Carol – Page 19 – Carol's Notebook

The Knife Before Christmas by Kate Carlisle

December 10, 2024December 10, 2024 by Carol1 Comment

There are a lot of things I enjoyed about The Knife Before Christmas and a few things I didn't. Shannon and her crew are working on a Christmas carnival at the Cliffs Hotel that has a Victorian flair and a couple of surprises. It sounded fun, but it was hard to picture how it all fit together - the tent, Santa's stall, the carousel. We get introduce to the Garrisons, the family that owns and runs the hotel. There's a lot of family drama, with almost all of them working and living at the hotel, and it's not surprise when one of them ends up murdered. I won't say who because even though it's obvious, it takes the story a while to get there. The killer, once we get to the reveal, isn't much of a surprise either. We do get a lot of Christmas touched here, plenty of decorations and food and drinks. I like Shannon - she and Mac...

Literary Escapes Challenge

December 6, 2024September 4, 2025 by CarolNo Comments

The Literary Escapes Challenge hosted at Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book is one I didn't do great at last year. The goal is to read 1 book set in each of the 50 states + the District of Columbia. (51 Points). If you complete the challenge you earn 50 Bonus Points. You also can earn Bonus Points for books set in Countries around the world. 1 Bonus Point for each country – no repeats. States: Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California - Bait and Swiss by Korina Moss Colorado - Homicide and Old Lace by Dolores Johnson Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida - The Sea Turtle Did It by Kay Dew Shostak Georgia Hawaii - Hibiscus Homicide by Jasmine Webb Idaho - This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead Illinois - Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes by Sandra Jackson-Opoku Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana - Haunting and Homicide by Ava Burke Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan - Witches Get Stuff Done by Molly Harper Minnesota Mississippi - Doggone Bones by Carolyn Haines Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York - Bat Eater...

2025 Nonfiction Reader Challenge

December 6, 2024June 6, 2025 by Carol7 Comments

I failed at this challenge in 2024, but I'm giving it another shot. The Nonfiction reader challenge is hosted by Shelleyrae at Book’d Out. The hashtag is #ReadNonFicChal. The challenge is to read nonfiction books from twelve different categories. I’m going with the Nonfiction Nipper option, reading three from any three categories. The categories are: History - Summer of ’49 by David Halberstam Memoir/Biography - Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old by Brooke Shields True Crime Science Health Food Travel Garden Myth, Legend and Folklore Islands How-To - How to Piss Off Men by Kyle Prue Published in 2025 Books read:...

52 Books in 52 Weeks

December 6, 2024October 1, 2025 by CarolNo Comments

Last year I read mostly cozy mysteries. Now that everything has settled out a little, maybe I'll branch out some in 2025. Or maybe not. A lot of these can be filled with mysteries. Books read: A pun in the title - Bait and Swiss by Korina Moss A character with red hair - A High-End Finish by Kate Carlisle Title starts with letter “M” - Murder at Raven’s Hollow by Louise Marley Title starts with letter “N” - No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding by Catherine Mack Plot includes a heist Genre One: Set in Spring - The Masquerades of Spring by Ben Aaronovitch (fantasy) Genre Two: Set in Summer - Summer of ’49 by David Halberstam (non-fiction) Genre Three: Set in Autumn - How to Seal Your Own Fate by Kristen Perrin (mystery) Genre Four: Set in Winter Author’s last name is also a first name - Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie A prequel - Forever and a Day by Anthony Horowitz Has a moon on the...

A Midwinter Murder by Verity Bright

December 5, 2024December 5, 2024 by CarolNo Comments

The Lady Eleanor Swift books always catch my eye, but this is the first I've actually picked up. It worked fine as a stand alone for me. All of the characters were introduced well and I had a good understanding of the relationships. The mystery itself was self-contained with no threads lingering from previous books. Lady Eleanor has to give up her plans for a holiday at home and has to attend the Duke of Auldwyke's shooting party instead. At least everyone is invited, including her fiancé/detective chief inspector, Hugh, and her staff has use of a cottage on the estate. Of course, a body is found not long after Lady Eleanor arrives - the duke's secretary, clearly murdered. A local policeman and Hugh end up investigating, but the duke, and the guests for that matter, are less than helpful. I do love a good Christmas manor house party murder. Here we've all the decorations and food and sledding I...

2025 Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge

December 1, 2024December 6, 2024 by Carol56 Comments

I’m thrilled to be hosting the Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge again. I love mystery and crime novels! Challenge Rules: You can read any book that is from the mystery/suspense/thriller/crime/true crime genres. Any sub-genres are welcome as long as they incorporate one of these genres. You don’t need a blog to participate but you do need a place to post your reviews to link up. (blog, Goodreads, Instagram, etc.) Make a goal post and link it back here with your goal for this challenge. Books need to be at least 100 pages long. Please no short stories. Crossovers with other challenges are fine. The Challenge will run from Jan. 1st to Dec. 31st. (Sign up ends March 15.) We still have our facebook group so if you haven’t joined we would love for you to! Here’s the group’s link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/350512171977943/. It’s a closed group so just ask to join and we’ll let you in. There will be a monthly link-up so we can see what everyone’s reading – and probably add some...