Carol's Notebook

Nonfiction Reader Challenge 2026

December 4, 2025December 5, 2025 by Carol1 Comment

I am signing up for the Nonfiction reader challenge again this year. It's 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 again this year, reading three from any three categories. The categories are: History Memoir/Biography True Crime Science Health Food South East Asia Humour (Humor) Lost or found Television Subculture Published in 2026 Books read:...

Murder Most Haunted by Emma Mason

December 4, 2025December 4, 2025 by Carol1 Comment

Midge McGowan has just retired from the police form. She was a detective, but has spent most of her career stuck in the property room. As a going away gift the force gives her a weekend trip for one to a haunted mansion on the weekend before Christmas. Midge doesn't want to go for several reasons, but her wife insists. It works as the setup for the mystery and a reason was given, but what a terrible gift. So, off Midge goes on the bus with the other guests, the driver, and the tour host - a rather odd mix of people. Of course, it's not long until someone is killed and the house is cut off from the outside by the snow and an active firing field. I think this might be the first I've read where the house was cut off from help by a firing range. Midge is a good lead. She's smart, observant, and often overlooked. I...

2026 Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge Sign-Up

December 1, 2025November 25, 2025 by Carol38 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...

December Cloak and Dagger Link-Up and Wrap-ups

December 1, 2025December 4, 2025 by Carol3 Comments

Happy December! I am looking forward to the holiday and some time off work. I'll also read a bunch of Christmas mysteries this month - anyone else? Link you Cloak and Dagger reads below or in the comments. If you have a wrap-up post, you can link it too. You are invited to the Inlinkz link party! Click here to enter We're also having an end of year giveaway for this year's participants. The prize is one book of your choice up to $25 from bookshop.org if you are in the US or a retailer of your choice if you're in another country. Just fill out the form below and I'll pick a random winner on January 15. Loading…...

O, Deadly Night by Vicki Delany

November 26, 2025November 26, 2025 by Carol2 Comments

Rudolph, New York, is the place to be for Christmas - the town goes all out to welcome tourists to America’s Christmas Town. Merry once again doesn't win the best float in the Santa Claus parade, but all the shops in town are bustling. Also a new neighborhood has moved in across the street, but Mrs. D'Angelo thinks something is up. She never sees them and they won't answer the door when she tries to drop off cookies. Mrs. D'Angelo is one of those nosey neighbors and even asks Merry to mention the elusive new-comers to the police. Then Mrs. D'Angelo disappears and Merry realizes the older woman might have taken her snooping too far. Eventually, Merry finds Mrs. D'Angelo relatively unharmed - and a dead body. The killer is pretty easy to guess in this one, as is the motive, but the characters are fun to spend time with. Merry's family and friends are appropriately quirky and her dog...

Yuletide Spirit Reading Challenge

November 24, 2025December 30, 2025 by Carol1 Comment

The Yuletide Spirit Reading Challenge starts today even if my own Christmas reading started a couple of weeks ago. Thanks to Michelle at Seasons of Reading for hosting. Head over there to join in and to check out the rules. The challenge will run from today through December 31. These must be Christmas novels, books about Christmas lore, a book of Christmas short stories or poems, books about Christmas crafts, and a children’s Christmas books level! The hashtag is #YuletideSpirit. I’m aiming for the Christmas Tree level, which is 5 or 6 books. I may also watch a couple of Christmas movies, for the Fa La La La Films level. There will also be a 24 in 48 hours Readathon the weekend of December 26 - 28. It starts at 8:00 pm eastern time on Friday and it ends at 8:00 pm eastern time on Sunday. The idea is the try to read for 24 hours during that 48 hour period, but there are...