Library Loot: A Prodigal Returns

It's been quite a long time since I've participated in Library Loot, a weekly event co-hosted by Claire and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

Mainly, I've been absent because I am making a dedicated effort to read books off my own shelves. I've picked up a book from the library here and there in order to meet some challenge requirements, but never enough to feel like I needed to make a special post. However, this week I scooped up several books that I just had to tell you all about....

Current Loot:

• Capacity for Murder by Bernadette Pajer: the newest installment in her Professor Bradshaw mysteries set at the dawn of the 20th Century.  I've been waiting and waiting for this to be available.
• The Scarlet Macaw by S.P. Hozy: Entwined mysteries unfold in two time periods in Singapore as artist Maris Cousins, devastated by the sudden death of her mentor, gallery owner Peter Stone, becomes immersed in fictional stories of love and betrayal from the city's past, mysteriously left to her by Stone. Soon she is caught up in circumstances involving smuggling and even murder. [Picked up for a reading challenge]
•  Murder by the Book by Eric Brown: London, 1955. When crime writer Donald Langham's literary agent asks for his help in sorting out 'a delicate matter', little does Langham realize what he's getting himself into. For a nasty case of blackmail leads inexorably to murder as London's literary establishment is rocked by series of increasingly bizarre deaths.    
• Dead Old by Maureen Carter: Elderly women are being attacked by a gang of vicious thugs in Birmingham. When retired doctor Sophia Carrington is murdered, it's assumed she is the gang's latest victim. But DS Bev Morriss isn't convinced... [Picked up for a challenge--had to find a book with a main character who had my name.  Do you know how difficult it is to find "Bev" in fiction?]  

Recently Read from the Library (click titles for reviews:
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Photo by Sammy Davis, Jr. [text by Burt Boyar] 
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern 
If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't) by Betty White

Library Loot: Sept 21-27

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire (The Captive Reader) and Marg (The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader) that encourages bloggers to share the books they've checked out of the library. If you'd like to participate, just write up your post, feel free to steal button, and link up using the Mr. Linky at the hosting site each week. And, of course, check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.


I had no idea (until I was looking for my last post to cut & paste the intro) that I had been off the Library Loot bandwagon since the beginning of August. Don't know what happened there because I have been going to the library. Just too busy reading the books to post about picking them up I guess.

Here's what I've got this week:

Death of an Englishman by Magdalen Naab: The debut of Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia of the Carabinieri, a Sicilian, stationed in Florence. It is just before Christmas and the marshal wants to go South to spend the holiday with his wife and family, but first he must recover from the flu (which has left the Florentine caribinieri short-handed) and also solve a murder. A seemingly respectable retired Englishman, living in a flat on the Via Maggio near the Santa Trinita bridge, was shot in the back during the night. He was well-connected and Scotland Yard has despatched two officers to "assist" the Italians in solving the crime. But it is the marshal, a quiet observer, not an intellectual, who manages to figure out what happened, and why.

Let's All Kill Constance by Ray Bradbury: The third volume in the author's noir series, set in 1950s California, follows a young screenwriter and his crafty partner, detective Elmo Crumley, as they protect an aging movie queen from a deadly enemy who is determined to put an end to both her career and her life.

Blood Atonement by Dan Waddell: Detective Chief Inspector Grant Foster is called to a homicide at the home of a single mother in Queens Park, London. Her throat has been cut from ear to ear and her body dumped in the garden. Her daughter and only child, Naomi, who has just turned fourteen this day, is missing. As the hours tick by, the feeling grows among Foster's colleagues that this mis most likely becoming a double-murder inquiry. With nothing in the present to indicate a motive, Foster decides to delve into the woman's past, only to find out she doesn't have one. Not sure where else to turn for information, he calls on genealogist, Nigel Barnes for help.


Leftover Loot & Current Read (from my last trip): March Violets by Philip Kerr: Private eye Bernhard Gunther attempts to recover a diamond necklace in 1936 Berlin, a seemingly routine case that blossoms into a deadly plot involving Nazi politics and the Dachau death camp.

And...some Loot from the Friends of the Library Booksale:

Haunted Gound by Erin Hart: The Irish landscape holds secrets past and present as archaeologist Cormac O'Callaghan and pathologist Nora Gavin encounter a mystery when a decapitated woman is found in the bogs who may be related to a recent mother/child disappearance. [this will be the perfect final book for my RIP Challenge]

I could not resist this bit of whimsy:
Sherlock Homes Paper Dolls by Tom Tierney

Library Loot: July 27-Aug 2

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire (The Captive Reader) and Marg (The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader) that encourages bloggers to share the books they've checked out of the library. If you'd like to participate, just write up your post, feel free to steal button, and link up using the Mr. Linky the hosting site each week. And, of course, check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

The Loot from the Library is a bit sparse again this week. But hold on, because I scored big time at the local used book store and will just have to share in the next post.

1. Shatterday by Harlan Ellison. I loved Ellison when I was a teenager and heavy into my science fiction addiction. The "Follow That Blurb" challenge that I'm doing has led me back to Ellison. It'll be interesting to see what I think of him now.

click HERE for synopsis

2. Cities in Flight by James Blish. Blish blurbs Ellison--so he's the next stop on the "Follow That Blurb" journey. This is one hefty book though. I may wind up choosing something a little less bulky by Blish.

click HERE for synopsis

Library Loot: July 20-26

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire (The Captive Reader) and Marg (The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader) that encourages bloggers to share the books they've checked out of the library. If you'd like to participate, just write up your post, feel free to steal button, and link up using the Mr. Linky the hosting site each week. And, of course, check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.



My Loot (a little sparse this week):

No Body by Nancy Pickard: The third story featuring Jenny Cain is fast-moving, sparked by humor and an unusual plot. Jenny, still serving as the head of the Port Frederick Civic Foundation, relates events that stun the population in her New England town when a mud slide reveals the disappearance of 133 bodies, supposedly interred during the 19th century in the old cemetery. At the same time, the corpse of Sylvia Davis is found in the casket with John Rudolph just before he's due to be buried in the new cemetery. The next day, Rudolph's widow is murdered, and Jenny sets out to gather evidence on possible killers. Her prime suspect is a young gravedigger and drug addict who dominates the center stage in macabre scenes before Jenny solves the puzzle of the town's vanished ancestors and identifies the present-day evildoer.


Random Walk by Lawrence Block: A fantastic journey starts one step at a time. Guthrie's got a voice in his head, and it's telling him to go for a walk. So he does--across America. Along the way he meets up with other souls searching for something more from life. And at his side is Sara, a woman whose natural sight has been lost but replaced with mystical visions. Before long remarkable things are happening to all of the walkers. Meanwhile, Mark, a successful businessman who happens to be a serial killer, is also roaming the American landscape. Will Mark cross paths with Guthrie and his soulful band, and if he does, will good triumph over evil?

Library Loot: July 13-19

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire (The Captive Reader) and Marg (The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader) that encourages bloggers to share the books they've checked out of the library. If you'd like to participate, just write up your post, feel free to steal button, and link up using the Mr. Linky the hosting site each week. And, of course, check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.



My Loot:

1. The Mystery of the Third Lucretia by Susan Runholt: If it hadn't been for Lucas's photographic memory, they might not have remembered the man. It had been almost a year since she and Kari had noticed him copying the famous Rembrandt painting in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. But now in the National Gallery in London, they're sure it's the same guy, copying another Rembrandt. What is going on?

The International Herald Tribune gives them their answer. A never-beforeseen Rembrandt painting has been discovered in Amsterdam. The mysterious man must've been working on a forgery! Convinced that no one will believe them without more evidence, the teenage sleuths embark on a madcap adventure to find the forger. But is bringing the criminal to justice worth the price of their lives? (Goodreads synopsis). I've actually finished this one--click title for my review.

2. Heartless by Gail Carriger: Lady Alexia Maccon, soulless, is at it again, only this time the trouble is not her fault. When a mad ghost threatens the queen, Alexia is on the case, following a trail that leads her deep into her husband's past. Top that off with a sister who has joined the suffragette movement (shocking!), Madame Lefoux's latest mechanical invention, and a plague of zombie porcupines and Alexia barely has time to remember she happens to be eight months pregnant. Will Alexia manage to determine who is trying to kill Queen Victoria before it is too late? Is it the vampires again or is there a traitor lurking about in wolf's clothing? And what, exactly, has taken up residence in Lord Akeldama's second best closet?

3. The Prop by Pete Hautman: Peeky Kane is a prop player at an Arizona casino owned by the Santa Cruz tribe. Her job is to play poker. She makes a handsome living off the suckers who populate the card room. Life is sweet. But something's not right at the Casino Santa Cruz. When Peeky finds herself in a fixed game and comes away a thousand dollars richer, she is drawn unwittingly toward the dark side of professional poker. And things are about to get very murky. A band of clown-masked robbers makes off with millions of the casino's dollars and leaves behind four corpses. Peeky recognizes one of the robbers and fears who all may involve. Time to investigate.

4. Bone Harvest by Mary Logue: Then the quiet was broken. The baby reached up a hand and jerked at the tablecloth. A spoon hit her on the head, and she started to cry. Bertha Schuler stuck her head out the door and called that dinner was ready. The clock in the hallway struck the half hour. And the first shot was fired.

The unsolved murders at a remote Wisconsin farmhouse half a century ago have receded into time. But one deranged man will do anything to make sure that all of Pepin County remembers that bloody day.

The world was out of balance. It had been so for nearly fifty years. Only he could see it. Only he could change it.

When a quantity of dangerous pesticides is stolen from the local co-op, Deputy Sheriff Claire Watkins is called in to investigate. The thief has left one bizarre clue: the finger bone of a child long dead. The pesticides soon reappear with devastating effect—in flowerbeds, in animal feed, and in a fatal concoction at a Fourth of July picnic. Each time, a tiny human bone is left at the scene. With the help of Harold Peabody, the quirky, aging editor of the Durand Daily, Claire unravels the secrets of the past, leading her to a pair of young lovers, a man enraged over his mother’s death, an obsessive recluse, and the deputy who first discovered the corpses of the Schuler family Claire desperately races against time to find the madman before he uses the lethal pesticide again. But he won’t be stopped. Not until he gets what he wants.

The truth must be told. Or more will die. The flowers and the birds were only the beginning. . . .

And a load of goodies from the Friends of the Library Bookstore:

Bland Beginnings by Julian Symons
Cop Killer by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö
A Coffin for Dimitrios by Eric Ambler
Garden of Malice by Susan Kenney
A Perfect Red by Amy Butler Greenfield

And the big prize:
Murder for Christmas by Agatha Christie (first edition!!!)

Library Loot: July 6-12

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire (The Captive Reader) and Marg (The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader) that encourages bloggers to share the books they've checked out of the library. If you'd like to participate, just write up your post, feel free to steal button, and link up using the Mr. Linky on Claire's site this week. And, of course, check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

Made two trips to the library this week--here's the haul from Thursday and today:

1. Hot & Bothered by Jane Isenberg: Things are scarier since that black day in September that shook Manhattan and the world. But across the river in Hoboken, New Jersey, community college professor Bel Barrett intends to live without fear. Then one of her co-judges of a scholarship contest is found dead - a woman who lived a strange double life as academic by day and stripper by night. Unsure which world harbors her friend's murderer, Bel decides to investigate both. [I've actually already got this one read. Click on the title for my review.]


2. The White Woman on the Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey: Monique Roffey's Orange Prize-shortlisted novel is a gripping portrait of postcolonialism that stands among great works by Caribbean writers like Jamaica Kincaid and Andrea Levy.

When George and Sabine Harwood arrive in Trinidad from England, George is immediately seduced by the beguiling island, while Sabine feels isolated, heat-fatigued, and ill-at-ease. As they adapt to new circumstances, their marriage endures for better or worse, despite growing political unrest and racial tensions that affect their daily lives. But when George finds a cache of letters that Sabine has hidden from him, the discovery sets off a devastating series of consequences as other secrets begin to emerge. [Goodreads]

3. Roseanna by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö: According to Per Wahloo, the ten books he wrote with his wife, Maj Sjowall, about Inspector Martin Beck were intended to be a left-wing assault on the sacred cows of Swedish society. They are also, however, entertaining tales of mystery that allow non-Swedes to slip under the skin of another culture while having a frighteningly good time. In this first book of the series, the body of a young woman is discovered as a dredger digs a canal. There seems to be little chance of Beck identifying the woman, let alone discovering who killed her. But by combining time-honored methods of police procedure with a few local twists, Beck manages to do just that. [Amazon]

4. The Case of the Deceiving Don by Carl Brookins: Twin Cities PI Sean Sean (yes, that's his name) investigates when an elderly resident, Gus Molinaro, of a nearby nursing home is blown up in his wheelchair just outside Sean's house. After two mysterious men hire him to find Molinaro's killer, he can pursue the case for a client. Working with his police contacts and an octogenarian resident of the nursing home, Sean learns that Molinaro was connected to the Mob, but why was the elderly don killed now? Molinaro's health-care companion, who disappeared just after the killing, is a suspect. And who is driving the silver-blue Audi that Sean keeps seeing? Then someone begins taking potshots at Sean, killing a bystander by mistake. Is the shooter Molinaro's killer, or does someone else want Sean dead? The self-deprecating PI in red Keds, who is not above using a little breaking and entering if the need arises, makes an appealing hero for those who like unconventional sleuths. Copyright 2006 Booklist Reviews.

Leftover Loot:

The Curious Death of Peter Artedi by Theodore W. Pietsch: 18th Century contemporaries saw only a tragic accident when the promising ichthyologist Peter Artedi himself joined the fishes as he tumbled to his 1735 death in an Amsterdam canal. But in this fascinating and impeccably researched novel, Pietsch opens a more sinister possibility....A truly highbrow whodunit that will be of interest to readers of historical fiction, literary thrillers, and scientific history. (Bryce Christensen, Booklist)

The Ghost of Greenwich Village by Lorna Graham: A young woman moves to Manhattan seeking romance and excitement, only to find that her apartment is haunted by the ghost of a cantankerous Beat Generation writer in need of a rather huge favor.

The Bones of Avalon by Phil Rickman: Summoned by William Cecil to address dangerous questions about Elizabeth I's legitimacy, royal astrologer John Dee teams up with Robert Dudley to retrieve the bones of King Arthur, a mission that is complicated by magic, a first love, and a complex plot against the queen.

Library Loot:: June 29 to July 5

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire (The Captive Reader) and Marg (The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader) that encourages bloggers to share the books they've checked out of the library. If you'd like to participate, just write up your post, feel free to steal button, and link up using the Mr. Linky on Marg's site this week. And, of course, check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

I somehow skipped a week...so here is my loot for two weeks:

1. The Last Matryoshka by Joyce Yarrow: A fast-paced, suspenseful mystery, starring Jo Epstein, a performance poet and private investigator. She uses her New York street smarts to outmaneuver a master Russian criminal on his own turf.

2. The Curious Death of Peter Artedi by Theodore W. Pietsch: 18th Century contemporaries saw only a tragic accident when the promising ichthyologist Peter Artedi himself joined the fishes as he tumbled to his 1735 death in an Amsterdam canal. But in this fascinating and impeccably researched novel, Pietsch opens a more sinister possibility....A truly highbrow whodunit that will be of interest to readers of historical fiction, literary thrillers, and scientific history. (Bryce Christensen, Booklist)

3. The Ghost of Greenwich Village by Lorna Graham: A young woman moves to Manhattan seeking romance and excitement, only to find that her apartment is haunted by the ghost of a cantankerous Beat Generation writer in need of a rather huge favor.

4. The Herring in the Library by L. C. Tyler: Ethelred Tressider, the mediocre mystery author we first met in The Herring Seller's Apprentice and Ten Little Herrings, and his bossy, chocolate-loving agent, Elsie, are to dine with Ethelred's old friend, Sir Robert (known to his friends as Shagger) and Lady Muntham. Elsie doesn't think much of her hosts, but she is very much interested in figuring out who killed Sir Robert once he turns up dead in his locked library. A delightful parody of the country house mystery. - (Natl Book Network)

5. The Bones of Avalon by Phil Rickman: Summoned by William Cecil to address dangerous questions about Elizabeth I's legitimacy, royal astrologer John Dee teams up with Robert Dudley to retrieve the bones of King Arthur, a mission that is complicated by magic, a first love, and a complex plot against the queen.

Library Loot: June 1- June 8

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire (The Captive Reader) and Marg (The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader) that encourages bloggers to share the books they've checked out of the library. If you'd like to participate, just write up your post, feel free to steal button, and link up using the Mr. Linky on Claire's site this week. And, of course, check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

Big Library haul this week--almost all of my hold requests came in at the same time!

The Lost Art of Reading: Why Books Matter in a Distracted Time by David L Ulin: Expanding on a 2009 essay, Ulin, former book review editor of the Los Angeles Times, addresses the act of reading and its place in our information overloaded age. Ulin relies mainly on his own experiences as a loyal reader--specifically a recent attempt to reread The Great Gatsby alongside his son Noah's high school English class--which goes devastatingly wrong ("You'd fail if you were in my class," Noah pronounces). Ulin uses this incident to frame the larger narrative, fluently addressing the art and craft of literature, the reader's participation, the writer and the writing--and the act of rereading. He addresses in greater depth distractions from reading, specifically the ever-present seductions of technology, and the experience of reading on a screen. Moving toward an optimistic note, Ulin argues that technology can enlarge us, citing Rick Moody and Jennifer Egan as writers who embrace this ever-changing landscape. Ulin's short book not only puts forth a strong and passionate case for reading but also compiles a reading list of writers and critics (e.g., Anne Fadiman, Joan Didion, David Shields) who have influenced Ulin and who are well worth reading. [Publishers Weekly]

The House of Paper by Carlos Maria Dominguez: A devastatingly beautiful Conrad scholar, Bluma Lennon is killed by a car while crossing a street near Cambridge University while holding a copy of Emily Dickinson's poems. Several weeks later, the narrator, one of Bluma's several lovers, receives a copy of Joseph Conrad's The Shadow-Line in the mail. There's no letter, but the postmark is Uruguay; the book is inscribed by Bluma to "Carlos"--and it is encrusted with portland cement. The unnamed narrator sets out for Montevideo to discover its secret. [Publishers Weekly]

The Secret of Lost Things: A Novel by Sheridan Hay: Coming to New York from Tasmania at the age of eighteen, Rosemary takes a job at a used and rare bookstore run by the gruff Mr. Pike and his idiosyncratic staff and becomes caught up in the search for a long-lost Melville manuscript.

The Savage Garden by Mark Mills: Assigned to write about a famous sixteenth-century garden, Cambridge scholar Adam Banting visits the garden only to discover that the woman to whom the garden was dedicated may have been murdered, a finding that points to a more recent killing.

Oscar Wilde & the Vampire Murders by Gyles Brandreth: opens in 1890, at a glamorous party hosted by the Duke and Duchess of Albemarle. All of London’s high society—including the Prince of Wales—are in attendance at what promises to be the event of the season. Yet Oscar Wilde is more interested in another party guest, Rex LaSalle, a young actor who claims to be a vampire. But the entertaining evening ends in tragedy when the duchess is found murdered—with two tiny puncture marks on her throat. Desperate to avoid scandal and panic, the Prince asks Oscar and his friend Arthur Conan Doyle to investigate the crime. What they discover threatens to destroy the very heart of the royal family. Told through diary entries, newspaper clippings, telegrams, and letters, Oscar Wilde and the Vampire Murders is a richly atmospheric mystery that is sure to captivate and entertain.

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell: is a haunting, multi-generational tale of the horrors done to women in the name of family and under the guise of mental health. Esme and Kitty were two daughters of privilege who endured a terrible tragedy while their family was in India. Upon returning to Scotland, they are forced into the claustrophobic nature of high society. Esme does not take well to this aafter a shocking scene at a ball, she is sent away to a mental institution. There she is completely forgotten and abandoned for sixty years, until the institution is closed and its residents reintegrated into society. An unsuspecting grand-niece is suddenly Esme's guardian; and Esme brings more than a few family secrets out of the ward when she leaves. [Harcourt Publishing]

Library Loot: May 25-31

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire (The Captive Reader) and Marg (The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader) that encourages bloggers to share the books they've checked out of the library. If you'd like to participate, just write up your post, feel free to steal button, and link up using the Mr. Linky on Claire's site this week. And, of course, check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

Just one book this week:
The After House by Mary Roberts Rinehart: Newly out of the hospital and totally out of funds, young Ralph Leslie longed for a sea voyage. So he jumped at the chance to sign aboard millionaire Marshall Turner's luxurious super-yacht as a steward to the passengers lodged in its after house. His job was easy sailing--until one sultry night the dream voyage suddenly became a nightmare of blood and terror. One ship's office was thrown overboard. Another was hacked to death with an axe. The killer struck again and again, and the Ella was awash in a wave of panic that engulfed passengers and crew alike. Only one hand aboard--ex-landlubber Leslie--seemed enough in control to stay the bloody hand of the murderer. But he'd have to stay alive to do it--and that wasn't going to be easy!

And a find in the Friends of the Library Book Store:
The Seance by John Harwood: A haunting tale of apparitions, a cursed manor house, and two generations of women determined to discover the truth, by the author of The Ghost Writer. "Sell the Hall unseen; burn it to the ground and plow the earth with salt, if you will; but never live there . . ." So begins The Séance, John Harwood’s brilliant second novel, a gripping, dark mystery set in late-Victorian England.

Constance Langton grows up in a household marked by death, her father distant, her mother in perpetual mourning for Constance’s sister, the child she lost. Desperate to coax her mother back to health, Constance takes her to a séance: perhaps she will find comfort from beyond the grave. But the meeting has tragic consequences. Constance is left alone, her only legacy a mysterious bequest that will blight her life.

It is a world of apparitions, of disappearances and unnatural phenomena, of betrayal and blackmail and black-hearted villains—and murder. For Constance’s bequest comes in two parts: a house and a mystery. Years before, a family disappeared at Wraxford Hall, a decaying mansion in the English countryside with a sinister reputation.Now the Hall belongs to Constance. And she must descend into the darkness at the heart of the Wraxford Mystery to find the truth, even at the cost of her life.

Leftover Loot:
The Religious Body by Catherine Aird
The Highly Effective Detective by Richard Yancey

Library Loot: May 18-24

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire (The Captive Reader) and Marg (The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader) that encourages bloggers to share the books they've checked out of the library. If you'd like to participate, just write up your post, feel free to steal button, and link up using the Mr. Linky on Claire's site this week. And, of course, check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

Here's my haul for this week:
Howards End is on the Landing by Susan Hill: One day British novelist Susan Hill went to the bookshelves in her home looking for a copy of Howards End. She didn’t find it (at least not at first), but she did come upon several other books she had never read. That started her thinking: Why not devote a year’s reading time just to the books on her own shelves? This delightful bibliophile’s memoir records her experience, both the browsing and the reading. Along the way, she developed a kind of second project: If she could only keep 40 books, which ones would they be? The list of 40 appears at the end, and it’s a charmingly eccentric batch of books, but the real fascination in reading Hill’s ruminations isn’t about the list but, rather, about how she reads and how living with books enriches her life. Those who collect books in any fashion will be lost in their own memories as Hill muses on “things that fall out of books,” or defends writing in books, or, best of all, argues against overorganizing the books on her shelves (no more wonderful surprises). Just try to read this book without nosing around your own shelves. --Bill Ott

The Religious Body by Catherine Aird: "Sister Anne," said the Mother Superior unperturbed, "died on Wednesday evening sometime after supper, probably in the corridor leading from the Great Hall to the kitchens. Her body was put into the broom cupboard and later thrown down the cellar steps. "Who would want to kill a cloistered num? But, astonishingly, someone had. It was as much of a surprise to the sisters of the Convent of St. Anselm as it was to Inspector C. D. Sloan, Criminal Investigation Department. But now it was up to the Inspector to find the motive and the murderer.

The Highly Effective Detective by Richard Yancey: Following the death of his mother, Theodore "Teddy" Ruzak fulfills a long-held dream of setting up a private detective agency in his hometown, Knoxville, Tenn. He soon gets his first case—who drove the mysterious black SUV that mowed down a row of baby geese crossing the street? As Ruzak sets out in his own remarkably indirect way to uncover the culprit, he slowly discovers he may have landed way over his head. Ruzak, reminiscent at first of both A Confederacy of Dunces's Ignatius J. Reilly and of Columbo, fast becomes his own uniquely realized character. After starting as an especially well-drawn out shaggy dog story, the narrative takes unforeseen, utterly believable twists that wind to an extremely satisfying close. By turns touching, suspenseful and hilarious... [Publishers Weekly]

And a couple of finds in the Library Book Store:
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
A Stranger in My Grave by Margaret Millar

Leftover Loot:
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
The Bloody Wood by Michael Innes
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Library Loot: May 11-17

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire(The Captive Reader) and Marg (The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader) that encourages bloggers to share the books they've checked out of the library. If you'd like to participate, just write up your post, feel free to steal button, and link up using the Mr. Linky on Claire's site this week. And, of course, check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

Here's my haul for this week--I keep adding and adding, despite knowing that I will be returning
to work part-time next week:

Killer Dolphin by Ngaio Marsh: At the newly restored Dolphin Theatre, murder takes center stage. The once dilapidated Dolphin Theatre, now restored to its former glory, is open again—and all of London is buzzing about its new play, The Glove, inspired by the discovery of a genuine Shakespearean glove. But on one unfortunate evening, the Dolphin opens its doors to the harshest critic of all: death. Now Inspector Roderick Alleyn must find out who stole the scene with a most murderous act.

The Castle of Llyr by Lloyd Alexander: Princess Eilonwy has accompanied Taran, Assistant Pig-Keeper, on all his adventures. But a princess needs special skills that can only be learned in a royal household, so she travels to the Island of Mona to begin her proper education. As it turns out, court life isn’t as boring as it seems to the unwilling princess—friends and enemies appear in many guises, and danger hides in every corner. When Eilonwy disappears and disturbing rumors about the evil enchantress Achren surface, Taran and his companions undertake an exciting and terrifying mission to rescue their princess.

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein: A tale of revolution, of the rebellion of the former Lunar penal colony against the Lunar Authority that controls it from Earth. It is the tale of the disparate people—a computer technician, a vigorous young female agitator, and an elderly academic—who become the rebel movement’s leaders. And it is the story of Mike, the supercomputer whose sentience is known only to this inner circle, and for reasons of his won is committed to the revolution’s ultimate success.

The Bloody Wood by Michael Innes: An assorted party of guests have gathered at Charne, home of Charles Martineau and his ailing wife, Grace, including Sir John Appleby and his wife, Judith. Appleby's suspicions are soon aroused with the odd behaviour of Charles, and the curious last request of Grace -who desires that upon her death, Charles marries her favourite niece, Martine. When Charles and Grace die on the same day, foul play is suspected.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield: a plain girl gets wrapped up in a dark, haunted ruin of a house, which guards family secrets that are not hers and that she must discover at her peril. Margaret Lea, a London bookseller's daughter, has written an obscure biography that suggests deep understanding of siblings. She is contacted by renowned aging author Vida Winter, who finally wishes to tell her own, long-hidden, life story. Margaret travels to Yorkshire, where she interviews the dying writer, walks the remains of her estate at Angelfield and tries to verify the old woman's tale of a governess, a ghost and more than one abandoned baby. With the aid of colorful Aurelius Love, Margaret puzzles out generations of Angelfield: destructive Uncle Charlie; his elusive sister, Isabelle; their unhappy parents; Isabelle's twin daughters, Adeline and Emmeline; and the children's caretakers. Contending with ghosts and with a (mostly) scary bunch of living people, Setterfield's sensible heroine is, like Jane Eyre, full of repressed feeling—and is unprepared for both heartache and romance. And like Jane, she's a real reader and makes a terrific narrator. That's where the comparisons end, but Setterfield, who lives in Yorkshire, offers graceful storytelling that has its own pleasures. [Publishers Weekly]

And a couple of finds in the Library Book Store:
The Bookfair Murders by Anna Porter
The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu by Sax Rohmer

Library Loot: May 4-10

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire (The Captive Reader) and Marg (The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader) that encourages bloggers to share the books they've checked out of the library. If you'd like to participate, just write up your post, feel free to steal button, and link up using the Mr. Linky on Claire's site this week. And, of course, check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

Here's my haul for this week--I keep adding (or having my husband add since he's my library workhorse at the moment) to my piles of recovery reading:

A Piece of Justice by Jill Paton Walsh: Second in the Imogen Quy series. Imogen Quy (rhymes with why) is the nurse at Cambridge's St. Agatha's College. In this outing another student may be in danger, and this time the student is one of Imogen's boarders--and friend, Fran Bullion. Fran innocently undertakes to complete the biography of a mathematician, a seemingly simple task that was begun by three other biographers but never finished. Curiosity drives Imogen to discover that the three previous scholars met with untimely ends. What is it about the obscure genius of Gideon Summerfield--now dead himself--that could drive someone to murder?

What Alice Knew by Paula Marantz Cohen: An invalid for most of her life, Alice James is quite used to people underestimating her. And she generally doesn't mind. But this time she is not about to let things alone. Yes, her brother Henry may be a famous author, and her other brother William a rising star in the new field of psychology, but when they all find themselves quite unusually involved in the chase for a most vile new murderer--one who goes by the chilling name of Jack the Ripper--Alice is certain of two things that now one could be more suited to gather evidence about the nature of the killer than her brothers. But if anyone is going to correctly examine the evidence and solve the case, it will have to be up to her.

Past Tense by Catherine Aird: Josephine Short was a woman with a secret or two, some that she tried to carry to her grave. When her great-nephew's wife, Janet Wakefield gets a call that Josephine has passed away, she gets two shocks. First, that the great-aunt was living so close by without a word and then a handsome young man appears claiming to be Josephine's grandson. She is stunned because there had been no word in the family of a son, much less a grandson. Meanwhile, Detective Chief Inspector Sloan finds himself assigned to two puzzling cases. First, a young woman's body has been discovered in the river Alm. Second there's a mysterious break-in at the Berebury Nursing Home. To be precise, it's Josephine Short's room that's been entered--although nothing seems to be missing. Sloan soon comes to believe that the break-in and the murder are connected.

Plus two books I picked up in the Library Used Bookstore:
The Yellow Dog by Georges Simenon
Angel with Two Faces by Nicola Upson


Leftover Loot:
Intruder in the Dust by William Faulkner [In the home-stretch. Will probably finish tomorrow.]
The Cat Who Could Read Backwards by Lillian Jackson Braun

Library Loot: April 27-May 3

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire (The Captive Reader) and Marg (The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader) that encourages bloggers to share the books they've checked out of the library. If you'd like to participate, just write up your post, feel free to steal button, and link up using the Mr. Linky on Claire's site this week. And, of course, check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

Here's my haul for this week--I keep adding (or having my husband add since he's my library workhorse at the moment) to my piles of recovery reading:

The Brothers of Baker Street by Michael Roberts (This is the second of a series. When it caught my eye, I had to search for the first one--see below): Robertson's second mystery featuring barrister Reggie Heath, whose chambers are located at Sherlock Holmes's legendary address, offers pacing, prose, and plotting at a level far above that of its predecessor, 2009's The Baker Street Letters. On returning to London from California, Heath finds underwhelming demand for his professional services as well as pressure to abide by the terms of his lease by responding to letters addressed to the fictional character. An attractive solicitor, Darla Rennie, retains Heath to represent Neil Walters, a cab driver accused of murdering a young couple. Despite having been burned in his previous criminal case, Heath dives into defending Walters, only to end up in jeopardy himself. He must rely on his brother, Nigel, for help in escaping his peril, which may be connected with a letter writer to Baker Street who signs his correspondence Moriarty. An extremely clever evil scheme will delight readers. (Publishers Weekly)

The Baker Street Letters by Michael Roberts: London solicitor Reggie Heath, who's just leased office space on Baker Street, finds his obligations include making sure letters addressed to Sherlock Holmes at 221B are answered, if with formulaic replies. After a senior clerk is bludgeoned to death and Heath's younger ne'er-do-well brother disappears, the lawyer suspects both events are connected to a letter an eight-year-old girl, Mara Ramirez, sent nearly 20 years earlier asking the great detective to locate her missing father. Heath follows the trail to Los Angeles, where he succeeds in tracking down Mara and learns current crimes may be connected with her father's disappearance. Readers will want to spend more time with the appealing Heath and company, but the conceit of having future mysteries to solve based on letters to Baker Street may be hard to sustain. (Publishers Weekly)

The Wyndham Case by Jill Paton Walsh: Imogen Quy, who as a small child was taken to tea with E. M. Forster, is the college nurse at St. Agatha's College, Cambridge. Compassionate, intelligent and capable, Imogen (her last name rhymes with why ) is a kind young woman who believes in thinking things through. When a brilliant scholarship student is found dead in a pool of blood in Wyndham Case, a small library established by a 17th-century bequest, Imogen not only helps the police solve the case but also clears the dead boy of suspicion of theft. To do so, she weaves together threads involving a missing priceless book, a medical student drowned in a fountain, a professor imprisoned in a dungeon, feuding librarians, unrequited (and requited) love and a student on the run. In spite of a few frayed patches in the plot's fabric, Walsh produces a clear, sequential mystery, unmuddied by extraneous elements, whose intricate plot is resolved with surprising revelations in the final chapters--all related with precision, grace and a lovely sense of place.

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury: A masterpiece of modern Gothic literature, Something Wicked This Way Comes is the memorable story of two boys, James Nightshade and William Halloway, and the evil that grips their small Midwestern town with the arrival of a "dark carnival" one Autumn midnight. How these two innocents, both age 13, save the souls of the town (as well as their own), makes for compelling reading on timeless themes. What would you do if your secret wishes could be granted by the mysterious ringmaster Mr. Dark? Bradbury excels in revealing the dark side that exists in us all, teaching us ultimately to celebrate the shadows rather than fear them.

One Book on Tape (CD):
Heavy Weather by P. G. Wodehouse: It's Heavy Weather for Lord Emsworth and the Empress, especially with the appalling Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe snooping around with designs on the prize pig.

Plus two books I picked up in the Library Used Bookstore:
The Body in the Bookcase by Katherine Hall Page
Watchers of Time by Charles Todd


Leftover Loot:
Intruder in the Dust by William Faulkner
The Cat Who Could Read Backwards by Lillian Jackson Braun
The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

Library Loot: April 13-19

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire (The Captive Reader) and Marg (The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader) that encourages bloggers to share the books they've checked out of the library. If you'd like to participate, just write up your post, feel free to steal button, and link up using the Mr. Linky on Claire's site this week. And, of course, check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

Here's my haul for this week. It's pretty hefty (and will grow) because I'm stocking up for my recovery after surgery.

Death of a Doxy by Rex Stout: With a rich man footing the bills and a handsome lover on the side, Isabel Kerr seemed to have the perfect setup. Now the well-kept lady is stone-cold dead, and the cops have nabbed a Manhattan private eye who just happens to be an acquaintance of Nero Wolfe. Unable to refuse a friend in need, the great detective deigns to get the gumshoe off the hook. Little does Wolfe realize that in a matter of hours he'll be entertaining a party of fools and lovers connected with the doxy's death, including a mystery blackmailer, a sexy lounge singer, and a cold-blooded lady-killer....

Third Girl by Agatha Christie: From her tousled appearance to her perplexed stare, there was so much about the young girl that struck Hercule Poirot as peculiar. But it was her vague confession to a possible murder she's not even sure she committed that really threw the Belgian detective for a loop. What's more, the odd bird has suddenly gone missing. Where to? No one knows. Why? No one cares. So what's her secret? No one's talking. But Poirot suspects it's going to be a killer.

The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl: To the Gregg family, hunting is just plain fun. To the girl next door, it is just plain horrible. She tries to be polite. She tries to talk them out of it, but the Greggs only laugh at her. Then one day the Greggs go too far, and the little girl turns her Magic Finger on them.

Intruder in the Dust by William Faulkner An engrossing murder mystery and an unflinching portrait of racial injustice: it is the story of Lucas Beauchamp, a black man wrongly arrested for the murder of Vinson Gowrie, a white man. Confronted by the threat of lynching, Lucas sets out to prove his innocence, aided by a white lawyer, Gavin Stevens, and his young nephew Chick Mallison.

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard: The play of Hamlet seen not through the eyes of Hamlet or Claudius or Ophelia or Gertrude, but a worm's-eye view of tragedy seen through the bewildered standpoint of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer (Regency Romance) Abigail Wendover, "on the shelf" at 28, is determined to prevent Fanny, her pretty and high-spirited niece, from becoming attached to Stacy Calverleigh, a good-looking town-beau and an acknowledged fortune-hunter of shocking reputation. Miles Calverleigh, the black sheep of his family, enormously rich from a long sojourn in India, has a scandalous past, and is not at all inclined toward good manners. Could he be Abby's most important ally in keeping her niece from a most unfortunate match? But Miles turns out to be the most provoking creature Abigail has ever met--with a disconcerting ability to throw her into giggles at quite the wrong moment....

The Cat Who Could Read Backwards by Lillian Jackson Braun: Jim Qwilleran is somewhat disgruntled when his assignment for the Daily Fluxion is to cover the art beat. For a hard-nosed crime reporter it's like being put out to pasture. Besides, he doesn't know the Venus de Milo from the Statue of Liberty. But that's the job available and Qwilleran will do just about anything to get back to work. Little does he know that this "fluff" assignment will lead down the path to murder. A stabbing in an art gallery, vandalized paintings, a fatal fall from a scaffold are not at all what he expects.

The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman: Set against the gorgeous backdrop of Rome, it follows the topsy-turvy private lives of the reporters, editors, and executive of an international English-language newspaper as they struggle to keep it--and themselves afloat.

From the Library Bookstore:
Playground of Death by John Buxton Hilton

And Leftover Loot:
Victorian Tales of Mystery & Detection: An Oxford Anthology by Michael Cox (ed & selected by)

A-Z Blogging: Letter L

April is speeding right along! We're up to day number 11 on the A-Z Blogging Challenge. Every day in April (except Sundays) I will be doing a post for each letter of the alphabet. It is my plan to make most of my posts reading &/or book-related. April 14th is brought to you by the Letter L.

L is for Libraries. I love libraries. I've loved libraries since my mom first took me to our local library. That was back in the day when I had a bright orange cardboard card that had a metal plate on it that was used in some mysterious way by the librarian in a machine that went "ca-chunk" and indicated that the desired books were mine for two weeks. I loved knowing there was a huge building filled to the brim with books and that I could go and borrow them any time I wanted! Then when I moved to my now home town I lucked into one of the best public libraries ever. Not only is it rated in the top ten nationally for service and collections...but I knew we had a winner when one summer their theme was science fiction and they displayed a giant model of the Enterprise from Star Trek.

L is also for Personal Library. I don't mean the hodge-podge collection of books that I currently have. I mean the dream library that's on my life-list (bucket-list, whatever you want to call it). One of these days there will be a room in my home absolutely dedicated to books. The real deal. Shelves all along the walls and comfy reading chairs.

And, finally L is for Library Loot.

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire (The Captive Reader) and Marg (The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader) that encourages bloggers to share the books they've checked out of the library. If you'd like to participate, just write up your post, feel free to steal button, and link up using the Mr. Linky on Claire's site this week. And, of course, check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

Here's my haul for this week. It's pretty hefty (and will grow) because I'm stocking up for my recovery after surgery.

Death of a Doxy by Rex Stout
Third Girl by Agatha Christie
The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl
Intruder in the Dust by William Faulkner
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard
Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer
The Cat Who Could Read Backwards by Lillian Jackson Braun
The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

From the Library Bookstore:
Playground of Death by John Buxton Hilton

And Leftover Loot:
Victorian Tales of Mystery & Detection: An Oxford Anthology by Michael Cox (ed & selected by)

Library Loot: March 30 - April 5

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire (The Captive Reader) and Marg (The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader) that encourages bloggers to share the books they've checked out of the library. If you'd like to participate, just write up your post, feel free to steal button, and link up using the Mr. Linky on Claire's site this week. And, of course, check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

Here's my haul this week:

How to Live Safely in a Science Fiction Universe by Charles Yu: Minor Universe 31 is a vast story-space on the outskirts of fiction, where paradox fluctuates like the stock market, lonely sexbots beckon failed protagonists, and time-travel is serious business. Every day, people get into time machines and try to do the one thing they should never do: change the past. That’s where Charles Yu, time travel technician—part counselor, part gadget repair man—steps in. He helps save people from themselves. Literally. When he’s not taking client calls, Yu visits his mother (stuck in a onehour cycle, she makes dinner over and over and over) and searches for his father, who invented time travel and then vanished. Accompanied by TAMMY, an operating system with low self-esteem, and a nonexistent but ontologically valid dog named Ed, and using a book titled How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe as his guide, Yu sets out, and back, and beyond, in order to find the one day where he and his father can meet in memory.

With echoes of both Mark Danielewski and Douglas Adams, yet altogether wildly new and adventurous, Yu’s debut is certain to send shock waves of wonder through literary space-time. - (Random House, Inc.)

Burial Deferred by Jonathan Ross: "Mad, bad, and bloody-minded" is how Detective Superintendent George Rogers describes himself to his second-in-command when he wakes up in a hospital bed with a throbbing head and no memory of the events of the previous evening. He is soon up and about again, his inquiries leading him to a baroque Victorian house atop a steep cliff overlooking the sea. There he meets Phaedra Haggar, a serene but passionate blind woman, and her paying guests. The discovery of a shallow but empty grave, the recovery of a girl's body from the sea, and the disappearance of a male guest from the house begin a hunt for a murderer--a search that involves Rogers in an emotional entanglement that threatens to upset his professional investigation.

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux: The well-known story of the disfigured composer who lives in the labyrinthine depths of the Paris Opera and his obsession with the singer Christine Daae. The Phantom strikes again and again, targeting foes from a jealous diva to a romantic rival.

I have seen the film with Lon Chaney and the film version of the musical. I thought it about time that I actually read the book they are based on.

Plus Leftover Loot (and my current read):

Ten Little Herrings by L. C. Tyler: (2nd installment in a series) When we last saw Ethelred Tressider, he was pulling a disappearing act, eager to pack in his career as a mediocre mystery-writer, and happy to leave his (deservedly) long-suffering agent, Elsie, holding the bag. But any bag that Elsie holds will soon be brimful of chocolates, and as Ten Little Herrings opens, she is tracking Ethelred to his secret lair, which turns out to be a run-down French hotel hosting a stamp-collector's conference. A murder (quelle surprise!) ensues, and as the title (a nod to Agatha Christie's famous Ten Little Indians) suggests, the whole thing turns into a blissfully funny parody of classic British crime fiction.

Library Loot: March 16-22

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire (The Captive Reader) and Marg (The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader) that encourages bloggers to share the books they've checked out of the library. If you'd like to participate, just write up your post, feel free to steal button, and link up using the Mr. Linky on Claire's site this week. And, of course, check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

Here's my haul this week:

The White Company by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: Reared in a monastery, Alleyne Edricson intended to become a monk, but his wise father had made a provision in his will that his son was to spend his 21st year in the outside world and there learn more about his fellow men and how they lived before he taking his final vows.

The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie: How odd, Anne Beddingfield thought, that the stranger caught her eye, recoiled in horror, and fell to his death on the rails of Hyde Park Underground Station. Odder still was a doctor in a brown suit who pronounced him dead and vanished into the crowd. But what really aroused Anne's suspicions was when she learned of the doctor's link to the murder of a famous ballerina, a fortune in hidden diamonds, and a crime-lord embroiled in blackmail.

Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker: In a tale of ancient evil, Bram Stoker creates a world of lurking horrors and bizarre denizens: a demented mesmerist, hellbent on mentally crushing the girl he loves; a gigantic kite raised to rid the land of an unnatural infestation of birds, and which receives strange commands along its string; and all the while, the great white worm slithers below seeking its next victim....

Ten Little Herrings by L. C. Tyler: (2nd installment in a series) When we last saw Ethelred Tressider, he was pulling a disappearing act, eager to pack in his career as a mediocre mystery-writer, and happy to leave his (deservedly) long-suffering agent, Elsie, holding the bag. But any bag that Elsie holds will soon be brimful of chocolates, and as Ten Little Herrings opens, she is tracking Ethelred to his secret lair, which turns out to be a run-down French hotel hosting a stamp-collector's conference. A murder (quelle surprise!) ensues, and as the title (a nod to Agatha Christie's famous Ten Little Indians) suggests, the whole thing turns into a blissfully funny parody of classic British crime ficiton.

And from the Library's used/donated bookstore:

Gallows Thief by Bernard Cornwell: The year is 1820. rider Sandman, a hero of Waterloo, returns to London to wed his fiancee. But instead of settling down to fame and glory, he finds himself penniless in a country where high unemployment and social unrest rage, and where men--innocent or guilty--are hanged for the merest of crimes. When he's offered a job as private investigator to re-open the case of a painter due to be hanged for a murder he didn't commit, Sandman readily accepts--as much for the money as for a chance to see justice done in a country gone to ruins.