Author: Carol

I am feeling kind of miserable this evening, so this review is going to be short and to the point. I just have a cold, but I'm tired and stuffed up and all I want to do is lay down and go to sleep. Happily the timekeepers must realize how much I need a little extra sleep, since tonight is the night we turn back our clocks, and an extra hour of NyQuil-aided sleep will be a good thing. The bad thing is that life doesn't stop when I'm not feeling well and right now my daughter is practicing her trumpet. I'm glad she is and that she enjoys playing it, but it's not exactly gentle and sleep inducing, especially since she's only been playing for 5 weeks. Hard to sleep through. I'm a bit of a fairy tale junkie and it might be an interest I'm passing on to my daughter, Amber (11). The Sister Grimm is a series we...

A rich setting and well-developed characters make A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny a good mystery. The beautiful language and thoughtfulness of the narrative make it stand out. “What happened here last night isn’t allowed,” said Madame Dubois. It was such an extraordinary thing to say it stopped the ravenous Inspector Beauvoir from taking another bite of his roast beef on baguette. “You have a rule against murder?” he asked. “I do.  When my husband and I bought the Bellechasse we made a pact....Everything that stepped foot on this land would be safe.” This fourth in the series steps away from the town of Three Pines. Happily, in my opinion, because really the village needs a break from murders occasionally. Inspector Gamache and his wife are celebrating their anniversary at Manoir Bellechasse, a luxurious inn isolated on the shore of Lac Massawippi. The other rooms are occupied by the Finney family, as unpleasant as they are wealthy. The Gamaches are surprised when Peter and Clara arrive for the Finney reunion...

With the end of October comes the end of the RIP VI challenge. I do love reading the mysteries, thrillers, and dark fantasies that go along with this season. Here is the list of reviews I posted for the challenge. Books The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny Between the Thames and the Tiber by Ted Riccardi The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths India Black and the Widow of Windsor by Carol K. Carr The After House by Mary Roberts Rinehart Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day by Ben Loory The Sherlockian by Graham Moore Ding Dong the Diva's Dead by Cat Melodia Short stories "Last Cottage" by Christopher Merkner "Clean Slate" by Lawrence Block I also read or listened to several works that I haven't gotten reviews up for. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irvin "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny...