Carol's Notebook – Page 146

The Fashion in Shrouds by Margery Allingham

May 8, 2020May 7, 2020 by Carol3 Comments

This mystery sees Albert Campion visiting his sister, Val, who is the top designer at a fashion house. Their family approves of neither of them, but the way. Val has been working on dresses for the actress Georgia Wells. Campion has found the skeleton of Georgia's former fiance in a garden, apparently suicide, and that story hits the news. Another death follows, another man connected to Georgia, and Val may be in trouble, dragged into the scandal. Campion must unravel the clues to get to the root of the mystery. My favorite part of this book is the return of Amanda Fitton. She is a joy and a wonderful crime-solving companion for Campion. The mystery is well-done and fair. I like the fashion/entertainment industry setting and the characters were an interesting mix. I wish the women had been dealt with a bit better. Val and Georgia are both independent women at the top of the careers. I wish they would spend less...

Dune by Frank Herbert

May 7, 2020May 7, 2020 by Carol4 Comments

I tried to read Dune a couple of years ago and got about 1/3 through before sitting it aside. It's long and the copy my daughter has has small print. But the new movie's coming out later this year and one of our friends picked up the re-issued board game, so I decided it was definitely time to finally read it. I had heard good things about the audiobook, so I decided to give it a try this time around. I don't know if the timing for me was just better or the audio was the way to go, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, right from the beginning. Dune is a classic. There is little I can say about it that hasn't already been said. The world-building is monumental, and Herbert weaves the geopolitics, religion, and philosophy into that setting seamlessly. In the distant future, humanity is ruled by an intergalactic feudal Empire. Duke Leto Atreides accepts control of a desert...

Cloak and Dagger Challenge May Link-Up

May 1, 2020April 28, 2020 by Carol3 Comments

It's May and I have to admit I'm a bit tired. How are you doing? I hope everyone's safe and healthy. Thankfully, my family is all well and still working. But, how about a giveaway? If you've signed up for the challenge and have read at least one Cloak and Dagger book, you're eligible. The prize will be a book up to $20 from either the Mystery Lovers Bookshop (US) or the Book Depository (Int). Remember shipping will probably take a little longer than usual. Enter below. a Rafflecopter giveaway And don't forget to enter your May Links. You are invited to the Inlinkz link party! Click here to enter...

Dancers in Mourning by Margery Allingham

April 30, 2020April 29, 2020 by CarolNo Comments

My problem with Dancers in Mourning is that while the plot itself is well-done, Campion is not his usual self. He's over-emotionally involved and it's affecting his decisions and involvement with the case. To start off, Campion visits the theatre with ‘Uncle’ William Faraday, who has found his mostly fictional memoir turned into a hit musical comedy. The star is dancer Jimmy Sutane, who is unsettled by a series of practical jokes and needs Campion's help. Campion and Faraday head to Sutane’s house, where they meet a group of theater/musical people. Not long after their arrival, another guest is dead, maybe accident, maybe murder, hard to tell. That's just the first of the deaths, there are three or four more before the killer is found. Clearly, one of the people in the house is a murderer, and Campion has his suspicions. The problem is that Campion has fallen in love with Sutane's wife. I wish he hadn't. First off, he barely knew...

The Red House Mystery by A. A. Milne

April 29, 2020April 28, 2020 by Carol4 Comments

It's a shame Milne only wrote one mystery. The Red House Mystery is clever and funny and charming. From the dedication: Our amateur sleuth is Antony Gillingham. He stops at The Red House to visit his friend, Bill Beverly, but as he gets there he finds a frantic man banging on the door of a locked room, trying to get in. Antony and the man run to the back of the house and break in the window, finding a dead man, shot. The man who was breaking into the room was Mr. Cayley, cousin and assistant to Mark Ablett, owner of The Red House. The dead man is Mark's brother, Robert, newly arrived from Australia. Mark himself is missing. Antony is an outsider at The Red House, but allowed free reign that the detectives don't have. The mystery is well-done, the clues make sense. I knew who the killer was, but not the hows and whys until the end. The characters are...

Can You Read a Series in a Month? Challenge

April 28, 2020June 4, 2020 by Carol2 Comments

I am an unapologetic series reader. Mysteries of course, vintage and contemporary, but also sci-fi, fantasy, and even the occasional romance. The two books I’m in the middle of right now, listed on my sidebar, are both parts series. So, when I saw Michelle and Berls’ Can You Read a Series in a Month? Challenge at Because Reading Is Better than Real Life, I had to join in. The challenge is to pick 1 series, and then read EVERY book in that series during May. To count as a series, there needs to be at least 3 published books, so trilogies work. If the series isn’t complete yet, as long as the first 3 books have been published it counts. The hashtag is #SeriesinaMonth. Wanna join in? Sign up here. I’m choosing Elly Griffiths' Stephens & Mephisto Mysteries. The Zig Zag Girl - finished 5/13, reviewSmoke and Mirrors - finished 5/20, reviewThe Blood Card - finished 5/24, reviewThe Vanishing Box - finished 6/1, reviewNow You See Them As you...