Out of the Rain by Elizabeth Cadell

Title: Out of the Rain
Author: Elizabeth Cadell
Publication: William Morrow, hardcover, 1987
Genre: Fiction
Setting: Late 20th-century Britain

Description: Edward Netherford is a quiet London lawyer who inherited some difficult clients from his father and is forced to go to Yorkshire in an attempt to retrieve some paintings they inherited.

Dean Street Press

Very sorry to learn of the unexpected death of Rupert Heath, a British literary agent who founded Dean Street Press, bringing many gems back into print.  Several years ago, he added the Furrowed Middlebrow imprint, which I have also greatly enjoyed.   I had hoped to meet Rupert for a drink when I was in London last June but the timing did not work.  Here is a link to the obituary written by his sister in the Bookseller.  Scott at Furrowed Middlebrow has also written about Rupert.

I know Rupert greatly enjoyed Dean Street December, hosted by Liz at Adventures in Reading, Running, and Working from Home, and I am glad she made time to organize that at such a busy time of year.

I enjoyed my correspondence with Rupert and his comments on my reviews.  This is a loss to all readers. My sympathy to his family and coworkers.

Spell the Month in Books – March

Spell the Month in Books is the brainchild of Reviews From the Stacks and occurs on the second Saturday of each month. This month I chose from books I read in 2022:

Haunted Ground by Erin Hart #ReadingIreland2023

Title: Haunted Ground
Author: Erin Hart
Publication: Scribner, hardcover, 2003
Genre: Mystery
Setting: Present-day Ireland

Description: When farmers cutting turf in a peat bog uncover a well-preserved woman’s body, the pathologist refers it to Cormac Maguire, an archeologist at University College Dublin and Dr. Nora Gavin in the anatomy department at Trinity College Medical School.

My February 2023 Reads

It is rare to read two books in the same month that you know will make your "Favorites list" at the end of the year but I thought these two historical novels were exceptional; I recommend both.

Historical Fiction

Six Degrees of Separation – from Passages to House of Sand and Fog

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 Passages by Gail Sheehy, which was a huge self-help book in its day.

However, even when I worked in publishing and had to sell such books, I didn’t have much patience with them. The only one I ever found convincing was:

The Winter Guest by W.C. Ryan #ReadingIreland2023

Title: The Winter Guest
Author: W.C. Ryan
Publication: Arcade Publishing, hardcover, 2022
Genre: Historical Mystery
Setting: Ireland, 1921

Description: After an ordinary evening of cards and conversation, Maud Prendeville, Lord Kilcolgan’s daughter, and two companions are killed in an IRA ambush, yards from her home in the Irish countryside.

WWW Wednesday – March 1, 2023

WWW Wednesday is hosted by Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?