A Friday Reading Update and Some New Books

Friday has been lovely so far; sunny, fresh. I even went for a walk this morning and I'm not too sore. Since my last reading update, I've finished one book and also given up on one. I'll provide my review of the completed book and also the synopses of the next two books I'm working on. I've also received a couple of books in the mail, including one as a Valentine prezzie from Jo. Yesterday I dropped off a number of books at my local used book store and while there I picked up a few. So I'll also provide the synopses of those books. That will make this a bit of a longish post so I will hold off on my ongoing look at favorite authors in my next post. Sorry about that.

Just Finished

1. Death of a Prankster by M.C. Beaton (Hamish Macbeth #7). M.C. Beaton is my Feb Focus author.

"Death of a Prankster is the 7th Hamish Macbeth mystery by M.C. Beaton. M.C. Beaton writes 2 mystery series I enjoy, the Macbeth series and Agatha Raisin series. I enjoy both even though I lean more toward the Hamish Macbeth series. Macbeth is a local police constable in the Scottish village of Lochdubb.

A group of family members to an eccentric prankster, who resides in the next county to Lochdubb are invited home (Andrew Trent tells them he will die soon and wants to see them all). They all head back to Scotland to see if they will inherit from the will. Of course, this is another of Trent's practical jokes. He's in great health. Over the course of the first days of their visit, Trent plays many tasteless jokes on all of them. Anger rises, some want to leave, some threaten to kill him. Of course, his body is discovered, murdered and Hamish is called to the case. Even Hamish doubts the death as he has been fooled by Trent before.

Thus begins this entertaining story. It moves from character to character, victims, suspects, Macbeth, the irritating police Sgt, Blair, who competes with Hamish and steals his thunder when he can. We also get a visit from Priscilla, Hamish's 'girl-friend', who provides assistance with the case.

It's an entertaining story. Hamish is thoughtful, interesting character. The suspects make a quirky group, angry with each other, with Trent, all wanting their share of the estate. There are relatives, staff and guests of the family. All are suspects but Macbeth with some assistance from Priscilla whittles things down neatly until a satisfying ending. I enjoyed the pace of the story, the quirky characters and Macbeth's ongoing relationship with Priscilla. (He needs to get a move-on!) Most enjoyable, a series well worth checking out. (3.5 stars)"

Currently Reading

1. Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryfam by M.C. Beaton (Agatha Raisin #10). I'm missing some of the series so I'll be jumping around a bit.

"When a fortune teller from a previous case informs Agatha Raisin that her destiny--and true love--lies in Norfolk, she promptly rents a cottage in the quaint village of Fryfam. No sooner does she arrive than strange things start happening. Random objects go missing from people's homes, and odd little lights are seen dancing in the villagers' gardens and yards. Stories soon begin circulating about the presence of fairies.

But when a prominent village resident is found murdered, and some suspicion falls on her and her friend Sir Charles Fraith, Agatha decides she's had enough of this fairy nonsense and steps up her sleuthing for a human killer."

2. Undersea Quest by Frederick Pohl & Jack Williamson (Undersea Academy #1).

"A MISSING RELATIVE....

Something of value was buried beneath the underwater dome city of Marinia...something that had already cost one man's life, caused another man's kidnapping and gravely affected still another man's future.

Expelled from the Sub-Sea Academy on trumped-up charges, Jim Eden wasn't about to wait around to prove his innocence. As soon as he learned that his uncle mysteriously disappeared while mining uranium at the bottom of hazardous Eden Deep, Jim knew what he had to do...and that he had to do it fast.

So he headed for the vast dome city -- location of the great mining colony at the bottom of the sea -- to pick up any clues to his uncle's disappearance. But once he had entered the undersea metropolis, the wrong people had his number...and they were determined that Jim would sink forever without a trace."

New Books

1. The Lodger by Maria Belloc Lowndes (1913). This book was turned into a movie by Alfred Hitchcock, one of his very earliest.

"The Buntings are an elderly London couple who have fallen on hard times. They take in a lodger with the strange name of Mr. Slueth, who pays handsomely for their shabby rooms. He seems to be a perfect gentleman but none the less they begin to suspect that he may be the Jack-the-Ripper-like serial killer known in the press as 'The Avenger'.

As the number of murders in the city begins to mount, and Mr. Bunting's teenage daughter from an earlier marriage comes to stay, the couple must decide what to do about the man in their upstairs rooms.

An early example of a psychological suspense story and a brilliant evocation of the fog-bound and gaslit streets of late Victorian London, The Lodger is a wonderfully compelling thriller."

2. Chasing the Flame: One Man's Fight to Save the World by Samantha Power (2008). I had just recently completed Power's biography. Jo bought me this as a present for Valentine's Day.

"Before his death in 2003 in Iraq's first major suicide bomb attack, Sergio Vieira de Mello--a humanitarian and peacemaker with the United Nations--placed himself at the center of the most significant geopolitical crises of the last half-century. He cut deals with the murderous Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, forcibly confronted genocidal killers from Rwanda, and used his intellect and charisma to try to tame militant extremists in Lebanon, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Known as a "cross between James Bond and Bobby Kennedy," Vieira de Mello managed to save lives in the world's most dangerous places, while also pressing the world's most powerful countries to join him in grappling with such urgent dilemmas as: When should killers be engaged, and when should they be shunned? When is military force justified? How can outsiders play a role in healing broken people and broken places? He did not have the luxury of merely posing these questions; Vieira de Mello had to find answers, apply them, and live with the consequences."

3. The Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers (1951). I've read two of McCullers' books and am looking forward to trying this collection of short stories.

"The title story of this collection follows a simple triangle of unrequited love. Miss Amelia, gaunt and lonely owner of a small town store, squanders her love on cousin Lymon, the little strutting hunchback who turned the store into a café."

4. Mrs, Presumed Dead by Simon Brett (Mrs. Pargeter #2). I enjoy Brett's story-telling no matter what series I'm reading.

"‘Living in a house where a murder had taken place did give a certain social cachet...’

Intrepid detective Mrs Pargeter, sixty something (and a little bit more) has risked almost everything with a daring move to the well to do housing estate of Smithy’s Loam. Yet something rankles about her new neighbours...

Do they all have to behave as if a body in the fridge is a perfectly normal event? Does every bored and lonely housewife have a guilty secret behind the fixed smiles and the endless round of coffee mornings?"

5. Captain Cut-throat by John Dixon Carr (1955). I've read one of Carr's Gideon Fell mysteries.

"When someone begins a killing spree on Napoleon's personal sentries, captured British agent Alan Hepburn finds himself forced not only to assist with the investigation but also to match wits with the Emperor and his chief of police, the wily Fouche. In Captain Cut-Throat Carr's trademark combination of sudden death and captivating historical re-creation is at its best."

6. A Certain Justice by P.D. James (Inspector Dalgliesh #10). One of my favorite crime series.

"It begins, dramatically enough, with a trial for murder. The distinguished criminal lawyer Venetia Aldridge is defending Garry Ashe on charges of having brutally killed his aunt. For Aldridge the trial is mainly a test of her courtroom skills, one more opportunity to succeed--and she does. But now murder is in the air. The next victim will be Aldridge herself, stabbed to death at her desk in her Chambers in the Middle Temple, a bloodstained wig on her head. Enter Commander Adam Dalgliesh and his team, whose struggle to investigate and understand the shocking events cannot halt the spiral into more horrors, more murders..."

7. Gone by Mo Hayder (2010).

"When a car is taken by force, with an eleven-year-old girl inside, Detective Jack Caffery knows this is a carjacking unlike any other. Sergeant Flea Marley, head of the Police Underwater Search Unit, has a theory that the car-jacker is far more dangerous than everyone thinks. Soon the perpetrator will choose another car with another child in the back seat…"

8. Darkness & Light by John Harvey (Frank Elder #3). I've read one book in both of Harvey's mystery series.

"Former cop Frank Elder is drawn out of retirement when his ex-wife asks him to look into the disappearance of her friend Jennie’s sister Claire in Nottingham. Elder reluctantly returns to the city where his family disintegrated.

Elder uncovers sexual secrets of Claire’s that take Jennie by surprise. But when Claire is found dead at home—unmarked and carefully dressed—it is ...more"

9. Buried for Pleasure by Edmund Crispin (Gervase Fen #6). A quirky, interesting mystery series.

"In the sleepy English village of Sanford Angelorum, professor and amateur detective Gervase Fen is taking a break from his books to run for Parliament. At first glance, the village he's come to canvass appears perfectly peaceful, but Fen soon discovers that appearances can be deceptive: someone in the village has discovered a dark secret and is using it for blackmail. Anyone who comes close to uncovering the blackmailer's identity is swiftly dispatched.

As the joys of politics wear off, Fen sets his mind to the mystery but finds himself caught up in a tangled tale of eccentric psychiatrists, escaped lunatics, beautiful women and lost heirs."

There you go. Enjoy your weekend and read a good book. Stay safe. 😷