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