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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It's been a while since I read one of the Andy Carpenter Mystery books by David Rosenfelt, so it was nice to get back to his characters with Flop Dead Gorgeous. Andy, a lawyer, is always trying to retire (he doesn't need to work anymore) but cases seem to keep finding him. In this case it was someone he'd once dated in high school who is now a well known acting star. She's in town, filming, when she is accused of murder. The victim was found in her house, they'd argued publicly, it was her cake knife in his back ... how will Andy ever prove she's innocent? Join him and his team (do love Marcus!) as they look for the way to do this. I actually had the 'who' figured out this time (doesn't happen very often) but not the 'why'.

Thanks to a loan from a good friend, I did not have to wait too long to read The Last Devil to Die, the fourth in the Thursday Murder Club Mystery series by Richard Osman. A good friend of the Thursday Clubbers has been killed, and something he had is missing. This sets the group on the hunt for the killer, of course. They encounter antique dealers, art forgers, on-line scams, drugs (and interesting ways to move them in and out of the country). This is a 'thriller' so of course there are more bodies and tense moments (kept me reading far into the night). There were some fun twists, too, although sadly, one ended up in a death. I even figured out one little piece of the mystery!

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Here's a good mystery for this time of year: The Plot and the Pendulum, by Jenn McKinlay. Set in October, close to Halloween it has an old mansion, odd drafts and cold breezes, a decades old mystery, and a secret room. Complete with a skeleton with one hand on a book. By Edgar Allan Poe! The owner of the old house is being moved to an assisted care facility and the (estranged) son wants to be rid of her extensive library. He is donating them to the local library and when the head librarian, Lindsay, and her crew are boxing up the books the secret room, with the skeleton is found. This renews the search for someone gone missing decades ago, which causes old secrets to surface. It is part of the Library Lover's Mystery series.

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