The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen

Maggie Bird is retired and living a quiet life in Purity, Maine with a few chickens and a small group of friends nearby when she gets an unexpected and unwelcome visitor. A woman who calls herself Bianca wants Maggie’s help finding a colleague from her CIA past, last seen in Bangkok. 

Spell the Month in Books – February

Spell the Month in Books is hosted by Reviews From the Stacks and occurs on the first Saturday of each month or maybe the third! This month I chose from books I read ten years ago. I read a lot that year because I was between jobs for the first two months of the year and it was an extremely snowy winter. The weekend of Valentine's Day, ten years ago, my brother was visiting with his family and I suggested my parents drive over and spend the night in case it snowed so much they were stranded at home. It was quite a slumber party with five adults and three children.  Somehow a coworker made it over with his toddler to decorate heart-shaped cupcakes!

Small Bomb at Dimperley by Lissa Evans

For those of us who read a lot of WWII historical fiction, it is a natural progression to contemplate what happened after the war ended. Perhaps this is why I loved the television show Homefront, set in a Midwest town where everyone is excited to welcome back their menfolk but do not realize how their lives will be affected, especially women who worked outside the home doing war work but are now displaced in favor of the men. 

January 2025 Reading

I read 14 books in January: all fiction but one, including three audiobooks and two rereads. The God of the Woods and Frozen River are historical novels which were much hyped, with long waiting lists at the library. I was disappointed in the first and found its ending completely unbelievable. I liked Frozen River and its themes of justice and male dominance provided lots of material for my book group discussion. I also enjoyed the newest Michael Connelly and my reread of False Colours.

Miss Buncle's Book by D.E. Stevenson

When our fellow humans annoy us with their squabbles and predictability, don’t we all fantasize about memorializing them in fiction – to their detriment?* 

Six Degrees of Separation – from Dangerous Liaisons to Mrs. Plansky's Revenge

It’s time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. We all start at the same place as other readers, add six books, and see where it ends up. This month, Kate started with a classic, Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, which is about seduction and revenge.

A Darker Domain by Val McDermid

As she spoke, she reached for the phone that had just begun to ring. There were other, more junior officers in the big squad room that housed the Cold Case Review Team, but promotion hadn’t altered Karen’s ways. She’d never got out of the habit of answering any phone that rang in her vicinity. “CCRT, DI Pirie speaking,” she said absently . . . .

In the Blink of an Eye by Jo Callaghan

In this series launch, a police detective is asked to lead a pilot program examining cold cases with the help of an Artificially Intelligent Detective Entity (AIDE) – basically, a robot – as part of her team, with results that surprise her. Detective Chief Superintendent Kat Frank has been on leave while recovering from the death of her husband and resulting depression of her teenage son but now she wants to return to work.