March 2026 Reading

The Sea Child, set in early 19th century Cornwall, was my favorite book this month because of the way it blends historical romance, an atmospheric setting, local folklore, and a journey of self-discovery for its determined heroine.  I also enjoyed the final book in Shannon Bowring's trilogy set in Maine, In a Distant Valley.

Other People's Houses by Clare Mackintosh – Reading Wales 2026

In the third mystery featuring Detective Constable Ffion Morgan in Wales and Detective Sergeant Leo Brady just across the border in England, Ffion is investigating a drowned real estate agent while Leo has been summoned to a ritzy neighborhood in Cheshire, the Hill, regarding a string of burglaries. As I learned when visiting Cornwall several years ago (and it is also true on Cape Cod), housing in areas where tourism is a major industry has become too expensive for traditional residents.

February 2026 Reading

Several books I enjoyed this month - I reread the first book about Fiona Griffiths, which I appreciated in a different way having read the whole series.  I really liked Codebreaker, a debut YA thriller, and was intrigued by Tapestry, although I found the heroine very annoying.

Talking to the Dead by Harry Bingham

In this series launch, Bingham introduced one of the most complex characters in crime fiction, Detective Constable Fiona Griffiths. She is a part of the investigative team at the Cardiff Police Department but most of her colleagues give her a wide birth. She is overly intense and doesn’t fit in; she has a degree in Philosophy from Cambridge and her strong analytical skills mean she gets assigned to tedious paperwork instead of the more interesting investigations. 

Favorite Reads of 2025

I've been working on my Best Books I Read in 2025 list.  I read close to 200 books last year, many of which were memorable, so it was very hard to narrow it down to ten.  I felt bad about some of my Runners-Up (books have feelings, as do their authors) which were very deserving, but here goes:

Miss Pettigrew Lives for the Day by Winifred Watson (1938). Why did I wait so long to read this delightful book? It starts out with the stark reality that an unemployed governess needs employment urgently or she will have to go to the poorhouse. However, when Miss Pettigrew arrives at the home of Miss Delysia LaFosse, a glamorous nightclub singer, it is the beginning of an incredible day of adventure and unexpected friendship.  I later watched the movie which was cute but not nearly as good as the book; a miniseries would have done it better.  My review.

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:

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.

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:

March 2025 Reading

My favorite books this month were The Lost Passenger, which is much more than a Titanic story, a reread of The Heart Speaks Many Ways, and Just for the Summer, a contemporary romance set in Minnesota. I appreciated Prophet Song, the 2023 Booker winner, and its depiction of an authoritarian state but it was hard to enjoy something so much like our daily life and worries.

Lonesome Road by Patricia Wentworth - Miss Silver's third appearance

The third book about governess-turned-sleuth Miss Silver begins, as several do, with an individual who is nervous about seeking help; she hesitates at the very ordinary Montague Mansions building and regrets having come, yet musters her wits to continue and is encouraged by Miss Silver’s quiet confidence to share hitherto secret worries.

A Game of Lies by Clare Mackintosh – Reading Wales 2025

A Game of Lies, a sequel to The Last Party, also takes place on the Wales/England border, reuniting the detectives from the previous book, Ffion (pronounced Fee-on) Morgan and Leo Brady. A reality show is being filmed in North Wales, which recruited contestants for a survival experience, promising £10,00 for participating and £100,000 for the winner. 

But Miles Young, the producer, had something else in mind when he called the show, Exposure: he has researched the applicants, chose those who harbor a dark secret, and plans to expose them on the air, one by one, to create huge ratings.

Two Cozy Mysteries

A Brush With Death by Elizabeth J. Duncan
Minotaur Books, 2010

Penny Brannigan is a Canadian in her 50s who settled in the Welsh town of Llanelen years ago where she has made friends and started her own manicure business (there's a first!). In the previous book, The Cold Light of Morning, Penny helped solve a mystery with Detective Inspector Gareth Davies, now her beau. Now, Penny has achieved every reader’s dream – inheriting a rustic cottage with its own mystery!

Catrin in Wales by Mabel Esther Allan – Reading Wales 2025

The sun was shining brilliantly and the hedgerows in the lane I had just left had been covered with half-open hawthorn. It was the third of May and I was in Wales, my mother’s country. Wales! I, Catrin Drury, aged just eighteen, was alone and entirely free for the first time ever, with a map in my hand, a few necessities on my back, and the future somehow fluid and unseeable.

My December 2024 Reading

Somehow in a busy December, I read 12 adult books and four children’s or YA books (two of which were rereads), plus listened to three audio books (all crime fiction) driving back and forth to various places.  A few of these were intended as Christmas presents so I was trying to vet them first!  Overall, it was an outstanding reading year (see my Best of 2024 list).

Spell the Month in Books – December 2024

Can you spell the month in books?  All from books I read this year:

Daughter of Lir by Diana Norman (1988). This was an outstanding historical novel set in 12th century Ireland that is funny in some parts and harrowing in others. Irish-born Finola (you know I like orphans) is abandoned and then brought up at a famous French convent and renamed Sister Boniface.

Fontevraud Abbey, France

Six Degrees of Separation – from Sandwich to Moby Dick

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 Sandwich by Catherine Newman (2024). Because it is set on Cape Cod, the book was a local bestseller and I would have bought it for my sister had it been available in July.

Six Degrees of Separation – from After Story to A Springtime Affair

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 After Story by Larissa Behrendt. It sounds like something I would enjoy: When Indigenous lawyer Jasmine decides to take her mother Della on a tour of England's most revered literary sites, Jasmine hopes it will bring them closer together and help them reconcile the past.

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).

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 Birthday Girl by Sarah Ward - Reading Wales 2024

Title: The Birthday Girl
Author: Sarah Ward
Publication: Canelo Crime, paperback, 2023
Genre: Mystery
Setting: Wales

Description: Still recovering from an injury and a bad divorce, Malory Dawson retired from her job in London as a police detective and has taken on a temporary job as night manager of a boutique hotel on Eldey, an isolated island in Wales.