This week was a bit of the old and the new. (But nothing borrowed or blue.) I started off with Lucy Foley’s The Hunting Party
, contemporary psychological suspense very much in the style of Ruth Ware’s In a Dark, Dark Wood
.
Needing something a bit lighter after that, I went back to an old favorite series: Dorothy Cannell’s Ellie Haskell books. If you love madcap humor, small English villages, and 1980s England, and you haven’t read these yet, go back to the first one, The Thin Woman
(which I’m guessing I first read roughly circa 1990– which was a rather shockingly long time ago). Somehow, I’d missed number thirteen, Goodbye, Ms. Chips
, in which Ellie must solve a mystery at her old school (and hope that no-one ever remembers that she shirked her gym requirement). I’d recommend these for fans of Donna Andrews’s Meg Langslow mysteries
. Despite being set on the other side of the pond, they have a very similar feel to them, and nearly as many installments.
Right now, I’m re-reading Elsie Lee’s Mansion of Golden Windows
, largely because I can’t decide what to read next…. All suggestions and recommendations welcome!
p.s. If you haven’t seen it yet, William Morrow is holding a flash sweepstakes for advance copies of my June book, The Summer Country! The contest closes on Monday.
Just read Verity,Colleen Hoover. Very mysterious book,but I enjoyed it.
I just discovered Dorothy Cannell’s Haskell books last year! They are *such* fun, and I agree, very similar in spirit to the Meg Langslow mysteries. Light, quirky and fun (with a side of murder) 🙂
I finished #10 of The Saxon Chronicles this week, now starting #11, the last one available (so far)…
I’ve had a rough time with finding a book to read after finishing The Blue Bistro by Elin Hilderbrand.. I’ve started several and abandoned them all.
I finally got on the bandwagon and read Jennifer Ashley’s Scandal Above Stairs. Delightful!
I’ve been bouncing a bit between genres. I read Wendy Webb’s The End of Temperance Dare. She does spooky well! Then a modern day story, A Deadly Divide by Ausma Zehanat Khan. Her series set in Canada is fabulous! I’m in love with her hero. Next up, Bloodstains With Bronte by Katherine Bolger Hyde. Another winner. Elly Griffiths’ Stranger Diaries, a wonderful modern Gothic. For a total change of pace, a Netgalley ARC by Amelia Grey, The Earl Next Door. Right now I’m in the middle of Robyn Carr’s The Best of Us.
Just finished Death of an Unsung Hero by Tessa Arlen, great series, hoping there will be more!
Cannot recommend highly enough Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal. Pride and Prejudice set in early 2000’s Pakistan. Jane Austen’s social commentary is just as applicable today!
I just finished PRETTY FACE and ACT LIKE IT by Lucy Parker which were recommended by Lauren. I really enjoyed both especially PRETTY FACE and I’m looking forward to reading the next in the series which should arrive from alibris soon.
I’m about half way done with Zen Cho’s lovely The True Queen about Regency Magic and Dragons, and I have an inkling what the title hints at and can’t wait to get there! In my spare time I’ve been finishing up Rick Geary’s True Crime Graphic Novel series, reading Famous Players (early Hollywood) and Madison Square Tragedy (murder of architect White in NY) and loving his detail and how he lays out the facts…