It's 1956, summer, and Rosa is looking forward to a concert with a new (!) and up and coming singer named Elvis Presley. The concert was wonderful (and what a difference from the music her parents enjoyed) until the closing curtain when a body falls from the catwalks above the stage. It is a photographer for one of the local newspapers. It is deemed a suicide by the local police, but a family member is not so sure and hires Rosa to investigate. Could it be something from his past (think WWII)? Look for the mention of other musicians new to the scene: the Everly Brothers. Murder and Rock 'n' Roll, by Lee Strauss and Norm Strauss is another fun read in the Rosa Reed Mystery series.

Here it is (drum roll, please), the newest Iona Whishaw Lane Winslow Mystery: Lethal Lesson! It's winter, there is snow on the ground (except for Christmas, of course). There is a change over at the school with one teacher leaving, and another taking over ... except that one is found dead and the other missing. Lane steps in as the substitute during the investigation. Someone was searching for one of the teachers, but why? Is the missing teacher part of that search? Warning here ... clear your schedule, have food on hand, this book is hard to put down!

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If you like dogs and movies, then you should enjoy Citizen Canine: Dogs in the Movies, by Wendy Mitchell. Lots of dogs, from the silent films to present day (2018). Some times the dogs were paid more than the trainers. One dog learned all his commands for a second time, this time via hand signals when 'talkies' made voice commands unusable. Fun pictures, just the right amount of information.

Language is an ever evolving thing ... for proof try Made in America: an Informal History of American English by Bill Bryson. It is a twisted, convoluted (sometimes brutal) history. There were new ... well, everything from plants to animals that needed names. And when we moved west there were vast areas that needed names. New fangled inventions such as trains and cars needed new words for how they were used (depots, motels, etc.) Some names had no meaning but sounded nice, others were slurrings of foreign words. Airplanes and that industry needed words, so did the space age. Some times words were made to sound foreign even when they weren't! Kid's from the 1950's had their own language, and don't even get going on advertising lingo! Not my favorite book by Bryson, but he's done a good job here.

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It's been less than 48 hours since Kate has arrived in England for her new job ... and in that time there's been a fire (that destroyed unique and one-of-a-kind documents), a body was found stuffed under the stairs of the house that burned, someone is shooting at Kate, and she's been fired! (She has yet to recover from jet lag since flying in from California, too). Is there a connection, and if so, what, or how? Death in an English Cottage, the second Murder on Location book, by Sara Rosett was a one day read!

In A Wicked Conceit, one of the Lady Darby Mystery books, by Anna Lee Huber, Kiera is expecting, and very near her due date. A book has been published, a 'tell all' sort of book written as fiction. It has been made into a play. At that time, there was no such thing as copyright so books could be made into plays, songs, skits, etc., without any money or recognition going to the original author. It contains some untrue things about Kiera and her husband, and a known crook, but there is not much they can do about it. And, a sequel is in the works! Then, the publisher is found dead. To clear their names, and oddly, help out the crook, an investigation ensues. :-) This book takes place during the cholera pandemic. Author mentions how she wrote about one pandemic while living during another!

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Tragedy at Piddleton Hotel is another series by Emily Organ and since I enjoyed that other one so much I was eager to give the first A Churchill and Pemberley Mystery a try. I must say I did not enjoy it nearly as much. The main character, the widow of a London detective has moved to a small town where she has bought an existing detective agency. She figures she must have picked up some skills as a detective since she was married to one for so long. The business comes with a secretary. They have two cases: a cat that is not eating well and therefore must be getting food elsewhere, where (owner is quite worried), and the death of the town busybody, which (of course) was not an accident. ;-) It was a good story line, I just did not warm up to the characters, but another reader might, so give it a try.

Tall Reader passed on a fantasy book to me, a genre I've not read for a while. It is the second in the Throne of Glass series, and, oddly enough, is called just that: Throne of Glass. Don't miss the conversation with author, Sarah Maas, at the back where she explains how she was inspired by Cinderella! While this is the second in the series, the author did an excellent job of informing the reader has to what happened earlier, I never felt that I had missed too much. The ruling king (a nasty guy) is holding a competition for the King's Champion. Interesting participants have been gathered from around the country. And while magic has been officially banned (books burned, people imprisoned, etc). there's 'something' killing off the competitors. A word of warning (although this could just be me), the final battle scene is extremely violent.

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Where were napkins first used? What do citrus fruits and windows have in common? For an interesting look at lots of things we use everyday (a few we don't even think about), try The Elements of a Home: Curious Histories Behind Everyday Household Objects, from Pillows to Forks, by Amy Azzarito. There are chapters on desks, chairs, the ice bucket, teapots, tassels ... The short entries make this a good book to read while watching TV. ;-)

A box was found in the basement of the New York Public Library. A file box. It was filled with cards of reference questions from the 1940's to the 1980's. All kinds of questions from the silly to the serious ... and the librarians took it upon themselves to answer them and put them in a book: Peculiar Questions and Practical Answers: a Little Book of Whimsy and Wisdom from the Files of the New York Public Library, with illustrations by Barry Blitt. The cards must have had just the questions because I think I was expecting answer to be from the time of the question rather than a modern day reference to a link ... but that could just be me. :-)

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I believe the phrase 'and now for something completely different' came from a Monty Python movie, but it would fit well here, too. How about a mystery where the Queen (yes, that Queen) solves it? Author S.J. Bennett admits that she and her family have been fans of the Royals for decades and her book The Windsor Knot is a loving tribute to them. A murder has taken place at Windsor Castle. The police are sure it's the Russians (what until you learn the 'reasoning' behind that (!)), but the Queen is not of the same opinion. Of course, she cannot openly do any investigating, but there is a wonderful staff to help with that! Charming and witty this was an absolutely delightful read. It looks to be the first in the Her Majesty the Queen Investigates.

In addition to being one of the Grand Old Masters of science fiction, Isaac Asimov also wrote wonderful mysteries, including a series about the Black Widowers, a group that met monthly for dinner and a mystery or puzzle of some sort. I recently came across a collection of these: Puzzles of the Black Widowers and, while they are somewhat dated, found myself enjoying them anyway. Asimov loved word play, puns, and clues hidden in plain site all of which make for some fun stories.

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I was eager to read the second book in the Penny Green Mystery series by Emily Organ, but then had a warning from Canadian Reader that it was not quite as good. Remember, however, this is a relative term. ;-) The Rookery still kept me reading far into the night! All of the letters and journals Penny has from her (missing and presumed dead) father are in her carpet bag. When it is stolen by a street urchin, she and a bystander go after him. The streets are narrow and twisty in this part of town but they do finally catch up to the thief, only to find him dead in the street. His throat has been cut. Given the part of town it is, the police don't do much. As a journalist, Penny wants to know more and learns that there have been other such deaths. Then letters start to arrive, and people of a higher status are killed. Determined to figure it all out and catch the murderer, Penny sets out on her investigation.

Like the others, the fifth entry in the High Society Lady Detective series was hard to put down. It's a good thing Olive has been invited to stay at a former school chum's house as she finds herself unexpectedly without housing. Gigi's parents are on an extended trip so her Grandmother is watching the manor, and it's occupants. It is not going well. When she ends up dead, Gigi is the main suspect. There are lots of possibilities, however, and lots of 'reasons' (think changing of a Will) so Olive will have her work cut out for her as she proves her friend's innocence. An Old Money Murder in Mayfair is another wonderful read by Sara Rosett.

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