiding secrets of her own.
I read my first book by Lucy Connelly just before Christmas 2023 and really enjoyed it. Death at a Scottish Christmas will be my second title by her.
Sea Isle, Scotland, is magical during the holiday season, and Dr. Emilia McRoy canât wait to enjoy everything her village has to offer. But when the lead singer of a famous band is murdered in the village, just as they were about to launch a world tour, her holiday instantly comes to a halt.
As the bandâs future hangs in the balance, Emilia discovers that the victim was working on new music that has since disappeared. Were these new lyrics worth killing for? And if so, who is the culprit? It seems more than one person wanted this music star dead. Shockingly, beloved Constable Ewan Campbell becomes the prime suspect in the investigation, putting a damper on the townâs festivities.
With an ever growing list of suspects, Emilia will need all the help she can get to figure out who is framing poor Ewan. Between a secret Santa that wants her dead, stalkers, and killer holiday celebrations, Emilia must see the devil in the details and discover the truth before itâs too late.
Good Half Gone by Tarryn Fisher who is a new author to me – although I may have a back title on my shelf somewhere đŹ
Iris Walsh saw her twin sister, Piper, get kidnapped â so why does no one believe her?
Iris narrowly escaped her pretty, popular twin sisterâs fate as a teen â vanished long before the cops agreed to investigate. With no evidence to go on but a few fractured memories, the case quickly went cold.
Now an adult, Iris wants one thing â proof. And if the police still wonât help, sheâll just have to find it her own way; by interning at the isolated Shoal Island Hospital for the criminally insane, where secrets lurk in the shadows and are kept under lock and key.
But Iris soon realizes that something even more sinister is simmering beneath the surface of the Shoal, and that the patients arenât the only ones being observedâŠ
The Bookshop Ladies by Faith Hogan is another Widget I received from the publisher. I love Faith Hogan’s writing so yes, I just had to accept!
Joy Blackwood has no idea why her French art dealer husband has left a valuable painting to a woman called Robyn Tessier in Ballycove, a small town on the west coast of Ireland, but she is determined to find out. She arrives in Ballycove to find that Robyn runs a rather chaotic and unprofitable bookshop. She is shy, suffering from unrequited love for dashing Kian, and badly in need of advice on how to make the bookshop successful.
As Joy gets drawn into the dramas of everyday life in the town, she finds it more and more difficult to confess why she really came, let alone find the truth about the painting she brought with her. When she does finally summon up the courage, it sets the cat amongst the pigeons in the close-knit, friendly community she has come to love.
I read The Secret World of Connie Starr by Robbi Nea in 2022 and was really impressed by it, so it was a no brainer to request With Winter Comes Darkness by the same author.
A terrible accident burns down a family’s life on the same day a murder is committed. From the ashes of these acts comes revelation, darkness, and the truth. Psychological suspense and profound family drama meet in this heartrending and original Australian novel.
1975, Ballarat Alice is happy in her world and in return for her happiness the world is good to her. She has everything she needs – a lovely house and children, and a devoted husband. Even though her journalism job doesn’t pay much, she doesn’t have to worry about the bills. All is well with her world until a terrible accident rips a child from her, a profound betrayal is uncovered, and things fall apart.
On the same day Alice’s world collapses, a man is found brutally murdered on respected teacher Ellery’s farm. Ellery can’t remember what happened but there is blood on his clothes, and he is arrested.
Neither Alice nor Ellery realise that their paths in life are about to intertwine and a desperate bargain is about to be made. A bargain that could save or destroy them in their quest to draw some light and fathom the darkness that surrounds them.
The Radio Hour by Voctoria Purman sounds like a great piece of Australian historical fiction set in the mid 1950s. I can remember when I was little, the radio was a big part of our lives – no TV then! I can remember listening to an apple peeling contest broadcast live from an agricultural show on the radio with my Nana! I know it sounds weird, but it was great fun.
Martha Berry is fifty years old, a spinster, and one of an army of polite and invisible women in 1956 Sydney who go to work each day and get things done without fuss, fanfare or reward.
Working at the country’s national broadcaster, she’s seen highly praised talent come and go over the years but when she is sent to work as a secretary on a brand-new radio serial, created to follow in the footsteps of Australia’s longest running show, Blue Hills, she finds herself at the mercy of an egotistical and erratic young producer without a clue, a conservative broadcaster frightened by the word ‘pregnant’ and a motley cast of actors with ideas of their own about their roles in the show.
When Martha is forced to step in to rescue the serial from impending cancellation, she ends up secretly ghost-writing scripts for As The Sun Sets, creating mayhem with management, and coming up with storylines that resonate with the serial’s growing and loyal audience of women listeners.
But she can’t keep her secret forever and when she’s threatened with exposure, Martha has to decide if she wants to remain in the shadows, or to finally step into the spotlight.
It was the title that attracted me to Death Cleaning and Other Units of Measure: Short Stories by Nancy Burke.
Weâve heard of Swedish Death Cleaning. With a bit of fatalistic humor, we purchase books on how to do this, and discover why it is so freeing. In the title story of this new collection, âDeath Cleaning,â a recently retired man is cleaning out, but not his closets. Instead he faces memories, mistakes, regrets, and selfish ways in a spiritual cleaning after he finds himself locked out of his house in his bathrobe one snowy January morning.
In the âOther Units of Measureâ a man is in love with the voice of his GPS, a teenage couple hides their flaws as they discover love, and a young wife is inspired by a dead seagull to do what she needs to do. All contend with the virtual yardsticks inside that drive their judgment of others and themselves, creating hierarchies of value that can be randomly and unjustly applied in lifeâs circumstances. These stories suggest we reconsider some of our own.
Last Wednesday I had 492 books on my NetGalley shelf. With these new ARCs I now have 497 đŹ including one audiobook. My feedback ratio remains at 72%.
I managed to complete my February Aussie Readers Challenge on time – just – but only had 20/25 books read for my summer challenge. I will try to do better with the autumn challenge.
I am now going to go put the finishing touches to my guest rooms then settle down with a book until they arrive.
I have a post ready for tomorrow, but after that postings may be patchy for the next week or so.
EXCERPT: ‘Hamish, you know I’ve been to Lochdubh, so I know a little about your people there and I don’t want to make any waves.’ Hamish looked at Bland. The man had always been a mystery – part golfing gambler, part stock-market investor, part globe-trotting playboy, and now part cop. What else was he into? Why was he now standing beside him in front of Daviot’s desk? Why was he back in Scotland?
ABOUT ‘DEATH OF A SPY’: Sergeant Hamish Macbeth has some major problems to deal with â crimes and criminals, even law enforcement agents, that he doesnât want anywhere near his beloved Highland village in Lochdubh. Hamish is worried about how the locals, as well as those in the wider area of his territory in Sutherland, will react to his new assistant officer. The officer is none other than the enigmatic American James Bland who is on an exchange scheme from his home city of Chicago in the United States, supposedly to study policing methods in Scotland.
Hamish knows that this is far from the truth. Having recently become involved in identifying a Russian spy ring to solve a murder, he is aware that Blandâs mission is to track down the members of the spy network still at large. Bland trusts Hamish to help him find all of those who may have been, or may still be, in league with the Russians.
In the meantime, he and Bland have to contend with the everyday chores of rural policing. The tourist season brings with it the usual crop of traffic incidents, lost wallets, lost dogs, and people who are simply lost, but a spate of burglaries and robberies committed by a man described as having a gold tooth and a spiderâs web tattoo on his neck give Hamish cause for serious concern. The robberies become increasingly violent and the man is dubbed “Spiderman” by the local press. Hamish has to use all of his contacts and every ounce of his Highland guile to find the robber.
MY THOUGHTS: After how many years in Lochdubh, the locals still think of Hamish as an interloper, a lazy, work-shy interloper at that. They believe he spends more time scrounging cups of coffee at the Tommel Castle Hotel or the Italian restaurant in the village than looking after their interests. They don’t like his relaxed, laid-back manner, nor that he has a ‘free’ house and ‘free’ vehicle and see him as somewhat of a personal servant since he is paid from their taxes.
I loved this series until recently. I still like it, but . . . I don’t know that I like the almost ‘James Bond’ vibe that James Bland brings to the book. Do we need Russians and spies in Lochdubh? I was much happier with cat-burglars, stock thefts, missing persons and the occasional murder of a tourist or local – it was so much more fitting somehow. Although I have to admit it was lovely to have the character of Moira Stephenson reintroduced. I would like to see Moira move to Lochdubh along with Carol McGill and Jean Graham, two other very interesting characters who made an appearance in Death of a Spy. Lochdubh could do with some new blood, and these three would be an enlivening addition plus an antidote to the irritating Currie sisters.
Will I continue with this series? That’s a resounding ‘Hell, yes!’ I like Hamish Macbeth far too much to abandon him.
âââ.5
#DeathofaSpy #NetGalley
THE AUTHOR: THE AUTHOR: Marion Chesney was born on 1936 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, and started her first job as a bookseller in charge of the fiction department in John Smith & Sons Ltd. While bookselling, by chance, she got an offer from the Scottish Daily Mail to review variety shows and quickly rose to be their theatre critic. She left Smithâs to join Scottish Field magazine as a secretary in the advertising department, without any shorthand or typing, but quickly got the job of fashion editor instead. She then moved to the Scottish Daily Express where she reported mostly on crime. This was followed by a move to Fleet Street to the Daily Express where she became chief woman reporter. After marrying Harry Scott Gibbons and having a son, Charles, Marion went to the United States where Harry had been offered the job of editor of the Oyster Bay Guardian. When that didnât work out, they went to Virginia and Marion worked as a waitress in a greasy spoon on the Jefferson Davies in Alexandria while Harry washed the dishes. Both then got jobs on Rupert Murdochâs new tabloid, The Star, and moved to New York.
Anxious to spend more time at home with her small son, Marion, urged by her husband, started to write historical romances in 1977. After she had written over 100 of them under her maiden name, Marion Chesney, and under the pseudonyms: Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, Helen Crampton, Charlotte Ward, and Sarah Chester, she getting fed up with 1714 to 1910, she began to write detectives stories in 1985 under the pseudonym of M. C. Beaton. On a trip from the States to Sutherland on holiday, a course at a fishing school inspired the first Constable Hamish Macbeth story. They returned to Britain and bought a croft house and croft in Sutherland where Harry reared a flock of black sheep. But Charles was at school, in London so when he finished and both tired of the long commute to the north of Scotland, they moved to the Cotswolds where Agatha Raisin was created.
Unfortunately, Marion died in January 2020 and her notes for further books were passed on to Rod Green to complete her series.
DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Little Brown Book Group UK, Constable for providing a digital ARC of Death of a Spy by MC Beaton and RW Green for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
EXCERPT: He was late. You absolutely could not count on anyone these days, especially husbands and repairmen. Forty years of marriage and Corman leaves her with the same dingy chipper, only to open a brand-new one across the street. Brand New! The nerve.
ABOUT ‘MURDER AT AN IRISH CHIPPER’: SiobhĂĄnâs brother Eoinâs new family restaurant, The OâSullivan Six, is so close to openingâbut waiting on the necessary permits plus the heat of July in the village of Kilbane in County Cork is driving everyone a bit mad. Macdara Flannery comes to the rescue with a planâtake a holiday by the sea and stuff themselves with fish and chips to support the struggling business of the aptly named Mrs. Chipper.
But when they arrive, a crowd is gathered in front of the closed chipper – a local fisherman with a fresh cod delivery, a food critic, Mrs. Chipperâs ex-husband whoâs opening a competing fish and chips shop directly across the street, and a repairman to fix the vent for the deep fryer. With SiobhĂĄn and Macdara as witnesses, a local handyman gets the locked door open, only to find the proprietor lying dead and covered in flour at the base of a ladder, its rungs coated in slippery fat. Clearly this was not an accidental tragedy . . .
Even as the local garda take over the murder investigation, SiobhĂĄn and Macdara canât help themselves from placing their long-delayed honeymoon on holdâat least until they can help apprehend an elusive killer.
MY THOUGHTS: Only Siobhan O’Sullivan would take her whole family on honeymoon with her! The seaside town of Lahinch has no idea what is in store for it, starting, of course, with a murder. A locked room (or should that be chipper?) murder.
Vera (Mrs Chips) could be the subject of a country and western ballad except for the fact that she doesn’t have a truck or a trusty dog. But her husband has done her wrong with her now ex-best friend and feelings are running deep in the town about how she has been treated. But wait! It’s Vera who has been murdered, not her cheating husband or ex-best friend. Why?
There’s a lot of strange and puzzling situations in this episode of the Irish Village Mysteries and I was kept wondering until the very last page. There is a serious attempt on Siobhan’s life, a will changed at the last moment, the O’Sullivan family dog goes missing, and some decidedly shady goings on in Lahinch.
By the end of the book, there’s a change in circumstance for some members of the family who won’t be going home with the rest of the O’Sullivan-Flannery clan, and I can’t help but wonder what this is going to mean for future books.
Entertaining and amusing, as always.
ââââ.2
#MurderatanIrishChipper #NetGalley
THE AUTHOR: An admitted wanderer, Carlene spends as much time in Ireland as possible while currently residing in California and Chicago.
DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Kensington Books, Kensington cosies, via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of Murder at an Irish Chipper by Carlene O’Connor for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
Happy Sunday afternoon! We have had a week of fairly settled weather, but there’s a chance of rain tomorrow which I’m sure the garden will appreciate. If it doesn’t happen I will have to be out with the garden hose watering again, particularly the tomatoes, cucumber and avocado.
So, what am I reading? I have started Death of a Spy, Hamish Macbeth #36 if you can believe it! No, I haven’t read all of them, but that’s a task for the future. I have read/listened to and enjoyed a good number of them.
All Sergeant Hamish Macbeth ever wants is a quiet life in the tranquil surroundings of Lochdubh, his home village in the Scottish Highlands. Although the area he polices is vast, he’s happiest when he’s working alone, yet the police authorities insist he has an assistant. In the past, they have supplied a variety of problematic misfits, but they surpass themselves with their latest effort – an American named James Bland.
Having met Bland previously, when he was left in no doubt that the American led a life coloured by secrets and skulduggery, Hamish isn’t surprised when he discovers the real motive behind Bland’s police secondment involves him in helping track down a spy ring, some members of which have met grisly ends.
That investigation tears Hamish away from Lochdubh at a time when the village is suffering a disturbing spate of increasingly violent burglaries. The identity of the burglar, however, is a perplexing mystery. All of that blows Hamish’s quiet life out the window and puts a serious strain on his relationship with female paramedic, Claire. Can Hamish cope with the murky world of espionage, seek out the spies before anyone else is murdered, capture the Lochdubh burglar before his nocturnal rampage runs out of control and rescue his sadly neglected love life?
Only time will tell…
And another from a cosy-mystery series that I enjoy – Murder at an Irish Chipper (Irish Village Mysteries #10) by Carlene O’Connor.
A belated honeymoon turns into a busmanâs holiday when gardas SiobhĂĄn and Macdara Flannery find themselves investigating a dead body found in a fish and chips shop . . .
SiobhĂĄnâs brother Eoinâs new family restaurant, The OâSullivan Six, is so close to openingâbut waiting on the necessary permits plus the heat of July in the village of Kilbane in County Cork is driving everyone a bit mad. Macdara Flannery comes to the rescue with a planâtake a holiday by the sea and stuff themselves with fish and chips to support the struggling business of the aptly named Mrs. Chipper.
But when they arrive, a crowd is gathered in front of the closed shop: a local fisherman with a fresh cod delivery, a food critic, Mrs. Chipperâs ex-husband whoâs opening a competing fish and chips shop directly across the street, and a repairman to fix the vent for the deep fryer. With SiobhĂĄn and Macdara as witnesses, a local handyman gets the locked door open, only to find the proprietor lying dead and covered in flour at the base of a ladder, its rungs coated in slippery fat. Clearly this was not an accidental tragedy . . .
Even as the local garda take over the murder investigation, SiobhĂĄn and Macdara canât help themselves from placing their long-delayed honeymoon on holdâat least until they can help apprehend an elusive killer.
And I am listening to a title from my 2017 backlist, Nothing But Trouble, #11 in the Jessica Daniels series by Kerry Wilkinson. The beginning is certainly very chilling!
The manâs body was limp, eyes closed, unmistakably dead as the breeze bobbed him gently back and forth. His neck still tied within the noose. The sight was intoxicating: utterly grim, yet so out of the ordinary that it was hard to turn awayâŠ
When the body of a violent criminal, recently escaped from prison, is found brutally battered and hanging dead from a bridge, the police are left reeling. What message is the killer trying to send?
Struggling to keep secrets of her own, Detective Jessica Daniel throws herself into uncovering the truth. But when a woman is murdered with a single bullet to the head, the investigation leads Jessica to the centre of a twisted game of liesâŠ
As the body count rises, the case becomes uncomfortably close to home for Jessica. A mysterious figure has been watching her⊠could she be in more danger than she realises?
I don’t have any reads for review due this week other than Death of a Spy and Murder at an Irish Chipper. BUT as I didn’t stick to my reading plan for last week – I did a lot of mood reading! – I’ll try and get a few of those titles read and/or some backtitles that I have included in my reading challenges.
I have just signed up for the Autumn Aussie Reader’s seasonal challenge, but haven’t gone overboard like I did for the summer challenge where I committed to 25 books! đŹI have currently completed 17/25 but both Death of a Spy and Murder at an Irish Chipper are included in the challenge so that will give me a total of 19/25. Perhaps my goal is achievable after all. I have only committed to 13 books for the autumn challenge. I will reveal the books closer to the time.
I have now read 7/10 books for the February Aussie Readers Challenge so I should finish that in time too.
With the autumnal nights we’ve been having, I have prepared a bed for my winter spinach over the weekend. Peter worked Saturday so I spent the day clearing all the dust and sawdust from the builders out of the house. I know it will all be back tomorrow, but it was lovely to be dust free for a couple of days. We had confirmation that the balustrade will be delivered and installed Wednesday week which is just in time for Pete’s Mum’s and sister’s visit from Australia. They will be with us for a week. Pete is taking time off and we will be taking them a few places. We just need to be careful about access as Coral is 90 and, although otherwise fit and well, isn’t as steady on her legs as she used to be.
I have my reading chair and table back in the corner of the end of the deck that is completed, so I am a happy little reader again!
I hope that, wherever you are, you are having a wonderful weekend.
Sandy's Book a Day Blog 