Flash Fiction: The Haunted Bend

Flash Fiction: The Haunted Bend

by Carol1 Comment
"The Haunted Bend" No wonder they call this place haunted, Sir Richard thought to himself. He looked down at the body lying on the ground. The knight had quite obviously been thrown from his horse, breaking his neck when he hit the hard ground, but if Sir Richard had been a fanciful man he would have commented on the horror that filled the knight's eyes. Being a reasonable man, a physician, he kept his thoughts to himself and merely stated the obvious. "Third body this month." "I wonder where his horse has wandered off to," Sir Richard's companion muttered, looking around nervously. "Frightened no doubt. He'll wander back to the stable eventually." Together, the two men wrapped the body in burlap and loaded it into the cart, along with the sword and helmet that had fallen to the ground. "His sword was drawn then." "Aye," Sir Richard replied briefly, not wanting to encourage the direction of the conversation. If the knight had drawn his sword, it followed that...
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Thursday’s Tale: Hop o’ My Thumb

Thursday’s Tale: Hop o’ My Thumb

by Carol2 Comments
Image credit: SurLaLuneFairytales.com "Hop o' My Thumb" was first published by Charles Perrault in Histoires ou Contes du Temps Passé in 1697, but I couldn't find a copy of that version on-line. The versions I read are from Anderson Lang's Blue Fairy Book, first published in 1889, attributed to Perrault, and one provided by the California Digital Library. Once again, it's surprising how many fairy tales echo each other. While you read the summary, think about what other stories it reminds you of. Hop o' My Thumb is the youngest of seven sons, all between the ages of 7 and 10, of a poor woodcutter and his wife. He is the youngest, weakest of the boys, and also the most quiet, so the others thought him a simpleton, but he was actually quite a clever boy. The parents are so poor that they realize they will not be able to feed their family so they agree, after much arguing on the mother's part, to take...
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March Mystery Madness: Black As He’s Painted by Ngaio Marsh

March Mystery Madness: Black As He’s Painted by Ngaio Marsh

by Carol10 Comments
It becomes harder for me to review books after I've read several in a series. For regular followers, redescribing the main characters and the style of the book may just be a repeat of what I've said before. That's not so much a problem with Marsh's books, though. Although her detective, Roderick Alleyn, shows up in all of them, they are each very different books, from setting to minor characters to the reasons behind the crimes. In Black as He's Painted, the "Boomer," an old school friend of Alleyn's is now the president/dictator of a fictional emerging African nation, Ng'ombwana, is in London. I forgot why- a meeting of some kind I'm sure. Anyway, he's notoriously difficult to protect, disdaining body guards and local police, seeming to feel more or less untouchable. However, he's got all kinds of enemies, from ex-colonists to new rivals, from dispossessed businessmen to racist crackpots. At a reception at the embassy, an attempt is presumably made on his...
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Winner!

by Carol3 Comments
Congrats to the winner of my "Spring Cleaning" Giveaway! Miranda from Mom's Bookshelf and More Shore Excursion by Marie Moore, The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny, and India Black and the Widow of Windsor by Carol K. Carr will be on their way to her shortly. Thanks to all of you who stopped by during the hop....
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I was tagged

I was tagged

by Carol10 Comments
Raine at Passages of the Pen tagged me to play along . She asked some good questions. Q1: What song aptly fits your current read? Something Scottish. I don't really know any Scottish bands, but a quick google search brought up Battlefield Band. Q2: Which book couple from your 2011 reads is your favorite and would like to see again and why? Mick and Casey McKee from Have Gun, Will Play by Camille LaGuire. They also appear in some of her short stories. They are a young married couple, gunslingers in the Old West, who get involved in mysteries on a semi-regular basis. He's a softy at heart, a good guy who adores his wife. She's a tough girl, the better gunman of the two, but she needs Mick more than she's willing to admit. They are just such a unique couple and I was drawn to them immediately. Q3: I recently discovered the Steampunk genre, what book will you recommend for me to check...
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