Purchased – Page 38 – Carol's Notebook

Dying in a Winter Wonderland by Vicki Delany

November 21, 2020November 19, 2020 by CarolNo Comments

We were at Barnes & Noble a couple weeks ago and they had a display table out of Christmas cozy mysteries. David should be pleased that I only picked Up Dying in a Winter Wonderland and not all of them. Maybe I should go back? This is the first in the Year-Round Christmas series that I've read, but I felt like I was able to jump right in. I adored Merry and her family and kind of wished I lived in a town like Rudolph. The other characters, friends, employees, boyfriend, are a quirky group, in a fun way. Merry is ready to celebrate another magical Christmas in her hometown and business at her store is booming. However, Luanne arrives to throw everything into chaos. For some unknown reason, Merry had agreed to style Luanne's July wedding, but Luanne's just informed her that she's moved the wedding up- to February! But when the fiance turns up dead and Merry's brother is the...

All the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny

November 20, 2020November 19, 2020 by CarolNo Comments

I've read every one of Louise Penny's Three Pines series. I loved the quirky village residents, the small-town setting, and the intricate, well-plotted mysteries. I like Gamache as a main character and and appreciate his thoughtfulness and calmness. Granted, some of the books I've enjoyed more than others. All the Devils Are Here is somewhere in the middle of the pack. The mystery was well-done and I enjoyed getting to know more of Gamache's family. I missed some of my favorite people though. All the Devils Are Here is set in Paris, where Gamache's children now reside. Gamache's son-in-law, friend, and former protege, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, has also relocated to the city and is working for a private engineering company. Of course, Reine-Marie has come to the city with Gamache, and we also get to meet his billionaire godfather Stephen Horowitz. The action begins when the elderly Horowitz is hospitalized after a car deliberately hits him. Not long afterward, a body turns...

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle

November 3, 2020November 3, 2020 by CarolNo Comments

I was looking for something shorter to end my October with and decided I couldn't go wrong with a Sherlock Holmes story. I'm sure I've read A Study in Scarlet at some time in the past, but didn't remember much about it. It's the first of the Holmes stories, the one where he and Watson first meet. Dr. John Watson is back from the war, in London and running a bit low on funds. He isn't able to afford a decent apartment but is introduces to Holmes through a mutual friend. Holmes, as we know, is a "consultant detective", consulted not only by private individuals, but also by Scotland Yard. Soon, Holmes is called to the scene of a murder, and he brings Watson along with him. We get to know a lot about Holmes. He's strange and brilliant and has developed his own methods of detection. Part 2 of this one goes a little amok, off into Utah and Mormonism...

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

October 30, 2020October 30, 2020 by Carol4 Comments

The Haunting of Hill House is more eerie than scary. Jackson's writing is so tight and so descriptive in ways that make you think about ordinary things, like houses, differently. The plot itself is not outstanding, maybe because it's almost become a template of haunted house stories. Three people, Eleanor, Theodora and Luke, are invited to stay in a supposedly haunted house for the summer to aid a scientist, Dr. Montague, in his pursuit of paranormal investigation. We some started banging, laughs, cold spots, a ghostly scene, but really the story is about Eleanor. We see this world through her eyes. Eleanor's eyes. She is insecure, introverted, and often finds herself fantasizing about her current and future situations. She's not a reliable narrator to any extent. Eleanor is affected by the house more than any of the others. While they all see and feel some of the manifestations, but some she only hears and others are directed at her by...

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

October 20, 2020October 20, 2020 by Carol4 Comments

Walter Hartright, is walking down the street, his mind absorbed with his own problems, when suddenly a woman, dressed in white appears. She is clearly scared, and he walks with her toward London, eventually putting her in a cab and seeing her off. Shortly thereafter he is informed by two men who are chasing her that she had escaped from an asylum. And that's all we see of the lady in white for now. Hartright is left with a mystery. He takes a job as a drawing master, instructing two half-sisters as different as night and day. One is fair, and one is dark. One is pretty, and one is…well…unattractive. Marian is brave, brilliant, and resourceful, a marvelous character given the time period. Marian can hold her own. Hartright, of course, falls in love with Laura Fairlie, the fair and beautiful one, an heiress, an orphan, a woman in need of protection. Unfortunately, she is engaged to Sir Percival Glyde....

An Old Money Murder in Mayfair by Sara Rosett

October 7, 2020October 7, 2020 by Carol2 Comments

Olive is staying at the home of her school friend, Gigi, and enjoying the champagne lifestyle of the ‘bright young things’ of the 1920s while employed to look into Gigi's grandmother's fears that someone is trying to hurt her. Of course, grandmother does end up being killed, and several people have motives, not the least of whom is Gigi. If her grandmother did change her will like she threatened, it would be Gigi who was left out in the cold. I enjoy this series. The regular characters feel like old friends and the plots are entertaining. I adore all the 1920s details - the fashion, etiquette, and colloquialism. It also paints a good picture of the gap between the servants, the upper class who have money, and the upper class who don't, like Olive. This feels in a lot of ways like a vintage mystery. It's an easy read, without any real violence or graphic scenes. It's well-written and the solution was...