Penny Reads 2021

#1. SHADOW CRIMES, Michael Hambling

This is a continuation of the Sophie Allen series started in 2020. I got the first 8 books from KindleUnlimited.

This starts as an investigation into a bent cop but before that even begins a policewoman is the victim of a verbal racial attacked. The attacker only appears to be surprised when she identifies herself as police. The bent cop is murdered before he is interviewed but that case leads to one that involves materials being smuggled into prisons. The death toll mounts to four. It is complicated because of the layers and the identity of the head man is only learned when an arrested man breaks down.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Happy 2021 Penny!

>2 dchaikin:
A Happy and Healthy New Year to you! Enjoy your reading 📚

I am going to try and participate more this year instead of just entering my books. I am thinking of branching out into new genres, but I do enjoy what I read. I am limited to Kindle/ebooks because of my vision and $ limit the titles I can buy so I use KindleUnlimited a lot. There are some authors I just have to keep up with, e.g.: Quintin Jardine, Kathy Reichs, Charles Todd’s Maisie Dodds, and Laurie R. King. We will see what happens!

#2. SILENT CRIMES, Michael Hambling

Jade Allen, daughter of Chief Superintendent Sophie Allen discovers the body of a tramp who was living in the woods. She hadn’t seen him in town for a few days so went looking for him. The investigation leads to a commune that closed under some dark circumstances 12 years earlier which left another murder victim. Police in a number of countries become involved before the old and new cases are closed.

I like the way Hambling weaves in the family lives of his characters. He also keeps some police who have moved to other forces tied into Allen’s investigations.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Top 5 Books of 2020

Queen of the World: Elizabeth II: Sovereign and Stateswoman, Robert Hardman

Pursuing Giraffe: A 1950s Adventure, Anne Innis Dagg

Unnatural Causes The Life and Many Deaths of Britain’s Top Forensic Pathologist, Richard Shepherd

The Answer is ...: Reflections on My Life, Alex Trebek

The Daughter of Time, Josephine Tey

Has anyone posted to the main LT Best Books list and created their own list? Every year I have a difficult time with this. It takes numerous tries to get the titles and now I can’t drag on my list to reorder them.

>7 pmarshall: Not yet but I intend to, I just need a bit of quiet time to whittle down my top 20 (ish) to 5.

A belated Happy New Year and happy reading in 2021.

>9 rocketjk:
A Happy and Healthy New Year to you!

#3.The Missing Sapphire of Zangrabar, Steve Higgs

Patrica Fisher discovers her husband of 30 years in bed with her best friend and her reaction is to empty their bank accounts and drive to Southampton to take a cruise that day. This results in her becoming involved in a jewelry robbery and a number of murders and assaults. Despite being placed under arrest in her suite she finds ways out and is able to work out the solution. Entertaining.
⭐️⭐️⭐️

#4. All Things Bright: The Freeman Files Series: Book 10, Ted Tayler

This cold case involves the murder of a 14 year old girl for no apparent reason. The first action after reviewing the file is to make a list of people to interview and add and subtract people from the list as information comes in. Young mothers as a result of rape start to appear, a common father, a group involved with drug distribution and controlled through fear of harm to their children. With a major twist at the end. Freeman has an uncanny ability to look at facts from a different angle and suddenly see the whole picture.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#5. The Kidnapped Bride, Steve Higgs

Patricia Fisher continues on her round the world cruise. When leaving Miami an older man and his young fiancée join the boat, she under some duress. She is kidnapped and Fisher is asked to assist in finding her. It turns into a mob vs mob story but she works it all out in a rather clever manner.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#6. The Director's Cut: A Patricia Fisher Mystery, Steve Higgs

A movie is being filmed on board between Los Angelos and Honolulu, however the star is murdered, Patricia Fisher’s friend Barbie’s life is threatened and Fisher is being kept from investigating. Too much is packed into the plot, child actors who do and don’t succeed, a actress who breaks her ankle and is replaced by Barbie takes revenge and an actress who blackmails male actors over sex videos. A little of all the industry’s woes.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

#7. The Couple in Cabin 2124, Steve Higgs

Patricia Fisher is out for a walk when she sees a man preparing to throw himself overboard. Before he does he gives her a paper with the number 2124 on it and he asks her to save Anna. This leads to a confrontation with Tokyo mobsters. Fisher’s husband shows up unexpectedly which further confuses matters. Unbelievable.
⭐️⭐️⭐️

#8. Doctor Death, Steve Higgs

A virus is attacking the people on the cruise ship and nothing that is being done to stop and cure the patients is working. Mrs. Fisher, by accident, discovers that a doctor that has developed a cure has had his family kidnapped to force him to work for the terrorists. If I had read this before COVID-19 I would have completely dismissed this book, but because of it I can see this happening.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

#9. Murder on the Dance Floor, Steve Higgs

Something strange is happening on board the Aurelia. There is evidence that a person or persons is visiting the top suites, leaving a business card but not taking anything. The Indian television version of “Dancing with the Stars” is taping an episode onboard the ocean liner. The first body of a dancer is found with a business card on her chest. Two more bodies plus an attempt on Patricia Fisher’s life follow. It takes Fisher and her friends just a few hours to solve the various crimes.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#10. Mission for the Maharajah, Steve Higgs

Another unbelievable tale featuring Patricia Fisher. Her first mystery had her recovering a sapphire belonging to the country of Zangrabar near India. In this book she and her friends are invited to the coronation of the new maharajah and they discover a plot to replace the maharajah with another man.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

#11. A Sleuth and her Dachshund in Athens, Steve Higgs

The captain’s nephew is murdered after just one week of working in the Bursar’s Office. Why? Patrica Fisher comes up with a couple of solutions developed before and dismissed after another murder. A visit to a fight club in Athens provides the final answers. A midnight visitor to her suite sets the scene for what will happen in Malta, the next stop.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

#12. The Maltese Parrot, Steve Higgs

In Athens Fisher receives a disc drive to pass on to another British intelligence agent in Malta. She makes the attempt but instead is arrested for his murder. Other people are also after the drive and murders are committed over it. She becomes aware of a sex trafficking ring that has a headquarters in Malta. It takes women off the street and they go by ship to Algeria. I am not clear how but she does stop both of these groups.
⭐️⭐️⭐️

#13. No Place Like Home, Steve Higgs

Patrica Fisher comes to the end of her round the world cruise and returns to her village. She opens a private investigation office and her first client is her soon to be ex-husband. His partner, who was Patrica’s best friend has been murdered. Her life is threatened three times before the case is closed. Then a lawyer Fisher thought was a threat turns out to be an agent for the Maharajah of Zangrabar who has found a way to thank her for her actions related to his coronation.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Happy New Year, Penny. You are off to a fast start. Have you started painting yet?

#14. What Sam Knew, Steve Higgs

Higgs starts a new Patrica Fisher Mystery Adventure Book series now that she has settled in the village and opened an office as a private investigator. This first books deals with a missing dog and a rock climber whose death is called an accident by the police but a murder by his wife. The cases solve themselves with good luck from Fisher.
⭐️⭐️⭐️

#15. The Art of Inheriting Secrets, Barbara O'Neal

Olivia Shaw is amazed to learn upon the death of her mother that she has inherited a very large estate in England, one that has been in the family for 600 years and that she is a duchess. In 1977 her mother left it and moved to San Francisco, the estate was deserted and the house and gardens fell to ruin. Olivia faces a number of problems as she wrestles with her decision about her future and that of the estate.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#16. In Bad Company (Sandhamn Murders Book 9), Viveca Sten

Set in Stockholm, and it’s islands in the present day and Bosnia in 1992, 1993, during the civil war this is the story of a criminal who physically abuses his wife and is responsible for the death of three people and an attack on another. It is an explanation of the safe homes for the abused wife and her infant to flee to, until her husband discovers where she is. It is not a book I enjoyed because of the violence, in Bosnia and Sweden and the helpfulness of some of the characters. Swedish society and government support for the police and women’s shelters seems to be falling apart despite the strong tax base it has. This is a continuation of the Nora Linde and Thomas Johansson series. I don’t know how to rate it because of the feelings it left me with.

#17. Where the Forest Meet the Stars, Glenda Vanderah

Jo, a Ph. D science student, doing bird nesting research in southern Illinois, finds a young child in the forest that surrounds her rental cabin. She claims to be from the Pinwheel Galaxy in the Ursa Major Galaxy and send to earth to witness five miracles. Jo and her neighbour, Gabe, find it difficult to accept this story, but when she calls the police Ursa runs away and they aren’t very helpful. An event in mid-summer brings Ursa’s identity to a head and the truth is not what people expected.

This book was on the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Amazon bestseller lists.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

>23 NanaCC:

Yes, I started on a project for my sister. In November she got COVID-19 and was moved out of her room and all her things were packed up. She lives in a nursing home in Saint John. She was quite ill but has now recovered and was back in her bare room before Christmas. She said she wanted a Christmas decoration but didn’t know where her’s were then she found a Christmas tree I had done in 2017 and put it on the wall. So then I painted (watercolour pencils) a Christmas village which she put on the wall. Even when all her things are back she doesn’t have a lot of flat surface so I got the idea of doing her a doodle, that’s what I call these small things I do, for each holiday. So today I did hearts inside a heart using oil pastels. Next I will do St. Patrick’s Day ☘️. That will keep me busy for a while. I have 4 in my sketchbook I can use and 8 on my list to create.

>28 pmarshall: I love that idea Penny. It’s a very special and personal thing to do.

#18. Comeback, Dick Francis

Diplomat, Peter Darwin, returns to England and becomes embroiled in a racing mystery involving a veterinary surgeon with serious troubles. It takes place in the village he lived in until age ten which brings back bits and pieces of memories which help him connect people and events. It is a strange feeling but one that gives him the why but not the who of the current events.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#19. Dead Heat, Dick Francis

Restaurant owner, Max Moreton, gets into hot water when guests at a gala race course dinner become very ill with food poisoning. This is closely followed by a bombing at the next event he caters. Who arranged the bombing and why do they want to kill Max?

This quote was in this book: Abraham Lincoln said “Things may come to those who wait, but only what is left from those who hustle.” The second part of this is not familiar to me.

#20 This Time Next Year We'll Be Laughing, Jacqueline Winspear

Winspear’s memoirs is a wonderful collection of family stores from her grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins and her own small family of parents and younger brother from WW I to the death of her parents in 2015, connected by descriptions of people and places. She was born in 1955 and grew up in rural Kent but in many ways her childhood spend hops and fruit picking was similar to that of earlier generations in her family. Her family got by with hard work from all four members and taking advantage of every opportunity to earn money. It is an amazing memoir, so well told.

Readers of her Maisie’s Dodd series will recognize settings and events from this telling of Winspear’s early life.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#21. Reflex, Francis Dick

The death of a racetrack photographer.followed by the trashing of his home during his funeral and then the destruction of it by fire causes jockey and photographer Philip Nothe to agree to the photographer’s son’s request that he look into his father’s death/murder. He finds a box of film puzzles which when solved and printed prove to be very dangerous. At the same time he is asked by his grandmother, upon their first meeting, to find a sister he never knew he had.

The power of a photograph is clearly illustrated, what the photographer can do with it and what impact it can have on those in it, particularly if they claim not to know each other or be father/daughter when they are doing something they shouldn’t do together. A picture can be worth much more than a thousand words.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I can’t settle on what I want to read and my Santa books are regular size print which makes them an effort to read. So II have follow back on Dick Francis, my comfort read. I recently discovered that he is also the comfort read for a long time friend. We spent the good part of an hour talking about him on the phone earlier this week. TBC

#22. Break In, Dick Francis

Kit's twin sister Holly, is married to Bobby, son of Maynard Allardeck, who maintains a feud against the Fieldings, and as a result their stables are the target of a smear campaign in a national newspaper. Kit is determined to fight this battle even as the number of opponents increases. He sees it as a complete disregard for Bobby and Holly in the newspaper’s attempt to blacken Maynard’s name and prevent him from getting a “K,” a knighthood.

It is interesting to observe the interaction between Kit and the Princess, the various newspaper villains, Maynard and those he has taken advantage of and Bobbie, his sister Holly and Danielle. He has the ability with Holly to know what is in her mind and when he needs to call her and she of him. A skill that is also developing with Danielle. Too bad it didn’t work with the others he could have avoided some beatings.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#22. Bolt, Dick Francis

The second in the Kit Fielding series.

The Princess Kit Fielding rides for family has come under threat from a unscrupulous business partner of her husband's who wants their company to manufacture plastic arms. This would bring dishonour to the family. At the same time Kit feels that his relationship with the Princess' husband’s niece is under threat by her nephew as well as Danielle’s fear of Kit’s job. Kit also feels threatened by Maynard Allardeck and the authority he has as a Racing Steward. Add to the mix a sudden visit from Florida of the Princess’ sister-in-law who is trying to pressure her brother to sign the gun deal as it will increase her allowance. Living in Palm Beach is expensive! Finally three of the Princess’s horses are murdered with a bolt to the brain. Kit must solve all of this plus attempts on the lives of Danielle and Litsi. He and his friends face an arrogant bully who only see what he wants and it takes some twisted thinking to best him. Another horse is dead before that is ended.

In this book Francis, perhaps guided by his wife Mary and her experiences as a jockey’s wife, presents what the spouse goes through as her husband experiences the excitement and dangers of steeplechase racing. As one wife said to Danielle “It is fear and Joe, or no fear and no Joe.” At the same time Kit is wrestling with the idea of a life alone. This is done with out sentimentality but one does feel the emotion.

January, 2021 Summary

5 Rereads
17 Read

22 Total

#23. The Dreamer, Sheldon Siegel

I am rereading this book before I read the new title in the series Final Out. A long time habit of mine.

If I understand it correctly the Dreamer was a category President Obama created for people in the United States in 2012, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The young woman accused of murder is registered as a Dreamer, but that disegnation will expire in a few weeks. She is accused of killing her boss, a well known chef and restaurant owner, as well as being a nasty person who sexually harassed his workers, men and women.

I like Siegel because he clearly lays out the building of the case and it’s pros and cons and then it’s presentation in court.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#24. Final Out, Sheldon Siegel

A video shows a man running with a baseball bat in his hand, the camera coverage stops, then the man is seen running the other way without the bat. A man is found floating in the bay, his head bashed in and beside him is a bat. The police arrest a man who goes to the Public Defenders Office for a lawyer. The defence is SODDI (Some Other Dude Did it) and it works, or does it?

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#25. Embers of Murder, Alec Peche

An arsonist is setting fires in California with an added touch, the body of a bad date from an on-line website is found where the fire started. An insurance agent gets suspicious when three of his clients are found in these circumstances. The Sacramento Medical Examiners Office, Jill Quint’s former employer calls her in to look into his claims as they are busy with a bus crash. When Jill visits the burn sites she finds cigarette butts and another investigator which sets off bells in her mind. The case gets stranger as the investigation widens ending in closure.
It was interesting reading about arson and the factors that need to be considered to get a good fire going. It is timely considering the number of wildfires in California.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#26. The Paris Library, Janet Skeslien Charles

The American Library in Paris was officially established in 1920 and it grew out of the American Library Association service to provide books to American soldiers in Europe during World War I. A building was converted into a library and between the wars it provided reference services, educational outreach and was a bridge between America and France. 2020 was its 100rd anniversary.

The Paris Library is the story of two women, Odile Souchet, who grew up in Paris and Lily, Odile’s neighbour in Montana in 1983. Odilie’s story is that of the library and the way it worked to continue its services despite the restrictions placed on it as well as her personal story. Lily is a high school student who befriends her neighbor and gradually learns her story.

I was attracted to the book because it was about a library and it lives up to my expectations of what libraries do that are beyond what most people would ever expect of them. I was a librarian in various types of libraries so am aware of what good library service can do. The personal stories fill in the impact of the German control of Paris on the daily lives of its citizens. Worth reading.

Reviewed February 11, 2021

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#27. Time’s Up A Dr. Jill Quint, M. D. Mystery Series Short Story, Alec Peche

This short story is a prequel to the Dr. Jill Quint series. It introduces her on her vineyard and starting plans for her first bottling which brings in Nathan, a wine label designer. The call from Fresno to assist them by doing an autopsy on an elderly man who appears to have died of natural causes. Doing test in her own lab causes Jill to question this and think it was murder. No held back by employer regulations she turns to her friends Marie and Jo for information on the man’s family. Quint passes this on to the police who get a confession. The beginning of a new business is set for Quint.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#28. Ruthless Crimes, Michael Hambling

A convoluted plot involving a government immigrant investigation group, the movement of Iranians to Britain illegally which ends up as front page news when, to make more money, the boat across the Channel is overloaded and understaffed and crashes on the beach resulting in deaths. How does that tie into the single deaths Superintendent Sophie Allen and her team are investigating?

I liked the interplay of individual police officers, an Iranian family, and Allen’s family throughout the book. It helped create a balance between everyday life, albeit mixed with tragedy, and the high level police investigation involving the Dorset police, the Met. and the government and the ruthless criminals who kill easily to cover their tracks and are doing it for the money. Unfortunately I found the ending a bit of a whimper after a big buildup.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#29. Even Money, Dick Francis, Felix Francis

Ned Talbot has some problems. His wife suffers from bipolar disorder and has been hospitalize for the past five months. A man appears claiming to be his father, but Ned had grown up being told his parents had died in a car crash when he was a baby, then this man is murdered within an hour of their meeting. And just to make life interesting a large bookmaker is out to buy Ned's company regardless of the fact it is not for sale, and men followed his father from Australia wanting things he had stolen.

This was the fourth book Felix co-wrote with his father and it contains some of the worst examples of his writing. The depth of detail that doesn’t move the plot forward instead it turned this reader off. The explanation of how the bookmakers work is interesting and important to the plot but not in the amount of detail provided. The running of the mental institution Sophie is in and the guidebook details on Australia are two other examples of his over writing. His writing turned some readers away from this series which is unfortunate as he did improve.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

>41 pmarshall: fascinating about the Paris Library.

>44 pmarshall: your Felix Francis writing analysis is interesting to me.

>45 dchaikin:

There is a lot more to Dick Francis than a mystery that mentions horses, e.g. Hot Money is about family relationships and how adding money tends to make them worse, Straight is about the gem stone industry and quite fascinating. I wrote a long piece on Francis I can post if you are interested.

I really enjoyed The Paris Library. I was a librarian so am well aware of what good library service can do.

#30. In The Frame, Dick Francis

Charles Todd goes to visit his cousin Donald and his wife Regina and finds the police investigating a robbery, the house is empty, and a murder. Regina interrupted the robbery and was killed. By chance Todd meets a woman whose house has been burned down and the police and insurance investigators can find no trace of the contents in the remains. Both she and Donald had recently returned from Australia where they had each purchased a painting by the same artisr. This sends Todd off to Australia on what turns out to be a near deadly investigation of an international ring of burglaries,
Todd is a painter of horses and painting provides the backdrop to this mystery.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#31. A FOX HUNTING MURDER, Roy Lewis

An interesting pairing of policemen faced with two murders during a fox hunt. John Crowe method is to work out all the questions and answers, he dots the ‘i’s’ and crosses the ‘t’s’ in his investigations before he acts on the final decision and declares it solved and makes the final arrest. His background in the police was working his way up from working the streets to finally moving into the detective branch and now heading up the Murder Squad which goes out to solve crimes the local police can’t.

In this case he is paired with a local inspector who enter the police with a law degree and went directly into the detective branch. He is considered a late entry and people in this category often find it difficult to be accepted as they didn’t work their way up. In this case the inspector sets his mind on a suspect and Crowe finds it difficult to get him to look at anyone else. He thinks in a straight line.

In the end Crowe steps outside of his usual behaviour and meets with what turns out to be not one but three possible murderers and he is not sure who it is. It could have turned into a dangerous situation but instead works out. Both men admit to having learned from the other and Crowe returns to London leaving the Inspector with the final paperwork, reinforcing its importance.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#32. Code Name Madeleine: A Sufi Spy in Nazi-Occupied Paris, Arthur J Magida

Noor Inayat Khan was born in Moscow, grew up outside Paris and lived her early adulthood there and in England before WW II turned her known world upside down. Her father was an Indian Sufi mystic who believed in harmony, beauty and tolerance and he practiced and taught it while living in the world as it was, not as he would have liked it to be. And this was the legacy he left his daughter. As she told one British Special Operations Executive (SOE), you don’t tell a lie, you say nothing. He didn’t believe it possible but she did it.

Noor Khan was a beautiful young woman, a musician, a writer with the ambition to write children’s books when the war was over. She did have one published in 1939. She could be very organized - or not, calm - or not, in which case she lost her voice. People either believed in her or not when it can to being a member of the SOE.

Unfortunately she landed in France in late 1943 when the Germans had just taken over the last large resistance cell around Paris and the SOE didn’t know. She made many mistakes and broke the SOE rules and was saved and corrected by others and luck or intuition. The expected lifespan of a radio operator was eight weeks, Noor operated for twice that and some before a former neighbour gave her up to the Gestapo. But not before she sent off information that was crucial in pre D-Day planning.

Once captured she was not tortured instead had ‘conversations’ about music, literature and the like once it was accepted she wouldn’t answer any questions about her work. She escaped twice and was recaptured and after D-Day (she didn’t know it had happened) she was moved to Dachau and killed with three other women. Noor has been officially honoured by the French and British governments as well as individual groups.

The book is based on extensive research, including manuscripts and documents, as well as interviews. At times it was a ponderous read particularly when dealing with some of the Sufi teachings, as well as the SOE. I think it is the author’s writing style as well as the subject matter. Having read a number of researched historical fiction on the resistance in France and the role of the SOE learning how it operated with Noor was an eye-opener. It wasn’t the smoothly operating organization portrayed in other books. This could be because of timing, it was published in 2020 so more documents may have been made available to researchers. It is worth reading.

Reviewed 2021-2-15

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#33. Enquiry, Dick Francis

We learn through flashbacks that narrator Kelly Hughes and trainer Dexter Cranfield have just lost their licenses; an enquiry panel was of the opinion that Kelly had held back his odds-on favorite and let another Cranfield-trained horse win. However, there was enough inconsistent behavior exhibited by the panel that Kelly believes he was set up and he is determined to find out who framed them.

This book is a study in social class at all levels. Kelly’s family, poor farm workers in the mountains of Wales belief he ‘deserved’ to lose his license because ‘The Lord’ Steward said so just as much as the Steward who was a ‘Lord’ believed he had the right to take it away. Wealthy trainer Canfield felt the ruling had more impact on him because of his social position than it did on his workers who he laid off for something which they had no responsibility. Roberta Canfield exposed only to her parents views acts the same way and wonders why she is treated as she is by ‘Hughes,’ as she refers to Kelly. Like father, like 19 year old daughter.

In addition to social levels determined by birth and wealth, Francis throws in behaviour towards deviant sexual practices and mental illness. It is rare that a person is looked at for themselves and then have their circumstances are accessed before behaviour or standing is judged.

Reviewed
2021-2-16

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#34. Slay Ride, Dick Francis

An official of the English jockey club is sent to Norway to investigate the disappearance of an English steeplechase jockey who is also accused of stealing the day's take at the race track.

I didn’t really like this book when I first read it and I still don’t. The plot is relatively easy to follow but the Norwegian names make the characters more difficult to follow. I expected the main character to be more questioning, even suspicious of his friend, Arnie. Who would meet someone off a plane from London and put him in a rubber dinghy to talk unobserved in Oslo Harbour, for that matter why would anyone in their right mind and a business suit go!

⭐️⭐️⭐️

#35. A Dartmoor Murder, Roy Lewis

An American mine owner uses political means to have John Crow from Scotland Yard’s Murder Squad investigate a murder at his mine in Devon and to evaluate his company’s problems. Crow objects at the high handed manner and outside the normal procedures this case is receiving but off he
goes to Dartmoor. He encounters local resentment and objection to the investigation as well as to the existence of the American owned mine and the environmental issues surrounding open pit mining. In a tense ending which brings the owner, politicians and locals together for an opening ceremony that turns into an ugly demonstration Crow unveils his case and the arrests are made.

Lewis packs all the issues of foreign ownership, bad management practices and politicians with something to hide and lose in a ‘them against us’ situation into one short mystery and juggles it in a realistic manner.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#36. Buried Secrets, Ted Tayler

This cold case involves the murder of a runner who is strangled and left in a field. Freeman’s first step is always to review the original case files and to develop a list of people to interview. Some were interviewed ten years ago and some not. The dead man had been a naval submarine officer and vacation pictures he send his parents lead the team in a new and very surprising direction. Gus also learns of a change in his personal life that will make a major impact.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#37. Just as I Am: A Memoir, Cicely Tyson

I enjoyed this book but was also frustrated by it. It gives an interesting and honest accounting of the ups and downs in her life. An example being the abusive marriage between her parents, her father was a womanizer and it became violent when her mother could take no more, in the middle of the night, Cicely would be between her parents, crying, trying to stop the fight. Her own relationship with Miles Davis followed a similar pattern. However it was when she excused her father’s behaviour because his background came from slavery where Blacks were mistreated that I had a problem. Why do other men behave in the same fashion? I think it has more to do with power and guilt.

In other sections she talks about the poor Blacks as if they were the only immigrants to experience a hard life. What about the Irish, Italians, Poles and Spanish, to say nothing of the Jews? Each immigrant group left their families and home land under different circumstances and suffered for it. Africans were not given a choice, they were brought to North and South America as well as the Arab world to be slaves. It was much more drastic for them but that does not erase what happened to White immigrants. I capitalized White because, for the first time, I realized in reading this book that other ‘races’ were given that distinction but not Whites. Not in anything I have read.

Our experiences are the same and different but, as in the case of this book, more often separated in unusual ways. I am making a point of this because Tyson did, enough to make me think about more than one side of the immigration history. She talks about not having time to mourn her mother because Blacks have to go back to work to earn a living. This point is made in such a way that this reader thought she didn’t think it doesn’t happen to others, they have as much time as they want. This is not the case.

Tyson played some amazing, strong women in her career. She chose this as her way of protesting the life of Blacks in the United States. She did not carry banners and march in parades. She spoke through her art. One point she made was the few roles written for Black women actors. I am not a movie watcher so it is not something I had thought about before. In some cases I can see it making a difference, for example she portrayed Harriet Tubman and a maid in “The Help” roles that call for Black actors. On the other hand actors of different backgrounds have acted in Shakespeare’s work. Does the colour of the actor or the strength and experience they bring to a role matter more? I don’t know.

She earned many awards and honours for her acting as well as the work she did in promoting Blacks in this field. This included the Kennedy Honours and a special Oscar.

I found this book interesting but full of contradictions. It made me think of things that I am not sure Tyson expected. I don’t expect this to be accepted by all but I hope it makes you think when you read it. Which I think you should do.

Reviewed February 28, 2021

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#38. Wild Horses, Dick Francis

While making a film about racing in Newmarket, the director, Thomas Lyon, finds himself facing a dilemma of whether to reveal the truth about a 26 year-old murder which he learned from a deathbed confession of an old friend or stick to the script. Interesting information on knives and the collecting of them. In 1988 it was made illegal for anyone or institution except for a museum to collect knives or retain a collection they had prior to that date. It is also illegal to carry a knife. It is masterpiece on manipulation both at the time of the original death and current time.

⭐️⭐️⭐️👍

#39. Never Somewhere Else, Alex Gray

I am starting to reread the Detective Chief Inspector William Lorimer, Glasgow Police Department series by Alex Gray. The first book was written in 2002 and I read it in 2014.

Three young women are murdered, mutilated and left in St. Mundgo’s Park. Initially there doesn’t appear to be any connection among them. For the first time Lorimer is working with a psychologist, Dr. Solly Brightman from the University of Glasgow and he is not sure he likes this. It will be an adjustment.

Considering the evidence, the witnesses and the psychological points bring them close to a solution but it is a final act by the killer which breaks it open.

Learning about the architecture of the city, in particular Rennie MacIntyre’s work is interesting.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

February 2021 Summary

5 Reviewed
7 Rereads
9 Read

16 Total Read

#40. A Small Weeping, Alex Gray

The body of two prostitutes are found in the underground station and two nurses from a private care home all holding a red carnation. But does this mean just one murderer.

The nursing home specializes in neural disorders with both I’m and out patients. One resident hears the murder of the nurse and sees him when he enters her room to get a carnation from her vase. She is unable to speak or move so the murderer knows he is safe. Lorimer does gain some valuable information from her.

Maggie Lorimer decides to apply for an overseas teacher exchange. She will be going to Florida for ten months.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#41. Shadows of Sounds, Alex Gray

The leader of the City of Glasgow Orchestra is found dead in his dressing room. DCI Lorimer and psychologist Soloman Brightman are faced not only with his murder and that of the second violin but connections to an international drug ring and trading in stolen musical instruments. Add in homosexual relationships, babies born by the same mother and father but not by the husband. Secrets that people whisper about, a bit here another bit there.

Maggie Lorimer did go to Florida and discovers teachers’ problems are similar on both sides of the Atlantic. With a little help from a friend Lorimer wraps up his case and he nad Maggie’s mother arrive in Sarasota just a day late.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#42. The Riverman, Alex Gray

An international accounting firm that grew out of a family firm based in Glasgow is facing difficult times and their numbers reduced by murder and kidnapping; two partners, and the head of Human Resources are dead and two other partners have disappeared. Perhaps a touch of greed and embezzlement set all this off?

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#43. Pitch Black, Alex Gray

Someone is slowly killing off the players of a Glasgow football club. The question is why? Greed, disloyalty, bribery, and money are among the answers as is spousal abuse gone a step to far. Oh, there is also a clubhouse ghost who plays a major role.

The pathologist, Rosie, is involved in a serious traffic accident which removes Solly Brightman from working on the case and moves him to her bedside.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

# 44. Hot Money, Dick Francis

A break from Bill Lorimer/Alex Gray. Hot Money is one of my favourite Francis books. A VERY wealthy man, Malcolm Pembroke has an uncanny ability to make money buying gold and stocks and knowing just when to sell. He is spending his money and six of his seven children are very upset as they see it as ‘their’ money. He is supporting charities, establishing scholarships, buying horses.

His fifth ex- wife was recently murdered and except for his strong alibi the police would have arrested him. Now someone, he suspects one of his ex-wives or children, has made two attempts on his life (so far.) He has turned to his son, Ian, for protection and a solution.

Dick Francis writes a study of people. In this case it is of a family fighting over the size of a future inheritance. They don’t see the millions their father earned as his to do with what he wishes, it is their future and he should leave it alone. Although he set up each of them with trust funds they want more, now and later. A situation that occurs everyday over hundreds of pounds to millions.

Ian, who believes it is his father’s money to enjoy, studies each of his half-brothers and sisters to determine if they are making the attempts on Malcolm’s life. What he learns is an interesting study in family dynamics. It also leads him to the murderer, but how to prove it?

By the end Ian causes some upheaval in the family and definitely some rethinking of personal desires. For himself he decides to move from amateur to professional steeplechase jockey for the remaining 4/5 years of his career and then look to training. He has also faced up to why he has remained single, he didn’t want to follow his father’s example. Certainly the unveiling of the murderer makes a major impact on the family. At the end the rebuilding of Malcolm’s home which had been twice bombed, is seen as a sign of rebuilding the family.

Reviewed March 10, 2021

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#45. Glasgow Kiss, Alex Gray

A toddler is stolen from in front of her house and a teenage girl is found strangled. The cases are only connected in the overload of work it gives Lorimer and his team. The investigation of the teenager’s dead leads to the discovery of three more bodies. Maggie Lorimer is very much involved as the girl was a student of her's and prior to her death had accused another teacher of raping her, which Maggie does not believe. Once accused, even if found innocent, as is the case here, the teacher’s career is finished because people talk and doubt the solution. As Lorimer tells his wife there are many more victims beyond the immediate ones.

Solutions are fragile things and are arrived at after a lot of hard work as well as by chance, as is the case in both investigations.

#46. The American Agent, Jacqueline Winspear

The new Maisie’s Dobb’s is due out next week so I need to reread her last book.

Maisie Dobbs and Priscella Partridge are joined on their ambulance run by American writer Catherine Saxon in September, 1940. Saxon makes the night’s events her first broadcast to the United States emphasizing the stalwartness of the British public in the face of Hitler’s nightly bombings. By morning she has been murdered. Dobbs is asked by Scotland Yard to investigate the case with American, Mark Scott. The U.S. is divided on what their role should be and attempts are made to silence broadcasters like Edward R. Morrow and Catherine by the Isolationists. Was this behind the murder, or was it this at the family level, Catherine not following her father’s beliefs and decrees to her? Or was it a jilted lover? Maisie has her hands full with this case and more.

This action took place at the beginning of the ‘Blitz’ which was a constant, nightly bombing of London and other parts of England from Sept 7, 1940 until May 10, 1941. Bombing continued throughout the war but this period identified as ‘The Blitz’, from the German word, Blitzkrieg meaning lighting, was known for its intensity and the sheer number of bombers flanked by fighter aircraft and the V flying formation. It is incredible to think that the RAF defended Britain against Germany in the skies above England for over two years with the support of the air forces of some Commonwealth countries. At the same time they did significant damage to Germany by bombing it in return. There was no army on the ground of Europe until 1943 when Canadian troops landed in Italy on July 9, followed by the Americans on September 9.

Winspear has the ability to give a presence to characters that play minor roles. She developes a number of plot lines, some directly related to the murder and others tied to Maisie and has Dobbs juggle them mentally and physically as well as direct the role of others in the solution. She does provide clues to the reader and I could follow some but the outcome was a surprise.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#47. Five Ways to Kill a Man, Alex Gray

A teacher gives her sixth form English class a copy of the poem “Five Ways To Kill A Man” by Edwin Brock and something she could never imagine develops over the next ten years or so.

Lorimer is sent to a small town outside of Glasgow to review a case. What was seen as an accidental fire that killed two adults Lorimer sees as murder. At the same time a serial killer of old ladies has struck three times. Are the cases related?

Maggie’s mother has a stroke and recovers in the hospital. Gray has the treatment of patients perfect, the loss of identity when she is called ‘Alice darling’ by someone decades younger and she would prefer Mrs. Finlay, becoming invisible because wheel chairs are below the sight line of most people, the noise from other patients, the television. She recovers enough to move in with Maggie and Bill but is then kidnapped by the villain in Lorimer’s case.

As always Gray weaves a number of stories throughout the major plot in a masterful manner.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Hi Penny. Stopping by for a big catch-up, always fun, and to say hi.

> 49 i was really interested in Code Name Madeleine: A Sufi Spy in Nazi-Occupied Paris and your review of it.

>55 pmarshall: regarding Just as I Am: A Memoir - interesting comments. I know that when I read memoirs, author’s write about their own lives and the atmospheres they were in. They usually don’t compare and contrast to other situations they didn’t personally experience. I wouldn’t expect Tyson to compare her life to that of other down-trodden ethnicities, even though the discussion might be of interest to readers. Of course I haven’t read the book.

Hi Penny. Just catching up on threads. You’ve been busy. Have you been doing any painting?

>69 NanaCC:

I have done shamrocks and Easter eggs in my project for my sister. I am waiting to get a tooth removed and it bothers my concentration.

>70 pmarshall: I’m sorry about the tooth, Penny. That can be painful and distracting.

I'm catching up, too. Teeth hurt more than they have any right to, don't they?

#48. Sleep Like the Dead, Alex Gray

The most innocent statement thrown out to a student in a Shakespeare seminar by Dr. Solly Brightman sets everything in motion. Kenneth Scott is murdered execution style and there is no why in his life. His former brother-in-law, a drug dealer, skips the country, two of his colleagues are executed and his sister, Scott's ex-wife, disappears. Lorimer has to connect the dots.

Stalking, racism in the police station, the impact of immigrant groups on other races and themselves, well as the criminal activities some brought with them are all touched on by Gray.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

>68 dchaikin:

You are right. I just got frustrated because it reads as if it never happens to non-Blacks. I just expect people to have some knowledge of history and I shouldn’t.
It is an interesting read.

# 49. A Pound Of Flesh, Alex Gray

In Glasgow in a two year period four 'young women of the street' are killed, two strangled and two knifed. Three johns, one who is the government's first minister, all of whom drive a white Mercades SC, are shot at close range. Two serial killers operating at the same time.

Lorimer's question is are the two cases related? He has made a career move and is now a Superintendent heading up the Serious Crimes Squad. He doesn’t know his staff and is far from settled. He is instructed to ignore the women and focus on the death of the first minister. He can only do this for so long because he disagrees with the directive and because Dr. Brightman shows him that the cases are probably related.

Gray provides a good view of the lives of Glasgow’s prostitutes. She has the ability to maintain a number of layers in her books and thus provides good background information that ties in to the main plot. An example of the degree is Dr. Brightman, a tired new father whose infant daughter is not sleeping through the night, decides in his tiredness to leave a message for Lorimer with a police officer when he knows it should be confidential.

On his 40th birthday Maggie has a surprise party for him and part way through the case comes to a climax. Including notification that the Squad is being disbanded for financial reasons.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#50. The Swedish Girl, Alex Gray

Death reveals hidden aspects of a person's life and in the case of the Swedish Girl she was far from the demure persona she presented to people. But neither were the living witnesses. When given the chance to lie about their sexual prowess some guys did and others were to embarrassed or shy to tell the truth. On the other hand Kristy believes in her flat mates innocence and goes to Lorimer and takes steps to assist the police when they take a second look. It changes her life.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#51. The Bird That Did Not Sing, Alex Gray

The 2014 Commonwealth Games are opening July 23 and in the months leading up to them Lorimer has a dead Nigerian young woman recovered from a pond, security issues involving MI6, the death of his high school sweetheart's husband and she has moved into his house as well as the trafficking of young women from Nigeria for sexual purposes
along with the day to day happenings to deal with.

We meet Asa a 15 year old Nigerian girl who is being turned into prostitute to service men going to the Games. Vivian Gilmartin who before she went to London with the dream of being an actress was Bill Lorimer’s first girl friend. She organizes a class reunion while her husband is in Glasgow finalizing an African theatre tour. Both have a sub-set of plans. The ‘Freedom Group’ want to draw attention to a Free Scotland in a big way on the opening day of the Games. Lorimer and his troops have their hands full.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#52. The Bank Job, Alex Gray

A short story that as a prequel to the series explains how a stunner job at a bank led to Lorimer leaving his studies in art history and joining the police.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#53. The Consequences of Fear, Jacqueline Winspear

There are multiple levels to this book. It starts in October, 1942 and ends with the bombing of Pearl Harbour. There is much to fear in both the actions of the characters and the consequences.

England is sending trainer volunteers to work with the Resistance in France. Maisie’s Dobbs is involved with the approval process as the recruits work through levels of training. She experiences great fear for the future of two young women whom she knows.

The Police and Government departments used young boys to run from building to building to deliver messages. One young lad sees a murder occur and then delivers a message to the murderer. There is no sign of the crime so the police don’t believe him and he goes to Maisie who does believe him after some investigation.

The threads of these two events start to intertwine. Maisie’s adoption of Anna is complete and she continues to be torn when she has to spend time away. The new factor is her love affair with Mark Scott and where it might lead.

In her usual fashion Winspear weaves together fact and fiction to provide the reader with a good read.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#54. Keep The Midnight Out, Alex Gray

Maggie and Bill’s special place is a cottage on the island of Mull. But it has now been invaded by a dead body, the noise of fight birds drew Bill to the body of a red headed young man laying on the lawn above the tide line. As Lorimer studies the scene he has vague memories of a similar body about 20 years earlier in Glasgow, one of his first cases. One that was never identified. The chief investigator is not partial to Lorimer’s presence, she is afraid he will take over her crime which is not his intent at all.

One theme that has gone through the previous books is the childlessness of the Lorimer’s and the three or more miscarriages Maggie and Bill have suffered. The first is recounted in this book as it moves back to the 20 year old crime. In their case it drew them together. Maggie is an English teacher to the top four forms (junior and senior high school.)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#55. The Darkest Goodbye, Alex Gray

Someone is making money in a terrible way. The number of dead elderly or terminally ill is growing but the number of killers is unknown so the numbers could be much higher. Email approaches are made to relatives from Quiet Release offering to relive the suffering of their loved ones ... for £5,000.

Into this complex plot Gray weaves in a newly released ex-con nurse who is befriended by the Christian manager of a nursing home for stroke victims. Lorimer is drawn in because Maggie’s cousin is one of victims. DC Kirsty Wilson’s first day with the CID has her questioning some actions of the officer appointed her mentor. What should she do? Add in a man claiming to be the unknown out-of-wedlock son of a woman who has left her son over a million pounds in her will. Is it good luck or good management?

As one woman in the book says “You take your sick dog to the vet don’t you?” This is a difficult topic to deal with and Gray does it well.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Catching up (you're such a prolific reader I'm perpetually behind!), but noting in particular your book on Noor Inayat Khan. Sounds hugely interesting. The bravery of men and women like her is so humbling.

>83 AlisonY:

When you live in a nursing home during COVID-19 there is not a lot to do so I read. I have read a few good new titles but mainly I am rereading books. Unlike some readers I don’t remember every book so it is like reading new ones, exceptof course for Dick Francis, an old friend.

#56. Still Dark, Alex Gray

The person at the head of Quiet Release was not captured in The Darkest Goodbye and has moved in a new direction in Still Dark. He is gathering information from street people and creating new false identities for himself.

Lorimer has a mental breakdown after, on New Year’s Eve, he faces a gunman who has killed his wife and two sons, it ends with his blood and flesh covering Lorimer after he shoots himself and baby daughter. After time in a police treatment facility he returns to work to head up the reopened investigation. He encounters police corruption which hinders his work.

Gray provides wonderful descriptions of Glasgow, and Scotland, it’s neighbourhoods, architecture and gardens.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

>84 pmarshall: Being in a nursing home during COVID must be really tough. Are libraries open for you to get new titles, or is there a library area in your home?

>86 AlisonY:

I borrow ebooks from the library but their collection is not the best.

#57. Only the Dead Can Tell, Alex Gray

The most complicated book to date in the Lorimer series however Gray lays it out so the action in different places, the large number of characters and the numerous activities can be easily followed.

A woman dies in Glasgow, did her husband murder her or did she kill herself? Pop-up manicure shops are fronts for brothels run by sex-traffickers who bring in young women from Slovakia in Aberdeen involving a Glasgow car hire business owned by the dead woman’s husband.

There is conflict among the police and with the pathologist, Dr. Rosie Ferguson (Brightman) over her decision it is suicide and not murder and the outcome could damage her career while she is off on maternity leave. Lorimer and his officers bring the various threads together successfully.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#58. The Stalker, Alex Gray

Maggie Lorimer is doing an author’s tour of Scotland with her first children’s picture book. Her husband is dealing with the current murders of two women and another murder of some years ago. All three women, as well as Maggie, have similar looks and the stalker is attracted to her. In addition to the real stalker the P.R. Assisted she has accompanying her on the book tour decides to make the most she can from the situation to get publicity even if she fakes things.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

March Summary:

Read: 5
Reread: 13

Total: 18

#59. When Shadows Fall DSI William Lorimer, Alex Gray

Flynn finds a 20 year old corpse in a flower bed he has been hired to dig up. Someone is killing retired police officers across Scotland, five, plus one to go, one who is still a leader. A serving officer is murdered in a similar manner but the bullets don’t match. The bullet in the skeleton does match.

Police Scotland is stretched to its limits, morale is low, people are quitting. Just what the person behind the plan wanted. Gradually Brightman sees the plan but it takes believable divine intervention to bring it to an end.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#60. Before the Storm DCI William Lorimer, Alex Gray

Written from the point of view of a former Zimbabwean police officer forced to flee his country, Syrians who are not happy in Glasgow and have joined forces with a woman to create a terrorist moment on Christmas Eve as well as Lorimer. He is aware there is something being planned and it is a matter of putting pieces of information together and to make use of the skills of the Zimbabwean to come to a solution.

I am now up to date with the Lorimer series and I need to wait for Gray to write another book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#61. A Genuine Mistake: The Freeman Files, Ted Tayler

A stranger rings a doorbell and leaves a dead man on the steps. The description of the dead man by family, friends and staff is almost too good to be true, open, friendly, honest, true to his family, his business dealings honest and lawful. Why was he murdered? Gus Freeman and his cold case squad uncover only one thing not identified by the original police. He had been wearing white gloves when he went to the door and they are missing. Why? True to form the case is solved and the answer is a major surprise.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#62. High Stakes, Dick Francis

A crooked trainer in cahoots with a bookie are out to take a toy inventor, Steven Scott, for all he is worth. When the cheater is caught out he refuses to accept that his behaviour has brought out actions against him by the innocent victim. Hatred blinds people. On the other hand the innocent victim finds there are unexpected costs to exposing the guilty, costs that hurt him. But he would do it again.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I have returned to Dick Francis and his Sid Halley series, one I haven’t read for some time. It is probably the most violent of his books, first the attacks are against him but they extend to friends and family to increases the pressure on Halley to drop the case. He covers an interesting range of cases, the take over of a race track to use for housing, internet gambling and, of course, crooked trainers and jockeys. I admire Halley for his belief in right and wrong, his ability to think through a situation, his willingness to stand up for people forced into the wrong position and his taking on his opponents directly when forced to by them. I am missing one title Come to Grief which has a well known television presenter harming colts. An interesting mix.

#63. ODDS AGAINST, Dick Francis

A bullet to the stomach kick starts the second phase of Sid Halley’s professional life, that of a private investigator. His first case is to save a race track from being turned into 'ticky-tacky little boxes.' A horse stepping on his wrist ended his riding career and in this case he is faces with the complete ruin of it as men attempt to beat information out of him.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#64 Whip Hand, Dick Francis

Halley is approached by two different individuals to look into syndicates of horses and the people behind them. Some are clean and some are not.

The wife of one of the best trainers tells Halley that in the past two years two of their best young horses who were expected to win a big race and bombed were got at before the race. She says the same will also happen to their current star. Everyone thinks she is menopausal. She wants Sid to protect him.

Finally his ex-wife has become involved in a swindle scheme and her partner has absconded with the money. If charged she could go to jail. Halley’s former father-in-law has asked him to look into the situation however she fights him all the way.

Halley is challenged mentally and physically is this book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#65. Under Orders, Dick Francis

Sid Halley is asked to investigate the fixing of races and internet gambling on a day that also saw the murder of a jockey, a trainer and the death by heart failure of a winning horse. The horse was morned by more than the others. In past cases Sid has show that he can't be intimidated by threats of force, in this case he has to show that threats to his loved ones get the same reaction.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#66. Refusal, Felix Francis

Sid Halley returns to investigation against his will. He has come to the attention of an Irishman from Manchester who specializes in moving in on people and taking over their liives and have them do as he says. This is not Sid's way so putting himself and family in danger he sets out to put McCusker out of business. In the process he is accused of sexually abusing his six year old daughter. He also undergoes tests, physical and psychological, to see if he is a suitable candidate for for a hand transplant. Then he has to hope for rain.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#67. Proof, Dick Francis

Tony Beach drifted into the work of a wine merchant because he didn’t have his family’s interest in the military or horse racing and he did have the ability to identify wines and spirits based on smell and taste. He never felt he lived up to his father’s expectations of him as a leader and his fear of acting in a pressure situation. In Proof his experience with wine and spirits helps him track down stolen tankers of whiskey and in doing so he proves to himself that he can overcome the fear of acting just as his father did.

I see different threads as I reread Dick Francis. Upfront there is the story, the entertainment, always a horse or two somewhere, a little violence, sometimes romance, right versus wrong. Behind that is a theme sometimes of family, often a conflict between father and son, or the strength of friendship and what it means when the bond is broken. Interesting.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#68. Blood Sport, Dick Francis

Hawkins job is to be a fixer for his boss. This request, to recover a stole horse in the United States, is outside the norm. However when he witnesses the attempted murder of the horse’s owner, while having a Sunday cruise on the Thames he agrees. It is a complicated mystery but well laid out for the reader.

Hawkins suffers from severe depression which is a difficult battle when not working. It takes another man losing his life to save his that makes him realize that he can’t squander this gift. He has to live. As a person who suffers from depression I could identify with him.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#69. Field of Thirteen, Dick Francis

Thirteen diverse characters from book-makers to news editors, from crooked owners to a tramp who walk away with valuable horses and a an infatuated middle age owner who is ripped off by the trainer and handsome young jockey. Francis is so good at defining characters and emotions.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

The new Peter Robinson Alan Banks mystery Not Dark Yet is due to be released May 18th so I have been rereading the last four titles as they all feed into it.

#70. When the Music’s Over, Peter Robinson

Two cases, one current and one 50 years ago addresses the issue of sexual abuse of underage girls. Not a topic I like so I have been avoiding this Robinson book in the Alan Banks series. However he dealt with it well although parts are graphic.

The current case is the investigation of a murder, the body of a young woman is found on an isolated rural lane. She was sexually and physically assaulted. This case turns into one that involves 30 - 40 aged Pakistani men grooming young white women to be prostutues. Most of them are 2 or more generations British but “play the race card” when it is convenient which keeps the community on edge.

The historical case involves a then 14 year old being raped by a well known actor. The investigation shows this was not a single occurrence for the actor as other women come forward. Missing police records add to the difficult of investigating this case.

An interesting read inspite of the subject matter.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The topic of sex trafficking runs through this and three of the next four titles as does racism and immigration into England fro Asia. The views and behaviour toward women in those countries and in England are highlighted.

#71 Sleeping in the Ground, Peter Robinson

A sniper on a hill across the valley from a wedding party ... and he strikes, bride, groom, 2 bridesmaids, a photographer, the father of the groom, a guest, it is over in less than a minute. It takes Banks and his team longer and it is necessary to go back to a 50 year old murder before this case is solved.

An sideline to Banks is his interest in poetry and music. The reader receives a tutorial in music ranging from the classics to ‘the 60’s music of his youth to ‘90’s rock, particular artists and songs and the memories and feelings that come with the music.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

April Summary

Reread - 11
Read - 2

Total 13

Total = 71

#72. Careless Love, Peter Robinson

Beautiful, intelligent women students in need of money to cover the costs of their education are recruited to be the mistress of older, wealthy men. Something goes wrong and the first body is found in a car the police had pulled off the road until it could be towed to the garage. The question is suicide or murder? The second body, a man in evening dress is found in a crevice on the moor. It appeared that he fell and broke his neck. The third body, the second woman in fancy dress was found in a fallen down shed and it is murdered. It is a complicated case that takes imagination as well as hard slogging by the police.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A different view of the use of women in the sex trade.

#73. Many Rivers to Cross, Peter Robinson

There are three lines to the plot of this book which are intertwined. The death of a 13 year old Syrian who was smuggled into England and as a result got caught up in drug trafficking. The smuggling involved underage males and females as well as drugs and was controlled by Albanians. One woman, Zelda, a friend of Bank’s, had been caught up in it and the aftermath for a number of years escaped and put it behind her, although it still lived in her mind. She comes across one of the top Albanians and determines to do away with him. The third strand is the division between the section of the city waiting to be redeveloped and its relationship with with the wealthy neighbourhood it abuts. Cases are solved but I suspect parts of this book will continue in the next.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Zelda and her story is a major part of this book although she did appear previously. It is her story that I expect to read more of in the new title. An event and character ties back to an earlier Banks incident when he is drugged and his home set on fire. Two colleagues rescue him.

#74 Extraordinary Canadians: Stories from the Heart of Our Nation, Peter Mansbridge, Mark Bulgutch

This book was not what I expected but was so much more. I thought it would be about Canadians whose name I would recognize, from history or the news. Instead it was about ‘ordinary’ Canadians who took steps to make their lives extraordinary. People who lived through the circumstances live gave them and used what they learned to educate and do good for others. There are seventeen stories in total, the majority about single individuals.

Hope Swinimer from Nova Scotia who studied to be an accountant so she could manage a veterinarian clinic and opened the first wildlife rescue and rehabilitation shelter in the province. Jessica Grossman, now an actor and model, from age 8 to 13 lived in and out of hospital in agonizing abdominal pain, she couldn’t sleep or eat. She had Crohn’s disease and it wasn’t until she had surgery at age 13 and got an ostomy bag that she could live her life. She took up educating people about ‘the bag’ through a blog and public speaking. Bill Campbell started successful not-for-profit housings projects in Prince Edward Island. Robb Nash does about 250 musical performances in schools annually helping students deal with depression and suicidal thoughts. He has been there, he knows.

There are more interesting people and their stories, each told in the words of the subject. This adds to the interest ad variety of the book.

The author, Peter Mansbridge, worked for the CBC and ended his career as the top broadcast journalist in the country. What he does, he does well. The book was published in 2020 and includes an article on an emergency room nurse in Vancouver planning how to treat COVID-19. Even if you aren’t Canadian the people will appeal to you.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Reviewed May 7, 2021

#75. Silks, Felix Francis

Geoffrey Mason, barrister cum amateur jockey, is defending a fellow jockey of a murder charge. He is also being threatened by a former client to ensure that the jockey is found guilty. Like other Dick Francis books the focus is less on horses and racing and more on the murder and in this case the law. I have been re-reading some favourite Francis’ titles and I looked forward to “Silks.” Unfortunately it doesn’t measure up to many of his books. The plot is interesting but it needs a good edit to improve its pace and flow and to reduce the lecturing tone. However if you are a Francis fan it is worth reading.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#76. The Lions of Fifth Avenue, Fiona Davis

A family saga that occurs in 1913 -16 and 1993 centred on the New York Public Library and members of a family who lived and worked there. The major event is the theft of valuable old books in both time periods. It provides an interesting view of life in New York in 1913 particularly for women.

I enjoyed it but felt it needed to be edited to provide a smoother read.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#77. Left You Dead, Peter James

It doesn’t pay to make assumptions. In this case a woman leaves her husband in the car and goes into the grocery store to buy kitty litter and disappears. Her husband is arrested for her murder although her body is not found. Assumptions are made based on this and other information which nearly causes three deaths before the case is ended.

Grace and his boss Pewe have a final showdown and one of them will go. Roy and his wife face a personal crisis when his son Bruno suffers extreme head injuries when he is playing on his phone and steps in front on a car.

There is an incredible amount of repetition in this book. The evidence did increase in size but there was no need to review it from the beginning four or five time. A couple of times would have been sufficient, readers do remember. I will admit that I don’t remember all books in a series and that is why I read the last before the new one. But while reading I do keep track of events. However I do miss not being able to flip pages in a book when I am reading an e-book. The editing is why I gave this only 3.5 stars.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#78. Strange Beginnings: The Freeman Files Series, Ted Tayler

Gus Freeman pickup his next case hoping it is more straightforward than the last, but it is not to be. A woman was murdered in her car, parked on a busy street and her body lies over the steering wheel for two hours before it was noticed. The team have to work through confusing family dynamics, one father several mothers and children, weekend sex parties for couples and underage girls, which 20 years later leads to blackmail, crooked cops and, of course, witnesses that only tell partial truths. The team’s work takes the case only so far and the rest is unscrambled in Gus’s head.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#79. Banker, Dick Francis

Merchant banker, Tim Ekaterin, invests n a prime stallion. This brings him into contact with Calder Jackson who claims he can cure horses by laying his hands on them. The bank lends money to a breeder but there are problems when the first season of foals are born. Who creates the ills from which the horses are cured?

An interesting example of how newspapers can be used to bring about change, in this case in bank security.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#80. Not Dark Yet, Peter Robinson

As I expected this book carries on from Many Rivers To Cross with alternating sections follow the strains of the plot. Zelda is in Eastern Europe as she seeks out the truth of how the girls from the orphanage were picked out then returns to London where she learns that her boss was working for the Albanians. This puts her in contact with one of the two men who snatched her when she left the orphanage. She returns to Yorkshire and the action continues.

Gerry and Annie are investigating the murders of two men and get sidetracked by a hidden camera video of a rape. This case gets closed. Banks is involved with the major investigation of the murders as well as the roll of Albanian mobsters. He is also concerned about Zelda. There is a possibility the latter two could reappear however I think Robinson has devoted enough time to them. I wonder where he will go next?

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#81. Prince Philip: I Know I am Rude, But I Like It: The Royals and the Rest of Us as Seen By Prince Philip, Nigel Cawthorne

The author has taken quotes from Prince Philip’s comments and speeches on a variety of topics, e.g. Science, Industry, Education, Travel, and the Press demonstrating his rather bizarre sense of humour and his lack of patience and temperament. He did not suffer fools gladly. Because much of it is out of context it is difficult to judge whether it is humorous or not. What doesn’t come across clearly is what a hard working Royal he was until at ninety he started to step back from the over 600 educational, charitable, military, and international associations, to name only a few, that he was associated with, many in an active working capacity.

There is biographical information at the beginning and end which places his life in context within the Royal Family.

One interesting fact I learned was it was King George VI, Queen Elizabeth’s father, who said “The House of Windsor is not a family but a firm,” in 1945.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

#82. A Little Red Book of Murder Stories, Bill Pronzini

A collection of seven short stories Pronzini has written over the past thirty years. It included one Nameless Detective story, a series I have followed for years.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#83. Wish You Were Dead: Quick Reads 2021, Peter James

A holiday in France turns into a horror story for Roy Grace and his family when it is high jacked by two recently paroled criminals Grace had helped put away. It is a novella write to attracted readers as part of the Quick Reads Series by The Reading Agency.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Lots of great reading!

How do you do those yellow stars?

>115 Nickelini::

It is an emoji I have on my IPad keyboard.

#84. Be Kind, Be Calm, Be Safe: Four Weeks that Shaped a Pandemic, Bonnie Dr. Henry

First off the subtitle is misleading as Dr. Henry deals with the time she hears about this respitory disease in China at the end of 2018 until April, 2019. It explains it reached British Columbia and spread through and the steps they developed to track it, study it, make decisions regarding actions and communicating information on COVID-19 to the public and particular community groups. The process she under took is quite fascinating.British Columbia has a large Asian population, many business links with China and numerous airlines connected China and Vancouver. So it was natural for the disease to show up there first.

Dr. Bonnie Henry is the Provincial Health Officer for the Province of British Columbia, Canada. She consults with the Minister and Deputy Minister of Health and an assortment of community, provincial, national and international groups but is solely responsible for making the rulings that govern public health in the province. Her’s is not a political appointment.

The book covers in detail the development of her planned public health response for the province of British Columbia in dealing with the pandemic. I remember watching her news briefings from that time and how impressed I was with the way she presented detailed information to the public in a calm, straightforward manner. She has the ability to make hard decisions knowing how they will impact individuals but does so because they have to be done. Each statistic she reports is a person, not a number. She has become an hero for many in B. C. The title “Be Kind, Be Calm, Be Safe” comes from one of the mantras she repeats. Another is “It’s Not Forever, But It Is For Now.”

She opens a part of her life to the public. Just after closing down a variety of services, including hair salons she realized it is time for a cut and colour. She knows her hairdresser would go to her home but she also knows she can’t ask her to do so. Instead the hairdresser drops off some products and directions and she and her sister, Lynn do her hair. Following her next weekly televised press conference comments start circulating about her hair. So on the next Friday she tells the story of her hair, admitting neither she or her sister would be good hairdressers.

I found the book interesting but it could have been edited to make it easier to read. I found it dense, particularly in the prologue which was full of acronyms referring to public health organizations and national and international groups set up to deal with COVID-19, which were unnecessary as they weren’t used in the rest of the book. Because of her work with her team the province handled the first wave well and if the book continued it would show the preparations continued to hold.

If you live elsewhere this book will provide you with one government’s approach to dealing with COVID-19. If you somehow missed the beginning, how it developed in Wuhan, China and spread across the world this book might interest you. In Canada the Chief Public Health Officer of each province was the key person but each province dealt with it differently, although there was an exchange of information. The role of the Federal Government is with overarching matters, the closure of the border with the United States for example.

It amazes me that Dr. Henry found the time to write this book!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Reviewed May 30, 2021

May Summary

13 Read
2 Reviewed

Total = 84

>116 pmarshall: It is an emoji I have on my IPad keyboard.

Oh nice. I guess if I post from my iPhone I can do the same, and I guess I could edit after I type up my reviews. Hmmmm.

#85. The Comfort Bearer, Cathy L. Patrenos

Soon Ja was 16 when her parents were persuaded to let her go from Korea to Japan to work in a silk factory and earn much need money for her family. Where she ended up was at a Comfort Station in Manchuria. Her ability to meditate saves her sanity as she services soldier after soldier. Men, both good and bad, determine the direction of the next few years of her life. Koshiro, the kind Japanese medical doctor who does the in frequent examinations on the woman discovers she is pregnant and has her moved to his home, not as a sexual partner but a guest. Ping, the truck driver and Resistance fighter against the Japanese, who rescues her when she and the doctor are arrested. Rescued from death but not from a return to the Comfort Station life. Determined to find a way to gather information for the Resistance she prepares herself to be selected by Colonel Yamada, the new camp commander, as his ‘woman.’ This leads her to Shanghai where the Colonel is killed in a terrorist bombing and she is severely injured. Akira, Yamada’s aide, and a Red Cross nurse protect her during her recovery. She ends the war as a nurse before returning to Korea. Years later she testifies on her experiences in a class-action suit against the government of Japan but it takes years for a decision. However it does bring the story full circle when she is reunited with her family.

Prior to and during World War II over 200,000 women from across Asia, with the majority from Korea, were forced to work as Comfort Women by the Japanese military. Other more appropriate terms would be prostitute or sex worker or whore. There is historical documentation on this although it is still strongly denied in Japan or told with a different slant that recognizes men’s needs, not women’s rights. It is clear the author did a fair amount of research into this and the ongoing conflicts between Japan and Russia, Manchuria and China prior to WW II.

I liked the book and learned from it however I feel there was too much repetition on her meditations. They were important to her but I didn’t need to be told more than a couple of times. This includes the mountain descriptions. Also the atrocities that Japan’s military practiced are overused in making the point. I felt she was reaching to deface Japan when she had already clearly established its place in history. Readers do forget some details but don’t want to be bombarded by them over and over to ensure they don’t.
On the whole it is an interesting accounting of a little know historical event that violated international law and was a crime against humanity.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Reviewed June 1, 2021

#86. The Bombay Prince (A Perveen Mistry Novel Book 3), Sujata Massey

The future King of England and Emperor of India, Prince Edward (VIII) is touring the Indian subcontinent for four months start in Bombay in November, 1921. The tension that is seething across the country becomes the backdrop for the action of this interesting mystery. The divisive issue is independence, some people want it and others don’t and the Prince’s visit brings out the demonstrators, the terrorists, freedom activists and the racial and religious conflicts.

Indian students at a small Scottish Presbyterian college have been told they will see the Prince as a group, a decision that is not welcomed by all students and faculty. While the Royal party is driving by the college a male student chases the vehicle down the street and is arrested, and the body of a female student is found in the grounds. The first thought is suicide but the coroner rules it murder by strangulation.

Perveen Mistry is involved because the young woman had asked her for an opinion just a few days earlier. Could the College expel a student who refused to attend the viewing? The answer was it depended on whether a contract had been signed upon admission and what it included and/or if there was a handbook on student behaviour and expectations. Mistry was on the grounds when Cuttingmaster’s body was found and she and her father attended the Coroner’s Inquest representing her parents.

The Police claim that Cuttermaster was a terrorist because of her involvement in the Student Union Club and her stand in favour of independence. Also some of her belongings were found near a railway that had been sabotaged. An American journalist appears everywhere and seems to know more than he should.

The book conveys a real sense of what being in Bombay was like following the riots and destruction of businesses and local properties. As well as the conflict among the population groups India is divided in to: Indian, British, Anglo Indian and other local groups plus the major religions, Hindus, Muslim, Buddhists, Christian and Sikhs and minor ones like Parsi which is prominent in this book.
Massey’s research into the Prince’s visit and its impact on Bombay and the different aspects of society is evident I particularly enjoyed her descriptions of the architecture of the city, buildings like the Asiatic Society of Bombay (Mumbai) and its many gardens.

“The Bombay Prince” is the third title in the Perveen Mistry series and award winning author Sujata Massey doesn’t disappoint her readers.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Reviewed June 4, 2021

#87. The Mystery of Mrs. Christie, Marie Benedict

This novel is related in calendar order two levels of Agatha Miller Christie’s life. The first level starts with her meeting of Archie Christie in 1912, a meeting that breaks all the rules of society that govern Agatha’s life. Two years later Archie persuades her to marry him when he is home on Christmas leave in 1914. Durning the war Agatha works as a nurse then trains to work in the pharmacy. This gives her the background on poisons that she uses in her books. This level follows the course of her marriage, birth of her daughter, the changes in Archie and finally to her disappearance.

The second level follows Archie over the eleven days of Agatha’s disappearance in 1926. It shows an unpleasant side of Archie’s personality. It also brings the two of them together and Agatha claims to have amnesia from a car accident and has no memory of the past eleven days.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#88. The Murder of Mary Russell, Laurie R. King

The new Mary Russell book is out but before I read it I need to read Riviera Gold but something in it took me back to this book. So Castle Shade has to wait until I get Mrs. Hudson straighten out.

The secret life of Mrs. Hudson comes to the forefront when her son Samuel appears at the Holmes' house in Sussex and confronts Mary Russel. Mrs. Hudson and Holmes are left with a blood stained sitting room and no Mary. The book alternates with the past life of Clarissa Hudson and the present. Who would have thought that Mrs. Hudson, landlady and housekeeper to Sherlock Holmes would have such a varied background.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#89. Riviera Gold, Laurie R. King

Following Island of the Mad Sherlock goes to Romania and Mary works as crew aboard a sail boat from Venice to Monte Carlo where she takes on a search for Mrs. Hudson.

The plot is twisted around various past and present smuggling activities, one involving Jack Hudson (Clara Hudson’s father), another the Czar’s gold both pre-revolution and 1925. King also mixes in some Americans, Gerald and
Sara Murphy, authors Fitzgerald and Spanish artist Picasso for colour as well as Lillie Langtry, a long time friend of Clara Hudso and some Russian nobility/thugs.

Even with the multiple characters and strings of plot King does keep it moving and fairly straightforward.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#90. Castle Shade, Laurie R. King

Holmes’ client is Queen Marie of Romania, granddaughter of Queen Victoria and Czar Nicholas. She has a castle in a small town in Transylvania which she is gradually rebuilding. She has received a threat to her teenage daughter and there have been strange events happening in the surrounding area which threatened the lives of animals and teenage girls, including an attack on Russell. People are talking of vampires. After much description of the castle, the town, countryside and people Russell and Holmes finally have some ideas on what is happening and take action. The culprit is stopped in front of the Queen by her daughter and a valuable vase and her dog, with Russell close behind.

I liked this the least of any of the books in the series. There was too much repetition and description and it lacked balance. Although Bram Stoker wrote of Dracula in Transylvania, as King tells us more than once, I found the vampires totally unbelievable.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Hi Penny. I just finished the second Perveen Mistry, and hope to get to this one soon. I’m also interested in the Agatha Christie book. I’m looking forward to your comments about Mary Russell. I know nothing about those books.

>125 NanaCC::

Glad you enjoyed Sujata Massey’s books. She has an earlier series featuring Rei Shimera an American of Japanese decent who is an antique dealer in Japan.
The Mary Russell series is reading interesting, good mysteries with lots of information about different places and events. The newest Castle Shade takes place in Romania and is # 17 in the series.
I highly recommend both authors.

>118 Nickelini::

Did it work?

#91. The Mary Russell Companion, Laurie R. King

King reviews how she received the ‘memoirs’ of Mary Russell in a metal trunk with pieces of clothing and other assorted things. She clearly states that the first book The Beekeeper’s Apprentice was either A) written by herself or B) was a memoir of Russell’s found in the trunk. She discusses each of the first twelve books, with some input from Russell. This is followed by discussion of the memoirs, the role of Holmes and the ongoing role of Russell. There was definitely new information I didn’t know before about the books and Russell and Holmes. It appears that she lived into her nineties (or more) and Holmes, 40 years older was still alive and active. That part was hard to believe!

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#92. The Marriage of Mary Russell, Laurie R. King

Holmes proposes as he and Russell are sitting on the banks of the Thames after escaping from a boat that was on fire and exploding. Blackened cheeks, singed hair and a possible concussion didn’t make it very romantic. They don’t tell anyone as they wanted only witnesses present. Then Holmes gets the idea of holding it in the chapel on the family estate currently controlled by cousins he doesn’t get along with. The end result is far beyond their dreams or nightmares!

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#93. The Dictionary of Lost Words, Pip Williams

When I was young and I asked my mother how to spell a word she would say “Look it up in the dictionary.” And I would reply I can’t because I can’t spell it.” This historical fiction covers the years 1886 to 1989 and significant events told through the words of Esme Nicoll.

At age five she introduces us to the Oxford English Dictionary and how it is compiled, how decisions are made on what words are included and, more importantly, the words, mainly words related too and used by women are omitted. Her father is one of the associates and her first relationship with the dictionary’s workings is sitting under the work table and picking up the discarded slips.

Esme becomes friends with an actress who introduces her to the world of the protesting suffragettes. Not a place where she is comfortable and she struggles with what actions in which she can become involved. This friendship leaves another major mark on Esme’s life.

The third event is World War One which has a major impact of the progress of the dictionary as young men enlist. Her wedding to Gareth, a compositor with the Oxford University Press who is working on the dictionary takes place before he goes to the front. It also leads her to a new use of words and language working with soldiers who have lost the ability to speak as a result of what they suffered in battle.

The dictionary is finally completed in November, 1928 and work has already started on the first of several supplements before the second edition is released in 1989. This is a historical novel for people who love words. The ending brought tears to my eyes.

I don’t always read the Afterwords and Acknowledgments but in this case I urge you do so as the history of the dictionary continues. They identify the historical people and reinforce the true activities that are in the novel.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Reviewed June 23, 2021

#94. Lady Clementine: A Novel, Marie Benedict

I have read a number of the titles Benedict recommends on Clementine Churchill and although they touch on her war work it is not presented in the same way as this book. The emphasis is truly on Mrs. Churchill, warts and all, as a wife, mother and individual. She was a strong woman and accomplished much, but also suffered from depression which she gradually learned to control Theirs was a true love match, it was not always smooth but their love never faltered.

Her early life is covered but the emphasis is on her life with Winston Churchill until the end of World War II. She made a decision to put her husband before her children, and he put himself before everyone most of the time. The impact of this on the family clearly shows and it is only with Mary, her youngest daughter, raised by her nanny, that Lady Churchill develops a real adult relationship.

During the war she identified issues that have an impact on women and families and works to solve them. The first being the state of air raid shelters where people spent 12 - 14 hours a day. Her work with the Red Cross led to a project with the Russian Red Cross and in 1945 a six week tour there. She was received with much acclaim by all but Stalin. She also worked closely with her husband on his speeches and letters, preparing for foreign visitors and supporting Winston’s unsure side which he hides from others.

The partnership with the United States was crucial to the war effort and both before and after it’s entry into the war a great deal of time and attention by both Churchill’s was devoted to developing it. Roosevelt’s turning away from W. Churchill and Britain and toward Stalin and Russia in the last year and a half of the war was a bitter blow. More so to the Prime Minister, she had never developed a relationship with Roosevelt and in fact lacked trust in him. The country that had stood alone against Nazi Germany at the beginning of the war is once again alone at the end.

The author’s notes and acknowledgments are worth reading. They clearly show the depth of research she undertook. This is a historical fiction but it has a good foundation of fact.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Reviewed June 26, 2021

>130 pmarshall: I loved that one, Penny. I thought it was very well done. I cried too. Several times in fact. 😄

#95. The Only Woman in the Room, Marie Benedict

I puzzled over the title until close to the end of the book. In 1942 the U. S. Navy turned down the opportunity to misdirect enemy torpedoes and to correct a problem with their own torpedo system because it was developed by a woman. They told her not to play with science and to sell war bonds instead. The system she had developed with musician George Antheil received a patent but that didn’t prevent the government from using the information, without permission or compensation until into the 1990’s.

Lemarr, a name given to her by Louis B. Mayer, was a stage star in Vienna before the war. It was from listening to table talk when entertaining her first husband’s guests that she learned about armaments and the problems Hitler had with his torpedoes that started her learning. It was the Nazis’ torpedoing of a British relief ship with close to a hundred children on board that started her scientific search for a solution. Her escape from that marriage and Austria took her to a film career in Hollywood. The book ends on a night in 1942 in Philadelphia where she raised two million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for war bonds!

As always Benedict’s notes are worth reading. I found the pace of this book slow and repetitive. However I still gave the book four stars because of the way the author presents the many facets of Lemarr in a non- judgmental manner.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Reviewed June 27, 2021

#96. Dead Reckoning: The Freeman Files Series, Ted Tayler

A half dozen people gather in an old pub on Salisbury Plain during one of the worst rain and wind storms of the season. One of the men insults and threatens each of the others. The next day his son finds his body in the entrance to his house. Three years later the case ends up with Gus Freeman and his team who re-investigate the case.
⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

June, 2021 Summary

12 Read
5 Reviewed

96 Read Total

#97. New Brunswick Was His Country: The Life of William Francis Ganong, Ronald Rees

Ganong, 1864 - 1941, has been called New Brunswick’s greatest scholar. He taught Botany at Smith College in Mass. and spent every summer in his home province canoeing down every river to map the province. He was behind the founding of the N. B. Museum in Saint John. His publications number over thousand and cover a number of scientific areas. He had an international reputation.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

For those who don’t know New Brunswick is a Canadian province on the east coast. It shares a border with the state of Maine to the south.

>136 pmarshall: I really envy people like Ganong whose passion and their job are one and the same. Sounds like he was in a league of his own, though - over 1,000 publications.... wow.

#98. A Study in Sherlock: Stories inspired by the Holmes canon, Laurie R. King

Seventeen authors contribute fifteen short stories that feature Sherlock Holmes or are written in the style of Conan-Doyle. They range from Holmes discovering the elixir of youth through a particular strain of honey bees in China, to the death of President McKinley, to a police case in Alaska. Very entertaining.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#99. The Masterpiece, Fiona Davis

In 1928 Clara, a teacher of Illustration at the Grand Central School of Art, makes a name for herself illustrating “Vogue” covers and working with an automobile manufacturer designing cars that would appeal to women, from the head lamps, door handles to the dashboard. She and her fellow artists are reaching their prime when the depression hits. In 1931 a train accident claims the life of some and Clara disappears.

In 1975 Virgina, a middle aged divorcee and breast cancer survivor, gets a job with Penn Central in the information booth at Grand Central Station/Terminal. She discovers the art school and a piece of art that spoke to her. She learns the history and discovers the beauty of the station. She takes on two battles. Finding the name of the artist of her painting and recovering it, at the same time bringing Clara the recognition she deserved. The second battle was to help prevent Penn Central from changing the historical status of Grand Central Station and building a skyscraper on the site.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

>139 pmarshall: Interesting! I take it this is based on a true story?

#100. Death Before Compline, Sharan Newman

Death Before Compline is a collection of short stories featuring Catherine LeVendeur and people within her family circle. Published in chronological order rather than publishing order they add breadth to our knowledge of LeVendeur.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

>140 Nickelini::

The facts about Grand Central Station and Penn Central are true, and the art school is real but the characters and most of the plot are fiction. Jackie Kennedy Onassis was involved in saving the station and she is in the book.

#101. The Bone Code, Kathy Reichs

In Montreal and fifteen years later in Charleston Tempe is faced with the bodies of two females, shot, identically wrapped and stuffed into medical waste barrels and dumped in the ocean some years prior to recovery. In Montreal she and Ryan were unsuccessful in identifying the bodies or developing a case. In Charleston Tempe is determined that won’t happen again. And it doesn’t.

The second aspect of the book is about the manipulation of genes, DNA and vaccines for control and money. It is interesting, and scary, because of COVID-19. For me it gets too scientific and I had trouble following all the details. This is where the book lost half a star.

Overall the basic plot is good and the characters interesting as usual.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#102. The Personal Librarian, Marie Benedict, Victoria Christopher Murray

Belle de Costa Greene (Belle Marian Greener) is the personal librarian to Junius Pierpont Morgan starting in 1906. She learned to love and appreciate books from her father Richard Greener, the first African American to graduate from Harvard and a leader in the civil rights movement in the late 1800’s. She influenced Morgan’s selection of items for the library and carried on as its director until she retired in 1948. She took it from a private to a public library as she believed everyone should have the opportunity to read and be inspired by the collection.

She lived her life as a white woman because she was pale enough to pass. Her mother brought up the entire family in that manner. It was a constant internal battle for her, particularly as she became more aware of the lack of rights for African Americans.

Marie Benedict wanted to write this book for some time but felt she couldn’t do it herself, hence she asked Victoria Christopher Murray to write with her. They edited and rewrote the book through the COVID-19 Pandemic and the racial events of it were discussed. I didn’t know this until I read the author statements at the end of the book, but it was published in 1921 so it was on my mind, some things haven’t changed.

This is historical fiction but well researched and very much based on fact.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Reviewed July 29, 2021

July Summary

6 Read
1 Reviewed

Total = 102

#103. Smokescreen, Dick Francis

Edward Lincoln completes the last scenes of a movie which has him left in the desert handcuffed in a car. He then goes to South Africa to help a friend with her race horses. There the movie scene becomes real life. In the movie the focus was on the mental aspects of being left to die but he realizes when he is undergoing the real thing, no stopping for lunch, it is the physical that is the hardest thing to cope with. And it is all because he was given the gold mine shares someone else wanted to inherit.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#104. Beverley McLachlin: The Legacy of a Supreme Court Chief Justice, Ian Greene, Peter McCormick

I was hoping for more of a biography and less an examination of cases McLachlin was involved with during her 28 year in the Supreme Court of Canada, 17 of which were as the Chief Justice, the first woman to hold this position. However some of the cases were interesting, as was the comparison with the Supreme Court of the United States. She is certainly a woman to admire.

I gave it 31/2 stars because of the choppy writing style which I found difficult to read.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#105. The President Is Missing, James Patterson, Bill Clinton

Regardless of what has come to light in the years since this novel was written regarding attacks against the United States by Russia and countries in the Middle East I found the major premise unbelievable which therefore had an impact on the rest of the plot. I also found the political philosophy aspect of it, which I expect was Clinton’s contribution too long, repetitive and tedious after a while. It is not my kind of book, even when done well.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

#106. A Fire in the Night, Christopher Swann

First off, I think I was mislead by the Early Reviewers blurb because this is more violent than what I normally read. However I paced myself through the bad parts and enjoyed the rest.

Annalise loses her parents in a deliberately set fire and discovers she has an uncle, her father’s brother. It is her father’s actions that brought this about and the continued actions of the terrorists who are seeking the information he has been trying to sell to the highest bidder.

I did enjoy the well-rounded characters and how niece and uncle develop their relationship. I didn’t find the plot entirely believable but it is the second book I have come across with very similar situations involving Saudi oil, unrest in the Middle East and U. S. involvement in the past two weeks.

I received this e-book through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers Program.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Reviewed August 11, 2021

#107. The Address: A Novel, Fiona Davis

Sara Smythe travelled from London to New York to be the managetette of The Dakota Apartment Building in 1885. Theodore Camden was one of the architects of the building and had great plans to move the city up. In 1985 Bailey Camden is renovating the apartment her great-grandfather lived in for her cousin. This is her first job after destroying her reputation and going through rehab. She provides some answers to questions raised a hundred years earlier.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#108. Pray for the Dying, Quintin Jardine

The killing was an expert hit. Three shots through the head, as the lights dimmed at a celebrity concert in Glasgow. A most public crime, and Edinburgh Chief Constable Bob Skinner is right in the centre of the storm, as it breaks over the Strathclyde force. The shooters are dead too, killed at the scene. But who sent them?

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#109. Hour of Darkness, Quintin Jardine

The body of a murdered woman is identified as Bella Watson which brings forth crimes of two opposing crime lords, Tony Manson and Perry Holmes, from the past. An Edinburgh case, Skinner, now chief Constable in Glasgow, gets involved because of the past history and it will hit closer to him than he can imagine before it is solved. It also deals with the final downfall of David MacKenzie.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#110. Last Resort, Quintin Jardine

Bob Skinner has long been an opponent of one police force for all of Scotland and it has now come to pass with Sir Andrew Martin as chief. With over thirty years in policing Skinner is faced with his biggest career decision. His wife, Sarah Grace, urges him to go to Spain and think things through away from the pressures of Scotland.

In L’Escala he is approached by old friend Xavi Aislado, former journalist with the Edinburgh newspaper “Saltire” and now living in Spain running a large multi-media empire. The Loner is an autiobiographical novel of Aislado's early life and Jardine picks that up in Last Resort. One of Aislado’s top I.T. people, Hector Sureda Roca, has disappeared and he wants Skinner’s help in finding him.

At the same time Skinner discovers that he and his family have been stalked for some months. To assist in sorting this out he enlists the help of his daughter Alex in Edinburgh. Alex is going through her own personal and professional crisis as she takes on this case.

In both cases things turn messy fast with murder and mayhem, involving old acquaintances, family members, Russian spies and a mysterious true crime author. Fold into that mix a young man who is in prison for killing his grandmother, and happens to be Skinner’s recently uncovered son.

Once the Spanish case is completed Bob returns to Edinburgh to assist Alex in winding up the stalking case. With his decision made he can relax and look forward to life.

The thing I love about Quintin Jardine is he can take all of the above blend it together and end up with a very readable book that keeps me hanging until the very end. This is the first time he has written a Skinner novel without the police background and usual round of characters and at times he is feeling his way as Bob starts to use his policing skills in new and different ways. The result is a slight lost of believability in some areas of the book. Now that I know there is a future for Skinner I wait, impatiently, for the next book.

****
Posted Review
July 12, 2015

#111. Private Investigations, Quintin Jardine

A fender bender in a shopping mall parking lot reveals the body of a toddler in the trunk when the driver flees the scene on foot. The car he hit was Bob Skinner's. Skinner is asked to investigate the theft of a luxury yacht which, it's owner believes the police dismissed. Then two apparently unrelated incidents lead to more deaths as the unified Scottish Police Force and Skinner follow different leads to a solution that surprised them and will surprise the reader.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#112. Game Over, Quintin Jardine

A famous model, married to a famous footballer, is found murdered in Edinburgh, and the manager of the football club is arrested. Alex Skinner is hired to defend him and despite the overwhelming evidence she believes in his innocence. She persuades her father, a former policeman, Bob Skinner to investigate the case for her. Interesting twists and turns lead to the conclusion.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#113. State Secrets, Quintin Jardine

Bob Skinner is at the Houses of Parliament in London after being offered a peerage. His information seeking meeting is interrupted by a call from the head of the Secret Service to have him investigate the suspicious death of the prime minister.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#114. A Brush With Death, Quintin Jardine

The morning following Leo Speight's retirement party he is found poisoned in his living room. He was a world boxing champion and a national hero. Father to four children with three women and married to none, many friends and business associates whom all have expectations of being in his will. Was jealousy, rivalry or a business dispute the cause?

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#115. Cold Case, Quintin Jardine

As A Brush WIth Death closes Skinner receives a phone call from his friend and former boss Sir James Proud who says “ ... I’ve got a problem.” Proud is being treated for cancer, his wife is showing symptoms of dementia. The phone call leads Skinner to review a thirty year old murder of a vicar accused of molesting a young teenager, the man is convicted but claims his innocence and after two years in jail he hangs himself. Skinner is surprise by somethings he learns from the file but in his first review he finds nothing wrong. But in the end he sees Proud’s problem. Another good read from Jardine.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#116. The Bad Fire, Quentin Jardine
Alexis Skinner becomes involved in investigating a nine year old shoplifting case which ultimately led to the accused, Marcia Brown, a local politician, to commit suicide. Or that was the ruling. The investigation turns nasty when Alexis experiences a home invasion and her colleague goes missing. The police become involved in three different areas, the shoplifting, Brown’s death and the attacks on Skinner. The ending is a complete switch up, quite unexpected. One pleasure is the growth of Dr. Dominic Jackson’s role.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#117. The Roots of Evil, Quintin Jardine

Final count is five murders including a serving police officer and each looks like an execution. What is the connection among the dead? How does a 14 year old robbery of Krugerrand in South Africa fit in, what is the role of the Russians? Bob Skinner may be retired but he is quickly drawn into the complexities of this case. He hired and knew the policeman who had been a close friend of Alexis, he had heard a tale of smuggled Krugerrand and the teller is one of the dead. It is a complicated plot, with many characters and tellers. A good read!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#118. Funeral Note, Quintin Jardine

I should have read this book before I read #108 Pray For the Dying as the last sentence of this is the first of that. The plot starts with the arrest of a policeman for providing information to his cousin, a known criminal. It gets further complicated when the Edinburgh police receive a phone call directing them to a corpse that died of natural causes. The bodies of the disgraced officer and his wife are found shot and burned in the back of a van. MI5 arrive at Skinner’s door with word of a planned assignation.
Each chapter is the voice of a different character contributing their actions and thoughts on an aspect of the action. Very interesting presentation, well done and easy to read. Half a star for that.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

August Summary

16 Books Read
1 Book Reviewed

118 Total

#119. The Loner, Quintin Jardine

"The Loner" is the autobiography of Xavier Aislando from boyhood through to middle age. He is half Spanish and half Scottish and brought up by his grandmother, Paloma Puig in Edinburgh.

The storyline is quiet and gradually draws you into the life of this 'gentle giant,' he stands 6'7 in his socks. He is not alone in his life with close school friends and a love affair that reach back to his early school days and they play a major role in his life. But he is a loner. He determines his own path in life, who will be part of it and who won’t. Once his mind is made up it is very hard to change it. Despite being a journalist there is an innocence to Xavi and the loyalty and honesty he gives he expects in return.

"The Loner" focuses on his successful years as a journalist as well as the massive tragedy, loss and betrayal he faces as an adult. Throughout the Skinner series reference is made to the Saltire newspaper, it is the newspaper it became because of Aislado and is now owned by his company.

My complaint is that the writing lacks the flow of Jardine’s other books. It drags.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#120. A Normal November, Ted Tayler

Gus Freeman’s cold case is only two years old. The owner of a car repair garage is found shot, and some money and personal items missing, by his two employees when they arrive for work one morning. The first investigation declares it a robbery gone wrong. It doesn’t feel that way to Gus, it feels personal. His people ask different questions and look into a couple of unusual events that were previously dismissed as they didn’t fit into the robbery scenario. It is personal but it is also much more than that and closes a number of cases of women killed in early November across England and Europe.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#121. Autographs in the Rain, Quintin Jardine

As Bob Skinner takes an evening stroll in London a shot-gun attack sends him and actress Louise Bankier diving for cover. Back at Headquarters, an ambitious new colleague is scheming to enlarge his territory at Skinner’s expense and in the Boarders someone is stealing trout by the thousands from fish farms.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#122. A Darkness of the Heart, Gail Bowen

Gail Bowen’s latest book has just been released, but as is my way, I have to reread the two before it as they are related to each other and then the newest.

Joanne learns that the man she knew as her father until his death in her late teens was not her biological father. Artist Desmond Love, her adopted daughter's grandfather and father of her close friend artist Sally love was. She is approached by a playwright to allow him to develop a television production on the history of her family. He has currently on Broadway a production based on a series of Desmond Love's paintings and is in Regina to turn it into a movie. Add in show business jealousies, recreated lives, sexual deviant behaviour and a dead man and you get the 18th Joanne Kilbourn mystery. A different background but another must read from Canadian author Gail Bowen.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#123. The Unlocking Season, Gail Bowen

This book picks up from the A Darkness of the Heart and is based on the writing of the script and preproduction work to turn Sally and Joanne’s lives, from age 14 until Sally dies, into a six part television series. The playwright is murdered but it is made to look like suicide, a fire on the set and conflict over control of the project confuse the situation. More than normal all of Joanne’s children are either involved or have their own difficulties. A good read.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#124. An Image in the Lake, Gail Bowen

“Sisters and Strangers” the six part series bases on the lives of Sally Love and Joanne Kilbourn begun in The Unlocking Season is ready for its television debut. Surrounding that event are the internal politics of the media company, the firing and disappearance of two women producers, the more than overbearing behaviour of four student interns and attacks on a provincial political leader, two deaths and more. It is a puzzle for Zach and Jo to solve. I am already looking forward to the next one which is at least a year away.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#125. The Winner’s Circle, Gail Bowen

I discovered I had to go back one more book.

Five law students dubbed themselves the Winners’ Circle and went on to form a top law firm in Regina. But success didn’t bring them happiness, instead it brought about the destruction of all but one of them. Zack had a bad cold so missed the photo session and the gunman.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#126. A Small Case of Murder (A Joshua Thornton Mystery Book 1), Lauren Carr

Joshua Thornton and his five children move to his home town in the Eastern United States following the death of his wife and his retirement from the Navy. He immediately gets drawn into solving current and past murders that focus on a fundamentalist minister and reputed drug lord.

It is in need of a good edit for grammar nd word usage.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

#127. Iced, Felix Francis

The cover labels “Iced” “A Dick Francis Novel” and I think this is a misnomer. Dick Francis wrote novels that had a tie in to horses with a mystery front and central.

“Iced” features the past and present life of former steeplechase jockey Miles Pussett and his mental health problems and the various ways they developed and his attempts to deal with them before receiving professional help. It is interesting, particularly when looking at the news and seeing people in the public eye facing similar problems. The saddest part is as they lose confidence in themselves they are used by others who have power over them.

I was disappointed because I was looking forward to a mystery, however I did gain insight to the mental health issues and their impact on an individual. There is a mystery but it is a small portion of the book. It is well written, which I would expect from Felix Francis, and, perhaps, it is his break away from his father’s style of book from which, I thought, he has been moving away successfully. I was led by the promotion to expect one thing and I got something else. I give it ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/4 stars.

Reviewed September 17, 2021

#128. The Royal Nanny: A Novel, Karen Harper

Based on an actual person who was the nanny to the British Royal family from 1897 until the death of Prince John in 1919. She was nanny to Edward VIII, the Duke of Windsor and King George VI, father of Queen Elizabeth II and their brothers George and Harry and sister Mary. She maintained her connection to the Royal family by virtue of continuing to live on the Sandringham Estate until her death in 1964.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#129. All the Devils Are Here, Louise Penny

Armand Gamache and his wife are in Paris visiting their two children, grandchildren and Armand’s godfather, Stephen Horowitz, a very wealthy venture capitalist. On their first night a truck deliberately hits Stephen and nearly kills him. The search for the driver raises questions about Stephen, his past life and his businesses.

I was getting tired of Three Pines and had stopped reading Penny, however a couple of friends highly recommended the Paris book and they were right. A detailed mystery plus interesting facts about Paris, in particular it’s gardens. A great read!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#130. Full Disclosure, Beverley McLachlin

Jilly Truitt, orphan, foster child, street person and now a criminal defense attorney in Vancouver, is defending a wealthy man accused of brutally murdering his wife. The police identify him as the murderer and stop looking. The case goes to court on circumstancial evidence. The plot is deep and convoluted bringing in a past drug case of Truitt's. I hope McLachlin makes this the first in a series.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#131. Denial: A Novel (A Jilly Truitt Novel) Beverley McLachlin

Four people had keys to the house. Two of those people were in it, one was murdered and the other accused of committing it. But did Vera finally weaken and fulfill her ill mother’s request and end Olivia’s life? Jilly Truitt is defending Vera who is charged with causing the death of her elderly mother who has been suffering from bladder cancer for four years. The prosecutor has a strong circumstantial case and Truitt has very little until another of her cases provides her with the break she needs.

This book resonated with me because I feel strongly that we have the right to die with dignity and that we should have some control over when and how it happens,

It is interesting to note that both Denial and Full Disclosure were written by Beverley McLachlin, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada from 2000 - 2017.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#132. She Wore Only White, Dörthe Binkert

On July 24, 1904 a woman wear a beautiful and expensive white ball gown stowed away on a ship leaving Antwerp for New York. The next morning she approached the captain and was provided with a first class stateroom and told she would be turned over to Immigration in New York. The novel is about the few people she meets and how the interactions of this group change their lives: the Belgian sculptor and the kept woman from Philadelphia, the brother, who has fallen in love with the woman in white and is dominated by his older sister and others. An interesting but slow read.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#133. The Cellist, Daniel Silva

A man dies in London because of nerve gas particles spread through a package of documents on the laundering of money by the Russian government through a Russian bank in Zurich. This touches off a retaliation in the ‘spy’ world lead by Israel’s chief of intelligence. The cellist is a bank employee who made copies of such documents and sent then to various people in an attempt to stir up reaction against Russia at which she was successful. She also plays the cello, plays it very well.

This is the first book I have read that actually addresses the pandemic, the wearing of masks, social distancing and group sizes. It also, without mentioning names, discusses whether the U. S. president will win the election, will he accept the results if he doesn’t, Russia’s possible role in the election, the march and subsequent damage to the Capital Building and the events of January 20, 2021. These are fitted into the plot nicely.

I don’t usually read series like this but I enjoyed it and will see what the library has of the earlier titles.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

>180 pmarshall: that sounds good!

>180 pmarshall: Expect to see some familiar names in the earlier ones - while most stay on their own (there is one duology in there that must be read in order), there is an extra layer from the earlier books that fill in details for the secondary characters. :)

#134. The English Spy, Daniel Silva

It starts with the assignation of a British Princess which has the signature of a Northern Ireland bomber who killed Gabriel’s first family. The plot moves back and forth in time from that bombing and the activities of the IRA, to the forthcoming birth of Gabriel’s twins and the search for the bomber that stretches from Israel to Denmark, Ireland to Russia and ends in Argentina. The repetition of IRA and the New IRA history with Britain adds to the length of the book. Some of it is necessary but not so much.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

September Summary

17 Books Read
1 Book Reviewed

134 Year to End of September

#135. A Choir of Crows, Candace Robb

A big change from the two previous books, it shows how powerful books are.

York is preparing for the arrival of the new archbishop, Alexander Neville. The murder count is at three before His Grace and party arrive and will continue to rise. Owen Archer is now chief of the bailiffs and spy for Prince Edward, son of King Edward III. It is an involved affair, a group of musicians and actors from Europe, a vicar who is shaking down the city merchants for the benefit of the archbishop, the Prince and himself, a nun on the run, travelling as a man with the musicians and has ties to both strong families of the north, the Neville’s and the Percy‘s, and assorted blackards in the city who will work for whom ever pays. More of the Archer family and staff appear in this book than others which adds to its interest.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#136. Penny for Your Secrets (A Verity Kent Mystery Book 3), Anna Lee Huber

Verity Kent and her husband Sidney are making the adjustment from their W. W. I activities and settling into their marriage and peace. It is 1919. They may not see it but they are on the way to being private investigators. In this case a friend of Verity hasn’t been arrested yet but it is thought that she murdered her husband. Another friend asks Kent to look into the dead of her sister. It occurred during a home invasion.Investigation shows that the two cases are related along with a third case they have been manoeuvred into taking on and it will go forward with then. The other cases are closed.

An interesting plot but a series that should be read in order. I found it a slow read with some repetition.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#137. This Side of Murder, Anna Lee Huber

A party to celebrate Helen and Walter’s engagement has a strange grouping of people, some of her friends and all the remaining soldiers he had served with in the Thirtieth. Verity Kent is invited as her husband, Sidney, had been the commanding officer before his reported death and attends because of a threatening letter which claims her husband committed treason. The atmosphere is rather strange even before the dead bodies start to show up.
It filled in a number of gaps I found in the second book Penny For Your Secrets.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#138. Do or Die, Barbara Fradkin

From 2000 to 2014 Barbara Fradkin wrote ten titles in the Michael Green police procedural series set in Ottawa. On October 19, 2021 number 11 will be released so I decided to reread the entire series.

A doctorate student in psychology is found murdered in the University of Ottawa library, the who did it is always a problem and in this case so is the why. A woman he had been seeing is quickly send home to Lebanon by her family to avoid having her name involved. Within the Psychology Department there is conflict and jealousy. Green is a good detective and solves the case but he is not a good manager which creates internal problems. He is also having problems adjusting to being a husband and father and puts himself and his work first.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#139. Once Upon A Time, Barbara Fradkin

An old man, 80+, is found dead in the Ottawa Civic Hospital during a cold snap in late fall. Inspector Green thinks it is murder contrary to the official ruling. His investigation involves him in the lives of Holocaust survivors. It provides an interesting view of the lives of the survivors when and how they were surviving.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#140. The Quasimodo Trunk, Quintin Jardine

In a series of short stories Jardine is writing a mystery, this is the third installment. In the first Born to be Wild actor Oz Blackstone dies in a movie stunt accident in South America. In The Last Chickenpig Oz's 16 year old son has reason to believe his father is still alive and travels from Spain to Toronto to find him. In this the third installment Tom confronts a man he believes to be his father and they set out to find his con artist stepfather, Liam Matthews.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#141 Miller Time, Quintin Jardine

Tom Blackstone and his father Oz ,AKA Bill Rider, arrive in Cadiz searching for the boat Liam Matthews had stolen from Tom and his mother, Primivera. What they find is the boat and a body.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#142. The One You're With, Quintin Jardine

The search for Primavera comes to an end in Dublin and the decisions on identies are made as well as for the future.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#143. Mist Walker, Barbara Fradkin

Ten years ago a teacher was acquitted of sexually assaulting a six year old girl. He lost his job and is just now dealing with some of the mental distress. He is reported missing directly to Michael Green. Then a burned body is found and it is believed to be him. Green vacillates on whether he was innocent or not as the case gets more confused.

His first wife left him with his infant daughter, Hannah is now 16 and left her mother in Vancouver and fly to Ottawa but does not contact Green as originally planned. Instead she gets drawn into this case. As does his wife, Sharon, a psychiatric nurse. In an earlier career Fradkin was a psychiatric nurse and uses this background in some of the books.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#144. Fifth Son, Barbara Fradkin

Accident, suicide or murder? Which applies to the body found at the base of a church tower? It involves ultra right religious parents and their five sons.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#145. Honour Among Men, Barbara Fradkin

The first murder was ten years earlier in a waterfront bar in Halifax. It tied back to the Canadian Peacekeeping Mission in the Balkans in 1992/93 which is recounted by a young Nova Scotian soldier in letters that formed his diary. They were hard to read. The second murder was in Ottawa in current day, the fiancée of the first victim trying to receive some compensation. But she was seen as a threat to a retired army officer running in the federal election. The third was a street person who observed the second murder. These were followed by the attempted murder of a policewoman who was set up by her partner during their investigation and finally the death of a second street person who was in the wrong place. You could blame the Serbs and Croats, or bad tempers, or the defence of the military or having the ‘right’ people run for Parliament. It depends on how life is valued. Honour is questionable.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#146. Dream Chasers, Barbara Fradkin

Sports, sex and drugs, adults manipulating teenagers. The hockey player is expected to be first or second in the NHL draft. But his girlfriend is given altered drugs, has a heart attack and dies. The sports promoter throws her over the falls and hopes that is the end. The social worker tries to trade on the facts she has put together and that is the end of her. Dreams are delicate, even those that have been worked on for years.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#147. This Thing of Darkness, Barbara Fradkin

An elderly Jewish psychiatrist is murdered in downtown Ottawa. It appears that it was committed by four young men, surveillance cameras indicated it was witnessed by a young female prostitute. The police immediately leaned toward the gang and it was only Green’s pushing that had them widened the search. The ending is unexpected. It provides a good explanation of diseases of the brain and how they effect a person’s behaviour.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#148. Beautiful Lie the Dead, Barbara Fradkin

The bride disappears wen she discovers her true relationship with her fiancé and the person who told her is murdered in the middle of a blizzard. Green’s search takes him to Montreal and the lake country north of the city.

🤗🤗🤗🤗

#149. The Whisper of Legends, Barbara Fradkin

Hannah Green has been living with her mother in Vancouver when she goes on a rafting adventure on the Nahanni River in Canada’s Northwest Territories. It turns out to be much more than she expected and when her father, Michael Green loses contact with her he and colleague go North to find her. Neither are prepared for the north.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#150. None So Blind, Barbara Fradkin

The convicted murder in one of Green's early cases has always claimed to be innocent and regularly wrote to Green stating this fact. He is now paroled and is on the hunt for the real murdered but ends up dead with a verdict of suicide. But is that correct? Green doesn’t think so.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

October Summary

17 Read

150 Total

Instead of lurking as usual I thought I'd stop and say 'hi'. 150 books - wow. I'm in awe!

>204 AlisonY::

In a nursing home there isn’t lots to do and COVID-19 keeps me in so there are times I read for days, like when reading a series. I am finally getting to the newest title, one I haven’t read before. Some people have really good memories and can recite ‘chapter and verse’ of the books they have read but not me, so I enjoy rereading books. I remember authors.

#151. The Devil to Pay, Barbara Fradkin

Hannah Pollock Green is a probationary patrol police officer and she and her partner answer a 911 call that a neighbour put in after hearing yelling and fight noises from the house next door. However the husband dismissesthe issue and the wife, clutching her dog, agrees. Hannah doesn’t believe them but her concerns are dismissed, this guy is a big shot lawyer her partner says. Then the dog goes missing, then the lawyer appears to have flow away. Hannah continues to search for answers particularly when his body is found and then another. However she is in dangerous territory putting her job in jeopardy as well as her life.

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>205 pmarshall: I'm awful at remembering books too, Penny - and it's not an age thing, as I've always been poor at it. I find it hard to do rereads, though, as I feel there are so many unread books out there.

COVID must make being in a nursing home particularly hard. I'm glad you have a love of books to escape to.

#152. The English Girl, Daniel Silva

The English Girl is kidnapped in Corsica while on vacation from her political job in London and her lover. Gabriel Allon is approached by MI5 to find her. Geographically the reader is taken on a tour of France, Western Russia, Israel and London. Silva provides in-depth details on various subjects in his books. In this case it is the breakup of the U.S.S.R. In 1991 and the development of the corrupt state of Russia and the role oil plays in providing money and power to the government. A good read.

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#153. The Heist, Daniel Silva

Gabriel Allon is restoring a medieval painting in Venice when two events occur, a former British spy and current dealer in stolen masterpieces is murdered and the Italian police officer who heads up the Art Fraud Department persuades Allon to take on the search for an alter frontage by Caravaggio which had been stolen twenty or more years ago. The search leads to an investigation into the illegal banking of money belonging to the Syrian Royal Family.

In this title Silva gives the reader a history lesson in medieval artwork. In every town Allon visits one learns its geography and architecture. Also the bloody history of Syria from the late 1970’s and the destruction of Hama.

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#154. The English Spy, Daniel Silva

The Princess, once married to the next King of England, is cruising in the Caribbean when the ship is blown up and she dies. MI 6 asks Gabriel Allon to seek out her murderer. He connects it to an Irish bomb maker who, now that The Troubles are over, hires his skills to the highest bidder. He was hired by the Russians as pay back for the loss of oil revenue. It provides an interesting overview of the Irish conflict with England.

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#155. The New Girl, Daniel Silva

A young girl, daughter of the Saudi Arabia crown prince, is kidnapped from her Swiss school. Her father turns to Gabriel Allon to find her. The search ends in his abdication and the appointment of his uncle who has Russian connections. Allon and MI 6 set up a sting whereby the Russians poison the new crown prince when he is on a state visit in London. It is a convoluted plot but interesting.

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#156. The Order, Daniel Silva

The Allon family are on holiday in Venice. The Pope dies and Gabriel is pulled into solving his murder. One theme that goes throughout is the Bible and the gospels that were omitted in the 4 century writing. How the gospels blame the Jews for the death of Jesus and thus set up the position of Jews in history. The second is a right wing group that are moving not just the church in the direction of the The fascists and the Nazis but the governments of Europe. The surprising results of the first round voting for pope help address these issues.

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#157. The Kill Artist, Daniel Silva

This is the first in the Gabriel Allon series. The Office has had a number of unsuccessful operations so the head, Ari Shamron, convinces Allon to take on a job for them, one that involved taking out an old Palestinian enemy, Tariq. It is hard to say which side is one step ahead or behind as the action moves from Paris to London to New York with both sides suffering fatalities.

Having started the series with the most recent, The Cellist and then moved to the middle I found this title not as polished as the others and a little draggy in spots. However I have not let the former influence the number of starts.

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#158. Star Fall, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

A television star of antique shows is murdered. He was extremely popular and the early clues lead nowhere. Slider’s team dig deep and cracks start to appear.

I read Harrod-Eagles years ago until I reached a title that was confusing on a number of levels and I left it unfinished. This book was detailed but straightforward.

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#159. The Black Widow, Daniel Silva

ISIS pulls off a major bombing in Paris followed by one in Amsterdam and Washington with numerous knife attacks on individuals across Europe and the Middle East. Allon identifies a French doctor and turns her into a spy who will infiltrate ISIS. It works until an incident in Washington blows her cover.
It took me time to read it as I kept putting it down. I didn’t like how the doctor was being used and how her training by the Israeli and ISIS was so one sided. I understand why but it goes against what I believe. I didn’t like ISIS’s attitude that there was only room for them, Sunni Muslims and everyone else had to convert or go. However I stay with it to the end and as always from Silva’s books learned something.

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#160. Truth Be Told: My Journey Through Life and the Law, McLachlin Beverley

Beverley McLachlin grew up outside Pincher Creek, Alberta in the 1940 and 1950’s. Part of the time her log home didn’t have electricity or running water. But the town had a library and it offered music and drama programs. Her parents raised her to accept all people, to question before she believed and to have an open mind.

In the 1950’s the careers open to women were nursing and teaching or being a waitress. At age 18 she moved to Edmonton, to the University of Alberta with the vague idea of taking education but instead took an Arts degree because she felt she didn’t know anything. This led her to philosophy. When she graduated she realized she had to do more so she could do something with her life. A friend had once suggested she consider law and that floated back into her mind. A few weeks into her law degree she knew she had found her home.

Her work included time with a small law firm and teaching at the law school at the University of British Columbia before she moved into being a judge. This led quickly to the Supreme Court of Canada, in Ottawa, where she stayed for 28 years. She was the Chief Justice for over 17 years, the longest serving one in Canada and the first woman in the position.

More of her personal life is covered as well as a review of the important landmark cases the court dealt with in her time there. Her continued love of Justice and the importance of people understanding what the Supreme Court did and peoples access to Justice led to community involvement and public speaking on these issues in Canada and internationally. The Canadian Supreme Court had an international reputation for its deal with constitutional issues following the passing of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

McLachlin always wanted to write fiction and as she drew closer to retirement she turned her hand a writing a legal mystery which was published and well accepted. She has written a second and I hope she follows it up with more.

Her life has not been with out its struggles but these can be matched with sitting at a dinner with her childhood heroine and talking to the Queen for an hour!

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Reviewed November 12, 2021

Looks like you've had a run of great books, Penny. Isn't it great when that happens?

>218 AlisonY::

Yes, I have really been enjoying the Daniel Silva books. I tag them Espionage but they are so much more - lessons in medieval art, architecture, Jewish history and history and current affairs related to the Middle East and more.

As a change of pace I am reading the biography of Canada’s first female Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. So far an amazing early life. There are about 5 years difference in our ages, I grew up in urban New Brunswick and she in rural Alberta and it is like two different countries. We both faced the same problems in the 1960’s of employment open to women if you didn’t want to be a nurse, teacher or waitress and sort of fell into the fields of law and librarianship. More when I finish it. Oh, I wish I had either more money to buy ebooks or a better public library service!

>220 AlisonY: That's a shame, Penny (the lack of access to books you want). We're lucky in N. Ireland that for 50p you can order any book in the library system to be delivered to your local library which widens the net considerably. Does your local library not support something similar, or is it getting them from the library to the nursing home?

Interesting that you mention librarianship when you were talking about the book you're currently reading. When I travelled to the US and Canada with work I came across people who had studied librarianship as their degree. This fascinated me, as I don't know anyone in the UK who has studied this. In fact, before some of my Canadian colleagues at my old job mentioned it I had no idea that it was even a degree subject. It feels like a lot more weight is given to it as a career in North American than in the UK.

>220 AlisonY::

In Canada and the United States a degree in librarianship follows a Bachelors degree. I did a 4 year degree in history and anthropology at the University of New Brunswick and then a one year Bachelors degree in librarianship at the University of Toronto. That was the last year it was offered, it became a two year master’s degree. In the studies there were different emphasis - school libraries, public, children’s, academic, technical services, information services and more. My one year degree was more general. People are amazed when they hear I have two degrees and what the second is. I think you would find that England has such degrees, but may not require the first degree. Libraries are complex places!

>221 pmarshall: That's fascinating. I did a quick Google and it seems there are a small number of universities in the UK offering librarianship degrees, but it certainly doesn't seem to be a common degree.

Maybe we just don't have the scope of application here in terms of the number / types of libraries. I don't know.

#161. Houses In The Fog, Saint John Authors

Short stories I will return too.

>216 pmarshall: On the other hand that’s a pattern with Allon - he did the same with Sarah when he first met her for example (actually it was worse in some ways).

One of my favorite series. Glad to see someone else enjoying it as well. :)

>224 AnnieMod::

I haven’t been able to read the series in order because I am getting it from the library. I have read books that Sarah is in but not her entry. I do know Natalie survives the experience and the love affair continues which is nice. I really like the series and am going to have to buy the earlier ones on Kindle. I want all of it that way because I reread and this is a series I would discover new things in as I reread it.
Now I am going to read the latest Bob Skinner book by Quintin Jardine, one of my favourite police procedural series set in Edinburgh! It arrived overnight from Kindle.

#162. Deadlock, Quintin Jardine

This is the first book set in the middle of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Scotland is under lockdown, people are limited in how and where they can gather, stores and restaurants are closed except for delivery. People wear masks and social distance.
Skinner has just recovered from COVID-19 as the book opens. The time in isolation opens him to the needs of others in his village so he becomes involved with a group that reaches out to mainly the elderly. Is it by accident or murder as three of these people are found dead?
At the same time a grisly murder occurs in Glasgow. It is extremely difficult to identify the victim, but there is forensic evidence that links it too a former police officer. Add in more cross over evidence and a mystery author writing the perfect mystery and this becomes a complete puzzle or does it?

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>225 pmarshall: Ah, I did not realize you had not read the first few. :) I need to get around to Jardine. :)

>227 AnnieMod::

I have been a fan of Jardine’s Skinner series since I read the first one many years ago. Deadlock is #33. This series should be read in order to appreciate the character development and, in some cases, a case carries on from one book to the next. Enjoy 📚📚📚

>228 pmarshall: Unless it is absolutely impossible or I just grab a later book on a whim, I tend to read in order. :) Most modern series do have character development. :) Golden era mysteries? Does not matter that much but anything after that is better off in order. :)

#162. The Water Rat of Wanchai, Ian Hamilton

Ava Lee is a young Chinese Canadian forensic accountant based in Toronto but part of on international partnership with her uncle in Hong Kong. This is the first book in the series which has her tracing $5 million U.S. that was scammed out of a fisheries company. In Guyana she finally has found the man who took the money and knows what bank it is in. However new problems face her in Guyana where corruption is the order of the day.
I will try the second one.

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#163. The Disciple of Las Vegas, Ian Hamilton

Three men who gambled on line lost over $60 million and they claim they were cheated and the money stolen. Ava Lee investigates and traces the money to Cyprus.
Based on the two titles I have read the formula for the plot is 1. Money is missing 2. Lee and her Chinese Uncle are hired to find it 3. Lee traces the funds and locates them but people are blocking her from them 4. Violence to her and to them occurs 5. The recovery is complete.
I will try one more, probably my last.

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November Summary

13 Books Read -1 =12. I didn’t finish Houses in the Fog and it is easier to subtract it than adjust all the numbers. The totals reflect this.
1 Reviewed

162 Total

#164. Ice and Stone, Marcia Muller

Sharon McCone takes on an undercover investigation in a northern county of California. It in valves the death of two Native young women and the kidnapping of two others. These events and hundreds like them across the country are ignored by local and state law enforcement. Her cover is broken when the shack she was sleeping in was set fire too and she nearly escaped. Her case starts to move in a new direction and is closed with FBI assistance. This book is unlike previous titles.

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#165. The Wild Beasts of Wuhan, Ian Hamilton

Ava Lee is trying to recoup money spent on art work that turned out to be forgeries. The process is quite interesting.

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#166. The Red Pole of Macau, Ian Hamilton

Ava Lee’s half brother, Michael, a businessman in Hong Kong has gotten into a business deal with, unbeknownst to him, members of the Triad. He turns to the sister he has never met for assistance. This book provides interesting information on Macau and how it operates, as well as on the Triad.

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#167. The Scottish Banker of Surabaya, Ian Hamilton

Ava Lee is approached by a group of Canadian Vietnamese who lost $30 million in a bank scam. The bank was located in Toronto, a branch of an Indonesian bank located in Surabaya. She is able to locate the money but discovers that the bank is a front for an Italian money laundering scheme.
One interesting aspect of these books are the descriptions of Chinese food. It makes me hungry!

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>235 pmarshall: that sounds unusual and interesting

#168. The Two Sisters of Borneo, Ian Hamilton

Uncle is dying of cancer. Ava Lee is involved in a new venture capital company with two friends. A furniture building company in Borneo is having problems with a Dutch customer which could have a major impact on them. Violence is used to scare the women and Ava is kidnapped. Her rescue brings with it the cause of the company’s problem. The size of Uncle’s funeral will be talked about for years to come.

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>236 Nickelini::

It is an interesting series. It took me a couple of books to get into it, accept the violence. But each book has an interesting topic and the information on Chinese history, culture and food adds to it.

#169. The Dragon Head of Hong Kong, Ian Hamilton

This is the prequel to the Ava Lee series. She has set up her own accounting business in Toronto and takes on the case of Mr. Lo after some pressure from her mother. He sends chicken parts to Hong Kong and his payments have stopped. Ava goes to investigate with not much idea of what to do or expect. In the process of solving the case she meets two employees of Uncle and then Uncle. He wants her to move and work for him, in the end they agree on a partnership and she will travel from Toronto as required. It also explains where her ivory hair piece came from.

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#170. The King of Shanghai: The Triad Years, Ian Hamilton

Ava Lee is working in Shanghai with her two partners when Xu, the head of a Triad located in the city makes a business proposal to the company. She had first met him at Uncle’s funeral. He gets her involved in the business of the Triad and his campaign to become chairman of Asia. It becomes violent and takes over her life. The venture capital company launches a fashion designer whose clothes attract attention from Asia and the U.S.

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#171. The Princeling of Nanjing: The Triad Years, Ian Hamilton

Ava Lee is involved with the growth of the fashion company when Xu’s companies are threatened unless he starts to manufacture and sell synthetic drugs. The threats come from a powerful, politically placed family. Ava uses her accounting skills to show how the family’s billions have come from corrupt business practices and she uses newspapers to bring them down.

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Just saying hi :) I had been reading the summaries - and noting series. :)

#172. The Diamond Queen of Singapore, Ian Hamilton

The most recent in the series involves an evangelical church in Toronto which scammed some of its members of $30 million. Ava Lee gets involved because a friend’s father committed suicide because he lost all his money. Money laundering, diamonds and the manufacturing and mailing of drugs to Canada and the U. S. through the church is all uncovered and used as bargaining chips in recovering the money.

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#173. The Couturier of Milan, Ian Hamilton

The venture capital company Ava Lee and her two friends own has put money into a fashion designer and the production and sale of his clothes. They are showing at London Fashion Week as a step towards the European and American markets. Po is a great hit until Lee and her colleagues refuse to sell their company to an Italian fashion company, at which point they are all negatively targeted. In retaliation Lee investigates the Italian’s connections to China and used connections to cut his supply chain.

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#174. The Imam of Tawi-Tawi, Ian Hamilton

Ava Lee travels to the southern Philippines to investigate a collage that a local Muslim Brotherhood believe is using to train terrorists. This is a change from the previous plots but requires her using the skills she learned from Uncle and with the assistance of the CIA she is successful.

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#175. The Goddess of Yantai, Ian Hamilton

Ava Lee’s friend movie actress Pang Fai has come under attack from those who control the distribution of movies in China. They don’t want to release her latest movie saying it is too political and anti Mao. They come to a solution on that when she is blackmailed with a sex video from early in her career. There are a number of possibilities but Ava whittles they down and a compromise is reached.

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#176. The Mountain Master of Sha Tin, Ian Hamilton

Xu is seriously ill when a problem develops in Hong Kong that threatens his authority as well as his businesses. Ava Lee steps in and deals with the situation which ends in gunfire and death for both sides. The situation is solved.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#177. THE TRAVEL ADDICTION: Anecdotes, recollections and Tall Stories, !an Hamilton

This Ian Hamilton is an Australian writer, the Ava Lee’ Hamilton is Canadian.

This is collection of twenty-seven short anecdotes of travel the author and his wife undertook in four continents, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia and New Zealand in the 1990’s and early part of this century. Their intent was to meet the local people, see how they lived and enjoy the local food. A continuing theme was conservation of the land, animals and way of life.
I particularly enjoyed the four based on visits to Africa as I have been in each of those places and could identify with them. Also one of the Portuguese tales was about Mateus Rose wine, a favourite of my father’s for certain occasions. Nice memories.

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#178. Into The Sunlight: The Freeman Files Series, Ted Tayler

The latest cold case is the murder of a young immigrant woman who suddenly left her job and disappeared for two years before her body was found, burning, in a field. The case was poorly handled by two police forces before Freeman and his team start asking questions.

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#179. Fate: The Lost Decades of Uncle Chow Tung: Book 1 (The Lost Decades of Uncle Chow Tung, Ian Hamilton

In Fate we learn about Uncle’s early life, his swim from China to Hong Kong, the drowning of his fiancée and his early years in the Triad. It gives the details of how he became the Mountain Master following the murder of two men. Some of this is alluded to in the Ava Lee books but without the details.

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#180. Foresight: The Lost Decades of Uncle Chow Tung, Ian Hamilton

Uncle seeks a new investment source and is intrigued with the Special Economic Zones Premier Deng is setting up, particularly one bordering Hong Kong. This is the beginning of the triad’s trade in knock-off brand clothing. However not everyone agrees with Deng and Uncle is arrested and charged with bribery to assist his business.

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#181. Fortune:The Lost Decades of Uncle Chow Tung, Ian Hamilton

One gang in the New Territory attacks another and succeeds in gaining control of it. It then turns its attention to Uncle’s group, including an attempt on Uncle’s life. This causes Uncle to develop a plan to bring all/most of the gangs into an alliance whereby if you attack one you attack all. The Chinese government becomes involved in the solution. They are two years away from taking back Hong Kong and see a role for the triads.

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Merry Christmas, Penny. May 2022 bring you plenty of great new books to read. 181 so far - wow!

>253 AlisonY::

I trust you had a lovely Christmas, within the current circumstances, and I wish you a Happy and Healthy New Year! 🥳
I think of the time I wasted and thus didn’t hit 200!

#182. The English Assassin, Daniel Silva

I got some gift cards so I am reading the titles I missed at the beginning of this series. This is #2, following The Kill Artist.

Gabriel Allon is in Switzerland to restore a medieval painting, instead he finds the body of the murdered owner and is arrested. Thus begins a case focusing on pieces of art that the Nazis stole from their Jewish owners and are now stored in Swiss banks. All of Allon’s moves are followed by the English Assassin who kills three of their witnesses.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#183. First Trial, Sheldon Siegel

Mike Daley, just out of law school, has joined the office of the. Public Defender in San Francisco and has just met Rosie Fernandez. It is a Friday and he will be defending his first client on Monday. Rosie takes him through the Fernandez method of preparing for and presenting a trial, it is a narrative you put on for the jury. He wins his first case and starts a new friendship.
A short story that is a prequel to the series.

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Happy New Year, Penny! You made me laugh with your comment about time wasted and not reaching 200 books. I’ll be checking in on your new thread.

>257 NanaCC::
Happy New Year to you 🥳.
My favourite Mac game provider came out with gin rummy and I am addicted!
I was going to start #4 in the Gabriel Allon series but it sounds depressing so I decided to do my annual summary instead. My top 5 are going to be hard, I wish we could list a series. Do you remember what you read, the plots? For me it has to be outstanding. Last year (2020) there were some standouts, this year not so much. That is why I am able to reread and enjoy books again.
I am watching the Rose Parade as I write this. I love the horses, they just showed ‘the painted ladies,’ appaloosas. It is truly amazing what they do with flowers. I remember watching this as a child, I turned 74 two days ago. I think they looked more like flowers then. Back to the summary.

#184. The Confessor, Daniel Silva

Gabriel Allon returns to Munich to investigate the murder of a friend and colleague. Was the new book, the topic of which he kept a secret, he is writing the cause of his death?
A new, unexpected, pope has been elected and he is determined to open up to the public the true role of the Vatican and the Nazis’ treatment of the Jews in W. W. II. His life is in danger from people with the Vatican who don’t want the truth revealed.
The two cases come together and Allon is running for his life.
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December 2021 Summary:

21 Read

Total - 183

Happy birthday, Penny. I used to love watching the Rose Parade, and never think of it now. Have you read the Slough House series by Mick Herron. There are only seven books so far. They are very witty. The first is Slow Horses.

2021 Summary:

Reviewed = 17
Read = 183