Warning! This book could keep you up late, very late! It is a nod to Jane Austen, in fact, one of the reviews (from Alexander McCall Smith) says it is exactly the sort of mystery she would have written, if she wrote mysteries. :-) A grand party is being held, one where the guests will come and stay the month. It has been carefully planned, until an unexpected, uninvited and unwanted guest shows up. Mr. Wickam has some hold on everyone and is not afraid to use it. Proper manners mean he has to be invited to stay (the weather takes a turn for the worse), but it puts a damper on the party. When he is found dead, everyone is a suspect. How will they figure it all out? The Murder of Mr. Wickam is by Claudia Gray (a pseudonym of Amy Vincent). Well written, and in an older, more ... reflective style ... take your time, enjoy the read, but don't expect to get much else done! It is the first in the Mr. Darcy and Miss Tilney series.

Here's a book, as a musician, I could not resist (even though I never had the chance to play in the pit) ... Tales from the Pit, by Peter Neville! Each chapter focuses on a different instrument and that musicians experience playing in the small group below the stage. Note, it takes place in smaller towns, this is not the pit orchestra of a large Broadway type show! One curious thing is that it is often called a band (which to me always meant no strings), and Wandering Reader who HAS played in the pit agrees with me. The book is from Scotland so I am guessing it might be a local turn of phrase. :-) Once I got past that I quite enjoyed this, but it might make more sense if you are a musician, too. :-)

Reading Hermit With Dog