Familyhistorian ponders a name change as she attackes the tomes

Just breezing in to stake my place. I don't have much time right now to set things up but will be back soon. I hope to surpass 75 books read this year again and look forward to following up with my LT friends and those dreaded BBs (I've already been hit and it isn't even 2015 yet, thanks Cushla!)
Well you can see how much of a hurry I'm in, I misspelled attacks - kind of looks like Old English so I guess it fits!

I didn't have to go far to see fireworks on New Years eve. This firework display is in the schoolyard behind my home but I had to walk down the street to take pictures because of trees.

Hi, I’m Meg, a 62 year old who loves history, genealogy and tracking down facts and stories on the research trail. I’m a freelance writer with a day job as well as an active volunteer for a genealogy society and a heritage society. Did I mention that I am going to school part time? I am working towards a diploma in professional writing when I don’t stray into courses on history or creative writing, that is.

I share my home in Coquitlam with my son and our cat, Sally. For those that don’t know Coquitlam is a suburb of Vancouver, BC. I have spent most of my life in Canada living in Pointe Claire (close to Montreal), Halifax, Charlottetown, Vancouver and one very cold winter in Calgary but I was born close to London; no, not the one in Ontario. (Maybe that explains the whole section on London in my own personal library – I should actually read those books sometime, I might learn something.)

I have a large collection of books, most of which I have not read and really should but there are over a thousand of them (edging close to two thousand as more books follow me home all the time). This is my third year in the 75 challenge and I love connecting with LTers but those BBs don’t help my TBR stacks! I came up with the handle Familyhistorian in 2008 when I joined LT as a way to catalogue my books before I knew there was another, social side to LT. I am contemplating coming up with a new handle after finding out that it could be done on Sibyx’s thread.

Books bought in the second half of 2014. Maybe I can keep the number down this year.

July
Military Atlas of World War I by Michael Neiberg
London's East End Survivors: Voices of the Blitz generation by Andrew Bissell
Atlas of Military History by Parragon Books
The Power of Visual Storytelling: How to Use Visuals, Videos, and Social Media to Market Your Brand by Ekaterina Walter and Jessica Gioglio
LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour a Day by Viveka von Rosen
An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley
Petty Theft by Pascal Girard
Viking Age: Everyday Life During the Extraordinary Era of the Norsemen by Kirsten Wolf
Mysteries of Britain by Michell Brachet
A Stranger in Mayfair by Charles Finch
Younger Next Year for Women by Chris Crowley & Henry S. Lodge, M.D.
The Norman Conquest by Marc Morris
Trapped at the Altar by Jane Feather
Pall in the Family by Dawn Eastman
The Escape by Mary Balogh

August
The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro
River of Darkness by Rennie Airth
Anatomy of Exercise for 50+ by Hollis Lance Liebman
Mrs. Robinson's Disgrace by Kate Summerscale
Canada's Forgotten Slaves: Two Hundred Years of Bondage by Marcel Trudel
A Brief History of Slavery by Jeremy Black
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakiami
Stanley Park's Secret by Jean Barman
The Undertaking of Lilly Chen by Danica Novgorodoff
Ghostwritten by Isabel Wolff
The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarty
The Typewriter Girl by Alison Atlee
Writer's Guide to Character Traits by Linda N. Edelstein
The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells by Andrew Sean Greer
Concealed in Death by J.D. Robb

September
The Massey Murder by Charlotte Gray
Design Fundamentals: Notes on Color (Theory) by Rose Gonnella
Sensational Vancouver by Eve Lazarus
Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition by Owen Beattie and John Geiger
The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah
The Serpent and the Pearl by Kate Quinn
The Liberation of Alice Love by Abby McDonald
Murder in Chelsea by Victoria Thompson
Heirs and Graces by Rhys Bowen
USNA: The United States of North America by David Longworth, Harry Kalensky and Allan Stanleigh

October
The Monster's Lament by Robert Edric
Dead Cold by Louise Penny
The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett
It Happened at the Fair by Deeanne Gist
The Laird by Grace Burrowes
The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
The Axeman's Jazz by Ray Celestin
Woman Rebel: the Margaret Sanger Story by Peter Begge
A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews
Mission to Paris by Alan Furst
No Known Grave by Maureen Jennings
The Lazarus Curse by Tessa Harris
The Midwife of Venice by Roberta Rich
Watching You by Michael Robotham
Mr Mac and Me by Esther Freud
Younger Brain, Sharper Mind by Eric R. Braverman
The Emotional Life of Your Brain by Richard J. Davidson
Self-editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King
Revision & Self-editing by James Scott Bell
Lonely Planet's Guide to Travel Writing by Don George
How the Industrial Revolution Changed the World By Thomas Crump
Old Enough to Fight: Canada's Boy Soldiers in the First World War by Dan Black and John Boileau

November
finding your roots by Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
The Forgotten Army by James Fenton
An Age of License by Lucy Knisley
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berndt
The Heart has its Reasons by Marie Duenas
An Old Betrayal by Charles Finch
Irresistable by Mary Balogh
How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny
The Duke and I by Julia Quinn
And Only to Deceive by Tasha Alexander
The Blood Dimmed Tide by Rennie Airth
The Dead of Winter by Rennie Airth

December
A Thirst to Die For by Ian Waddell
A Red Herring without Mustard by Alan Bradley
Instrument of Slaughter by Edward Marston
World of Wonders by Robertson Davies
Cold Steel by Paul Carson
Damn his Blood by Peter Moore
Burma 1942: Memories of a Retreat by R.E.S. Tanner
Sketch your World by James Hobbs
The Diva Paints the Town by Krista Davis
Read it and Weep by Jenn McKinlay
Bookmarked to Die by Jo Dereske
Pearls and Poison by Duffy Brown
Book of Fire by Brian Moynahan
Back in Blighty by Gerard DeGroot
The Confidence Code by Katty Kay & Claire Shipman
Sleeping the Churchyard Sleep by Rett MacPherson
A Most Contagious Game by Catherine Aird
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

That's a total of 160 books acquired in 2014 (there are probably more because I don't think I counted ER books)

January has gotten off to a frantic start, the traffic on the threads is amazing and I don't think I will ever catch up. I did make time to bake some potato bread - yum!

Welcome!

Hi Meg! Just marking my spot!

Hi Jim, thanks for being there for the 75 group!

Good to see you, Carrie!

Good luck with your challenge this year Meg!

Hi, Meg. I've starred you, and look forward to your reading adventures in 2015.

I'm dropping in to leave my star. Looking forward to lots of good books in 2015!

Meg, I am intrigued as to your mooted name change, but whatever you're called I'll stop by as often as I am able.

Good to see you Rachel, Linda, Karen and Paul. The threads are crazy right now and I am having trouble keeping up. I wonder if things will slow down once 2015 is here. I hope so because my schedule is looking crazy busy for the beginning of the year but it is all good.

It usually slows down once we get into January.

Hi Meg - happy new year from New Zealand! I'm looking forward to following your thread this year and suspect some of your books will land on my wish list ...

>16 drneutron: Good to know, Jim. I feel very overwhelmed right now trying to keep up!

>17 laytonwoman3rd: Wishing you a Happy New Year and Happy Reading in return, Linda.

>18 cushlareads: Happy New Year to you, Cushla!I think that we will both be dangerous for the other's wish list!

Meg,



Happy New Year from your friend in Kuala Lumpur

This is where your thread is! I am still slowly tracking down various threads and glad I have now found and starred yours! I hope your New Years night was wonderful.

Happy New Year, Meg!

Hi Lori, Amber and Roni. I'm still working on a few non-LT projects but I should get back to finally set up this thread by the end of the weekend, at least that's the plan.

Hi from the other side of the Rockies Meg - and may you have a very merry 2015 :) Dropping a star!

Hope you have a great 2015, Rachel. Thanks for stopping by.

Linda, Happy New Year! Have you made up your mind to forget the change of name? What are you reading now? I'm almost finished with The Member of the Wedding. I thought I'd finish it during the Read-a-Thon, but darn it, other stuff kept distracting me. Yesterday, it was work. I did not get to read during work until it was too dark (I was in my car). Hope you are having much better luck!

Hi, Meg! Happy New Year!

>3 Familyhistorian: I've pondered a "name change" here on LT, too. I also created my account when I considered LT primarily as a cataloging tool, before I got involved in the social side of things. Does anyone know, when you change your screen name, does it still bring up threads under the old "handle" in the "threads created by you" option on talk?

>30 tymfos: Terri, yes you still see all your old threads. Your name changes on those as well as the new ones. I changed my name on here a few years ago and it is much better now - like you, when I first joined back in 2006 I had no idea what LT would turn into!

>31 cushlareads: Thanks for the info!

Good to know that the name change worked for you, Cushla. I kind of like tymfos, Terri - at least it is short.

>29 maggie1944: Hi Karen, thanks for the visit but not sure you were on the right thread.

1. Dead by Morning by Dorothy Simpson

Ah, love a good British mystery with a well remembered small town copper as the lead detective. In this case it is Luke Thanet. A body has been found in a ditch, covered by snow. Was it a hit and run or was it murder? That is what Thanet has to find out. But his new Superintendent popping up unexpectedly on the scene doesn’t make a difficult case any easier. The body turns out to be a prodigal son who has turned up out of the blue and there is no end of people who may have wanted him dead. As usual, a good solid murder mystery from Dorothy Simpson.

>35 Familyhistorian: I have never read anything by Dorothy Simpson - at least, I do not think I have - so I will have to give her a try. I love good British mysteries. Thanks for the recommendation, Meg!

ooops! I'm sorry. Keeping screen names and real life names straight is not one of my strengths.

>37 maggie1944: That's ok, Karen. I have the same problem.

>36 alcottacre: Hi Stasia, I read a lot of British mysteries so you will see a lot on my thread. The next review coming up is a new British mystery that I reviewed as a ER book. Now all I have to do is find the time to post the review.

Whew, finally got my thread set up but it has been and, still is, a hectic weekend. I don't think things will slow down next week, either. So why so hectic well, I have been writing an article on my Hunter family of Islay.



So my mind has been here.

But I also have to set up the PR announcements for the historical society I volunteer for as well as set up a Facebook campaign to promote the January speaker whose company was involved in the discovery of one of the ships from the Franklin Expedition.



I have also being trying to work this into the mix. (This illustration is from the 1849 London Illustrated News and shows the ships of Sir James Ross' arctic expedition which was sent off in search of Franklin.)

Still, I managed to review an ER book.

2. Dead Gorgeous by Elizabeth Flynn

When a beautiful young woman is found murdered D.I. Angela Costello’s investigation leads back to the fashion industry. Kirsty Manners worked as an intern at a London Fashion house but her aims were high. Not tall enough to make it as a fashion model she needed an edge. Maybe an affair with the head of the fashion house, the designer Ivano King, would open new doors for her or her maybe it would be her quest for inside knowledge. With her endless scheming had she opened the wrong door and let in a killer?

Dead Gorgeous not only gives a look behind the scenes at the fashion industry but delivers an interesting murder mystery with plenty of suspects and side issues to distract. I look forward to reading more mysteries featuring D.I. Angie Costello.

Happy New Year, Meg. I am not setting up a thread here in the 75 group for now, but I will certainly be dropping by to visit!

>43 DeltaQueen50: Good to see you, Judy. I had been looking for your thread but will stop looking now. Drop by any time.

Meg, I would love to have you visit my thread over at the Category Challenge. You can find me HERE.

>45 DeltaQueen50: Hi Judy, I have been there and dropped my star. I will tread carefully there so that I don't get sucked into the category challenge vortex!

I'm trying to catch up with threads. A name change? I like your current one (for obvious reasons). I haven't had much time to read or work on genealogy this year so far. I need to do both. Hopefully life will slow down for me over the weekend so I can catch my breath.

The "category challenge vortex"... oh, no! I shall resist.

Oh, hi, familyhistorian!

>47 thornton37814: I liked the name when I was only using the site to catalogue books - after all, how could I forget it. Now it just seems too stodgy, or like I am setting myself up as an expert.

I have been doing a touch of genealogy but not as much as I would like because other things keep getting in the way. It would be good if life slowed down but I think the slow down time was between Christmas and New Years - you know, the holidays when there was too much stuff to do to actually find time to relax - that was the slowed down time, now is when it gets really busy! I am just going crazy because I don't know when I am going to fit everything in. The weekends are my time to try and catch up a bit but my classes this semester are going to be on Saturday afternoons - I know I am going to get too far behind. Oh, and I will be doing something genealogy related. In a fit of madness I signed up for an NGIS course because I figured I had time to do two courses when one is on-line. What was I thinking?

>48 maggie1944: Yeah, don't get too close to the edge or the vortex will suck you in!

>49 Familyhistorian: It's easy to have too many eggs in a basket. I attended the online component of the DNA track of the Association of Professional Genealogists Professional Management Conference. I think I enjoyed the case studies more than the content because most of that was of a level lower than where I am. One of the presenters did give some observations about thresholds and such that were pretty useful for analysis, but in general, it's stuff that I've already been doing or had identified as something to be done when I get time to do it. I don't think your name is stodgy at all.

That is very cool about the Franklin Expedition - did Annie Dillard write something about these finds?.... I seem to recall crazy stuff, like sets of silverware and all.

>51 thornton37814: That sounds like an interesting conference on DNA but a lot of it might have been over my head. At our local LDS seminar last October one of the sessions was a webinar on DNA which was recorded at the Roots Tech conference. The presenter talked on an on and when the computer was turned off the people in the room looked at each other and asked if anybody had understood what was said. Most of us hadn't.

What the presenter in that case had not done was to employ story to get his points across. That is why the audience is more drawn to case studies than to the content - you are probably not the only one sitting there who enjoyed the case studies more.

>52 sibylline: Hi Lucy, I didn't hear anything about silverware from the expedition being found and will have to google about Annie Dillard. I haven't heard about her before. I have always been interested in the Franklin Expedition - what is it about people who disappear that perk our interest?

3. The Burning of the Valleys: Daring Raids from Canada Against the New York Frontier in the Fall of 1780 by Gavin K. Watt

After discovering an ancestor who fought in the American Revolution in New York State, I went looking for further information. The Burning of the Valleys is a very readable history of the raids of 1780. It breaks the action up into readable stories and gives a good overview of the New York frontier at that time. (Strange to think of the frontier being in New York State, but it was).

I would recommend this book for students of American history and just plain old history buffs. The only criticism I have of the book is that I often couldn’t figure out who was on what side in the conflict – it didn’t help that sometimes people did change sides. A clearer labeling of the parties involved would have helped.

>53 Familyhistorian: I've still got a lot of sessions of a genetic genealogy conference that was held in August in the DC area to listen to. I purchased all the recordings and have made it through a few of them. I need to get back to those.

>56 thornton37814: Were you actually at the conference or are you listening to them cold? I have a hard time picking things up from just listening to them. I need visuals. That's probably why I have a hard time talking on the phone.

>57 Familyhistorian: These were recorded presentations that do have the slides accompanying them. It's kind of like watching an archived version of a webinar.

No book bullets for me here yet, but I've been by to check up on you, Meg.

>58 thornton37814: Oh good, much better with some visuals. I find DNA a fascinating field. When was that new book on DNA that you are interested in going to be published?

>60 Familyhistorian: Hi Roni, I am trying to get to some interesting reads but I had my first class last Saturday and our homework is to read The Sense of Style by Steven Pinker by next Saturday. It is not a short book - about 300 pages. I am now about 80 or so pages in and we are getting into grammar so it is slow going. I have many, many books on my bedside table that are in various stages of being read that are trying to entice me away.

I am having a hard time keeping up with LT and RL at the moment. Somehow or other I thought that I would have lots of time and I signed up for an online genealogy course through NIGS on top of the college course that I am taking on Saturdays. (The one for which I have to read a book on writing this week - yes, the whole book in a week.) Of course it didn't help that I had to do some last minute editing for the storyboards that we are putting up on our next museum display where I volunteer - we start the install on Friday which, fortunately, is a day off from my day job.

I am reading a little Heyer on the side for when my book on writing and all the other stuff are filling my head too full - I know that I am very distracted because I left my phone at home twice this week and I have never done that before. No wonder I am having such a hard time keeping up with the threads!

>60 Familyhistorian: It was released November 30. It's called NextGen Genealogy by Dave Dowell. I didn't purchase a personal copy. Instead, I bought one for my boyfriend, but since we'll be merging libraries eventually, it really was unnecessary to purchase a second copy. We're just sharing. While I haven't spent tons of time with the book, I've looked through it enough to know it looks useful.

>62 Familyhistorian: I understand the difficulties of keeping up with RL and LT. Sometimes RL is a fulltime chore, in and of itself.

Good luck with The Sense of Style! It's on my TBR but I've placed a hold on it at the library, so it will not be in my possession for a while.

>63 thornton37814: Nice to hear that your boyfriend has similar interests. Thanks for the title of the Dave Dowell book. I will have to check it out. Not only is RL a fulltime chore but trying to catch up with the LT threads is becoming one too. It will be good if it slows down a bit - or if I remember to take my phone with me so I can try and catch up in spare moments.

>64 rabbitprincess: The Sense of Style started out really well. The chapters in the beginning are short and interesting. Right now I am at the grammar part so it is very slow going and, of course, this chapter is very, very long.

4. The Sense of Style: the Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century! by Steven Pinker

The writing program that I am in emphasizes the practical over the academic approach to writing. Pinker’s book is very much in this vein. The Sense of Style is an approachable guide to the use of understandable English in writing. I appreciated the thought that Pinker put into the reasons to use good style in writing as well as the cartoons he uses to illustrate his points but my eyes did tend to glaze over when I looked at the diagrammed sentences. I can see that this will be a very good resource to dip into but I don’t think that I would recommend reading this text in one week as I did for my course.

5. The Quiet Gentleman by Georgette Heyer

I really enjoy Heyer’s romances and like it even better when she includes a mystery. The Quiet Gentleman starts with Gervase, the unwanted heir to the earldom of St Erth, returning to his home. His father’s second wife and son are firmly entrenched in the estate and had hoped that Gervase would have been conveniently disposed of in the war against Napoleon. The son, Martin, has been brought up to think of Stanyon as his and makes no secret of his animosity but has he taken things further? Who is behind the life threatening incidents directed at the current earl? That is the mystery.

As for romance, there is a beautiful young heiress who has all the young men flocking to her side, including the earl and his half brother. Then there is the practical young woman acting as temporary companion to the earl’s stepmother. Add to this the usual raft of skillfully sketched period characters and you have another intriguing Heyer novel.

>68 Familyhistorian: I'll have to look for that one! My public library recently added a lot of Heyer ebooks to their Overdrive account. Maybe this is one of them.

> Hi Carrie, it's a good one. I really enjoy her romances but find the novels in which she combines history, mystery and romance especially interesting.

Hi, Meg! I'm also one who is interested in the Franklin expedition.
what is it about people who disappear that perk our interest?
I think people love a mystery, and real-life ones are even more fascinating.

Hi Terri. I was interested in the Franklin Expedition all the way back to grade school. I didn't realize that my brother had the same interest until I read his novel After Helen. Now that the Erebus has been found it is even more apparent that this is one of those mysteries that doesn't go away.

I found a really interesting website about historical mysteries at http://canadianmysteries.ca/en/index.php. I had a look at their information and documents on the Tom Thomson mystery and there were items there that I hadn't seen before although I have been researching Thomson for years. According to the news on the website they will be covering the Franklin Expedition this summer.

Thanks for the link!

>68 Familyhistorian: Meg, I've read The Grand Sophy and enjoyed it, and would count myself as "Heyer-curious" but not sure what to read next. Would The Quiet Gentleman make for a reasonable second Heyer to read?

>73 tymfos: Don't get lost in there, Terri. I went in and all of a sudden two hours had gone!

>74 evilmoose: Hi Megan, I don't think that there is any particular order to read Heyer's in but if you really liked the romance I would recommend These Old Shades followed by Devil's Cub.

Lucky you getting to discover Heyer. Most of the one's that I read now are re-reads because I started reading her books when I was in my teens - more years ago than I like to remember.

6. The Alice Behind Wonderland by Simon Winchester

The creation of the Alice in Wonderland story is a tale in its own right and that is what I expected to read in this book. That is not what I got. The focus was on Dodgson and his photography and more specifically his photography of the Liddell children, particularly Alice. The book is interesting for the history of early photography and Dodgson’s part in it but it is not very instructive about the development of the Alice in Wonderland story.

7. Death in a Family Way by Gwendolyn Southin

I had already read the second book in the Margaret Spencer mysteries, In the Shadow of Death and wanted to read this first book in the series to see how it all began. I think it is the continuing story of Maggie Spencer that makes the series so interesting to me. Maggie turns 50 in Death in a Family Way and finds that life as a typical 1950’s housewife is not the be all and end all for her. She answers an ad in the newspaper for a girl Friday without knowing what kind of business it is for. Her boss is a PI and before long she is getting involved in one of his cases and loving it.

The books have action and mystery and a great feel for the ‘50s. What is really great is the view of Vancouver back then. I need to find book three in the series to find out what happens to Maggie next.

>77 Familyhistorian: Oh, I didn't know about that Winchester - I'll have to see if I can find it (I really like his stuff).

>79 scaifea: Hi Amber, it is a very short book at 100 pages. It is very interesting about Dodgson and early photography and seems like it might be one of the books in a series written about the history of photography.

Winchester does have eclectic tastes, but they usually do veer toward the history of certain 'breakthroughs' scientific or academic, in this case, I guess photography? Sounds a little out of his usual track though.

>81 sibylline: This was my first Winchester, Lucy, and I chose this one because it was very short and I had read some posts by readers who weren't fond of his writing. I had to see for myself. I get the impression that this book was one of a series written by different authors about the history of photography.

8. Riding Shotgun by Rita Mae Brown

Cig, the heroine in Riding Shotgun is leading a fox hunt when she is distracted by news that hits her like a bombshell. She is chasing a fox when she gets lost in the mist and travels back in time, ending up in the same place in Virginia but much much earlier. It is 1699 when the colony was new, Indians could be friend or foe and families had to rely on each other to survive. She is taken in by her ancestors who believe her to be their relative recently returned from London. The customs are strange and amenities like central heating are lacking but it is the people and the lack of modern distractions that make Cig look closely at her own life and what is important to her. Not only was it an interesting read but I now know more about fox hunting and the history of Virginia Colony.

>83 Familyhistorian: BB! I have ancestors that I'd love to drop in on like that!

Dropping by to see what is "shakin'" with your reading. I appreciate your interest in history which finds its way into your book selections, right? Me, too. Interested in history. Riding Shotgun sounds fun; and I agree, dropping in on ancestors might be a lot of fun, as long as one does not become stuck in an earlier age. Thre are too many technologies of NOW that I rely on - such as hot water.

>84 cbl_tn: It would be fun, Carrie, as long as it was just a drop in and not a permanent thing!

>85 maggie1944: Hot water and plumbing are high on my list too, Karen. I am always interested in history and a lot of the books that I read have at least some historical angle. Many of my book buys are justified because they will give me a background on my family history research. (But who really needs 46 books about the history of London? I'm sure that number will creep up anyway.)

I have family history to research, too, but I have barely scratched the surface. Luckily, I have a cousin who has done a great deal filling in the blanks on my father's side of the family. But my mother's side is neglected. I hope I'll get to it someday, but not right now.

You are inspiring me! My maternal grandfather came to the USA from England when he was a young man, so I'm sure there is much to be learned there.

>88 maggie1944: Once you find some interesting stories in your family history you will want to find more. I think that I fell into family history naturally as I was brought up hearing about my mother's side of the family because of their connection to an iconic Canadian painter. My mother was a bit put out when I concentrated my research on my father's side of the family first - but I think I knew I needed a head start on his side. It is very difficult to track families through the records in London.

You never know what you will find when you do the research. My maternal grandfather immigrated to Canada in 1911 and I often wondered why he did that. The family story was that he saw a poster in railway station promoting immigration to Canada. That was the pull but it wasn't until I did the research that I found out the push: everyone in his family had died one by one, including his brother. There was nothing to hold him in England so off to Canada he went.

9. The Firebrand by Susan Wiggs

The catalyst for the plot wrinkle in The Firebrand is the Chicago fire of 1871. I had no knowledge of this disaster before reading the book. Such a dramatic event surely spawned many changes in people’s lives. In this case Lucy, an awkward bookish feminist, rescues a young child that someone drops from a window to escape the fire. No one comes forward to claim the child she names Maggie and it isn’t until five years later that Lucy discovers who the father is; a man that she was attracted to.

The story was interesting and, despite the contrivance of the plot, the reactions of the characters rang true. The added plus was learning the history that was served along with the romance.

>90 Familyhistorian: Sounds like a fun historical romance.

>91 thornton37814: It was fun and hard to put down. I especially liked finding out about the Chicago fire and the bit of social commentary that Wiggs put in about how the fires had been happening for days but nothing was really done because they were in the poorer quarters - interesting.

I have Chicago: A Biography by Dominic Pacyga on my shelves which I bought just before my visit to that city the year before last. Maybe it is time to explore that tome.

Since you had never heard of the fire, there is actually a song that we used to sing. I found it on YouTube although the singer is not that great.

Hi Lori, I have heard the song before but didn't realize that it referred to a fire in Chicago.

10. Cursed in the Act by Raymond Buckland

In London in 1881 there is a deadly rivalry between two theatres, the Sadlers’ Wells Theatre and the Lyceum. Henry Irving, the lead actor at the Lyceum, has been poisoned and foul play is suspected. But Irving does not succumb because the show must go on. Soon other suspicious events start to happen. Stage manager, Harry Rivers, is co-opted to investigate under the direction of the theatre manager, Bram Stoker.

Cursed in the Act is billed as a Bram Stoker mystery but Harry Rivers is involved in most of the action from the beginning of the investigation. And there is action and an historic view of the theatre houses of the time period as well as the great city of London. This was an interesting start to an historic mystery series.

My thingaversary is on February 10 that means 7 books plus one to grow on but I already acquired 20 new to me books in January - what is a girl to do?

Get more books!!!

Hi Meg - after all a girl can't have too many books, right?

Agree! Never too many books.

Hmm, what a surprising answer from you, Judy and Karen, LOL. I will go hunting for my thingavesary books, maybe I will just buy the 8 allotted for the month. Now that would be a challenge but not as hard as in usual months as February is short and I am struggling to keep up with my RL committments

11. Death Plays Poker by Robin Spano

This is the second book of the Clare Vengel undercover novels. The killer of the players on the poker circuit has been dubbed the Poker Choker. The RCMP has tried to infiltrate the player’s group before but their last agent was made and dispatched by the very killer they are after. Clare doesn’t look like a cop especially in her new guise as Tiffany, the trust fund princess. Will she be able to figure out who the killer is before the killer takes her out as well? And, will she be able to keep her own life and new boyfriend, Kevin, with the temptations on the poker tour circuit?

When reading these novels it is never clear if Clare will solve everything or be yanked off the case by her handlers. She is not very good at playing within the guidelines that she has been given but somehow it works and makes for an interesting read at the same time.

RL has taken over with a vengeance cutting into my LT thread reading time and, even worse, my reading time. I feel a real urge to cut back on some of my commitments so that I can better appreciate what I am doing and maybe even keep a clean house! I am at the point where I am starting to miss meetings because I truly don't remember that they are scheduled. That is usually the point when I know that something has to give!

12. Written in Bones: How Human Remains Unlock the Secrets of the Dead edited by Paul Bahn

I have a small section on archeology in my personal library. It is an area of study that fascinates me. Written in Bones: How Human Remains Unlock the Secrets of the Dead looks at human remains and how burials and grave goods can be interpreted to tell people of the present more about people of the past. Each chapter deals with a different discovery, some that are well known; some more obscure. The burials are not confined to one era or civilization but come from all over the world. There are many photographs – good for those who are interested in this area of study, not so good for those who are squeamish. It was an interesting read.

>101 Familyhistorian: It has a way of doing that. I'm afraid mine may get worse before it gets better.

Hi Lori, I hope that things don't get too bad for you. Keep your chin up. At least the RL that I am dealing with is on the positive side, just too much of it!

Oh, I'm with you on the so-busy-I-don't-have-time-to-clean-the-house! I'm hoping life settles down for me a bit once the book fair is over...

>104 Familyhistorian: Not all of mine is "bad." It's just going to be time-consuming.

>102 Familyhistorian: That one sounds interesting! I'll have to keep an eye out for it.

Thought I'd pop by and say hi to you in the "wilds of Coquitlam." :) I am actually in the delta island of Richmond, not Vancouver, but who ever knows where Richmond is, except we Vancouverites .

You have certainly lived in a number of places across Canada, and even born in London! I was born in Winnipeg, but my family moved to Richmond when I was about 4 years old and I've stayed here all my life ( except for a brief stint in the wilds of Ladner . ) That was too wild for me , too much of an outpost!LOL! Both of our adult sons live here in Richmond, which I think says a lot for Richmond. Actually our younger son is just moving out to his own place the end of this month. He is getting married this summer, and he and his wife to be will remain in Richmond. I don't have a cat, but hubbie and I have an 18 month old maltipoo ( we think ) named Poppy.
Wow! Lots of reading here!

>105 scaifea: With me the no-time-to-clean-the-house bit is chronic. I think it has something to do with the full time job, part time school and volunteer work thrown in. I seem to end up with piles of things all over the place and then spend hours looking for things that I have lost. Between semesters I sometimes get things in order but then everything starts up again.

>106 thornton37814: Good to hear that it is not all bad, Lori. I guess even the good stuff is time consuming.

>107 cbl_tn: Hi Carrie, it was interesting. The book that I have and that I linked to is the 2003 edition. There was a later edition from 2012 which has the same cover. I wonder if they updated the finds because they seem to be making new archeological finds all the time.

>108 vancouverdeb: Hi Deb, welcome to my thread. Aren't you glad that you didn't stay in Winnipeg. You would be in the deep freeze now. My mother was born in Winnipeg and I can remember visiting there when I was a kid - always in the summer, of course.

As you saw, I have lived a few places in Canada and I have also moved around the Lower Mainland a lot as well including Vancouver, Burnaby, Cloverdale and Coquitlam but I don't know Richmond well - just how to get to the airport. My current place is next to the Coquitlam River very scenic but you have to keep a wary eye out for bears.

I found it interesting that your hubby works for Air Canada. My father and uncle worked for Air Canada for years. In fact, it was Air Canada (or TCA at that time) that transferred Dad from England to Montreal and we ended up living close to the end of the runway in Dorval.

13. The Devil's Highway by Hannah March

I don’t remember whose thread on LT alerted me to the Robert Fairfax mysteries but with the combination of history and mystery it sounded like they were just my cuppa. I was right. The Devil’s Highway is the second book in the series – I couldn’t find the first one in the library when I went looking.

Fairfax is not a man of means, he must keep his employer happy and it is a local Justice of the Peace who has engaged him for a short stint between Fairfax’s tutoring jobs. As the JP and Fairfax are on their way to the JP’s home they come across a stagecoach and the bodies of all who were aboard. There are three bodies, which is strange as in 1761 pistols have to be primed and reloaded after each shot and the pistols usually come in pairs. The JP adds the investigation of the murders to Fairfax’s duties; an agreeable task for Fairfax but he often oversteps the bounds of what the JP wants him to do.

The mystery is intriguing but it is the social history shown throughout the book that makes is especially interesting. It is a time when social classes in England are pretty rigid, women have few rights and religious nonconformity was looked on with suspicion. I hope that I can find the first book in the series but if I can’t hope to continue with book number three.

I am taking a course on language studies which is part of my writing program. One of my homework projects this week is a rhetorical analysis of a writing but, of course, we had to read something about it first. The information that I read included references to Martin Luther King's Letter from the Birmingham Jail. I had to read the letter to see what the book was talking about and found that the Letter from the Birmingham Jail is an amazing and compelling piece of writing and history.

14. Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman

I grew up devouring comic books and am very happy that comics have come of age in Graphic Novels. Maus is one of those books which show how far GNs are from the comic books of old. It tells a story on two levels. Here is the author, a young guy having to deal with his aging cranky father while trying to find out how his father survived. This is a tale of the Holocaust and how a Jewish couple survived as their Polish ghettos became inhospitable and ultimately deadly. It was a very interesting read.

This week is reading week at school so I don't have to spend the major part of Saturday in class or getting there and back but I do have an assignment due tomorrow - electronically. This is the rhetorical analysis that I mentioned before. We got to chose an apology speech so I chose Rob Ford's apology to Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale. I remember hearing the speech at the time and thinking there was something odd about it. Analyzing the speech is interesting as I am picking up clues as to why it is odd. Now if only I could get the rhetorical terminology down.

>114 Familyhistorian: Sounds like a rewarding course. Are you planning to see "Selma"?

>117 charl08: I guess Selma would fit right in with what I am studying. It would be good to see if I can find the time.

Meg, interestingly , my family moved from Winnipeg to Richmond because my dad worked for Canadian Pacific Airlines, which turned into Canadian Airlines - I think - and eventually was a part of Air Canada, so that is why my dad and the rest of us moved to Richmond. Both of my brothers now work for Air Canada , as does my husband. I still have family in Winnipeg and yes , it is very cold! Brr!

Hi Deb, airline jobs seem to stay in families. I once had a job with Pacific Western Airlines which morphed into Canadian Airlines. Most of the employees at PWA had family connections to people who worked in the industry. Sea Island was hard to get to by bus so when a better paying job at the post office came along I jumped at it.

15. Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition by Owen Beattie & John Geiger

I can remember being interested in the story of the Franklin Expedition from the time that I was in grade school. How could a whole expedition just vanish? In Frozen in Time Geiger and Beattie recount the history of the Franklin Expedition, the realization that it was lost and the many expeditions that followed; searching at first for the living and then for evidence of what had happened to the dead. The prevailing theory as to why the whole expedition died put it down to scurvy.

Beattie, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Alberta, wanted to use modern forensic methods to test that theory and perhaps come up with a definitive conclusion as to what had felled the men of the expedition. The last part of the book covers his Arctic expeditions to find forensic evidence and the conclusions that were drawn from the samples they obtained. If you like history and mystery and are interested in archeological findings this is a book for you.

I am still struggling to keep up with the threads but not doing very well. I finished the rhetorical analysis and completed an online genealogy course today. So I don't feel bad that I took time off to attend the annual Chinese New Year dinner with co-workers last night. Yum.

Ooh, I'd be really curious to see your analysis of the Rob Ford apology - a very interesting sounding course.

>123 evilmoose: It was a very interesting apology to analyze. When I first heard it, when it was in the news, the apology struck me as odd. When I analyzed I realized that Ford played up all the more trivial aspects of what he had said in the TV interview then snuck the bit about the worst innuendo he made in near the end after the readers were neatly distracted. My take on it was that he was a master at making apologies and misdirecting people by that time.

16. How It All Began by Penelope Lively

With all the posts about Lively’s work on LT recently I had to check out one of her books. How It All Began was a great exploration of how one incident, the mugging of an older woman, could lead to so many events in other people’s lives. It was so interesting but I didn’t agree with how all of the characters ended up. Off to the library tomorrow to see if I can find another Lively that catches my fancy.

My thingaversary was on February 10 and I have been struggling to find 8 books to buy. That is very odd for me because books follow me home with amazing frequency. This is the list that I came up with:

Longbourn by Jo Baker
A Spider in the Cup by Barbara Cleverly
The Art of Living: The Classical Manual on Virtue, Happiness and Effectiveness by Epictetus
A Beginner's Guide to Online Genealogy by Michael Dunn
Any Known Blood by Lawrence Hill
A Girl can Dream by Anne Bennett
The Social Media Guide for Ancestral Research by Claire V. Brisson-Banks

So that is 7 books. For my one to grow on I decided that it would be Missing Steps by Paul Cavanagh, which is a book that hasn't been published yet but I know I am receiving a signed copy for supporting the crowdfunding campaign to bring it out.

Oh! I really loved How it All Began by Penelope Lively and also The Photograph - so you might enjoy The Photograph. I recently read Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively and I was not too keen on it, so if that helps you when you go to the library. And your list! I really enjoyed Longbourn - it was one of those lovely , fun reads and really quite interesting. I've only read The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill but I suspect anything written by him could not be disappointing. I've read a few books by Beverly Cleverly but I cannot remember if I've read that particular book. Happy Thingaversary.

I suppose it can happen that airline jobs stay in families. In my family's case, my dad was an airline pilot, and both of my brothers were keen to follow in his footsteps. A lot of work to get there these days - a university degree, lots of expensive training, years as a bush pilot etc - but both of my brothers are very happy. My husband is an aircraft mechanic , and I met him because I suppose so many airline folk tend to live in Richmond , close to the airport. Not much of a commute!

I really enjoyed How It All Began and will have a look for The Photograph. It seems that there were mixed review for Moon Tiger. I actually have The Book of Negroes still on my shelves and I usually read at least one book by an author before getting another so that I know if I like their writing style but I read the blurb for Any Known Blood and it seems like a story that follows a genealogical trail through Hill's family. I am a sucker for those types of stories.

In my case the airline job didn't last very long so none of the children in my father's or my uncle's families stayed with the airline business. My father was in at the beginning of TCA and getting into the business followed naturally from being in the RAF. Not that he was a pilot he was more into the cargo end of things. Funnily enough my uncle had been in the merchant navy but my Dad talked him into trying out the airline business.

Good job on the thingaversary book haul!

>121 Familyhistorian: Frozen in Time sounds pretty interesting - thanks for the review!

Belated Happy Thingaversary!

Congrats on the Thingaversary haul.

Happy Thingaversary! You made some great selections to celebrate.

I've read one of the Hannah March books. I think it was The Complaint of the Dove. I think I liked it, but I don't remember much about it. I picked up The Devil's Highway on one of my visits to the used bookstore and it's still working its way to the top of my TBRs.

Thanks for the congrats on my thingaversary, Connie, Roni, Lori and Carrie.

>130 scaifea: Frozen in Time was a very interesting read, Amber. Not only did involve history and archeology, two fields I am very interested in, but it also had something for the genealogist in me. Once they knew how well preserved the bodies in the graves were from the first foray in the 1980s they looked for living relatives for the next body they were going to exhume and one of the descendants that they found was part of the second foray to the arctic. I am not sure how I would feel about seeing the face of an ancestor who had died generations before, very strange.

>133 cbl_tn: You started the series the right way, Carrie. I searched for The Complaint of the Dove as it is the first in the series. I made do with The Devil's Highway to start in on the series. I will see if I can find more of the books to continue but not right away because there are so many TBRs begging to be read.

17. Death on a Short Leash by Gwendolyn Southin

Death on a Short Leash is the third in the Maggie Spencer mysteries. There are changes to Maggie’s life with the passing of time. Glimpses of 1960 Vancouver are now served up with the mystery which this time involves puppy mills, strip clubs and a phony religious sect. I find this series very refreshing with its focus on Vancouver and its 50s now 60s memories. Off to search for book four.

Looks like you picked some great books for your Thingaversary, Meg.

It was harder than most book buying because I wanted them to be special, Judy. This is the first thingaversary that I had that I was aware of the book buying tradition. Glad that's over and I can get back to my regular habits.

On the way home from work tonight I had to pull over for three fire department vehicles. When I got to the bottom of the first hill I could see the plumes of black smoke. I made it down the street and made a right turn to go towards my house and it was a haze of smoke because the wind was blowing that way. As soon as I made my turn a police car with lights on came around the corner behind me and stopped. I think he closed the road because no cars followed after me. Later my son had to walk home from the bus stop and he was coughing from all the smoke. It is almost 6 hours later and my house still smells of smoke. It was an apartment building on fire - those poor people.

>140 Familyhistorian: Scary! I'm glad it's not your house that was on fire. But indeed: poor people!

Thanks Connie. It happened in the late afternoon which is good because everyone got out safely.

I feel the same about Thingaversary books so I keep a list during the year of books that I think would be the kind of thing that I would want to purchase to celebrate the event.

Well, I'm very glad everyone is safe!

>143 DeltaQueen50: That is a very good idea. Next year I will be more organized and have a list of celebratory books on hand.

>144 drneutron: The timing was good because the fire broke out just after 4:00 pm. I shudder to think what would have happened if the fire broke out in the middle of the night.

I saw that fire on the news. Very scary for all involved. I can just imagine how thick the smoke must have been in the air. I am also glad that all got out safely but 100 people now homeless is very sad news indeed.

>147 lkernagh: The wind was blowing to the east so I couldn't even smell the smoke when I was to the west of it. As soon as I turned the corner and headed east I could see the smoke in the air and when I was in my house I kept checking the kitchen to make sure I hadn't left anything burning on the stove. It looked like it was a rental unit so there were probably a few people without insurance.

Wow, glad to know everyone got out of the fire OK.

I read Frozen in time a while back, after reading Dan Simmons' novel The Terror and wanting to know how much of the actual known history of the expedition he had worked into the novel. It was interesting.

There are so many fires this year from folks doing their best to stay warm when the power is out. I saw on the local news last night that a local small business owner lost his home in a fire. No one was injured, but the home was a total loss. He and his wife are good people and I hurt for them.

When my brother was in grad school, he arrived home from class one day to find his was blocked. The apartment next to his was on fire. The flames didn't break through the fire wall to his unit so the firefighters did not spray water in his apartment. He had significant smoke damage, though. Unfortunately his neighbor died in the fire.

Terrible stories about fires. A fire is so unpredictable.

>149 tymfos: I don't think I have heard of Simmons' The Terror. I take it that it is fiction. Was it good?

>150 cbl_tn: Hi Carrie, I have heard about a few fires lately but here the cause is not trying to stay warm when the power is off due to bad weather. We are, as usual, out of step with the rest of the continent and it has been unseasonably warm. (The crocuses and daffodils are blooming.)

It is hard when fire hits close to those we know. I don't know any of the people affected by the fire but unfortunately many of them have lost everything and had no insurance.

>151 connie53: I think the hardest fires to hear about are those where people loose their lives, especially when they are children. There seem to be many fires like that that happen in winter.

>154 Familyhistorian: I know, that's heartbreaking. We recently had a big fire where 3 children and their mom died. Dad and one child escaped. That is so sad!

>152 Familyhistorian: Yep, fiction. Simmons takes the story and runs with it a bit.

>155 connie53: Yes, Connie, very sad. I sometimes wonder if the survivors are able to get past it and go on with their lives. I used to read the news and as soon as they said that the people had survived I thought that they would go back to their regular lives (for fires, car accidents etc). I never really thought about how their lives were changed forever by the event until I found out the various degrees of recovery from catastrophic events.

>156 drneutron: So Simmons wrote a fictional version of the outcome of the expedition? Was it just centered on the expedition or did it look at the searches as well?

>158 Familyhistorian: extract from the book summary

The men on board HMS Terror have every expectation of triumph. As part of the 1845 Franklin Expedition, the first steam-powered vessels ever to search for the legendary Northwest Passage, they are as scientifically supported an enterprise as has ever set forth. A they enter a second summer in the Artic Circle without a thaw, thought, they are stranded in a nightmarish landscape of encroaching ice and darkness. Endlessly cold, with diminishing rations, 126 men fight to survive with poisonous food, a dwindling supply of coal, and ships buckling in the grip of crushing ice. But their real enemy is far more terrifying.

Ohh, I have The Terror on my shelves. It came highly recommended by my brother. Sounds like a nice scary read.

>158 Familyhistorian: Ooh, sounds like the build up to an adventure story or maybe a horror story (which it turned out to be given the ending.)

>160 DeltaQueen50: A scary read but I like it if some of the protagonists survive even in scary stories which wouldn't be the case if Simmons wrote the true ending of the expedition.

I will get to it some day, but it's size is very daunting. Now I am curious about the the ending and if Simmons stuck to the actual story.

My husband read The Terror, and was very taken with it. Isn't part of the point that Simmons creates a story about how it all ended, when nobody knows for sure? I know it will be a very long time, given the February we're having, before I could contemplate reading about an Arctic Expedition for pleasure!

>163 DeltaQueen50: I had to look up how long The Terror is after reading your post, Judy. 992 pages now I see why you say its daunting.

>164 laytonwoman3rd: Good to hear that your husband enjoyed The Terror, Linda. It can't be that much of a slog if he was able to get through it despite its length. I have been reading about the February you are having on various threads and I am glad I am not anywhere snowy. (The cherry blossom is out here and they just aerated the lawn in my townhouse complex. Yay for Spring, I will try to ship some your way.)

>166 Familyhistorian: My husband is a constant reader, but he doesn't rack up numbers like some of us here. In fact, although he is a member of LT, he won't post, because he says we intimidate him! He's mostly joking (he was an English major in college, and he was responsible for introducing me to Faulkner back then), and he has participated in a few discussions here and there, but he's never had a thread of his own.

>167 laytonwoman3rd: Hi Linda, he is probably wise because I am sure I have read a few book's worth just keeping up with the threads (The Terror sized book's worths). I confess to being an English major as well but I fear that I am probably not as well read as some because I was distracted by mysteries and other light fiction at an early age. I found the more weighty fiction that we read for class a bit of a chore to get through - Great Expectations didn't improve the more I studied it.

18. Murder in Chelsea by Victoria Thompson

The title grabbed me because I like a British mystery and this looked like it was set in London. It was a bit of a shock to find out that it was set in New York and is the middle of a long running series. The setting was not what I expected but I couldn’t resist an historical mystery. The action centers on sleuth Sarah Brandt and her adopted daughter. A widow, Sarah fears that she will lose her daughter, Catherine, when she hears that the child’s mother is looking for her. Widows on the lower middle rungs of New York society didn’t have much clout in gaslight New York.

One of the women looking for Catherine is murdered and the plot gets a little murky. But Malloy, the detective who is attracted to Sarah, is there to help as are Sarah’s wealthy family, so all is not lost. I enjoyed my introduction to this series even if it was with one of the middle books. I am curious to see how the series began and will keep an eye out for the previous books in the series.

>169 Familyhistorian: This is one of my favorite historical mystery series! I'm not quite that far along in the series yet.

Hmmm....another intriguing historical mystery series to add to the "someday" list.

>169 Familyhistorian: Excellent series! You have many good reads ahead of you!

>170 cbl_tn: I am not that far along in the series either, Carrie. I was intrigued when the book referred to past events affecting the main characters so I now want to hunt out the beginning of the series.

>171 laytonwoman3rd: There are many, many historical mystery series and I seem to stumble across lots of them - so many intriguing books, so little time (or not enough anyway).

>172 thornton37814: I hadn't read any of Victoria Thompson's books before, Lori. I tend to prefer British authors for my historical mysteries, probably because that is what I grew up with and where my roots are. Although, strangely enough, I appear to have roots in the US as well - maybe I should be reading more American authors.

19. Instrument of Slaughter by Edward Marston

Mysteries and history, what more could one ask for? The Home Front History Series is set in London during WW1. Crime, particularly murder, continued even while men were being shipped out to fight. Inspector Marmion and Sergeant Keedy are called in to investigate the murder of a conscientious objector. It is 1916 and Britain has begun conscription. There is not much sympathy for the men who don’t want to fight because of belief or conscience. This sentiment complicates the investigation as do the secret attractions between some couples who need to keep their affairs secret.

I enjoyed this first dip into the series. Of course, I didn't start the series at the beginning so I will have to hunt down the first book. The ongoing characters are interesting and I would like to see how they started and how they develop as their story continues.

>176 Familyhistorian: I've read a couple of his Victorian railway mysteries. I'll have to keep an eye out for this series. It sounds interesting.

>177 cbl_tn: I read one of his railway series (I probably started that series in the middle as well.) I prefer the home front series, maybe because that is a period of history that I am very interested in. The book to look for if you want to start from the beginning is A Bespoke Murder.

Nice review of the Lively! Frozen in Time looks quite tempting too.

>179 sibylline: The Lively was good but I haven't run out to find another one yet - RL is too busy. I have always been interested in the Franklin Expedition and Frozen in Time looks at the past history of the expedition and the searches for the expedition as well as bringing the searches up to the present (well, almost present because the Erebus was found after the book was written.)

20. The Secret Pearl by Mary Balogh

The Secret Pearl follows the story of Fleur, a young woman who had to flee her home because of a traumatic event that happened there. As she is one of the privileged classes she has no way of earning a living. London is a hard city for those with no means. To prevent starvation she has no choice but to sell herself which is how she meets the hero. He is her first and only customer. Their entanglement doesn’t stop with one encounter but follows different and meandering paths until the couple and the reader find out the truth about Fleur and her beau; their pasts and their future.

21. The Unquiet Grave by June Thomson

This mystery was designed to intrigue a family historian. Luke Gilchrist has lost his father, a man who was not close to his family. Luke is surprised to be given some letters by one of his father’s friends. The letters lead to a second family; a mother and daughter and Luke’s father who was known by another name. The thing is the mother was murdered and her husband is still considered the prime suspect. Was Luke’s father a murderer?

To get to the bottom of the mystery, Luke visits the town where his father lived with his second family. He blunders about a bit and a suspicious retired copper alerts DCI Jack Finch who uses Luke’s discoveries to finally break this cold case. It was a good mystery, all the better for using genealogical research techniques.

The last two reviews are for books that I read a few weeks ago. I am still struggling with loads of homework, volunteering and other stuff so it is hard to even attempt to keep up with LT. The hope is though, that I will be so busy this month that March will slip by before I really notice it is here - my life tends to derail in March as some pretty bad things have happened then. Keeping my head down and fingers crossed.

Hoping that March goes smoothly for you, Meg, and only brings you good things.

Thanks, Judy. I am hoping for a benign March this year.

22. The Last Kashmiri Rose by Barbara Cleverly

Commander Joseph Sandilands of the Metropolitan Police was delighted to be going home. Delighted that his six month’s secondment from the Met to the Bengal Police should, at last, be at an end. But just as Sandilands is ready to bid farewell to India he is tapped to investigate the death of a young Englishwoman. He can’t refuse, especially when the invitation is issued in part by another very vital young Englishwoman.

The death in question has similarities to other deaths in Panikhat; for there is a trail of young English wives who lost their lives by succumbing to their worst fears. The women were all married to the men of the Bengal Greys and all lost their lives in March of different years. It is up to Sandilands to tease out the connections and uncover a serial killer.

>186 Familyhistorian: I've read the first 3 or 4 in that series and have enjoyed them.

Hi Lori, I hope you are enjoying good beach weather. I was impressed by The Last Kashmiri Rose. Cleverly did a good job of evoking the life of the British in India. Her characters were well drawn too. I am looking forward to the next one in the series if I can find it. The first one I found on my own shelves. Never know what I might stumble across there!

Meg, for taxes I used this https://simpletax.ca/ . My son is software developer for Telus and he recommended it to me and it was super easy. Just go to the site and it is very self explanatory, unless you have a complex tax situation. You just fill some boxes from your T4 and everything is calculated for you and it lets you what your refund will be . So, it's just free software and super easy to use.
I've read about 3 - or 4 of Barbara Cleverly books and enjoyed them, but somehow I got off the series. Like you, it's amazing what I can sometimes stumble onto in a pile somewhere!

>188 Familyhistorian: It's quite rainy here. I plan to do genealogical research tomorrow.

>189 vancouverdeb: Thanks for the tax tip, Deb. I actually like doing taxes with paper and pencil but the forms are getting hard to get.
I am always stumbling onto things in my own collection that I don't remember having. Its great when it is something interesting!

>190 thornton37814: It would have been nice if it was sunny, Lori, but I think we are hogging that for now. They are already worried about our lack of rain and snow pack. At least it is warmer there than where you came from.
Enjoy your research - I just love going different places to pursue genealogy research.

>192 Familyhistorian: Yes. I need to review the names again before I set out this morning, but I think I probably remember them well enough since I reviewed them while writing the research plan.

Hi Lori, I hope you had some interesting finds today. Wish I was on the research trail it would be better than doing genre analysis, my homework for Saturday and this analysis is number 2 of 3.

23. Murder on Mulberry Bend by Victoria Thompson

Mulberry Bend is one of the poorest areas of New York. After the death of his wife Richard Dennis is trying to understand her better. He asks Sarah Brandt to accompany him to the mission in Mulberry Bend where his wife volunteered her time. And so begins this episode of the gaslight mysteries featuring Sarah Brandt and Detective Malloy. For all is not as it seems and a young girl from the mission is found murdered. It is up to Sarah and a reluctant Frank Malloy to figure out what is going on. This is another solid mystery in the gaslight series.

I have been reading a lot lately as I am laid up with a nasty cold/cough. I haven't been to work in the last few days and have lots of homework and a magazine article to write so naturally that means I will spend my time reading and trying to catch up with LT. Actually, that works for me because I have come up with the premise for the article and the nugget of the report that I have to write for homework while doing other things.

24. The Hermit of Eyton Forest by Ellis Peters

The Hermit of Eyton Forest is my first Brother Cadfael mystery and it won’t be my last. Peters brings the England of 1142 to life with its rules and social institutions. It is a period of English history that I am not familiar with. The historic background with its attendant unrest lends itself to shady characters and murder and Peters uses to create a murder mystery. I look forward to finding out more about Brother Cadfael and England in the early 12th century.

>194 Familyhistorian: It was fairly successful. We've got a couple of additional things to resolve as a result of my findings, but we are hoping that the cemetery office may be able to access some of the old print records instead of what was in the computer database. (We hope they weren't destroyed in a hurricane.) The print records may help answer our questions. I know that they are not located in the actual office on the property. Not sure if they would be at the city hall or elsewhere. Hoping we can get an answer and follow up by e-mail.

>198 thornton37814: I am glad you had some success in your research. Isn't it amazing how there always additional things to resolve. Once you resolve those things I bet there will be more additional things that come up.

>200 thornton37814: Yes. I never did reach them at the office and didn't want to drive back over there until I knew where to locate the paper records so I was going to the right place. We're going to end up corresponding with them by e-mail. That may be the easiest thing to do anyway.

>200 thornton37814: I hope that is successful. Nothing worse than thinking that there are some records that can help and finding out that they don't have the one that applies to your research. Good luck!

25. Mister Jelly Roll by Alan Lomax

Jelly Roll Morton billed himself as the “Inventor of Jazz” maybe that is why I knew his name and was interested in his story. The story was interesting and it was easy to tell that parts of it were taken from interviews with Morton, himself. But there were other chapters where I was puzzled as to who was speaking. The book could have done with better sign posting to let the reader know without a doubt who the narrator of the chapter was. Jelly Roll had an interesting life and it felt like I was getting the true story – or, at least, the story that Morton wanted to tell but the editing could have been tighter.

26. Death as a Last Resort by Gwendolyn Southin

This case starts with Maggie falling into a body on ski run. She and her partner, Nat Southby, report the body to the police and think that is the end of their involvement in the case until Nat’s ex-wife comes calling and demands that they check into the death for the young widow of the murdered man. Then the young widow is murdered and they are hired by the adult children of the murdered man. It is an interesting case that has ties back to WWII and involves action putting Maggie’s life in peril.

27. The Mystery Woman by Amanda Quick

Part romance, part mystery and set in historic England – these are books that I pick up for an escape read. It is enjoyable that the female leads are strong characters who are sure of their abilities. The other characters range from stock to quirky but Quick uses them to move the plot along in this fast, fun read.

28. The Frozen Thames by Helen Humphreys

I picked up this book because of my interest in London, the place where so many of my ancestors lived. My father was brought up in a pub just up from St Katherine’s Dock and might never have strayed except for a little thing called WWII. I am always interested in books about London and had The Frozen Thames on my shelf for a few years. It is a pretty book with great illustrations and I couldn’t resist it when I found it in the Bargain Book section. It might still be sitting on the shelf unread except for the buzz it has received lately on LT.

Working forward in time since 1142, Humphreys draws small vignettes to illustrate the years when the Thames froze. Sometimes it froze so deep that frost fairs were set up on the ice. She tells of those and of the affect that the deep cold had on birds and humans alike. Some of the stories are haunting and stay with me still.

The Frozen Thames remains one of my favorite Humphrey's books. I remember reading it on a hot summer day and being able to feel to cold of winter the stories have as their theme.

>206 lkernagh: It is a great book to dip into but probably better in July than in March although this March isn't too bad. Just on my way into Vancouver and all of the blossoms on the trees are gorgeous!

>203 Familyhistorian: I've never heard of that series. I haven't quite decided whether to add it to the "to be read" list or not. It does appear to be available through Overdrive at the public library as an e-book, so I might add it to the list.

Hi Meg! I finally stumbled my way over to your thread. Very cozy. I am so glad you enjoyed The Frozen Thames as much as I did. I am looking forward to reading more of her work.

>208 thornton37814: Probably because Gwendolyn Southin is a Canadian author who lives in coastal BC. I like the '60s/'70s feel of it and the glimpses of Vancouver as it was then and Maggie appeals to me as a character of that time as well.

>209 msf59: Welcome, Mark. The Frozen Thames was on my shelf for a while. I picked it up in Bargain Books because of my interest in books about London but didn't actually read it until Joe started talking about Helen Humphreys on his thread. When he started posting about her I realized that I had two books by her.

The other book I picked up at the Vancouver Writers Fest where Humphreys was part of a panel group. At that time she was promoting The Reinvention of Love which is the story of writer Charles Sainte-Beuve. Sainte-Beuve reviews Victor Hugo's work and helps to bring Hugo to fame. Sainte-Beuve also helps himself to Victor Hugo's wife - should be interesting.

Humphreys seems very prolific and wide-ranging. I love that in an author.

I really loved Coventry by Helen Humphreys. It was fabulous ! I am currently on the list at the library for a new book by her, Evening Chorus. Sadly my library does not have The Frozen Thames, so I will get that one for my kindle - or check out my local 2nd hand book store.

Already received my tax refund. Maybe I should splurge on a book! ;)

>212 msf59: From the various Humphreys titles that I have seen it looks like the only requirement in her work is that it is based on history. She was interesting to listen to when I saw her which is why I had to track down one of her books right after never realizing I already had The Frozen Thames on my shelves.

>213 vancouverdeb: A print book would be best, it has good pictures. I bought my copy of The Frozen Thames in Bargain Books at Chapters so you might want to check out the Chapters/Indigo site. A tax refund definitely calls for a book splurge!

An hour before I leave for class. I just finished the report that I have to hand in today. Now I should be working on a post for Facebook for the upcoming Evening at a Museum for PoCo Heritage, but am I? No, I am here trying to catch up with some threads.

It is often easier to read and catch up with threads than it is to keep the creative juices flowing. The creativity is often better when it gets to percolate in the old noggin for a while, anyway. That is my theory and I'm sticking to it!

I actually caught up with all of the 75er threads that I am following! That means that I was ignoring the stuff I should have been doing which I should now get back to, sigh. But I would rather be reading.

29. To the Grave by Steve Robinson

To the Grave is the second Jefferson Tate genealogical mystery. The first mystery was a fun, though improbable, mystery. This mystery also involves action that puts JT’s life in danger which is the most improbable part of the plot.

JT is searching for his client’s birth mother, a young woman who disappeared in 1943 in an England changed by war. In the end, the mystery was unraveled and the fate of the young lovers was revealed. Still the story stayed with me for a while. Somehow it is the thoughts of what might have been that come back to haunt me.

30. The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley

An experienced archeologist, Verity Grey has agreed to work at a site in Scotland were evidence of a Roman legion has been found. But there is more than just physical evidence at the site.

In fact, the team is in the area because of the boss’ obsession with finding the lost Ninth Roman Legion. His evidence for digging in the area comes in the form of Robbie, a nine year old boy with psychic abilities. Should Verity stay and risk her reputation in the archeological community? She is drawn to one of the men on the dig and that weighs into her decision.

But all is not as it seems. Verity’s dreams are haunted by the sound of galloping horses, but there are no horses at the farms around the site. And, it seems that one of the legionnaires remains at the site and has taken to following Verity around. Does he seek to harm her or to help her?

What a great read. Thank you for whoever hit me with this BB. I really liked Kearsley’s writing. She handled the plot with a deft hand and I will be seeking out more of her books.

>218 Familyhistorian: I need to try that series!

>220 cbl_tn: They are fun, fast moving mysteries, Carrie. I love the genealogy angle but could do without some of the deadly part of the plot but the deadly part of it fit a bit better in this book.

Happy Sunday, Meg! I hope you had a lovely weekend.

Thanks, Mark. I have class on Saturdays so my weekends are mostly work, work and more work - trying to catch up with homework, the volunteer work I do etc. I am looking forward to the end of the semester. Next semester my class is on Tuesday evenings so I will have my weekends back - Yeah!

Hi, Meg. Just stopping by to say hi and thank you!

Hi Roni, good to see you out and about on the threads.

Hi Meg. I wish the Kearsley book was translated! But it isn't. I would love such a story.

It is a good story, Connie. The author is Canadian, though, so not as likely to be translated I would think.

I have Friday off, woo hoo! I have another genre analysis to do for homework tomorrow (or April 2 if we can't get it done by tomorrow) and I volunteered (did I really) to read through the resumes that were sent in for a part time job that will be the first paid position ever for PoCo Heritage. When I last peeked there were 89 resumes and I have looked at 15.

So anyway, with all that to do today so far I have read for hours, arranged for a meeting with my co-travelers for an upcoming trip, hung around on the LT thread and now my Yoga mat is calling to me. Ain't procrastination grand!

Well I thought I was on top of things but this morning I realized that I hadn't done my readings for today. Fortunately they were short and relatively easy to understand but when I moved the stuff around on my desk I found a reminder about something I was supposed to do at the beginning of March. One more thing I better get on right away 'cause it's for something interesting and important. More about that later.

31. Tulle Death Do Us Part By Annette Blair

Tulle Death Do Us Part is the sixth book in the Vintage Magic Mystery series and the first one that I have read. Why do I keep starting series in the middle?

Maidera Cutler owns a haunted vintage clothing shop and as, touching old objects can give her glimpses of times past, she has plenty of opportunities to use her talents. What she sees in the past gives her clues to present mysteries which she solves with a little help from her friends, including a more than friendly police detective. It was an interesting cozy mystery but I probably would have enjoyed it more if I had grown to know the characters over the first 5 books of the series.

OMG I got awarded an ER book. It has to have been 5 months since that happened. I am looking forward to reading The Surfacing.

32. Petty Theft by Pascal Girard

The story for this GN sounded interesting. Pascal has just broken up with his long term girlfriend so is living with friends. His muse has deserted him so he goes out and gets a construction job instead of drawing and writing. Even his running high deserts him when his back goes out. Nothing much is going his way. Then one day he is at the bookstore and sees a girl shoplift his book. He decides to do some detective work and find out more about this girl.

Despite its promise the story left me flat. Maybe I was just the wrong gender to identify with Pascal and his attempts to get closer to the girl. I liked his drawings; the graphics are in black and white but well done

Happy April, Meg. I also recently read Petty Theft. I liked it a bit more than you. I like how he based it on himself.

Happy April right back at you, Mark. Hopefully no one pulled any April fools pranks on you this morning. I am not sure if the guys here will get up to anything. My take on Petty Theft was that the reader would probably enjoy it more if they were male. I identified more with the thieving girlfriend and found some of his antics annoying. I liked the art though.

The Kearsley sounds like a lot of fun! Very very tempting!

It was very good, Lucy. I am definitely going to check for more books by Kearsley. I liked her writing and she doesn't go overboard with the paranormal stuff.

>218 Familyhistorian: I had major problems with the genealogist's ethics in the first installment of the Jefferson Tayte series so I have not been in a hurry to read any others.

>237 thornton37814: In this Tayte novel the story he was investigating was a lot more believable and poignant. It really made the book for me.