all your Reads in Here

If you haven't yet discovered Simon R. Green's Ishmael Jones mysteries, Murder in the Dark is a good place to start. It's not quite as graphically violent as some of the earlier ones in the series. In fact, this one is reminiscent of Agatha Christie's  And Then There Were None  with the addition of Green's trademark black humor. In 1963, Ishmael Jones crashed to Earth in an alien space ship. Now, he lives in England in human form and works as a field agent for the mysterious Organization, investigating weird and unusual cases. There are more than you would expect in an ancient country with a history packed with "monsters and mysteries". The latest mystery involves a mysterious hole in the side of Brassknockers Hill near Bath. Ishmael and his partner, Penny Belcourt, are dispatched with an urgent assignment to protect the scientists now working at the site. An archaeologist working at a dig fell into the hole and disappeared. Ishmael and Penny find an odd ...

It's Thursday! The end of the work week is in sight! I hope you're all reading good books (or in Glen's case, I hope he's reading books that he'll summarize with snarky one-liners that make us laugh.) I'm reading Cora Harrison's A Gruesome Discovery . It's a Reverend Mother mystery set in Cork, Ireland in the 1920s. Reverend Mother opens a trunk that has been delivered to the convent. It reeks, and, inside is the dead body of a well-to-do local businessman. I'm not far, only on page 58. But, I love this series for Reverend Mother, the history, and some of the recurring characters. What are you reading this week?

Welcome to the world of geek culture in Meghan Scott Molin's fun, fast-paced mystery, The Frame-Up . Even if you don't attend cons or read comic books, MG Martin's world is entertaining. It's repetitive to say it, but this is just a fun mystery. MG (Michael-Grace) Martin is totally immersed in geek culture. Her parents disowned her when she dropped out of law school to write comic books. And, it's that knowledge of comics and their history that involves her in a criminal investigation. She's in a coffee shop when she sees a crime scene on a man's computer and says it looks like a crime scene from an old comic. She's right, and Detective Matteo Kildaire of the LAPD is interested both in her personally, and in her knowledge. And, once she talks with Matteo, she admits "Witty banter is my Kryptonite." MG recognizes Matteo's crime scene as one starring her favorite superhero, the Hooded Falcon. She quickly becomes his consultant for the drug-re...

It's always difficult to review one of Louise Penny's books. The plots are so entwined with the characters that it's not easy to summarize the book without revealing too much. It's release date for Kingdom of the Blind , the first book Penny wrote after her beloved husband died. There are traces of Michael, traces of loss in the book. But, there's also courage and determination. David Singleton from the Charlotte Mecklenberg Public Library said "It may be her most personal book." Armand Gamache is presently suspended from his position as Chief Superintendent of the  Sûreté  du Quebec pending investigation into events the previous summer. But, he and Reine-Marie are quite content in Three Pines, the home that has become their refuge. That doesn't mean Gamache is idle. He's still planning to retrieve the drugs, the opiates that have not yet been released into the streets. He's watching for their distribution. Gamache also receives a strange lette...

Halley has been running from her problems for years. On a courier trip to Tallfors, deep in Swedish Lapland, everything is going to plan. Halley has her bag, with two precious wedding rings inside for delivery... until she doesn't. The only way to save the wedding is to team up with mysterious reindeer herder Bjorn, the one person who can lead her across the snowy tundra to be reunited with her bag. On a journey of a lifetime beneath the stars, with only the reindeer and a bad-tempered stranger for company beside the fire, Halley realises that she will need to confront her past heartaches in order to let the warmth of love in once more... Jo Thomas won me over with her debut novel The Oyster Catcher four years ago and I have loved each of her novels that she has released since then. The author has such a unique descriptive writing style that manages to create such vivid settings that transport me to places I could only ever dream of visiting. What I was looking forward to most when...

The Life of Sir Basil Brooke tells the life story of a very extraordinary man, Sir Basil Brooke, written by Sam Logan. His family originated in England and he was born in Ireland, into a family which had military service through its very DNA. One of his relatives earned a VC and he himself had an amazing record during World War 1. It was 1919 when he left the British army and took his bride

Whatever you do, don't enter Laura Bradford's Amish world in Pennsylvania expecting it to be the same as Linda Castillo's world in Ohio's Amish country.  Just Plain Murder , the sixth in Bradford's Amish mystery series, is a cozy set in a community that usually resembles it's name, Heavenly. Then, there are the troubles that disrupt any community, murder. Romantic moments between Claire Weatherly and Jakob Fisher are infrequent because of his job as a police detective. So, they steal the chance to have a picnic, but that peaceful time is one that Jakob comes to regret. He had ignored a phone call from the man who once mentored him, retired police chief Russ Granger. Granger is in town visiting his widowed daughter. Jakob knew he'd catch up with him later. But, he never had the chance because someone killed Russ outside his daughter's home. Jakob beats himself up because he wasn't there for the man who watched over him, the man Jakob admired enough to...

Today I am so happy to be taking part in the cover reveal for  The Helpline by Katherine Collette. Germaine Johnson may not be all that good with people but she’s great with numbers. Unfortunately, as she discovers after 'the incident' at Wallace Insurance (and the subsequent disputed allegations), there are very few openings these days for senior mathematicians. Then her cousin gets her a job at the council. On the Senior Citizens Helpline. It’s not the resumé entry Germaine wanted - but it turns out Mayor Verity Bainbridge has something more interesting in mind for her. A secret project involving the troublemakers at the community centre and their feud with the golf club next door. Which is run by the strangely attractive Don Thomas . Don and the mayor want the seniors closed down. Germaine wants what Don and the mayor want. But when she’s forced to get to know the ‘troublemakers’- things get more complicated. So without further to do here is the big reveal...……. Let me ...

The Teenage Girls Survival Guide is a fantastic new book from Jane Bradley who has, for a while, left off from being a top make-up artist to the stars, to produce this book. She aims to use this book to reach girls about boys, being with them, break-up from them, and so forth. They'll learn about how to deal with friendships and relationships, how to cope with the very real problem of

A Most Unladylike Occupation is an absolutely brilliant and highly important book from Lisa Wright. It details the life and times of Lucy Deane, who was one of the first female factory inspectors in Victorian Britain. Lucy Deane was appointed to the role of Factory Inspector in 1983 by Herbert Asquith, when he was Home Secretary. She was sent to inspect and issue reports on the condition of

A Journey With Brendan is a book by paediatrician Dr May Ng about her own personal account of life with her son Brendan who is autistic. It's known that 1 in 60 children are somewhere on the autism spectrum. Unfortunately in the UK there is a waiting period of anywhere between two years to 36 months for the condition to be diagnosed. Many families of children on the autistic spectrum are

The Veterinary Detectives A Vet in Peru is an amazingly readable book from Roger S. Windsor. You'll possibly have read his previous work, The Veterinary Detectives: More Sherlock Holmes Than James Herriot. Which your reviewer can also heartily recommend. In this book we read of Roger's further adventures, this time in Peru. It tells the story of how Roger came to be awarded a richly deserved

The Grumpy Gnome's Garden is a delightful novel for children about a Gnome who is grumpy and who has a garden. But! Into the life of the grumpy and sometimes lonely Gnome comes a Fairy Princess who has more than a touch of magic about her. The Gnome is disappointed in his garden. He knows what he wants his garden to look like, he wants it to be a green paradise, the reality is that it is an

Before I frustrate blog readers by once again reviewing the second in a mystery series, I wanted to congratulate author Amanda Flower. Like other writer/librarians before her, such as Jenn McKinlay, Amanda is leaving her library job in Ohio to devote herself entirely to her writing career. Congratulations, Amanda. Flower is the author of a number of series.  Death and Daisies  is the second in her Magical Garden series set in Duncreigan, Scotland. When Fiona Knox inherited her godfather's cottage and magic garden in Scotland in Flowers and Foul Play , she thought she'd be welcome in the village where his family, the MacAllisters, had lived for centuries. Instead, the village rector, Quaid MacCullen, refuses her admittance at the church door. He disapproves of the family and the magical garden. Then, on the eve of the opening of her new Climbing Rose Flower Shop, he threatens her. Despite the rector, the opening of the flower shop is a success. At least it's successful until...

We should count the number of times I've said start at the beginning of a series. You don't have to with Emily Littlejohn's Gemma Monroe series, but that doesn't mean I really like starting with the third book.  Lost Lake , set in a small town in Colorado, is an atmospheric mystery. Those who appreciate mysteries that emphasize the natural setting will enjoy this one. Gemma Monroe is a police detective who responds to a call about a missing person. Four people had been camping at Lost Lake, and when they get up in the morning, one woman is missing. Gemma doesn't know if the it's the story the three friends are telling that makes her uneasy, or Lost Lake itself. There are stories about the lake, and young women who committed suicide there. Now, Gemma wonders about the missing woman, Sari Chesney. When Sari's boss at the local history museum is killed soon after she reports the theft of a historic journal, Gemma's convinced there's a connection between...

A Stone Called Fred is a debut novel from author Sheila Locke, which is aimed at children and young adults. Teenager Jack Watts is prone to jump to conclusions far, far too quickly. One morning he finds something on the kitchen table of his family home which Jack decides looks like an explosive device of some kind. Jack warns the rest of the family about his discovery. But the device isn't,

The Kung Fu Diaries the Life and Times of a Dragon Master (1920 - 2001) is a book that will be of great interest to all serious students of the martial arts and Eastern philosophies. It is based on the life story of the Dragon Master and was written by a most trusted student. Not long before his death the Dragon Master of the ancient art of Shaolin Chan Kung Fu entrusted an archive of his

An Ordinary Life...? is an inspirational and uplifting memoir from Andrew Michael Doig. Andrew is a spiritual healing medium and, through his book, he hopes to allow others to look into the world of spiritualism. Andrew has visited many spiritualist centres throughout Britain and also in Sweden. As a result he has participated in hundreds of seances and in many different groups. He reveals

Gathering Clouds is the first part of the Nethergate Trilogy, which explores a tale of slavery and the American Civil War. The Nethergate tobacco plantation is prepared for troubles as the rumbling threat of civil war becomes an ever present danger. We meet a cast of disparate characters. There is Silas Killcaid, the Chief Overseer of slaves. He has a position of dominance at Nethergate, due

In English From Afar experienced tutor and trainer Bruce Peterson, a graduate of the University of Wales, provides a fun and entertaining book that explores the various methods that readers can employ to learn English as a second language. It is Bruce's contention that learning English is of vital importance because, internationally, English is the de facto language for international business

Today's blog has two purposes, the weekly "What Are You Reading?" post, and also the last giveaway of the year. First, the discussion of what we're reading. Then, check below the line for this week's giveaway. Some of us are lucky enough to have a long weekend for the Thanksgiving holiday. To me, that means extra reading time! I have a stack of books beside me as I write this. I've just started Michelle Obama's  Becoming . I'm also reading two forthcoming books, so if either of these sound interesting to you, write them down to get at your library or pre-order at your favorite bookstore. Julia Kelly's The Light Over London has two storylines. One is about an antiques dealer who discovers a diary from World War II. The other storyline is about the woman who wrote the diary, a young woman who defied her parents to join the women's branch of the British Army in the anti-aircraft gun unit. It's a January 8 release. I'm also reading Wine an...

This year, I'm going to give thanks in reverse. I usually end my Thanksgiving post by thanking you, my blog readers and friends. Instead, I'd like to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving, and say I'm grateful for you. I'm thankful you spend a little bit of time every day or every week with other people who like to read and talk about books. Thank you for dropping by, even if you don't comment. I hope you've found a spot to discover a new book or author, or even another reader who likes similar books. Thank you for stopping here. I'm grateful for the love of family and friends. Several family members commented that we're blessed. The author Daniel Palmer recently posted a YouTube video, and I'm going to share the link here. If you have time, stop and watch it. It might seem to be a Christmas video, but it's really a video about gratitude. There are so many blessings in life. I'm grateful for my cats, for the ability to travel, for my life. And, I...

Rita Mae Brown's foxhunting series is not for every reader. I enjoy the stories, although I haven't read all of them in the series. It really is the scenes of the foxhunting that I enjoy the most. Now, don't get angry about foxhunting, unless you've read these books, and see how humanely all the animals in the books are treated. Although I hadn't read one of the books in a while, I enjoyed returning to "Sister" Jane Arnold's world at Christmastime with  Homeward Hound. Despite the threat of a blizzard, Jane Arnold, Master of the Jefferson Hunt in Virginia, won't stop the Christmas hunt. Jane, known as Sister, even welcomes Gregory Luckham to the hunt. Luckham is president of an energy company that proposes to put a pipeline right through the heart of foxhunting country. Some of the local property owners are wealthy enough to sue the company, so Luckham's appearance is met with only lukewarm enthusiasm. When the blizzard does hit sooner than exp...

I have a confession to make. I actually sent my copy of Harvest of Secrets by Ellen Crosby to a friend who is a big fan. That means I don't have my copy in front of me to refer to. It feels as if the review is missing something when I don't have the book in hand. Lucie Montgomery's workers at her Virginia vineyard may be right. It might be unlucky to find a skull. After a shed was destroyed during a storm, two of the men went to clear it. That's when they find a skull buried outside the family cemetery. They claim it's bad luck, and someone will die. Lucie discounts it, but then events start to snowball. When the rest of the skeleton is found, the forensic anthropologist identifies it as a woman who was murdered. Lucie becomes emotionally involved as she tries to uncover the woman's story, knowing she must have been a relative. At the same time, her DNA results come back, revealing a living relative. Now, Lucie really has worries because she never told the fami...

Tales From an Old Hack is a wonderful autobiography from journalist Barbara Fisher. A teacher from Birmingham, she decided to change her career to that of a full time journalist in West London. How did she make the transition from a teacher to a journalist? She had worked as a teacher in Ealing for a number of years, but she had written a weekly schools' page for the Uxbridge Gazette. An

Crime takes no holiday. That's obvious in Steven F. Havill's twenty-third Posadas County mystery, Lies Come Easy . It's set at Christmas, but the small sheriff's department in the county has to cope with child endangerment, family issues, and murder. As the story starts, Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman welcomes late night calls. One son, a world famous musician, is in Germany. One son is in college. And her physician husband is out of town at a conference. So, she responds when Deputy Tom Pasquale reports finding a two-year-old, Derry Fisher, walking along a snowy road. The boy's father dumped him out of his pickup and took off. Poor Derry won't have the best Christmas. His angry mother confronts his father at the hospital, and, while both parents are cuffed, it's Darrell Fisher who is arrested. The judge tears into him at his bail hearing, and his brother bails Darrell out. Fisher doesn't have long to celebrate. His wife's at work when Pasquale fi...

Loving is a new collection of poems from Suffolk-based author Heather Goddin. The poems in this collection are all about the many different facets of love. There's romantic love, love which is tinged by tragedy, of loss, of the mundane, the different and the quirky and poems of joy and of healing. Although all from the same poet, the poems are in a range of vastly different voices, from

Out of Mecklenburg is a spy novel with a difference. The author, James Remmer, has a three decade career in the investigative field of the security and intelligence field, experiences which he has skilfully employed in the writing of his novel. It's more than 'just' a spy novel, as it interweaves adventure, elements of the thriller novel, heroism, romance, suspense and with a hint of political

A Hedgehog Story Hedgehog Queen is an absolutely charming debut novel (and the first in a planned series) of the adventures of hedgehogs with some gorgeous hand-drawn illustrations. The book, written by David Hills, is aimed at children aged 5 to 7. It begins with a hedgehog called Hamish, awaking from his winter hibernation. He has tow goals. To have some fun, playing and to seek out 'the

A Monster's Tale is the story of Brett Kelso. Brett is 32. He is quite a rarity in his community. He is an honest man who does an honest day's work for an honest day's pay. Although his job in the care industry is poorly paid and he lives from pay-day to pay-day, even though some of the wouldbe gangsters in his town never seem to be short of a bob or two. His life is beset by stresses form

I read Stephen King's early books. Then, he wrote Misery , and it was too much for me. I did read The Green Mile , but nothing else until his latest novella, Elevation. In just 146 pages, Stephen King gave us a story about kindness, persistence, our own blindness, and one person who makes a difference. He also made me cry. Scott Carey leads an ordinary life in Castle Rock, Maine. He's a divorced website designer who lives with his cat Bill D. Cat. But, he's caught up in his latest well-paying project, and hasn't really paid too much attention to his neighbors, Deirdre McComb and Missy Donaldson, other than to complain when their dogs pooped on his lawn. But, the rest of the town notices the women are married, and they shun their restaurant, Holy Frijole. Scott has his own problem that he only confides to his friend, a retired doctor. He's losing weight, about a pound a day, but he doesn't physically appear to have lost any weight. That's a problem if you cho...

How many of you had heard of the fire that destroyed almost half a million books and damaged several hundred thousand more at the Los Angeles Central Library? It happened on April 29, 1986, but the Chernobyl accident occurred on April 26, 1986, so the eyes of the world were focused on that earlier accident. But, Susan Orlean covers the library and the fire in  The Library Book . I'll admit, I had a difficult time with the first thirty-nine pages. I had to quit, and come back to the book later because I found a scene too difficult to get through. The library staff had to stand outside and watch the library burn. "According to librarian Glen Creason, the breeze was filled with the smell of hearbreak and ashes." Although Orlean begins with the fire, the subsequent investigation, and the suspicion that a man named Harry Peak started the fire, there's so much more in the book. She covers the history of the Los Angeles Central Library, the eccentric and practical librarians...

Becky Sharp has big dreams and no connections. Determined to swap the gutters of Soho for the glamorous, exclusive world behind the velvet rope, Becky will do anything to achieve fame, riches and status. Whether it’s seducing society’s most eligible bachelors, or befriending silly debutantes and rich old ladies, Becky Sharp is destined for great things. Because it might be tough at the top but it’s worse at the bottom. From London to Paris and beyond, Becky Sharp is going places – so get the hell out of her way… I had heard a lot about The Rise and Fall of Becky Sharp by Sarra Manning but have to admit I was a little hesitant about picking it up as many reviews I had read had all mentioned that this was a retelling of Vanity Fair which ( ok smack my wrists ) I have never read, so I didn’t think I would be worth me reading. As a surprise my sister actually brought me a copy for my birthday present so I settled down to see if I would be able to follow the storyline. Becky Sharp has lived...

Congratulations to the winners of the last contest. Jana B. from Smyrna, TN and Marie R. from Horseheads, NY won copies of Dig Your Grave. Charlotte W. from Covington, GA and Bill T. from St. Clair Shores, MI won the copies of The Guilty Dead. The books are going out in the mail today. This week, I'm giving away mysteries with a Sherlock Holmes connection. I have one ARC of Sherry Thomas' latest Lady Sherlock mystery,  The Hollow of Fear . Charlotte Holmes uses the cover of "Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective" to investigate crimes. This time, the estranged wife of her dear friend Lord Ingram is found dead on his estate, and all of society suspects him. Charlotte disguises herself to find the truth. I have two copies of Bradley Harper's A Knife in the Fog. The debut mystery brings a young Arthur Conan Doyle to London where he teams up with his mentor, Professor Joseph Bell, and a journalist, Margaret Darkness to search for the killer who will become known as J...

A unique, miniature circus featuring hand-crafted, moving figures has been rescued from a field in South Devon. Silvers Model Circus took its creator David Hardie and his family almost 50 years to lovingly construct. David Hardie was apprenticed to his family’s tent-making business in Sydney, Australia, and he began constructing the first part of the circus back in 1931 when he was only

It's Thursday! I'm excited about the book I'm going to share today. My best friend, Donna, pointed this one out to me. I bought it as a gift to myself. It's a perfect gift for book lovers. It's called  Bibliophile: An Illustrated Miscellany by Jane Mount. She illustrated books, bookstore cats, beloved bookstores. There are all kinds of lists, quizzes, and gorgeous pictures. This is scary, though. The first line of her introduction says, "The goal of this book is to triple the size of your To Be Read pile." Ha! I'd be in trouble. This is a browsing book. I even bought a box of notecards with piles of books. The notecards include classics, children's picture books, mysteries. (Don't tell Donna, but she's getting the first notecard.) What are you reading today? And, what's your weather? As I'm writing this on Wednesday night, we're expecting over three inches of snow through tomorrow. If any of you know me well, you know I hate sn...

Eve Glace  - co-owner of the theme park Winterworld - is having a baby and her due date is a perfectly timed 25th December. And she’s decided that she and her husband Jacques should renew their wedding vows with all the pomp that was missing the first time.  But growing problems at Winterworld keep distracting them …  Annie Pandoro  and her husband  Joe  own a small Christmas cracker factory, are well set up and happy together despite life never blessing them with a much-wanted child.  But when Annie finds that the changes happening to her body aren’t typical of the menopause but pregnancy, her joy is uncontainable.  Palma Collins  has agreed to act as a surrogate, hoping the money will get her out of the gutter in which she finds herself.  But when the couple she is helping split up, is she going to be left carrying a baby she never intended to keep? Annie, Palma and Eve all meet at the ‘Christmas Pudding Club’, a new directi...

A Journey Through South-East England is exactly as the title says. You can follow along with author Brian J. Rance as he takes a walking tour through South East England. It's a fair old trek you'll be sharing with him, about 125 miles worth, from Broadstairs all the way along to Lewes. This book is a successor volume to his two previous works Finding My Place and Walking My Patch. Combining

William Ian Grubman has a fascinating background. He doesn't quite touch on it enough in his answers, but I think you'll find the author of The Storm Over Paris is an interesting person. Here's our interview. Q - William, you have so many aspects to your life, it's hard to know where to start. Would you introduce yourself to readers? There are many aspects to my life - - - frankly, I'm a work in progress. I spent the greater part of my life in corporate America. From board rooms to factories to construction sites, I've worn many hats. Additionally, I've done a great deal of volunteer work and fundraising for those in need. When I decided to retire, I began a new journey, one that would include performing and writing. I'm pretty much a Renaissance man. Q – Tell us about Mori Rothstein. Mori is focused and smart. He knows his craft. Unfortunately, he’s missed the signs of impending destruction and finds himself and his family, whom he loves dearly, in the...