Wednesday, March 9, 2022

The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse

The cow creamer. It is all about a silver cow creamer. "Pop" Bassett wants the creamer and steals it out from under the nose of Bertie's Uncle Tom. So his Aunt Dahlia commands him to steal the creamer. Bertie would rather not but he heads out to the estate anyway as he has been sent a series of frantic telegrams from Gussie Fink-Nottle whose engagement to Angela Bassett seems to be on the line. When Bertie arrives, he discovers that Roderick Spode, a man who is in love with Angela but Jeeves is able to spike his guns. There is also an engagement between Stephanie Bink (the niece of Pop Bassett) and an old friend of Bertie's, "Stinker" Pinker, now a curate, as well as some kerfuffle related to a policeman's hat. 
Of course, all is finished satisfactorily and Jeeves has convinced Bertie to sail off on a world-round cruise.

Three and a half stars
This book came out October 7, 1938
Followed by Joy in the Morning
Opinions are my own

Tuesday, March 8, 2022

Herring on the Nile by L.C. Tyler

The ending was a little convoluted but I overall enjoyed the story.
After the last story, Ethelred has decided that he needs a trip to Egypt. Maybe it will help him with his next story (though the only work we see in this book is him answering questions for newspaper articles, most of which have confused him with another more popular writer.) 
The noxious Annabelle is no longer with him. Perhaps that is because Ethelred is selling the ancestral home that she wants so badly. But, though wildly romantic, Ethelred is also wildly pragmatic. He believes that Annabelle will stay with him even without the property. He seems to have been wrong because he is now on the cruise with his editor.
And the cruise quickly becomes a sort of locked room mystery with a character from a previous book claiming to be protecting an unknown client. Well, he knows the client's name but not who the client is. When a man is murdered, was it the right person or was it supposed to be Ethelred. 
Then the book sort of veers wildly from the classic mystery to a seventies kidnapping mystery and then ends, as I mentioned at the beginning, sort of confusingly. But I did enjoy the ride.

Three and a half stars
This book came out in 2011
Followed by Crooked Herring
Borrowed as ebook from Hoopla
Opinions are my own

Monday, March 7, 2022

Right Ho, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

Bertie never learns. In this book, he is absolutely certain that he knows best. However, it will come as no surprise that all he knows is how to create chaos. It is, of course, up to Jeeves to sort out the relationships between Gussie Finknottle and Madeline Bassett (else she might turn her eye back to Bertie(!)). There are also issues arising between his gambling aunt and Uncle Tom once again. 
When Bertie recommends the same course of action to both his aunt and Gussie, he ends two engagements and almost causes Anatole (the unparalleled chef from previous books). Luckily, Jeeves is there to step in.

Four stars
This book came out October 5, 1934
Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Plus
Opinions are my own

Sunday, March 6, 2022

Trust Me by Jayne Ann Krentz

This is a book that is definitely dated (references to PDAs and characters who don't know how to email) but is still pretty fun.
Desdemona Wainwright meets Sam Stark because she caters his wedding. The opening scene has her talking to Sam about the bill for his aborted wedding. She knows that he is attracted to him and, as he comes out of his stupor, he realizes that he kind of likes her as well. Desdemona is a little worried that he is still upset over his wedding and invites him to an experimental theater show that stars members of her family. It is drilled into us over and over again that the Wainwrights are emotional, emoting, theater people and that Sam is akin to a robot (does he not have feelings or does he just hide them?). But he and Desdemona manage to get together, even managing a relationship around Sam's two half-brothers who show up at his house unexpectedly.

Three and a half stars
This book came out September 1, 1995
Hard copy I didn't keep
Opinions are my own

Saturday, March 5, 2022

Amor Actually -- anthology

A collection of short stories by various Latinx authors that takes the various story lines of Love Actually and turns them into stories with happy endings. I appreciated getting to read some new authors and those stories were fine but I ended up liking the authors which I had already read a little bit more, probably because I already know their voices and read them because I like them.


Three and a half stars 
This book came out December 7, 2021
Borrowed as ebook from Libby
Opinions are my own

Friday, March 4, 2022

The Art of Deception by Nora Roberts

Ufda. This book really did not age well. The hero leans close to alphahole and our heroine tends toward an early manic pixie dream girl. She and her father veer from arch and loving to over the top in a sort of annoying way.

All Adam Hastings wants to do is figure out what is going on with some art forgeries. He has a mysterious friend he's talking to while he's staying at Phillip Fairchild's house because... somehow they know Phillip is connected? But he doesn't realize that Phillip has a daughter and is shocked by her. But attracted! Because Kirby, an accomplished sculptor, screams sex. Well, her body does. Her personality is also attractive, so why not? But the plot is more twisted than it appears and becomes more and more convoluted.

Two stars
This book came out February 28th, 1986
Borrowed as ebook from Libby
Opinions are my own

Thursday, March 3, 2022

Beware of Low-Flying Corn Muffins by Lincoln Peirce

I love the Big Nate books. Peirce does such a good job of creating a kid who would like to believe that he is smooth and worldly but he is actually usually short of the mark. In this collection, we get to see that in a series of stories including the low-flying corn muffin incident where Nate gets the coach in the head. We also find out that Nate and his nemesis Mrs. Godfrey share a surprising interest. Nate almost loses his status as the king of gossip around school. 

Four stars
This book comes out March 8, 2022
Follows Aloha!
Followed by Release the Hounds
ARC kindly provided by Andrews McMeel Publishing and NetGalley
Opinions are my own