Two Birds with One Stone is the first in the Helen and Martha Murder series by Sigrid Vansandt. Instead of a scheduled meeting in the small English town of Marsden-Lacey, a body is found. Delighted to have met up (although the circumstances could have been better), Americans Martha and Helen become fast friends, as well as sleuths. The deceased is not a popular fellow, few will mourn his passing, but what was the motive? And it all starts in 1855, with the Bronte sisters, and a hidden manuscript.

Aunt Bessie is back! It will be a while until Canadian Reader can come for a visit so we have come up with a strategy ... I will collect the Aunt Bessie books and she will do the same with the Ghostly Mystery series, and we'll swap whenever the next visit is possible. :-) "U" was the next in line, in Aunt Bessie Understands. Hugh's wife is about to have their first child so he is a bit distracted, so much so that when he is supposed to be driving Aunt Bessie home, he drives to his home instead. (To be fair here, he is sleep deprived, and he and Bessie have just discovered a body in a vacation house that should have been empty). She understands all this, sends him into his house and walks to her home, just a short distance away. Turns out the body is a local who had moved away, so why was he back? And without telling anyone? (Well, except the murderer). This is another book in the Isle of Man Cozy Mystery series by Diana Xarissa.

Jacqueline Winspear writes wonderful historical mysteries and The American Agent, one of the Masie Dobbs books is no exception. An American correspondent, hoping to become part of Edward R. Murrow's team is found dead not long after her first broadcast from London. She reported on what she'd seen on a ride along with Masie Dobbs after one of the bombings of the city in 1940. Masie has been asked to investigate, as has an American agent. Turns out there is more to the American correspondent than they first thought, as well as an, mmm, 'interesting' ambassador from the U.S. And really, who can be trusted?It's hard to know that as there was a lot of war work that no one could talk about, there were spies, propaganda, secrets ... A great read with an intense feel for the time period.

Reading Hermit With Dog