September 2026 Reading

I spent quite a bit of September reading two fairly long books, Race of Scorpions by Dorothy Dunnett and This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews, both of which I enjoyed but did not finish until October. International Dorothy Dunnett Day is celebrated annually on the Saturday closest to November 9 (the anniversary of Scottish historical novelist Dorothy Dunnett's death). Fans around the world gather in various places and toast her at 1 pm local time with whisky. The Boston group will be pleased that I am two books farther along than last year (but they were good at avoiding spoilers on my behalf). My mother is hosting the Boston gathering so let me know if you would like to attend!

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Fiction

Poppy Montgomery Gets Even by Gordon Jack (2026). Eighty-year-old Poppy Montgomery is down on her luck and stressed out by her daughter and grandson, who unexpectedly moved in with her. But when her new friend, Ginny, is scammed on a dating site for seniors, Poppy decides it’s time to finally get even. With the help of friends she’s made at the gym and her computer-savvy grandson, she’s ready to take on several criminals. This was a fun caper-type novel but the way Poppy learns to appreciate her friends and cope with her family made this an entertaining book.

This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page (2026). Tilly is still in mourning for her husband in early January when she gets a call from the local bookstore asking her to come in. It turns out Joe ordered a book for her for every month of that year. He wasn’t a reader himself but knew she was and he carefully chose books that get her out of her comfort zone and help her get through the healing process with new friends and experiences. It sounds mawkish but was an enjoyable read. My review.

Mystery/Suspense

I was worried I wouldn’t find a copy of Jane Casey’s new book, Everything She Didn't Say (2006), while I was in Ireland in July but I needn’t have worried – it was in every bookstore I visited and I finally purchased an autographed copy in Dublin, where I must have missed her only by days. This is a standalone that begins when a woman is found in bloodstained clothes on the lonely coast of County Mayo. At first, she won’t speak. Then she says her friend Maura is missing but no one ever saw Maura to begin with . . . .

The New Neighbor by Leah Stewart ( 2015). Jennifer Young just wants a safe community where she and her son can begin a new life, far away from anyone who knows that they have been through. It is Jennifer’s misfortune that her elderly neighbor, Margaret, senses that Jennifer has a secret and becomes obsessed with finding out what it is, even though her persistence brings back painful memories something in her own past. My review.

The Chinese Shawl by Patricia Wentworth (1943). Long ago, Laura Fane’s father jilted his cousin Agnes when he met and fell in love with someone else. Now orphaned, Laura is invited to visit Agnes at the house in the country she actually owns herself. When a murder takes place, Laura’s Chinese shawl is found at the scene and she becomes a suspect. I thought this was one of Wentworth’s best. My review.

Romance


Paradise Valley by Robyn Carr (2009). This is part of a series and features a character who was a beloved foster child in previous books. Now he has returned from Iraq after losing a leg, and is so desperate to avoid sympathy that he is hostile to everyone around him, including relatives and his girlfriend. It takes a newcomer to town to help Rick come to terms with his physical loss and begin again. I don’t think this series is for me but somehow I had picked up a few of Carr’s books and thought I should read them before finding them a new home.