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).

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe by Agatha Christie #ReadChristie2025

Christie taps into the near-universal fear people have of the dentist in a mystery where the anxious patients were so busy quaking they became unreliable witnesses when poor Mr. Morley is murdered, practically in front of their eyes!

June 2025 Reading

June was a varied month of reading and I particularly enjoyed The Eights, with its depiction of the early years of women at Oxford, and Death at the White Hart, a mystery by the creator of Broadchurch. I also continued with Val McDermid’s Karen Pirie series and Martin Edwards’ Lake District mysteries.  There were also some disappointments like the much-hyped All the Other Mothers Hate Me by Sarah Harman - it's hard to appreciate a protagonist who leaves her young child alone to go sleuthing and blacks out from partying!

WWW Wednesday – July 16

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?

Crooked House by Agatha Christie - 7/20 Books of Summer #ReadChristie2025

In this standalone mystery, which she described as one of her favorites, Christie used a nursery rhyme as inspiration:

There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile;
He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together in a little crooked house.*

Spell the Month in Books - May

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

January 2025 Reading

I read 14 books in January: all fiction but one, including three audiobooks and two rereads. The God of the Woods and Frozen River are historical novels which were much hyped, with long waiting lists at the library. I was disappointed in the first and found its ending completely unbelievable. I liked Frozen River and its themes of justice and male dominance provided lots of material for my book group discussion. I also enjoyed the newest Michael Connelly and my reread of False Colours.

Six Degrees of Separation – from Dangerous Liaisons to Mrs. Plansky's Revenge

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, Kate started with a classic, Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, which is about seduction and revenge.

Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie #ReadChristie2025

Hercule Poirot excels at cold cases so he is intrigued when Carla Lemarchant turns up for an appointment with a murder from the past. When she was 21, she learned that her mother had murdered her father, Amyas Crale, a well-known painter. Caroline Crale was convicted and died in prison, a year later.

WWW Wednesday – January 15

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

Someone recently recommended In the Blink of an Eye by Jo Callaghan (2023), which I am enjoying. The main character, Detective Kat Frank, is a single mother asked to lead a pilot program using a sort of robot with artificial intelligence. 

Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie #ReadChristie2024

I enjoy the Christies that feature Ariadne Oliver, the occasionally ditzy mystery author who dislikes the fictional detective she has made so popular, Sven Hjerson. 

She usually avoids public appearances but in this book she has agreed to attend a literary lunch where she is accosted by a stranger who asks about Mrs. Oliver’s goddaughter, Celia Ravenscroft, and says:

"I want you to tell me, because I’m sure you must know or perhaps have a very good idea how it all came about. Did her mother kill her father or was it the father who killed the mother?"

My November 2024 Reading

My favorites this month were The Law of Innocence about Harry Bosch’s half-brother, Mickey Haller, accused of murder and forced to defend himself from prison, and Mrs. Hart’s Marriage Bureau, a historical novel set between the wars in Britain. I also enjoyed another book about Orphan X and two books by Joan Aiken for Witch Week 2024 – Night Fall is just as memorable as the first time I read it.

Third Girl by Agatha Christie #ReadChristie2024

Very little can dent Hercule Poirot’s self-confidence but he is surprisingly distressed when a young woman comes to him for help, worried that she “might have committed a murder,” then says sadly that he is too old to help, and leaves.

My September 2024 Reading

A few books stood out this month, including Radio Girls, about the early days at the BBC, and The Trap, the newest book about Emma Makepeace. I also enjoyed The Night in Question by Susan Fletcher, which follows what seems like a recent trend in senior citizen sleuths but features an appealing heroine who is both vulnerable and resilient. I couldn’t decide if I liked or disliked The Second Lady by Irving Wallace but I couldn’t stop reading! There were also some disappointments.

Ordeal by Innocence by Agatha Christie – #ReadChristie2024

Two years ago, Jacko Argyle was convicted of murdering his adoptive mother, despite his denial. He died in prison. His family is still recovering from the horror of these events when they are visited by Dr. Calgary, a geophysicist who has just returned to England and explains that he was Jacko’s alibi: the young man was innocent! 

My July 2024 Reading

My two favorite books this month were Mrs. Plansky's Revenge by Spencer Quinn and Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane - one light-hearted and amusing and the other dark and compelling - both memorable.  

Mystery/Suspense

The Risk of Darkness by Susan Hill (2006). I really liked the first two Simon Serrallier books I read in June so read three more in July – compelling police procedurals set in a small cathedral town with a lot about Simon’s family as part of the plot, which adds to their appeal, in my opinion.

Taken at the Flood by Agatha Christie #ReadChristie2024

Gordon Cloade’s family has always relied on his wealth and generosity so they are appalled when he marries an attractive widow less than half his age. Weeks later, he dies tragically in the London Blitz and his new bride, Rosaleen, inherits everything. 

The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie #ReadChristie2024

Title: The Murder at the Vicarage
Author: Agatha Christie
Publication: Dodd, Mead & Co., hardcover, first published in 1930
Genre: Mystery/series

Description: When Colonel Protheroe, a domineering retiree in the village of St. Mary Mead, is murdered, there are many suspects. For weeks, the church ladies have been gossiping that Mrs. Protheroe is a little too friendly with a handsome young artist, Lawrence Redding.

My March 2024 Reading

This month’s best reads were all historical fiction: The Phoenix Crown, set around the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco; Daughter of Lir by Diana Norman, about an abbess in medieval Ireland; and Wheel of Fortune by C.F. Dunn, in which a 15th century orphan learns she is powerless against men who should be her protectors.

The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie #ReadChristie2024

Title: The Mystery of the Blue Train 
Author: Agatha Christie
Publication: Dodd, Mead & Co., hardcover, originally published in 1928
Genre: Mystery
Setting: France and England

Description: An American millionaire, Rufus Van Aldin, has purchased priceless rubies for his only child, Ruthie, which distracts her temporarily from annoyance with her philandering husband. She is heading to France to rendezvous with her first love (dismissed as a fortune hunter by her father years earlier) and takes the famous Blue Train, which brings affluent travelers to the Riviera.