May 2025 Reading

Three books really stood out this month. I had to go to multiple shops in London to find the new book about Maeve Kerrigan, The Secret Room, but it made my flight home from Amsterdam most enjoyable. I also really liked Know Your Newlywed by Hillary Nussbaum and Heather Taylor, a fake relationship romance, and Lost Lorrenden by Mabel Esther Allan.

A Stranger in the Family by Jane Casey: A Maeve Kerrigan Mystery

Helena and Bruce Marshall have not been the same since their nine-year-old daughter Rosalie disappeared 16 years ago, so when they are murdered Detective Sergeant Maeve Kerrigan and Inspector Josh Derwent have to investigate both incidents to determine if there is a connection. Maeve and Josh have not worked a case together recently, following their undercover work together in The Close, and his live-in girlfriend is jealous of Maeve, who tries to concentrate on the case at hand.

My June 2024 Reading

June found me starting an absorbing new-to-me series by Susan Hill about Simon Serrallier, a police detective in a Cathedral town in southern England where there is an unexpected amount crime. I am already on book five! Other winners this month were two new historical novels, the delightful The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson, which reminded me of Flambards, and the more serious Becoming Madam Secretary by Stephanie Dray, about Roosevelt’s female Secretary of Labor.

Six Degrees of Separation – from Kairos to Season of Storms

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 you end up.  The starting book this month is Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck, winner of the 2024 International Booker Prize, which is described as a German novel about a tortured love affair.

Six Degrees of Separation – from The Anniversary to A Killing of Innocents

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 you end up. This month’s starting point is The Anniversary by Stephanie Bishop (2023), a mystery in which the protagonist’s husband falls overboard while they are on a cruise celebrating their wedding anniversary (hello, I can sense an unreliable narrator from a distance).

WWW Wednesday – February 7, 2024

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?

Favorite Reads of 2023

Although I have not yet summarized my December reading, it is the time of year when it is fun to contemplate the entire year and my top ten. Unusually for me, many were recent pubs and four were audiobooks. I think the latter is just a coincidence – sometimes I put both the hardcover and audiobook on reserve at the same time so read whichever is available first and sometimes I will opt for an available audiobook that I expect to enjoy. Seven of these ten were historical fiction, which is definitely one of my preferred genres but my favorites are generally more evenly distributed. I read a lot of books in 2023 but a number of these were rereads or children’s books, which obviously take less time to read.

My May 2023 Reads

The biggest treat this month was the new Jane Casey book about Maeve Kerrigan, The Close, straight from London as my sisters and I could not wait for its US publication. I also really enjoyed The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman, the third Thursday Murder Club book, and Lying Beside You by Michael Robotham. June will be a slower reading month due to three short trips and Middlemarch. Hmm, I guess it is no coincidence that all four books have British settings; I am nothing if not consistent.

The Close by Jane Casey: A Maeve Kerrigan Mystery

Title: The Close: A Maeve Kerrigan Mystery
Author: Jane Casey
Publication: HarperCollins, trade paperback, 2023
Genre: Suspense
Setting: Great Britain

Description: Detective Sergeant Maeve Kerrigan is in the midst of investigating the mysterious death of a London surgeon, discovered in the parking lot of his hospital in his own car, when she is asked to go undercover on a different case.

June 2021 Reads

What did you read in June?  My reading was quite varied:

Mystery/Suspense

* While Justice Sleeps by Stacey Abrams – a legal thriller set at the Supreme Court by the brilliant voting rights activist – my review

The Killing Kind by Jane Casey – psychological suspense about a barrister in this new standalone from one of my favorite mystery writers.  This present for my sister arrived from the UK after her birthday so I decided to read it first.

Do you miss library book sales?

I do!  Mind you, there are hundreds of books in this house I have not had time to read.  But there is nothing as delicious as ambling into a used bookstore or going to a library book sale and finding an old treasure, discarded by the library or a patron, that is not available elsewhere.  Alternatively, sometimes one finds an appealing but unknown book or something one meant to read but had not got around to, such as The Goldfinch.  Or a handful of paperbacks to bring on vacation.

Bookshelf Traveling - December 27, 2020

Time for another round of Bookshelf Traveling in Insane Times which was created by Judith at Reader in the Wilderness and is currently hosted by Katrina at Pining for the West. This may be the last one – I haven’t run out of bookcases but I think Katrina and I may have run out of steam. Today I am looking at a bookcase in my home office which includes some old and new titles. During the pandemic, however, I have mostly worked in the dining room where the Christmas tree is.

Five Things

1.     I ordered the new Jane Casey from the UK in February for my sister’s birthday and it finally arrived on Sunday night.  In June!   Wasn’t it nice of me to wrap and deliver it the next day instead of reading it myself first?   If you have not read this suspense author, start with book 1 about feisty Maeve Kerrigan.  

2.     Did you ever think you would hear about a Nascar driver named Bubba who wants to rid the sport of the Confederate flag?   Brave guy!   Maybe the world is changing!

Books I'm looking forward to in 2020

Historical Fiction

The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel                                March 2020

This is the final novel in Mantel’s trilogy of historical novels about the life of Thomas Cromwell, and will cover the final four years of Cromwell’s life, starting with Anne Boleyn’s execution in 1536, and (spoiler!) moving to his own execution for treason and heresy in 1540.  And she'll be in Boston on March 20th!  Unfortunately, I know from a family member that she is quite unpleasant.

The Land Beyond the Sea by Sharon Kay Penman                 March 2020

From the critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Sharon Kay Penman comes the story of the reign of King Baldwin IV and the Kingdom of Jerusalem’s defense against Saladin’s famous army.  I have been a huge Penman fan since the summer I spent in DC, poor and only allowed to check out two books at a time by the library.  I bought The Sun in Splendor for $1 on the street and, entranced, made it last an entire week.  

Favorite Reads from 2016

According to Goodreads, I read 142 books in 2016 (this does not include rereads, however - my own calculations indicate that I read 149 books, not to mention that reading four Game of Thrones books is like reading a dozen ordinary books!).  Here are my favorites:

Suspense

The Dead House, Fiona Griffiths, #5 – Harry Bingham
This is the most compelling suspense series you haven’t heard of and I insist you go back and start with the first book in the series, Talking to the Dead. Set in Wales, this one is set against the backdrop of a mysterious monastery. Fiona is an extremely odd but endearing detective whose commitment to victims she is assigned to investigate (and those she is not) takes precedence over everything else in her life. She is also desperate to decipher the secrets of her birth, and it seems likely these two story lines will stay connected as the series continues.

I Let You Go – Clare Mackintosh
The despair of Jenna Gray, the main character in this novel of suspense is almost too much to bear and requires occasional application of Kleenex. The story begins with a fatal car crash, then follows Jenna, as she tries to escape from her past in a remote cottage in Wales, while back in Bristol, two detectives are trying to track her down. I liked the detectives and hope the author will return to them in a future book.

Favorite Reads of 2013

In 2013, I read about 185 books of which two were rereads and 152 were from the library or otherwise borrowed.  I'd like to do better in 2014 reading books I already own, many of which are in piles on windowsills and on the floor, and thus need rescuing.

Top Picks

The Firebird                SusannaKearsley                     Fiction/Historical Fiction

(As many of you know, I have been an evangelist for Kearsley since I worked at Bantam in the early 90s.  I am delighted that Sourcebooks is publishing her in the US and doing so much to promote her work.  This book follows The Winter Sea, and also involves 18th century Jacobites, a weakness of mine)

The Burning (Book Review)

Title: The Burning (Maeve Kerrigan, #1)
Author: Jane Casey

Publication Information: St. Martin’s/Minotaur Books, Hardcover, 2011

Genre: Suspense/Crime Fiction  Setting: 21st century London

Plot: Maeve Kerrigan is a London detective with the usual challenges of solving crimes while dealing with annoying and condescending male counterparts.  They especially like to taunt her about being Irish and belittle her contributions to the murder investigation. I disliked them all, including, initially, the handsome Detective Constable Rob Langton who is working with her to catch a serial killer.   Another very intriguing character is Superintendent Godley, whose name denotes his seemingly inscrutable demeanor.  Godley sees Maeve’s potential but never seems to interfere in the squabbles of his staff.  I would say these detectives need workplace harassment awareness training from an employment lawyer such as myself but I am sure that would only make things worse for Maeve.  Her cohorts won’t change their ways until they are sued and/or forced to resign.