Carol's Notebook

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

March 5, 2026March 5, 2026 by CarolNo Comments

Yes, I've read Murder on the Orient Express several times. Yes, I've watched the movies, also multiple times. But somehow I always enjoy it. We all know the plot. Hercule Poirot is a last minute addition to the first class carriage on the Orient Express from Istanbul to Calais. All the other rooms are taken, unusual for winter, The following morning, the train is stuck in the snow and one of the passengers, an American named Ratchett, is found dead in his bunk, stabbed multiple times. Of course, I know the whodunnit and it's not one you can forget, but it's always fun watching Poirot collect all the clue, lies, and red herrings. His friend/ company director, Monsieur Bouc, sits in on the questioning and you have to admire how quickly he jumps to conclusions only to have them just as quickly upended by Poirot. He's a good character, light-hearted, but in the the end his position allows him to...

The 52 Book Club Mystery Genre Challenge

March 4, 2026March 4, 2026 by CarolNo Comments

The 52 Book Club just put out their first full-sized genre-specific challenge. All books read for this challenge must be mysteries, but there is not timeline for completing it. The mystery challenge contains fifty different “cases." Match one mystery to each case for a total of fifty different books. Cases are related to different mystery elements and tell you what to look for in a book. A classic mystery: An opening line that hooks you: An “impossible” crime: Murder disguised as an accident: A missing person: A cozy mystery: An unsettling read: Title includes the word “death” or “dead:” A white-collar crime: A humorous mystery: The “brilliant detective” trope: An amateur sleuth: Antagonist toys with the detective: Includes a podcaster, writer, or journalist: A crime-solving duo: Detective has to confront their own past: An iconic detective: Police procedural: A detective on the cover: Title starts with first letter of author’s last name: A serial killer: An unreliable narrator: A victim with lots of enemies: Features small town secrets: Written from multiple suspects’ perspectives: A “new-to-you” author: A crime of passion: A character wrongly accused: Set by a lake: A character...

Mrs. McGinty’s Dead by Agatha Christie

March 3, 2026March 3, 2026 by CarolNo Comments

I thoroughly enjoyed Mrs. McGinty's Dead. This time around Superintendent Spence brings Poirot a case. A man has been convicted of Mrs. McGinty's murder based on Spence's investigations, but Spence is convince the man is not guilty. Poirot heads to the small town of Broadhinny to investigate. He stays in a poorly run guest house, which leads to several entertaining moments. We know how much Poirot loves comfort and good food, neither of which he gets here. Ariadne Oliver is also in town, working with a young playwright to adapt one of her books for the stage. Ariadne just makes me smile. She's the opposite of Poirot and yet they get along well. I love how Ariadne talks about her fictional detective, giving us a bit of insight into how Christie feels about Poirot. The plot was put together well, of course. The killer has to be one of the village residents, but Mrs. McGinty herself is rather uninteresting. Poirot,...

March Cloak and Dagger Link-Up

March 1, 2026February 23, 2026 by Carol5 Comments

Happy March! It's almost spring here in Ohio. Winter felt so long this year. What’s on your reading list this month? If you haven’t officially signed up for the challenge yet, head to the 2026 Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge post. Link up your March Cloak and Dagger reads below or in the comments. You are invited to the Inlinkz link party! Click here to enter...

This Story Might Save Your Life by Tiffany Crum

February 27, 2026February 27, 2026 by CarolNo Comments

This Story Might Save Your Life is part mystery, part thriller, and part romance. Best friends and podcast hosts Benny and Joy have built a career on survival stories, but now Joy has disappeared and Benny is the prime suspect. I enjoyed about the first half of the book. The story is told through Benny's point of view interspersed with bits from the podcast and from Joy's chapters of an unfinished memoir. I listened to the audio book which, with its two narrators, fit this format perfectly. They did a fabulous job with banter during the podcast clips and really brought each character's feelings and personality across. Benny and Joy are keeping secrets, form their listeners and from each other, as are the people around them. Those are slowly revealed and there are several twists. I was enjoying it, until I found myself thinking "can we just get to the end?" I wanted to know how it all played...

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

February 26, 2026February 26, 2026 by CarolNo Comments

Ayoola, our murderer in My Sister, the Serial Killer, is entirely different from the serial killer in the last book I read. She's beautiful and charming. She doesn't brag, but justifies and makes excuses. Ayoola kills men she dates and calls her older sister, Korede, to help her clean up afterward. She often tells Korede that the man attacked or threatened her, but the book opens with the third dead man Korede has helped deal with, and Ayoola never has any bruises. The sisters are opposites. Ayoola is lovely, outgoing, flirty and a talented clothing designer. Korede is quiet, self-contained, and good at her job as a nurse. But they are sisters and Korede will do what she needs to to protect Ayoola. We are told the story from Korede's point of view and given her thoughts on her life, her sister, their family, the police, She has an interesting perspective, unusual when it comes to serial killer novels....