It's summer so the doors and windows are open. I am now into hearing aids and while they are most certainly better than the ones my dad wore, they still are just amplifying sound ... so I am finding crows and seagulls to be loud and at times annoying. Still, crows are smart, we all know this, so I found a book. Crows: Encounters with the Wise Guys of the Avian World, by Candace Savage. Research included studies of their intellect, social interactions (with other crows, animals, and humans), and emotions. This is the 10th anniversary edition and includes personal stories of experiences of crows. It was a captivating read with just one complaint ... the layout is confusing! You turn the page, expecting to continue on with what you've been reading only to discover one of the personal stories instead. The chapter you are reading continues on in a a page or two. I finally figured out these entries have a subtle header and footer and went through and read those first, then went back and read the 'other' part of the book. Personally, I think this could have been done a better way. Still, the book was a good read, and won't take you long. Candace Savage is a Canadian author.

I like to read, and write (and was raised by an English teacher) so it's no surprise that I enjoy words and learning about them. I did that in Friends With Words: Adventures in Languageland, by Martha Barnette. The author is co-host of a show on PBS called A Way With Words, which I have not heard, but have read that it is excellent. In this book you will learn about origins, and regional differences (and why those occur), as well as slang and those odd phrases we sometimes hear from our grandparents (or someone of that age). Often humorous!

My Mom was always big on 'honey, think it through' so I am channeling her with this suggested read (on this 25th anniversary of 9/11) (or reread, hopefully) from my post of June 29, 2014: The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland, by Jim Defede. Small town, but with runways long enough for the big jets to land, it's where many planes ended up after the attacks on the twin towers, Pennsylvania and WA DC. In these unsettled times between our countries, think of our past history.

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Lady Hardcastle and her maid, Flo, are at it again. I do love this team! They are wonderful partners in figuring out a murder but can also play the perfect society woman and her proper maid when necessary. That is a hoot! In Murder on the Rocks they have been invited to a castle/fortress on a remote island that has been redesigned as a destination for the wealthy ... by an American. Everyone is supposed to be a special friend of this American, but it seems an unlikely group. When the husband of one of the guests (can be rather abusive to his blind wife) if found dead, no one is all that upset, but when a second body appears it's a bit more concerning. And, in good mystery plotting, there is a storm and they are trapped on the island. :-) This is part of the Lady Hardcastle Mystery series by T E Kinsey.

From Canada today it's Stuart McClean. I first learned of him on CBC FM and his radio show The Vinyl Cafe. He spoke once at Village Books. He was amazing (and died much too soon). Most, if not all, his books are somewhere in this blog. In the ones that are the stories (often in much greater detail) from the radio show I can hear his voice. The Morningside World of Stuart McLean are essays from another radio show (with that name, one that I never heard) about many of the small things in life, a pencil, perhaps, or the popsicle. Witty and charming.

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Once again I have tried a new author/series! This is almost always fun, I've had a couple I'm not going to recommend, but for the most part,it's been grand. This time it is Earl Grey and Shallow Graves, the first in the Waterwheel Cafe Mystery series by Victoria Tate. Keya Varma is excited to be opening her own cafe, with (you guessed it) a waterwheel. It is a marvelous old building and all is going well ... until a 30 year old skeleton of a young girl is discovered. Some progress is made by going through old files, but then a friend is discovered dead at the same site. This will change the investigation. Is there a connection? Not a bad start. Looks like other titles will use the names of tea. :-)

From Canada today: M L (Mary Lou) Longworth is a favorite author for Canadian Reader. She has written the Verlaque and Bonnet detective novels set in Aix-en-Provence. I'm told there are wonderful twists and turns to the plot! Canadian Reader loves the description of the area and learning of the history. You learn a lot about the different levels of French law enforcement, too! The main characters are well written and complex. Start with Death at the Chateau Bremont. I have not read this author as yet, but she is on my list!

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I often start with information at the back of a book ... information about the story line, historical notes, something about the author ... and that's where I learned that Ellie Webster is actually a shared pen name for a group of writers! The Peanut Butter Twist is the first of the Tails of Maple Ridge mysteries and was charming and fun to read. Curiously enough, it's also being advertised on my tablet when I play my games which leads to one complaint (a small one). Both those ads, and the front of the book feature a chocolate lab. The dog is named Cocoa. However, in the book is described as a black lab This reader found it a bit jarring and hopes it will be changed before the next printing! Tess has moved to town to bring back a run down book store. She loves doing that! Local baker brings amazing cookies over each morning, including ones with the same title as the book. (Recipe included). When he is found dead, folks of course, wonder why ... and Tess and others decide to figure that out.

From Canada today, it's Lucy Maud Montgomery and the Anne of Avonlea books, possibly more familiar as Anne of Green Gables? There are several books in the series, it was made into a wonderful tv show and folks I've talked with recently seem to know the Green Gables version ... at any rate, when I asked for favorite Canadian authors, Montgomery was on the list from both Wandering Reader and Canadian Reader (which I had less than 20 minutes after I'd sent the question) and mine. :-)

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 Recent events have inspired a detour from my usual postings of books I have read recently. I went back to see what Canadian authors I've used, and asked Canadian Reader for favorites as well. I don't know yet if I will use only these authors, or include one with a new read or what as yet, but it's a small way I can support Canada in these, um, uneasy times.

I'll start with an all time favorite of several decades now: Nothing to Good for a Cowboy, by Richmond P. Hobson, Jr. It is set in the Chilcotin, up in B.C. I was lucky enough to go on a pack trip in the area when I was young. It might have inspired my love for wilderness trail riding!

It looks like I'll be posting a recent read, too! :-) In keeping with the Canadian theme today, this was a recommendation from Canadian Reader. The Merchant's House is the first in the DI Wesley Peterson mystery series by Kate Ellis. I'm told the series just gets better and better. Wesley Peterson has just moved to Tradmouth to start a new job. It starts off with a missing child, and shortly after that the discovery of a body of a young woman. In addition to his police training, Wesley is also an amateur archaeologist and a friend is working on a dig nearby. They discover two bodies as well ... an infant and a young woman. Similar crimes, some 400 years apart, in a story well told. You'll stay up late reading ... :-)

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Some years ago Agatha created a forgery of a popular painting for a class she took. Her teacher liked it so much he kept it (yes, do worry about this). It is part of two painting set that is about to be appraised, which would reveal her work since, she has learned, it has replaced the original. It includes a 'kiss' made with actual lips so her DNA would be determined and she would be sent back to jail. This cannot happen! The original is with her teacher, yes? So all they have to do is swap the paintings. Easy peasy, yes? An Unlikely Heist is book six in The Unlikely Murder Club series by Gina X. Grant.

Some of the mysteries I'm reading recently have focused on a cold case, and West Side Murder (Musical Murder Mystery 2 by K.L. Montgomery is no exception. The death occurred some ten years back, on a local golf course. It was determined to be natural causes, but many there do not agree. It has divided the community and is a topic involved in a battle for control of the community council. Ruby is in town, along with the Melody Street Players, to perform West Side Story at a local theater. Her grandparents live here and so Ruby gets involved. (Yes, it is sort of mirroring the gangs in West Side Story ... which the author does very well ...)

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Here's the first in a promising new series: Hey Diddle Diddle, the Runaway Riddle, by P.C. James, from the One Man and His Dog Cozy Mysteries. Inspector Tom Ramsay has to retire from his job, one he loved, because he was shot. He does not plan on just sitting around! He adopts a border collie and has decided they are going to hike as many trails as possible. On the first outing he comes to the rescue of a young woman fleeing her captors. She was held captive for several days with no mention of a ransom. There is a pushy father (who thinks she needs to get married). (It's the 1950's, that could still have happened then). Naturally Tom has to figure out what is going on, and so the adventure begins!

A Muzzled Murder, the first in the Amelia Hartford Cozy Mystery series by Angie Street starts with a cold case, one from ten years ago. 'Investigated' and determined to be an accident, the still grieving mother says 'no way'. Amelia decides (with some of her new friends) to check things out. They find all kinds of suspicious activities from that time. Why the cover up? In addition to the help of her human friends, Bailey, the dog, helps out, too. :-)

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