Desolation Mountain by William Kent Krueger. I'm nearing the last of this series, but he is still writing them. I try to space out the series books so they last longer.

I just dipped into my next book, If the Dead Rise Not by Philip Kerr, and found this delightful description: "He had more chins than the Shanghai telephone directory."

I finished reading a new murder mystery titled The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell. It describes the production of a TV show named Bake Week. Six contestants arrive at a country manor where a large white tent has been set up for them to bake in. The hosts of the TV show strongly resemble Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood of The Great British Baking Show fame. Following the third day of filming, one of the show participants is murdered during a raging nighttime storm. This is not a very sophisticated mystery and a couple of major coincidences are required to make the plot work, but if you are a fan of the real TV show, you will enjoy reading this behind-the-scenes description of the contestants, the hosts, and how the show is produced.

Thanks for the tip, Kathy! I was a huge fan of the Great British Baking Show when it was on PBS and watched the same four seasons over and over as that was all they showed. I love mysteries and will be sure to give this a try. Was there an "ice-cream-gate" in the book? Too funny.

I am going to begin The Lost Girls Of Paris after finishing The Impossible Impostor ...which I have really enjoyed.

Ginny - Haha - no ice-cream-gate, but some suspected sabotaging of contestants' bakes.

I was given several books for my birthday on Friday. None of them is my usual kind of reading but I thought I had better dip into them in case I was quizzed!

I started on "The Perfect Wife" by J P Delaney which is described by some reviewers as sci-fi but I think was more fiction with a scientific premise.

It starts with Abbie waking up in what she thinks is a hospital and I was hooked! I read the book eagerly, at times when I could pick it up over the Mother's Day weekend and finally finished it at 4am this morning!

Cooks will like the very extravagant recipe for bouillabaisse!

Annpan, Happy Birthday for last Friday! How nice to receive books as presents even when they are 'out of your comfort zone'.

A new TV series has started on the BBC Ten Pound Poms. I don't know if it originated in Australia and was wondering about some accuracy. I seem to remember learning that back in the'50's pubs/bars closed very early. In this first episode there are scenes of late night boozing in a bar among a group of labourers/hole-diggers plus the 'Pom' eager to be accepted into that macho society. Not that you would have frequented such places . . . very rough and ready with no 'Ladies Lounge'!

Vee, I shall look out for this series.

I arrived in Melbourne in 1960, having chosen that city as the Australian lady who I met on a coach tour and advised me to migrate lived there. She had moved to Tasmania by the time I arrived and I never saw her again.

I was offered lodgings through family contacts but found some things were not as I expected.

When I was shown the bathroom my landlady said she didn't keep coal in the bath. Apparently there was a myth that British people did that and she was firm in her belief of the story even when I told her it wasn't true. I also was told that kangaroos didn't wander the city streets, which was something I had been told!

I heard about the "Six o'clock swill" but never went to a hotel as the pubs were called.

Thanks Annpan. I understand that 'ladies' were not allowed into the bar of pubs/hotels back in the day and they had to sit in a separate lounge. I had this experience when visiting friends in Calgary way back when. A 'lady' could only enter a bar if accompanied by a 'gentleman'. The only drinks served were beer or tomato juice . . .often mixed to make a red-eye. A female friend had left something in the car but was refused re-entry when she tried to get back in and had to wait for a 'gentleman' to appear at the entrance and ask him to pretend she was his guest.

What would Women's Lib'ers make of that?

And we didn't keep coal in our bath either.

A traditional party back then meant that the men and women went into separate groups on arrival. They were referred to as Keg Parties as the beer was in kegs so the men grouped there and the women chatted about women's stuff!

The younger women disliked that and started to threaten not to go by the mid-sixties if the men didn't socialise more.

The Mystery Of Mrs. Christie - Marie Benedict

My daughter's gifts to me yesterday for Mother's Day were a night shirt with books printed down the front and "I'm booked tonight" printed underneath and a small book by Cierra Block titled London Block by Block that contains lists of her favorite things to do, eat, see, etc. in the city. We are making another visit this fall, which will be my 11th trip. The first was in 1980 and the last in 2014. Needless to say, it is my all-time favorite city, and I have yet to go to Greenwich or see the Houses of Parliament, among other things.

I read the book yesterday afternoon and it was delightful.

Hmm. I haven't been getting messages and wondered why the thread was so quiet! Some tech gremlin, I guess.

I got flowers for Mother's Day which is what I always want. I love flowers!

I finished The Body by the Sea, the latest Jean-Luc Bannalec. All of these are set in Brittany which sounds so beautiful. The story has an interesting connection with The Yellow Dog, a Maigret mystery by Georges Simenon, so I just got that today from the library. I also got The Golden Spoon which Kathy T recommended. Looking forward to both.

Ginny, I’ve enjoyed Bannalec’s books for the same reasons. I’ll look for The Body by the Sea.

Generally, I am less enamored by recent novels than most of the amateur critics oohing and aahing over them on the Web. But there is the occasional exception - like now. I am currently reading the popular Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. I only put my name on the library hold list to see what all the fuss was about. I fully expected to give it 30 pages then return it, rolling my eyes at the library worker on duty as I slipped it into the return slot. I was wrong. 212 pages in, I am loving this book. I don't understand. I don't care for books with animal characters, but ... "Something's happening here; what it is ain't exactly clear."

(For those of you too young to recognize the quote, it's from the late 60's Buffalo Springfield song For What it's Worth.)

Vee, the 'six o'clock swill' was common in the 50s and 60s. My state was the last to abolish early closing, in 1967. And indeed, women didn't drink in the front bar. Sometimes in the country in a pub without a 'ladies lounge', a shandy (beer and lemonade) could be taken out to a female so she didn't have to go inside.

I finished an ARC of Mark Billingham's The Last Dance, which features a new detective. I did enjoy it, although the main character reminded me of Ricky Gervais's character in Afterlife (a brilliant TV series if you haven't seen it).

Kathy......I loved Remarkably Bright Creatures.....it's one of the unusual stories that just grabbed me from the first pages. Happy to hear you are enjoying it too !

I'm reading Death at the Alma Mater by G. M. Malliet. I really enjoyed her Max Tudor series, but this one is not as good. The main character is a Cambridge detective, and the light touch doesn't work as well.

I enjoyed the experience of listening to The Lincoln Highway after having read it a year ago so much that I decided to do the same with Towles's Rules of Civility. I found that I liked listening to this one even better than I had reading it. Both experiences were marvelous. Towles is officially on my list of favorite authors. I would wish that he produced his books more quickly, but I cannot complain. I suppose the wait is the price of getting to read a meticulously crafted novel. I have also downloaded A Gentleman in Moscow as an audio book. When I finish that, I will have read an listened to all three of Towles's novels. I enjoy both experiences, and they are not quite the same.

Right now I am working on Shana Abe's new book An American Beauty. It is a historical novel based on the life of Arabella Huntington. So far I am enjoying it. I also liked this author's first book, The Second Mrs Astor.

I finished reading Remarkably Bright Creatures by this morning ... sigh...

I certainly am glad that there are still really good, creative writers like Shelby Van Pelt in our world. What a wonderful book!

I just started The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff. It's the story of a young Indian woman who finds the false rumors that she killed her missing husband surprisingly useful—until other women in the village start asking for her help getting rid of their own husbands. So far, it's really grabbed me and I'm eager to see where it goes.

I was embarrassed to realize that I don't think I've ever read a book set in India in which the main characters were actually Indian. I've read books set there with British or American main characters, but no Indian main characters. I'm way overdue and quite happy to remedy that.

Next on the list is Remarkably Bright Creatures for my book group next week. I'm really looking forward to it.

Waiting for a copy of this book :

The Minuscule Mansion of Myra Malone

Audrey Burges

A woman learns to expand the boundaries of her small world and let love inside it in this sparkling and unforgettable novel by Audrey Burges.

From her attic in the Arizona mountains, thirty-four-year-old Myra Malone blogs about a dollhouse mansion that captivates thousands of readers worldwide. Myra’s stories have created legions of fans who breathlessly await every blog post, trade photographs of Mansion-modeled rooms, and swap theories about the enigmatic and reclusive author. Myra herself is tethered to the Mansion by mysteries she can’t understand—rooms that appear and disappear overnight, music that plays in its corridors.

Across the country, Alex Rakes, the scion of a custom furniture business, encounters two Mansion fans trying to recreate a room. The pair show him the Minuscule Mansion, and Alex is shocked to recognize a reflection of his own life mirrored back to him in minute scale. The room is his own bedroom, and the Mansion is his family’s home, handed down from the grandmother who disappeared mysteriously when Alex was a child. Searching for answers, Alex begins corresponding with Myra. Together, the two unwind the lonely paths of their twin worlds—big and small—and trace the stories that entwine them, setting the stage for a meeting rooted in loss, but defined by love.

Unnatural Causes by P. D. James, one of her Adam Dalgliesh detective stories.

I'm reading The Cloisters by Katy Hays. It's about a young woman (Ann) born & raised in eastern Washington state. Her parents are employed at the local college - her mother in food service and her father as a janitor. Her father studies languages and retrieves papers from the trash in professors' offices in order to further his studies. He teaches his love of language and history to Ann. When she's attending the college where they work, her father dies unexpectedly. Ann ends up going to NYC for a summer internship that falls apart after she has relocated. She is offered a position at The Cloisters and her life takes some unexpected turns after that.

Donna

I am reading The Last Remains, the latest installment in Elly Griffiths' series featuring Ruth Galloway, an archeologist in Norfolk, England. Very good so far. Her books combine a mystery with an ongoing drama about Ruth's personal life which I could live without. There are a number of ongoing characters who appear in each book, with various adventures/dangers. These books always make me want to see Norfolk...but that is not likely to happen.

Later--I finished the book and enjoyed it. But when I went to Amazon to read what others thought of it, I was surprised and disappointed to learn that this is the last of the Ruth Galloway archeologist series. It's the 15th book and the author says she feels she's done it all with the character. And yes, she wraps up the romance story but I won't tell how that concludes.

Oh, happy day. Jacqueline Winspear's The White Lady came in for me, and I am enjoying it.

I'll be sorry to see Ruth Galloway end. It is on my library waiting list.

Carolyn, can you (or anyone) please tell me the first book in the Ruth Galloway series? They look promising.

Ginny , as someone (playwright/actor Noel Coward) said about the county "Very flat Norfolk."

Bella Fortuna by Rosanna Chiofalo.

Vee, The first Ruth Galloway is The Crossing Places. Excellent. Any if you just google Elly Griffiths books in order, you'll see the list of the 15 Ruth Galloway Norfolk mysteries. Actually, one is in Italy and one in Cambridge.

Norfolk may be flat but is bristling with history and archeology so very interesting to me. A few months ago, I re-read The Nine Tailors, also set in Norfolk and a terrific read. Scary! Many think it Dorothy Sayers best mystery.

The Galloway books are set in the fens, Vee, and I have really enjoyed them.

Thanks Ginny and Carolyn, I'll check the library list to see if they have any available.

And yes, Norfolk is a very interesting county with its wide skies and flint churches, 'though a tad bleak/windy near the coast.

I finished Remarkably Bright Creatures last night and loved it. Definitely a feel-good story with a unique narrator, characters you're happy to root for, and a small twist or two. I'm looking forward to the discussion at book group tomorrow night -- one of our members has had a life-long fear of octopuses (octopi?) and I'm hoping she liked the book.

Vee, read the Ruth Galloway books in order as they build on each other.

I'm reading The Burning by Jane Casey and really enjoying it. I think I have it figured out, but who knows? Well, if you do, don't tell me!

Sheri........I also loved it !

I am reading Lessons in Chemistry and can hardly put it down. Thanks to all here who recommended it!

Donna

I didn't have The Burning figured out after all. I liked it enough that I will read more of the series.

I just finished The Late George Apley by John P. Marquand. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1938 and I have seen it referred to here and there thru the years...and thought, I should read that. I finally did and thought it was excellent. It's a novel written in the form of a memoir written by an old friend of George Apley who has recently died. Apley's son turned over all family correspondence and asked the family friend to write a memoir of his father, warts and all.

It's a fascinating approach and a totally engrossing story. It's set in the context of Boston Brahmins but is true of any close-knit society. What happens to an individual when they are pressured, with love but unending pressure, to make important life choices when they would rather choose another path? University, friends, career and that most important decision, the person one marries?

I highly recommend this book. Would love to hear if anyone else has read it and what they think.

Donna......I loved that book also !!

Grey Mask by Patricia Wentworth. Written in 1927, it is very good. A conspiracy, a broken engagement, and a beautiful young woman who tells everyone everything she knows.

I'm reading Coronation Year by Jennifer Robson ( she also wrote The Gown ) and am really enjoying it !

Just finished Tomorrow will be a Good Day by Captain Sir Tom Moore (although he wasn't a 'Sir' when he wrote it as he was knighted by the late Queen after the book was written)

He came to prominence during the Covid crisis when he raised a huge amount of money for an NHS charity (approx. £32 million in, I believe less than a month) by walking 'laps' around his garden . . . at the age of one hundred, having recently broken his hip.

The book follows what appears an 'ordinary' life. Brought up in Yorkshire with a keen interest in things 'mechanical' (cars motor bikes etc) which stood him in good stead during WWII where he served in a Tank Regiment out in India and Burma. Perhaps the most difficult aspects of his long life was his first marriage to a woman who would never let him touch her. A psychiatrist so-called helped her by getting her to run-away with him . .. a happier second marriage followed but this woman also developed serious mental-health problems.

Despite these setbacks he remained positive always holding true to his motto 'Tomorrow will be a good day'.

Short Video about Sir Tom Moore

. . . and another point of view . . .

A nasty side to the UK

I'm reading The Female Detective by Andrew Forrester in 1864. It's pretty bad, but I want to stick with it since it is supposed to be a "first." Also, it's pretty short.

I have just finished Murder in Williamstown, Kerry Greenwood's latest Miss Fisher.

I found the writing stiff and it was hard to get interested. The dialogue was stilted.

My D is about to read her library copy so I shall find out what she thinks soon!

We have both given up on buying books. No more room...

Just re-read Lessons in Chemistry for my book club discussion. I liked, but did not love it on my first reading a year ago. This time I enjoyed it more thoroughly.

As soon as I learned that Abraham Verghese would be publishing a new novel, I hopped on my library website and placed a hold while it was still "on order." And so, The Covenant of Water is now in my hands. I'm very happy to have it but was quite surprised when the library clerk handed me a 715-page tome. I'm a slow reader and don't know if I'll be able to get through it in my allotted 21 days. I will certainly try. Wish me luck.

Standing in the Shadows by Peter Robinson. I like his books, but they are rather far apart and long to get to the U.S.