Purchased – Carol's Notebook

The Killer Question by Janice Hallett

February 10, 2026February 10, 2026 by Carol4 Comments

The Killer Question is a clever book. The shtick is that it's all told through texts, emails, police interview transcripts, and assorted documents. The story's frame is that Dominic is trying to sell his aunt and uncle's story to a streaming service to make into a documentary. Sue and Mal operated a small pub that ran a Monday evening trivia contest. Were not surprised when a body is found in the river near the pub - after all, something made Dominic think it was a story worth pitching, but we'll have several good twists and at least one actual surprise by the end. We have a lot of characters to keep track of and we don't get to know any of them well. That's not a complaint, it's the nature of the style and important to the plot. I think this is one of those books that will either work for you or won't. I enjoyed it, but I'm not...

The In Crowd by Charlotte Vassell

February 4, 2026February 4, 2026 by Carol1 Comment

I wish I had read The Other Half, the first in the Detective Inspector Caius Beauchamp series, before picking up The In Crowd. Not that The In Crowd doesn't work as a stand-alone, it does, but Caius is a full, rich character, the kind you appreciate more the more time you spend with them. His interactions with his staff, Matt Chung and Amy Noakes, are well done, too. I also feel like some of the other characters had parts in the first case that I missed. This time around, Caius is working on two cases: the death of a woman who had been the girlfriend of a missing man suspected of stealing pension fund assets and the disappearance of a girl from boarding school years ago. The mysteries are complex and and the twists were incorporated well, and I liked how certain things pulled together. Honestly, though, it's Caius himself that would make me come back to the series....

The Gathering of Clan McFee by Karen Baugh Menuhin

January 24, 2026January 23, 2026 by Carol2 Comments

The Gathering of Clan McFee was not my favorite of the Heathcliff Lennox #14 but it was enjoyable enough. A Castle McFee, the laird has passed away without a clear heir. Descendants from across the globe had gathered at the castle, each hoping to prove they have the best claim to the inheritance - essentially a money pit of a castle and the land that goes with it. When one of the potential heirs ends up dead, Lennox and Swift are dispatched by Scotland Yard to investigate. The group that has crowded the castle is an odd bunch, as are Lady Peggy and her staff. The potential motive is obvious and shared by all the guests, but when another body is found, the whole situation becomes more dangerous. I found most, if not all, of the potential heirs annoying. Lady Peggy's butler was overly eccentric. The plot moved along at a good pace, though, and I didn't guess who the...

The Last Death of the Year by Sophie Hannah

January 13, 2026January 13, 2026 by Carol6 Comments

Hercule Poirot has brought Edward Catchpole to the House of Perpetual Welcome on a Greek Island for New Year's Eve, 1933. They are staying as the guests of Nash, the wealthy young man whose parents own the estate. Nash espouses the idea of radical forgiveness and has formed a small community that lives out that ideal, with the stated intent of changing the world. Of course, if he's invited Poirot, we know all is not well. When an after dinner game of guessing each other's New Year's resolutions shows someone is definitely contemplating committing murder, probably before the night is out, celebrations are put on hold. I don't really have a lot to say about this one. Poirot is not exactly Poirot, but he's fine and I've read others in this "New Poirot" series, so knew what to expect. I actually like Catchpole, even if he's a step or two behind Poirot. The folks who live at the...

The Christmas Tree Farm by Laurie Gilmore

December 30, 2025December 30, 2025 by CarolNo Comments

I thought a Christmas romance would be a fun read for December. This one was like a paperback version of a Hallmark movie with a bit more spice. It was good enough, but I'm not much of a romance reader and found it dragged a bit. I do appreciate that for the most part Kira and Ben actually did communicate decently. The reasons their romance didn't proceed as smoothly as it could have made sense and were minor in the grand scheme of things. And the happy ever after was cute enough....

The Dog Sitter Detective’s Christmas Tail by Antony Johnston

December 30, 2025December 30, 2025 by CarolNo Comments

The Dog Sitter Detective's Christmas Tail has lots of things I enjoy in a mystery - Christmas, dogs, a snowed-in house full of suspects, but I just didn't really enjoy it. Gwinny is an actress trying to revive her career and is dog-sitting for a bit of money or fostering a dog for no money in this case. She's dating Birch, a retired Detective Chief Inspector who has a black lab. You know from the blurb that the two of them end up snowed in in a house with 6 former spies. One of the spies, their host actually, ends up dead. Gwinny and Birch feel like it's up to them to discover who the killer is. I have not read the others in the series, but this one felt like it worked well enough as a standalone. We get some background on Gwinny and Birch and are told that she's solved a couple of cases in the past, but this...