Gold, Frankincense and Murder by Barbara Early

This is a cute little mystery. The suspect list is short, and the clues are sprinkled throughout, but I for one didn't put them together until the reveal. Then it all made sense. I like Donna as a main characters. She's not perfect, maybe a bit nerdy, but caring and smart and not too young. I don't know why she was so suspicious of the dead guy's friend so quickly, and of course the missing man turns up murdered not long after it's discovered he's missing. I understood that she at first thought he was out of her league romantically, but she jumped to maybe he was the killer pretty quickly for someone who she meets for the second time in church. Of course, it is just a novella and she had to meet him, suspect him, and start a bit of a romance with him all in a short period, so maybe that explains it. And Sam just kept trying. He's a good...
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Tied Up in Tinsel by Ngaio Marsh

As is often the case, Marsh spends a lot of time with the set-up and introducing the characters. This time around, we have a country house murder committed at Christmas. We spend the first half or so of the book meeting all the folks who are spending the holidays at the home. The owner of the house, Hillary Bill-Tasman, is having his portrait painted by Agatha Troy a well-known artist who also just so happens to be the wife of Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn. The house is full of eccentric guests, including the fiancée, Cressida, whose character is the only one that really screams 60s/70s to me. If it weren't for her, it could have been set in the 30s, which might have been a bit more fitting overall. There’s Uncle ‘Flea’ and Aunt ‘Bed’, a gruff old Colonel and his wife who arrive with a devoted manservant. All of the other servants are convicted, but paroled, murderers. On Christmas Eve there...
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Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith

Career of Evil is good, let me say that first off. The mystery, even with its limited suspect pool is engrossing and the episodes from the killer's point of view are disturbing. The characters are well-drawn and I am invested in their personal stories, in addition to the crime-solving aspect, thanks to having read the previous two in the series. And I do think this is a series where it helps to read them in order. But I didn't particularly enjoy Career of Evil. If it wasn't a series I like, with people, fictional though they might be, who I care about it, I probably wouldn't have read it, or at least not finished it. First, I just don't like serial killer books. I read a lot of mysteries, but I avoid that particular trope. I think it has something to do with motive. Revenge, anger, greed, jealousy, need to protect oneself or one's secrets, are all understandable, their normal feelings taken to extreme....
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Morning the Burned House by Margaret Atwood

I've read several of Atwood's books over the years, but that's not why I picked this one up, even though I do enjoy the short pieces of hers I've read. When we heard Louise Penny speak, she said that several pieces of the poetry in her Gamache series come from Morning in the Burned House. The poems are lovely and dark and sad. They are full of feminine power and grief, truth and mythology, anti-war messages and pro-environment. I love how the words sounds and feel, how the phrases at times are just perfect, although not always. Not every poem struck me, but enough did to make this worth reading. I wanted to give you a few bits, but taking out a few lines from the poetry doesn't really give you the feel, takes away the meaning and most of the feel of the poems. I will give you a middle bit from "The Loneliness of the Military Historian", but you can find the whole...
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Gingerbread Kisses by Beate Boeker

  Michelle's Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge doesn't start until November 23, but I'm already in the mood for Christmas stories. Gingerbread Kisses is a novella in the Sweet Christmas Kisses 2 collection. Carol is baking cookies for her sister's wedding in a beautiful hotel in Italy. She practically raised her sister and is feeling a little lost at the thought that she will be losing her. Of course, the fact that the sister is over-demanding and subjects Carol, and everyone else, to her whims, makes the idea of marrying her off a little easier. Whoever heard of skinny gingerbread men? Tom is the manager of the hotel and best friend of the groom.  It's a sweet romance. Tom has bit of a temper, but is really a nice, thoughtful guy. I like Carol, too, she's pretty and curvy and nice, but when she has to confront people she can. It made me smile. Granted the romance was quick but it's a novella, that's expected. The...
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The Scam by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg

Some books are like good meals, rich and worth savoring. Some are more like popcorn, light, fun and forgettable. I like both, but The Scam definitely falls into the second category. The plot is a bit over-the-top as are the characters, but that's part of the charm. And the writers/narrator know it. They take us on this trip from Hawaii to Vegas to Macau with a sense of humor even in the midst of dangerous situations. It's funny and action-filled and just a blast. Brick does a great job at the narration, keeping a light edge and letting us know that even the though the characters may take themselves seriously, we shouldn't. This is the fourth in the series and we know the formula pretty well by now. Kate and Nick have a bad guy in their sights. they get a team of together, including Willie, who can drive anything, and Boyd, an actor who takes his parts very seriously, Jake, Kate's dad,...
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