Happy Sunday. Although it’s not raining, I’m having an inside day. I’ve been struggling with some sort of flu for the past few days, (negative covid tests) and have just been wanting to sleep. Bad headaches, which haven’t been conducive to reading, coughing, temperature . . . but am feeling a little better yesterday and today. I have made my second big pot of pumpkin and ginger soup because it is all I feel like eating.
So, what am I reading? I am nearly halfway through The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley and, to be quite honest, am feeling quite ambivalent about it. I’m hoping that Foley is going to pull something spectacular out of the hat in the second half. If you’ve already read this, let me know what you think. I really don’t like this cover!
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 it’ll end in murder at…
THE MIDNIGHT FEAST
I am still reading Lethal White (Cormoran Strike #4) by Robert Galbraith for one of my Aussie Readers June challenges. It also fills the spot of a book written by an author using a pseudonym in my Goodreads Perks of Being a Book Addict World Book Day Challenge. I’m multitasking, and greatly enjoying this read.
“I seen a kid killed…He strangled it, up by the horse.”
When Billy, a troubled young man, comes to private eye Cormoran Strike’s office to ask for his help investigating a crime he thinks he witnessed as a child, Strike is left deeply unsettled. While Billy is obviously mentally distressed, and cannot remember many concrete details, there is something sincere about him and his story. But before Strike can question him further, Billy bolts from his office in a panic.
Trying to get to the bottom of Billy’s story, Strike and Robin Ellacott—once his assistant, now a partner in the agency—set off on a twisting trail that leads them through the backstreets of London, into a secretive inner sanctum within Parliament, and to a beautiful but sinister manor house deep in the countryside.
And during this labyrinthine investigation, Strike’s own life is far from straightforward: his newfound fame as a private eye means he can no longer operate behind the scenes as he once did. Plus, his relationship with his former assistant is more fraught than it ever has been—Robin is now invaluable to Strike in the business, but their personal relationship is much, much trickier than that.
I am listening to Susan Mallery’s The Summer Book Club, narrated by Tanya Eby. It’s really odd that this author’s books used to be, but are no longer, available to me on NetGalley, but this audiobook popped up recently. 🤷♀️
Sometimes you have to find your own happy ending.
For Laurel, Paris and Cassie, this summer’s book club theme is simple. No. Sad. Books.
Single mum Laurel’s skepticism of men seems to be – worryingly – rubbing off on her daughters. Meanwhile, Cassie is determined to stop running away from risk, and Paris’ ex-husband’s sudden re-appearance brings up painful past mistakes. For these three friends happiness seems out of reach, and romance books provide the perfect antidote and a chance to avoid the difficult choices of reality.
When the Summer Book Club begins, it’s a place for all three women to share stories they love. But it soon becomes a chance to open up in ways none of them expected. Inspired by their favourite literary heroines, Laurel, Cassie and Paris begin to take chances in life and love. They soon find that facing an unwritten chapter can be as terrifying as it is exhilarating. If only they can find the courage to change…
I have six books due to be read for review this week – let’s see how my head feels! I have read for an hour or so this morning, in my chair next to the chimney, and my head isn’t too bad considering my husband is downstairs revving up his motorbike and with his stereo turned up loud blasting out heavy rock! He went downstairs so I could have some ‘quiet time’ . . . 🙄Gotta love him!
The Next Mrs Parrish by Liv Constantine will be my next read. I had hoped to get The Last Mrs Parrish read before starting this, but that’s not going to happen. If you have read both, please let me know if it is necessary to read The Last Mrs Parrish first.
Amber Patterson Parrish has come a long way. Hard work and immaculate planning turned her from invisible wallflower to prominent socialite, but there have been bumps along the way. Less than a year after her husband Jackson’s tax-evasion scandal, Amber reigns supreme over the Bishops Harbor community. But with Jackson being released from prison, Amber’s free time – and money – is vanishing.
Meanwhile, Daphne Parrish left Bishops Harbor after her divorce from Jackson, swearing she would never go back. But when one of her daughters runs away from home, desperate to see her father, Daphne agrees to return for the summer. Jackson swears he’s a changed man, but Daphne knows all too well that he can’t be trusted.
When a ghost from Amber’s past emerges looking for revenge, these three find unlikely allies in one another. But who is playing who? When all is said and done, they’ll have to fight tooth and nail for everything they have left in this zero-sum game.
The Suspect by Rob Rinder, who is a new-to-me author, caught my eye and intrigued me.
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?
Fiona Leitch always writes a good yarn, and I am excited to read The Cornish Campside Murder and have a catch up with Jodie ‘Nosey’ Parker.
Just along the coast from Penstowan, the local festival has filled the area. Former Met police officer Jodie ‘Nosey’ Parker has agreed to step in and help run the Pie Hard food truck, along with her rather reluctant fiancé, DCI Nathan Withers.
As they prepare for a weekend of camping and being elbow deep in shortcrust pastry, Jodie hadn’t bargained on witnessing a fight between members of the lead band.
But when the body of one of the band members is found not far from the campsite, Jodie finds it hard to believe it was an accident. Especially when the other members had so much to gain…
Who doesn’t get excited by a new Karin Slaughter book? Especially when it is a continuation of her brilliant Will Trent series! This is Why We Lied is the book that I am profiling.
One toxic family. Eight suspicious guests. Everyone is guilty. But who is a killer?
Welcome to the McAlpine Lodge: a secluded mountain getaway, it’s the height of escapist luxury living.
Except that everyone here is lying. Lying about their past. Lying to their family. Lying to themselves.
Then one night, Mercy McAlpine – until now the good daughter – threatens to expose everybody’s secrets. Just hours later, Mercy is dead.
In an area this remote, it’s easy to get away with murder. But Will Trent and Sara Linton – investigator and medical examiner for the GBI – are here on their honeymoon.
And now, with the killer poised to strike again, the holiday of a lifetime becomes a race against the clock…
Things Don’t Break on Their Own by Sarah Easter Collins is a widget I accepted from Penguin General UK, Viking. This is a debut novel and I love the premise of the story.
She could be anyone. She could be you.
Nobody ever found out what happened to Laika Martenwood, the girl who vanished without a trace on her way to school one morning. But for her sister Willa, life shattered into tiny pieces that day, and she has never been able to put them back together again.
Willa sees Laika everywhere: on buses, at parties, in busy streets. It’s been twenty-five years, and the only thing that has kept her going is her belief that her sister is alive, somewhere.
But when a dinner party conversation about childhood memories spirals out of control, a shattering revelation from one of the guests forces Willa to rethink everything she thought she knew about her past. And, out of the debris of that explosive evening, the truth of what really happened begins to emerge. Piece by piece.
Charlotte Philby is another new to me author, and I have to admit it was an instant case of cover love for The End of Summer.
Your mother is not who you think she is…
When the phone rings in Judy McVee’s Languedoc farmhouse, she knows her past has finally caught up with her. It’s her daughter, frantically asking why there are journalists on her London doorstep making terrible accusations.
Decades earlier, Judy was a girl with big plans – to ensnare a rich husband, to make something of herself, to rise above her upbringing and leave behind past tragedies. Wealthy young widower Rory Harrington seemed the perfect target – but Judy hadn’t reckoned on actually falling in love with him.
Now her daughter Francesca, who has secrets of her own, must come to terms with the realisation that the mother she thought she knew wasn’t real. Where has Judy gone – and was anything she told her family true?
Have you read any of these, or are any of these on your reading radar? Let me know.
I did get my reading room reorganised during the week, though it took me a whole day to do. I have discarded some 60 books that I have either read and know I will never read again, or that I know I will just never read – mostly from garage sales where I have bought a boxful to get my hands on just one or two titles. I have given a bagful to a friend several towns away who works with a released prisoner charity and is always looking for books, there is another bagful earmarked for the local retirement home bookshelves, and a bagful for the local charity shop. There are a few, but not many, gaps on the shelves but most importantly, NO towering piles on the floor.
That’s my lot for this week. I have no plans for the week other than book club Wednesday if I am well enough. I didn’t swim Thursday and doubt I will be swimming Tuesday, but hopefully I will be feeling better and able to go to Thursday’s class.
Stay well my friends! 💕📚
Sandy's Book a Day Blog 