The Golden Collar by Elizabeth Cadell

Henry Eliot isn’t sure exactly how he became engaged to the beautiful and autocratic Marly Stonor, daughter of Sir Bertram Stonor, the CEO of the firm where he is an architect. However, his status as future son-in-law doesn’t spare him from being summoned like a schoolboy when Sir Bertram has an assignment. Sir Bertram has been thwarted in his attempts to purchase some coastal property in the Algarve region of Portugal for his daughter (and, eventually, Henry) and he decides to send Henry to represent his interests because Henry speaks Portuguese, having grown up in Brazil.

The Road to Dalton by Shannon Bowring

Set in 1990, The Road to Dalton takes place in a small, economically depressed town north of Bangor, focusing on a few interconnected families.  The most prominent are two married couples, of which the women, Bev and Trudy, have realized they are in love with each other, not their husbands.  Bev’s son Nate is a newlywed with an infant daughter; his wife, Bridget, is the daughter of the most (only) affluent family in town, owners of the lumber company.  And there is Rose, who works as the receptionist at the police station, got pregnant in high school and has two sons and a resentful, abusive boyfriend.  I heard about this trilogy from Susan at Cue Card and was curious enough to request the first book from the library last week.  

Top Ten Tuesday: Books for Armchair Travelers

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books for Armchair Travelers.  I am often reminded of a favorite quote that was on the wall in my first grade classroom:

There is no Frigate like a Book to take us Lands away. . .

Tapestry by Fiona McIntosh

Jane is a pragmatic Brit who met a handsome American in Cornwall five months ago and was swept off her feet. Despite being newly engaged, she has doubts about whether her fiancé, Will Maxwell, is The One, despite his good looks and devotion. When a freak accident leaves him in a coma, she feels guilty for her wavering commitment and tries to compensate by exploring various New Agey solutions, one of which catapults her from 1978 London to 1715 Scotland, married to Will’s ancestor, Lord Nithsdale. 

WWW Wednesday – February 11

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?

Currently Reading:

Six Degrees of Separation – from Flashlight to The Phoenix and the Carpet

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. February’s starting point is Flashlight by Susan Choi, about which the New York Times said, “This is a novel about exile in its multiple forms, and it reads like a history of loneliness.”

Talking to the Dead by Harry Bingham

In this series launch, Bingham introduced one of the most complex characters in crime fiction, Detective Constable Fiona Griffiths. She is a part of the investigative team at the Cardiff Police Department but most of her colleagues give her a wide birth. She is overly intense and doesn’t fit in; she has a degree in Philosophy from Cambridge and her strong analytical skills mean she gets assigned to tedious paperwork instead of the more interesting investigations. 

January 2026 Reading

A new year and all my library holds arrived at once, so I even had to return a few without reading! Two mysteries were my favorites this month: Guilty by Definition and Murder Takes a Vacation, and I decided to try Mick Herron’s Oxford Investigation series and enjoyed the first two books. I don’t expect to get much reading accomplished in February because I will be glued to the Olympics but I may get some quilting done . . . .