The Year of the Series - Thread and Buried + Garment of Shadows

 
After the calamity that was 2020 I didn't want to give myself serious reading goals but I did want to do something to help my book stacks get a little more under control.  I've tried getting rid of the ones I want to read but unfortunately I want to read all the books I own.  So I decided to focus on series.  There are so many I have that I abandoned halfway through or came in halfway and never read the first few.  I made a list of ten series and the next book I had to read in them and will be rolling in new books and series as I go along and catch up.  Here are two reviews from that list that I've read recently.

Goodreads: Thread and Buried (Mainely Needlepoint#9) by Lea Wait - In this last book in the Mainely Needlepoint mystery all of Haven Harbor, Maine is caught up in movie madness.  When the director plunges to his death in front of Angie and most of the cast things might not be as accidental as they look.  

I wanted to love this one.  Over the last 8 books I've really come to love the community of Haven Harbor and the different characters.  Unfortunately, this fell a little flat for me.  There were a lot of characters - most of whom are not local or from previous books.  The mystery was a bit disjointed and didn't really even come together until the very end.  I missed seeing the local characters and even the ones who did get page time were mostly just cameos.  Lea Wait tragically died in 2019 after a battle with pancreatic cancer, so sadly this will be our last visit to Haven Harbor.  My Rating:  Liked It

Goodreads:  Garment of Shadows (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes #12) by Laurie R. King - In this 12 book Mary Russell wakes up in a strange book in Morocco with a pounding headache and no real idea of where she is, how she got there or even who she is. Meanwhile, Sherlock Holmes is searching for his missing wife and a missing associate.

After the previous book in this series which had an almost comedic air the series has returned to it's more serious almost academic feel.  I really enjoyed this mystery and really loved the mix of Russell and Sherlock working independently and together.  I especially enjoyed Russell figuring out her skills and assessing her situation without knowing who she is was entertaining and amazingly logical.  There's a lot of political intrigue and past connections to previous books but not so many or so important that it became confusing.  I very much enjoyed this one and am so glad I have picked this series up.  This is really a great series though one that should be started from the beginning.  My Rating:  Really Liked It!