The author of the Lady Hardcastle mysteries I've been enjoying has started a new series and the first book, by T E Kinsey, is The Deadly Mystery of the Missing Diamonds. You'll recognize the new 'lead' characters, you first met them in the Lady Hardcastle books. They are perfectly placed to help solve a decades old mystery involving a deserter, missing gems, a secret hiding place and so on. As musicians they are playing at all the places where 'keeping an ear out' might provide helpful information. It all becomes more serious, and more personal, when one of the members of their band dies on stage.

The Library of Congress is reprinting books from their shelves under the title Library of Congress Crime Classics. This could be a lot of fun! The one I picked up was That Affair Next Door, by Anna Katharine Green (edited and with an introduction and notes, by Leslie S. Klinger). It was first printed in 1897 ... written by a woman .... and the main character was a woman .... all things 'just not done'! Be sure to read the historical notes here, they are fascinating, and, all the 'old' words that were familiar then, but are not now, are explained as you read. This is more, mmm, reflective I guess, than many of the books we read today as you follow along on what the characters are thinking, how they find and decipher any clues, what they think of the testimony of a witness and so on. Interesting, but moves slowly! What I found especially fun was what Amelia saw and considered important that the men did not!

Reading Hermit With Dog