Canadian Reader has arrived along with a lovely stack of books! I jumped right back into the Isle of Man Cozy Mystery series with Aunt Bessie Likes, by Diana Xarissa. Aunt Bessie often helps John Rockwell and Hugh Watterson with their investigations. This time it's a cold case, a very cold case. Three young women went missing thirty years ago, could there be any sort of conclusion decades later? Oh, and there are wedding plans going on, too.

I’m thinking it’d be fitting to play the theme from The Twilight Zone here … as I was gathering up books to return to Canadian Reader, I discovered Book Six of the Isle of Man Ghostly series was missing. Tall Reader could not find it, neither could Canadian Reader. Where did it go? A replacement was ordered post haste! A stranger shows up at Shelly's door, claiming to be a friend of her late husband and is surprised to find he had died. Shelly has never heard of him, even in all the years she was married. Fenella thinks something is 'off' and when he is later found dead, she is even more sure. There is a group of strangers in town, rude and obnoxious, and with stories that don't quite work. Find out who can be trusted or not in Friends and Frauds, by Diana Xarissa. As always, the interaction between Fenella and her Aunt Mona (the 'ghostly' in the series title) is a hoot!

I'm pretty sure I never considering reading a book about sewing, embroidering, and/or a wedding dress, but I did, and I have, and it was excellent! The Gown: a Novel of the Royal Wedding, by Jennifer Robson was a captivating read about two of the young women who worked on Princess Elizabeth's wedding dress. William Hartnell and his Mayfair House of Fashion have done dresses for the royals in the past so it probably came as no surprise when his designs were selected for the upcoming ceremony. His two best and brightest embroiders, Ann Hughes and Miriam Dassin, were set to the task of taking his ideas and putting them into silk, thread, sequins and pearls. Coming from different backgrounds (remember WWII was recent history) they become friends. In 2016 Heather Mackenzie discovers a set of hand stitched flowers left to her by her grandmother. The story of how she makes the connections she does makes for a great read! A lovely blend of the real and the fictional, don't miss the 'about the book' section at the end.

Reading Hermit With Dog