Happy Halloween! Here's an early mystery from Leslie Meier, who writes the Lucy Stone Mystery series (often with a holiday theme). Halloween is coming and Lucy is busy making cupcakes for the annual festival. A fire (and a body, of course) is a distraction ... there are, and have been, other fires. Lucy thinks there might be a connection. There are builders and investors looking for a way around the strict guidelines in the historic district (where many of the fires have been). And a cheating husband, too. In Trick or Treat Murder all the kids are young, one just six weeks old! It was a fun change from 'knowing' them as pre-teens to young adults in later books.

Do kids read, or hear, Mother Goose rhymes these days? I sure hope so because it would make Mother Ghost: Nursery Rhymes for Little Monsters, by Rachel Kolar and illustrated by Roland Garrigue all that more fun! It's good just on it's own, but knowing the 'original' just made me chuckle all the more. Great pictures, clever verse, read this more than once!

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It's hard to believe that Don't Eat Me is the thirteenth Dr. Siri Paiboun Mystery by Colin Cotterill. This one is a bit darker than the others, but still with the same wonderful characters and wit that I enjoy so much about this author. There were some tense moments this time, when familiar characters were in trouble and I found myself reading far into the night to find out what happens. (Consider yourself warned).

The Markham Sisters Cozy series, by Diana Xarissa, continues with The Ellsworth Case. Christmas is coming soon and the sisters are looking forward to a break in guests at their B&B. Counterfeit bills have been found at local businesses. Curiously, their guests are paying in cash. An obnoxious woman who has been staying with Mr. Chalmers suddenly shows up on their doorstep, willing to pay a lot to stay at the B&B, should they take her in? Interesting things keep showing up behind the shelves in the library, too.

A recommendation from Constant Reader took me to The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette Kowal. It looks to be the first in The Lady Astronaut series. What a read! It's an alternate history book: on March 2, 1952, a large meteorite hits earth. The eastern seaboard is pretty much gone. The aftermath will be devastating (think dinosaurs). The space program is accelerated as plans are made for colonizing the moon and beyond. Most of the (human) computers are women. Most of them were also pilots in WWII (ferrying planes around as needed). All of the pilots chosen for the space program are men. Think of the time frame here ... the 1950's ... discrimination, segregation .... (some things didn't change) ... the author does an amazing job weaving all these elements into her book. Wow!

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I think this book: Lady Long Rider: Alone Across America on Horseback, by Bernice Ende would go well with Man & Horse: the Long Ride Across America, by John Egenes (August 31, 2018 post). Ms. Ende has ridden thousands of miles across the U.S. both east/west and north/south. Her rides start in Montana, so to do her round trip ride across the United States, she had to actually pass by her home, and then come back! She often 'slept rough', wherever she found herself at the end of the day, and once spent a (severe) winter in a tent in a barn, just to prove to herself she could do so. I chuckled over the chapter on her 'vacation' ride ... a short ride of just 600 miles. Not surprisingly, she is a member of the Long Riders' Guild.

I first got interested in the Cook sisters with a segment on Mysteries At the Museum. It was just prior to the outbreak of WWII. Jews were trying to get out of Germany but the guards at the borders would confiscate anything of value, leaving them with nothing. Two English spinsters though, bedecked in jewelry and furs, were not even questioned. They were careful ... they never took earrings for pierced ears, for example, as neither of them could wear them and having them might cause suspicion. They'd meet with the families before checking into a hotel because you shouldn't just leave wearing a fur coat, you should enter wearing one, too. And Ida and Louise did much more! Safe Passage: the Remarkable True Story of Two Sisters Who Rescued Jews from the Nazis, by Ida Cook is that story. One of the sisters wrote popular romance books and the money she earned from that went to help rescue as many people as possible. They continued to help during and after the war, too. Just an amazing read! (And it all starts with a love of opera)!

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Remember that old poem 'from ghoulies and beasties .... and things that go bump in the night' ?? (anon) ... just what are those sounds we hear at night? For a wonderful explanation, try this book Kiwi shared with me: My House is Alive: the Weird and Wonderful Sounds Your House Makes, by Scot Ritchie (yes, one t in Scot). Keep an eye on the cat.

Here's the second in the Mystery Bookshop Mystery series by V.M. Burns: Read Herring Hunt. Again there is a story within a story as the main character is working on her book (also a mystery). A local football star is the prime suspect in a murder, but Samantha Washington (owner of the Bookshop) is convinced he's innocent. Her grandmother and her friends are back to help (they are hysterical!) but the evidence is stacking up .... this series is progressing nicely.

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London's Mounted Police 1960 to 2000: a Mounted Policeman's Memories, by Andy Petter is just what the title says it is ... memories of working in London, on a horse. Over the years Mr. Petter worked in just about every part of town, and a variety of horses (some better cut out for police work than others). Funny, sad, a few tense moments .... not a bad read although I thought a bit of editing would have been nice. (Remember though, my mother was an English teacher). ;-)

William J. Keresey III is a fourth generation police officer. When he was young, he was told stories about his great-grandfather and his horse. Amazing stories, actually, of what Pompey could do. As an adult the author discovered newspaper articles that proved they were true! Pompey on Patrol: a NYC Police Horse and His Partner, Roundsman Redmond Keresey is the result of his research, and a great look back at what policing the city was like in the early 1900's. Sometimes man and horse worked separately to remedy two different situations!

I did not expect a 'vast prairie' on the west coast of the state, but it seems there was one. It was down near Tacoma and was used for years by the Nisqually Indians, the British (think Hudson Bay Company) and Americans. The horse played an important role ... there would have been lots of races, and, thanks to the Brits, fox hunts! That evolved into the Woodbrook Hunt Club. It is the oldest Hunt Club west of the Mississippi. Hunts have never involved a live fox. A scent, (with a secret formula) is laid for the hounds to follow. To learn more, read The Woodbrook Hunt Club, by Joy Keniston-Longrie. It's from the Images of America series, so expect great photos!

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There's just one room left to clean and organize so guests can use it, and it's the library. While Janet is carefully taking the books off the shelves and dusting behind them she finds a hidden panel, and in the space a piggy bank. With something inside. Meanwhile, a neighbor and good friend has come under suspicion for some illegal goings on at the local pharmacy. Could he be involved? The Donaldson Case, by Diana Xarissa, is the fourth in her Markham Sisters Cozy mystery series.

If it seems like I am reading a lot of the mysteries by Diana Xarissa, I am! Canadian Reader and I are comparing lists so we can do a massive swap and share in December. In the seventh of the Isle of Man Cozy books, Inspector Rockwell is looking for a house to buy. Aunt Bessie goes along on his search. You just know something has to happen, right? It does, and it could be connected to something that happened thirty years ago. The plot thickens (as they say), when something unexpected is found in a storage unit some distance away that might also be connected. See if you can figure it all out in Aunt Bessie Goes.

Strangeways to Oldham is the first in The Belchester Chronicles, by Andrea Frazer. When we first meet Amanda, that is, Lady Amanda Golightly, (a woman of both a certain age, and a certain social class), she has received a ticket in the mail. For speeding. In a hospital zone. On her tricycle. When she visits the local nursing home she discovers a body (and she's pretty sure death was not natural), and an old friend. She 'borrows' a bit of what she is sure is evidence (there's lot more, should the police want it), and 'breaks' her friend out of the nasty place. And that's just in the first pages! The police dismiss her concerns as the ramblings of an old woman so she sets out to prove it was murder. Not a bad start!

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It would seem "how to" books full of advice have been around for hundreds of years and here might just be the best of best: Ask the Past: Pertinent and Impertinent Advice from Yesteryear, by Elizabeth P. Archibald. Learn how to party like a scholar (1558), how to whiten your teeth (1686), or how to slim down in just fourteen days (1579). Sounds familiar, doesn't it! Quite fun!

Here's a fun book, the kind with short entries I enjoy reading during ads on TV: Learn Something New Every Day: 365 Facts to Fulfill Your Life, by Kee Malesky. (Actually, there are 366 facts as February 29 is included). Well researched (author is a librarian for NPR) and nicely written, I didn't read just one a day!

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Third in the Markham Sisters Cozy mysteries by Diana Xarissa is The Chalmers Case. The first official guests to the B&B prove to be .... prickly. The next couple seem nice, but is it a front? Why are the two couples suddenly such good friends? And what's with all the easels in the back room in the antique store? Is there something criminal going on? These are great little cozies, they won't take you long to read.

I've been enjoying the Maggie Hope Mystery series, by Susan Elia Macneal, but I must say that The Prisoner in the Castle felt a bit dark to me. Lots of deaths here. Still, I enjoyed the spin on Agatha Christie, and perhaps something from Shakespeare. Just why has Maggie been sent to the island? She feels like she should be somewhere else, doing something to help the war effort. Everyone there is a highly trained agent of some sort, for some department or agency. Is one of them a spy? Or a double agent? How will she get off?

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Have you noticed speeches, books and/or articles that use the wrong word? Or where you think the wrong word has been used? It seems to be happening more and more. Siblings Ross Petras and Kathryn Petras thought so and started their research. That Doesn't Mean What You Think It Means (the 150 Most Commonly Misused Words and Their Tangled Histories) is the result. This was a fun read! Some words I knew (and am using correctly), some words I did not recognize, and some (sadly) I did not know the proper definition. There are examples, right and wrong, for each entry as well as a bit of the etymology of the word. I wish my Mom was still around to read this book with me, she would have loved it!

If you haven't read enough on words, take a look at Vulgar Tongues: an Alternative History of English Slang, by Max Decharne. Dense and detailed, well researched and well written, there's a wonderful bibliography and index ... but in spite of the title I guess I was expecting fewer ... vulgar words! I browsed through a few pages, as I usually do when looking at a new book and was intrigued to learn things like 'nincompoop' was once a really nasty description of someone, or that 'groovy' was first seen in the 1940's as a word connected with jazz. I liked how the author traced words through time, and how who used them, and the meaning, changed. Still, it all got to be a bit much, so, to be honest, I did skim through some of the chapters.

I have several friends with chickens so just couldn't resist Art of the Chicken Coop: a Fun and Essential Guide to Housing Your Peeps, by Chris Gleason. Much like the cook books I've used in my blog, I loved the pictures and descriptions but skipped the instructions on how to make each coop. ;-) There is chicken trivia included as well, and that was a lot of fun. Did you know that the folds in a chef's hat indicate how many ways he/she can cook eggs?

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I have Kiwi to thank for the recommendation for Dream Big Dreams: Photographs From Barack Obama’s Inspiring and Historic Presidency. It is "a book for young readers" by Pete Souza, the former chief official White House photographer. Absolutely amazing! Mr. Souza had worked with and for Mr. Obama before, and over the years they became great friends. His photos capture the President at work, with his family, at play, and a couple of times, just being silly ... this is a wonderful book.

Now, for a memory book with a difference ... while author Jim Chambers did indeed grow up in the 1950's, his book Recollections: a Baby Boomer's Memories of the Fabulous Fifties is more like a little history book of what happened rather than just his personal memories. Every so often he includes something specific to him or his family, but mostly this was just a nice gathering of events, good and bad, local (he grew up in Georgia) or national. Dare I call this an 'age appropriate' book? I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I do think it helps to be a senior citizen!

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Just in case you want another book on trivia, here's one that was a lot of fun: The Perfectly Useless Book of Useless Information: You'll Never Need to Know Anything That's In This Book... But Read It Anyway, by Don Voorhees. The title pretty much says it all! It is part of a series on 'Useless' Books which might make for some fun reading on the coming darker days of winter.

I haven't done a book of quotes for a while so when Butter My Butt and Call Me a Biscuit and Other Country Sayings, Say-Sos, Hoots, and Hollers, by Allan Zullo and Gene Cheek caught my eye, I just had to read it! The authors are from the south, so it has a regional twist: some are familiar, some are new, some are just plain silly, many are fun ... and these will be different for every reader. :-)

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Canadian Reader and I have discovered another series by Diana Xarissa, one about the Markham Sisters. We first met the sisters in Aunt Bessie Decides and now they are off on adventures of their own. Recently retired, they have decided (well, mostly) to open a Bed and Breakfast and have purchased a large house for that purpose. They've bought the house through a trust set up by the recently deceased previous owner. Her son is not amused. Will he cause problems? First in the Markham Sisters Cozy Series is The Appleton Case. These are shorter stories, considered novellas and the first four were published together in A Markham Sisters Collection - ABCD. This proved to be ... interesting .... I really intended to read just one book at a time, but it was just so easy to continue immediately on to The Bennett Case ... and that's just what I did! This time unexpected people keep showing up, one claiming he'd already reserved a room  and that it should be honored, even though the B&B really hasn't opened yet. There is a con man on the loose, he recently escaped from jail. Might one of the 'unexpecteds' be the man the police are looking for? And if so, which one? So far no bodies with this series, just some nice mysteries. (Note: You can find the books individually, too).

Kate Sharp works for a small company in Los Angeles that seeks out location sites for movies. The project at the moment is yet another version of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. The problem is, no one has heard from their scout in England. Kate is sent to find out why. Interesting characters and a nice small town feel here, Death in the English Countryside is the first in the Murder on Location series by Sara Rosett.

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Long before texting made use of single letters to convey a word there was William Steig and his delightful book C D B! I loved this book in the (ahem) sixties, and I love it today. It's a 'must read out loud' sort of book, even it's just to the dog. And, if there are some you can't figure out, there is an answer key at the back of the book.

In a recent rerun of Frasier there was a turn of phrase that had two interpretations, either "seek help" or "sea kelp". Both fit the situation and always made me chuckle. Then I found I Scream, Ice Cream!: a Book of Wordles, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Serge Bloch. According to the author, wordles are a group of words that sound the same but mean different things and there are several examples here. Some seem a bit of a stretch (to me, anyway), and my favorite was not included, but overall, not a bad book. :-)

If you enjoy codes and puzzles, take a look at this book: Look! What Do You See? An Art Puzzle Book of American & Chinese Songs, by Xu Bing and illustrations by Becca Stadtlander. Look at the pictures, study the symbols very carefully and I'm betting you'll figure them out! I figured out the American songs, the Chinese songs took me a bit longer (I'll admit, knowing the melody helps). I'm hoping the 'youngins' of today are learning these older songs .... a sign of my age, I'm sure. :-)

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A Death in the Dales, by Frances Brody, is part of her Kate Shackleton Mystery series. Kate has brought her niece, recovering from diphtheria, to the country from London because the air is better. She will be staying in the house of a woman who died recently and is surprised by a visit from a friend of the deceased with notes about a murder, arrest, and hanging from ten years earlier ... she was convinced the wrong man was arrested. Was he? And how can Kate go about proving it? A classic English cozy!

People are dying in the small town of Pomme Valley and there's a hint in the title of J.M. Poole's next Corgi Case Files mystery: Case of the Muffin Murders. As with the earlier books in this series, it's fun to watch the Corgi dogs at work, they really are part of the team! Why would anyone use muffins as weapon?

In the stack of books that Canadian Reader left is the fourth in the Isle of Man Ghostly Cozy series by Diana Xarissa. A loose dog is found on the beach. Fenella knows the dog, and knows the owner would never just turn him out alone. When she goes to look for him, however, he is not to be found. Soon another dog is found. Is someone targeting dog owners? And why? Dogs and Danger has the answers.

Also in the stack from Canadian Reader was Inkier Than the Sword, the third in the Falconer Files Murder Mystery series by Andrea Frazer. Again Inspector Falconer is partnered with Sergeant Carmichael, but, Falconer must admit, he is improving. In a nearby small town someone is sending 'poison pen' letters to the residents, each time mentioning a dark secret from that person's past. Who, and why? When the local, famous author ends up dead, all signs point to her ... but that would be too easy, right?

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