The Star and the Shamrock by Jean Grainger - a final WWII novel for the year

In the first book of this WWII trilogy, a desperate mother in 1939 Berlin sends her children to what she hopes is safety in Britain. Ariella Bannon is a German Jew, married to Peter, a Catholic who was arrested five months ago for defending an old lady from Nazi thugs. She is afraid her husband is dead and is worried for her children: Liesl (10) and Erich (7). There is a chance to get them out of Berlin: a humanitarian effort, Kindertransport, is rescuing children from Nazi-controlled territory and bringing them to Britain. 

The Night of Fear by Moray Dalton, for Dean Street December

This is my third entry for Dean Street December, and it seems appropriate for it to be a mystery by an author I’d never heard of until Dean Street Press reprinted 15 of her books. Starting in 1924, Moray Dalton published 29 mysteries, most of which feature two detectives, Scotland Yard inspector Hugh Collier and private inquiry agent Hermann Glide. I thought I had chosen the first in the series but as it is set at a Christmas house party in the country, it was still very suitable.

Spell the Month in Books - and Merry Christmas!

Spell the Month in Books is hosted by Reviews From the Stacks and occurs on or near the second Saturday of each month:

D - Dead Scared by Sharon Bolton.  This is the second in the Detective Constable Lacey Flint series and was truly unnerving. Lacey is sent undercover to Cambridge University to investigate a series of student suicides that police suspect are linked to a predator manipulating vulnerable young women online.  

Christmas with the Queen by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb

This unusual historical novel from writing duo Gaynor and Webb uses the early years of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign as the backdrop for the friendship and developing romance between Jack Devereaux, a young chef from New Orleans, and Olive Carter, an ambitious young journalist for the BBC. 

Rhododendron Pie by Margery Sharp, for Dean Street December

This was a great choice for Dean Street December! Ann Laventie is the youngest of three in an eccentric family in Sussex, beginning with a distinguished father with an independent income from his wife; a mother who was injured in a riding accident and cannot walk; sister Elizabeth, a witty essayist; and Dick, an artist. They are all attractive and intelligent, but Ann’s role seems primarily to admire the others as she does not believe she has any particular skill except observing and appreciating.

My Life in Books - 2025

Using only books you read in 2025, answer these prompts without repeating a book title (links in the titles will take you to my reviews where they exist).

In high school, I was: Out of Bounds (Val McDermid)

Boston Public Library reveals its top 10 checked out books of 2025 list

 The Boston Public Library (which is my library) just announced its end of year statistics and most checked out books (across all platforms) of 2025, which is interesting.  The library lent 7.5 million physical and digital items in 2025, up from 6.6 million in 2024. 

Overdue by Stephanie Perkins

Ingrid Dahl is a bubbly 29-year-old library staffer at the North Ridgetop Branch Library who for four years has shared the Circulation Desk with Macon Nowakowski, known for being somewhat grumpy to patrons, although not to Ingrid. When Ingrid’s younger sister gets engaged, she and her long-time boyfriend Cory start talking about marriage themselves and realize they aren’t ready. Because they’ve been together since they were 18, they decide to take a break for a month and date other people, then decide if they want to get married.

November 2025 Reading

This month I especially enjoyed The Correspondent (fiction), The Proving Ground (suspense), The Jazz Barn (nonfiction), and Searching for Shona (juvenile historical fiction). I also liked Evvie Drake Starts Over because it was a romantic comedy with convincing characters and realistic dialogue – this doesn’t always happen!  The Librarians was clever and enjoyable, although I could not always follow the plot!

Six Degrees of Separation - from Seascraper to The Horse and His Boy

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’s starting point is Seascraper by Benjamin Wood, which was longlisted for the Booker Prize. It’s a historical novel set in Ireland about a young man trawling for shrimp who dreams of artistic fulfillment.

WWW Wednesday - December 3

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?

Murder While You Work by Susan Scarlett, for Dean Street December

Lively and attractive Judy Rest has given up nursing but is still determined to do her bit for the war in this WWII mystery by Susan Scarlett, aka Noel Streatfeild. Judy is heading to the country to work at a munitions factory, and has a meet cute on the train when a studious-looking young man obligingly crawls about on the floor retrieving the lipstick she dropped. 

The Jazz Barn by John Gennari - review for Nonfiction November

In The Jazz Barn: Music Inn, the Berkshires, and the Place of Jazz in American Life, author John Gennari captures an exciting time in jazz at an unexpected place – not a smoky night club but a converted carriage house and barn that were turned into a concert space and casual inn. 

Top Ten Tuesday: Memorable Author Events

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Thanksgiving/Thankful and when I saw that Marg at the Intrepid Reader had done author events she was thankful for, I decided to emulate her. I’ve been to quite a few author events but perhaps these are the most memorable:

Gone Before Goodbye by Reese Witherspoon & Harlan Coben

Gone Before Goodbye is an unusual collaboration by actress/producer Reese Witherspoon and mystery/thriller writer Harlan Coben, and the product is a thriller that takes the reader from Baltimore to New York to Russia to Dubai and France. Maggie McCabe is a former Army combat surgeon whose life has fallen apart after a series of personal tragedies caused her to lose her medical license.

Searching for Shona by Margaret J. Anderson, a WWII evacuation story

Marjorie Malcolm-Scott leads a lonely but privileged existence in Edinburgh, living with her Uncle Fergus, who has been gone for months (war work?) and his disagreeable housekeeper, Mrs. Kilpatrick. Sometimes when she is sent outdoors to play, she goes to the local park and observes the rough and tumble orphans from St. Anne’s. 

October 2025 Reading

This month's reading mostly focused on books published 100 years ago for the 1925 Club.  However, it was fun to see Lisa Scottoline and Maureen Corrigan in conversation, sponsored by a local library, and caused me to check out her second book.  I also spent a weekend in Deep Valley, MN for the Betsy-Tacy Convention, always a good time.

Mystery and Suspense

Grime and Punishment by Jill Churchill (1989). Jane Jeffry, recently widowed and raising three children, is busy with car pools and community commitments (and gossip).

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

This is an unusual novel told in letters, primarily from the perspective of Sybil Van Antwerp, a divorced grandmother in her 70s, who had a distinguished career as a lawyer. Sybil started writing letters as a child and takes pride in her correspondence but there is a dramatic contrast in her ability to communicate through writing vs her inability to maintain relationships with her immediate family. 

Final Appeal and Lisa Scottoline in Boston

Last month, the Friends of the West Roxbury Library hosted mystery writer, Lisa Scottoline (right), in conversation with Maureen Corrigan, the NPR book critic (left). They chatted about legal thrillers and single motherhood and Lisa’s love of libraries (much appreciation from this audience).  Both were amusing and enjoyable.  Lisa said she has always been an avid reader, starting with Nancy Drew, and reads a lot of suspense fiction as well as many other genres. She joked that being divorced twice and not having a social life means more time to read! She also advised aspiring writers to keep on trying – she got rejected for years before Everywhere That Mary Went was published in 1994. That is about an unappreciated associate (is there any other kind?) in a Philadelphia law firm and was nominated for an Edgar.  That is the major award for crime books.  

WWW Wednesday - Guy Fawkes Day

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?

On a very windy Election Day

The Librarians - a mystery by Sherry Thomas

When Hazel Lee moved back to Austin after years in Singapore, her grandmother suggested she get a job at the library and she finds one at her own childhood branch. Hazel is welcomed by Astrid, one of the librarians; Sophie, the branch administrator; Jonathan, the program director; and several clerks. They think Hazel is elegant and slightly mysterious but have no problem with her work ethic:

Six Degrees of Separation – from We Have Always Lived in the Castle to Summer of Fear

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’s starting point is We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. I guess it is a good Halloween tie-in because it is certainly creepy but I used it once before. One of the characters is a Constance, which tempted me, but for my link I am going with the author’s name.

The House at Mermaid's Cove by Lindsay Jayne Ashford - a WWII historical set in Cornwall

Sometimes a book is so annoying one cannot sit back and enjoy the setting, even when it turns out to have been inspired by a place one has visited. I don’t think my friend Cath recommended this historical novel set in 1943 Cornwall but I wish she had read it so we could critique it together. The heroine, Alice, is an Irish nun, sent back in disgrace from the Belgian Congo because she became too attached to orphaned twins whose lives she saved. I suppose that is plausible but surely her superior, Sister Clare, knew that the war made traveling dangerous? So, surprise, Alice’s ship to Ireland is torpedoed in the English Channel and she washes up on shore where she is found by a TDS*.

Ode to My Two Torn Blouses

 Last week, I was looking for something at the back of my closet.  Of course, I did not find it but I did come across two shirts I had been very fond of and forgotten I had.  One was white with flowers and the other was blue, a gift from my sister Andrea.  Pleased to have something "new" to wear, I wore the blue one to work with a cardigan and when I got home I saw the shirt had split under the arm (luckily, my office is so cold I had not removed my sweater).  Undaunted, I put on the other shirt the next morning and it tore before I even left the house!  Neither seems very fixable, which made me sad, although I guess they were at least ten years old.  I thought about writing an ode to my two torn blouses, then I wondered if that's the sort of thing ChatGBT does.  Yes, it is - how crazy!  As a joke, I found the website and entered a longish sentence about the items, and see what happened:  

September 2025 Reading

September was a varied month beginning with a long but absorbing read of The Spring of the Ram, second in Dorothy Dunnett’s Niccolò series. I loved Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day and enjoyed the movie a few weeks later (not as good as the book – surprise!). I also really enjoyed Mrs. Endicott’s Splendid Adventure, which was full of great characters.

Miss P arrives for a job

The School at the Chalet by Elinor Brent-Dyer, for the 1925 Club

Madge Bettany, just 24, and her twin, Dick, have been responsible for their younger sister, Joey, since their parents died. Dick is home on furlough but works in Forestry in India, so Madge has come up with a scheme that will support her and Joey – she tells her brother she wants to establish a school in the Austrian Tyrol, where they once spent a summer, about an hour from Innsbruck:

Emily Climbs by L. M. Montgomery, for the #1925Club

When I was about 13, my family went to Martha’s Vineyard to spend part of a weekend with my father’s law partner. His children were younger so I begged to be taken to the local library (What, you say, you needed an excuse?). And what do you think I found on a discard table near the Chilmark Library door but a three-book series I’d never heard of by the author of Anne of Green Gables - also set on Prince Edward Island but about a different orphan. They were first edition hardcovers; unfortunately falling apart, but I have cherished them anyway. All three are delightful page-turners.

The Dower House by Patricia Wentworth, for the #1925Club

Amabel Grey, a young widow living on a tiny income, is anguished when her daughter Daphne demands £200 so she can travel with friends to Egypt. She simply doesn’t have it. But when she visits her lawyer, she overhears an old acquaintance, Mr. George Forsham, complaining that three sets of tenants have left the Dower House he owns, claiming it was haunted. He asks the lawyer to find a caretaker who will stay for six months and, after he storms out, Amabel takes on the assignment, securing payment in advance.

Greenery Street by Dennis Mackail, for the #1925Club

Greenery Street is a gentle comedy of manners about an upper middle class British couple enjoying their first year of marriage on an idyllic street in London. Ian Foster is an infatuated young man, with a low-level job at an insurance company that pays £250/year, and his new wife, Felicity Hamilton, is an indulged younger daughter with no sense of money management (he realizes early on this is not going to improve but accepts it – it may not be so winsome in five years).

Betsy-Tacy Convention 2025, Part 3

Breakfast in the Banquet Hall followed my quick trip to Mass at St. Peters and Paul Catholic Church (this is not Tacy’s church, which I attended on previous visits but the timing worked out better) with my friend Ethel. I was registered to go on the First Presbyterian Church Christian Endeavor tour, service, and Welsh snacks but had not slept well and somehow stayed to do Pub Trivia led by Michelle Giorlando instead. Our team, the Ladybugs, consisted of Deb, Ethel, and me, and we were in the middle of the pack in skill, alas.

The Blue Earth County Courthouse
where Mr. Hart worked when County Treasurer

Betsy-Tacy Convention 2025, Part 2

Breakfast on Saturday was back in the Convention Center and there were muffins. I had brought two books from home for the book exchange and placed Madensky Square by Eva Ibbotson on the table (don’t worry, it was a duplicate copy). I was delighted to run into Cindy Jett and her daughter Shelley, and my respect for Shelley increased when she insisted her mother would like Madensky Square and took it for her. I don’t think Cindy is the sentimental type but you can’t go wrong with Ibbotson!

Betsy's telephone (more or less)

Betsy-Tacy Convention 2025, Part 1

On Friday, I flew to Minnesota for a literary convention – a gathering of nearly 200 Betsy-Tacy fans! I think it was my fifth time visiting Deep Valley, legally known as Mankato, Minnesota. The Betsy-Tacy books are based on Maud Hart Lovelace’s childhood and adolescence, and fans have purchased her home and that of her best friend who lived across the street and turned them into living history museums. While it is great to see these houses and to observe whatever enhancements have taken place since one’s last visit, I now primarily attend these events to see friends from all over the country (I don’t think there were any international participants this time but usually there is at least one Canadian and we’re always hoping Sonja from Germany will make it, as she is a favorite listserv member).

The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen

I have enjoyed Tess Gerritsen’s current series, The Martini Club, about retired CIA agents trying to escape their pasts in Maine, so decided to go hear her speak recently at a local library. A former physician, she is best known for her medical thrillers – her books have sold more than 40 million copies worldwide – including the Rizzoli & Isles books that became a hit TV show.

Top Ten Tuesday: Satisfying Book Series

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Satisfying Book Series and it was hard to pick just ten.

Six Degrees of Separation – from I Want Everything to Camino Island

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’s starting point is I Want Everything by Dominic Amerena, which is about an elderly Australian novelist who was once accused of plagiarism.

Mrs. Endicott's Splendid Adventure by Rhys Bowen

Ellie Endicott is stunned when her husband of 30 years tells her he wants a divorce to marry a “smart, pleasant,” much younger colleague. Once she has recovered from her shock and humiliation, she admits – to herself, at least – that she didn’t love him. As Ellie wonders what is next for her, Mavis, her cleaning lady, persuades her to consult a solicitor:

Two 2025 Novels

Some light reading:

Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez (2025)

When Samantha Diaz brings a stray kitten to the neighborhood vet, she is shocked to be told it needs expensive surgery and should be put to sleep. Annoyed with the unfairly handsome vet, she vows to raise the $10,000, which she does on social media. 

August 2025 Reading

My favorite August books were the two historical fiction novels - Niccolò Rising, which I had carried unread to Bruges and back in May (I suppose it was too layered for airplane or train reading but how I wished I had read it before our trip) and the fourth Emmy Lake book. I am sorry to see that series come to an end, although I am sure the author has other projects in mind. I read a few more of my 20 Books of Summer but still have five left. I would have completed more except for a host of library books all appearing at once with non-renewable deadlines. I’m sure these five can wait a little longer but I need to impose one of my occasional moratoriums on library books so I can read some of the books piled around my house. The (poor) books are always with us . . . .  Speaking of poor, the worst book of the summer was The Great Misfortune of Stella Sedgwick (see below). Thank goodness I got this from the library!

The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths

When Griffiths concluded her Ruth Galloway mystery series (of which I am a big fan), I expected she would concentrate on characters already introduced in her other books. Instead, she has launched an intriguing new series with another quirky, outspoken heroine, a police detective who finds herself in the midst of several mysteries.

At Bertram’s Hotel by Agatha Christie #ReadChristie2025

Sometimes even Miss Marple needs a break from St. Mary Mead, and when her nephew, Raymond West, and his wife offer to treat her to a holiday, Miss Marple asks them to send her for a week or two to Bertram’s Hotel in London. She had stayed there as a child and heard from friends who’d stayed there recently it was like stepping back into an Edwardian idyll. 

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson

Last week, I participated in a focus group on “Financial Attitudes,” and spent an interesting two hours with a small group of women, all single and all contemplating how to finance their retirement. Due to some of the questions from the two moderators, the pessimism was contagious – we all began to think we’d never be able to afford to retire and read all day – so I was in a very suitable mood to begin this book and deeply sympathize with its heroine.

The Spring of the Ram by Dorothy Dunnett

1460: The second in The House of Niccolò series begins with the youngest de Charetty: Catherine, who has been sent to Brussels to stay with family friends and acquire some polish. Big mistake, Marian! Catherine immediately falls for a handsome entrepreneurial-type, Pagano Doria, who is no better than he should be (but has very nice teeth). We know this because he persuades this child to elope with him; presumably he knows she is an heiress.

A Case of Mice and Murder by Sally Smith

This debut mystery, set at the turn of the 20th century at London’s Inner Temple, brings to life the arcane, fascinating world of Britain’s legal elite. Sir Gabriel Ward is a quiet but brilliant barrister, sometimes overlooked by his colleagues because he spends all his time in his Temple rooms or his professional chambers, just yards apart. His routine is upended one morning when he finds a dead body on the threshold of his chambers - the Lord Chief Justice, whom he has known since childhood.

Six Degrees of Separation – from Ghost Cities to Fortune’s Folly

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’s starting point is Ghost Cities by Siang Lu, a satirical novel that begins with a Chinese-Australian character being fired from his job at the Chinese consulate in Sydney because he misrepresented his language skills and only speaks English.

The Steam Whistle Theatre Company by Vivian French – 15/20 Books of Summer

The Pringle Players are down on their luck and decide to head north from London for new opportunities. Inspired by the train that will take them to the small market town of Uncaster, Pa Pringle gives the theatrical troupe a new name for their new venture: The Steam Whistle Theatre Company.  

Niccolò Rising by Dorothy Dunnett – 14/20 Books of Summer

It’s hard to know where to start with this dazzling book but, after a slow start, it became so compelling I had to switch from the leisurely pace of the audiobook to a trusty paperback. That also helped with the typically Dunnett vast array of characters, as the actual book has a proper list of those involved, most of whom are “recorded in history,” as is noted a bit smugly. Her best known series, the Lymond Chronicles, is set during the 16th century. In Niccolò Rising, which turned out to be book one of eight, she sets the scene in 1460 and her hero is not a member of the landed gentry like Francis Crawford but a lowly 18-year-old apprentice for a Bruges dyer. 

July 2025 Reading

The Kitchen Front and The Demon of Unrest turned out to be my favorite books this month and, as always, I enjoyed a Vera Stanhope mystery by Ann Cleeves. This detective has really grown on me. I listened to four audiobooks in July and am now in the middle of a very long one – 23 hours – which Hoopla will reclaim before I am done (luckily, I have an actual book as well).

Dear Miss Lake by AJ Pearce: a WWII story

In the fourth – and equally delightful as its predecessors – book about Emmy Lake, it is 1944, the war seems endless, and even the upbeat staff of Woman’s Friend magazine are exhausted by the need for nonstop positive messaging:

Nightshade by Michael Connelly

Michael Connelly can’t write fast enough for me now that I have caught up with nearly every one of the 39 books he has written. So, of course, I was pleased to hear he was launching a new series that features Detective Stilwell (either the author deliberately did not give him a first name or I missed it), who exposed the sloppy work of a fellow detective. His reward – no support from Internal Affairs; lots of animosity from Rex Ahearn, said detective; and exile to a remote but beautiful part of Los Angeles County, Catalina Island. 

WWW Wednesday - August 13

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?