What are you reading the week of July 29, 2023?

I finished Saturday the Rabbi Went Hungry. The first book in the series was good, but I was able to guess the murderer very early on. This was a much better mystery. It kept me guessing until the very end. The murderer caught me by surprise, but in retrospect it was obvious. I'm enjoying the series enough to have moved on to the next book, Sunday the Rabbi Stayed Home.

I'm closing in on the halfway point of Enigmas of Spring by Brazilian novelist João Almino. I'm only so-so on it so far but keeping an open mind. It's quite possible I'll be won over by the end.

Having finished The Exchange Artist, I'm now working on Gossip Men, and I also expect to knock off Translation State and get it back to the library before I move from Virginia to Ohio this coming weekend.

I'm reading Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather and I'm not really into it. I wasn't a big My Antonia fan either so this will probably be my last by Ms. Cather.

Starting this audio via hoopla ~

Death by Chocolate Marshmallow Pie (A Death by Chocolate Mystery, #6)
by Sarah Graves

>4 PaperbackPirate: I have read "O Pioneers" by Ms. Cather, but nothing else. I tried "Death Comes for the Archbishop" but couldn't get into it, and the same happened with "My Antonia". I'm going to try listening to audiobooks of her works - that usually gets me into classics that in book form bore me.

This week I've been listening to Mary Turner Thomson's The Bigamist and The Psychopath. I thought the first book was great. The second was okay. The conman/bigamist - I've never read about anyone so awful except in fiction. I was horrified and fascinated.

Now I'm just about to start reading Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns and I've started listening to a Pride and Prejudice knock-off about studious sister Mary, called The Unexpected Miss Bennet by Patrice Sarath. I love this kind of book.

>6 ahef1963: Nice to know I'm not the only one!

And I loved Cold Sassy Tree. I actually laughed out loud a few times. I hope you enjoy it!

Started this audio via Libby ~

Meet Me at the Lake
by Carley Fortune
(Canadian tale)

I finished the Ford Madox Ford novel The Good Soldier which was a tale told conversationally revealing the emotional complications behind the facade of proper societal presentation. It was enjoyable even if I sometimes got a touch lost as the narrator jumped around in time.

The Spies of Shilling Lane – Jennifer Ryan
Digital audiobook performed by Jayne Entwistle.
3***

From the book jacket: A thrilling new World-War-II tale of a village busybody who resolves to find, and then rescue, her missing daughter. Mrs Braithwaite, the self-appointed queen of her English village, finds herself dethroned, despised, and dismissed at the age of fifty following her husband’s selfish divorce petition. She sets off to London to find the only person she has left – her clever daughter, Betty, who took work there at the first rumbles of war. But when she arrives, Betty’s landlord, Mr Norris, informs her that Betty hasn’t been home in days – and with the chaos of the bombs, there’s no telling what might have befallen her.

My reactions
What a delightful romp! Ryan writes the formidable Mrs Braithwaite so the reader has no doubt that she will prevail. She may bumble and misconstrue most clues, but she is resolute and WILL find and rescue her darling daughter. Mr Norris gets dragged into the adventure, and comes to rather like his role (and Mrs B, as well). A mother’s love knows no bounds, and my money’s on Mrs B to get the best of anyone threatening her cub!

While this is a novel of espionage and daring deeds in a time of war, and the background of the blitz adds a consistent and real danger, there are many lighter moments to lessen the tension, and the focus is really on the characters and their personal journey rather than on the war.

Jayne Entwistle does a marvelous job of narrating the audio version. She is a talented voice artist, but I couldn’t help but picture 11-year-old Flavia de Luce as I listened.

From the library: The Wayward Prince: A Daughter of Sherlock Holmes Mystery by Leonard Goldberg
New and 7th installment in the series

I finished Enigmas of Spring, an interesting novel by Brazilian novelist Joao Almino about the dangers of living one's life too much inside one's own head and one's own computer. My full review can be found on my 50-Book Challenge thread.

Next up, I'll be spending some time filling in one of the (very) many holes in my classics reading by tackling The Decameron.

>4 PaperbackPirate: >6 ahef1963: I also struggled with Death Comes for the Archbishop. I figured I just didn't get it.

I should finish Joe Ide's IQ today. It is an unexpectedly good read and not at all what I was expecting.

Duty and Desire
Pamela Aidan
3.5/5 stars
This is the second book in the Fitzwilliam Darcy Series. The story surrounds Darcy and there is only a little mention of Elizabeth Bennet. In this book Darcy takes off to see an Oxford classmate. However, at this reunion, Darcy meets Lady Sylvanie who is up to no good and there is a sinister plot involving the slaying of a pig and a kidnapping of a local child. This book is a little darker than I expected.

The new thread is up over here.

>13 Copperskye: I'm in good company then.