TIFFIN'S first for 2024

My dear old boy with snow on his nose and an iceball hanging from his dewlap.

I would like to most respectfully ask that people don't leave gifs or other flashing notes here. They really bother my eyes (and probably my brain). Thank you!

Who Am I?
I've noticed that various 2023/24 threads put personal introductions at the start of them. I blithely assumed that after 16 years here, we all pretty much know each other by now in the 75 group, but as there are new people who might drop by, it doesn't seem like a bad idea. I'm a retired college administrator, having worked at Trent University for 30 years, who foolishly thought I'd have all the time in the world to read, garden, quilt, swim, just be, when I retired 16 years ago but life dictated otherwise. Last year in particular was an annus horribilus--I won't bore you with the details.

The thing no one tells you is that while you might be retired, you are also getting older and therefore slowing down correspondingly, so forgive me if I don't visit your threads as often as I should. Some threads are such active places that I simply can't keep up. That said, visitors are always welcome here.

Last thread of 2023: https://www.librarything.com/topic/346755#n8335161

List of Books Read in 2024
(unless specified, most reads are 3.5 to 5 stars)
Brackets with a number inside indicate the number of the book in a series.

1. What you are Looking for is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama
2. Nella Last's War by Nella Last
3. The Lazarus Effect by Frank Herbert & Bill Ransom
4. The Ascension Factor by Frank Herbert & Bill Ransom
5. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
6. Simul by Andrew Caldecott
7. Enchantment; Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age by Katherine May
8. Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss
9. Bride of the Rat God by Barbara Hambly
10. The Cornish Wedding Murder (1) by Fiona Leitch
11. The Cornish Village Murder (2) by Fiona Leitch
12. System Collapse (7) by Martha Wells
13. Earthborn (1) by Catherine Asaro
14. Starborn (2) by Catherine Asaro
15. Winter Raven by Adam Baker
16. The Red Palace by June Hur
17. The Seeker (1) by S.G. MacLean
18. The Black Friar (2) by S.G. MacLean
19. Destroying Angel (3) by S.G. MacLean
20. Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami
21. The Fires of Haphaestus (6) by Kyle West
22. The Psion of Darkness (7) by Kyle West
23. The Bear Pit (4) by S.G. MacLean
24. The House of Lamentations (5) by S.G. MacLean
25. The Bookseller of Inverness by S.G. MacLean
26. A Game of Sorrows (2) by S.G. MacLean
27. The Redemption of Alexander Seaton (1) by S.G. MacLean
28. Crucible of Secrets (3) by S.G. MacLean
29. The Devil's Recruit (4) by S.G. MacLean
30. The Ward Witch by Sarah Painter
31. The Book Keeper by Sarah Painter
32. Black Plumes by Margery Allingham
33. In the Footsteps of Du Fu by Michael Wood
34. Unconquerable Sun (1) by Kate Elliott
35. The Book Shop by Penelope Fitzgerald
36. Worlds (1) by Joe Haldeman
37. The Librarian of Burned Books by Brianna Labuskes
38. The Apothecary's Garden by Jeanette Lynes
39. A Knot in the Grain by Robin McKinley
40. FDR's Funeral Train by Robert Klara
41. Death in Rheims (3) by C.P. Giuliani
42. Mrs. McGinty's Dead by Agatha Christie
43. Ravensby Od by Charlotte English
44. A Deadly Complot (4) by C.P. Giuliano
45. The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson
46. Slightly Foxed, No. 82, Summer 2024
47. Witch King by Martha Wells
48. A Quantum Love Story by Mike Chen
49. The Picts by Tim Clarkson
50. Cachalot, Humanx Commonwealth by Alan Dean Foster
51. A Decline in Prophets, Rowland Sinclair WWII Mysteries Book 2, by Sulari Gentill
52. The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa
53. A Few Right Thinking Men, Rowland Sinclair WWII Mysteries Book 1, by Sulari Gentill
54. Slightly Foxed, the Real Reader's Quarterly, No. 73, Spring 2022
55. Miles Off Course, Rowland Sinclair WWII Mysteries Book 3, by Sulari Gentill
56. Paving the New Road, Rowland Sinclair WWII Mysteries Book 4, by Sulari Gentill
57. Gentlemen Formerly Dressed, Rowland Sinclair WWII Mysteries Book 5, by Sulari Gentill
58. A Murder Unmentioned, Rowland Sinclair WWII Mysteries Book 6, by Sulari Gentill
59. Give the Devil His Due, Rowland Sinclair WWII Mysteries Book 7, by Sulari Gentill
60. A Dangerous Language (8) by Sulari Gentill
61. Slightly Foxed, the Real Reader's Quarterly, No. 74, Summer 2022
62. Shanghai Secrets (9) by Sulari Gentill
63. Where There's a Will (10) by Sulari Gentill
64. A Snare of Deceit (5) C.P. Giuliani
65. The Oaken Heart: The Story of an English Village at War by Margery Allingham
66. Smallbone Deceased by Michael Gilbert and Martin Edwards
67. The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill
68. Murder Goes Mumming by Charlotte MacLeod
69. Death of Mr. Dodsley by John Ferguson
70. Acheron Inheritance (1) by Ken Lozito
71. Acheron Salvation (2) by Ken Lozito

Comments needed for the following:
72. Acheron Redemption (3) by Ken Lozito
73. Mrs. Van Gogh by Caroline Cauchi
74. The Fall Is All There Is (1) by C.M. Caplan
75. Fire and the Light, A Novel of the Cathars by Glen Craney
76. The End of the Line by Gillian Galbraith
77. The Canopy Keepers (1) by Veronica G. Henry
78. The Case of the Purloined Pyramid (1) by Sean McLachlan
79. The Case of the Shifting Sarcophagus (2) by Sean McLachlan
80. Murder at Queen's Landing (4) by Andrea Penrose
81. Healing the Divide, Poems of Kindness and Connection, edited by James Crews
82. Transference by B.T. Keaton (reread?)
83. The Winter List by S.G. Maclean
84. The Haunting of Westminster Abbey by Mark Patton
85. Murder at the Royal Botanic Gardens (5) by Andrea Penrose
86. Slightly Foxed No. 9 Spring 2006
87. Slightly Foxed No. 11 Autumn 2006
88.

1: What You Are Looking for is in the Library, A Novel by Michiko Aoyama

Kindle edition {added}



What a beautiful book! Each chapter focuses on the life of a character who is a bit lost, somewhat of a misfit, a little out of touch with who he or she really could be. They appear in each other's stories, connected by their experience with the Hatori Community House, the home of a special little library and even more special librarian, Sayuri Komachi. Ms. Komachi is a very large woman with a pale face, dazzling keyboarding skills, who does felting in a Honeydome cookie box. Leaving the library with a comprehensive list of books which includes one totally unexpected book, as well as a bonus gift felted by Ms. Komachi, each individual finds that their self destructive and negative thoughts have been nudged onto a better path, a better way of thinking.

I hope I didn't make this sound soppy or cloying: it's anything but. Each story is lovely, and quietly inspiring. Burned out on various wars, as well as our mistreatment of our planet, and definitely appalled at certain politicians, this kind and gentle book was the perfect antidote and start to my 2024 reading.

>3 tiffin: Isn't everything there.

Welcome to 2024, Tui! *smooch*

Thank you, Richard. I'm extraordinarily lazy today and may just read and drink tea.

Happy New Year!

blwyddyn Newydd Dda, Rhian! Good health!

>7 tiffin: Everyone’s learning bits of Welsh today! Diolch.

That and cymru are all I know. Oh, and diolch!

Happy reading in 2024, Tui!

>1 tiffin: Great photo Tui.

>3 tiffin: It's in the pile. Glad its a good one.

Happy New Year, Tui.

>3 tiffin: This sounds lovely. I am so glad my library has a copy.

Thanks Anita, Caro, and BLBera aka Beth.
Caro, it's a quietly deceptive little book which left me feeling hopeful!

2. Nella Last's War, The Second World War Diaries of Housewife, 49, by Nella Last

Slightly Foxed Editions, No. 60, which I collect as the spirit moves me {added}



It took me a long while to read this book. I had to be in the right mood for it. It is not a happy book dealing as it does with one woman's view of the war from the very intimate perspective of fearing for her sons, her home, her animals (dog, cat, chickens) but also for the people around her at the Women's Institute and in her neighbourhood. There are losses and deaths, privations and real terror. Nella lived near Liverpool so eventually the dockyards became a target for the Nazi bombers.

The British government put out a request for ordinary English housewives to keep a diary of their daily lives during the war, so Nella (who had always wanted to be a writer) leapt to the cause, writing faithfully through the war but beyond, into the 50s. She also threw herself tirelessly into volunteering at the Women's Institute which gave people a harbour and a place for a bracing cup of tea and a meal. She also worked in a canteen which provided lunches for the soldiers and workers who picked up the messes from the bombings. But the pet project of her heart was the Red Cross store she helped to found which sold second hand items to raise funds for packages for the soldiers from their profits. If they had a day where 60 parcels could be made up from their profits, she was over the moon.

Nella herself expanded and grew from a "nervy" controlled housewife into a woman who knew her worth by time the war was over, pushing back against the constraints her husband tried to wrap around her. Her sons were the loves of her life and she raised them to be as free thinking and independent as she possibly could. If at times she seemed inclined to a bit of false modesty or to preen a bit when praised, it was good to remember that this was a confidential diary which she never expected to be published. She was being brave in spite of herself a lot of the time, shoring others up by putting on her lipstick and a smile when she didn't feel like it. It was the Nellas who helped England get through, boots on the ground, tea kettles at the ready, not giving up no matter how much they might have wanted to.

There are parts which are really hard to read, really sad, so be forewarned. I am glad, however, that I read it.

>1 tiffin: Last year in particular was an annus horribilus You are not going to get any argument from me on that one!

>2 tiffin: Adding that one to the BlackHole. Thanks for the recommendation, Tui!

>14 tiffin: Dodging that BB in advance as I have already read it.

I hope to keep better track of you this year, Tui, but not making any promises. . .

Happy New Year!

Happy new year of reading Tui! I always get so many great recs from your page.

Happy new year, Tui.

Good luck with your 2024 reading. I more than understand the retirement=more time misleading term!

>15 alcottacre:: Stasia, you NEVER have to apologise to me about not being able to keep up. I'm the poster crone for that.
>16 WhiteRaven.17:: I'm delighted to know that you drop by! Happy New Year to you too.
>17 PaulCranswick:: And to you, Paul. You are always so thoughtful with your good wishes.
>18 Tess_W:: Tess, best wishes for 2024 to you too. Thanks for dropping by. My first read of the year was a delightful one, so I cling to hope (although gardening season will find me struggling to keep up).

3: The Lazarus Effect, Pandora Sequence Book 2, by Frank Herbert and Bill Ransom

Kindle edition {added}



For being a bit of an oldie goldie, this is a pretty good series.

4: The Ascension Factor, The Pandora Sequence Book 3, by Frank Herbert & Bill Ransom

Kindle edition {added}



Herbert and Ransom were a good partnership. They had gone as far as planning out the final instalment of the Pandora Sequence together, when Frank Herbert's cancer ended his life, leaving Bill Ransom to do the actual writing. He ended the series very well, wrapping up all the loose ends while keeping Herbert's ideas and story direction very much in mind.

Classic science fiction, and quite enjoyable.

Glad you have your reading wheels for the new year under you Tui.

I hope this year is way better than last.

>21 tiffin: I think I owned these at one point, but definitely do not now...and no particle of the story sounds familiar. Will recollect as and when they hit the sales Kindle.

Given the wind speed and direction here today, I and my building could be in your front yard soon.

5: Fourth Wing, by Rebecca Yarros

TRed Tower Books hardbound {added}



Um, I dunno about this one. It's written well enough. It didn't live up to the hype about it but it was a Christmas gift along with the 2nd book, so beggars can't be choosers. I may donate it/them to the village library.

Lots of murder, fighting, dragons incinerating people, nasty people, secrets, Sexual Tension with furniture destroying releases. Deffo a late adolescent, perhaps early twenties story.

6: Simul, Momenticum Book 2, by Andrew Caldecott Too new for a touchstone.

Kindle edition {added}



This just landed in. I've had it on pre-order since I read the first book, Momenticum. I will be diving into it asap!

ETA: I do like this man's writing. An enjoyable conclusion to the first book.

>24 tiffin: Disappointing Tui. I hope >25 tiffin: hits the spot more.

7. Enchantment; Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age, by Katherine May

Kindle edition {added}



Delightful for the most part although I didn't always agree with her or follow her thought processes where we diverged too greatly. I did connect, however, with her quest for wonder.

I'm still dipping into Nella Last's War. It isn't a book that I can read at a gulp.

Happy New Year, Tui, with Happy Reading! I fervently hope that it may be. I won't mention my doubts....

I do enjoy the Mass Observation Project's collections. In fact, I pulled one which is in competition with too many others for reading right now. I have read Nella Last and enjoyed her a lot.

I'm off to have a look both at Caldecott and Aoyama. Thank you, as usual!

Peggy, I'm pretty sure you will love the Aoyama. I first discovered Caldecott when I read his Rotherweird series, which I promptly went out and ordered in hardbound as I liked it so much. I really like his quirky imagination--but then I did my thesis on Gormenghast.

8: The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter, by Theodora Goss

Kindle edition {added}



This was a bit of fun. Goss tossed together a mystery featuring Sherlock Holmes and Watson, Jekyll and Hyde, Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein", "The Island of Dr. Moreau" in a period piece mystery involving the daughters of famous scientists whose driving passion to create new forms of humanity led them to experiment with their own daughters. I think there might be more in this series--must check.

9: Bride of the Rat God, by Barbara Hambly

Kindle edition {added}



Set in 1923 Hollywood, the silent film era. Widowed Norah has flown from England to Hollywood to look after her late husband's sister, stage name of Chrysanda Flamande, a star possessed of virtually no acting skill but oozing with sex appeal. Chrysanda, really Christine, appears to be an airhead but underneath the gobs of makeup required, is actually a nice woman who is also tougher than she appears. Nora is the sensible type with wool skirts, white shirts, and flat shoes. She not only manages Christine but is the caretaker for Christine's three Pekingese dogs: the 3-legged Chang Ming, Black Jasmine, and Buttercreme.

Then there is a murder. And ancient Chinese magic, complete with a mysterious Chinese man who appears out of nowhere and ends up as Christine's gardener but who is really so much more, of course. As are the dogs. All told at times in the slightly florid style of movies from that era but as Norah is a reliable narrator, the story stays on track and is quite entertaining. Hambly made it all work, somehow.

10: The Cornish Wedding Murder, Book 1, by Fiona Leitch

Kindle edition {added}



I love Cornwall. A mystery set there is just what the doctor ordered right now. There is humour!

>32 tiffin: She is such a versatile writer, isnt she? Seldom a misfire in her œuvre.

>33 tiffin: ...iiinteresting...

11: The Cornish Village Murder, A Nosey Parker Cosy Mystery Book 2, by Fiona Leitch

Kindle edition {added}



Definitely a cosy.

12: System Collapse, Murderbot Diaries Book 7, by Martha Wells

Kindle edition {added}



I enjoy the Murderbot series. I suspect I might have missed one or two--off to check.

>35 tiffin: Almost suffocatingly so...I spent a whopping 99¢ on it this afternoon and dove right in. Sooooo cozy. Sooooooooooooo very very cozy.

>36 tiffin: This one takes place after #5, which could be throwing you off.

13: Earthborn, Lightning Strike Book 1, by Catherine Asaro

Kindle edition {added} No touchstone.



The first book in a science fiction duo. Tina Santis Pulivok from Earth, 1987, meets Althor, from another planet, 2328, when he is trying to figure out how he ended up in East Los Angeles rather than going to a reception in Washington DC in another time. He is an Imperial Space Command pilot who has left his starfighter shrouded in orbit above earth. When the American military captures his ship, Althor and Tina have to race to rescue it before it self-destructs, not only saving Altor's means to return to his own time but preventing the west coast of the U.S. from being blown to smithereens.

14: Starborn, Lightning Strike Book 2, by Catherine Asaro

Kindle edition {added} No touchstone.



After rescuing Althor's starfighter, Tina leaves Earth to join him in his universe. She is slowly coming to understand her gift as an empath, learning about her history from Althor who is also an empath. His race of psions is linked to her own past but he is in danger from several different civilisations in his universe and time. After they sabotaged his starfighter, they thought they had eliminated the danger he represents to their societies. His return exposes both him and Tina to danger and death as these enemies try to prevent an alliance between Althor's race and Earth.

15: Winter Raven Book 1 of the Path of the Samurai, by Adam Baker

Kindle edition {added}



1532, Medieval Japan, an era of violence, intrigue, wars. A fierce code of honour bound the Samurai to their masters, so when the nameless Samurai is forced to carry out a suicidal mission with his young charge whose safety is part of his duty, he has to obey. As they journey to a mountain fortress, they are hunted all the way.

I didn't pick up the second book of this series, Raven's Sword, which deals with the young girl's journey to becoming a Samurai.

>41 tiffin: Hmm Samurai. Putting it on the maybe list Tui. I have a biog of a real samurai in the pile to consume first.

16: The Red Palace by June Hur

Kindle edition {added}



June Hur was born in South Korea but was raised in Toronto, Canada. Her bio says she studied at the University of Toronto, and went on to be a librarian at the Toronto Public Library. She continues to live in Toronto.

This was a cracking good story about a young nurse, Hyeon, whose diligence and hard work has landed her the position of a palace nurse. In 1758 Korea, the Emperor and the Red Palace rule everything and everyone. When three nurses and a noble woman are murdered on one night, with Hyeon's teacher and mentor as the main suspect, Hyeon and a young police inspector, Eojin, join forces to prove her teacher's innocence. Politics, corruption, danger involving the Crown Prince, spies, and murder form the basis of the story. June Hur's insight into Korean culture and society give the story an authenticity which helped this murder mystery ring true.

>21 tiffin: I wonder if I would enjoy that series despite having not particularly liked Dune. I am trying to incorporate more science fiction into my reading these days.

>25 tiffin: I will have to give Mr Caldecott's books a try. Thanks, Tui.

>27 tiffin: I just read this one recently and I pretty much agree with your assessment.

>31 tiffin: Yes, that one was a bit of fun and you remind me that I need to get back to the series, which currently stands at 3 books.

>32 tiffin: Hambly is pretty much all over the place in her writing so I think she can make anything work, lol.

>33 tiffin: >35 tiffin: Yay! Just what I need, another series. . .

>36 tiffin: Hey, a BB I can dodge!

>43 tiffin: That one looks really good. *sigh*

Have a wonderful weekend, Tui!

Hi Stasia. Thanks for your notes!

Hello! My name is Owl or Lily, its nice to meet you.

17: The Seeker by S.G. MacLean

Kindle edition {added}



I do love a good historical mystery. This one was set during the era of The Protector, Oliver Cromwell, @1650 when Cromwell was fully in charge of England. This power and control came at a price, however, with spy networks and constant diligence, as the Royalists have merely gone underground or wait across the channel in France. Chief among his spies was a man known as the Seeker. When one of the heroes of Cromwell's revolution is murdered, John Winter, the Seeker is brought in to find who killed him.

18: The Black Friar, Book 2 of the Seeker series, by S.G. MacLean

Kindle edition {added}



The second instalment in the Seeker series. MacLean does a nice job of combining the problems of the Royalists and their machinations with the homegrown factions and sects stirring the pot around London itself. Such a tangled web of spies surrounding Cromwell and his army as they strive to maintain control of the unwieldy mess that is England and the continent, holding back the Royalists and their plots.

On to the third book!

>46 Owltherian:: Hello Owl or Lily, thanks for dropping by. Nice to *meet* you too.

>49 tiffin: You're welcome and i dont care if you call me owl or even lily, since i like both.

>49 tiffin: My grandmother was called Lily, although her name was really Amelia Lillian, and owls are one of my most favourite birds, so both work for me too.

>48 tiffin: I really like the look of that one, Tui.

It's a historically accurate and well researched series, Paul. I think you might like it.

19: Destroying Angel, Book 3 of the Seeker series by S.G. MacLean

Kindle edition {added}



This series is best read in order as the story of the Seeker's life is being told in chronological order. Another good one!

20: Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami

Kindle edition {added}



A lovely story, quirky as Japanese novels can often be. A May-December love story, but also a story about friendship, loneliness, and courage. I really enjoy Kawakami's characters.

21: The Fires of Hephaestus, The Starsea Cycle Book 6, by Kyle West

Kindle edition {added}



Carrying on with this series as I stumble across reasonably priced copies for the Kindle. It's just escapist science fiction, my go-to reading when I don't want anything too heavy.

22: The Psion of Darkness, Starsea Cycle Book 7, by Kyle West

Kindle edition {added}



Three more to go in this series: The Siege of Earth (8), The Gates of Time (9), and The Heart of Creation (10). I think I'll take a break for the nonce.

23: The Bear Pit, Seeker Book 4, by S.G. MacLean

Kindle edition {added}



As the Protectorate seeks to exert more control over the Royalists who are fighting back like cornered rats as they are weakening, things get nastier as each side vies for control. It was a hard, rough time to live, with each side exhibiting cruelty so that it was hard to tell them apart at times. Seeker continues his work for Thurloe and Oliver Cromwell but the latter has been assuming the trappings of the nobility, being called "Highness", living in luxury, and wandering dangerously far from his Puritan roots. This book was a dangerous episode for the Seeker.

24: The House of Lamentations, Book 5 of the Seeker series, by S.G. MacLean

Kindle edition {added}



The final book in the Seeker series. I found this series fascinating. It's well written with a Sansome-like historical accuracy and a real feel for all of the characters involved. MacLean's ability to suss out the lives of ordinary folk, making her characters live and breathe, making the reader care for them, is beautiful writing.

In fact, I'm going on to read more of her super historical fiction. I love discovering a new-to-me author who pulls me right in and tells me a cracking good tale.

25: The Bookseller of Inverness, by S.G. MacLean

Kindle edition {added}



Iain MacGillivray has survived Culloden but just barely. Left for dead on Drummossie Moor, with his face slashed to ribbons and his best friend dead beside him, Iain has made it back to Inverness to his aunt's house. Six years later, he has set up a book shop as he tries to regather the shreds of his life back around him. The Scots may seem defeated and the red coats are certainly still riding around but beneath the surface of an apparent defeat and a cruel yet shaky victory, there is much animosity and bitterness still roiling. Ian's bookshop has become an unintentional focus for revenge and murder.

This book won the Waterstones Scottish Book of the Year for 2023. I can see why!

26: A Game of Sorrows, Book 2 of the Alexander Seaton series, by S.G. MacLean

Kindle edition {added}



When a man who looks exactly like him arrives to tell him that his hitherto unknown family in Ireland has urgent need of him, and he must go to from Scotland to Ulster to help them, Alexander Seaton's life as an instructor at the university in Aberdeen is thrown into turmoil. Reluctantly accompanying his "cousin", Alexander gets sucked into the turmoil of Irish nationalist politics as different ones strive to restore the Ireland of old, conniving against the English king and his loyalists who are seeking to tame the wild Irish clans. Ancient feuds and grudges, fuelled by superstition, make a volatile mix which Alexander struggles to understand and survive in.

Taking place over a period of two to three weeks, with wild rides through Ulster, murder and mayhem, we wonder along with Alexander if he'll ever see his sane life in Scotland again.

I have purchased the remaining books: Crucible of Secrets (3), The Devil's Recruit (4) but somehow read the first book out of order.

27: The Redemption of Alexander Seaton, Book 1 of the Alexander Seaton Series, by S.G. MacLean

Kindle edition {added}



It was somewhat discombobulating to start on the 2nd book of this series. I got myself back on track by reading the 1st book, which got this unscrambled for me.

28: Crucible of Secrets, Book 3 of the Alexander Seaton series by S.G. MacLean

Kindle edition {added}



When the Librarian of the school where Alexander Seaton teaches is murdered, no one can fathom how such a kind and gentle scholar could be the victim of such a nasty crime. But as Seaton peels back the layers of the crime, finding connections to deeper and darker matters, Robert Sim's death is revealed as a piece of a larger puzzle.

Lovely writing, as always, by Shona MacLean who brings her characters to life and Aberdeen of the mid 1600s alive for we readers. My reading of these stories is amplified by the fact that this is my own history, these are my own people, but I think anyone with a love of accurate and educated historical fiction with a cracking good mystery at its heart would enjoy these tales.

29: The Devil's Recruit, Book 4 of the Alexander Seaton series by S.G. MacLean

Kindle edition {added}



This was a bit grim as it involved the press gangs for the wars on the continent between the Catholics and the Protestants. Warning: a sad ending. The series ends here at this point but MacLean left it so that it could go on if she writes another book.

30: The Ward Witch, Unholy Island Book I, by Sarah Painter

Kindle edition {added}



By the author who wrote the wonderful series about the magic families of London, the Pearls, the Foxes, the Silvers, the Crows. This tale is about an island to the north of Lindisfarne, the Holy Isle, which is a refuge for those who are *other*. Esme fled to the island, escaping from an abusive husband, and the island welcomed her to stay. There is a small colony of folks who fulfill a variety of functions to protect the island, to keep it hidden and safe.

I really enjoy Painter's storytelling and the magical worlds she creates.

31: The Book Keeper, Unholy Island Book II, by Sarah Painter

Kindle edition {added}



Luke Taylor's search for his missing twin brother has led him to the Unholy Island, hidden in the sea north of Lindisfarne. The death of the islander who manages the book shop (although the shop manages itself quite nicely, in actual fact) lands Luke the job of becoming the book shop guardian. A follow-up of the first book, with Esme Grey, the ward witch, becoming very important in Luke's life. I really like this quirky island community with its mysteries and otherness.

32: Black Plumes by Margery Allingham

Kindle edition {added}



This is a copy and paste of the book's description on Amazon because it's so long since I read it that I can't remember it.
"Something is afoot at the Ivory Gallery in London. A string of suspicious incidents—a Kang-Tse vase broken, a specially commissioned catalog burned, and now a painting slashed—has young Frances Ivory on edge. She suspects that the instigator is her stepsister’s husband, Robert Madrigal, but there’s not much she can do about it while her father is out of the country.

Robert is even interfering in Frances’s love life, encouraging her to marry his loathsome assistant. To stop his infernal matchmaking, Frances agrees to a sham engagement with the painter whose work was defaced. But when Robert disappears after a confrontation with the artist, he’s found stashed in a cupboard, dead. Frances is now drawn into a mystery that will have her second-guessing her family, her fiancé, and even herself . . ."

Apologies for this.

33: In the Footsteps of Du Fu by Michael Wood

Simon and Schuster Hardbound {added}



Du Fu is one of my favourite poets, so when an understanding friend sent me Michael Wood's biography of Du Fu as he traced the poet's "footsteps", I was delighted. Du Fu lived in the later Tang dynasty (the Beowulf era in England), an era torn by natural disasters and war. He had been born into relative comfort and ease, eventually gaining a position at court, marrying a wife whom he loved and having children. This all fell apart when the dynasty collapsed, with its civil servants like Du Fu fleeing to survive. There were terrible privations from famine as well as war. He was separated from his family at various times but his wife stayed loyal to him.

David Young translates Du Fu's poetry beautifully in Du Fu: A Life in Poetry. The poems are placed in a chronology which follows Du Fu's earlier life through to his death. Michael Wood follows this life through the various places Du Fu lived. I found it fascinating.

34: Unconquerable Sun, The Sun Chronicles Book 1 by Kate Elliott

Kindle edition {added}



Dubbed "a space opera", this science fiction tells the tale of the coming of age of Princess Sun of Chaonia. Her mother, the warrior queen Eirene, has fought to save Chaonia from invaders, building the empire into a force to be reckoned with. The usual group of baddies is constantly scheming against Sun, trying to eliminate her so she can't carry on with her mother's legacy.

I don't seem to have picked up the second book in the series. Must look.

35: The Book Shop by Penelope Fitzgerald

Kindle edition {added}



This book was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.

Florence Green has decided to open a book shop in a coastal town in East Anglia. The chief doyenne of the town's goings on does not want a book shop to open in her town. Hardborough proves to be exactly the right name for the town, as Florence eventually learns to her sorrow.

36: Worlds, the Worlds trilogy, Book I, by Joe Haldeman

Kindle edition {added}



The first book of the Worlds trilogy covers Earth at the end of the 21st century. Many earthlings have scattered to 41 satellite worlds circling earth, as the planet has been ravaged by waste, pollution, and conflict. Although they are independent and unique worlds, they have political and economic links to Earth.

Marianne O'Hara, a brilliant political studies student, is coming from her world to Earth for the first time, to study the home planet in person. She is unprepared for the wildness of Earth politics, schemes, and danger. Her naivety makes her vulnerable to conspiracies that could lead to the destruction of Earth and its satellite worlds.

37: The Librarian of Burned Books by Brianna Labuskes

Kindle edition {added}



Beginning in 1933. After the success of her first novel, Althea James is delighted to receive an invitation to travel from Maine to Berlin from none other than Joseph Goebbels, to participate in a cultural exchange with Germany. When a beautiful woman takes her under her wing to show her the reality of what is happening in Germany, the veils get lifted from Althea's eyes.

The story then moves to Paris of 1936, with a second protagonist, Hannah Brecht, discovering that her escape from Berlin didn't mean an escape from anti-Semitism or the Nazis. Hannah works to counteract these evils to try to atone for having betrayed her family and played a part in their downfall.

The third woman, Vivian Childs, in New York 1944, is a widow whose husband Edward was killed by the Nazis. She is trying to fight the censorship of books being sent to American soldiers fighting in the war, hoping to gain the support of the reclusive woman who runs the American Library of Nazi-Banned Books in Brooklyn.

These three woman are brought together in a blistering finale. As the write-up about the book says, this book was inspired by the work of "the Council of Books in Wartime—the WWII organization founded by booksellers, publishers, librarians, and authors to use books as “weapons in the war of ideas”.

This is a powerful historical novel, which uses the power of the written word to combat evil.

38: The Apothecary's Garden by Jeanette Lynes

Kindle edition {added}



Canadian Lit! Set in Belleville, Ontario in the Victorian era. When Lavender Fitch's father, the local apothecary, dies leaving her not only an orphan but struggling to survive, nevermind caring for her father's ward. She manages by selling flowers from her late mother's garden, as well as seasonal posies or wreaths in winter, working from a cart at the train station, catching commuters as they come in from Ottawa.

When a famed spirit medium, Allegra Trout, steps off the train day accompanied by Robert, her handsome but disfigured assistant to put on a show to the Belleville citizenry, she quickly has the town at her feet with her beauty, impeccable fashion sense, and siren-like charm. Women of the town copy her way of wearing a hat or scarf but Lavender's impecunious state leaves her unable to be swept along with the adulation. She does however want Allegra's help in contacting her dead mother to help her find a treasure her mother is supposed to have hidden away.

Robert and Lavender, in the meantime, strike up an acquaintance which grows warmer, to Allegra's annoyance. The Trouts remain in town, preparing for their Mystical Extravaganza, which Allegra hopes to be able to see. Lavender doesn't know whether her budding relationship with Robert will go anywhere or will he follow Allegra to the next town. Is the buried treasure of her mother's a fabrication or will she find it in time to save her home?

This was a very Canadian kind of tale, and I liked it quite a bit.

39: A Knot in the Grain by Robin McKinley

Kindle edition {added}



An excellent collection of five short stories from one of the best writers in the current Fantasy genre.

40: FDR's Funeral Train by Robert Klara

Kindle edition {added}



I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did. Klara not only captured the moment in a nation when a powerful and loved President dies, with the effect of this death on the individuals around him, but the character of the trains involved. I love trains, especially older elegant trains. My grandfather was a chief dispatcher with an eidetic recall for trains' numbers. We travelled on trains a lot in the 50s. So a book about the series of trains which had to transport the body of FD Roosevelt had to ring true for me. Klara nailed it.

There were also all the key mourners like Eleanor Roosevelt on board, not to mention key politicians such as Harry S. Truman through the tense end days of WWII and the atomic bombs ending the war with Japan. The series of trains crept from Roosevelt's escape haven in the "Little White House" in Warm Springs, Georgia, all the way up to his family home in upstate New York where he was to be buried. They moved through the countryside, small towns, big cities, hiding in shuntings and using darkness, but regardless all along the route people gathered silently at rail crossings and small railway stations, loading the train with floral tributes until the train looked like a greenhouse. The imagery was very powerful and lasting, the feeling of loss and sorrow palpable.

FDR's mistress had been with him when he died, a searing betrayal to Eleanor Roosevelt who had thought he had ended things. So despite all the scurrying and skullduggery to get Lucy Mercer out of the way as swiftly and secretly as possible, Eleanor found out. Truman had only been the Vice President for a short period. A Russian spy was in the wings. Lots of goings on apart from FDR's death. It held me fascinated, a sort of Orient Express à L'Americain.

I'll be back for the comments, Tui. Right now I'm bound to investigate the MacLean books. If I can't help myself, I'll start with the first.

ETA: Got it!

>70 tiffin: I'm very interested to see what you thought about this read. If you haven't yet, I do recommend the film...Patricia Clarkson as Violet Gamart is *memorable*!

Stay well, my dear lady. Sending hugs!

41: Death in Rheims, Tom Walsingham Mysteries Book 3, by C.P. Giuliani

Kindle edition {added}



When one of Sir Francis Walsingham's spies in France dies under suspicious circumstances, he dispatches his cousin Tom Walsingham to see if he can root out the truth. The deceased spy lived in Rheims near the English College, a forbidden training school for Roman Catholic priests. Sir Francis has another spy planted in this college, a certain Kit Marley who has a nose for trouble as well as a knack for getting into it.

There are rumblings of civil war in France, in addition to the perils of being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time by either Catholics or Protestants. Good stuff with a wild ending on horseback!

>77 richardderus:: Richard, I enjoyed the book on the whole but was a bit sad at how it ended. I didn't want the "you do the jams, I'll do the jellies" one to win.

42: Mrs. McGinty's Dead, by Agatha Christie

Kindle edition {added}



When an elderly woman is found dead, her boarder is suspected of being the murderer. The only problem is that the boarder is Herdule Poirot. Pour the tisanes and get the grey matter working, 'astings!

43: Ravensby Od, The Wonder Tales, by Charlotte E. English

Kindle edition {added}



Ravensby Od is a nice quiet place to live, with things running just as they should. But magic is returning to the town, and somehow the widow Meg Lavender is in the middle of it. I did like the three widows who meet every day for tea and syllabub. There are also far too many ravens, mysterious goings on, wizards, witches' hats and all that good stuff.

44: A Deadly Complot, Tom Walsingham Mysteries Book 4, by C.P. Giuliano

Kindle edition {added}



Tom Walsingham continues to try to protect the life of Queen Elizabeth I, under the direction of his cousin Sir Francis Walsingham. Anthony Babington is striving to put Mary Queen of Scots on the throne, so there are spies and danger everywhere. Another good instalment in this tale.

45: The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson

Kindle edition {added}



This was a wonderful tale which takes place during the reign of the last sultan in the Iberian peninsula at the height of the Spanish Inquisition. I really enjoyed Alif the Unseen by Ms. Wilson, so looked forward to this story and was not disappointed.

Fatima, a beautiful concubine in the royal court of Granada, the last emirate of Muslim Spain, has as her closest friend the mapmaker Hassan. Hassan dangerous talent is his ability to draw maps of places he hasn't seen. He can also change the shape of reality with his maps. It is the end of the era of emirates in Spain, with the new Spanish monarchy negotiating the sultan's surrender, so dangerous times for Muslims.

When Fatima befriends one of the women in the Spanish monarch's party, she doesn't realise that she is exposing Hassan to incredible danger as this woman views his gift as evil sorcery. As a result of this friend's betrayal to the Christian Spaniards, Fatima and Hassan must escape from Granada, fleeing to safety aided by a jinn.

This is a story about love which also asks about the meaning of freedom.

The last few adds are all out of order, a higgledy piggledy catch-up of misrule and disorder. Himself and I are grounded because of Covid, so I thought I would go through my Kindle, trying to slot my "Uncollected" folder books into their various proper collections, while trying to catch up with myself here at the same time. Once the Kindle is tidier, I'll go back over the books listed here for 2024 to try to write a sentence or two about each one.

46: Slightly Foxed No. 82, Summer 2024, Gail Pirkis et. al

Journal subscription



Contains reviews of: Tom Wolfe "The Right Stuff; Pamela Bright "Life in Our Hands"; Jerome K. Jerome "Three Men in a Boat"; Eve Balfour "The Living Soil; Bessie Head "When Rain Clouds Gather"; Lady Paget Walburga "Embassies of Other Days; P.C. Wren "Beau Geste"; Babur "The Baburnama"; Alphonse Daudet "Letters from My Windmill"; Ann Bridge "Peking Picnic"; R.S. R. Fitter "Book of British Birds"; Rumer Godden "The Doll's House"; J. Hector St. John de Crevecour "Letters from an American Farmer"; Jan Morris "Venice"; Sally Vickers "The Other Side of You"; Frances Hodgson Burnett "My Robin".

>79 tiffin: No indeed. But, and this is something that makes me boil, it's what happens in the huge majority of cases.

I'm hit by the Tom Walsingham series! Looks excellent.

Recover well.

Thanks, Richard. It will be two weeks tomorrow but it feels longer. I think what I find most surprising is the tiredness that accompanies it. The first 3-4 days were like a bad cold/flu but instead of clearing up the way a normal virus would, if you sit or lie down, you're asleep! This is a new variant and I do have all but my last booster so when I think of my 103 year old mom getting the nastier original version, I can really appreciate why the old gal felt it was just too much.

>87 tiffin: Yes indeedy do. The drain of one's batteries is astonishing. I'm sure you'll both get back to better levels of oomph, and I hope it's soon.

A lot of one-eyed reading going on here! *a carefully masked hug*

Ah, Tui, I'm sorry to hear that the plague caught up with you. I'm venturing out more but always masked. I thought I'd feel freer without the need to protect my 102 year-old mother, but I realize that anybody making great strides (the only place I'm making great strides) toward 80 is not young. I wish you may rest all you need to and get it out of your system very, very quickly.

Off to look at the Tom Walsingham series and The Bird King because of that gorgeous cover.

I was striding along towards 80 quite nicely too, Peggy, but as Lennon said, there's a Spaniard in the works at this point. My poor garden sure needs some attention! I hope it stays clear of you.

>14 tiffin:: A review for Nella Last's War has been posted.

47: Witch King, Book 1 of The Rising World, by Martha Wells

Kindle edition {added}



Kai has been murdered and his consciousness has been trapped within a water trap. When he regains his consciousness as the result of a less adept wizard to steal his power, he finds that a lot has gone on since he's been offline. With his cobbled together band of allies, he romps around trying to figure out what exactly is going on. His brand of magic is pain magic, which isn't as bad as it sounds.

The next in the series, "Queen Demon" hasn't been released yet and is expected in October 2025.

What a dog's breakfast I've made of things by not keeping things up to date. I even had them numbered incorrectly! Slowly sorting myself out here.

>75 tiffin:: Review of FDR's Funeral Train now posted.

And an excellent review at that, Tui. That book sounds really interesting.

>96 lauralkeet:: I didn't expect, as a non-American, that I would like it as much as I did, Laura. At times I felt as though I were on the train with all of them!

>95 tiffin: Well, I thought maybe I'd read enough about FDR, but you got me. That one sounds fascinating. (Your > should link to post 75 where the review appears, though, not to the book's number.)

>98 laytonwoman3rd: Thanks, Linda. Link fixed (Covid brain).

>75 tiffin: It held me fascinated, a sort of Orient Express à L'Americain.

I love that Tui. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction!

This book was a real surprise for me, Paul. I had no expectations of it but the story really pulled me in--unexpected for a Canadian with a Brit background!

>94 tiffin: It's not a surprise, given the challenges the work was done under. It's fixable and won't cost anyone a limb, so....

48: A Quantum Love Story by Mike Chen

Kindle edition {added}



I have to say that I didn't enjoy this very much. It didn't work very well with Covid brain, and I struggled to see where he was going with all of it.

49: The Picts by Tim Clarkson

Kindle edition {added}



I persisted with this book because I am very interested in the history of the Picts, of which there is no written record. My grandfather was described as "Pictish" by the family: short of stature but strong and very athletic, with black hair and piercing blue eyes, and slightly olive skin. He came from the heart of what was the Pictish territory of Scotland, so I was keen to learn more of my roots in this regard.

Clarkson attempted to trace the history of the Picts and their role in Scottish history but there was too much of "more of this in the next chapter" when he could have just said it at that point, and repetition of previously stated ideas. I suppose it's a hard enough job with no actual written history to work from but I felt there wasn't enough to make it an actual book. I wasn't left feeling particularly enlightened.

50: Cachalot: Humanx Commonwealth, by Alan Dean Foster

Kindle edition {added}



This was kind of fun. Humans have settled on floating islands on a mostly oceanic planet, initially living in harmony with the planet's inhabitants of whales, orcas, etc. who have been relocated to Cachalot when they were nearly made extinct on Earth. They have thrived away from the threat posed by earth's humans. But suddenly something starts attacking human villages, smashing them to pieces with great loss of life. A group of marine biologists has been sent to try to discover what/who is behind these attacks. Humans who have lived on Cachalot for several generations have achieved a kind of Polynesian connection to the sea and its inhabitants but it's science and music which will win the day.

51: A Decline in Prophets, Book 2 of the Rowland Sinclair WWII mysteries, by Sulari Gentill

Kindle edition {added}



I picked up this book in the Kindle sales and quickly realised that this was a series best read in order. However, I read it and doubled back to get the first book.

1932 aboard a Cunard luxury liner, with Rowly Sinclair and his three assorted bohemian companions. Something happened in Book 1 which resulted in Rowland and his friends being banished to Europe. They are on the return cruise to Australia when there is a murder for which Rowly is being eyed as the perpetrator, so he and his trusty companions leap into the fray.

Rowland Sinclair comes from vast wealth which he shares with his three friends, who also share his mansion back in Sydney where they have converted a large drawing room into a studio (Clyde and Edna are fellow artists, along with Rowly, while Milton is the resident poet). Good characters, lots of interesting and well researched political history of pre-WWII in both Australia and the world.

52: The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa

Kindle edition



Rintaro Natsuki has inherited his beloved grandfather's book shop. A peripatetic student who really doesn't know what to do with himself, Rintaro finds himself drawn into a kind of stewardship of the shop, dusting, sorting, caring for the books in the shop which had been his sanctuary when his grandfather was still alive.

When the talking cat appears to demand that Rintaro helps him to save abused and forgotten books, the story takes off on a series of adventures to do just that. Books, a book shop, a talking cat, quests to save books, and the hint of a love story. What's not to like here?

I'm trying to catch up, Tui, and find myself caught instead. I'm off to see about the cat/books book.
Meanwhile, you remind me that I enjoyed Rowland Sinclair 1 enough to go on to number 2, and I haven't done it.

Happy Reading!

53: A Few Right Thinking Men, Book 1 of the Rowland Sinclair mysteries, by Sulari Gentill

Kindle edition



I do love me a good series where I can become invested in the characters and their lives. This is the first book of the Rowland Sinclair mysteries which I inadvertently read out of order. It takes place in the 30s which we older folks know was in the misery known as the Great Depression. Rowly Sinclair is buffered from the upheaval caused by the Depression, by fact of his family's vast wealth, but he isn't wealth-driven but rather uses the security it provides to allow him to lead the kind of life he wants to as an artist.

His friends live with him in the mansion which is his share of his family's estate, to the chagrin of his very conservative older brother Wil who manages the family's financial interests. They have converted a grand salon into a working studio where Rowly paints portraits and nudes, Clyde paints scenery, and Edna sculpts for her bronze castings. Milton is the resident poet who has a prodigious memory for the work of other poets but never attributes his quotes to the actual author. Rowly, with his upper class English education, always pipes up with the name of the author Milton is purloining, which I found quite fun.

So a ghastly murder sets the template for the formula Gentill will continue to use: Rowly or one of the group a suspect, with the team setting out to solve the mystery.

>108 LizzieD:: Hi Peggy! I am taking advantage of a rather miserable morning out there to try to catch up with my very delinquent book entries. I am now starting the 8th book of the Gentill series. My bedroom and the hall have been under construction for just over a month now, and I needed something quickly to hand that I could rely on to soothe me as I dealt with the major upheaval going on around me. I did feel a bit glutted after the 7th book so may set the 8th aside for something else.

54: Slightly Foxed, the Real Reader's Quarterly, No. 73, Spring 2022

Always enjoyable, always comforting that there such readers in the world.

p.s. As a subscriber to Slightly Foxed pretty much from the get go, there were chunks of time when my elderly mother was still alive where I just couldn't carve out the time to keep up with the seasonal editions. I am slowly attempting to make up for that now, using SF as my bedtime reading.

>109 tiffin: I have this series ready to read and you've made me put it higher on the TBR pile!

>111 tiffin: I love to pick these up and read a chapter or two. I started with volume 45 in paper but am now reading through the earlier issues online where I'm up to no 25 so there's a gap of about twenty issues to go!

55: Miles Off Course, Book 3 of the Rowland Sinclair mysteries, by Sulari Gentill

Kindle edition {added}



1933. When Harry Simpson, an aborigine stockman who works for Rowly's brother's cattle interests goes missing, most want to dismiss his disappearance as Harry having gone walkabout but neither Rowly nor Wil believe this. So at Wil's insistence, Rowly sets off into the Outback with his three roommates and friends to try to discover what has happened to Harry. Not on a horse, however, but in his cherished yellow Mercedes sports car.

Apart from the standard mystery aspect of the story, Gentill gives us a fascinating look at stock raising and agriculture in the 30s in Australia. We get a glimpse of Australia's version of the wild west cowboy, as well as hints of the racism the Aborigines experienced. Lots of action and danger, as usual.

>112 CDVicarage:: I love to read them that way too, Kerry. I'll shove one in my purse to take to a doctor's office to read too. They are my favourite going to bed read because they don't get me too wound up!

56: Paving the New Road, Book 4 of the Rowland Sinclair mysteries, by Sulari Gentill

Kindle edition {added}



1933. While the Left is scaring many Western nations, Fascism is also on the rise throughout Europe but also in Australia. Australia's would be Fascist premier, Eric Campbell, is scaring the old guard of the country, particularly Wil Sinclair and his ilk. Campbell is currently in England seeking an alliance with Oswald Mosley but he wants to go to Germany to meet up with Hitler. This way be dragons.

So when an Australian spy who had been keeping an eye on Campbell is murdered, Rowly is conscripted to go to England and then Germany to keep an eye on Campbell, reporting back to Australia, and, if possible, to prevent his meeting Hitler. What follows is a tour de force of skullduggery and mayhem, with vicious attacks on Rowly and his friends. Cleverly plotted out, including a couple of meetings with the patently mad Unity Mitford, Gentill has written a humdinger with this instalment in the Sinclair mysteries.

57: Gentlemen Formerly Dressed, Book 5 of the Rowland Sinclair mysteries, by Sulari Gentill

Kindle edition {added}



His experiences in Nazi Germany have left Rowland Sinclair deeply disturbed by what he witnessed and experienced there. He and his friends escape to England by the skin of their teeth. Of course they land in another murder mystery when all they want is to go home to Australia.

58: A Murder Unmentioned, Book 6 of the Rowland Sinclair murder mysteries, by Sulari Gentill

Kindle edition {added}



Rowland Sinclair's father was a sadistic bastard who liked to watch while he had a servant whip Rowly with a belt. Apparently he wasn't much nicer to his wife and had somehow given his oldest son, Wil, reason to loathe him too. So when he was murdered, apparently by an intruder bent on robbery as silver went missing, nobody thought anything of it until the gun was found when a dam was drained.

Of course the finger of blame gets pointed at Rowly, so the intrepid foursome of Edna, Clyde, Milton and Rowly set about trying to find who really did murder Sinclair senior. Gentill throws in some famous and real Australians in this one: Robert Menzies (politician), Edna Walling (landscape designer), and Kate Leigh (the Sly Grog Queen and famous Madam). As usual, events going on around the story are meticulously researched and accurate, so you get a real sense of Australia in the era.

59: Give the Devil His Due, Book 7 of the Rowland Sinclair murder mysteries, by Sulari Gentill

Kindle edition {added}



Rowland Sinclair agrees to race his beloved bright yellow Mercedes in a charity race to raise funds for the Red Cross but it will be held on the infamous Maroubra Speedway which has taken several drivers' lives in the past and is held with a bit of superstition by the Australians. Sure enough, there is a fatal accident in a practice race.

Then a journalist is murdered and one of Rowly's roommates with Communist leanings is a prime suspect. Bookies, bad cops, and thugs abound, not to mention an oddball journalist. Rowly continues to try to tell people what it was really like in Fascist Germany, getting himself in hot water with his older brother once again.

60: A Dangerous Language, Book 8 of the Rowland Sinclair murder mysteries, by Sulari Gentill

Kindle edition {added}



When Rowland, now a licensed pilot, volunteers to fly the Czech novelist Egon Kisch to Melbourne to start off the latter's speaking tour of Australia, he doesn't fully know what kind of a pickle he's getting himself into. The Communists, Fascists, and Conservatives are locked in a battle just pre WWII, with the Fascists in particular trying to do everything they can to keep Kisch out of the country so he won't be able to tell the Australians what is really going on with Hitler and his form of Fascism. When Jim Kelly, a well known Communist is murdered on the steps of parliament, things really heat up.

On a personal level, Rowland's first love has returned to Australia from America, and is spinning a web around the unsuspecting Rowly Sinclair.

61: Slightly Foxed, the Real Reader's Quarterly, No. 74, Summer 2022.

I think I am fairly caught up now, although I need to cross reference my Kindle to see if I have missed anything--I thought I was closer to 75 than I seem to be. If I find things I've missed, I'll just add them out of order read. I sure feel better having mopped and dusted in here to this point.

62: Shanghai Secrets, Book 9 of the Rowland Sinclair mysteries by Sulari Gentill

Kindle edition {added}



Shanghai, 1935. When his brother is unable to go to Shanghai to negotiate business deals concerning his wool exports, he sends Rowley Sinclair instead, with strict instructions to lay low as he is totally inexperienced in global trade. Of course his housemates and fellow artists have to go along for the ride.

Staying out of trouble proves impossible when a beautiful Russian taxi girl ends up dead in his hotel suite. She had claimed to be one of the lost Romanovs, Princess Anastasia, and had last been seen alive when she was dancing with Rowly the night before.

So Rowly and company set out to both clear his name and find out who might have killed her and why. The seedy underbelly of Shanghai society proves to be a dangerous place for Sinclair and his friends.

63: Where There's a Will, Rowland Sinclair mysteries Book 10, by Sulari Gentill

Kindle edition {added}



When American millionaire Daniel Cartwright is found shot dead, three times in the chest, and once in the head Rowland Sinclair learns that his old friend from university days at Oxford has named him his executor of his will. Why Daniel was shot at Harvard in full evening wear leaves everyone baffled.

So Rowly and his housemates set sail for America to handle the reading of Daniel's will. When an unknown man, Otis Norcross, is named the heir to Daniel's estate, his siblings threaten mayhem and proceed to try to carry it out. Rowly is left to try to figure out what on earth Daniel was thinking while there are assaults, threats, the kidnapping and abuse of Edna, etc. He needs to find this mysterious Otis Norcross and discover who killed Daniel before the siblings do.

Gentill introduces real life people like Marion Davies, Randolph Hearst, Errol Flynn, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and a smarmy Joe Kennedy who sets his cap for Edna. With the backdrop of the 30s Boston and New York, Rowly and crew drive up and down the Eastern seaboard in this instalment of mayhem and mystery. Be surprised for a surprise ending!

The MacLean books sound interesting. I do like good historical fiction.

Hi Beth, thanks for dropping by. Yes, I do too, and this was a particularly rich era to set mysteries in.

Hi, Tui! Did I say that I got the McLeans in a good Kindle deal?

Right now though, I'm reading Rowly Sinclair #2 and happy with it when I can put down my stress-induced re-re-re-re-re-read of my current Nathan Lowell.

Looking forward to seeing what's up next for you!

Hi Peggy! I'm still catching up with my entries, although they are listed up top. My re-re-re-re-read calming book is the Mapp & Lucia series by E.F. Benson, although I haven't read it in a while. I like both the McLeans and the Rowly Sinclairs.

LOVE Mapp & Lucia! I haven't reread them in a long time either - sort of hoarding them.

>127 tiffin: Mine, too, Tui. I read through them when recovering from cancer treatment and they really helped. I've fairly recently found some lovely audio versions, too, and they were a bargain as Audible packaged them in two volumes so six books for the price of two!

I read them in a loop at least three times when I was recovering from heart surgery, Kerry. Not only distracting but somehow so very comforting, especially being able to laugh! I hope you are well through the cancer treatments now. Good scoop with the audio versions!

I'm not sure about the Rowland Sinclair books, Tui, and yours is the only thread I think I have seen them featured, but I must say that the covers are wonderful.

>131 PaulCranswick:: I like the pre-WWII history in Australia of them, Paul. She really researches things like the Communist and Fascist movements in Australia--I believe her husband is a historian with a specialisation in this area. Plus the characters are kind of fun, being artists, as well as a peek into aboriginal culture of the era. Yes, the covers are good!

Hi Tui! Sending Rowlie-inflected hugs!

>132 tiffin: I will keep me eyes skinned for any of these turning up in the stores here.

64: A Snare of Deceit, Tom Walsingham Mysteries Book 5, by C. P. Giuliani

Kindle edition {added}



It isn't a very happy new year at Greenwich Palace because although Mary Queen of Scots has been declared a traitor, Queen Elizabeth does not want to sign her death warrant, loathe to condemn a fellow queen.

When one of the performers is found dead in the tiltyard, Walsingham who is keeping his eye on things for his cousin Sir Francis Walsingham, is called on to investigate. The man who was killed was part of Sir Francis's network set up to protect the Queen, so this was no simple death and most likely an assassination.

Tom has his hands full trying to both protect the Queen and determine who was behind the murder. I really like the way Giuliani captures the time of Elizabeth I, as well as conveying the sense of danger in the time.

Note: I have pre-ordered the 6th in the series, due out in early January 2025.

65: The Oaken Heart by Margery Allingham

Kindle edition {added}



Those who are familiar with the Virago Modern Classics publications will know the name of Margery Allingham. This is her record of her small village, Auburn, and how she and its inhabitants coped with World War II. At first the war seemed almost unreal, far away and not part of their lives but as it went on Auburn was increasingly affected both by the participation of its menfolk and the effect of billeting children and pregnant women, not to mention the deaths of their own villagers fighting across the Channel. Stiff upper lips and stoicism abound.

>136 tiffin: Interesting, Tui. I have never heard of that one before.

It didn't get off to a great start for me, Paul, but I persisted and felt the reality of Auburn's war by the end.

66: Smallbone Deceased by Michael Gilbert

Kindle edition {added}



I liked this one but I do have a soft spot for a good English mystery. When Smallbone is found quite deceased in a deed box in the offices of Horniman, Birley, and Crane, Inspector Hazlerigg has to determine first of all who he was, and secondly why he was murdered. I think this is a classic of the genre.

67: The Woman in the Library, by Sulari Gentill

Kindle edition {added}



Not part of the Rowly Sinclair series, I thought I'd try this mystery by Gentill but it really didn't grab me. Can't endorse it in all honesty but I was reading it with long Covid, so maybe it was me who was flat, not the story.

68: Murder Goes Mumming by Charlotte MacLeod writing as Alisa Craig

Kindle edition {added}



Definitely a cosy, if that means not overly challenging and quickly read.
Madoc Rhys is a very short Mountie, possibly the shortest one in Canada, but he is a very good detective indeed. He and Janet Wadman have just got engaged when Janet's boss asks them to Graylings, his estate, under the mistaken assumption that she is Someone Of Importance with Connections. So off Madoc and Janet go to have a holiday before Janet quits her job before their wedding.

Graylings is the family estate of the Condryckes, who are an odd bunch -- there's a well read butler, a psychic old lady, a wannabe country squire and, of course, a murder. Old Mrs. Condrycke to be exact. And because it's set in Canada, the requisite snow storm.

69: Death of Mr. Dodsley, a Francis McNab book 5 mystery, by John Ferguson

Kindle edition {added}



Ooh, a murder in a Charing Cross bookshop! And it's a puzzler. Books have been rearranged, and there are three cigarette stubs plus two burnt matches on the floor. Scotland Yard arrest a suspect but Private Detective Francis McNab thinks they have the wrong person. So he sets about investigating when he is hired to prove the arrested person's innocence.

I wanted to write up to #75 but I've run out of steam. Maybe I'll get to it over the weekend. I've reading #82 at the moment.

>143 tiffin: I always look forward to your reviews so it is good to know that there are another 13 at least coming soon!

Great comments. You've read some mysteries that sound interesting.

Paul, I find I'd rather just keep reading rather than commenting but as a responsible LTer, I know I should say something. Thanks!
Thanks, Beth. I tend to enjoy a series where the author develops the characters so I get to know their personalities and stories. So often the mysteries I read are of that ilk. Not everyone likes their mysteries like this. I find it works particularly well with historical mysteries.

70: Acheron Inheritance, Federation Chronicles Book 1, by Ken Lozito

Kindle edition {added}



When Quinton Aldren becomes conscious in the decrepit body of an android on an unfamiliar and unknown world, he has no recollection of how he got there or how his consciousness got embedded in this android. He can't even remember who he once was.
As he struggles to survive, he becomes increasingly aware of how people like him are being hunted and eliminated by other artificial intelligences who have been programmed to destroy him. This is the first book in a series wherein Quinton increasingly learns who he is/was, and his role in saving humanity after the Federation Wars.

Eleven books and descriptions to add at this point. I want to go into December all caught up if I can so that I can start 2025 with a clean slate.

71: Acheron Salvation, Federation Chronicles Book 2, by Ken Lozito

Kindle edition



Quinton Aldren is a PMC. He has come back to *life* in the first book of the Federation Chronicles in the hull of a rotting old machine, necessitating his transfer into a clunky old farm robot. PMC is a Personality Matrix Construct, the science of transferring human consciousness into a machine.

He gradually figures out that PMCs aren't liked in the galaxy and, in fact, they were hunted and eradicated. So what went wrong? Born and then created before the Federation Wars, Quinton is missing the information about what actually happened to make him and his ilk the enemy of humankind.

The Wars might ostensibly be over, with spacers trying to make a living using scrap from the old worlds, but in this segment of the tale, PMCs that were hidden away are being reactivated by signals. Quinton can't go back to the pre-War past and faced with more PMCs like himself coming awake, in varying degrees of stability, he has to work out what exactly is going on for his own safety and that of the galaxy.

72: Acheron Redemption, Federation Chronicles Book 3, by Ken Lozito

Kindle edition

73: Mrs. Van Gogh, by Caroline Cauchi

Kindle edition

74: The Fall is All There Is, Four of Mercies Book 1 by C.M. Caplan

Kindle edition

75: Fire and the Light, A Novel of the Cathars, by Glen Craney

Kindle edition

76: The End of the Line, by Gillian Galbraith

Kindle edition

77: The Canopy Keepers, The Scorched Earth Book 1, by Veronica G. Henry

Kindle edition

78: The Case of the Purloined Pyramid, The Masked man of Cairo Book 1, by Sean McLachlan

Kindle edition

79: The Case of the Shifting Sarcophagus, The Masked Man of Cairo Book 2, by Sean McLachlan

Kindle edition

80: Murder at Queen's Landing, Wrexford and Sloane Mystery Book 4, by Andrea Penrose

Kindle edition

82: Transference by B.T. Keaton

Kindle edition

83: The Winter List by S. G. MacLean

Kindle edition

84: The Haunting of Westminster Abbey by Mark Patton

Kindle edition

85: Murder at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Book 5 of the Wrexford and Sloane mysteries, by Andrea Penrose

Kindle edition

Congrats on zipping past the goal!

Thanks, Jim! Having had Covid which went into long Covid and then having our beautiful boy up top pass away two weeks ago has really cramped my reading, however. I don't think I'll make it to 100 this year. Oh well....

>165 tiffin: Given the past couple years'-worth of stresses, losses, and illnesses, wondrous that you're able to focus at all, Tui. Sending feel-better-soon hugs!

Aw thanks, Richard. Brain fog and grief has had me lumbering along at times but one foot in front of the other, eh?

>167 tiffin: Lumbering is still moving, and that is enough...plus it will improve (however much you'd like it to happen faster) as time goes by. Three strokes and four COVIDs later, I get to use my Authority this time.

*hugs*

Good grief, Richard! To paraphrase Oscar Wilde about losing both parents: three strokes and four Covids seems like carelessness! I had no idea you'd been through the wars.

>169 tiffin: I got incredibly lucky with the strokes. Even the docs taking care of me couldn't entirely credit my rapid and complete recovery. I still find funny holes where words or names used to be, and have acquired a graphic dyslexia that means I can't play Wordle or read handwriting fluidly like before, but I can still read and write! Speech impairment is, i'm assured by many, minimal.

COVID killed over thirty people in this place...I slept eighteen hours a day for a week that first infection, and if I hadn't had test results to tell me about the other infections I'd've never known they happened. Vaccines worked for me. So it's incredible how much worse it sounds than it could've been.

Tui, how strongly to you recommend *Federation Chronicles*? I see that you read a bunch of them, but I have so many space operas by people I don't know yet on my Kindle. Of course, I'm ready for one more if it's really good.
At the moment I'm happily finishing A Desolation Called Peace. While it's very good, I'm not sure that it's up to *Memory/Empire* standard.
Enjoy your weekend!

Peggy, I'd give it a B+. It's entertaining but it didn't blow me out of the water the way some have.

I'm doing Christmassy things today while it's snowing steadily. Happily staying home and indoors!

I found this list today and am posting it here so that I won't lose it. Although I have read some of the books on it, I'd like to take a crack at some of the ones I haven't.

David Bowie's Top 100 Reads: * indicates that I've read it

Interviews With Francis Bacon by David Sylvester
Billy Liar by Keith Waterhouse
Room At The Top by John Braine
On Having No Head by Douglass Harding
Kafka Was The Rage by Anatole Broyard
*A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
City Of Night by John Rechy
*The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
*Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
*Iliad by Homer
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Tadanori Yokoo by Tadanori Yokoo
Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Döblin
*Inside The Whale And Other Essays by George Orwell
Mr. Norris Changes Trains by Christopher Isherwood
Halls Dictionary Of Subjects And Symbols In Art by James A. Hall
David Bomberg by Richard Cork
Blast by Wyndham Lewis
Passing by Nella Larson
Beyond The Brillo Box by Arthur C. Danto
The Origin Of Consciousness In The Breakdown Of The Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes
In Bluebeard’s Castle by George Steiner
Hawksmoor by Peter Ackroyd
*The Divided Self by R. D. Laing
*The Stranger by Albert Camus
Infants Of The Spring by Wallace Thurman
The Quest For Christa T by Christa Wolf
The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin
Nights At The Circus by Angela Carter
*The Master And Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
*The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
*Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
*Herzog by Saul Bellow
*Puckoon by Spike Milligan
Black Boy by Richard Wright
*The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea by Yukio Mishima
*Darkness At Noon by Arthur Koestler
*The Waste Land by T.S. Elliot
McTeague by Frank Norris
Money by Martin Amis
The Outsider by Colin Wilson
Strange People by Frank Edwards
English Journey by J.B. Priestley
A Confederacy Of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
*The Day Of The Locust by Nathanael West
*1984 by George Orwell
The Life And Times Of Little Richard by Charles White
Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom: The Golden Age of Rock by Nik Cohn
Mystery Train by Greil Marcus
*Beano (comic, ’50s)--read a few of these!
Raw (comic, ’80s)
White Noise by Don DeLillo
Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm And Blues And The Southern Dream Of Freedom by Peter Guralnick
Silence: Lectures And Writing by John Cage
Writers At Work: The Paris Review Interviews edited by Malcolm Cowley
The Sound Of The City: The Rise Of Rock And Roll by Charlie Gillete
Octobriana And The Russian Underground by Peter Sadecky
The Street by Ann Petry
Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon
Last Exit To Brooklyn By Hubert Selby, Jr.
A People’s History Of The United States by Howard Zinn
The Age Of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby
Metropolitan Life by Fran Lebowitz
The Coast Of Utopia by Tom Stoppard
The Bridge by Hart Crane
All The Emperor’s Horses by David Kidd
*Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess
The 42nd Parallel by John Dos Passos
Tales Of Beatnik Glory by Ed Saunders
The Bird Artist by Howard Norman
Nowhere To Run The Story Of Soul Music by Gerri Hirshey
Before The Deluge by Otto Friedrich
Sexual Personae: Art And Decadence From Nefertiti To Emily Dickinson by Camille Paglia
*The American Way Of Death by Jessica Mitford
*In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
*Lady Chatterly’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence
Teenage by Jon Savage
*Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh
The Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
Viz (comic, early ’80s)
*Private Eye (satirical magazine, ’60s – ’80s)
Selected Poems by Frank O’Hara
The Trial Of Henry Kissinger by Christopher Hitchens
Flaubert’s Parrot by Julian Barnes
Maldoror by Comte de Lautréamont
*On The Road by Jack Kerouac
Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder by Lawrence Weschler
Zanoni by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Transcendental Magic, Its Doctrine and Ritual by Eliphas Lévi
The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels
*The Leopard by Giusseppe Di Lampedusa
Inferno by Dante Alighieri
A Grave For A Dolphin by Alberto Denti di Pirajno
The Insult by Rupert Thomson
In Between The Sheets by Ian McEwan
A People’s Tragedy by Orlando Figes
Journey Into The Whirlwind by Eugenia Ginzburg

>173 tiffin: What better way for Bowie to show what he's made of, eh what? That's an extremely eclectic list. I'm always sad when interesting people die before they find LT, and I think he'd've liked it here. The Julian Jaynes book is...daunting...but very interesting indeed. A lot of these I've never heard of; and many of those I've also never heard of the author, either. What a great find!

>173 tiffin: Interesting to me that Journey Into the Whirlwind is on Bowie's list. It's been on my shelves forever, and I feel I inherited from someone in my family, but cannot recall who that was. And I have not read it, either. I have read 16 of his titles, and have another handful on my shelves.

Thanks for the word on the *Fed Chrons*, Tui.

>173 tiffin: That's quite a list, mostly titles and authors I've never heard of. I've read 11 in a quick count and have more of them unread on the shelf, including *Bicameral Mind*, which I think has been invalidated by later science. ??? The one that I disagree with the most is *Confederacy/Dunces*. I tried and tried and just didn't find it funny - a lot like my reaction to Pratchett. In fact, none of the ones I've read would go on my top 100, I don't think. So there's my contrarian again. Oh well.

I'm so glad to see you saying that about CoD, Peggy. I think I have a fine sense of humour but it just didn't do a thing for me. I suspect we'd cackle at the same things.

The Master and Margarita is one of my top lifetime reads though. I also liked The Leopard very much.

Solstice cheer, Tui!

And to you, Richard. Thank you!

>179 tiffin: xo

Nadolig Llawen, Happy Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Rhian, I have a friend whose aunt knitted her a complete nativity scene to bring with her when she immigrated to Canada. It is very like yours! Happy Yule to you and yours!

Thinking of you at this time, Tui.

Thanks, Paul! Happy Yuletide to you and yours.

>184 tiffin: Thanks Tui. xx

>186 Whisper1: : Thank you, Linda! That reminds me of Toller Cranston's art (a wonderful Canadian figure skater and artist, now deceased). Joy and peace to you too.