Monday, January 3, 2022

Midnight at the Barclay Hotel by Fleur T. Bradley, January LaVoy


The invitations went out for a weekend at the (rumored to be haunted) Barclay Hotel. One each, delivered by courier, to five people only: a  cowboy, a librarian, a CEO, an actress, and a detective on a Tuesday. From April 3rd to  April 5th, these guests will get to experience an all-expense paid weekend at the newly-renovated hotel. 
J.J. Jacobson works hard to convince his mom to go to the hotel. He loves ghost hunting but wishes that his CEO mother had a little more time for him. He convinces his parents to go but hopes without revealing his secret. In fact, almost everyone going has a secret. The only holdout is Detective Walker because even his granddaughter, Penny, has something she's not talk about. The other invitees include Buck who is a cowboy and a liar, Miss Chelsea who is a librarian and inveterate contest enterer, and Fiona Flemming who is an actress and medium. We also get to meet Emma, the chef's niece, who is excited because she rarely gets to hang out with other children.
All of them are entering a hotel but none of them will be leaving with their secrets in tact. 
I really enjoyed this book. I would take off a half star because there were a few too many zigs and zags but overall a fascinating listen and a large part of that was due to the narration of January LaVoy. NPR Best Books rarely steers me wrong.

Four and a half stars
This book came out August 25, 2020
Borrowed as audiobook from Libby
Opinions are my own

Sunday, January 2, 2022

Breath by James Nestor

Elizabeth Baker's review on the NPR Book Concierge from 2020 made this book sound really interesting. And it was, to a point. I like a nonfiction book where the author is a nonbiased reporter and Nestor actually took place in a lot of the experiments himself. And I sometimes like that but the back and forth between the two was not well-woven together. A lot of the findings were things that I already knew about from yoga and I found myself racing to finish the book rather than really trying to read and retain it.

Three stars
This book came out May 26, 2020
Borrowed as hard copy from the library
Opinions are my own

Saturday, January 1, 2022

The Supper Club Murders by Victoria Dowd

The murder crew is back at it again. All five have been invited to a safari dinner (I know it as a progressive dinner) from a former bookclub member who is now the wife of a baron. Some people look down on Lord Black because he bought his title but it is a title nonetheless. And the safari supper will take place in the village, Greystone, surrounding their castle, Black Towers. It's a new place with some familiar characters though relationships have shifted dramatically - there is not nearly as much fighting between Ursula and her mother.
There are also new faces with some familiar names -- Scarlett Bradshaw, Joseph Greengage (a plum), Mrs. White, Reverend Vert (green), etc. And, while it is one of them that will die, one of their own will as well.
I really sort of slogged through the first book in this series (and I would still recommend reading it and the second books because they set up so much back story) but liked this one a lot. The characters are growing, infinitesimally but growing. The murder and solution aren't any less bananapants but even the new characters have depth that makes them interesting to read about.

Four stars
This book came out September 16, 2021
Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited
Opinions are my own

Friday, December 31, 2021

December Rereads

As always, opinions are my own
Once a Soldier (Rogues Redeemed, #1)

Once a Soldier by Mary Jo Putney
Rogues Redeemed #1
Three and a half stars
This book came out June 28th, 2016
Followed by Once a Rebel
Borrowed as ebook from Hoopla



Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren



Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren
Three stars (bumped to three and a half on re-read)
This book came out September 4, 2018
Hard copy I didn't keep

Thursday, December 30, 2021

Passing Strange by Catherine Aird


It's a flower show that gets Inspector Sloan pulled down to Almstone. It seems that someone has been strangled. It is, in fact, the local and much beloved nurse, Joyce Cooper. She was running the fortune teller's tent but was discovered behind it.
This year has been very unusual for the show anyway because the tomato plants weren't judged at all correctly. And it is that point that, while Sloan does end up solving the murders, brings home the proof.
A nice addition to the series. I don't think you have to have read any of the books before it to really appreciate the story. Short and readable.

Three and a half stars
This book came November 1, 1980
Followed by Last Respects
Borrowed as hard copy from library

Wednesday, December 29, 2021

Body on the Island by Victoria Dowd

I didn't particularly like the first book in this series but I had already borrowed the second and third from Kindle Unlimited and the premise for the third had looked interesting on NetGalley so I went ahead and started the second book. I still wasn't impressed but read the last chapter (sorry to the people that hate this but it's what caused me to not DNF this book.) Like the first book (which I don't think you have to have read but I would highly recommend it even though I didn't enjoy it) this is told from the perspective of the narrator who has fictionalized names in order to keep people protected. This time, our narrator Ursula Smart has signed up herself, and her aunt and mother for a survival course. Of course, her mother's friend Mirabelle ends up coming along as does Bridget who no one had talked to since the events of the last book but who reads about it on a group chat.
There is still a lot of quibbling and fighting among the group but we actually learn some things in this book that were only danced around and alluded to in the last book. Other characters are annoyed by the fighting and it actually causes them to get onto the wrong boat in the morning. But no one realizes it until they are already out at sea with a storm raging around them. And then the boat goes under and Ursula witnesses a murder. There are two others who don't make it to the nearby island alive and everyone else are left with no food and very little shelter. But then the body count starts piling up...

Three and a half stars
This book came out February 23, 2021
Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited
Opinions are my own

Tuesday, December 28, 2021

Death Sends for the Doctor by George Bellairs


A letter comes to the newly promoted Superintendent Littlejohn, addressed to his now title. From the little town of Abbot's Caldicott, the letter asserts that a murder was committed there. When Littlejohn calls down to the the local Sergeant, a man named Plumtree, Littlejohn isn't impressed. Apparently, the only person who is out of town is the local doctor, Beharrell. And then it's discovered that the man is actually still in his house, in a hidden room, dead. 
Littlejohn comes down to investigate and discovers a web of gossip and deceit that has been going on for decades and it all seems to center around the doctor's wife who disappeared suddenly one night with her supposed lover.
A good book and fairly clued, it did take a bit to wade through.

Four stars
This book came out in 1957
Follows Death in High Provence
Followed by Corpse at the Carnival
Ebook borrowed from Kindle Unlimited
Opinions are my own