A Final Post for Dean Street December

This month, Liz of Adventures in Reading, Running and Working from Home has been hosting Dean Street December. As I have not finished my current book, I thought I would highlight some of my reading from Dean Street Press:

The Dark by Sharon Bolton

Title: The Dark
Author: Sharon Bolton
Publication: Orion, paperback, 2022
Genre: Suspense, series
Setting: London

Description: When a baby is kidnapped near Tower Bridge by terrorists, off duty police officer Lacey Flint is in her kayak and manages to rescue the child from the Thames.

Table Two by Marjorie Wilenski

Title: Table Two
Author: Marjorie Wilenski
Publication: Dean Street Press, paperback, 2019 (originally published in 1942)
Genre: Fiction
Setting: WWII London

This month, Liz of Adventures in Reading, Running and Working from Home has been hosting Dean Street December.

That’s Debatable by Jen Doll

Title: That’s Debatable
Author: Jen Doll
Publication: Farrar Straus Giroux, hardcover, 2022
Genre: YA
Setting: Present-day Alabama

Description: Millicent Chalmers wanted to be a debater and when her public high school didn’t offer a team, she found an advisor, began competing, and never looked back. Now she’s the best in the state despite the sexism she encounters from judges and fellow competitors.

Susan Settles Down by Molly Clavering

Title: Susan Settles Down
Author: Molly Clavering
Publication: Furrowed Middlebrow, Dean Street Press, 2021 (originally published 1936)
Genre: Fiction

Setting: Susan Parsons and her brother – who has been invalided out of the Navy – move to the Scottish countryside when Oliver inherits a small farm, Easter Hartrigg (surely a peculiar name for a farm?).

The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox (Review for Virtual Advent Tour)

Title: The Holiday Swap
Author: Maggie Knox
Publication: Putnam, hardcover, 2021
Genre: Contemporary romance

Sprite Writes invited me to share a tradition as part of her 2022 Virtual Advent Tour and one I always enjoy is reading some holiday-themed books as Christmas approaches. Last year I read The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer, about a romance writer of Christmas stories who is actually Jewish and is asked to come up with a Hanukah novel. This year, I thought I would review a light-hearted impersonation story.

My November 2022 Reads

Several highlights from November: I had forgotten how entertaining John Grisham can be and really liked two books about an investigator of judicial (mis)conduct.  I also enjoyed The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren, which I liked best of all her books I've read. And Bleeding Heart Yard was as amusing as all of Elly Griffiths' books!

Mystery/Suspense

Mrs. Tim Flies Home by D.E. Stevenson

Title: Mrs. Tim Flies Home
Author: D.E. Stevenson
Introduction: Alexander McCall Smith
Publication: Furrowed Middlebrow/Dean Street Press, 2019 (originally published 1952)
Genre: Fiction

Description: After 18 months in Kenya with her husband Tim, a colonel on active duty, Hester Christie wants to spend time with her children, so flies home to England, with a layover in Rome.

The Concord Free Public Library in December

Concord in December is an attractive place and I was in the mood to visit on Saturday, particularly because the library was having a book sale. 

The lobby/great room is decorated for the holidays

Six Degrees of Separation – from The Snow Child to Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life

It’s time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. We all start at the same place, add six books, and see where we end up. This month’s starting point is The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey, which I have intended to read for ages but never got to.  

Bleeding Heart Yard by Elly Griffiths - and the Royals are in town!

Title: Bleeding Heart Yard
Author: Elly Griffiths
Publication: Houghton Mifflin, hardcover, 2022
Genre: Mystery
Setting: Present-day London

Description: Harbinder Kaur, now a Detective Inspector for the CID, newly arrived in London and sharing a flat with two strangers, is ready for her first big homicide case.