Once Upon a River

 

by Diane Setterfield (read by Juliet Stevenson)

Library loan

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Mike Finn for this one

Another case of the perfect marriage of tale and narrator. The story is one of those that seems to  swirls around in the mist, making Juliet Stevenson's foggy voice  the perfect choice.  As I started listening to this book, the first word that came to mind was "lyrical"  and I was slowly but surely drawn into the mist and the magic of what I was hearing. 

I doubt that I would have ever chosen this book if it weren't for a review written by one of my bookish buddies, Mike Finn. It isn't often that our reading taste cross but when they do,  I know that I have found a story that I will enjoy.

Four stars

The Man in the Queue

 

by Josephine Tey (read by Jennifer M. Dixon)

Alan Grant, Book 1

 

 

 

Give me more Tey

I suppose you need to understand a little bit about the dynamics of a British theater queue in the 1930s to understand how a man who has been stabbed in the chest can remain standing for any length of time after he has been killed.   So, I just suspended disbelief and didn't let this one minor detail get in the way of finding out whodunit.

Four stars

The Man in Lower Ten

 

by Mary Roberts Rinehart (read by Jim Killavey)

 

 

 

A bit of a train wreck?

I really have mixed emotions about this one.  For sure, I was not thrilled with the narrator and it may have tainted my view of the whole book.  It is a complicated story that implicates  three different people  while the whole time I was wondering if this was a case of an unreliable narrator. Maybe that is why I thought it was a bit of a train wreck. One of these days I will have to try it with a different narrator and see if it comes across differently -- maybe the Grover Gardner version.

For now, three stars

On Eden Street

 

by Peter Grainger (read by Gildart Jackson)

Kings Lake Investigation, Book 2

 

 

 

 

 

Everything is not what it seems

 

When the body of a vagrant is found in a storefront, the search is on for the murderer and for the identity of the man who died  -- and the newly formed Kings Lake  murder investigation squad is its first case.

Peter Grainger finished the story of  D.C. Smith and has moved on to somewhat new territory.  His new series of police procedurals is still set in Kings Lake and still features the characters we have come know and appreciate but things have been shaken up a bit. Cara Freeman has convinced the powers to be to let her field a murder investigation squad but Freeman is not an old school detective and has her own ideas about how the squad should work. The new series isn't just about solving murder mysteries but also about the interpersonal dynamics of the team and of how the team interfaces with the old school superior officers.

Like Craig Johnson and George Guidall, Peter Grainger and Gildart Jackson are an unbeatable team, first in the eight books of the DC Smith series and now in the Kings Lake series.

Four stars -- for the character development and the impeccable writing

2021 Reading List: June

 

YTD:  95 Books Read, 898 Hours Spent

Goal: 100 books and 1500 hours

 

MTD: 14 Books Read.   172 Hours Spent

 

 

1. The Power of One  -- Bryce Courtney -- NEW55
2. The Seven Dials Mystery -- Agatha Christie -- Re-read
3. Whispers Under Ground-- Ben Aaronovitch -- NEW56
4. Just One Damned Thing After Another -- Jodi Taylor -- NEW57
5. The Division Bell-- Ellen Wilkinson -- NEW58
6. A Fearsome Doubt -- Charles Todd -- NEW59
7. Windsor Knot -- SJ Bennet -- NEW60
8. Artists in Crime -- Ngaio Marsh -- NEW61
9. The Great Courses: America After the Cold War -- Patrick Allitt -- NEW62
10. The Carter of “La Providence”-- Georges Simenon -- NEW63
11. Evan and Elle -- Rhyes Bowen -- NEW64
12. Miss Tonks Turns to Crime -- M.C. Beaton  -- NEW64
13. The Highwayman -- Craig Johnson -- NEW65
14. The Late Monsieur Gallet -- Georges Simenon -- NEW66

I Must Catch Up

 

I am so far behind in commenting on the books I have read that the only way I am going to get the job done is to write one long post that covers the rest of my June reads. So, hang on to your hats! Here we go!

Just One Damned Thing After Another

by Jodi Taylor  (read by Zara Ramm)

The Chronicles of St Mary's, Book 1

I heard about this series from my BookLikes buddies and finally picked one up.  It was kind of cute but there are other series I am more interested in reading.  The same goes for her Time Police series. Something to keep in mind when I want something different

Three stars

The Division Bell

by Ellen Wilkinson (read by Peter Wickham)

ACCC side-read

While not the best mystery story  I have read, I did enjoy this one. Part of the attraction was Parliament-- the august body of which I know so little.  I especially enjoyed the introduction to the book, which gave a good background about the author.

Three stars

Windsor Knot

by SJ Bennet  (read by Jane Copeland)

Library loan

Necessary Roughage: My daughter suggested this one.  A cozy mystery series featuring The Queen as the detective. Yes, far-fetched but cute and easy on the brain -- and one will do for now.

Three stars -- solidly between stellar and piss-poor

Artists in Crime

by Ngaio Marsh (read by Nadia May)

Audible Plus Catalog

Why is it that it took me so long to get around to reading Marsh? Her stories are delightful -- cozy before cozy was even a genre. Thank goodness there are plenty of them available in Audible Plus and Overdrive.

Not quite 4 stars

The Carter of “La Providence”

The Late Monsieur Gallet

The Inspector Maigret series, books 2 & 3

by Georges Simenon  (both read by Gareth Armstrong)

The Belgian author just cranked them out like sausage  and I will slowly work my way through them. It will be like a mini-vacation in Paris -- or wherever in France Maigret's  job takes us.  Interesting to note that Simenon was 28 when book 2 was published.

Generally a 3 to 3 1/2 star author

The Great Courses: America After the Cold War

with Professor Patrick Allitt

I felt like I was listening to the outline for a new book--or maybe even a series of books.  A most enjoyably few hours listening to Prof. Allitt, one of my favorite of the Great Courses lecturers, work his way through the important events of the post Cold War years in his no-hold-barred manner.  I like his take on American History because it comes without the political, regional and cultural biases and agendas -- like a breath of fresh air. If he were to expand on any one of the subtopics in book form, I might even read it.

Four and a half stars

Evan and Elle

by Rhys Bowen (read by Roger Clark)

IMHO, Evan Evans is just a Welsh Hamish MacBeth. But whether I am in Scotland or Wales, I enjoy the escape to the countryside where the pace of life is so much slower and expectations are serene.

Three and a quarter stars

The Highwayman

by Craig Johnson (read by George Guidall )

a Walt Longmire novella

It is Craig Johnson, George Guidall and Walt Longmire. How can it be bad?

Four stars

Whispers Under Ground

 

by Ben Aaronovitch (read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith)

Rivers of London: Book 3

 

 

 

Kobna Holdbrook-Smith could read me the phone book...

 

 

I found Rivers of London on the late, great BookLikes. Wish I could remember who it was exactly so I could thank them for the hours of reading enjoyment. Urban and magic and paranormal are not my usual fare but it is a lot of fun -- and that is what I need right now. I would love to give a synopsis of the story but I am so far behind on writing reviews that the best I can offer right now is loved it/liked it/ hated it.

 

I am enchanted by Aaronovitch's imagination. Magic and Scotland Yard? Rivers personified? And he manages to do it without being entirely juvenile and crass and without being dark and depressing. So, Rivers of London remains on the must read list.

Four stars times two -- four stars for the writing and four stars for the narrator whose performance and command of accents brings the story to life. Okay, another 4 stars for the cover art, too.

The Power of One

 

by Bryce Courtenay  (read by Humphrey Bower)

20 for '21

 

 

 

 

ABSOLOOTLE!

Beautifully written but not really the kind of story that I normally seek out anymore.  I almost chucked it in very early on and only kept reading because my sister had heartily recommended it. In general, I avoid stories that "borrow other people troubles." Real life is full of troubles; I don't need to fill my reading hours with them.  I am especially turned off by boys' boarding school tales -- and that is exactly where this one begins. In the end, I was won over by the storyteller, by the characters and by the tale. 

Four stars -- because it is well written 

The Seven Dials Mystery

By Agatha Christie (read by Emilia Fox) published in 1927

Superintendent Brattle, Book 2

An "Agatha Christie Centenary Celebration" Read

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, I do like Bundle Brent

 

And sorry this is the last time she appears. 

 

When a practical joke goes horribly wrong, the hunt for the killer is on. 

 

I enjoyed the story. Kept me guessing until the end -- but then again, I rarely figure out whodunit. I loved the fact this was not yet another world conspiracy story and that there was some lightness and humor to the story.

What does bug me about this story is that Inspector Battle would ever be part of a secret society, let alone the head of one.

 

Filched from Facebook

 

 

 

2021 Reading List: May

 

YTD:  81 Books Read, 784 Hours Spent

Goal: 100 books and 1500 hours

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MTD: 16 Books Read.   113 Hours Spent. 

1. Beginner's Mind -- Yo-Yo Ma -- NEW46
2. The Mystery on the Blue Train -- Agatha Christie -- NEW47
3. The Great Courses: The Great Trials of World History-- NEW48
4. The Masqueraders -- Georgette Heyer -- Re-read
5. Nerve -- Dick Francis -- Re-read
6. No Highway  -- Nevil Shute -- Re-read
7. The Arrest -- Jonathon Lethem -- NEW49 -- DNF
8. Maigret's Holiday -- Georges Simenon -- NEW50
9. The Mystery on the Blue Train -- Agatha Christie -- Re-read
10. No Wind of Blame -- Georgette Heyer -- Re-read
11. How Iceland Changed the World -- Egill Bjarnason -- NEW51
12. The Nonesuch -- Georgette Heyer -- Re-read
13. Odds Against -- Dick Francis -- Re-read
14. Death of a Village -- M.C. Beaton -- NEW52
15. A Skeleton in the Closet -- M.C. Beaton NEW53
16. Queens Full -- Ellery Queen -- NEW54

 

A lot of rereads this month. I just didn't feel like looking for new titles or choosing something from the to-be-read pile.

Queens Full

by Ellery Queen (read by Traber Burns)

Audible Plus Catalog

 

 

Necessary roughage

As always another solidly three star read from the pen of the Ellery Queen writing duo. The books contains three novelettes and two short stories, thus the pun of the title -- and the lingering question: when does a 'short story' become a 'novelet'.