Purchased – Carol's Notebook

My Fatal Valentine by Leighann Dobbs

February 12, 2025February 12, 2025 by Carol2 Comments

It's Valentine's Day and, of course, Juniper Holiday is throwing another of her over the top holiday parties. This time there's a raffle and the grand prize is an all-expense paid date with one of the hottest guys in town. But of course, there's a murder - the grand prize winner is found dead in the bathroom. It's a fun little mystery. Juni is determined to solve the case, but she also needs to step carefully because Detective Mallard's job might be on the line. As much as the two bicker, she doesn't want to ruin his career, especially because her goddaughter and he have a bit of an attraction going. The story moves along quickly. At first we have a couple of suspects, but little else to go on. Juni tries a bit of magic and talks to the ghosts, but it takes some old-fashioned detective work to get to the solution. I listened to the audio and I must have gotten...

How to Piss Off Men by Kyle Prue

February 11, 2025February 11, 2025 by Carol2 Comments

How to Piss Off Men is not a book I would usually pick up, but I was looking for a How To book for one of the challenges I'm doing. "Funny" books don't usually work for me, but maybe I was just in the right mood, or it was short enough that I actually found it amusing. The author/narrator is funny and sincere. Not all of the "insults" are particularly original and some I didn't quite get, but it's not just ways to insult men. Although it is that, it's also an invitation to men to look at why those comments/questions make them angry. I think the author also sees it as a call to continue to tear down the patriarchy. I listened to the audio which the author narrated himself. I think it made the jokes funnier than if I read them in print and the musing more heartfelt. It also included a conversation between Prue and his mom at...

Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie

February 10, 2025February 10, 2025 by CarolNo Comments

I have to admit that in general I don't read a lot of short stories. I prefer the room novels give to let us get to know characters, learn motives, discover clues. That being said, this is a very good collection. Miss Marple is a sweet old lady who rarely leaves her small town but has a knack of understanding human nature. Most of the stories start in a similar way. A revolving group sit down to dinner to recall difficult cases. The others are challenged to solve them. Miss Marple, at first overlooked and only included out of politeness, is the one who always arrives at the correct solutions. She notes that people get into the same situations, whether they live in a village or a city. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator did a wonderful job. All the characters were distinct and consistent across stories. She brought our Miss Marple's sense of humor and pleasure in outwitting...

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

January 24, 2025January 24, 2025 by CarolNo Comments

I usually don't review Sherlock Holmes books. Let's be honest, everyone reading this knows who the character is and most will either love him or not. It also won't surprise anyone that I love the stories and novels, some more than others of course. This collection is probably my favorite and the reason I chose it when I was looking for something I felt like reading that is in the public domain (for a challenge). The stories are clever and entertaining. Holmes is at his best. We meet Irene Adler and the horrible Dr. Grimesby Roylott. I listened to the audio this time, narrated by Stephen Fry who did a fabulous job. I wasn't surprised by any of the twists or turns - I've read them all multiple times, but enjoy them none the less. We also watched Sherlock Holmes (2009) starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law, which is always fun. I really like how Holmes is portrayed and...

Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie

January 8, 2025 by CarolNo Comments

I do love a good Poirot mystery and this one is interesting because each of our potential suspects gets to tell their story exactly as they remember it. Poirot is asked by a young woman to solve the murder of her father, Amyas, a famous painter who was killed 16 years ago. Although her mother, Caroline, was tried, convicted, and died in prison, she left her daughter a note claiming she was innocent. Poirot agrees to look into it and happily, the five other people at the house at the time are all still alive. Poirot visits each of them and asks them to write down how they remember the events of that time. They all oblige. Through those accounts, we learn more about Caroline and Amyas Crale, but also about everyone else concerned. Everyone sees the others just a bit differently and layers and layers are added to the timeline and the characters, some obvious, others surprising. We do...

The Christmas Eve Murders by Noelle Albright

December 19, 2024December 20, 2024 by CarolNo Comments

I don't know. The Christmas Eve Murders had a lot of what I'm looking for in a Christmas cozy - a warm fire, Christmas decorations, good food, too much snow, and quirky characters, but I never really bought into it. Maddie Marlowe, a reporter, is having the worst Christmas Eve ever. She's heading home to a town just outside of Edinburgh, but got a late start because she had to work late. Then a traffic tie up made her reroute taking her through the Yorkshire Dales, where her car breaks down. Due to the increasing snow, the auto club can't get to her until the next day, so she has to take refuge at the local pub, the Merry Monarch, which also has rooms for rent. For some reason, the pub hosts a Christmas Eve scavenger hunt, which she is convinced to join in on. And then of course, there's a murder. Maybe the fact that Maddie is an outsider,...