Carol's Notebook – Page 155

Sunday Salon – 2/16

February 16, 2020February 16, 2020 by Carol4 Comments

Thanks to Deb at Readerbuzz for hosting The Sunday Salon. Stop over there or at the Facebook Group to participate. Week’s Highlight: Friday was Valentine's Day. David and I went to a Murder Mystery Dinner and had a really nice time. The food was not great, but fine. The Ohio Valley Cloak & Dagger Company did a great job with the interactive show. The mystery was based on a Bachelor-ish tv show, but the bachelor is killed right before the live finale. David won first prize. He was the only one who correctly guessed the killer, motive and weapon. He won some chocolate, a CD of one of their shows, and two tickets to their next "On Air" show in a couple of weeks. We went to one before and it was fun, it's kind of like the old radio shows, so I'm looking forward to that. The cast of The Final Rose Reading: Last week’s posts: The Curse of Braeburn Castle by Karen Baugh MenuhinThe Rivals of Sherlock Holmes...

The Curse of Braeburn Castle by Karen Baugh Menuhin

February 14, 2020February 14, 2020 by CarolNo Comments

Heathcliff Lennox (please call him Lennox) was in WW 1 and his butler Greggs, with whom he has an entertaining and humorous relationship, was his batman. Now back home, Lennox is having a bit of an adjustment to civilian life. He prefers solitary activities like fishing or walking his dog, Mr. Fogg, in the countryside around his slowly declining estate. However, he has friends and family that can bring him out into the world beyond his gates. Lennox is likable and intelligent, tongue-tied around women, but loyal and honest. The Curse of Braeburn Castle is the third mystery I've read featuring him and may be the best so far. This third one begins when Lennox's newly-married friend, former detective Swift, asks him to come to Braeburn Castle to help with the discovery of a centuries-old skeleton. The discovery of the skeletons has brought a team of archaeologists to the castle, a group Swift doesn't trust, and now the skull and it's...

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes published by Dover Publications

February 12, 2020February 12, 2020 by Carol4 Comments

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of 16 classic detective stories from the late 19th through the early 20th centuries. The detectives are not so much rivals of Holmes as contemporaries. The collection is centered around when the stories were written, but they come from a variety of regions. I've read a few of the authors before and a couple of the stories, but several were to me. There were even a couple of female detectives, unusual for the era. As with most anthologies, I enjoyed some of the stories more than others. The book starts off with "The Great Ruby Robbery" by Grant Allen which was clever and funny, a good combination and a good way to open. "Cinderella's Slipper" by Hugh C. Weir and his Miss Madelyn Mack also stood out for me. I met Max Carrados in "The Coin of Dionysius" by Ernest Braman. He's a blind detective, which is unique. Another, this one from America,...

Sunday Salon – 2/10

February 10, 2020February 10, 2020 by Carol6 Comments

Thanks to Deb at Readerbuzz for hosting The Sunday Salon. Stop over there or at the Facebook Group to participate. Week’s Highlight: We had a pretty quiet week, actually. Saturday was Solo and Ensemble; most of the kids I accompanied got 1s, so that's good. I personally, was having an off day, but sometimes that's life. Reading: I started listening to Middlemarch the other day. If you've read it, did you enjoy it? The audio is over 35 hours long, so I hope it's good. I've never read anything by George Eliot before. Last week’s posts: Left-Handed Death by Richard HullSweet Danger by Margery Allingham Playing: David beat me at both Scrabble and Terraforming Mars this weekend. Happily, I won Azul. It's one I really like, but David's not much of a fan. Maybe it's because I almost always win. Looking forward to: Valentine's Day is Friday. David and I are going to a Murder Mystery Dinner. Hopefully, it will be fun and the food good. We also got tickets for The Chieftains in Pittsburgh...

Left-Handed Death by Richard Hull

February 6, 2020February 6, 2020 by CarolNo Comments

Left-Handed Death is the first of Richard Hull's mysteries I've read. It's got an interesting perspective. We kind of start in the middle of the mystery. Arthur Shergold and Guy Reeves are sitting in their office, discussing recent events, in particular, Reeves' lunch that day with a civil servant from the Ministry, Barry Foster. Foster has become a problem for their company, which deals with contracts for the Ministry of Defence. Neither of them particularly like the man either. The dinner seems to end with Reeves killing Foster in Foster's home, strangling him to death. Later that day, Reeves goes to Scotland Yard and confesses to the crime. Inspector Hardwick isn’t quite ready to accept things at face value, he sets out to prove Reeves innocent. It's an interesting set-up. We know that there's something fishy about Reeves' confession, but not sure quite what? Why would he confess if he hadn't done it? If he did do it, why did...

Sweet Danger by Margery Allingham

February 5, 2020February 5, 2020 by Carol2 Comments

I'm a fan of Albert Campion. I like how he pretends to be a little dull and inoffensive, but is really pretty brilliant, daring and rather charming. The bad guy in Sweet Danger knows him pretty well too. Savanke went on impassively. "I know your success, your association with Scotland Yard. Let me see, you are unmarried, unattached." "Fancy-free," remarked Mr. Campion mildly, "is the term I've always liked.""You are thirty-two years old," the voice went on inexorably. "You are reputed to be comfortably, but not lavishly provided for. You are reckless, astute, and quite extaordinarily courageous.""I take number nine in shoes," said the young man with the toothache with sudden irritation. "I always wash behind my ears, and in my mother's opinion I have a very beautiful tenor voice. Suppose I decide not to play revolutions with you?""I don't think you would be so stupid." Oil has been found in Averna, which is on the Adriatic Sea. Big Oil in the...