My first time participating in #bookspinbingo ! I have so many things I would like read (or reread) this month - it will be fun to check off the boxes!

My siblings, Chris and I ran our first 5K this morning - The Turkey Trot!

Historic homes and gorgeous foliage (and pretty chilly temps!)

Happy Thanksgiving! 🦃🍽🍁

Equally accurate title: Batty in the Ballet

British detective investigates a murder in a Russian Ballet Troupe. Full of satiric stereotypes and histrionics - overall an exhausting, completely ridiculous, entertaining read.

Having read 4 of the books in the series, I am so excited to read the first Sloan and Crosby! Coincidentally, the mystery starts on Bonfire Night! It‘s always a little more atmospheric when the dates in a book coincide with the present.

PS Thank you for my bookmark, Chrissy!

Unsurprisingly, I loved it! Georgette Heyer crafts the most delightful characters & lands them in the trickiest situations - it is impossible not to be swept up in the story & fly through the pages. Have your Regency phrasebook at the ready to keep up with the slang from bow street runner (police) to bridle cull (highwayman) to soldier, alongside the “refined” speech of the gentry. Adventure, mystery, romance & wit - I already want to reread it!

Happy Birthday to my book-loving (and super runner) friend @Gissy ! 🎉🎉📚📚🎂🎁🎈🎊

I hope it‘s a wonderful day! ❤️

Thank you for all the birthday goodies, Chrissy! You are so thoughtful and generous! Self care, fall decor, bookish fun, and a terrific cutting board! (I already have it in the kitchen, so I forgot it for the photo!) The pumpkin is so unique and striking! Thank you so much for choosing and wrapping and shipping all these gifts - it was a fabulous birthday explosion!

Thank you so much for my lovely package, Chrissy!

I‘m so excited to read this!! (I finished Toll-Gate a few weeks ago - review still to come - spoiler alert, I loved it!)

The coasters are perfect! Each one is unique and really sets off each of the flowers. I‘ve never seen anything like them, thank you! 🌺🌸🌼❤️

I didn‘t really care for this one. The mystery was interesting - you knew something shady must have happened far in the past, but you just couldn‘t figure out *what*. If not for that, I wouldn‘t have continued.

I didn‘t like any of the characters, and I liked them less as the author spent a lot of time on repeated psychological descriptions of their personalities, thoughts, reactions, interactions, it was almost more of a drama than a mystery.

Miss Helma Zukas lives a well-ordered life. So regimented as to be quite boring. Fortunately, we meet Miss Zukas on a morning that does not go right - she forgot to close the sun curtains, she makes a mess, she is late for work, and finally she arrives at the library to find a police car in her spot and dead body in the fiction stacks.

Having been the only librarian to recognize the murder victim, Helma is uniquely situated to find a clue.

Sir John Appleby, formerly the head of Scotland Yard, has retired to the country. An impromptu bachelor dinner with the new squire at the neighboring manor ends in the discovery of a body - the first in a series of “accidents.” Misdirection and unclear motives muddy the [Death by] Water.

Full of witty or erudite dialogue that rather smacked of superciliousness, and at times, I felt woefully inadequate as a reader. But, overall enjoyable. 😄

Set in the rainforest of the Olympic National Park in Washington, the mystery needs no contrivance to be perfectly creepy and atmospheric. A few lone hikers have been the target of a mystery killer, and their manner of the deaths unexplainable - Bigfoot? A hidden tribe of undiscovered indigenous people?

I always consider it a win when I find a Christie that I don‘t remember reading!

Poirot and Miss Marple are fabulous, but my favorite Christies tend to be the standalones like Secret at Chimneys, The Man in the Brown Suit, and now the Sittaford Mystery aka Mystery at Hazelmoor. The setting is wonderful, the characters are terrific, and there‘s a strong heroine to pull it all together. Highly recommended!

Though this is book 3 in the series, I had to begin here, as I am perpetually subject to Egyptomania.

Olive Belgrave, a gentlewoman earning her living as a private detective in 1923, is an engaging protagonist. In this one, she is hired to investigate the suicide of Lord Malvern, an Egyptologist. The historical aspects seem to be quite well researched, so it is informative on the time period, as well as an entertaining mystery.

What a cool surprise, Chrissy!! I didn‘t even know this was possible! The flavors you chose sound yummy! Unfortunately Chris brought in the box so I will have to share. 🤣

Thank you!!

So much I loved about this, and so much I didn‘t.

This one introduces the reader to anthropologist Dr. Gideon Oliver. As a visiting professor for the Armed Forces in Europe, he is caught up in a deadly spy game.

Liked - Dr. Oliver (in spite of his foibles), John Lau, the anthropological forensics

Disliked - Sexy bits (way too personal and detailed, unnecessary), very violent attacks

Overall, I enjoy this series & will definitely read the next

Thank you so much for the lovely chocolates, Chrissy! They are so pretty and smell divine!! ❤️❤️❤️

Invited for a grand country house Christmas party, Tremaine, a sentimental romantic, arrives in the midst of a delightfully seasonal snowstorm. Unfortunately, the amateur detective is dismayed to find malevolent undercurrents foreboding danger. A full roster of suspicious characters and red herrings made this enjoyable holiday mystery.

I immediately knew I would love the unassuming sleuth, Mordecai Tremaine. Thank goodness it is a series!

What a sweet surprise, Cynthia! Thank you so much for the lovely card! 🥰 And a BN gift card!! I will absolutely enjoy using it! Thank you! ❤️❤️❤️

Vegan dinner success! We love our comfort food - and this plant-based nacho dinner was super rich!

Surprisingly, not book-related, as the blogger, pinchofyum.com doesn‘t have a book that I know of. Please let me know if she does!

Turnip/walnut “meat” (made in food processor), cashew queso, corn chips, cilantro rice, pico and guacamole 😋

Your family may like this @Chrissyreadit 😊

With their train stuck in the snow indefinitely, an intrepid foursome decides to strike off into the blizzard. They intend to try to get *somewhere* (the next day is Christmas, after all!) and to follow the odd man who suddenly dashed off the trapped train.

Struggling through the white, they find an abandoned house, inexplicably set for tea, with cozy fireplaces ablaze.

What proceeds is nothing like the country house murder mystery I expected!

A relaxing, whisker-in-cheek watercolor journey through England. The tour, led by a cat, highlights many treasures from Harrods to Chartwell to Yorkshire. The narrator points out where the best smells or mice chasing may be found, but there also are quite a few sights this human reader added to her list for her next visit - such as the garden at Stourhead (bottom), opera picnic at Glyndebourne, and the Pilchard Inn, reached by a bus on stilts.

Thank you so much for my lovely Christmas card, Robin!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! 🎄❤️

It‘s here, Chrissy!

Thank you so much! What a great find!

English cottage garden ✔️
A ramshackle-to-beautiful make-over ✔️
Humorous ✔️

This looks perfect for me!

Thank you so much for my self-care Christmas package, Chrissy! What a fun surprise! 😍

I‘m really looking forward to my festive murder mystery! 🎄🔪 And I didn‘t have a book light, yet, so that‘s perfect! Thank you for such a thoughtful gift! ❤️❤️❤️

I just finished listening to this, my first festive read of the season! 🎄
I believe the hoopla version may only be the first story in the collection. But in any case, it was 💯% NOT what I was expecting! It‘s just an hour and half - listen and let me know what you think! 😄

Thank you for my lovely package @Gissy !

I am so excited to try all the new turrones! (and I might even share 😉) and I‘ll enjoy having them with my new coffee!

Your book choices were great! I‘m eager to read them all! Lots of fun and adventures in store 😄 I really enjoyed the Aaron Elkins I read, so I‘m excited to be able to start the series from the beginning.

Oooo and my mug!! So pretty!

Thank you so much, friend! ❤️

As an Auntie being sent to find a Nintendo Switch - this is my reality... 😬🎄🤣

Thanks for the tag @rubyslippersreads !

#wondrouswednesday

#bookmail 🎉🎉🎉 from a mystery-centric #indie

A signed edition of Donna Andrews‘ newest holiday mystery! 🎄

I‘m behind on the series (which I LOVE!), but I have books ready! 😄

Though I found Inspector Gently a clever and engaging protagonist, this mystery was not my cup of tea. At first I enjoyed the atmospheric setting, but it became entirely too gritty, with weird and uncomfortable musings. I fully intend to read another Gently - and I hope this one was anomaly due to setting and characters.

#2 in the Sloan & Crosby series, and a fun read.

A woman is found dead on a lonely village roadway, victim of a hit & run. What could be a sad but simple crime is complicated by the discovery that not only was the “accident” purposeful, but also that the woman could not have been the mother of her only daughter. Then who is Henrietta?
I found the dual investigations (By the police on side, and Henrietta herself on the other) to be very engaging.

Signed #bookmail from Blackwell‘s 🎉

🎉 Newly-discovered terrific series 🎉

British cozy featuring Detective Inspector Sloan and his incorrigible Constable, Crosby. Quiet and witty, it‘s exactly what I was looking for. In this one, a murder victim is discovered in a manor house - during a weekly public tour. Along with the mystery, Ms. Aird weaves in historical details of estates and the gentry. Absolutely delightful!

Happy Birthday to my friend @Gissy ! I hope it‘s a very special day full of books! 🎂🎉🎁📚

Thank you for the tag @rubyslippersreads !
1. Mystery - worried daughter, missing man
2. Talking to my husband/family - they keep me sane-ish
3. 1904 - I would have loved to see the St. Louis World‘s Fair

#wondrouswednesday

Thank you so much for my birthday card @robinb ! And for the bookmark and note inside! ❤️

I love it all, Chrissy! So many lovely self-care things - I didn‘t know a bath salt push pop was a thing, and I absolutely need this 😆 Ted was super into my cozy aromatherapy set (I‘m going to have to keep those put up 🤣) I love your book choices, and I cannot tell you how ecstatic I am to have the Toll-Gate!! Thank you so much, sweet friend!

Chrissy!!! 😁😁😁🎉

It‘s all so cool, Chrissy! The little lavender seed discs are so pretty and unique! And the face masks, bookish goodies, and bath bomb - I already feel truly pampered! What a fun surprise!! Thank you!!

Ahhhh!! Chrissy, what‘s this!?? 😱😄

First in series (each written by a different author) - Faith takes a new job as librarian at luxurious book retreat, Castleton Manor. She and her cat, Watson, will live in their own stone cottage on the extensive grounds, and the library is filled with valuable books - including 1st editions by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - a dream come true!

... But, what happened to the former librarian? Are some of those valuable editions forgeries? ⬇️

The title should have clued me in, but there are a plethora of Oscar Wilde references - in his “Aunt Augusta”, his friend Oscar (who uses the voice of Lane the butler to screen his calls), and many witty quotes.

An entertaining dip into British village life - with a dose of murder.

#cozyinthesun

(I only purchased the first in the series awhile ago - now you can get episodes 1-3 for under $5!)

Thank you for the tag @rubyslippersreads !

1. Hot dogs - filled with cheese! No bun needed or wanted.

2. Fireworks - most of the time.

3. Drink a lemon shake-up! 🍋

#ThoughtfulThursday

The #staycationintimeswap was so much fun last year! Sign ups close soon!

And @Chrissyreadit runs the best swaps!! Check out her post for the link!

Looking for a “winner” of a cookie recipe this morning 🍪🤓

In brief - a kids‘ version of Clue. But otherwise very difficult to encapsulate - intriguing, sad, equalizing, witty, snide, confusing, unsettling. I‘m not sure that I was happy with it (see the trend of the adjectives), but it was quite a tale, and well-told.

Once again, I loved reading this story of the plight of Catherine Moreland - heroine. Our place as jaded, worldly readers is to smile and shake our heads at Catherine‘s innocence, but also to admire her steadfast and forthright nature. Our heroine finds life doesn‘t always imitate art - every abbey is not the setting for recreating Udolpho; the world is a confusing place (see quote); and adventures are not without hardship and heartbreak. ⬇️

What a sweet surprise! Thank you, Chrissy!! 🥰

1. I don‘t read very many books in translation. The tagged is the last one I can remember for certain. I highly enjoyed it!

2. I used to read novels in Spanish, but over the last 15 years, I‘ve lost much of it. My French was never as good, and unlike wine, it hasn‘t improved with age either. Le sigh.

#two4tuesday Thanks for the tag @CarolynM ! I‘m curious what your answers would be @MaureenMc 😊

Starting Monday on a wildly imaginative note ✔️
Finishing my April #bookspin book ✔️

A fun story with great illustrations. I loved the kids‘ interjections and how the story adjusts to incorporate them. Great!

Also works for #bbrc #middlegrademadeeasy #lessthan120pages