Lady Amanda Golightly is at it again in White Christmas With a Wobbly Knee, the second Belchester Chronicles mysteries by Andrea Frazer. Thinking to open parts of her grand house to public tours, Lady Amanda holds a Boxing Day Gathering for her elite (make that quirky and eccentric) friends. In return, they need to give her feedback. Instead of a proper tour, a body is found. The motive is not too hard to figure out, the man was writing a tell all book. The means ... well, there were five of those! Lady Amanda is also dealing with the unexpected arrival of a relative. So much for a quiet Christmas.

An interesting read came from my neighbor across the street: Secrets at the Little Village School, by Gervase Phinn. It's actually book five in the Little Village School series, but it wasn't too hard jumping into the middle. Since it's mostly set in a school there are a lot of students and teachers, but you get an idea of their home life, too. I enjoyed the blend of characters ... there's a teacher who makes you wonder why she ever became a teacher, and an annoying nine year old boy (if you remember the Leave it to Beaver TV show, think Eddie Haskell as a child), but also kids who are getting a new start at a better life and a young teacher starting a new career.

I first saw Dear Mrs. Bird, by A.J. Pearce in The Chuckanut Reader. Constant Reader got to it first and sent me a "read it!!" email, and a few weeks later, I did just that! It's a great read! Set in London during WWII, Emmaline has taken a job at a newspaper. She imagines herself doing important stories about the war but ends up at the 'advice' desk ... working for a woman who won't answer anything she considers 'unpleasant' (which is pretty much everything). Emmaline believes these people need an answer. How she resolves this makes for a grand read.

Reading Hermit With Dog