Email from Canadian Reader included a wonderful recommendation: Bait and Witch, by Angela M. Sanders. I don't usually go in for the books with a 'witchy' or paranormal type connection, but this proved to be the exception. Josie Way has fled her job at the Library of Congress (with good reason) and has taken a job in a small town in Oregon. She is loving feel of this small town, and has discovered that she is now recommending books to folks that she's never even read (the books seem to be talking to her) ... curious ... but she is actually enjoying this new found talent, and the connection with a local cat. The library is due for destruction, which has divided the town ... one night there is a fire ... which startles Josie so much that her, um, reaction, not only tamps the fire down, but pushes it back to the point where there is no damage ... curious ... which scares here. A call to her mother reveals that Josie is a witch. Her mother had her grandmother put a blocking spell on Josie so she wouldn't have to deal with it, but it had a range limit (explains the weird event on the plane across the country). There is a way to put the blocking spell back on, which Josie does even though she misses the books talking to her. There is a murder, of course, her cover (the reason she fled DC) is blown ... is she in danger? Can she solve things as a regular person? A great start to the series!

The Mystery in the Old Book, by D.B. Jagiel was an interesting read. Key in on the word 'in' in the title because that is where something is found that starts the whole adventure. Nina loves old books, really old books, and in one of those she finds a plea for help scratched with a fingernail. It read 'help he' (yes that's correct). The book was from the era where women could easily be committed to (often horrible) asylums to cure their 'hysteria' (a catch all for many things from true illness to a husband wanting to be rid of a wife after an heir was born). This is a centuries old mystery, can it even be solved? I don't want to say too much here, but the answer involved unusual means of investigation!

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I'll admit to pondering over one of the books from Wandering Reader: The Brass Queen, by Elizabeth Chatsworth. It's a big book! I usually avoid them these days as they can be heavy and often don't stay open well which can be hard on my stiff hands. As it turned out, I was sucked in by the description on the back of the book, and, (hooray) book was bound well enough that it stayed open easily in my lap! Set in Victorian England. A steam punk sort of Victorian England, with all kinds of interesting gadgets and characters. Main character is the only one left in her family (sort of), and if she is not properly married by a certain date her entire (huge) estate will revert to her (nasty) uncle! Add to this that she really doesn't want to get married, and because she is strong, bright, forthright and so on, doesn't appeal to the men of the era so a wedding looks unlikely. Add to the mix a (gasp) American Cowboy, from Kansas, who doesn't even have the manners to take his hat off when he enters a room! Oh, and then there are the invisible soldiers. Quite the exciting read!

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Remember Katie Gayle? The author that is actually two people? Here's her, er, their, fourth book in the Julia Bird Mysteries, Murder at the Inn. Tuesday nights are for quiz night at the local pub, and players take it seriously. Too seriously, it seems, when one of the competitors is found dead. Local DI Hayley Gobson (and main character) is home with a broken leg so someone is brought in from a nearby town to head the investigation. Someone incompetent. And a bit of a bully, who denies Hayley access to any information because HE is in charge. Then another quiz member is attacked and Hayley is sure he is on the wrong track and decides to run her own investigation, without his help. A great cozy.

It all started when the local park was overbooked ... two big events scheduled for the same day ... the church picnic, and a wedding. Let's just say the bride was not amused to discover her 'perfect' wedding would be to the accompaniment of noisy children! Tempers flare. The bride is stung by a bee (or was she?), she has severe allergies and collapses. The epi-pen, that should have saved her life made things worse. She dies. Mallory, from the church, has had some success with her, um, investigations (this is the second in the series) and jumps in to help out again. There is a connection with the church ... the double booking was intentional ... the bride's family is not happy with the groom, the groom's family doesn't like, well, pretty much anybody. And just what are they growing under that enormous tarp? And, there is a cat. In a cast! Not a bad romp. Murder at the Church Picnic, by Denise Jaden is from the author's Mallory Beck Cozy Culinary Caper mysteries.

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Recently I had a wonderful surprise (well, she told me it was coming so I could watch for it) from Wandering Reader ... a box of books! All cozies from smaller presses! Of the dozen or so books I'd read just one, and one from another series by one author. I happily piled them near my shelf of 'to be read' books ... and then decided that rather than try for any order as I shelved them, I'd just start at the top of the pile. :-) First up was Murder is Fashionable. It is book two in the Dodo Dorchester Mystery series by Ann Sutton. It's 1923 and Dodo is a well known patron of fashion, so much so, that designers want her wearing their clothes to show them off. When one of the models dies during her walk at the fashion show, Dodo jumps in to help the local inspector find who killed her. Now, I'll admit, fashion if far from any of my interests and I probably didn't understand all the details about dress and so on, but the characters were good, the story was good ... and, since the author was smitten with Agatha Christie at 11, there are many nods to her characters in the book (and I assume in the other books as well). It was fun. Warning: I read this in one day.

Oddly enough, the second book in the pile from Wandering Reader also featured a main character out of my comfort zone. Two times over, actually, as she was a hair dresser (owned her own salon) and very pregnant! Easter Hair Hunt is well into the Bad Hair Day Mystery series by Nancy J. Cohen, but there were enough hints about characters and situations and so on that I never felt lost. Marla has attended an Easter Egg Hunt at a historic manor mostly to do her friends hair. Blinky is the one in the bunny suit, and wanted her hair done after the egg hunt and before she went to the more formal luncheon at the manor. However, she does not show up. Marla finds the white bunny face down, and, of all things, a Faberge egg in the grass near by. However, when the body is turned over, it's not Blinky ... it's the head gardener. What (and why) is he in the suit? And where is Blinky? Lots of twists here ... a dead hubby, an estranged son, staff that have worked at the manor for decades, missing/replaced (maybe) works of art ...Marla's husband is a detective and she's been helping him with his cases for some time. This time, though, she is 'with child' which offers challenges she's not faced before. I figured out a few minor twists, some were correct, others were not. :-)

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A mix of fiction and non-fiction today.

Riding Reader put me on to an amazing read, a historical biography titled The Invincible Miss Cust, by Penny Haw. It is about the first female veterinary surgeon (as they are called in the UK). Born in 1888, to the elite of society, Aleen knew from an early age she wanted to work with animals, and when she continued to pursue this, her family disowned her. Since she was female she was not allowed into any school (other than proper finishing schools) and struggled for years to get into one until finally, a newer one, a more progressive one, let her in. Shunned, ridiculed and bullied by the men, she mustered on, as they say, to get the highest marks in her classes, only to be denied sitting for the final exams that would allow her the proper certification. One vet, in Ireland, agrees to take her on as his partner. Be sure to read the author notes, as she said, the more amazing bits were the true parts and the more mundane bits the fiction part. :-)

After a recent 're-watch' of the film The King's Speech, I went looking for more information on Lionel Lough and discovered that his grandson had written a book! It came out in 2010, about the same time as the movie. It is a biography of his grandfather, and, of course, covers more than just the work with the royals. Based on diaries kept by Lough (always very discreet when it came to the King) it tells how he came up with the exercises and methods he used to help people overcome a stammer or other speech impediment. He and George VI really did become life long friends and that is reflected here, too. The King's Speech: How One Man Saved the British Monarchy, by Mark Logue and Peter Conradi details how he taught the King to overcome his fear of speaking and go on to lead the country through the troubled years of WWII.

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For a good read, where the ... wait, I promised no spoilers ... Albert, the retired policeman and his "service" dog Rex are going to Stilton to learn how to make the famous cheese. They arrive to find a crime scene: two days before the annual festival ALL the cheese has been stolen. In charge is a young, inexperienced officer who's boss has basically told him to stand down and do nothing, that missing cheese is not all the important. Albert does not believe this and encourages (and helps) Oxford to follow the leads to (hopefully) solve the crime. There are other issues (of course) including murders and counterfeit money. All in all a most satisfying read from Steven Higgs third Albert Smith's Culinary Capers book Stilton Slaughter. Don't miss the author notes at the end explaining how this book did not play out the way he originally intended.

Let It Crow! Let It Crow! Let It Crow! is the first Christmas book for this year, I read it in October, but it has holds, and that's when it came to me, and it was by Donna Andrews, a favorite ... and had lots of holds ... so I read and returned it promptly.  Someone has decided to make a 'reality' show of blacksmiths making weapons. Meg has no interest in this at all, but agrees to help out in the background. That, of course, is not going to happen, and when her mentor, and one of the competitors, is attacked and his arm broken, she reluctantly fills his place. At the end of the first day one person is eliminated, and then is found dead. The investigation opens up all sorts of old grudges, and rivalries, bribes and so forth. And don't forget the crows ... keep an eye on them!

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Tall Reader loaned me a book she'd found on a recent trip to Victoria, B.C.: On Their Own Terms: True Stories of Trailblazing Women of Vancouver Island, by Haley Healey. The author did a wonderful job of research to write short biographies of 17 pioneer women who defied what society determined 'proper' for women. One was a photographer who created amazing images long before Photoshop came along (there's one on the cover). She became the first official police photographer for the Victoria Police. Another woman, when no one would teach her how to fly, built her own plane and taught herself! Another would be the first woman to drive around the world. Amazing!

If you have chickens, or know someone who does, then you'll enjoy Under the Henfluence: Inside the World of Backyard Chickens and the People Who Love Them, by Tove Danovich. Not only does the author have chickens, but she's also a journalist, so there's a lot of factual information here, too. Not all of it is nice (think huge egg or poultry farms), but it's a well balanced accounting and very interesting. Most fun is the stories of the author and her chickens.

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I'm having internet connection issues, so will keep this short ... look for new listings next week, hopefully on Monday!

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