Mystery Max's Murder Room in 26

My name is Max and I've been an LT'er now for 15 years and in the Category Challenge for almost that long. A few years back I discovered I wanted to write mysteries and so I am also an LT Author. For me, writing is a lot of work because my books, while mysteries, incorporate a lot of history and so there is a lot of research involved. I find that ageing makes one thing happen - everything takes more time. Thus, I find it hard to keep my LT page up to date, so I hope you will all bear with me!

This year, I am going to have two categories: Mysteries and Everything Else and see how that goes. I'm going to try to follow MysteryKit, but I may not make it every month.

MYSTERIES



January: mostly female detectives (and others)

This one wasn't a female detective but it fit the Coloured Cover Kit:

The Chinese Orange Mystery by Ellery Queen

These wasn't a female detective but it fit the Coloured Cover Kit:

The Saint on Guard by Leslie Charterus.

My entry for the female protagonist! And the colour orange!

The Hammett Hex by Victoria Abbott.

This one fits the call for the decade challenge, written in 1952. And the colour orange!

The Singing Sands by Josephone Tey. I can see why so many call this Tey's best.

Two more for the female protagonist :
The Female Detective by Andrew Forrester



The Guardian Angel by Sara Paretsky



February: a few clerical detectives
March: one or two nordic mysteries
April: tons of private eyes
May: hardboiled detectives, the best kind
June: police procedures
July: less than lawful - a few heist and con jobs here
August: Grand Master Awards - probably already covered
September: now films or tv series - watch or read???
October: favourite author - Spillane, here I come
November: guns for hire - not so much
December: wild card

EVERYTHING ELSE



January:
A great read for the random "secret" book.

Grabtown by Sarah P. Blanchard

Great blessings to you and your reading in the new year.

Happy reading in 2026!

I hope all are blessed this holiday season with tons of books to keep them busy throughout the new year!

I'll be following your reading. You have already provided me with many great recommendations, I'll expect more.

Have a lovely holiday season.

Good luck with your 2026 reading!

Simple and to the point! I hope you enjoy your 2026 categories!

Hi Max! I just popped onto your profile and realized that not only do we live in the same city but we share a love of espionage and mystery. When I realized that the library's bookmobile stopped every Tuesday morning by my house, I would occasionally be sick at home (with a small child in tow, I didn't often have to pretend) on Tuesdays to sneak into the bookmobile which I absolutely loved. Maybe we've already met? At any rate, I'll be going out to get Death of a Codebreaker. My librarian friend from work will also no doubt love it!

>10 Cecilturtle: I hope you fall in love with Baker Somerset! She is a kick-ass private detective. My time is really divided between Ottawa and Vermont. Family, animals, and a house keep me tied down more in Vermont than in Ottawa. (And I rarely appear there in the winter, after a disasterous February spent confined to the Centretown apartment due to an ice storm that would not go away). My bookmobile days were in Guelph.

>11 mysterymax: Another ice-storm today so I don't blame you! Your book will be in my mailbox soon. I look forward to it!

Wishing you a 2026 thar's filled with exceptional books!

>13 DeltaQueen50: Thank you! I wish the same for you.

I don't believe we've ever "met" before, but how could I not enter a thread labeled "Murder Room"? I look forward to seeing your reviews. Happy reading!

>16 mstrust: So happy to have you dropping by!

Looks like a good plan for the year! Hopefully we'll have a meetup in the warmer months.

Hi and Happy New Year! Just stopped by to say hello.

>18 rabbitprincess: I'm looking forward to it. It's been a while since we've all gotten together.

>19 LadyoftheLodge: Good to see you!

What a great plan for your reading. Enjoy!

Cato left us on the second of January for the Great Catnip Field in the sky. I couldn't post about it. I miss him so much. With hubby away most of the time, Cato made a living presence in the house.

>23 mysterymax: I’m so sorry for your loss.

I'm so sorry, Max.

>23 mysterymax: I'm so sorry, Max. Take care of yourself.

I'm really sorry for your loss. He was a good-looking guy.

>23 mysterymax: I am so sorry to hear about your loss. I understand how you feel, having lost my Charlie cat on January 4.

>23 mysterymax: I am so sorry for the loss of your kitty.

>23 mysterymax: Oh no! I'm so sorry about Cato. What a lovely boy.

So sorry for your loss.

So sorry about Cato.

Adding my condolences for your loss. Such a handsome boy!

So sorry to read of Cato's passing. Take care of yourself.

Thank you all for your thoughts. I'm over crying all day, but every once in a while it sneaks up on me. I've been a mostly dog person all my life, but I have had cats once in a while. Cato was the absolute best. Maybe because our dog Bessie (since gone) found him in the woods and told him I was a soft touch. Cato patterned himself after Bessie and I think he truly believed he was a dog.

Books so far (read about them at the top of the thread)
The Chinese Orange Mystery by Ellery Queen
The Saint on Guard by Leslie Charters

>23 mysterymax: I am so sorry for your loss. It is very hard when our furry friends leave us. I look at my three and am blessed they are all healthy, but they are over ten now. I don't want to lose any of them. I missed Brumley so much after he died, but I'm glad I adopted this litter--maybe just a little sooner than I had planned to get new furry companions, but definitely at the right time for us all.

>35 mysterymax: I am with you about how the loss of our pets sneaks up on us unexpectedly. I heard a cat meowing outside a few nights ago and immediately thought of my Charlie cat, even though he was never an outdoor kitty.

>38 LadyoftheLodge: Yup. I could have sworn Cato was in bed with me last night. He used to rearrange himself during the night and I could feel the blanket weight shifting as he moved.

This must not be a good year for pets. My neighbor told me today that their dog passed away. He was 11 years old and they struggled with comfort care for a week.

The kitty I heard outside turned up at their patio door today and she fed the cat, and borrowed one of our cat carriers to transport the little beauty to a local shelter. They couldn’t keep her because of allergies. I didn’t dare go over there to visit the cat, as I am sure I would have taken her home. The photos were enough to encourage a kitty love.

So terribly sorry to hear about Cato. I know that feeling of movement on the bed and suddenly realizing it was not my furry friend.

Books so far (read about them at the top of the thread)
The Chinese Orange Mystery by Ellery Queen
The Saint on Guard by Leslie Charters
The Hammett Hex by Victoria Abbott
The Singing Sands by Josephone Tey
Grabtown by Sarah P. Blanchard

>42 mysterymax: You are off to a good start!

I'm wondering if I didn't make a mistake in the way I set up this year's challenge. Is it confusing, or too much work to have comments about the books at the top of the thread? I realize, now, that when you open a thread you automatically go to the bottom....

It would definitely make things easier for you, and have more people reading your reviews, if your most recent reviews are posted at the bottom. But you do you, we all get to make our own home here.

>45 mstrust: I'll move them!

It fit the Coloured Cover Kit:


The Chinese Orange Mystery by Ellery Queen. It was a very complicated mystery and I certainly didn't solve it when Ellery said I had all the information necessary. Not only was 'orange' in the title, but the colour was on the book as well.

It also fit the Coloured Cover Kit:


The Saint on Guard by Leslie Charterus. This book, done in 1943 reminded me in one way of One Lonely Night by Mickey Spillane. Not because the Saint is a hard-boiled hitter like Mike Hammer. In fact, he's the opposite...one of those sauve Robin Hood bad guys who thinks his way out of incredible james. The comparison was because they both reflected their refusal to let enemies of the country (during WWII and the following Cold War) profit from the war. In this one the Saint is breaking up a black market ring handling a vital metal needed for the war.

My entry for the female protagonist! Also has the colour orange on the cover!


The Hammett Hex by Victoria Abbott. This was a reread from maybe a dozen years ago. I gave it three stars then, and I haven't changed my mind about the generous rating. If I can fit it in, I am going to try to do another female detective, one that is a bit deeper. This is a cozy. It was easy to figure out the plots very early on. It has more time given to the romantic element than I prefer, and the final nail in the coffin was 'the smell of cordite filled the air.' Some editor along the way should have caught that. Editors are there to save us from ourselves, after all.

This one fits the call for the decade challenge, written in 1952.


The Singing Sands by Josephone Tey. I can see why so many call this Tey's best.

A great read for the random "secret" book.


Grabtown by Sarah P. Blanchard is a wonderful read. Suspense, mystery, all rolled into one absolutely perfect tale. The plot is spot on and carried out perfectly. The characters and dialogue are so real you think you're watching real people. If you are still looking for a book to fill your "secrets" slot you wouldn't be disappointed with this. It's VERY GOOD!

Even after finishing the book, it is still staying with me. To give you a hopefully good idea about it with giving away any secrets (pun, intended). This is the story of twin sisters who have grown apart over the years and are reunited when their mother dies and they must clear out the house for sale. They learn secrets about themselves, each other, their mother, their mother's best friend, and - in fact - the entire small town and the secrets that hide there.

>49 mysterymax: I'm feeling very dense, but I can't figure out what's wrong with "The smell of cordite filled the air"! Would you mind explaining?

>52 christina_reads: I'm assuming as cordite wasn't used after about WWII? Not sure when this was set or written.

>53 JayneCM: Got it, makes sense! I kept trying to spot a grammatical error. :)

>52 christina_reads: Sorry to be so long in getting back to the thread. That's right. Cordite after WWII is a mistake. Production ceased. The book in question was set in modern times. You could perhaps have cordite if the person was using a WWII era gun and ammo, but when it shows up in a modern setting it is a sign that the writer hadn't done any research. In fact, there are so many internet entries on the subject you would almost have to have your head buried in the sand to write it.

Cordite was developed because gunpowder created smoke. Remember all those Revolutionary War movies with the smoke rising from the guns? In a battle it could make it difficult to see where your opponent was, plus it gave away your own position. Cordite was smokeless.

What should a writer use instead? Default has gone back to gunpowder as a description. It isn't the same old gunpowder from the old days. In actual fact, the agent used now is technically called propellant, but somehow propellant isn't a very sexy word. If your character is very gun savy and your reading audience is as well, use propellant, but gunpowder (one word) is the generally accepted word.

What did cordite smell like? Nail polish remover, but the smell is pretty much gone when the weapon has been fired. Modern times the smell is acrid, but not overwhelming, and quite possibly not noticeable depending on the weapon, the ammunition, and if it was fired outdoors. Much like a building that has just burned. Sulphur, burning tires, the kind of smell that hurts your throat....

Another book for a female detective! And another for an orange cover!



The Female Detective by Andrew Forrester is a collection of cases investigated by, or known to, Mrs. Gladden, a female 'spy' (detective) in the 1800s. I found the reading slower than usual due to words, spellings, and expressions from that time period. The book was published in 1864.

>55 mysterymax: Thanks for the explanation! I'm not sure it's a word I'd ever encountered before, although it rings a faint bell...perhaps it's turned up in some vintage mysteries I've read over the years.

Another one finished in January for the MysteryKIT - female detective


Guardian Angel by Sara Paretsky I liked this one more for the characters than for the plot.

January Summary

Books Read: 7
The best: Grabtown by Sarah P. Blanchard



This book starts out with two twin sisters coming together to clean out the house after their mother's death. They find a manuscript written by their mother's best friend and learn of secrets long held. A mother and a friend who held each other's secrets and those of others as well. This book is so well written, you are immediately pulled into the story.

January Category Challenges Filled: 4
(Mystery) Female detectives: 3
(Colour) Orange: 5
(Random) Secret: 1
(Decade) The 50s: 1

>55 mysterymax: Thank you for that interesting explanation. I've always thought writers must know what they're writing about.

Let's start out a new month with a mystery....what else? This one fits the MysteryKIT with a Clare Fergusson, an Episcopal priest. It also has a blue cover.



Through the Evil Days is by Julia Spencer-Fleming a writer I truly admire. Clare has married Chief of Police of Millers Kill Russ Van Alstyne and is supposed to be spending their honeymoon at an isolated cabin. Enter the area's biggest ice storm, meth dealers, a kidnapped ill child, an injured federal agent...


As an aside... in this neck of the woods a 'Kill' is a river, so you would expect Miller's River to be nearby. (In Vermont, I live two-tenths of a mile up the mountain from the Battenkill River... which translates as the Batten River River, a local joke.)

For a piece of blue clothing, I have Ava Gardner in a blue gown!





I'm a Fool to Kill You by Robert J. Randisi is one of the Rat Pack mysteries. I loved this series and couldn't resist doing a reread of this one just so I could put Ave up in her blue down.

My Harry Dresden book just arrived! I so need to go finish my Linda Barnes book so I can start this. All 460 pages! ... Maybe I should start the series over and reread all the others first! Decisions, decisions, decisions.

I have a couple of series that I've been wondering if I should go back one or two books before going forward.

I've managed to do some reading...
First was a female private eye.



Carlotta Carlyle remains my favorite female private eye. I think she and Somerset would be good friends. Cold Case isn't my favourite book in the series, but it was fun reading her again.

I couldn't wait to reread the entire Dresden series!



This book takes a step back from all the fighting, and loss, and deals with Harry's coming to terms with his lossses. It's still a giant page-turner and I once more eagerly await another tale.


Twelve Months is a tour de force. Not a constant battle of arms, but Harry is fighting is own personal battle with the losses he sustained in the last book. Long awaited I'm glad it finally made it.

Then another mystery series featuring a clerical sleuth. The first story also fills the bill for the DecadesCAT as it was written in 1910.



I put off reading The Father Brown Stories for a long time as I thought it would 'sort of' follow the television series, which I 'somewhat' enjoyed but had issues with. Much to my delight, there are big differences even when the cases are the same. 1) Our dear Inspector Valentin, played on tv by one of my favourite actors is dead by the second story. 2) The cases don't have all the regular tv characters, especially his housekeeper who was one of the reasons I dislaked the show. And 3) I haven't found him flying about on his bicycle yet.

I'm not a short story fan, but I love these.

>65 mysterymax: I haven't read one of these in ages, but I remember Carlotta Carlyle was definitely one of my favorites. I should check how many are in the series and maybe pick it up again.

>67 mysterymax: I have always been amazed by how different the film and TV versions of Father Brown have been from the books. In Germany we’ve had one adaptation set in the (then) present which clearly took its ideas from the 1950s German films, and not the books.

>67 mysterymax: I'm so glad you enjoyed the Father Brown stories! I haven't seen the show so can't compare, but I'm a big Chesterton fan.

>70 christina_reads: The tv series is okay if you totally disconnect it from the books. In the story The Blue Cross the only thing the same was the fact that there was a blue cross!

My beef with the tv series was Mrs. McCarty, his housekeeper, who is one of the most judgemental people there is. And only once (so far) has he called her out on it. And he only did it because he was really angry. I thought, "good" but two minutes later in the show he turned around and apologized to her for being angry, so no lesson learned.

The books (stories) are great little tales.

February Summary:

Books Read: 5
Books Read to Date: 12

The Best


I chose this over the Jim Butcher book which was also a 4.5 star because it was an immediate story. Twelve Months takes place over the space of a year and is a story more on the inner Dresden. In this one Episcopal minister Clare and Sheriff Russ are now married. Usually this is a turn off for me when characters begin worrying more about their spouses/lovers than the mystery, but not so in this case.

February Challenges Met:
(Mystery) Clerical Sleuths = 2
(Colour) Blue = 2
(Decade) The 10s = 1

Starting off the month of March with a ColourCat book (green). In fact, I think most of my books this month may fall into this challenge.



I was hoping to love The Topless Tulip Caper almost as much as Block's The Girl With the Long Green Heart which is my absolutle favourite pulp fiction con story. But I didn't. Why only three stars? Don't get me wrong, I'm not a prude, but there was a bit too much sex in this. Natural, since Tulip and her friend, Cherry Bounce are both nude dancers. (The book jacket calls them g-string dancers, but that must be in order to get the book either published or sold. They dance nude. Nude is nude. You either are or you aren't. Like being pregnant.) The title calls it the Topless Tulip Caper. Tulip is topless, she's also bottomless. So the world that Chip Harrison finds himself in is one in which sex is a commodity. The Chip Harrison series is really a homage/bow to Rex Stout. Chip is the Archie Goodwin and Haig is Wolfe. Chip drinks milk and Haig has fish.

Another "green book". This time the green is money, not plants or grass.



The Long Green by Bart Spicer is a kidnapping for ransom story. Very good. And the bunny rabbits are important.

This one has Colour and Cover... a green ribbon and a rose.



The Secret of the Chimneys features Superintendent Battle who is my favourite Christie proganonist. Wish there were more.

Again - a Cover/Colour book. Lots of green and trees.



Force of Nature is everything a thriller should be. Characters you care deeply about against the worst of the worst.

Had to take a break and read this small novella from Kevin Hearn. It may be hard to see but the tone of the shadows is green! This is a spin-off of the Iron Druid series featuring Oberon, Atticus' Irish Wolfhound.



The Purloined Poodle was a fun, fast read. If you haven't read the Iron Druid series by Hearn yet, give it a good. Wonderful characters.

Meeting up with the characters (and dogs) from the Iron Druid series is like eating one potato chip... you must have another one. I think there are two more of Oberon's tales. I'll need to get them.





The Squirrel on the Train is even better than the Poodle one! Oberon is a true protagonist.

I'm having a "Oh, I finished both of them and now I have to go read a regular book" moment!

This one is for the DecadesCAT. Published in 1984, the story takes place in 1940. (So it would have worked for next month as well.)



The Dearest and the Best has been sitting in my collection for so long that the pages were starting to fall out. (The trouble with paperbacks.) I'm not sure why it took me so long to get around to reading it. A well written story. A family, a village, love, the works. The father had been in "the great war" and now his two sons are involved in WWII. The village has a home guard that complains that nothing happens, until it does.

I'm going to try to reread Project Hail Mary before Monday when I go see the film!

>81 mysterymax: Ooh I hope the film is good! Have fun :)

>82 rabbitprincess: In my eagerness I said I was going Monday. (I actually thought that, too) but my ticket is for Tuesday. Good thing as it might snow again on Monday.

And, I'll be in Ottawa May 10 - 24, so we should plan a tea day!

Another one for ColourCAT (Green)



Loved Dinner at the Night Library. The library is only open at night, but there is a restuarant in the library for the staff where meals are prepared by a wonderful chef and reflect meals featured in novels. A bit of a mystery, a lovely story.

>84 mysterymax: I gave it the same rating as you. I find that enjoy many of the Japanese fiction books.

>85 thornton37814: I heard someone refer to them as 'cozy fiction', lol.

Finished my reread in time! Tomorrow I see Project Hail Mary at an IMAX. I've heard the ending has been changed. I hope not, I think the ending in the book was the only possible good ending.



I still remember reading this the first time. Amaze. Amaze. Amaze. It was still wonderful even though it didn't have the impact of a sudden reveal. It's too bad that people can be put off by a genre title. "I don't like science fiction." Well, this book is far more than science fiction.

>86 mysterymax: I wouldn't necessarily call them that, because there is something about the Japanese writing that is quite definitely different that doesn't necessarily make them what I would call "cozy." Still, they are comfort reads.

>88 thornton37814: Agreed!

>85 thornton37814: I have started to read Japanese fiction and also enjoy it. I like that term "cozy" or "comfort" reads.

Another one for the Colour/CoverCAT!



Ella Minnow Pea was another reread. I haven't changed the stars for it, but I really noticed how my interpretation of the book changed with time. When I first read it it seemed much lighter, sort of a light hearted put down of bureaucracy. Now, it is all too real, the madness that power brings. A perfect example of how we got to where we are.

March's RandomKit What's in a Name? In this name is one Cold War British Intelligence Agent - Charlie Muffin.



Clap Hands Here Comes Charlie Muffin was so good I have to read the next one in the series! Charlie has people in both the American and the British Intelligence Agencies mad at him, some are even willing to kill him.

>92 mysterymax: Oh, Charlie Muffin! One of my favourite spy series, way back. There was a also a TV movie starring a suitably scruffy David Hemmings...

>93 MissWatson: Yes, and just finished another one in time to bring the month to a close...The Inscrutable Charlie Muffin... I hope he learns some defence soon or he'll never make it alive to the end of the series!

Another RandomKit just in time to close out the month.



In The Inscrutable Charlie Muffin Charlie goes to China. The man really needs some fighting skills. He's got a long series to survive.

March Summary

Books Read: 12
Books to Date: 24

The Best:


FIVE STARS (OR TEN)
This was a reread because I was off to see the movie. Also saw the movie twice. Both movie and book were even better the second time through. You do not need to be into science fiction to understand and love PHM. Weir is able to evoke: curosity, fear, joy, laughter, tears. What can I say? Read the book. See the movie. Take Kleenex. As Rocky, one of the characters says - AMAZE. AMAZE. AMAZE.

The Challenges
Mystery: 0 (not normal for me, but I'm no longer a fan of Nordic mysteries.) Read lots of other ones, though
Colour/Cover: 6
Random: 2
Decade: 1
Not in a Challenge: 3

This one falls into the April DecadesCAT And then again it doesn't. Written in 1876, by one of the most popular writers of his time, the book never saw publication. While scholars have studied Mark Twain's books to the nth degree, this little novella remained uncared for. Fortunately for us, in 2001 it was published.





Twain doesn't play fair with his ending, but it's okay. A charming snapshot of 1876. A Murder, A Mystery and A Marriage by Mark Twain.

MysteryCAT - private investigators




I like Steel Guitar better than Coyote. If I had to choose between Carlotta and Warshawski it would be a close call, but I think it would go to Carlotta.

HomeCAT- Kitchen and Colour/CoverKIT - yellow





Butter fits the HomeCAT because it is about food and the preparation of it and the enjoyment well prepared food brings. It also fits the Colour part of the Colour/CoverKIT because it is yellow.

I gave it only three and a half stars simply because I couldn't finish it. The story just didn't hold me and I couldn't bring myself to read such a huge book that I wasn't enjoying fully. I gave it three and a half stars because it is amazingly written and I couldn't bring myself to only give it three stars. The story just wasn't my cup of tea, pun intended.

MysteryCAT - Private Investigaators



In The Clocks by Agatha Christie, Poirot makes only three appearanaces. At the end, of course, he ties everything together. I've long felt that Christie doesn't really play fair with her readers. Poirot always has a clue at the end that no one else knows about. But, like most of her reads, it was a very enjoyable break in the day.

CoverCAT - Celestial object
We're looking at the moon!



This was a reread from some time back. I'm always happy when a reread still scores the same amount of stars as it got the first time around. A family is murdered while a neighbour's kid is hiding in the basement.

A Mystery Read The Kennel Murder Case by S. S. Van Dine



Philo Vance would be an amateur detective as he doesn't get paid for his cases, but his intelligence would match Sherlock Holmes. He has many interests and a vast knowledge about them all. Called to the mystery cases by the District Attorney of the police he is far more involved with them than most private detectives. The plots are intricate, challenging and often unusual. Written in 1933 they are still challenging and enjoyable.

MysteryCAT Private Detectives
No Hands on the Clock by Geoffrey Homes



Had I known Murphy Campbell was such a hard-boiled detective I would have saved this book for next month! Milk-drinker he may be, he still took some pretty big knocks. There's kidnapping, and murder, ...lot's of good old fashioned hard-boiled detective stuff.

MysteryCAT Private Detectives
Having Wonderful Crime by Craig Rice



Well John J. Malone really isn't a private detective, he's a lawyer, but he get paid and winds up doing detective stuff. So I'm counting him. This is the third book of Rice's that I've read, and I quite enjoy his writing.

MysteryCAT - Private Detectives
Counterfeit Wife by Brett Halliday



Michael Shayne checks all the boxes for a hard-boiled, hard-drinking, tough detective. He comes complete with a secretary that's getting fed up with putting off creditors, and a dead female.

>104 mysterymax: Craig Rice was actually a woman; she took her pseudonym from her own last name (Craig) and the last name of the aunt and uncle who mostly raised her (Rice).

>106 KeithChaffee: Good to know, thanks.

ColourCAT - Turquiose



The Dragon Murder Case by S. S. Van Dine is a reread from three years ago. It's a complicated case and the police are quite really and truely stumped and more than happy to have Philo Vance help out.

>103 mysterymax: Go ahead and mention it for the Hardboiled challenge- we like recommendations!

>103 mysterymax: Thanks! I'd like to spend the whole month reading pulp fiction hard-boiled detectives. I do have some other things I need to read, but I'm going to get as many in as I can. Life had to go on hold, though for a minute because the new Murderbot book came!

Platform Decay by Martha Wells



Arrived on the 5th, Finished it on the 6th! I think this one will be one of my favourites. This is the 8th book in the series and you are dropped right into his mess. There's one human he has come to care about, Mensah, and some of her family members have been kidnapped. Tense, yes. Funny, yes. A comfort read, yes. I would say that if you are going to give Murderbot a try, start with the first book in the series.

MysteryCAT - Hard-boiled Detectives
Playback by Raymond Chandler



Philip Marlow has been hired to follow a woman and report where she goes. Without any explanation. Turns out she's on the run for a very good reason. She was a red-head which might explain why Marlow winds up protecting her.

I've added Hail Mary to my library list. My son's friend keeps telling me to read Andy Weir but I've resisted until now. I might have more in common with your reading taste than his. :)

Leslie Thomas used to be a favourite of mine. He wrote a book about the area of southern England that was secretly cleared, towns, villages, businesses, to make way for training troops for D-Day. I had never heard of that until I read his book.

>113 VivienneR: I hope you fall in love with Andy Weir. They are SO much more than "science fiction". His second book, Artimis was more like a normal science fiction story. I have to admit to needing to do some editing. I have now seen Project Hail Mary FOUR times. The second time I had hubby along. He hadn't read the book, and really isn't a science fiction movie fan, but he came out saying he's enjoyed it and wanted to read the book. On his next trip home he said he'd finished the book and would like to see the movie again because he thought he'd get more out of it. So we went again. I know he enjoyed it because on his next trip he brought me an AMAZE. AMAZE. AMAZE. tee shirt! I hadn't thought he could do a better book than The Martian but he did.

<MysteryCAT - Hard-boiled detectives
A Stab in the Dark by Lawrence Block



Matt Scudder is a New York City ex-cop who finds work as an unlicensed private eye. He's carrying a lot of baggage, part of which is his love of bourbon. This is the fourth Scudder book. He's been asked to find out who stabbed a young woman to death. The case is old, but someone has just confessed to a string of murders and the cops think Scudder's case is one of them. But there are differences and in spite of frequent haze from drinking, he does find the real killer.

>114 mysterymax: Fabulous story! I'm sold!

>116 VivienneR: Let me know what you think!

Today's the day Ottawa LTers celebrate! We're missing one dear member, but next time, eh?

>118 mysterymax: This is lovely! And looks like you finally have some nice weather!

>118 mysterymax: - It's so nice to see you again - if only in a picture. I still think about the time you came to RI and we went to the Pawsox game. Unfortunately, they've left the state for greener pastures in Mass.

>120 dudes22: I remember that visit as well. I still have my 'Longest Game' t-shirt! I may make it to RI again, if not this summer, next....

Days at the Torunka Cafe by Satoshi Yagisawa.



By the same author who wrote Days at the Morisaki Bookshop and follows the same style. The Torunka Cafe is at the end of a long alley, difficult to find, but those who do find it also find a true part of themselves.

>118 mysterymax: It was so much fun! Let's meet again soon :)

>118 mysterymax: i agree1

>118 mysterymax: I'm sorry to have missed out on the meet and the chance to geek out about Project Hail Mary with you! (I ended up seeing it five times...)

>118 mysterymax: >123 paruline: This first meeting was a real highlight for me! What a pleasure meeting you both.
>125 rabbitprincess: I hope to see you next time!

>118 mysterymax: Only four times for me, but another chance may come along.

Just back from a two day internet outage. What a nightmare. Lesson learned, keep you phone contacts list on paper as well as on your electronic devices!

>128 mysterymax: That is good advice...I don't know anyone's number anymore!

Just a note to say I'm probably going to live the rest of my life with this wanna-be cough. I got sick at the end of May and stayed sick throughout June. I'm finally fit to go out among humans again. I'm SO far behind listing my reads. I'll try to get to it in the next couple of days. Don't know if I even remember what I read, lol.

I've been behind too. I just got caught up with posting, so now I'm trying to catch up on reading other people's threads--or at least skimming them.

>130 mysterymax: bummer! I'm glad you're better and I hope you can enjoy the rest of the summer.

>132 Cecilturtle: Being sick plus no computer service my second trip back is why I didn't get in touch! Hopefully we can all get together in October!

Blood on her Shoe by Medora Field



I'd never heard of this writer before and the book turned out to be better than expected. Ghosts and murder, radio active material and a case of twins. I'm pretty sure I finished this in May.

April Summary

Books Read: 9
Books to Date: 33

The Best:
I'm not choosing a best because they were all so close.
Enjoyed the Least
Butter by Asako Yuzuki
This highly acclaimed, very well written book did not hold my interest. Just wasn't my cup of tea, but others might enjoy i t.

May Summary
Books Read: 5
Books to Date: 38

The Best
Days at the Torunka Cafe by Satoshi Yagisawa

They were all good reads.

June reads, if I can remember them all!
Captive by David Schoorens



If you thought Refuge was a scary picture of today's scene, Captive will blow your mind.

Chase Harlem by Elise Burke Brown



Great mystery, colourful characters, pitch-perfect dialogue, and funny, funny, funny. Chase is a female private eye in New Orleans. This is Brown's first mystery novel. Order It! I kid you not. I can't wait for her next one. She's set a very high bar with this. She had me hooked on the first line - "There are three things a woman needs to be happy: good friends, comfortable shoes, and a reliable taser."

No Fucks Given



This was an ER book. The part about the Iraq war was very real. The rest of the book didn't hold my interest.

My Gun is Quick by Mickey Spillane



Spillane is such a great writer. 'nuff said.

Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie by Brian Freemantle.




Not sure which Charlie Muffin books I'd read so long ago, so I thought I would start with the early ones. The Cold War was part of my growing up and spy books took over from mysteries.

Fatal Remedies by Donna Leon



Brunetti's wife is arrested for throwing a rock throught the window of a travel agency. She had good cause. but is is a headache for the inspector.

The last three books in June were from borrowed from hubby's collection. They all get three stars, and I don't have much to say about them. Ho hum.

Time and Again by Jack Finney
From Time to Time by Jack Finney
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

Okay. I'll give Hemingway 3.5 stars.....

June Summary
Books Read: 9
Books to Date: 47

Best Reads:
Captive for scary
Chase Harlem for funny
My Gun is Quick for the sheer joy of reading Spillane

Least Enjoyed:
From Time to Time for the most boring way possible to get to an important moment

Hunting Season by Andrea Camilleri



Written before the Inspector Montalbano series, it is a look at a village in the 1880s. I don't usually have a hard time keeping characters straight, but in this one I did. Perhaps it is because of a character having a lengthy 'real' name, and then a name they go by, plus perhaps a rank or occupation.

The Pigskin Bag by Bruno Fischer



Adam Breen wasn't involved until his wife stopped to help a hit and run victim by taking the man to the hospital. His bag gets left in her car and crooks find out and try to get the bag back. A lot of killing, a twist at the end, good story by a writer new to me.

>146 mysterymax: That's an author I'm not familiar with either.

>147 thornton37814: I just looked him up. Born a German, came to America, was a prolific writer for the pulps, originally under two different names (neither of which I'd ever heard of) but eventually under his own name. He died in 1992 at age 84.

What Happened to the Corbetts by Nevil Shute



Once again Nevil Shute has written a pitch perfect book. It's the beginning days of WWII and night-time German bombing of small towns creates a situation that forces Peter Corbett, his wife and children to try to find a safe place. The book portrays a part of the war that we don't often think about. The bombing breaks water mains, causes power outages, ends telephone service on top of the structural damage and loss of life. There's no electricity so there's no way to hear the wireless so there's no information available. The water situation causes outbreaks of cholera and typhoid. There's no fresh milk (no electricity to run fridges). The book is simply a story of how unknown people become heros.

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman



Many many hugs go to my youngest daughter for telling me about this book and about Fredrik Backman. I understand why he's her favourite writer! This as a wonderful, wonderful read. Ove is a widower, who doesn't believe there's any reason to go on living. Little does he know. I can't recommend this book any higher. I'd give it ten stars if that was an option.