Category: Books

Harry Lipkin, Private Eye by Barry Fantoni stars one of the most unique private detectives I've encountered lately. Harry is an 87 year old Jewish man living in Warmheart, Florida, with a wry sense of humor and all the aches and pains that go along with age, but he's still out there investigating the cases the cops don't want to bother with. His client is a wealthy widow, also Jewish (apparently there are lots of Jews in the retirement villages in Florida), in her 70's. She hires him to discover who is stealing her jewelry and there are only five suspects, her household staff. Harry does his investigating thing, a little trailing of the suspects, some talking to his old buddies. He gets in a couple of tight situations, and there is the oddest accidental death I've run across. It's a funny book and I do enjoy a humorous mystery. The plot itself - not so great. This is one of those books where you have...

I'm a big fan of Ngaio Marsh's detective novels featuring Inspector Alleyn, the first of which  was published in 1934 and the last in 1982, the year she died. Death on the Air and Other Stories is the only collection of her shorter pieces that was published. It contains three Alleyn short stories and five stories set outside of her Alleyn world. All of the stories were previously published between 1936 and 1979 in various outlests. It also includes a television script that was recorded in England in 1975 and two biographical sketches, one of Alleyn and one of the woman he marries during the series, artist Agatha Troy. I listened to the audio version of this collection, which may have not been the best choice. I found it hard to jump from one story to the next. I guess the audio format didn't give me time to readjust or clear my mind between stories, but that's just me. It has...

Scaredy Squirrel is adorable. He's cute, but a bundle of nerves and worries. This is the first time I've met him, but he certainly made me smile and laugh. Scaredy Squirrel Prepares for Christmas as a whole, however, has me a little confused. It's a cute "make it through Christmas" guide from Scaredy Squirrel's point of view. It includes a list of safety gear you should start collecting in the summer, including a hocky helmet and a St. Bernard. Scaredy Squirrel has a list of gift ideas for the various "types" on your list, including the transparent one, represented by a ghost, and the grumpy one, the alligator. The illustrations are colorful and fun. I love the pages on Santa and his reindeer and the options for dressing up for a Christmas party, but I don't understand who the target audience is. It seems like a kids book, but I don't think young kids would get most of the jokes. It could be a book...

It's the first Monday of December, which means I get to show off all the books I received last month - a couple mysteries, a couple Christmas romances, even a kids book. My birthday was in November too, but I actually didn't receive any books as gifts. My husband did get me a new MP3 player, a Sansa Clip, to replace my old one, knowing that I almost exclusively listen to books on it. Mailbox Monday was started by Marcia and is hosted by Susan of Suko’s Notebook this month. Folklore and Food by Theresa Band and Cynthia Moore Brown - from Schiffer Publishing via Net Galley Scaredy Squirrel Prepares for Christmas by Mélanie Watt - from Kids Can Press via Net Galley Mandarin Yellow by Steven Roth - purchased Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayer - from Open Road via Net Galley Romancing the Holiday by Jaci Burton, HelenKay Dimon and Christi Barth - from Carina Press via Net Galley No Mistletoe Required by Jeanett Murray...

A Christmas Garland is the 10th of Anne Perry's Christmas stories, but only the second I've read. I understand the main character, Victor Narraway, has appeared in a minor way in other books of hers, but this is my first meeting with him. Perry transports us to India, 1857. I know absolutely nothing about the Indian Revolution of 1857, so for me this short story was both an somewhat interesting mystery and a (very) brief history lesson from the viewpoint of the British involved. This story begins shortly after the Siege of Cawnpore and the devastating massacre that followed. A young medic, John Tallis, is arrested for helping an Indian prisoner escape, with a guard killed in the process. After escaping, the man gave the rebels information on a British patrol, and all but one of the members of the patrol were brutally killed.  It falls to young Lieutenant Victor Narraway to defend Tallis, but the expectation is that while Narraway will do...