Why the backlog? Well, like hundreds of thousands, if not millions of USAians, I lost my job this year. And while reading was a welcome escape, I was working hard to find a job and working hard at odd jobs to support myself. So bear with me, Gentle Reader, as I get caught up on yet another draft that was waiting to published.
The Gift of the Magpie by Donna Andrews Magpie was last year's Christmas book published by a favorite author of mine. And since it was hot and dry, reading of another snowy holiday murder in Caerphilly hit a large number of comfort notes for me. This time, Meg and Caerphilly Helping Hands are helping a hoarder with cleaning and decluttering his dilapidated house. Harvey is a nice man, albeit a little shy, but his behavior is not like that of any hoarder any of us have been on TV. The hoarders exploited on distressing TV series are resentful of the attention, fight folks trying to come into their house, and are seriously emotionally upset when their things are disturbed, much less hauled away. Whereas Harvey just lets the well-intentioned ladies of Helping Hands box up all his stuff within minutes of meeting Meg and Caroline--unrealistic, even for a series in which I usually suspend disbelief at how kind and generous everyone in Caerphilly is (which I why I'd like to live there, but I digress). And as much as I love this series, there were, honestly, some parts that rang off: the hoarder not acting like a hoarder, the idea that the hotel would foster a few dogs that guests could check out to run with or visit with--who's going to administer that program? What about liability, for both parties, the hotel and the animal rescue? When dogs are released and transferred from one shelter to another, the process involves lots of paperwork. And you can't just stick them somewhere not approved for animal housing like a human hotel, where paying guests could be allergic or frightened of dogs. I did like how Harvey's murder was resolved, but Magpie was a weak entry in the series. I still want to live in Caerphilly, though. No. 28 in the series
Mockingbird Court by Juneau Black I loved Beatrix Potter's books when I child, and I loved the Cottage Tales series by Susan Witting Albert, and you've read in the past how I love the Shady Hollow mystery series by Juneau Black. They are warm, grown-up versions of an animal world where the animals are vegetarians, live in towns and hold jobs, and generally live in harmony except for the occasional murder. In Mockingbird Court, we not only are treated to another delightful and cosy murder, we are treated to learning more about our heroine, Vera Vixen. Vera's past has always been mysterious. We knew she came from the city, but we knew nothing of why she left, nothing about her family. We learn Vera's story, a very human one, when someone from her past is murdered, and Vera is the main suspect. Will she be able to prove her innocence, and will her relationship with Orville survive this murder investigation? If I were an animal, I'd want to live in Shady Hollow, eat at Joe's, and shop at Lenore's bookstore. Highly recommended. (Net Galley)
Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green This was one of two selections for the Governnerd's Book Club Sharon McMahon organizes, and what a fantastic read it was! One of my favorite books of 2025. This book is so well researched but written so thoughtfully and engagingly, with enough science to satisfy this scientist but not too much science to drive non-scientists away. It's an extremely compelling history not only of the disease, but our society's reaction to it medically, socially, politically, and economically. Once you read it, you will agree that yes, everything is tuberculosis. Highly recommended
Crouching Buzzrd, Leaping Loon by Donna Andrews Back to the beginning of the series, as my library has started filling in missing titles. Meg and Michael are searching for a new place to live in, one that will be large enough for the two of them, but Caerphilly has a sever drought of affordable and decent houses or apartments. The search for a home is stressful enough, but Meg's been roped in to serving as business manager and switchboard operator for Mutant Wizards, her bother's computer game company. Mutant Wizards has grown very quickly, and Rob, in typical Rob fashion, doesn't want to, maybe doesn't even recognize, the managerial issues that have been building up and which Meg gets to address. First issue: the one-winged buzzed that lives in the office lobby. Second issue: Michael's mother's dog, Spike, who likes no humans and to whom has mother is allergic, so Spike is now living with Meg and Michael and terrorizing everyone at Mutant Wizards. Third issue: the company's popular computer game has inspired crazy fans and possibly industrial spies to try to steal their way in every day, and it's up to Meg to chase them out. The company is staffed by brilliant and kooky computer geniuses, who as a lark have laid out a track for the mail cart to follow automatically. Then on one sweep through the office, the mail cart is carrying an extra package--a dead colleague. Highly recommended. No. 4 in the series
Cockatiels at Seven by Donna Andrews Given my library's non-sequential catalog of Meg Langslow titles, I had to jump forward several titles from Buzzard to Cockatiels. Newlyweds Meg and Michael are still renovating their new house when Meg's old friend Karen stops by. She's in desperate need a babysitter for her son, Timmy, for a couple of hours, and begs Meg to help her out. Meg, of course, does agree, but when four, then five, and then six and more hours go by and Karen hasn't returned for her son, Meg is worried that Karen has been in an accident. But it's worse--Karen seems to have disappeared completely. Poor Timmy has no food, no clothes, and his favorite toy needs repair, and Meg is suddenly afraid for Karen's life and afraid of her own reactions to the sudden, temporary childcare roll. Rob is acting very mysteriously, and Meg's dad and grumpy zoologist Montgomery Blake are involved in some animal welfare project Meg worries will land them in jail. Meg's worries heighten when it becomes clear that some dangerous men are after Timmy, and will stop at nothing to get him. Highly recommended. No. 9 in the series
Owls Well That Ends Well by Donna Andrews Sure, I could order these sequentially, but I write about the books in the order that I read them, so, Gentle Reader, join me in another jump through fictional time. Meg and Michael are excited at their new home, a rambling Victorian mansion owned by the late Edwina Sprockett. They haven't moved inlet, however, since of the reasons they got such a good deal on the house was because they were going to have to clean it out. And Edwina was nothing if not a collector. Their solution: a giant yard sale, and they're delighted by the local interest, but not delighted by the would-be treasure hunters showing up at 5 am to try and sneak in to find the best items before everyone else. Too bad everyone had the same idea. Among the treasure hunters are Edwina's distant relatives, who have decided that maybe they wrong in agreeing to sell the house and all its contents as is, and now are trying to prove that Meg and Michael hoodwinked them out of large inheritance. Endangered barn owls living in the ramshackle outbuildings add to the general confusion. When Meg spots someone sneaking into one of the off-limits outbuildings, she hurries over to herd them back to the yard sale, and finds one of the antique dealers, dead. Would someone really kill someone over Edwina's junk? Highly recommended. No. 6 in the series
We'll Always Have Parrots by Donna Andrews And let's step back one more time, Gentle Reader! Meg and Michael are attending a fan convention for Porfiria, Queen of the Jungle, a cult TV show that Michael has a minor role in. But now that he has a stable position int he Drama and Theatre department at Caerphilly College, Michael would like to leave Porfiria behind. But not everyone wants him to leave the show, especially the star and executive producer, and when she's found murdered, Michael is just one of a number of cast and crew under suspicion. The series rarely leaves Caerphilly, so it's always a treat when Ms. Andrews finds a way to get Meg and Michael away. And the loony, besotted, sometimes weird fans are a funny substitute for Meg's eccentric family. Highly recommended. No. 5 in the series
Why Didn't They Ask Evans by Agatha Christie Bobby Jones is the vicar's son, and he's at loose ends and avoiding making a decision about what to do with his life. What better thing to do than play golf? Until he hits his ball over the edge of the cliff, and running to see if it's visible, he finds instead a dying man. Bobby is perplexed by his last words: "Why didn't they ask Evans?" but a search of the pockets reveals just a photograph of a beautiful young woman. Bobby and his childhood friend, Frankie, aka Lady Frances Derwent, daughter of the local lord, are intrigued when the deceased is finally identified as Alex Pritchard and his sister claims to be the woman in the photo, despite the lack of any similarities between the young beauty in the photo and the middle-aged sister. Then the photos is published, and it's a different photo than the one Bobby had seen and replaced in the dead man's pocket. And that's when Bobby and Frankie realize that something sinister is going on. Highly recommended.
Agatha Christie: an Elusive Woman by Lucy Worsley Lucy Worsley has written a new biography of Agatha Christie and filmed a television biography show on the BBC. Ms. Worsley spends a little bit more time tracking down clues to Ms. Christie's mental state during and after her famous disappearance, looking through old phone books to identify psychologists the author may have consulted that were located near her London apartment. Ms. Worsley found a brief interview I'd never seen referenced before in which Dame Agatha herself talks about her mental state during and after the breakup of her marriage. While that's the only new information in the book, there is more on her marriage to the archaeologist Max Mallowan than most biographies report. I knew it was a happy marriage, but the excerpts from their letters made my heart glow that a such a broken heart was able to be healed by love again. Recommended.
Murder Takes A Vacation by Laura Lippman When I first read the description of the story, I thought, well, this sounds like fun. Muriel Blossom, middle-aged widow and former employee at a private investigative form, wins a lottery and decides to take a Paris river cruise. This middle-aged reader would love to win something like that. Too bad the book was so dreadful I had to stop reading it. She's a former private investigator who worked with Ms. Lipman's other series character, Tess Monaghan, and yet makes the most naive and stupid decisions ever: she accepts a gummy from a stranger in the airport to help her sleep not he flight to Paris--hunh? He doesn't wake her up when their flight arrives so she misses her connection--hunh? She then lets him make reservations at a hotel for them? Lets him convince her not to follow her carefully planned itinerary? Hunh? Then she makes out with him and lets him stay in her room while she sleeps? What?? Then she gets to Paris, meets a young man she lets paw through her clothes and claim to be her son when. body is found--and that's just the first 2 chapters! I chucked it. Completely unbelievable. Completely stupid behavior. I hated every character by the end of two chapters--that is not a good sign. I was delighted to learn later that someone in my online mystery book club had disliked it as much as me. Avoid at all costs.
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