Friday Fives - October TBR

 

I'm taking a bit of a break from my usual Friday Linkups to try something a little different.  I'm in a list making kind of mood so I thought I'd start making random five lists.  Sometimes they'll be bookish other weeks not so much. Since this is the first Friday in October I'm choosing 5 books I want to focus on reading this month.

1.  The Haunted Lady by Mary Roberts Rinehart - I have really enjoyed the Mary Roberts Rinehart books that I've read and this sounds really good!

2.  High Spirits by Carol J. Perry - I absolutely loved the first book in this series and can't wait to get to this one.  It also has a big goofy golden retriever so that makes it extra special!

3.  The Listening Eye by Patricia Wentworth - I only have a few books left in my Patricia Wentworth reread but I need to get reading.  This is one of my favorites but it's been years since I read it so I'm excited to pick it up.

4.  Broken Bonds by Karen Harper - I'm trying to read some books off my NetGalley shelf and this is one that has been gathering dust for years.  It sounds like a fun read with some creepiness so hopefully perfect for this month.

5.  Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks by John Curran - I bought this book new in hardcover right after it came out and it has sat on my shelf for years unread.  I just finished my Agatha Christie reread (and will start over in 2023) so now seems like the time to read this.

What books are you hoping to read this October?

Books for the Backlog - Pane and Suffering

Today I'm linking up with Carole from Carole's Random Life of Books for Books from the Backlog.  I really enjoy the chance to feature a book that's been hiding in the piles of books for far too long!

Goodreads:  Pane and Suffering by Cheryl Hollon

Blurb:  To solve her father's murder and save the family-owned glass shop, Savannah Webb must shatter a killer's carefully constructed façade. . .
After Savannah's father dies unexpectedly of a heart attack, she drops everything to return home to St. Petersburg, Florida, to settle his affairs--including the fate of the beloved, family-owned glass shop. Savannah intends to hand over ownership to her father's trusted assistant and fellow glass expert, Hugh Trevor, but soon discovers the master craftsman also dead of an apparent heart attack.

As if the coincidence of the two deaths wasn't suspicious enough, Savannah discovers a note her father left for her in his shop, warning her that she is in danger. With the local police unconvinced, it's up to Savannah to piece together the encoded clues left behind by her father. And when her father's apprentice is accused of the murders, Savannah is more desperate than ever to crack the case before the killer seizes a window of opportunity to cut her out of the picture. . .

Why It Needs to Come Off the Shelf:  I read a later book in this series and really enjoyed it but felt like I was missing a lot of the backstory so planned on going back and reading the first book.  That was years ago and I still haven't gotten around to reading it!

The Year of the Projects: Crime and Poetry + By Book or By Crook

I do love a good list.  It gives a nice sense of order and focus and I love making lists about the books I want to read.  Last year I focused just on series I was behind on.  The project went great and I caught up on a ton of series but I felt like I was neglecting other books on my shelf and books at my library.  This year I have a few lists going - Series, Library, Clear Off My Shelves, and a random TBR Bingo where I pull books off my Goodreads TBR.  Here are a few of my most recent reads.

Goodreads:  Crime and Poetry (Magical Bookshop Mystery #1) by Amanda Flower

Project: Series

Blurb:  Rushing home to sit by her ailing grandmother’s bedside, Violet Waverly is shocked to find Grandma Daisy the picture of perfect health. Violet doesn’t need to read between the lines: her grandma wants Violet back home and working in her magical store, Charming Books. It’s where the perfect book tends to fly off the shelf and pick you...
Violet has every intention to hightail it back to Chicago, but then a dead man is discovered clutching a volume of Emily Dickinson’s poems from Grandma Daisy’s shop. The victim is Benedict Raisin, who recently put Grandma Daisy in his will, making her a prime suspect. Now, with the help of a tuxedo cat named Emerson, Violet will have to find a killer to keep Grandma from getting booked for good...

My Thoughts:  I have had this book sitting on my shelf for ages and I'm so glad I finally got to it!  Right from the beginning I really enjoyed it.  Violet makes a good main character.  She's got a bit of a backstory which makes her desire to not stay in town make sense but also a close relationship with her grandmother and a love for the bookstore that makes her feel very torn.  Her reasons for getting pulled into the investigation make sense and while she doesn't always report things to the police as often as she should it fits with her personality and doesn't bother me as much as it usually would.  I love that the magic focuses on books and I really enjoyed the two animal sidekicks.  This is a fun entry to a series that I'm really looking forward to continue with.  My Rating: Really Liked It! (4 Stars)

Goodreads:  By Book or By Crook (Lighthouse Library Mystery #1) by Eva Gates

Project: Series

Blurb:  For ten years Lucy has enjoyed her job poring over rare tomes of literature for the Harvard Library, but she has not enjoyed the demands of her family’s social whorl or her sort-of-engagement to the staid son of her father’s law partner. But when her ten-year relationship implodes, Lucy realizes that the plot of her life is in need of a serious rewrite.
Calling on her aunt Ellen, Lucy hopes that a little fun in the Outer Banks sun—and some confections from her cousin Josie’s bakery—will help clear her head. But her retreat quickly turns into an unexpected opportunity when Aunt Ellen gets her involved in the lighthouse library tucked away on Bodie Island.

Lucy is thrilled to land a librarian job in her favorite place in the world. But when a priceless first edition Jane Austen novel is stolen and the chair of the library board is murdered, Lucy suddenly finds herself ensnared in a real-life mystery—and she’s not so sure there’s going to be a happy ending....

My Thoughts:  I've read a few of the later books in the series and enjoyed them but always felt like I was missing a bit about the setup of the series.  I really enjoyed this first book in the series.  The lighthouse library has to be the absolute best setting for a mystery series and I love that Lucy is not only a librarian but a true book lover.  The side characters are wonderful - especially Charles, the library cat.  The mystery is fast paced with lots of viable suspects and surprising conclusion.  This is another series I'm really excited to see develop.  My Rating: Really Liked It! (4 Stars)

Books On My TBR Set During Fall

I live in the Southern US and fall is kind of a if you blink you'll miss it season.  It's frequently in the 90s when trick or treating comes around and shorts and tshirts are what you wear to go pick your pumpkin.  Because of this I'm looking at 10 books on my TBR that take place during fall so I can at least experience a bookish fall!

1.  First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen - I normally read this author's books during the summer but this one set in October sounds perfect for right now.

2.  A Dream of Death by Connie Berry - Not just fall but fall in Scotland with some murders thrown in.

3.  A Trip with Trouble by Diane Kelly - I really enjoyed this series set in the Blue Ridge mountains and this one set during the fall sounds like lots of fun.

4.  The Simplicity of Cider by Amy E. Reichert - I'm not a big fan of pumpkin so to me when I think food of fall apples and cider are at the top of the list and this sounds wonderful.

5.  Bitter Harvest by Wendy Tyson - Murder during an Oktoberfest sounds like a perfect fall read.

6.  The Sun Down Motel by Simone St James - I just read a book by this author that I really enjoyed and this one set in fall at a rundown hotel in upstate New York sounds like just the right amount of creepy.

7.  Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman - This one has been on my TBR for ages.

8.  Death at Dovecote Hatch by Dorothy Cannell - Murder at a family manor house and digging into family secrets while the leaves are changing colors!  Yes please!

9.  The Guest List by Lucy Foley - Fall on an island in Ireland with lots of murder sounds like another perfectly creepy read.  

10. Silent Auction by Jane K. Cleland - Fall in New Hampshire with murder and antiques!

Do you get much of a fall where you live?  Do you have any books set in fall that are on your TBR?

The Ghost and the Stolen Tears - Cozy Mystery Review

Goodreads:  The Ghost and the Stolen Tears (Haunted Bookshop #8) by Cleo Coyle

Rating: Really Liked It (4 Stars)
Source:   Publisher

Description:  Norma is a modern-day nomad. Living out of her van and teardrop trailer, she revels in self-reliance, solitude, and reading in the glorious peace of nature. Jovial, wise, and scrupulously honest, she’s become an uplifting presence in the little town of Quindicott, Rhode Island, where bookseller Pen is thankful to have her part-time help. But it’s Norma’s other job, working as a housekeeper at the Finch Inn, that gets her into terrible trouble. Norma is accused of stealing jewels from a guest’s room: the legendary Valentino Teardrops, an antique necklace and earring set, inherited by a young socialite. Pen doesn’t believe Norma is guilty of the crime—though the evidence is distressingly strong. And when the spirited Norma vanishes before her arrest, Pen turns to another spirit…

Jack Shepard, PI, may have been gunned down decades ago, but his memory hasn’t been ghosted. Back in the 1940s, those same Valentino Teardrops starred in a bizarre case of betrayal and murder. From the look of things, history is about to repeat. Now Jack is back on the job, and Pen is eternally grateful.

Genre: Mystery - Cozy

Why I Picked This Book:  I've enjoyed previous books in the series and I love books involving jewel theft. 

My Impression: I really enjoyed this book!  The mystery develops a bit slowly but that doesn't make for a slow read.  Instead there is time for each new piece of the mystery to be investigated and it really hooked me.  

There's so many factors at play.  Just who is Norma?  Who stole the jewelry? How is any of this tied to what happened back in the 1940s?  And just who is the murderer?  All of these questions kept me guessing and I didn't figure it out until the very end.

Pen is a good main character.  She's intelligent and capable.  She has a good relationship with her son and a good support system in town who are good friends and different levels of quirkiness. This is a fun cozy mystery series with an interesting ghost sidekick and a great mystery.  I'm looking forward to the next book and to catching up on earlier books that I haven't read quite yet.  

Would I Read More of this Series/Author? I would!  I've really enjoyed both series from this author I've read and really need to read more of her books.

Would I Recommend this Book?   If you enjoy cozies with a ghostly edge this is a fun series!

* I received this book in exchange for an honest review.  As always my opinions and impressions are completely my own. *

Life with Leukemia, a Puppy, and Some Reading

It's Sunday Post time!  This is hosted by the awesome Caffeinated Book Reviewer and gives us all a chance to recap our week.

What I Got:

Peril in Paris by Rhys Bowen - This is the newest book in the Royal Spyness series and I'm looking forward to seeing what Georgie is up to now.  (Publisher)

The Wife's Promise by Kate Hewitt

The Daughter's Garden by Kate Hewitt

The Bride's Sister by Kate Hewitt

The Widow's Secret by Kate Hewitt - This quartet of books is coming out next month and they all look really interesting.  I'm looking forward to mixing them in with my mysteries.  (Publicist)

Currently:

Reading:  The Plot and the Pendulum by Jenn McKinlay and Mrs. Pollifax and the Golden Triangle by Dorothy Gilman

Listening:  The Long Call by Ann Cleeves

This has been a pretty busy week.  Will had a forensics science class where they studied blood splatter science and then he ran around outside with some friends after class.  It was so amazingly wonderful to see him having fun like that.  We were supposed to have a field trip with our homeschool group but after class and all that and a tough round of chemo he just wasn't feeling up to it so we skipped it.  It's to a big cat preserve that looks amazing but thankfully it's open to the public so we will go on our own on a better day.  

Rover (who is not supposed to be on the furniture but every time I turn around he's up here looking out the window and I don't have the heart to make him get down) also had a busy week.  He had his last Beyond Manners class and his 2nd scent work class.  He also has been playing with Comet (our cat) and Will which has made him the happiest dog ever.  He's doing pretty well on not getting too enthusiastic with them which makes me think we are making some progress.  He knows his commands and can do really well but when he gets excited the fact that he's still a puppy becomes really clear.  The fact that he's able to hold himself back a bit when he's excited is such a good sign.

The dog fair last weekend was so much fun and I got a ridiculous number of steps in.  I talked to a K9 volunteer search and rescue group that was there and am considering signing up.   The training sounds really fun but I'm not sure if I can do it timewise.  It would be really rewarding to be able to help with searches and you and your dog have helicopter riding training which would be pretty amazing.  I'm back and forth on it.  Other than that my allergies have been driving me crazy and I have a horrible sounding cough (I've taken several covid tests - all negative thankfully).  I've found the best relief at night with Vicks Vapor Rub which surprised me a bit but I'm not complaining!  

Have a great week and happy reading!

Reading Recap - September 2022

 

Monthly Total: 18 (Not as many as I hoped for but not too bad)

Monthly Breakdown: 

Print: 4

Ebook: 5

Audio: 9

Mystery: 15

Fiction: 1

Nonfiction: 1

Romance: 1

Favorite Book of the Month:

The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell - I forgot how much I enjoyed her books and this one kept me absolutely hooked.

A Death in Door County by Annelise Ryan - I was a little nervous about this one because it's a touch outside my comfort zone but it was an absolute delight!

Least Favorite Book:

Heiresses: The Lives of the Million Dollar Babies by Laura Thompson - I didn't dislike this one but it was a little drier and more about heiresses overall than a more personal look and specific heiresses.

Where My Bookish Travels Have Taken Me This Month:

In the US I visited Wisconsin for the first time this year.

Internationally, I visited England, France and Ireland.  

It was a fairly quiet bookish travel month as almost all the books I read seemed to be set in California and North Carolina for some reason.

How was your reading in September?