Carol's Notebook – Page 154

Mailbox Monday – 2/24

February 24, 2020February 17, 2020 by Carol12 Comments

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists. Tell us about your new arrivals by adding your Mailbox Monday post to the linky at mailboxmonday.wordpress.com. I picked up The Stolen Letter on NetGalley. I'm looking forward to visiting the Bookshop again....

Sunday Salon – 2/23

February 23, 2020February 23, 2020 by Carol13 Comments

Thanks to Deb at Readerbuzz for hosting The Sunday Salon. Stop over there or at the Facebook Group to participate. Week’s Highlight: Our church had its celebration weekend for the opening of our new addition. There was a worship concert, a "revival" evening, and tonight was the Children and Youth Rally. David made the cross hanging on the wall. Reading: I'm having trouble getting into Middlemarch. It's just not holding my attention yet and I'm having trouble keeping track of who's who, maybe because I'm listening to the audio rather than reading it in print. Last week’s posts: Trace Elements by Donna LeonThey All Fall Down by Rachel Howzell HallEgg Drop Dead by Vivien Chien Fitness: Yesterday was my 19th day in a row of getting all four circles on my fitbit: distance, calories burned, stairs, and active minutes. I’m pretty proud of myself. Looking forward to: Saturday we're going to see the Cloak and Dagger On the Air show. It should be fun, and it doesn't hurt that we won the tickets....

Trace Elements by Donna Leon

February 21, 2020February 21, 2020 by Carol6 Comments

I've read many of the Brunetti series, but generally out of order. I like Brunetti. He's a reader and a thinker. He loves Venice, but isn't fond of the heat and the tourists. He's doesn't approve of the corruption but realizes that to some extent it's what makes Venice run. In Trace Elements, Brunetti and Claudia Griffoni are called to the bedside of a dying woman. She tells them that her husband was killed because of the "bad money," but dies before she can tell them more. With no real evidence of a crime, Brunetti and Griffoni start investigating, feeling they owe it to the dead woman. Their clues take them to a water testing lab where perhaps not everything is handled as it should be. The plot was just complicated enough. Of course, we know that it was a murder, it always is in these books, and we know that with Brunetti's perseverance and intuition, he and Griffoni will find...

They All Fall Down by Rachel Howzell Hall

February 20, 2020February 20, 2020 by Carol2 Comments

I am a huge Agatha Christie fan, so when I was They All Fall Down is an adaptation of And Then There Were None, I was of course interested. Seven people are lured to an island in Mexico and if you've read/seen And Then There Were None, you have a basic idea of what's going to happen. In this case, I don't think it's much of a spoiler to say they all end up dead. The setting is great, an isolated private island in Mexico with a gorgeous house. The premise is obviously good, it worked for Christie, it works here. The people gathered each have their own secrets that have now caught up with them. The characters are mostly memorable if a bit caricature-ish. I didn't like any of them, but I wasn't supposed to either. The story is told in the first person by Miriam, a dance mom who has some definition. She is not a nice person...

Egg Drop Dead by Vivien Chien

February 19, 2020February 19, 2020 by Carol4 Comments

I actually don't read many foodie cozy mysteries, but the Noodle Shop Mysteries are an exception. First, I do love Chinese restaurant food. When I was pregnant, we ate at the same Chinese restaurant in the mall that the woman who owned it gave us a baby present. Second, it takes place in Cleveland, Ohio, and I always enjoy it when a story is set somewhere I've been and Amber's college is about 30 minutes away. Third, Lana's a good character and her family is a hoot. Lana's first catering job is going well - until the murder of course. Donna Feng, a long-time friend of the Lee family, is clearly the most likely suspect to have killed her nanny, but she asks Lana to help prove her innocence by figuring out who the killer actually was. This is Lana's fifth "investigation" but this time she may be in over her head. I do think this would work as a stand-alone,...

Mailbox Monday – 2/17

February 17, 2020June 27, 2022 by Carol9 Comments

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists. Tell us about your new arrivals by adding your Mailbox Monday post to the linky at mailboxmonday.wordpress.com. I used my Barnes and Noble gift card to get two books (and a coffee and cookie)....