Library – Carol's Notebook

Cruising Through Midlife by Addison Moore

June 29, 2026June 29, 2026 by CarolNo Comments

Trixie is on her 25-anniversary cruise to Hawaii alone because her husband is a cheating jerk. And I do have to say she moved on well. She's determined to have fun and not fall for any of his pleading or mean jabs. She seems to take everything in stride and with a smile, even when she finds a dead body in her luggage and a ghost turns up to help her solve the mystery. It's a fun, lighthearted mystery with plenty of romance. Trixie has two potential love interests, both crew. I'm not a fan of love triangles and I did kind of want her to just pick one, but it's only an 18-night cruise, and she'll never see either of them again, so what's the harm? And I might have peeked at some of the later blurbs in the series, so I'm willing to let it slide for now. It's a fun book. I enjoyed Trixie and her new friends. It's...

The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart

June 9, 2026June 9, 2026 by Carol2 Comments

A couple of weekends ago we went to the Pittsburgh Book Fest, which was so much fun! One of the events I signed us up for was a presentation about Mary Roberts Rinehart, who was born and raised in Allegheny City, which eventually was annexed by Pittsburgh, and then built a house in Sewickley following the success of The Circular Staircase. She led a fascinating life, if you ever get the chance to read about her. Pitt actually holds the archives of her papers. So, I listened to The Circular Staircase in preparation. I've read it before but didn't actually remember any of it. Rachel Innes is a wealthy woman who has been the guardian of her niece and nephew for a long time. They are both young adults now and the three of them have decided to rent a place for the summer, and taken Rachel's maid with them. The mansion, belonging to a banker and his family who...

Crime Rangoon by Vivien Chien

April 21, 2026April 21, 2026 by CarolNo Comments

I might be getting a little tired of this series. This time around Lana's favorite author is killed at an event at Asia Village’s bookshop, The Modern Scroll. Surprise, surprise, her boyfriend, Detective Adam Trudeau, actually asks for her help this time. I like Lana and her roommate, Megan, but am annoyed by how mean they are to Kimmy, who seems like a decent, if annoying person. They want her help when they need it but otherwise leave her out whenever possible. There was too much of Adam in this one, and he really doesn't seem like the type to break some of the rules he does. The murderer is pretty obvious, not matter how many dead ends Lana complains about, even if the motive isn't. One of the red herrings just kind of fizzled out, which was a little disappointing. The most annoying thing, though, was how many times certain phrases were repeated. More people blew raspberries and flared...

The Labors of Hercules by Agatha Christie

April 10, 2026May 4, 2026 by CarolNo Comments

Poirot has a friend over one evening and the topic of names comes up. The man points out that Hercule Poirot is hardly a Hercules. This gets Poirot to thinking and he decides to prove that he is indeed able to live up to the name by solving twelve cases to rival the Twelve Labors of Hercules. The rest of the book is a collection of short stories featuring cases that connect with each of the Labors. Yes, some of the cases are a stretch, but I enjoyed it. I won't go into detail about the stories. Like most collections, some are better than others. I've read them before, but only remembered a couple of the solutions. Poirot is Poirot, quirky, overbearing, vain, but his caring side comes through in several of these. I listened to the audio and Hugh Fraser does a fabulous job as always. It did make me think I should go back and read about Hercules,...

A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie

March 27, 2026March 27, 2026 by Carol2 Comments

I love that Miss Marple is bored on her vacation at the Golden Palm resort on St Honoré in the West Indies. The weather is always the same, lovely and warm, and the nothing interesting ever happens. She spends most of her time knitting and observing those around her. She also ends up listening to a lot of her fellow guest, Major Palgrave's, stories. When the major ends up dead, apparently of natural causes, Miss Marple is sure that his death was a murder and connected to a story he told her. She puts on her little old lady act and starts investigating. She does rope in an assistant, Mr. Rafiel, a grouchy, wealthy elderly man in a wheelchair. He's really a great character and I love how he and Miss Marple work together - both older and underestimated, but with their own outlooks and resources. We've got a nice batch of varied suspects and a lot of undercurrents of...

The Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis

March 25, 2026March 25, 2026 by Carol4 Comments

I love a good detective novel - and this one just happens to take place in Ancient Rome. Marcus Didius Falco, a former legionnaire now returned from his tour of duty in Britannia and making a not great living as a "private informer," doing what PIs always seem to be doing, working for suspicious spouses and shady businessmen and damsels in distress. The damsel here is Sosia Camillina a sixteen year-old who literally runs into Falco at the forum while she is trying to escape from kidnappers. He, of course, steps in to help and lands right in the middle of a conspiracy involving theft from the empire. We've got mystery, murder, family squabbling, and a potential love interest (not Sosia, but her cousin Helena Justina who is divorced from her first husband). We also get transported to ancient Rome, but in a way that makes it accessible and interesting. We get snippets of historical events and learn what everyday life...