Tall Reader has grandchildren, grandchildren who read and love doing so with an actual book! This one came to her from one of them: The Memory of Borrowed Books by Meg Anderson. It is fiction so I'll admit, I hesitated over reading it as I rarely read a straight fiction book ... to me many of them don't seem to have an actual ending. This one does, however and it proved to be a most interesting read. It deals with a lot of that is familiar: small town, good/bad memories, the closing of a familiar landmark, history ... Late one night, after the library has closed, the librarian comes across a door where no door was before. She opens it to a room filled with shelves of books, each about a member of the town, hers included. Merely opening one of them transports her (as a visitor and viewer only) to the past. (It's called magical realism). What will she learn? Will it help with something devastating that is about to happen? I'll admit, I liked it much better than I thought I would! :-)

Kate Ellis combines two mysteries in her books, usually about 400 years apart. Makes for some wonderful reading! In An Unhallowed Grave, one of the DI Wesley Peterson series a body has been found hanging from a tree. That of a young woman. Only hanging wasn't the cause of death. At a nearby dig (run by a friend of Peterson) a skeleton is found. It is of a young woman where the cause of death WAS hanging. From the same tree, records prove. Yes, records! The benefit of old castles and manor homes, and writing a record in good ink on vellum ... of course, in this case, you have to know Latin ... anyway there are records for this area for centuries, everything from making soap to crime. What could possibly be the connection here?

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I read these two books together because they fit together so well! The contents overlapped. :-) Hair of the Dog to Paint the Town Red: the Curious Origins of Everyday Sayings and Fun Phrases by Andrew Thompson provided more back ground and history to said phrases and how they might be used while The Illustrated Histories of Everyday Expressions by James McGuire and illustrated by Alex Kalomeris had the fun illustrations. They were enjoyable reads. A warning though, the origins of many of these well known, oft used expressions come from a cruel or deadly event.

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Here is yet another mystery with the title The Sound of Murder (!) ... seems there are a lot of them. This one is by Cindy Brown and is the second in her Ivy Meadows Mystery series. (I have not read the first). Ivy is an actor (all she's ever wanted to be) and a private investigator. She can sing, she has a good voice ... but when she's in front of an actual audience ... well, she has a bit of stage fright! There has been a death in a retirement home, one that may or may not be a suicide. It will be her job to figure out which. The fun twist here is that the show she is in is a blending of The Sound of Music and Cabaret! A most interesting idea, one that I came to rather like. (No spoilers, but imagine hiding Jews from Nazi troops in plain sight).There is a possible stalker (in a convertible of all things) and other twists to the plot. I quite enjoyed it.

Cyndy Cypress is a new author to me. Her book Librarians & Larceny is the first in a series she has planned called A Rebel Librarian Crime Fighter Mystery. There are two main characters, both having moved to this small Montana farm from bigger cities. Both have 'baggage' and we will learn about that over the course of the book. That is different and I think I could get to like it. One is a widow, hubby was a detective. She has a retired police dog. (Lab and Airedale mix). The other, well, we don't know too much as yet, but both parents were killed in a terrible accident. She carries a tablet like a security blanket and has issues with darkness and storms. Her mentor is the victim and she is determined to find out what happened. It's sort of a rocky start to the friendship here, but they will work together to figure things out. Not a bad start, second book is due out in November.

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I am not as familiar with the musical Little Shop of Horrors as I am with others, but that did not detract from Little Shop of Murder at all! There is, of course, Audrey, that, um, very hungry plant (to be played, once it's bigger, by Ruby's boyfriend), the 'interesting' assignment of parts putting her arch enemy (they've been to court) as part of the trio she'll have to sing with the most, plus she's been asked to scope out her boss's nephew's wedding to check the younger brother, and his date. Got all that? Lot's of twists and turns here, and lots of fun! This is the third of the Musical Murder Mystery books by K.L. Montgomery.

I am thoroughly enjoying the Unlikely Murder Club series by Gina X. Grant, and An Unlikely Story: the Life and Crimes of a Master Criminal (retired) was no exception. This is not considered one of the mysteries in that series, but almost a stand alone, although it helps to know the characters ... it is the autobiography of Agatha Shadwell! Learn of her early life, her training (as a lock picker, artist, thief) as well as friends she made along the way. Lots of fun!

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I've read a lot on the movie version of Mary Poppins, and have seen a wonderful show on TV, too, but Making Mary Poppins: the Sherman Brothers, Walt Disney, and the Creation of the Classic Film, by Todd James Pierce had all new information for me. It was mostly on how the music and lyrics were written, how Walt (he preferred that to Mr. Disney) picked the people he did (always experts in their field, not always well known as yet). It was a long, involved, convoluted process as they were also consulting with the author, who was not always pleased with their work! The brothers worked on a lot of other projects, too. I loved learning how careful they were with those lyrics ... for example, the one where the older bankers were singing about banking? ... well, those characters were old, would have been born in the late 1800's given the time setting they were working in, so their language and patterns of speech would have been different, so that's how they wrote "Fidelity Fiduciary Bank"! The movie was pretty much a huge gamble on the part of Disney to make, but it worked!

I debated with myself over whether or not I should include this book, I didn't exactly read all of it ... but, the parts I did read were excellent and I figured other readers might make a similar decision ... so, here it is. Space Ships! Ray Guns! Martian Octopods! Interviews with Science Fiction Legends, edited by Richard Wolinsky. While I missed the golden age of the pulps and read a lot of the authors mentioned here after they were well established, the history behind that was fun. There were LOTS of pulp magazines: science fiction, fantasy, Western, romance ... and a lot of the authors wrote for many if not all of them because, face it, if you didn't get paid, you didn't eat! Culled from many resources here are comments from authors, editors, publishers and so on, many from the radio show Probabilities. It got so I read about the authors I knew, whether just by name, or because I'd read their books, but not each and every entry.

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 Hounding a Killer is the second in the Bailey the Bloodhound Mystery series by Kallie E. Benjamin. An inheritance has gone missing, a large one, and the grandson of the deceased wants it found. The sooner the better. He has arguments with lots of the town folk ... and then goes missing .... without a trace. The police, knowing that Pris and Bailey helped out before, ask for their help again. On the very first search a body is found, and not that of the missing grandson, and so, as the saying goes, the plot thickens! Love following along as Bailey sniffs out clues and evidence ... in one case they should have listened to him (but no spoilers, remember)! Dog mysteries are such fun. :-)

The Canadian connection today will be this recommendation from Canadian Reader: Brought to Book, by Anthea Fraser, the first in her Rona Parish series. It has been re-released (as has the entire series, it seems) as Murder Most Bookish (but only as an e-book so I had to find a used copy). Rona is some who writes biographies, successful ones, and she has been asked to write about a recently deceased author. He died under, well, unusual circumstances that might have been suicide (at least that's what the police think). Things get worrisome as she investigates, does her usual research and so on. There are threatening notes and calls, her husband urges her to stop writing, but she can't do that (she is a bit compulsive). She has intense interviews with family and friends, even some from long ago. Either in book form or e-reader it's a good read.

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All retired inspector Tom Ramsey wants is to enjoy his retirement, with his dog. It didn't start out the way it was planned, he and his wife were going to travel, but she died. At some point he decided to hike various trails in England, with his dog. That's not going as planned, either ... murder keeps finding him and he ends up helping with the investigation. This time, however, he's considered a suspect! Ramsey and the Smuggling Ring is the second in the One Man and His Dog series by P.C. James. Lots of interesting twists.

It's been quiet for the Thursday Murder Club. (Also the name of the series). There is an upcoming wedding and a few family issues for folks, but then a wedding guest asks Elizabeth for help and Nick vanishes and things heat up. There is a car bomb, too, and a safe that may or maybe not be unopenable. Oh, and a large (maybe) fortune. The Impossible Fortune, by Richard Osman, is the newest in this series. I found it a bit scattered, but, it has been a while since I read any of the others! As usual, though, the characters were great. :-)

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