Joyce's mystery and fiction book reviews with some non-fiction too!

Are you planning a summer vacation?  Are you staying in the U.S.?  If you are,  think about visiting a National Park. This book will make you appreciate the rich natural heritage of our country.

Did you know that the National Park Service began under Ulysses S Grant?  That is just one interesting fact that came from this book for children and their families.  Divided by geographical regions and parks within each area, this wonderful book highlights when each park was founded, where it is located and what can be seen there.  The illustrations are so appealing that the reader definitely enjoys exploring in this book.  Highly recommended for travelers both real and armchair.

#NationalParksOfTheUsa #NetGalley

Happy Anniversary with WordPress.com!

I received this symbol from WordPress.  It is to tell me that I have been blogging for one year on this site.  It feels like quite a journey as I have thought and shared about so many books in the past year.  Readers of this blog, thanks for spending time with me.  I look forward to writing about many more good reads in the years ahead.

This is from NetGalley for having published 100 reviews.  I feel honored to have been given access to so many wonderful reads and have enjoyed sharing them with all of you.  Here’s to the next 100!

This is an important, painful, fascinating and uncompromising look at the life of Anne Frank, her family and the destruction of the Jews during the Nazi years. The narrative is readable and makes Anne and her family come alive. There are many photos of Anne’s daily life which serve as a painful reminder of all that was lost and the absurdity of one group of people despising and mistreating another. There are many asides in the book that answer historical questions. While not an easy read, this is a superb introduction to Anne, the horrors of WWII and antisemitism.  The courage of those who hid the Franks is also noteworthy.  While written for middle school to teen readers, adults can surely benefit from spending time with this book as well. I recommend it most highly.

#AllAboutAnne #NetGalley  Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this important book.

I have loved everything that I have read in both of this author’s series; there is one set on Shetland with Jimmy Perez and the Vera Stanhope series.  In addition to the novels, both have been made into series that are available on sites like Britbox and Acorn.  I think that there are also some on Netflix and/or Amazon.  The Crow Trap is the first book in the Vera series.  I recommend it pretty highly.  I earlier blogged the latest in the series, The Seagull and recommended it pretty highly.  I am re-printing that blog entry below.

The Seagull is a Vera Stanhope mystery, a novel in one of Ann Cleeves’ two series, both of which are excellent. (The other books are the Shetland novels.) Both are also TV dramas available in the U.S. and originally from Britain.
I especially enjoyed this book because of the back story. The reader learns more about Vera’s parents and her childhood. I also enjoyed spending time with favorite characters, including Holly and Joe.
This novel is about an historical crime with implications for the present. The story is well told and the pages kept turning. Highly recommended.

 

What these books have in common is that they are all excellent mysteries.  Each is quite different from the other but each is part of a series, so if you like one, you can keep going.  We have British (Atkinson), historical (Todd), Australian (Harper) and in the Suzanne Chazin series excellent mysteries with a subtext that deepens one’s understanding of immigration issues.  If you are looking for summer reading, here is a good beginning.

This is a praiseworthy entry in a praiseworthy series for young readers and their families. This short story about Harriet Tubman belongs in school  and home libraries.

Slavery is not an easy subject to write about; it takes genuine skill to talk about the topic in a way that can help young readers to understand something unthinkable.  The author does this factually and simply as she tells Harriet Tubman’s story is   in an inspiring way.  As always, in the Little People, Big Dreams books, the illustrations augment the story nicely.  Add this to your collection.

#HarrietTubman #NetGalley

I enjoyed this mystery novel which seems to be the start of a new mystery series with Florence Nightingale as the sleuth. Florence has just been placed in charge of the Establishment, a prototype hospital for gentle women (those who would not be at a workhouse hospital but could not afford to be cared for at home). A nurse is murdered and the story builds from there. This book does an excellent job of setting the scene and of bringing 1850s London to vivid life. Many historical personages appear in the book and seem to fit right in. The mystery is solved in a very Agatha Christie like manner with all of the main characters in a room together. Like Hercule Poirot, Florence deduces all. A thoroughly enjoyable read for fans of Anne Perry. Of additional note, I learned a lot about Florence herself. Thanks NetGalley!

As soon as I finish reading a Ruth Galloway mystery, I long for the next one to come out.  I very highly recommend the series.  The characters are quirky, the relationships complicated, the settings well described and…the mysteries are good too.

In this latest novel, Ruth, a forensic archaeologist, travels to Italy.  She is accompanied by her friend Shona, Shona’s son and Ruth’s daughter, Kate.  Nelson, a police inspector and Cathbad, a Druid (yes!) eventually travel to Italy as well. The Italian town setting is eerily described.

Ruth has come to Italy to offer an opinion on ancient bones but bones from WW II also come to light.  There is intrigue and murder.  All is eventually solved.

Best of all, there are the relationships; Ruth and Nelson, Nelson and Michelle, Michelle and Tim, for the adults and other relationships between parents and their children including Ruth and Kate, Nelson and Kate and Michelle and Laura.

While the mysteries are good, it is quirky, eccentric Ruth and her relationship with Nelson that I most eagerly follow.  If you have read the series, rejoice in this latest entry and, if you haven’t, start from the beginning and rejoice in discovering a fine series.

#TheDarkAngel #NetGalley

This is Fiona Davis’s third New York City based historical novel and it is a winner! I have not read her earlier books,The Address and The Dollhouse, but may well do so now.
The Masterpiece has a dual narrative structure, one story is set in the 1920s-30’s and the other in the 1970s. The stories of Clara Darden and Virginia Clay overlap and intersect.
Darden is an illustrator, teacher and painter in the earlier era while Virginia, a divorcee, begins working at Grand Central around the time when the landmark battle was underway. Each woman has a backstory, relationships and challenges, all of which are well depicted.
Did you know that in the 1920’s there was an art school right in Grand Central? Did you know that Sargent was one of the founders? Are you interested in historical preservation? Do you enjoy a story with a plot twist? If you can answer yes to any, or all of these questions, I highly recommend this book.

#TheMasterpiece #NetGalley