Double Indemnity by James M. Cain

Double Indemnity by James M. Cain

Up until a few years ago, I was an insurance agent, but not like Walter Huff. Huff is good at his job, hard-working, and knows the insurance business inside-out. Then he meets a married woman who he falls for immediately. Her name is Phyllis and she has a thought, not even a plan, just a thought of what she would like to do about her husband. We don't realize at the time, but Phyllis knows exactly what she's doing, exactly what she's suggesting, and really has no qualms and is perfectly capable of holding up under pressure. She is not a nice girl, no matter how she seems at first. It doesn't take Huff long to come up with full-blown plan. They'll kill the husband and they'll get away with the insurance money. He has been in the insurance game for a long time and he knows about every angle ever thought up by anyone to try and pull one over...
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Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Bleak House is like a soap opera, in a good way. It was originally written as a serial, so it had to have qualities that kept you coming back, day after day or week after week. There's murder and romance and everything in between. You've got some plot lines that are the same no matter how many months (years) between the last time you watched it. Here it's the case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce, the longest-running case in the Court of Chancery. This book actually spurred on legal reform in England. There are probably 60-ish characters, some that show up on an irregular basis and play their bit: a dance instructor, a man who constantly lives off others' generosity, a devoted housekeeper; and others who are the core characters. Bleak House shows us all the types of people in England, the poor, the destitute, the rich, the lawyers and law enforcement, the sick, the lonely. The central character is Esther Summerson,...
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Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay

Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay

Some authors manage to pack more atmosphere and tension and characters into less than 200 pages than others ever manage to, even in books twice as long. Lindsay has done just that in Picnic at Hanging Rock. Girls at a boarding school go out for a picnic, as the title states, at Hanging Rock. Hanging Rock is a former volcano in central Victoria, Australia. The setting plays a huge part in the story, casts its shadow over the whole book. Hanging Rock After lunch, four of the girls go climbing in the rocks, followed eventually by one of the teachers. One of the girls runs back to the picnic area in terror, but with no memory of what happened. The rest of the girls and the teacher are never seen again. The rest of the story tells us what happens after. The ripples from the disappearances fan out, bringing terrible endings for some people and happily ever afters for others. There are a...
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Miss Buncle’s Book by D.E. Stevenson

Miss Buncle’s Book by D.E. Stevenson

Miss Buncle's Book is delightful. Barbara Buncle needs to make some money and decides that writing a book is the perfect solution, much better than raising hens, but all she knows is her small town, so the people she sees every day become the characters, simply re-named. Miss Buncle sees her neighbors quite clearly, though, and not everyone is happy with their portrayal. Happily she wrote under a pseudonym, otherwise, her life would be miserable. Miss Buncle's book, Disturber of the Peace, is also charming. She takes this regular English town, and introduces her Golden Boy, and the townsfolk allow themselves to follow their passions, marry the neighorbor women, leave their husband, go off on an adventure. And some of the actual people find themselves doing the same things, more or less. So her fiction imitates life which then imitates fiction in the most enjoyable way. I loved Miss Buncle. It's a light read perfect for this time of year. It's funny...
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The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad

The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad

I have not read anything by Joseph Conrad before. Obviously, I've heard of him, but neither Heart of Darkness or Lord Jim ever made it to my TBR list. Honestly, I was looking for a classic audiobook available to "read now" from my library and came across The Secret Agent— the title grabbed my attention and the blurb made me borrow it. Verloc is our secret agent in London who works for Russia? Germany?—it's not really clear. Mostly he collects a check to pass on whatever rumors come his way and hangs out with anarchists. He also keeps on the cops' good side by sharing info with them. His wife Winnie marries for security for herself and her brother, but has no idea about the true nature of his work. Then, the rather nasty Mr. Vladimir, from "the embassy" tells Verloc that he needs to do more than observe to keep getting his check. He needs to do something, specifically blow up...
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The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

I knew I'd love The Three Musketeers. The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas is one of my favorite all-time books and this is even more mentioned/read/known. So, I was happy when the Classics Club Spin hit #1 and my challenge was then to read The Three Musketeers by the end of January. Dumas takes the historical events of France, 1625-27, and plays with them to bring us one of the best adventure stories ever. The beautiful Anne of Austria is Queen of France, but she is lukewarm, at best, toward her husband, XIII. Cardinal Richelieu, the true ruler of the country, has made advances towards her, but been rebuffed; he's eaten up by jealousy and spite, especially since he knows through his network of informers that Anne's heart in fact belongs to the handsome Lord Buckingham. These fictionalized historical figures are at the center of the story, it's their loves, desires, conquests and favors that everyone else's life revolves...
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