After reading a rather dark book (which will not make it into my blog) I needed something light so I opted for The Young Case, one of the Markham Sisters novellas by Diana Xarissa. It was just what I needed ... people like each other and it all ends well! :-) Janet is feeling a bit 'crowded'. Doveby House is pretty much full up: her sister and new hubby are home from their honeymoon and while the original plan was for them to stay across the street at his semi-attached town house, that can't happen because the other unit was burned down .. and that home owner (also their gardener and friend is staying at Doveby as well). There have been some break-ins lately, but nothing seems to have been taken, it gets personal when it is the Doveby Carriage house with the broken lock. Janet steps in to figure out the connection. These are delightful, short (quick to read) stories. I hope the author has more in the works as I now only have 'Z' left!

Tall Reader loaned me the seventeenth Maisie Dobbs novel: The Consequences of Fear, by Jacqueline Winspear. Like the ones before, it is a well written and captivating story that kept me up late at night. Don't miss the author's note at the end which explains the influence of her father on this book. It's 1941, London, and a young runner (fleet of foot young men, well, boys, who delivered messages, often times during bombings) thinks he has witnessed a murder. The police don't want to pursue the matter, so he goes to Maisie Dobbs for help. She encounters a reluctance on their part, too (think 'connections' and 'higher ups'). She is also part of a team that trains young men and women for undercover work in France, working with the resistance. How does this all fit together?

Reading Hermit With Dog