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:

Merry Christmas, 2024!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and everything in between! Thanks to Marie Cloutier for reminding me of this end-of-year book meme:

Describe yourself:

How do you feel? I Need You to Read This

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.

The Trap by Ava Glass: a race against time in Edinburgh

Emma Makepeace works for an espionage organization so secret it has no name but The Agency. There is no mistaking its role, however: to hunt Russian spies. Emma has her own motivation for this work – her father was Russian and was killed before she was born for being an informer.

What to Read - Fall 2024

I started thinking about Fall 2024 books today and there are quite a few that sound appealing:

Mystery/Suspense

Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson (September). I am a big fan of Yorkshire-based PI Brodie. In this sixth book, Jackson is pursuing some mysterious art thefts when he gets stranded in a snowstorm with a vicar, a soldier, and a dowager at a hotel hosting Murder Mystery weekends.  You know such weekends are an invitation to commit actual murder!

My January 2024 Reading

My favorites this month were The Violin Conspiracy; Harbour Street; Turning Pages, a publishing memoir; and a reread of Charlotte Fairlie.  Now that I am taking public transportation to work after several pandemic years of driving, my audiobook usage has declined but I can read actual books as I sit on the bus and subway.  It has been downright freezing waiting for them to arrive, however!

Alias Emma by Ava Glass: a breakneck chase across London

Title: Alias Emma
Author: Ava Glass
Publication: Bantam Books, hardcover, 2022
Genre: Suspense
Setting: Present-day London

Description: Emma Makepeace (that’s not her real name) is a newly trained spy when she is relieved from tedious undercover work in a tee shirt store and given a major assignment – bringing the doctor son of two important Russian defectors into protective custody.