Enter a Murderer by Ngaio Marsh

Enter a Murderer by Ngaio Marsh

by Carol5 Comments
I do love a good vintage mystery and in Enter a Murderer, Marsh takes us behind the scenes in a theater, which she does so well. In addition to a mystery writer, she was a theater director and knew the habits of everyone from actresses to stage managers to dressers. Our Inspector Alleyn is attending a performance of a play with his friend from the first in the series, Nigel Bathgate. During the play, one of the characters kills another, but this time the gun goes off for real, leaving an actor dead. The play does go on, as they say, but after the curtain closes, Alleyn, is immediately called up and begins his investigation. Once again, Bathgate is Alleyn's Watson. Fox has a bigger part here, I'm glad to see. I'm hoping by the next one he's the permanent sidekick. I like Bathgate, I just like Fox more. Here, Bathgate is kind of stuck between a rock and hard place. He...
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Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor

Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor

by Carol6 Comments
"I don't like time travel and I don't read much science fiction." Apparently I'm a liar. Just One Damned Thing After Another is my third science fiction-ish book of the year and deals pretty much solely with time travel and I though it was a blast. Our historian is Madeleine Maxwell (Max) and I have to say I love her. She's smart and funny in that snarky way and she really does seem to be a bit of a disaster magnet. St Mary's is a "secret" organization that specializes in time travel, going back and observing history - not interfering. They take assignments from a university that they are connected with. There aren't very many historians (time-travelers) in part because they end up getting killed on assignments, so the few that there are get to cover all sort of times, not just those they specialize in. You have to suspend disbelief here and just go along for the fun ride. Yeah, probably sending a non-paleontologist...
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A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh

A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh

by Carol10 Comments
Marsh's Inspector Alleyn series is one of my favorites, but I've been reading it all out of order. I finally got around to picking up the first in the series. While obviously don't think this is a series that needs to be read in order, it was nice to read this first introduction to Alleyn. A Man Lay Dead is a country house mystery and we have seven suspects, the host, his niece and five guests. Actually a couple more than that, because you have to count the servants, especially the missing butler. As always, Marsh is good with giving us clues and red herrings, even if the actual "how" the murderer did it was a bit far-fetched.This time around there's a side plot involving the dreaded Bolsheviks that really shows the era of the book. Alleyn's personality is not quite cemented yet, but this is the first. One of the guests, Nigel Bathgate, a journalist, becomes his assistant. He's kind of...
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First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intro

First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intro

by Carol8 Comments
Every Tuesday Vicki at I'd Rather Be At the Beach hosts First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros, where we share the first paragraph or two of a book we are reading or thinking about reading soon. Mine comes from Macbeth by Jo Nesbø. The shiny raindrop fell from the sky, through the darkness, towards the shivering lights of the port below. Cold gusting north-westerlies drove the raindrop over the dried-up riverbed that divided the town lengthwise and the disused railway line that divided it diagonally. The four quadrants of the town were numbered clockwise; beyond that they had no name. No name the inhabitants remembered anyway. And if you me those same inhabitants a long way from home and asked them where they came from they were likely to maintain they couldn't remember the name of the town either. The raindrop went from shiny to grey as it penetrated the soot and poison that lay like a constant lid of mist over the town despite...
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Reader’s Workouts – 4/3

Reader’s Workouts – 4/3

by Carol5 Comments
It was raining last Tuesday, it's raining today. Blah! This week's activities: None I did do my push ups most nights. April is an abs challenge, which I did on the 1st, but not yesterday. Dinners: Tuesday - Barbecue chicken sandwiches Wednesday - Spaghetti Thursday - Shrimp Quesadilla Friday - Sausage and cheese sandwich (Primanti's) Saturday - Pizza (delivery) Sunday - Spaghetti and tomato sauce Monday - Black bean smothered sweet potatoes Goals for March Gym – 4 times (current: 2) Pilates – 12 times (I ended up not doing Pilates this month. I'm doing yoga instead.) Yoga – 1 (current: 9) ✔ 62 pts in the #MarchUP Challenge (Current: 72) ✔ Goals for April Gym – 4 times Yoga – 12 times 62 pts in the #AprilAbs Challenge (Current: 4) Meal ideas for next week: I have no ideas. Any suggestions? 2018 Fitness Goals: - Lose weight. Goal - Lose 25 lbs. - Run 4 races of any length - Hit my weekly step goal (average 8,000 steps/day) for 36 weeks. (Current total: 8) How was your week? Readers’ Workouts is hosted by Joy at Joy’s Book Blog...
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