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

Elly Griffith’s Ruth Galloway series is up to its ninth book.  I have been reading about Ruth from the very first novel and have fallen in love with this bright, flawed, human and quirky scholar of bones and archaeology.  Each book gives the reader a chance to catch up with Cathbad, a Druid; Nelson, a DCI and his wife Michelle, along with Judy, Clough, Kate and many others in the academic, police and local world of Norfolk.  The books are best read in order for full enjoyment.  Start with The Crossing Places and come up for air after you spend time underground in the latest, The Chalk Pit.  A favorite series of mine!

The next book in this series comes out in May.  I am re-posting this to let you know how great the Ruth Galloway novels are!

Mindful Me is a book that should be in every preteen to young adult’s library. Kids in that wide age range often do not share their deepest feelings with their parents. Many times they feel intense stress. This wonderful book teaches mindfulness in a way that is easy and sensible. The authors also encourage kids letting a “helpful adult” know what is going on when things are not going well. Full of helpful exercises and advice, this book is highly recommended…and may I add that it would be an excellent resource for adults as well!

Little Woodford is a quintessentially British small town. This women’s fiction tells the stories of those who live there including a busybody councilor, the minister’s wife and the widow who moves from London to Little Woodford with her two young sons and stepdaughter. The reader becomes involved in these character’s less than perfect family lives. If you would like to armchair travel to Britain, this one may be for you.

Having looked at the newest Buzz Book Monthly, I can see that I will be very busy in May. There are so many good books coming; fiction/non-fiction, well=known and debut authors, just so much to enjoy. Take a look and plan your time. This is a great resource!

How welcome to see the return of Sigrid Harald after so many years!  
Wonderful to connect with this book and the characters in an engaging 
mystery that can be read by fans old or new.  There is enough backstory to 
make this an enjoyable read for those new to the series who are perhaps 
missing Deborah Knott.  
Margaret Maron brings the New York City of the 90s vividly to life.  
It is a world in which the WTC still stands and one could eat at Lutece.  
But all is not well as murders occur at a park bench.  Further, there are 
mysteries regarding Sigrid's former love, the artist Oscar Nauman.
This book is well written and highly recommended for Margaret Maron fans 
and anyone who likes a (slightly) gritty New York mystery.
Book provided by Net Galley for an honest review.

I am excited to say that this was my very first post on the site.

  Oh, how I love/adore/cherish the Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane mysteries from the Golden Age of detective fiction.  Busman’s Honeymoon comes late in a series that is best read in order.  I don’t want to give any spoilers.  Buy this for $1.99 and then start at the beginning.  By the time youreturn to this novel, you will be one happy reader!

A great read for just 99 cents.  Carolyn Hart’s Annie Darling mysteries are very light but great fun.  They do not need to be read in order.  All of the Annie mysteries are cozies with recurring characters, some of whom are quirky.  Ms. Hart always peppers the names of many mystery authors and books in each novel.  I have gotten good reading suggestions as a result.  These are comfort reads; easy but fun.

I have not read but just purchased this trilogy for 99 cents.  They appear to be a cozy Brit series so I am willing to take a chance.  So, not a recommendation, just something that I saw.

These books are all quite different from one another but all may be worth your time.

  Marcia Muller has a long running series whose protagonist Sharon McCone, I have enjoyed following through many, many books.  If you begin at the beginning, in addition to the mysteries, you learn so much about Sharon’s relationships and her family.  This is the best sort of series with good mysteries and on-going relationships among the characters.  Someone Knows is currently available for $2.99.  “Top-notch mystery and more from one of the genre’s Grand Masters.” Library Journal”

This is also from a long running series and available for $2.99.  Again, starting from the beginning could be a good idea for some of the character development and relationships.  Sarah Booth Delaney is a very Southern but sassy woman who is “haunted”/advised by a ghost on the plantation where she lives.  Jitty is a fun character and these are not particularly woo-woo books, so don’t let that put you off.  Each novel has its own mystery with welcome appearances from favorite characters in Sarah Booth’s life.  In this entry,  “She opens the door to find a newborn baby in a basket sitting on her front porch…and a pool of blood slowly seeping out from the basket. Before she can respond, an engine guns and a dark vehicle takes off.”  You need to read the book to learn what happens next in this entry in a truly enjoyable series.

$1.99 for these novels by an excellent writer of women’s fiction.  Twilight Whispers is an earlier novel while Blueprints came out in 2015.  Each tells its own story, meaning the two novels are not related.  I plan to read TW but have not as yet so here is a borrowed blurb: “Linked for years through friendship and intermarriage, the Warren and Whyte families find their charmed world is marred when Mark Whyte and his wife Deborah Warren are found murdered. Police detective Robert Cavanaugh, working on a tip about dissension within the families, sets out to examine the mystique behind their wealth and power.”  Let me know if you like this one.

Blueprints is about a tv show, a mother/daughter, an ex-husband, a parentless toddler…but never feels over done.  Blueprints is an apt title as it reflects the mother/daughter’s occupations of carpenter and architect and the ways in which we can/cannot make a blueprint for a life.

So…a little reading for those who have had enough matzo or Easter eggs!

Maeve Binchy was a wonderful writer of Irish women’s fiction/family sagas.  I read Circle of Friends when it first came out and felt nostalgic when I saw that it was a book bargain.  I immediately bought the book and will soon enjoy a re-read.  I will crib from on-line to tell you more since it has been many years since I spent time with Benny and Co.

From Publishers Weekly

Katie Fforde writes women’s fiction/romance novels that are always easy and fun to read. She had been published in England for many years and Sourcebooks is now releasing the books in the U.S.  I enjoy these novels when I am looking for a light read and I have read all of them. A Secret Garden is as easy to like as its predecessors. Country houses, gardens, cooking and baking; how can a reader go wrong? Also, Ms. Fforde creates some “older” characters who also get to experience love and new relationships. So, truly a read for young to “older.”

Ellis Peters is well known for her Brother Cadfael historical mystery series.  Many of us have read these books and also have watched the TV series with Derek Jacobi (I think that this is still available through Netflex or some other streaming service).  Less well known are the Felse mysteries that are traditional and feature Insp. Felse and his family.  Any of you who like mysteries by Dorothy Simpson (recently blogged), will like these as well.  $3.99 today

Before the Fall got loads of publicity and sounds like an excellent thriller.  It has been sitting on my TBR pile for a while.  $3.99 today!