Barbara's (Ameise1) world and adventures (3)

So, it's time to create a new thread for the last third of the year.
I've made an excellent start to my retirement and am enjoying my new life. We've already seen some very good theatre plays and I'm looking forward to seeing many more during the winter.
On 14 September we are going to Sedrun in the mountains for 11 days. We'll be staying at our son-in-law's parents' house again and are looking forward to lots of family time, hiking and cycling. Hopefully the weather will be good.
Here's the latest photo of our grandsons hard at work in the sand pile with Grandad.

January
# 1 The Invisible Man From Salem by Christoffer Carlsson (4 stars)
# 2 Closed For Winter by Jørn Lier Horst (4½ stars)
# 3 The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher (5 stars)
# 4 Schach mit dem Tod by Steffen Jacobsen (4 stars)
# 5 The Golem by Isaak Bashevis Singer (4 stars)
# 6 Mordsand by Romy Fölck (4 stars) 🎧
# 7 Leichenschilf by Anna Jansson (3½ stars)
# 8 The Hunting Dog by Jørn Lier Horst (4½ stars)
# 9 Mitten im August by Luca Ventura (4 stars)
#10 You Will Never Be Found by Tove Alsterdal (4½ stars)

February
#11 Das Leuchten über dem Gipfel by Lenz Koppelstätter (4½ stars)
#12 Aquitania by Eva García Sáenz (5 stars)
#13 Murder At Mallowan Hall by Colleen Cambridge (4½ stars)
#14 Whiteout by Ragnar Jonasson (4 stars)
#15 The Seventh Cross by Anna Seghers (3½ stars) 🎧
#16 Number 11 by Jonathan Coe (3½ stars)
#17 Todesmelodie by Andreas Franz, Daniel Holbe (4 stars)
#18 The Woman in Blue by Elly Griffiths (4½ stars)
#19 Dunkelkinder by Nora Luttmer (4 stars)

March
#20 I Am Your Judge by Nele Neuhaus (4½ stars)
#21 Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane (4½ stars)
#22 Die Hornisse by Marc Raabe (4½ stars) 🎧
#23 Zorn – Tod und Regen by Stephan Ludwig (4 stars)
#24 Die rote Mütze by Daniel de Roulet (4½ stars)
#25 The Bone Readers by Jacob Ross (4½ stars)
#26 Die Spur der Aale by Florian Wacker (4½ stars)
#27 Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop by Alba Donati (4 stars)

April
#28 Mrs. Quinn's Rise to Fame by Olivia Ford (4 stars) 🎧
#29 Eine Formalie in Kiew by Dmitrij Kapitelman (4½ stars)
#30 The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo (4½ stars)
#31 Zorn - Vom Lieben und Sterben by Stephan Ludwig (4½ stars)
#32 Bittersüsse Zitronen by Luca Ventura (4 stars)
#33 Farewell Ghosts by Nadia Terranova (4½ stars)
#34 Die Kunst zu sterben by Anna Grue (4 stars) 🎧
#35 The Bastards of Pizzofalcone by Maurizio de Giovanni (4½ stars)
#36 Death in Summer by Lina Areklew (4½ stars)

May
#37 Rachewinter by Andreas Gruber (4½ stars)
#38 Deadline in Athens by Pétros Márkaris (4 stars)
#39 Die Infantin trägt den Scheitel links by Helena Adler (5 stars)
#40 Eine Frau aus Tirana by Helena Kadare (4 stars)
#41 Der rote Judas by Thomas Ziebula (4 stars)
#42 Congo Requiem by Jean-Christophe Grangé (4½ stars) 🎧
#43 A Grave for Two by Anne Holt (4 stars)
#44 Teufelsfrucht by Tom Hillenbrand (4 stars)
#45 Rotes Gold by Tom Hillenbrand (4 stars)
#46 Die Schatten von Paris by Ulrich Wickert (4 stars)
#47 Die letzte Ernte by Tom Hillenbrand (4 stars)
#48 Vollmond Über der Cote d'Azur by Christine Cazon (4 stars) 🎧

June
#49 Im Kopf des Mörders - Toter Schrei by Arno Strobel (3½ stars)
#50 Achtsam morden am Rande der Welt by Karsten Dusse (4 stars) 🎧
#51 Died in the Wool by Melinda Mullet (4 stars)
#52 Die Wüstenkönigin by Ulrich Wickert (4 stars)
#53 Mutterliebe by Rebecca Russ (4 stars)

July
#54 So dunkel der Wald by Michaela Kastel (4 stars)
#55 Never Let You Go by Chevy Stevens (4 stars)
#56 Die Totentänzerin by Max Bentow (3½ stars) 🎧

August
#57 Red Roulette by Desmond Shum (4 stars)
#58 Inspektor Takeda und die Toten von Altona by Henrik Siebold (4 stars)
#59 The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (4½ stars)
#60 Loch of the Dead by Oscar de Muriel (4 stars)
#61 Terra di Sicilia by Mario Giordano (4 stars)
#62 In einer stillen Bucht by Luca Ventura (4½ stars)
#63 The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman (4 stars)
#64 Inspektor Takeda und der leise Tod by Henrik Siebold (4stars)
#65 Das letzte Sakrament by Thomas Kowa (4 stars)
#66 Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon (4½ stars)
#67 Karwoche by Andreas Föhr (4 stars) 🎧
#68 Unwanted by Kristina Ohlsson (4½ stars)
#69 Bitterkalter Tod by Ilaria Tuti (4½ stars)

September
#70 Three Burials by Anders Lustgarten (3½ stars)
#71 Die Frau, die verschwand by Trude Teige (4½ stars)
#72 Schwarzlicht by Horst Eckert (4½ stars)
#73 The Girl in the Ice by Robert Bryndza (4½ stars)
#74 Falscher Glanz by Eva Ehley (4 stars)
#75 Tödlicher Tramontane by Yann Sola (4 stars)
#76 Der Junge der Rache schwor by Trude Teige (4½ stars)
#77 Paradeplatz by Andreas Russenberger (4 stars)
#78 Italienische Intrige by Carlo Lucarelli (4 stars)
#79 The Way of all Flesh by Ambrose Parry (4 stars)

October
#80 All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda (4stars)
#81 Hinterland by Nora Luttmer (4½ stars)
#82 Body Language by A. K. Turner (4 stars) 🎧
#83 Mitternachtsmädchen by Jonas Moström (4½ stars)
#84 Mordlichter by Madita Winter (4 stars)
#85 Ask No Mercy by Martin Österdahl (4½ stars)
#86 Madame le Commissaire und der verschwundene Engländer by Pierre Martin (4 stars)
#87 Billards at Half-Past Nine by Heinrich Böll (3½ stars) 🎧

November
#88 Tabak und Schokoolade by Martin R. Dean (4 stars)
#89 Accabadora by Michela Murgia (4 stars)
#90 The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai (3 Stars)
#91 Lockvogel by Theresa Prammer (4 stars)
#92 Retribution by Jilliane Hoffman (4½ stars)
#93 Splitter im Auge by Norbert Horst (4 stars)
#94 The Awkward Squad by Sophie Hénaff (4 stars) 🎧
#95 The Black Echo by Michael Connelly (4 stars)
#96 Bahnhofstrasse by Andreas Russenberger (4 stars)
#97 Heidelberger Requiem by Wolfgang Burger (3 stars)

December
#98 Oxen. Das erste Opfer by Jens Henrik Jensen (4½ stars)
#99 Der Schrei der Kröte by Inger Gammelgard Madsen (3½ stars) 🎧
#100 Star of Babylon by Barbara Wood (3 stars)
#101 Madame le Commissaire und der Tod des Polizeichefs by Pierre Martin (4½ stars)
#102 Kaiserhofstrasse 12 by Valentin Senger (4½ stars)
#103 The Woman with the Cure by Lynn Cullen (5 stars) 🎧

Currently reading

 Happy New Year – Zwei Familien, ein Albtraum

Currently listening
 Babylon Berlin

book 70 Read in German 

 Three Burials

It is difficult for me to write a review. On the one hand, the story is well and coherently written, with a lot of dark humour, but on the other hand, the way the police behave made me angry, because unfortunately this is not just fiction, but also fact. That's why I didn't give it that many points.
African refugees try to cross the English Channel in a battered fishing boat. Omar is the leader, his goal is to find his girlfriend in London. A very brutal English policeman claims the right to find such boats in the water at night and drive the refugees back. When he and his cronies see Omar's boat, they board it and the policeman kicks and murders Omar. A young policeman films the whole thing.
The next morning, Cherry, a nurse, finds Omar's body on the beach and calls the police. The patalogue reveals that Omar was brutally murdered. Now a race against time begins. Cherry tries to bring his girlfriend's body to him, while the brutal policeman tries to prevent this.
This story shows how refugees are treated and how there are still a few ‘good’ people out there.

Happy New Thread, Barbara.
I am glad that your start to your retirement went so well and wish you a wonderful vacation.
Your topper is wonderful!

>7 SirThomas: Thank you Thomas, you don't have long until your new chapter in life begins. Look forward to it!

Happy New Thread! Steph and I are enjoying retired life, too, as well as our new chapter in New York City. Well, we'll be enjoying it more once the moving vans finally arrive. Cheers!

Happy new thread, Barbara! Just caught up with the highlights of your last thread and it looks like retirement is treating you well and that there is a lot more time for reading. Enjoy!

Wonderful photo! Did Grandpa build the sandbox? Very nice.

Happy new thread

Have a wonderful time with your family

>9 rocketjk: Hi Jerry, thank you very much. Glad to hear you're enjoying the retired life too. I hope your removal vans find their way to your new home soon. There's nothing worse than living in a temporary home for a long time, it's much more pleasant when your personal belongings are around you.

>10 Familyhistorian: Thank you very much, Meg. Yes, I really like being retired. Ha, finally I can read again whenever I want. That's definitely great.

>11 labfs39: Thank you very much, Lisa. No, the sandbox was built by the boys' godmothers. You should know that my daughter and the boys' godmothers have known each other since their own sandpit days. A deep friendship that continues to this day.

>12 figsfromthistle: Thank you very much, Anita. We will definitely have a great time with the family. It looks like the first snow will fall in the Alps on Friday. So we'll have to pack winter clothes too. It almost looks like our car will be packed like we're moving house ;-)

book 71 Read in German 

 Die Frau, die verschwand

This is already the fifth volume in the Kajsa Coren series, but it didn't bother me that I hadn't read the previous books, as it's a coherent story.
Kajsa is a journalist who has moved to an island near Oslo with her family. A man seeks her out to inform her of the fate of a woman who has disappeared. Kajsa remembers this case well, which happened years ago. The missing Julia was never found, dead or alive. Kajsa decides to reopen the case. In doing so, she comes across inglorious machinations within the psychiatric system. When the man who came to see her is pulled out of the sea murdered, Kajsa also asks her husband, who is an inspector, to get involved.
The story is multi-layered, on the one hand it is about the missing Julia, on the other about a psychiatric clinic and its former residents, employees and doctors.
It is very excitingly written. You also learn a lot about Kajsa's private life. I will read the other books in this series, starting with the first volume.

book 72 Read in German 

 Schwarzlicht

This is the first volume in the Vincent Veih series and it captivated me from the first page to the last.
Vincent Veih is 43 years old and chief inspector of KK11. His mother is an RAF terrorist who has already served a lengthy prison sentence and his late grandfather was not only a highly respected criminal investigator but also a former proud Nazi.
Walter Castrop, the Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia, is found drowned in a swimming pool six days before the elections. We soon learn that many high-ranking people in politics, but also in the state apparatus and the police, are not keen for the cause of death or the life that Castrop actually led to come to light. Everyone is anxious to protect their sinecures and privileges.
Vincent Veih doesn't care about any of this, he values the justice of solving this murder more highly. Fortunately, there are still a few people at police headquarters whose help and support he can count on.
Solving the case is already stressful enough, but he also has a number of private matters to deal with.
I can highly recommend this book and will be reading the other books in the series myself.

Hi Barbara, and happy new thread a bit late.

From your last thread, your reviews were excellent, and I’m particularly happy to read that you loved The Thursday Murder Club and The Man Who Died Twice. I’ve read those two, and have the next two on my shelves, waiting for the right time. I’ve taken Mother Daughter Murder Night as a BB, too.

And that surprise dinner, with photos. You’re a great looking crew, and all look so happy to be with one another.

>1 Ameise1: Sweet picture, thank you for sharing.

Hi Karen, nice to see you here. Thanks so much, I'm very proud of my family.
I like The Thursday Murder Club series very much and will read the other books too.
I hope you'll enjoy Mother Daughter Murder Night as much as I did.

>15 Ameise1: ...and again a BB!
Al the best for the remaining week.

>18 SirThomas: 🫣😂 I'm sure you'll like it.

Hi Barbara! My sister and her husband are in your neck of the woods on a holiday with another couple . They are really enjoying their time . I can't remember all the places they have been, but they landed in Frankfurt, and have travelled to Switzerland,
Liechtenstein, and I think Belgium and Austria are also on the list. They have a son who works and lives in Amsterdam, so he travelled to see them for a couple of days, which was great.

>20 vancouverdeb: Nice to hear that your sister likes it in Europe. I'm always amazed at how tourists from overseas and Asia race through Europe and only visit a few hotspots very briefly. I could never travel like that. I need to be able to immerse myself in a place. I live more by the motto: less is more. That's why I still have a lot to discover in Europe, even if I'm visiting the same country for the umpteenth time, there are always new places.

book 73 Read in German 

 The Girl in the Ice

This is the first volume in the Erika Foster series and I will definitely be reading the other books as well.
Andrea, a young woman from high society, is found brutally murdered. Her father, fiancé and siblings are constantly interfering in the police investigation. Chief Inspector Erika Foster is muzzled non-stop by the highest authorities and gags are thrown between her legs so that she can barely conduct the investigation. What's more, Erika herself has old demons to contend with. When another murder occurs and Erika and her team are able to prove that there are other cases of murdered women, Erika even puts herself in great danger. Fortunately, she has her closest team at her side.
An incredibly exciting and gripping crime thriller that I can warmly recommend.

Well, to be fair to my sister and her husband, they have been to Europe so many times I can't remember. Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, The UK, The Netherlands , Russia, Greece, Italy - I can't remember where all they have been. They are there for 3 weeks, so I think they are spending the time they want in each place. They often take small cruise ships to get into small docking areas, and they have done some backpacking in Europe. Canada is similar I suppose. A very large country, but so many places to see and resee. Too bad I am phobic about flying!

Happy new thread, Barbara! Your grandsons are so cute :-) Some of your recent reads look very good, and very tempting!

>23 vancouverdeb: That sounds wonderful, Deborah. They've already seen a lot of Europe. I've never been to North America and I don't know if I'll make it there in this lifetime.

>24 susanj67: Thank you very much Susan. We are currently in Sedrun at our son-in-law's parents' house. Last weekend we had a lot of family time and this weekend even more so, as Marc's siblings and children are also there. Yes, I read a few great books. I still have to write reviews of four of them.

book 74 Read in German 

 Falscher Glanz

I came across this book by chance. You could call it a cozy crime story set on Sylt.
The police officers and the public prosecutor have to solve this case, but they all have private problems or are involved in the murder cases.
The young and extremely attractive salesman Adnan Jashari is found dead in a jewelry store in Kampen. His throat has been cut, his eyes gouged out. Two expensive earrings are in his eye sockets, and there is a ring in the dead man's mouth.
Initial investigations reveal that the dead man comes from a criminally active Arab clan living in Berlin. Because large sums of money were moved through his account, it is suspected that this is a case of money laundering. However, when Winterberg, Kreuzer and Blanck find out about Jashari's relationship with his considerably older boss, jealousy also comes into question as a motive. But then the discovery of another body, also decorated with jewelry, brings all the theories to a halt.

book 75 Read in German 

 Tödlicher Tramontane

This is a funny, cozy crime story set in the south of France on the Spanish border. The Tramontane is a strong wind from the Pyrenees that drives everyone crazy if it blows for too long.
Perez is a bon vivant, petty criminal and amateur detective. He would like to run his restaurant and his flourishing black market in Spanish delicacies in peace and quiet. But then the new police chief from the north takes up his post in Banyuls and a stately yacht explodes near the beach. There is no sign of the crew. And when Perez's girlfriend Marianne, who had previously used unusual means to demonstrate against the planned expansion of the harbor, disappears without a trace, Perez suspects that something is not right on the Côte Vermeille.
Together with Marianne's daughter and his cook Haziem, he begins the investigation and learns all sorts of things about powerful corporations and corrupt puppet masters. When he himself is suspected of murder, Perez has finally had enough.

Congatulations on reaching the magic 75, Barbara!
And (again) with a BB...
Have a wonderful time.

book 76 Read in German 

 Der Junge, der Rache schwor

This is the first volume in the Kajsa Coren series. I recently read the fourth volume and this book also gripped me.
This book is about child abuse in orphanages, how the government turns a blind eye to it and the victims never receive justice.
An old couple is brutally murdered in a forest house near Kajsa's home. Kajsa, who only does political reports because her husband works as a profiler for the police, soon realizes that her report on the abuse in the orphanages and the murder are closely intertwined. At first she cannot count on her husband's help. While the police are in the dark, Kajsa finds one piece of the puzzle after another and finds herself in great danger.
It is another exciting story that kept me guessing from the first to the last page.

>28 SirThomas: Thanks so much, Thomas. ... and which one ist the BB?

book 77 Read in German 

 Paradeplatz

I received the fifth volume of the Phillip Humboldt series as a gift from my daughters in July, so I decided to start with the first book in the series. This book reminds me of the Achtsam morden series, which I really like.
Philipp has completed his law studies and applied for his first job at a large bank on Paradeplatz. He has two best friends who are always there to help and advise him. During his studies he fell in love with Sophie, a fellow student, and moved in with her when he started working.
The story jumps between 'then' and today, in the present day he tells a priest what he has done during various confession sessions.
To be successful in banking you need 'elbows' and a large portion of scruples. Philipp had to learn both, much to the chagrin of those he overran (both mentally and physically).
It is written very humorously and I am already looking forward to the other books.

>30 Ameise1: It is the cozy crime #75 in >27 Ameise1:.
And my public library has it available...

>27 Ameise1: congrats on achieving the groups collective goal!

>15 Ameise1: ...and again thank you for the BB in >15 Ameise1:.
It is a a magnificent book!

Good Morning and Happy Birthday, Barbara!
I wish you all the best sind a wonderful day.🥂🍾☀️📖🎊🎈

It's your birthday? Hope it's a delightful one!

Happy Birthday, Barb. I hope you had a very special day.

A belated Happy Birthday, Barbara!

>32 SirThomas: I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

>33 figsfromthistle: Thanks so much Anita, I've actually had a good reading year so far.

>34 SirThomas: Nice to hear that you enjoyed it. I'll certainly be reading the other books in this series. And you?

>35 SirThomas: >36 labfs39: >37 msf59: >38 vancouverdeb: Thank you very much for the birthday wishes. We spent a cosy day at home as I had to cure a nagging cough.

book 78 Read in German 

 Italienische Intrige

Christmas 1953, in the middle of the Cold War. A murder takes place in ice-cold, snow-covered Bologna: the beautiful wife of a professor is drowned in the bathtub of her husband's city flat. Commissario De Luca, formerly ‘Italy's best policeman’, takes up the investigation after five years of involuntary leave. But nothing is as it seems. The enquiries and his passion for a young, dark-skinned jazz singer almost cost De Luca his life, and in the end he is faced with a difficult decision.
This was an interesting book. It transports me as a reader to another time. I learnt a lot about the political realities of Italy during and after WWII that I hadn't realised before. So much surveillance from different factions made this book very exciting.

book 79 Read in German ROOT 8

 The Way of All Flesh

This book had been on my Tolino for a long time and as I wanted to read another historical thriller, it came at just the right time.

1847: Edinburgh is shaken by a brutal series of murders of young women. All the victims have died in the same gruesome way. At the same time, medical student Will Raven takes up a position with the brilliant and renowned obstetrician Dr Simpson, in whose house ground-breaking experiments with newly discovered anaesthetics are regularly carried out. Here Will meets the inquisitive housemaid Sarah, who, however, gives him a wide berth and quickly realises that he is carrying a dark secret around with him. Both have very personal motives for wanting to solve the murders. Their investigation leads them into the darkest corners of Edinburgh's underworld and only if they manage to overcome their mutual dislike will they have a chance of making it out alive.

My lazy September stats:



Authors Gender and origin:

Women: 2
Men: 6
Authors Duo w/m: 1

Germany: 3
Italy: 1
Norway: 1
Switzerland: 1
UK: 3

book 80 Read in German 

 All the Missing Girls

This book was very exciting. It rolls the story up from the end, which took some getting used to, but made sense.

15 days. 2 girlfriends. 1 murder.
It's been ten years since Nic left her hometown from one day to the next. But the memory of the night her best friend Corinne disappeared without a trace has never left her. Did someone in her circle of friends have something to do with it? One day she receives a mysterious message: ‘That girl. I've seen her.’ Nic knows that this can only mean one person: Corinne. She travels back to the small town surrounded by dark woods to find out what really happened. But that very evening, another girl disappears - the girl who had provided them all with an alibi.
Nic's role is very gripping and the longer the story goes on, the more you sympathise with her.

We were on holiday at our son-in-law's parents' house in Sedrun from 14 September to 25 September. Even the journey there was like moving house. In addition to our normal luggage (clothes for late summer and autumn) and our bikes, we were forced to pack winter clothes on the day of departure, as it had snowed overnight in the mountains. The Oberaplpass was closed and we set off with winter coats, snowshoes, gloves and hats.
Fortunately, the weather got better every day, so we were able to do some cycling tours in the Alps. However, hiking in the high alpine area was not possible until the end. In addition to all these activities, there was also plenty of family time on both weekends. It was great to see everyone again and spend time with them.

  

Bike tour to Lake Naples

 

Bike tour over the mountain ridge to Disentis.

      

Bike tour to Selva
BTW The stream you can see in all the photos is the Hinterrhein. It is the beginning of a long journey that leads to the North Sea.

    

Happy Tuesday, Barb. Love all the beautiful photos. You are blessed that you get to experience this beauty, on a regular basis. I am jealous. It also looks like retirement is treating you well.

During our holidays in Sedrun there was a high hunt. That's why we were spoilt again and again with delicious game dishes.

           

>48 msf59: Thank you very much, Mark. Yes, we live in a country with a very varied landscape, even if we don't have access to the sea. Yes, taking early retirement was one of the best decisions I've made in years.

Last Sunday we went to an animal park with our grandsons. Juri really wanted to fence with me.

 

Thank you for sharing the photos and trip details, Barbara! I love being able to visit such beautiful places vicariously. Perhaps I'll even be inspired to cross the pond again one of these days.

>52 labfs39: Thank you very much Lisa. Switzerland is always worth a visit. It's not exactly cheap, but you're rewarded with lots of wonderful places.

Wow! Such great photos. I'm happy you had such a great trip. My only time in Switzerland was to visit an old roommate of mine from San Francisco who had moved home to Bellinzona. She is a mountain tour guide there, and took us hiking up in beautiful the mountains near that town. Then we went on to Torino.

>54 rocketjk: Jerry, thank you very much. Bellinzona and the surrounding area are very beautiful. As your colleague is a mountain guide, she will have shown you some beautiful places.

Wow what great pictures of great scenery and delicious food - I want to go away again.
It's raining here at the moment, but we're planning a short vacation.
It's nice when you no longer have to be considerate of your colleagues...

>53 Ameise1: I've been to Switzerland four times, but always to the same area, the Berner Oberland. I gravitated toward Lauterbrunnen, Wengen, and Murren. Absolutely stunning. Sadly, the last time I was there, the glaciers on the Eiger had receded dramatically.

What stunning photos! Thank you for sharing them with us :-)

>56 SirThomas: Thank you very much Thomas. And where are you going on your short holiday?

>57 labfs39: Ah, the Bernese Oberland is always worth a trip. I really like it there too. Yes, unfortunately our glaciers are melting away more and more every summer. Climate change is really making itself felt.
Have you ever done a glacier hike? That's something great and something I love.

>58 Dilara86: You're very welcome Dilara.

Beautiful photos of your holiday, Barbara. And the grandchildren look like they are having a great time!

I am an Ambrose Parry fan - do you think you will carry on with the series? I've added >40 Ameise1: to my wishlist, sounds like my kind of book.

>60 charl08: Thank you very much, Charlotte. Nice to see you here. Yes, we love the little rascals to the moon and back.
I will definitely read the other books by Ambrose Parry. I love historical mysteries.

>59 Ameise1: We don't know yet, we're still looking.
We want to go away for a few days either at the beginning of December or over New Year's Eve.
Wellness, good food and no more than about 3 hours' drive are the criteria.
At the moment, the area around Saarbrücken looks good, but that could change...

>62 SirThomas: Have you heard of the vjz in Schluchsee? I always go there for a spa holiday. It's certainly not recommended over the holidays, but otherwise it is.

>63 Ameise1: This is a very good hotel, we know it, but have not been there ourselves.
Thank you for the tip, I'll talk to my CEO...

>64 SirThomas: 🤣🤣🤣🤣 that about the CEO could be the o-ton from my Thomas. If you decide to travel there, I have a few tips before you book.

😇
Thank you, I will let you know...

>59 Ameise1: I have never done a glacier hike, although in my younger years I hiked up to and onto the first glacier on the Eiger.

>67 labfs39: This is also a beautiful tour.

Great photos, Barbara! Fun photos with your grandchildren too!I've not read anything by Ambrose Parry yet, but I have him in mind. The perfect read for Spooktober.

>69 vancouverdeb: Thanks so much. Deborah. Yup, we always have lots of fun with these two little guys.
I love reading historical mysteries from time to time and this one was really good.

Now I've read Tödlicher Tramontane, it was a very enjoyable read, thanks for another BB, Barbara.

>71 SirThomas: you're very welcome ☺️

book 81 Read in German 

 Hinterland

First of all: you should never start a new series by a favourite author, because that means you want to continue reading all the books in the series. Fun aside, it was a great introduction to a new series and I highly recommend it.
Former detective inspector Bette Hansen, who suffers from narcolepsy, has retreated to her parents' house in the rural Hamburg neighbourhood of Ochsenwerder on the Elbe. Everyone there knows her and is very understanding when she suddenly falls asleep. They look after her. If only there wasn't a log in her garden, carved with a shell and a cross. It could only have been left by the shell murderer, her last case, which she was never able to solve due to illness.
Her successor doesn't take her seriously at all, even when more dead bodies turn up. Very quickly, Bette's favourite villagers and she herself find themselves in grave danger. So she decides to find the shell murderer herself.
Very excitingly written. I could hardly put the book down.

book 82 Read in German 🎧

 Body Language

This is the first book in the Cassie Raven series and I loved it.
25-year-old Cassie is a patology assistant. She prefers to surround herself with the dead rather than the living.
As a forensic medicine assistant, Londoner Cassie Raven is used to weird looks. Perhaps her gothic look with numerous piercings and tattoos is not entirely innocent - as is her conviction that the dead talk to us if we just listen carefully.
Cassie is just as convinced that without Mrs Edwards' help she would have ended up as a junkie under a bridge instead of as an assistant in forensic medicine. Her shock is all the greater when she opens a body bag and looks into the face of her beloved mentor.
Cassie is certain that Mrs Edwards has been murdered. But she can't prove it, because a costly forensic post-mortem has already been rejected. This makes the hypothermic DS Phyllida Flyte, of all people, who has Cassie on her tail because of a missing body, her only option.

Last Friday we went to the great concert by Andreas Vollenweider & friends. Vollenweider is a gifted harpist who manages to combine different musical styles and makes the audience float. I am grateful that I was able to experience him on stage once again, his music has accompanied me for 40 years now. Recordings were not allowed, Thomas only recorded a very short sequence. You can also find his music on spotify.
Here is the wikipedia link:
Andreas Vollenweider_Wikipedia

Yesterday we planned our next trip. We went to the railway ticket office and bought all the train tickets with reservations. At home we booked the hotels.
We will be travelling to Cologne (GER) on 25 November. We will stay there until 29 November. We have already booked cabaret tickets for 26 November.
On the 29th we will be travelling on to The Hague (NED), where our younger daughter, who is doing her international master's degree in law in Maastricht, will be joining us. We will stay in The Hague until 2 December and then travel to Maastricht (NED) with our daughter. I hope to meet Connie (LT_ROOTS) there.
On the 6th we will travel on to Frankfurt am Main (GER) and stay there until the 10th before travelling back to Zurich.
I'm already looking forward to our trip like a little child. We've never travelled to cities at this time of year before. It will certainly be exciting.

>76 Ameise1: That sounds like an exciting holiday trip, Barbara.

Happy Tuesday, Barb. I love the photos of the grandsons. You sure seem to have fun with them. Your Germany trip sounds wonderful.

>77 labfs39: Thank you Lisa, I'm really looking forward to our trip.

>78 msf59: Thank you very much Mark. Yes, we always have a lot of fun with the two of them. In a week's time they will be staying with us twice.
I'm looking forward to our trip to Germany/Netherlands. All cities I haven't been to before.

>76 Ameise1: Doesn't Frankfurt have a Christmas market? I'd LOVE to poke around a German Christmas market for decorative stuff!

Enjoy your time away, my dear Barbara, and discover some exciting new-to-you reads, as well. Hugs and smooches.

>80 richardderus: Thank you very much Rdear. We will probably see Christmas markets in all four cities, but have decided to just stroll around as we are currently reducing our household of useless ballast. Who knows, maybe I'll discover a pretty scarf, a piece of jewellery that smiles at me, new warm gloves and hat, homemade jam ... so now I have to stop, otherwise I'll have to take the big suitcase with me on my journey 🤣🤣🤣.

>75 Ameise1: I am glad that you had a great evening
I didn't make it to a concert, but I did own a few LPs by Andreas Vollenweider.
It's not my normal taste in music, but I really enjoyed it.

>76 Ameise1: Have a wonderful vacation, Barbara.
Christmas markets always make our suitcases shrink...

>82 SirThomas: Thomas, I first came into contact with him as a young adult (must be the case as a Zurich native). He was in the early stages of becoming world-famous back then, so his concerts were still very informal. Now we're both older and he also had a home game in Zurich, where he still lives.
🤣 I'll be careful not to buy too much. My husband will make sure of that.

Hi Barbara!

>27 Ameise1: Congrats on book 75 last month.

>35 SirThomas: A Very Belated Happy Birthday.

>44 Ameise1: - >47 Ameise1: Lovely pics and what sounds like a lovely time. Thanks for sharing.

>49 Ameise1: Swoon. Lovely food, beautifully plated.

>76 Ameise1: That sounds like a wonderful trip, no wonder you’re looking forward to it like a little child.

>51 Ameise1: What fun pictures!

>75 Ameise1: Oh sounds like a wonderful harpist. I will look it up

Happy rest of the week.

>84 karenmarie: Thank you Karen for all the good wishes. Yes, we are really looking forward to our trip.

>85 figsfromthistle: Thank you Anita, we always have a lot of fun with our grandsons. Next week they will be with us for two days.
Yes, Andreas really is an excellent harp player.
I wish you a good weekend too.

I love your holiday photos, Barbara! And your trip to Germany sounds great.

>87 susanj67: Thanks so much, Susan.
We are looking forward to it.
I wish you a relaxed weekend.

book 83 Read in German 

 Mitternachtsmädchen

This is the third volume in the Nathalie Svensson series. This story is self-contained, but after reading it I bought the first two volumes so that I knew more about the protagonists.
At midnight, young female students are raped in Uppsala's historic neighbourhood, and one of them is even murdered. Nathalie Svensson is a senior psychiatrist and leading expert on psychopaths and is therefore taken on as a case analyst in the OFA team. Together with Detective Chief Inspector Johan Axberg, she forms a team. They get on ‘blind’ and don't always agree with their boss. It soon becomes apparent that he is connected to the victims and in some cases to the suspects.
Time is of the essence. Suspects are soon found, but are they really the culprits? And what is it about the victims' shoes that the perpetrator steals every time he strikes?
This book is very excitingly written. The lives of the protagonists also have some explosive aspects. I could hardly put the book down.

book 84 Read in German 

 Mordlichter

‘Mordlichter’ is Madita Winter's first book. The content has a lot to do with her life situation. It is set in Lapland, Sweden, where Anelie Anderson, a former homicide detective in Stockholm, has moved for love and now works as a police officer in a small police station. Madita Winter has also moved to the far north with her husband.
In the Arctic Circle in northern Sweden, people live in ice and snow almost all year round. When a woman contacts Anelie because her seventeen-year-old son has disappeared, Anelie sets to work. The boy is soon found. He has been wrapped in furs and run over by a car. But he was obviously held captive somewhere beforehand. The more Anelie investigates, the more her experience and intuition tell her that there is more to it than just an accident. She discovers that several people have also disappeared without trace in recent years.
In faraway Lulea, people don't like the fact that she has discovered something and bites into it like a bloodhound, because they want to close Anelie's little police station for good.
This was a very gripping thriller. I'm already looking forward to the next book.

book 85 Read in German 

 Ask No Mercy

This book is probably one of the most exciting espionage thrillers I have read in a long time. At 575 pages, this book is one of the ‘heavyweights’, but it was so exciting that I couldn't put it down and almost read it through in one sitting.
Even though the story switches between 1996 and 1943/44, it couldn't be more topical.
Paschie, a young employee of the Swedish think tank Vektor, disappears without a trace in St Petersburg. At the same time, a hacker attack paralyses the mobile phone network in Stockholm, which could also threaten Sweden's security. Max Anger, Paschie's friend and colleague, travels to St Petersburg to look for her. In the process, the Russia expert and ex-soldier comes across evidence that Paschie has found information about a secret organisation that is doing everything it can to restore the old Stalinist order. This group of partly high-ranking Russians from politics and business is planning an attack on the West in order to achieve its goals.
Max also wants to find out where he comes from, unaware that the current events in Sankt Pertersburg are closely linked to his origins.

Last week we were always busy.
On Tuesday we went to the musical ‘Mamma Mia’. Thomas won two tickets.
Our grandchildren were with us on Wednesday. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't great, but we still spent a lot of time outside.
On Thursday, I had a meeting with my old scout mates. I was very pleased to see so many familiar faces again. Unfortunately, the time was far too short to chat to everyone.

Sounds like a fun week! I saw Mamma Mia in Vegas years ago. I loved when the dancers came on stage in their flippers and snorkels. Do you mean scouting as in Girl Guides scouting? If so, that is very cool.

>92 Ameise1: Good heavens, Barbara! That sounds like such a packed week for dull old me...I'm still in shock over the happy but hard work of my sister's annual visit. We're both being busy in spite of retirement. *whew*

Glad you had a great week.
All the best for this week!

I'm glad you had a great, if busy week, Barbara. Happy Halloween!

>93 labfs39: Lisa, I saw this musical for the first time. I knew the music, of course. Yes, the scene with the flippers and diving goggles was funny.
Here in Switzerland, things are a little different with the scouts than in the rest of the world. It's normal for teenagers and young adults to lead the groups. The older you get, the more you take on leadership functions, usually of an administrative or organisational nature, within the departmental or corps associations. When I was young, there was also a change from pure boys‘/girls’ scout groups to mixed-gender groups, which I always welcomed. I myself remained active until the age of 25, mostly as a section and corps leader.

>94 richardderus: Rdear, fortunately you can control being ‘very’ busy as a pensioner. Of course, there are times when it can get a bit much all at once, but you don't have to work eight hours a day in a row and then have to fit in your free time afterwards. Glad to hear you had a great time with your sister.

>95 SirThomas: >96 vancouverdeb: Thanks so much Thomas and Deborah. Life ist currently wonderful.

book 86 Read in German 

 Madame le Commissaire und der verschwundene Engländer

I read volumes two and four of this series a few years ago and have now decided to start from the beginning with this series.
This is the first volume of the Isabelle Bonnet series and gave me a lot of insight into the protagonists who will also play a role in the upcoming books. Isabelle has actually travelled to the south of France to recover from a bomb attack. She is actually the head of a secret special unit in Paris. But the peace and quiet soon comes to an end when a rich Englishman disappears from his villa and then a woman's body is found on the beach in Saint-Tropez. Isabelle Bonnet is persuaded to take on the case (demoted to inspector and equipped with a false CV) - which doesn't exactly spark enthusiasm among her local colleagues, as there are still a lot of prejudices in the Provence province. However, she is given an unexpectedly resourceful assistant in the form of a ditzy-looking police archivist. What was the mysterious Englishman doing in Provence? And the mysteries from Isabelle's own past, the accidental death of her parents, also urgently need to be solved.
It was an enjoyable read and I'm looking forward to the next volumes.

book 87 Read in German 🎧

 Billards at Half-Past Nine

I listened to this book in honour of Anita (FAMeulstee). She read it as her sixth book this year and encouraged me to borrow it from my library as an audio book. Whatever spheres you are always whirling around in, dear Anita, you were always very present to me when I listened.
Three generations of a Rhenish family of architects will gather on 6 September 1958 to celebrate the eightieth birthday of their head. Heinrich Fähmel was commissioned to build St Anton's Abbey in 1907. His son Robert - who played billiards every day from half past nine to eleven in the Hotel Prinz Heinrich - destroyed the abbey in the last days of the war as a demolition expert for the Wehrmacht. His grandson Joseph was involved in the reconstruction. Robert's conversations with the bellboy, flashbacks and his father's memories link past and present, and the situations of the individual periods become clear.

My lazy October stats:



Authors Gender and origin:

Women: 4
Men: 4

Germany: 4
Sweden: 2
UK: 1
USA: 1

>100 Ameise1: I have to get my October summation together. I might do it later today but somehow it feels like tomorrow is more likely...your "lazy" month is better than most peoples' best, so take some contentment from that.

Do you get a cable channel called "Krimi" where you live? I just found out about it, and its lineup looks good.

Thursday *smooch*

>101 richardderus: Thank you for your kind words regarding stats, Rdear. By ‘lazy’ I mean more that an app counts the book pages together and the hours and minutes for audio books. I don't have the time or inclination to keep track of such things in a spreadsheet. Furthermore, I'm only interested in how many female or male authors I've read and where they come from. I don't care whether they've won a prize, other awards, are alive or dead. It would never occur to me to read entire lists of books that have been nominated for a book prize, as my time is too precious and there are ultimately millions of good books that never make it onto a list.

Regarding TV: We only have the cable channel with countless television stations. We don't need extra platforms like Netlix etc.. In addition, we only watch TV in the evening and then mainly the news. Every now and then we watch a crime thriller or documentary films. But always very selectively, otherwise the TV is switched off. I can't tell you whether there is a ‘crime film’ channel on the many cable channels. I haven't actively searched for one, nor do I miss one.

Friday *smooch*

Many people who know me know that I have been making a book calendar for my family for Advent Sundays for more than forty years. This year, too, I did a lot of shopping (it cost a small fortune). Here's what everyone gets:

My husband Thomas:
Fast wie ein Bruder by Alain Claude Sulzer
Café Royal by Marco Balzano
Flimmern im Ohr by Barbara Schibli
Franz Hohler & friends

my elder daughter Isabelle:
Schlüssel 17 by Marc Raabe
Zimmer 19 by Marc Raabe
Die Hornisse by Marc Raabe
Violas Versteck by Marc Raabe

my younger daughter Marina:
Die Vegetarierin by Han Kang
Abgeschlagen by Michael Tsokos
Zwölf Rosen in Neapel by Maurizio de Giovanni
Am Himmel die Flüsse by Elif Shafak

my grandson Juri (on the fourth of January 25 he will be three)
Ein Jahr auf der Baustelle by Artur Nowicki
Ein Junge wie du by Frank Murphy
Wir erforschen die Dinosaurier by Angela Weinhold
Ella und der Funkelzauber by Lucy Flemming

my grandson Timo (14½ months old)
Schau, was passiert genau? Auf dem Bauernhof
Drei Tiere reisen mit dem Zug by Karin Schmid
Wir reisen ins Farbenland by Daniela Kulot
Helfen macht gross, kleiner Hase! by Anja Kiel

>103 Ameise1: That is a wonderful, if expensive, idea. I would love the shopping but not the impact on my wallet!

>104 labfs39: Thank you very much, Lisa. It gives me great pleasure to choose the books for everyone and to give them as gifts. But I hardly ever buy books for myself. It's not necessary, because we have a great local library. My ever-growing list of books that I want to read and are available in the library is enough for more than a lifetime 😉

book 88 Read in German 

 Tabak und Schokolade

I read this book for my RL book club. It is on the nominated list for this year's Swiss Book Prize.
It's a kind of biography, a journey of discovery by the author when he finds a photo album after the death of his mother. He remembers his mother's words, even if they were only said in passing, because his origins are hushed up in the Swiss Mittelland and especially in his ‘Swiss family’.
His mother was an au pair in London as a very young adult. That's when she met Dean's father and became pregnant. Dean was born in Switzerland and shortly afterwards travelled with his parents to Trinidad and Tobago, where his father was from. His father's roots are of Indian descent.
In the first part of the book, Dean talks about his first years in Trinidad. How his mother soon separated from his alcoholic father and how she found work on a sugar plantation. She flees back to Switzerland with her son, her ‘second’ husband in tow, who is also from Trinidad and a doctor. In the second part of the book, the story jumps between exploratory visits by Dean, as an adult, to Trinidad. How he gets to know his extended family and his home in Switzerland, where he lived mainly with his grandparents, who gave him support.
Dean also talks about life as a mixed-race man in Switzerland and keeps coming back to his Indian-Caribbean roots.
It is a very lovingly written book that gives an insight into the different cultures, including slavery over several decades.

Last week was once again intense.
On Monday I organised the Advent books (see post >103 Ameise1:). The ‘addressees’ have already received their books so that they can unwrap a book every Sunday in Advent.

On Tuesday evening, Isabelle came with our grandsons. They spent the night with us and we spent the whole of Wednesday at the zoo in thick fog while our daughter was allowed to work. In the evening, our son-in-law picked the boys up again.

On Thursday, our building lawyer and the architect of the neighbouring property came to visit us. A block of flats is soon to be built on it and we agreed a few things about ‘neighbouring planting rights’ so that our old trees and bushes can remain.

On Friday, we attended the award ceremony for the top-rated master's theses at the University of Zurich, as our younger daughter was one of the seven winners in the law category. Her thesis is called ‘Cancel Culture and (architectural) monuments’. Afterwards, we went out for a nice meal with her, her partner Martin and my MIL.

The tea advent calendar has also arrived. Every day a different tea made from dried leaves, fruits, spices etc. for one litre.
1 / Advent Tea No. 57
2 / Winter Energy Tea No. 169
3 / Ginger lemongrass No. 175
4 / Fondue tea no. 101
5 / Rooibos Earl Grey No. 119
6 / Apple Cinnamon Tea No. 97
7 / Relax Green Tea No. 59
8 / Vanilla Tea No. 47
9 / Chai Classic No. 204
10 / Sweet Ginger Princess No. 40
11 / Rooibos Candle Fire No. 129
12 / Winter Magic No. 32
13 / Rooibos Vanilla No. 125
14 / Chai Feel Well No. 194
15 / White Winter Wonderland No. 307
16 / Blood Orange No. 93
17 / Winter Mix No. 65
18 / Chrütli Mix No. 33
19 / Christmas Tea No. 198
20 / Chai Winter Dream No. 53
21 / Sweet Orange Tea No. 44
22 / Winter Fit No. 118
23 / Mulled Wine Spice No. 37
24 / Christmas Tea No. 98

>107 Ameise1: You did have a busy week! Congrats to your daughter for her award winning thesis. That's fantastic. And your tea selection looks delicious.

>108 labfs39: Thank you very much, Lisa. We are very proud of our daughter. As soon as I have the official photos from the university, I will post them.
We now have the tea calendar for the fourth time. It always has teas in it that we don't know yet. We drink a lot of tea in the evening.

Catching up with your thread has reminded me of the Ambrose Parry books, Barbara. So one of them ended up on my library hold list. Great pictures of your trip and the food up thread and planning for another getaway. It looks like you are taking full advantage of your retirement!

What an impressive week.
Congratulations on your daughter's award.
All the best for the rest of the week, Barbara.

>110 Familyhistorian: Thank you so much, Meg. I will certainly continue with the Ambrose Parry books. I hope you enjoy it just as much. Yes, being retired is incredibly exciting and varied. I like it very much.

>111 SirThomas: Thank you very much, Thomas. We are very proud of our ‘little’ Einstein. She has not always had it easy in life, as she is extremely gifted, but emotionally rather small and physically very tall (1m80cm). This simply never fitted in with her playmates. Since her studies, she has blossomed, as many ‘small’ Einsteins are now among her circle of friends. They are all really in a different league.

book 89 Read in German 

 Accabadora

It was like diving into a world that was unknown to me. It's set in Sardinia and is a story about a mother and daughter like you've never heard before. A novel in which archaic and modern Italy collide.

Accabadora means: a woman who helps the dying to die in agony. Anthropologists disagree as to whether she actually existed or whether she is a mythological figure. According to some sources, the last Accabadora worked in Orgosolo in 1952. She is the subject of many Sardinian legends, in which she often also fulfils the role of midwife.
Meaning fillus de anima/fill'e anima: A form of adoption practised in Sardinia for a long time, which takes place with the consent of the parties involved - and without any official formalities. It is based solely on affection. A large family gives one of their children to a couple who have no children. However, the child remains in close contact with its original family. - Literally translated as ‘child of the soul’, as opposed to a biological child.

Like mother and daughter, Bonaria Urrai and six-year-old Marie live together. The old dressmaker has taken the girl in and is bringing her up, but Maria will look after her later. A secret shrouds this taciturn woman, who is always dressed in black, who sometimes receives visitors at night when Maria is supposed to be asleep and then leaves the house. It seems as if Bonaria lives in two worlds. The girl senses that she should not ask. Only later, painfully, does she discover the whole truth.
We accompany Maria through her childhood to young adulthood. The friendships she cultivates, the festivals - both happy and sad - that the village celebrates, the old archaic customs surrounding property and how inquisitive Maria is and therefore also a good pupil.
This story is written with a great deal of love for the protagonists. I can warmly recommend it.

>113 Ameise1: A really interesting insight into the way people, left alone, live their lives. Apart from inheritance rights and property rights, what really does someone need the state to do about children's upbringing?

I have a lot of answers to that, but I really admire the Sardinians for their creative solution to a pressing problem.

Happy weekend ahead!

>114 richardderus: After Bonaria's death, all her property and assets went to Maria. From the context of the story, I learnt that this was normal when these children were grown up.

Sweet Thursday smooch

Great review of Accabadora, Barbara! That sounds like a very interesting book.

>116 kidzdoc: Darryl, it was indeed a very interesting book. I also really enjoyed the writing style. I will look for more books by Michela Murgia in my local library.

>113 Ameise1: I will add Accabadora to my list of ideas for the Global Challenge. Sounds interesting on more than one level.

>118 labfs39: Lisa, I could well imagine that you might like this book. I can highly recommend it.

>113 Ameise1: Sounds like a good one. Excellent review!

I had a tea calendar last Advent - I really enjoyed discovering a new tea every day. In fact, as I sit here catching up on LT I’m drinking a green tea I discovered thanks to the calendar.

>113 Ameise1: I like the sound of this one. I have a couple of Michela Murgia’s books TBR but I hadn’t heard of this one.

>120 figsfromthistle: Thanks so much, Anita. I could imagine that you would like it. I don't know if there's an English edition of it.

>121 rachbxl: Rachel, yes, tea is always a good choice and you can actually discover varieties in a tea calendar that you've never drunk before but taste delicious.
It was a very interesting book and I will try to find more from her.

It's been two weeks since I did an update. Our grandchildren were with us last week. We spent the morning in the library. There was a ‘story time’ for 2-3 year olds. The animator told the story of a raccoon who had a big laundry day. With the help of songs, movements, little sayings and figures, more and more animals came to the raccoon and brought their laundry with them. It was very well done. Juri was spellbound and joined in diligently while Timo looked at picture books with Grandad.

In the same week, I also got my flu jab and my third tick vaccination. Now I'm protected again for the next ten years.

This week I went to the gynaecologist. He recommended that I have osteopathy as he suspects that the very frequent pain below my right breast is caused by a nerve. As I broke 5 lumbar vertebrae and one thoracic vertebra 17 years ago, I can well imagine this.

Yesterday the insurance agent came to see me about adjusting various insurance policies (house, liability, car, etc.). We are now up to date again.

As promised, I am posting the photos of Marina's award ceremony at the University of Zurich.

 
These are all of this year's Master's thesis prize winners from all faculties at the university. Marina is in the back row on the left, right next to the rector of the university.

 Marina's partner Martin and me


from left to right: my mother-in-law, my husband, our daughter Marina, Martin her partner and me

So, and now I have to write three more reviews until I'm allowed to read again ;-)

book 90 Read in German 

 The Kamogawa Food Detectives

Unfortunately, I wasn't so convinced by this book. I like the idea of this hidden restaurant where people come because they want to try a long-forgotten dish and its flavour. You get to know something about these people, but how the chef is ultimately able to cook the dish perfectly remains somewhat vague. I would have liked to have seen more about how he searches for ingredients, spices etc.

book 91 Read in German 

 Lockvogel

That was an amusing and exciting read.
Toni is broke and running out of time
Toni has practically no euros left in her pocket. Not because the drama student can't get her arse up, but because her boyfriend Felix has made off with her savings. Money gone, boyfriend gone (Or ex-boyfriend? Cheater? What the hell is he now?), but the unpaid bills keep piling up. So she turns to private detective Edgar Brehm. He could track Felix down. But how is she supposed to pay him?
A case of #metoo? - Undercover as a decoy
Sybille Steiner also finds her way to Brehm's detective agency: The wife of a star director has received disturbing mail. According to an anonymous diary, her husband is said to have exploited his position of power over a young actress years ago. Are the allegations true? Who is the author? Does the death of a man at one of Steiner's high-society parties have anything to do with it? Brehm has to find out as quickly as possible before the press gets wind of it. How convenient that a drama student who can't pay him has just turned up at Brehm's house: Toni is hired as a decoy. What dangers await her in the film industry, which is notorious for power imbalances and intrigue?

Congratulations to Marina! and what lovely photos. Of course I don't know what many LTers actually look like, and when I do see photos I'm often surprised, but you look like I would expect, Barbara!

book 92 Read in German 

 Retribution

That was a gripping thriller. I could hardly put the book down.
New York 1988:
Chloe is really looking forward to spending the evening with her boyfriend Michael. Although she's in the middle of her law exams, she's been persuaded to go out with him during the week. It's their anniversary and she's hoping he'll propose to her. The evening doesn't go quite as she had dreamed. He drops her off at home and she goes to her flat alone. Meanwhile, a man is lurking in the bushes under her window and has obviously been watching her for a long time. As she sleeps, he breaks into her flat and brutally rapes her. She is hospitalised the next morning with severe cuts to her chest after being found by her friend.
Miami 2000: Chloe becomes C.J.
Twelve years later, Chloe is a prosecutor in Miami and has changed her name. For the past year, the population has been shaken by the crimes of a serial killer who has been given the name Cupido: Eleven young blonde women have already disappeared and nine bodies have been found without hearts. Then something happens that nobody would have expected. During a traffic stop, a black Jaguar is pulled over, suspected of having drugs in the boot based on an anonymous tip, but the dead body of Anna Prado, Cupido's tenth victim, is found. C.J. is the prosecutor in the case, but at the arraignment she recognises William Rupert Bantling as the man who inflicted this great suffering on her 12 years ago. She is now in a predicament: she can't tell anyone about it and she can't actually hand over the case as she has been working on it for a year. But can she summon up the strength for the long process? And what would happen if her tormentor were to go free?

>128 CDVicarage: Thank you very much, Kerry. Yes, it really is nice to have a face from LTers too. I know about some of them because I'm friends with them on FB, but not about others.

>124 Ameise1: Marina and you have a strong resemblance and the same smile. Love the photos

>131 labfs39: Thanks Lisa, our daughters really can't deny who their parents are. Isabelle and Marina are seven years apart, but luckily we had labelled the photos of them because for the first two years they looked identical twins.

>126 Ameise1: I was one star down from you on this book. I actively disliked it. Too cutesy-poopsie-pooh for my angry cynical self.

Spend a splendid weekend, and thanks for sharing the photos of Marina's powerful achievement.

>133 richardderus: Rdear, I can actually understand why you gave it a 2. I definitely won't be reading any more books from this series either.
You're welcome, it was a great event.

Lovely photos, Barbara! Thanks for sharing them with us. Congratulations to your daughter and to you, of course.

>135 kidzdoc: Thank you very much, Darryl. We are proud of our little (tall) 'Einstein'. Ha, and when do you get free professional photos 😃, you have to share them 😂.

>106 Ameise1: I'm disappointed this book isn't available in French or English (yet?). I've wishlisted it anyway just in case...

>113 Ameise1: Accabadora is fantastic!

Congratulations to Marina. Those are lovely photos :-)

>137 Dilara86: Dilara, I can well imagine that it could one day be translated into French, as the author is Swiss and we are a quadrilingual country.
Accabadora is a great book. Have you read it? I can highly recommend it to you.
Thank you very much re Marina. It was a worthy laudation framed by a jazz trio followed by an aperitif rich.

>137 Dilara86: Fingers crossed for a swift translation!

I read a library copy of Accabadora and liked it so much I bought my own copy afterwards, which I don't do very often :-)

>139 Dilara86: Wow, I'm impressed. I've only done that 2-3 times at most.

Happy Saturday, Barb. Congrats to Marina. Love the family photos. Have a good weekend.

>141 msf59: Thanks so much, Mark.
I wish you a gorgeous weekend too.

>124 Ameise1: Beautiful pictures, Barbara.
>113 Ameise1: ...and another BB, sigh.
Have a great start into the new week.

>140 Ameise1: I've probably done half a dozen times...

>143 SirThomas: Thanks so much, Thomas. I wish you a wonderful new week too.
I'm sure you'll like >113 Ameise1:.

>144 Dilara86: :-)

book 93 Read in German 

 Splitter im Auge

The hero Thomas Adam, known as ‘Steiger’, is a police officer who has failed in his career and whose private life is not all good either, a loner who collects disciplinary proceedings like stamps. He bites into a case that can be considered closed with the conviction of the perpetrator based on clear evidence. An African asylum seeker has raped and murdered a girl, the body covered all over with clear genetic traces, but he supposedly can't remember anything. By chance, Adam discovers that the crime cannot have happened the way it should have. Against the resistance of his superiors and colleagues, he follows this trail and comes across further inconsistencies and older murder cases that are astonishingly similar to the one under investigation.

The author leads us very skilfully through the story. On the one hand there are repeated flashbacks to ‘Steiger's’ childhood, on the other hand he does the same with the real perpetrator. His story also begins in his childhood. On the one hand, there is something apologetic about it, because you get to know the past, but on the other hand, it also becomes clear why deeds and actions happen.I will definitely try to get more volumes of this series.

book 94 Read in German 🎧

 Awkward Squad

This was a very amusing listen with a lot of love for all the ‘useless’ protagonists.
The Paris police headquarters at 36 Quai des Orfèvres has a new director. Their aim is to polish up the investigation rates and statistics and get rid of all the annoying, recalcitrant and unwilling employees. To this end, the management team creates a new brigade to bring together all the alcoholics, slackers, bullies, depressives and police officers who feel they have a different calling - such as Eva Rozière, who writes crime novels instead of investigating. She hands over the reins to Anne Capestan, a once promising young policewoman who was suspended from duty after making a fatal mistake. What is expected of her: to keep quiet. But Anne hates nothing more than simply obeying. That's why she leaves no stone unturned and, together with her troupe of outcasts, sets up a police department with unconventional methods in a shabby office with miserable technical equipment, no weapons and no flashing blue lights and - to the horror of the new bosses - solves old cases that don't show the new management team in a good light.

book 95 Read in German ROOT 9

 The Black Echo

I had read Harry Bosch books 10-14 years ago and then bought some earlier volumes, but hadn't read them yet. So now I've read the first volume in the series.
I was not disappointed. As always, it was an amusing read.
In this book we get to know Harry and his unorthodox methods. As always, he trusts no-one and makes life difficult for all his comrades-in-arms. We also learn a lot about Harry's past. He is a Vietnam veteran and this case has to do with his past.

Yesterday afternoon at 3pm it started to snow. Winter has definitely arrived. This morning it looked like a winter wonderland.

 shortly after six o'clock this morning

 this morning shortly at nine o'clock

Before our grandsons could romp around in the snow this morning, they cut out the first Christmas biscuits.

 

>147 Ameise1: I'm not a fan of the genre, but this looks fun!
Your grandsons are very cute and your garden's beautiful buried in snow :-)

Beautiful first snowfall. We are getting a deluge of rain today. If it were snow, we would be buried. Fortunately it's 39F.

>151 Dilara86: Dilara, It's a funny story, just enough to amuse you royally.
Thank you, when the two rascals are not asleep, there is always action, preferably controlled action.

>152 labfs39: Lisa, we've had more than enough rain this year, so I'm happy about the snow, even though I know it will soon disappear again. 🫣

Beautiful! It's been several years since we had a good snow in Washington, DC. Hoping we get one this year!

>154 japaul22: Jennifer, I love snow and skiing. Here in Zurich the snow will melt away again, but in the Alps it will stay. Some ski resorts are opening for the winter season this weekend. The fresh snow will come just in time. 🎿🛷❄️☃️

>149 Ameise1: Beautiful pictures, Barbara.
It snowed here today too, but it didn't stay. But the walk was still fun.
>150 Ameise1: Lovely - we're just starting to bake cookies too, unfortunately without such sweet help.
Have a wonderful weekend!

>156 SirThomas: Thank you very much Thomas. The snow won't stay here in Zurich forever, even though it started snowing again an hour ago and it looks like we'll get another lorry load. But it's always nice to experience the start of winter like this.
We don't have much planned this weekend apart from packing, as we leave on Monday for our trip. Our first destination will be Cologne.

For some reason your pictures and mine have " disappeared" Barbara. I'm not sure why, but I saw your snow pictures on Facebook. Snow looks nice, but I am not a fan , and fortunately we get very little here. It's good for skiing though. We've had a lot of rain, so I guess our local mountains have lots of snow. Enjoy your trip!

>158 vancouverdeb: Oh, I'm sorry you can't see the photos, I can see them.
Re snow: I consider myself lucky that we have so many different weather phenomena here. It makes life varied. Of course, you have to be much more careful when you're travelling on foot. We always say: there's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.

>159 Ameise1: there's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing
I love it, especially, but not only, for children.

>160 labfs39: Exactly Lisa, that applies to everyone. I'm currently packing for our trip. It's not exactly easy, but I'll probably be packing mostly for cold temperatures.

>149 Ameise1: Wow! That's a lot of snow. Beautiful though.

Happy weekend reading

>149 Ameise1: Snow! Loveliness in every particular.

Happy Sunday, Barbara.

>162 figsfromthistle: >163 richardderus: Thanks so much, Anita and Rdear. It's already melting.

We will be on the road from tomorrow until 10 December. I won't be taking my laptop with me. If you want to see photos, I'll post them on FB and Insta. If you are not yet friends with me on these platforms, send me a PM with your username.

Have a wonderful holiday!

I've enjoyed catching up with your thread, Barbara! You have so much going on. Congratulations to your daughter! I hope your grandsons enjoyed their biscuits. Those bibs with the pocket at the bottom are so cute, and such a good idea.

>126 Ameise1: I DNFd this one, so I'm glad it wasn't just me!

Have a great trip!

Have a great trip, Barb. Love the photos of your grandsons.

Have a wonderful time on your trip, Barbara!

Solstice cheer, Barbara!

>113 Ameise1: Thank you for another beautiful BB, Barbara.
I wish you a blessed Christmas.

Greeting Barbara! I wish you and yours a very merry Christmas and a new year filled with many more vacations! (I love your pics)

>166 labfs39: >167 susanj67: >168 msf59: >169 Familyhistorian: Thank you all so much, we had a great trip through Germany and the Netherlands.
Here is a photo of Connie and me. We met on 3 December in her home town of Roermund. We have known each other virtually via LT for more than ten years. It was so great to meet her in person. We spent a few great hours together.

>170 richardderus: Thanks so much, Rdear. Now it's getting light for a little longer every day.

>171 SirThomas: I'm glad you enjoyed this book, Thomas. I actually got to know the contemporary Italians in 2024 and will continue reading them in 2025.
Happy holidays to you and your wife too.

>172 Carmenere: Thank you very much, Lynda. I wish you a wonderful festive season too. There will certainly be some more holiday photos in 2025.

book 96 Read in German 

 Bahnhofstrasse

Philipp Humboldt's second case was also amusing to read.
The former banker now works at the University of Zurich and is a popular lecturer. His aim is to get a full professorship and keep his past, which is paved with a few corpses, under wraps.
Only this time he has to face a corrupt and very dangerous private banker who will literally walk over dead bodies to pursue his goals. Humboldt is ‘employed’ by him to write the chronicle of the private bank; if he does this to his satisfaction, the university will receive a lot of money and he will be offered a full professorship. Humboldt soon realises that nothing is as it seems and that the private bank is anything but solid with blackmail and dark machinations. The past goes back to the WWll.

book 97 Read in German ROOT 10 

 Heidelberger Requiem

This is the first volume in a new series for me.
It begins with the induction ceremony for the new detective Alexander Gerlach in Heidelberg, at which his former colleagues from Karlsruhe have also turned up. He is a single father of pubescent twin girls. He is still looking for a new flat, so Gerlach travels to Heidelberg every day while his daughters go wild in Karlsruhe.
His new job actually consists more of desk work and coordination, but the new detective can't change his mind so quickly and heads to the crime scene himself with detectives Klara Vangelis and Sven Balke when the first murder is reported. The victim is chemistry student Patrick Grotheer. He was tied to the bed, then his wrists were slit and he bled to death. The officers soon discover that Grotheer was producing synthetic drugs and leading a luxurious life. He had long since fallen out with his father, the world-famous doctor and head of the surgical department at Heidelberg University Hospital. His mother had often feared that things would come to such an end with her son.
There are more deaths during the investigation. In addition to the fact that his private life is very turbulent, he also has to find his place in the new team.
I was only partially convinced by this crime thriller. However, as I still have a few volumes of this series on my Tolino, I will certainly read the other volumes too.

Thanks for posting that photo of Connie, Barbara. I've met her three times during LT goup meetups on my prior trips to the Netherlands, in Utrecht, Leiden and 's-Hertogenbosch, and I've greatly enjoyed her company and knowledge, especially during our meetup in Utrecht with Tad (TadAD) and his family in 2015.

My lazy November stats:



Authors Gender and origin:

Women: 4
Men: 6

Austria: 1
France: 1
Germany: 2
Italy: 1
Japan: 1
Switzerland: 2
USA: 2

Merry Christmas, Barb. I love the Meet Up photo with Connie. Is she still active on LT? Have a wonderful holiday with the family.

>177 kidzdoc: You're very welcome, Darryl. Connie is a very likeable woman and I hope I can meet her again next year, as we will certainly be in Maastricht once, if not twice.

>179 msf59: Thank you very much Mark. Yes, she has been very active in the ROOTs group for years.

Hi Barbara! No chance of really catching up, alas.

>124 Ameise1: Congrats to Marina and I love the photo of all of you.

>149 Ameise1: Love the snow pics. I’d like to get snow, but not until after tomorrow. If there’s even a hint of a snowflake where I live, the entire county shuts down.

>150 Ameise1: Sweet pics of the boys cutting out biscuits.

>181 karenmarie: Thank you very much, Karen. There's just a hint of snow here. So I wouldn't call it a white Christmas.

book 98 Read in German 

 Oxen. Das erste Opfer

This is the first volume in a new series for me. Super exciting and I will certainly continue with this series.
Oxen. Niels Oxen. The most decorated Danish elite soldier of all time. Numerous deployments abroad have left their mark. Severely traumatised, Oxen wants peace and quiet and makes himself at home in the largest forest in Denmark. The only people at his side are Mr White, a Samoyed Spitz, and the seven demons that give him nightmares. War memories of unimaginable atrocities. He wants to put an end to this in seclusion, but near his improvised sleeping quarters is Norlund Slot Castle, which Oxen has never seen before. And so he pays it a visit one night and is surprised by the strict security precautions; guards and cameras. Not for someone who doesn't want to attract attention. So he retreats, but comes across an unconscious security guard and a dog that has been hung up.
A few days later, the lord of the castle, the former top diplomat and ex-ambassador Corfitzen, is found dead. Unsurprisingly, the police need to talk to Oxen. As soon as they arrive at the police station in Aalborg, the local investigation is halted because the domestic intelligence service PET gets involved. Their boss Mossmann offers Oxen a deal; he is to work for the PET. Oxen is assigned the attractive agent Margarethe Franck as his contact person. However, the co-operation proves to be extremely difficult at first.

book 99 Read in German  🎧

 Der Schrei der Kröte

The body of a ten-year-old girl is found in a rubbish container in Aarhus. During his investigation, police detective Roland Benito comes across a newspaper article by reporter Anne Larsen, which provides the first clues. The girl had apparently taken revealing photos in chat rooms. The suspicions soon pile up. When another child disappears, Benito and Larsen begin a race against time.
This is the first of the Roland Benito crime novels and I wasn't entirely convinced. I also have the other volumes as audios and will listen to another one in due course.

book 100 Read in German 

 Star of Babylon

I was not convinced by this book. For me, it was very often confused and not written logically or coherently. The basic idea that old artefacts are hunted down in order to misuse them afterwards sounded very exciting, but unfortunately it didn't come across that way.

book 101 Read in German 

 Madame le Commissaire und der Tod des Polizeichefs

I also really enjoyed this volume. I love Isabelle and her protagonists.
Isabelle actually wants to recover from her traumatic experiences in Paris in the beautiful countryside on the Côte d'Azur, but her extraordinary expertise is once again in demand: she uncovers some inconsistencies in the alleged suicide of a senior police officer from the Côte d'Azur harbour town of Toulon. And then there are the unsolved cases that she has to solve with her quirky assistant Apollinaire: After some research, the deadly robbery of a jewellery shop in Cannes turns out to be a set-up and it doesn't take long for gangster bosses and organised crime on the Côte d'Azur to appear on the scene.

book 102 Read in German 

 Kaiserhofstrasse 12

‘In this book, a man who got away tells of a miracle without being surprised.’ Peter Härtling
It is the 1930s: Kaiserhofstrasse in Frankfurt am Main is home to actors, prostitutes, fraternity members - and the Senger family. As communists and Jews, they had to flee from Tsarist Russia and found a new home here - until Adolf Hitler seized power in 1933. Valentin Senger's mother Olga realises the seriousness of the situation early on: she conceals the traces of her origins with forged papers. From then on, however, the fear of being discovered accompanied the family on a daily basis. The young Valentin Senger goes his own way and experiences his first love. But how can he get to know a girl without jeopardising the survival of the whole family? His mother is worried sick. And yet, with the help of numerous friends, neighbours, courageous members of the authorities and a large portion of luck, the family survives this terrible time.

I read this book because we saw various videos of Valentin Senger's descendants in the Jewish Museum in Frankfurt, which impressed me very much.

book 103 Read in German  🎧

 The Woman with the Cure

I am very impressed by this scientist and heaven knows why this brilliant woman never won the Nobel Prize in Medicine.
Vanderbilt Hospital, Nashville 1940: Dr Dorothy Millicent Horstmann stands out among the doctors at the clinic. She is 1.85 metres tall. And she is a woman - usually the only one in the room. Dorothy has big plans: She wants to conquer polio, which causes so much suffering throughout the country. She has seen too many patients struggling for air and dying in the Iron Lung. Dorothy has only one goal: to eradicate the polio virus, either through a cure or a vaccine. The famous researchers around her doubt her theory about the spread of the virus in the body, but she will prove them right - at any cost.
In the race against time, she becomes a pioneer who puts her personal happiness and her own life at risk.
Without Dr Dorothy Horstmann, there would never have been a polio vaccine, and I thank her from the bottom of my heart.

>188 Ameise1: I am very impressed by this scientist and heaven knows why this brilliant woman never won the Nobel Prize in Medicine.

I daresay you answered your own question, Barbara, in the same manner that Rosalind Franklin wasn't one of the co-winners of the Nobel Prize in Medicine for discovering the structure of the DNA molecule.

I had never heard of Dr Horstmann, even though I've read at least two books about the development of the polio vaccine. I graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine (Pitt Med), and our keynote address was given by Dr Jonas Salk, the physician-scientist who was credited with the development of the inactivated polio vaccine while he was a professor at Pitt. I'll have to revisit the books I've read about polio, Polio: An American Story by David Oshinsky and Splendid Solution: Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio by Jeffrey Kluger, to see if Dr Horstmann is discussed and given proper credit for her essential work.

BTW the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 1954 was awarded to John Enders, Thomas H. Weller, and Frederick Robbins for their work on cultivating the polio virus in human tissue, which laid the foundation for Salk's vaccine development; Salk himself never won the Nobel Prize, and I can't help but wonder if he didn't win because he was Jewish.

I'll add The Woman with the Cure to my library wish list.

>189 kidzdoc: Darryl, I am very glad and grateful to have read this book thanks to my RL book club. It is very interesting. Yes, there have been and continue to be brilliant women who have simply gone unrecognised.
I hope this book inspires you as much as it did me.

>188 Ameise1: I didn't realize that there was a woman involved in the development of the polio vaccine. Thanks for bringing this book to my notice, Barbara.

Have a wonderful holiday season!

>191 Familyhistorian: Thank you very much, Meg. A member of our RL book club has suggested that we discuss this book together in January. I'm always fascinated by books about strong women who never give up, but often do without a private life. Dorothy had to fight a lot for her approach to fighting polio. In the process, male doctors walked over dead bodies while she had a completely different approach.
I really like the photo.

>188 Ameise1: >189 kidzdoc: Another book about medicine I would like to read.

>173 Ameise1: Hooray for an LT meetup, Barbara!

Happy Christmas to you and your family :-)

>173 Ameise1: what a special meet up. Merry Christmas Barbara

Merry Christmas and happy new year!

Catching up on various threads. So many great photos to catch up on here too, Barbara! Looks like you had a lovely white Christmas. I'm glad you're enjoying your retirement.

A belated Merry Christmas and what a great picture of you and Connie. I'm glad you had a meet up!