The Mind of the Leader by Rasmus Hougaard

I read this book for work and think that it will work well for me. However, this book is very geared toward "mindfulness" i.e. there are a lot of exercises that ask you to stop, take a moment, and listen to what your brain is saying. This may turn some other people off. 

Mindfulness - makes sure your people are seen and heard; in one survey, making sure that you were present for your team was the most important part of being a leader (not on the phone, not on email, not letting your mind wander)

Selflessness - give people space to develop; Leaders who take blame and pass on praise have employees who will take risks and be creative

Compassion- be able to have the hard conversations when needed; be able to have compassion for self as well as for your team; be able to handle the highs and the lows of life and the job, to acknowledge but then let go of mistakes; be able to understand other people's viewpoints without taking on their emotions

We need to make sure that, as leaders, we are not in a bubble -- we do not have so many people who are catering to us that we think that everything is going fine.

Look for unconscious biases -- use the beginner's mind

Four stars

This book came out March 13th, 2018

Borrowed as audibook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

Having Wonderful Crime by Craig Rice

John J. Malone has joined Jake and Helene Justus on a trip to New York. They are having a night of drinking and pick up a fourth man. They found him blind drunk in the lobby of their hotel. When they wake up in the morning, they discover the man is on his honeymoon. Shortly after that they find out the man's wife has been murdered in their bedroom. Helene immediately decides the man must be innocent and tries to get Malone interested. He is not. He wants to go back to Chicago. Too bad he's not going to get his wish.

Jake is also wanting to solve the mystery but for his own sake. He's trying to sell a mystery novel but the publisher in New York, unaware of his entanglements with such things back in the Midwest, aren't impressed. His strange behavior is making Helene wonder exactly what is going on.

With the usual banter and pratfalls, this book is a delight. The vague homophobia and other stereotypes are not as egregious as some books of the time but nonetheless are jarring in the present day.

Four stars

This book came out in 1943

Follows Big Midget Murders

Followed by Lucky Stiff

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Say You'll Stay by Susan Mallery

Shaye Harper lost both her parents and then discovered that her boyfriend was using her all in a short amount of time. So she did what anyone else who had sold their home to follow said stinker to LA, she took off on a road trip. Now she's in Wishing Tree, Washington wondering why so many people are running around with antlers in July.

Lawson Easley is back in town after being deployed. He is happy to stay in Wishing Tree; it's where he grew up and where he feels at home. Wanting to stay in the small town is the reason his last relationship broke up so, while he's attracted to the stranger, he's feeling cautious. Even when Shaye picks up a job to stay in town, he's not sure it's a relationship that will work out.

Of course, it does (this is a romance) but it's all wrapped up very quickly. It's a novella so we can't expect much but it would have been nice to get a little bit more than the characters suddenly realizing everything would be okay without any more information than that.

Three stars

This novella came out July 1st, 2021

Followed by The Christmas Wedding Guest

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

In the Study with the Wrench by Diana Peterfreund

All of the characters in the first book are back... well, in the sense that they haven't left Blackbrook Academy. They each have their reasons for not wanting to leave, most of them we learned about or at least were heavily hinted at in the first book. Of course, after the murders in that book, many of the students have been pulled from the school. Unfortunately, two members of the so-called "Murder Crew" find another body which sets off a series of events leading to one of their own not being there by the end of the book. 

There is a lot more exposition and less action in this book which was okay until there was a sudden flurry of things happening at the end. I hope that the third book will tie up loose ends.

Three and a half stars

This book came out October 13th, 2020

Follows In the Hall with the Knife

Borrowed as ebook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

Well Matched by Jen DeLuca

In the first two books of this series, we met single mom April Parker who was a little bit of an introvert. We also met the kilted man, also known as high school coach Mitch Malone who is known for his hookups at the local bar. In this book, Mitch needs someone to go to a family function with him. Apparently his family doesn't believe that he is really grown up and he thinks that having a steady relationship (with a woman who is 9 years older) might force them to open their eyes. April isn't excited about it at first but then, she realizes that Mitch can help her fix up her house. Ever since she moved to town, she's been anxious to get away. She would have rather lived in a big city but she stayed so her daughter would have a community. But now her daughter is about to graduate and freedom is within her grasp. 

However, a weekend with one bed means that the sparks between April and Mitch are going to flame. But April has one foot out the door. And she's also dealing with the fact that her daughter's father, after eighteen years, has gotten in touch. How could her life possibly get more complicated

The flow of this story was fairly lovely but I felt like some things were either resolved too quickly or left unresolved. Still hope there's another in the series.

Four stars

This book comes out October 19, 2021

Follows Well Played

Followed by Well Traveled

ARC kindly provided by NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group

Opinions are my own

Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie

Gwenda Halliday Reed is newly married and just bought a new home. She is delighted until strange things start happening. When she wants to put new steps down to the sea, there are already some under a bush. She imagines a particular sort of wallpaper in a room and, when an old cabinet is pried open, the exact pattern is papered inside. Then, when she attends a play in London, a particular line causes her to stand up, scream, and run out of the theater. Luckily, she is attending the play with Raymond West, his wife, and his aunt, the indomitable Miss Marple. 

Miss Marple is the one to suggest that, perhaps, what Gwenda is experiencing may be memories of her childhood. Gwena disbelieves that as she grew up in New Zealand but then finds out she did, indeed, live in England, in that house with her father and stepmother. Does that mean that the woman she remembers dead in the hallway of that house was true as well? And someone quoted from the exact play that Gwenda saw in London?

Gwenda and Giles start digging into the mystery. Miss Marple has gone home but she is uneasy. Sometimes digging into the past brings up more than skeletons and someone who may have only meant to murder once, might murder again to keep it covered up.

An enjoyable story. Perhaps, not quite fairly clued but a fitting end to the Marple series.

Four stars

This book came out October 1976

Follows Nemesis

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Once Ghosted, Twice Shy by Jessica Arden

This book started out so interestingly. Paige Harrington has a mysterious app, Ghosted, appear on her phone. Thinking it is a dating app, she swipes right on a guy she recognizes, Austin, who is a bartender she knows. Then he literally falls at her feet, flung off a balcony after having been strangled with Mardi Gras beads. It's a nice, tight story.

Then, the story starts to get convoluted. Paige's favorite professor now store owner is framed for the murder, her long-lost love shows up again to act as her mentor, a secret society is thrown in as well as are the ghost of her great-grandmother and her great-grandmother's best friend. Oh. And now her hedgehog is talking to her. Information starts to be repeated more and more often and the story gets a bit fractured.

An interesting start to a series but I'm going to proceed cautiously with reading more books in the series. If there is a love triangle introduced (which sort of seemed like it might be happening), I'm definitely out.

Three stars

This book came out September 21st, 2021

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own