Tied Up in Tinsel by Ngaio Marsh

by Carol3 Comments
As is often the case, Marsh spends a lot of time with the set-up and introducing the characters. This time around, we have a country house murder committed at Christmas. We spend the first half or so of the book meeting all the folks who are spending the holidays at the home. The owner of the house, Hillary Bill-Tasman, is having his portrait painted by Agatha Troy a well-known artist who also just so happens to be the wife of Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn. The house is full of eccentric guests, including the fiancée, Cressida, whose character is the only one that really screams 60s/70s to me. If it weren't for her, it could have been set in the 30s, which might have been a bit more fitting overall. There’s Uncle ‘Flea’ and Aunt ‘Bed’, a gruff old Colonel and his wife who arrive with a devoted manservant. All of the other servants are convicted, but paroled, murderers. On Christmas Eve there...
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Happy and Merry: Seven Heartwarming Holiday Essays by Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Serritella

by Carol3 Comments
I admit it - I judged this one based on the cover. It was cute and Christmassy and the library had the audio available for download, so I picked it up. I thought it'd be a fun, light short listen. It was short, but I think I just must not connect well with the authors. This is the only thing I've read by the mother-daughter team, and I don't think I'll be searching out more. Other reviewers apparently love them and this short collection of re-printed essays- I am definitely in the minority. I guess they were good enough stories, trying to give the "real meaning" of the holidays, but I just couldn't relate. I liked the one about inviting the neighbor to Thanksgiving, but the "Guilt Trip" annoyed me,  as did the one about dog sweaters or something. They just seemed mostly pointless, but I guess they were just short essays, so maybe didn't really need a p0int. I didn't...
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Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith

by Carol7 Comments
Career of Evil is good, let me say that first off. The mystery, even with its limited suspect pool is engrossing and the episodes from the killer's point of view are disturbing. The characters are well-drawn and I am invested in their personal stories, in addition to the crime-solving aspect, thanks to having read the previous two in the series. And I do think this is a series where it helps to read them in order. But I didn't particularly enjoy Career of Evil. If it wasn't a series I like, with people, fictional though they might be, who I care about it, I probably wouldn't have read it, or at least not finished it. First, I just don't like serial killer books. I read a lot of mysteries, but I avoid that particular trope. I think it has something to do with motive. Revenge, anger, greed, jealousy, need to protect oneself or one's secrets, are all understandable, their normal feelings taken to extreme....
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Morning the Burned House by Margaret Atwood

by CarolNo Comments
I've read several of Atwood's books over the years, but that's not why I picked this one up, even though I do enjoy the short pieces of hers I've read. When we heard Louise Penny speak, she said that several pieces of the poetry in her Gamache series come from Morning in the Burned House. The poems are lovely and dark and sad. They are full of feminine power and grief, truth and mythology, anti-war messages and pro-environment. I love how the words sounds and feel, how the phrases at times are just perfect, although not always. Not every poem struck me, but enough did to make this worth reading. I wanted to give you a few bits, but taking out a few lines from the poetry doesn't really give you the feel, takes away the meaning and most of the feel of the poems. I will give you a middle bit from "The Loneliness of the Military Historian", but you can find the whole...
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Gingerbread Kisses by Beate Boeker

by Carol2 Comments
  Michelle's Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge doesn't start until November 23, but I'm already in the mood for Christmas stories. Gingerbread Kisses is a novella in the Sweet Christmas Kisses 2 collection. Carol is baking cookies for her sister's wedding in a beautiful hotel in Italy. She practically raised her sister and is feeling a little lost at the thought that she will be losing her. Of course, the fact that the sister is over-demanding and subjects Carol, and everyone else, to her whims, makes the idea of marrying her off a little easier. Whoever heard of skinny gingerbread men? Tom is the manager of the hotel and best friend of the groom.  It's a sweet romance. Tom has bit of a temper, but is really a nice, thoughtful guy. I like Carol, too, she's pretty and curvy and nice, but when she has to confront people she can. It made me smile. Granted the romance was quick but it's a novella, that's expected. The...
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Untimely Death by Elizabeth J. Duncan

by Carol2 Comments
Untimely Death was my last read for R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril this year. I do enjoy this event. Thanks goes to the Estella Society for hosting this year. Untimely Death started out a little rough for me. Foreshadowing's all well and good, but phrases like  "but this year was going to be different; changes were coming. She could feel it." and, on the very next page, "And although she'd never been part of a real-life murder, that was about to change," are a bit heavy-handed, especially for what is quite clearly a cozy murder mystery. Happily it improved. There are certain settings I tend to enjoy, and behind the scene at a play is one of them. Charlotte, a talented costume, is our amateur sleuth who just so happens to be dating one of the local policemen. I liked her a lot. She just seemed like a good, nice person, who knows her job and the theater well. the other characters are well-developed, especially her assistant Aaron,...
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