Books helped to save me, especially in the latter months of the year. Not all of them were winners, and some were fine but not great. But reading keeps me from getting too much into myself, and instead takes me other places. And you can bet that for the last few months of 2024, I was grateful for that!
*****
The Grave's a Fine and Private Place, by Alan Bradley. Flavia de Luce and family are still dealing with their father's unexpected death as the book opens. All of them feel cast about in some foreign land. And Aunt Felicity, their late father's sister, descends on them from London to sort things. Flavia's sister Feely is engaged to be married, so her future is set; Aunt Felicity has decided that Flavia's other sister Daffy will go to Oxford for schooling. Flavia herself is still in limbo - she has inherited Buckshaw, the family home, but Aunt Felicity has plans to sell it and possibly send Flavia to boarding school.
But before anything else happens, she decides that bye girls should go on a little holiday. So with Dogger - their late father's all-around man - in charge, they head to a lovely little river town, where Flavia immediately finds a dead body. And so the investigation begins.
Without access to her home laboratory, Flavia is forced to improvise with some of her scientific research. But she and Dogger are on the case.
This was a little different than previous books in the series, because the family is away from their usual milieu, and the dynamics have changed somewhat with them all dealing with a huge loss. Having said that, between family members and the other characters in the book, there's no lack of entertainment. And of course Flavia herself is still a wonderful heroine, though with some more thoughtfulness than usual and new perspectives on her life.
I love this series, and now have read most of them. A new entry was just recently published, which makes me happy that I have at least two more to anticipate.
Same As It Ever Was, by Claire Lombardo. Spoiler alert: I didn't finish this book. I started it with the best of intentions, as it had been recommended to me by a couple of people. But after about ten of the chapters I decided it was depressing me too much, so I returned it to the library.
I may try one of the author's other books, but this one was not for me.
A Cryptic Clue, by Victoria Gilbert. This is a well done mystery, though it takes a bit to get going.
Jane Hunter is a retired cataloging librarian who has been hired by Cameron Clewe, a young, wealthy, and very socially awkward young man with an estate. He has a vast collection of nooks abdominal other materials related to classic American mystery authors, and he wants someone to inventory and catalog them for use by scholars.
Jane is looking forward to her work, especially since she was forced to retire when the administration at her university "rebranded" - she wasn't ready you retire, and still needs a full-time job and income.
When she arrives for her first actual day of work, shecaalks into the library and discovers a dead body! Apparently a young woman who formerly dated Cameron was murdered sometime during a fall the night before. Cameron realizes he'll get high on the list if suspects, and decides to conduct his own investigation, and recruits Jane to help him.
Jane uncovers many people who had a reason to want the victim dead, and uncover some other mysteries along the way. Including one that at least partially explains her new boss's odd personality.
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, by Stuart Turton. Aiden Bishop finds himself at a house party at a house named Blackheath. Well, except when we first meet him, he has woken up in a field on the grounds, and in the body of someone named Sebastian Bell.
Throughout the book Aiden inhabits the body of 8 different hosts - some helpful, some despicable. But his mission is to find out who will murder Evelyn Hardcastle later in the evening; otherwise, he'll never be free to leave.
So he is forced to relive the same day over and over.
The book's premise intrigued me, but after a while the book did not. I got tired of the same terrible people doing the same things. I finished the book because I wanted to know who killed/kills Evelyn Hardcastle, but to be honest I really didn't care.
This was a mind-twisting book, and I do give it points for that.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Evelyn Hugo has been a household name and in the tabloids for decades. One of the most famous movie stars of her time, as well as being married 7 times, she's never told her story.
So when a young writer at a lifestyle magazine is told by her boss that Evelyn specifically requested her by name for an article about her, everyone us puzzled.
It turns out that Evelyn wants Monique (writer) to write her biography, warts and all. Evelyn wants the definitive story of her life to be on her terms.
As the story goes on, we learn all about Evelyn, and a bit about Monique. But it's the end of their story that is the real reason they are together.
This is a fun, fictionalized story about Hollywood, the studio system, misogynism, and how hard it was and is for women to have agency. But it's also a story that reminds you that every person has several of their own stories, their own versions of themselves. Sometimes they are not the ones told.
The Lingering, by S.J.I. Holliday. A creepy but readable book.
Jack, a former police officer and Ali, a former nurse, leave their city lives behind and move to Rosalind House to start over. Rosalind House is in a remote, wooded location, and used to be an asylum. It is now a group community, non-sectarian, encouraging its members to look for "the Light." Many years before, it was the site of a home of a woman burned as a witch.
From the get go, the reader knows there's something suspicious about Ali and Jack. Angela, one of the residents of the community who is trying to prove the existence of ghosts, tries to befriend Ali, without success.
Jack seems to adjust to things much better than Ali does. But once Angela disappears, things get more and more tense.
The ending is not necessarily shocking, but Ali is a worse person than even she seems.
The Witches of Moonshyne Manor, by Bianca Marais. A coven of witches is faced with foreclosure on their house if they don't come up with the money by Halloween. An angry mob of men threaten them, and they have a terrible secret that sent one of their sisterhood to prison for 30 years.
The good news is that the witch who has been in prison, is being released, and the others hope that she will make a revelation that will safe them. Unfortunately, she seems to have a condition similar to Alzheimers. And all of the coven are somewhat elderly, so their powers have diminished with age.
But when a young girl shows up unexpected, she gives them a reason to keep trying. And through her, we learn about the heist that went wrong and landed one of their own behind bars. As more and more of their secrets come to light, things aren't looking good.
This was a good read. It's about the invisibility of older women, misogyny, the patriarchy, and about creating a found family. When things look the most bleak, things also look up and seem full of possibilities.
Walk the Blue Fields, by Claire Keegan. I love the way Claire Keegan writes - she seriously seems to know how to tell a story with just the perfect words.
This is a collection of short stories about various people in various areas if Ireland. Keegan manages to write people in the most real way possible. They are incredibly imperfect, often puzzling, but worth your time in the end. These stories are all somewhat sad, but with a bit of humor in turns of phrase that often surprise the reader.
Most of the characters don't have much, but Keegan makes us realize that it doesn't mean they don't have dreams.
Absolution, by Alice McDermott. This is a lovely book, about two women's memories of life in Vietnam in 1963, early in the American involvement.
Tricia is a shy newlywed, whose husband is on a work assignment in Saigon. Once there, she meets Charlene, a corporate wife and "veteran" of life there in a non-military community. Charlene is a mother of three, and insists on doing good for the people there. She is determined to make their lives better, but she is more of a 'do-gooder' than anything else. Tricia befriends Charlene's very young daughter, Rainey. The book are letters exchanged between Tricia and Rainey, 60 years later.
Tricia was extremely young and not very worldly when she was in Saigon - Charlene tried to remedy some of that. But her methods were often puzzling, as was she herself to Tricia. With the perspective of time and age, Tricia can share with Rainey her memories of the time and place.
Rainey, for her part, fills Tricia in on their lives when they returned to the States. It turned out that when Rainey and her husband moved to a new house when they became empty nesters, they were next door neighbors to a soldier that Charlene and Tricia had known, so we hear about his life after Vietnam as well.
It's a sad but true portrayal of women's lives at the time, but also a story about how misled Americans were about the Vietnam War from the beginning.
The Book Club Hotel, by Sarah Morgan. Well in a shocking occurrence, I didn't pay close attention to the summary for this and ended up reading a Christmastime book before Thanksgiving - the horror! But since I borrowed it from the library, I decided to go ahead and read it, since it would likely be in demand during the actual season.
Hattie is a 28-year-old widow with a five year old daughter who is the owner of the Maple Sugar Inn in Vermont ( Hattie, not the daughter). She and her late husband bought it and renovated it and we're looking forward to a happy life there. But two years ago, he was killed in a freak accident, and Hattie is struggling.
Erica, Anna, and Claudia are three close friends getting to their 40th birthdays. Every year they take a Book Club trip for a week somewhere together. Usually in the summer, but this year it has to be at the start of December. Anna and Claudia are suspicious that Erica has brought them to this inn in Vermont, since it is just not her style. But Erica has her reasons.
This is a book about friendship and hope. And yes, it's a romance but for what it is, it's very well done. The writing is decent, and the story is predictable, but it's an enjoyable read.
And to be honest, I ended up finishing this on Election Day, so a feel-good holiday happy ending was a good tonic.
Six Feet Deep Dish, by Mindy Quigley. An entertaining and mouth-watering read. I took to looking for something light to read the week following Election Day, and cozy mysteries are comforting to me.
Delilah O'Leary has moved from Chicago to Point Bluff, Wisconsin, and is opening her own upscale pizza restaurant as the book opens. But on the day of the soft opening,she and her fiance have a huge argument and he storms out. Delilah is concerned, because he bankrolled the place, and her personal funds are next to nothing.
But that pales somewhat when her elderly Aunt's caretaker is shot and killed in front of the restaurant that evening - and even worse, her aunt is holding the gun!
This book had more going for it than I was expecting. Also - don't read it on an empty stomach, particularly if you like pizza!
The Paris Novel, by Ruth Reichl. This book was fairly interesting, but I didn't really like the main character that much, so it gets three stars.
When Stella St. James' mother dies, she leaves her a sum of money on the condition that she use it to go to Paris. Her mother was a well-known woman with many wild lifetime adventures. Stella is annoyed, because it seems typical that the mother who barely seemed to acknowledge her and then it was to criticize, would demand she do something impractical.
So Stella, who has created a life of routine and rules, heads to Paris as assigned. After being there for w week and not doing much of anything, she ventures into a boutique, intrigued by a black dress in the window. The sales lady seems to be expecting her. She convinces Stella to wear the dress for an evening, and gives her specific instructions for where to go and what to do while wearing it.
This turns out to be something that changes her life, her whole identity, and her sense of belonging. She is suddenly living a completely different kind of life, with more purpose and joy in it.
As I said, I liked the book, and it contained all kinds of fascinating information about life in Paris, past and present. I just never really felt like Stella was a person I cared deeply about. But it is a wonderful story about finding your place in the world.
The Golden Spoon, by Jessa Maxwell. This is a very readable story of a show that is a baking competition. Held at the Grafton estate in Vermont, "Baking Week" is hosted by Betsy Martin, who lives on the estate, is a famous cookbook author, and who uses the income to try and make repairs before the whole place falls down.
When the contestants arrive, they are all nervous and excited to have been chosen. But once the competition begins, "America's Grandmother, " as Betsy is known, doesn't seem to be all that kind and nurturing. And a few weird things happen with the ingredients used by some of the contestants. The addition of a co-host for the show doesn't help things either.
By the end of the book, let's just say that things are different for mostly everyone.
Good Eggs, by Rebecca Hardiman. Kevin Gogarty has a lot going on. He's lost his job, and has not even gotten any calls about interviews. One of his twin daughters, Aideen, is causing trouble,and that only gets worse once she is sent to boarding school. And his elderly mother Millie has now been banned from a local shop after being caught shoplifting once again.
In order to resolve one if the issues, he hires an American woman as a caregiver for Millie. Things go really well ... until they don't. And wow, the whole family ends up involved.
This is a really entertaining read. The Gogartys do indeed have a lot going on, but they are there for each other, always.
Close Knit, by Jenny Colgan. This book was much better than I expected.
Gertrude "Gertie" Mooney has spent herlife around women. Her father left when she was a baby, and she grew up with her mother and grandmother in the very northern, isolated part of Scotland. She is a daydreamer, and has never quite fit in with her peers.
Working in the local grocery store, she is recruited by two women who were a couple of years ahead of her in school to fill in at the local airfield, checking in customers, etc. One of the women involved is pregnant, and won't be able to work a while after her baby is born.
Gertie has a lot of reasons not to do it (she's never even flown in a plane!), but convinces herself it will be a good change.
Gertie finds that she has a lot to learn about herself, her emotional life, and independence. She has her heart broken, but rises from it with determination to live life on her terms. And a weather issue makes her realize that she is stronger and smarter than she, or most others, gave herself credit for.
Instead of being sappy or saccharine, this book told the story of a young woman learning about herself and her place in the world.
The Glorious Guinness Girls, by Emily Hourican. This is an interesting look at the 1920s in England and Ireland.
When Felicity ("Fliss") is sent from her home in rural Ireland to Dublin to be a companion to the Guinness daughters (of brewery fame), she starts a lifetime where she is with the family, but not really a member of the family. From times of dangerous unrest to the crash of the American stock market, Fliss has an inside look at how the wealthy lived.
It's a fascinating story of real people that a lot of us have heard about - The Bright Young Things (Evelyn Waugh, the Mitfords, etc.) - whose lives consisted of house parties, pranks, and lively pusuits of fun, while often not having a lot of interest in the world around them.
The author has researched and written quite a bit about the Guinness family, and the Glorious Guinness Girls did lead interesting lives.
Murder Checks Out, by Victoria Gilbert. This was a much better entry in this series than I was expecting.
Amy Muir is busy as always, what with her job as Co-Director at the library where she works, and keeping track of her young twins. They are currently even more excited than usual, because Richard, Amy's husband and their father has included them in a local production of "The Nutcracker" that he is directing.
But Amy ends up doing even more when her brother-in-law becomes the prime suspect in the murder of a local developer who ruffled some feathers in the community.
The plot and characters here were much more developed and interesting than I was expecting for this book. And set at Christmastime, that was even better!
Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas, by Vicki Delany. This was a good start to reading Christmastime stories.
Merry Wilkinson is busy as usual, since it's Christmastime in Rudolph, NY, and the height of tourist season. In addition, the local amateur theater group is in rehearsals for a musical version of "A Christmas Carol." Merry's assistant manager is in it (and driving her crazy), and Merry's mother, a famous opera singer, is coming out of retirement to participate. But Merry learns that the new person overseeing things- a wealthy woman with her own ideas - is causing friction.
But when a member of the cast is murdered in Merry's own shop, things get amped up to a whole other level. Will the show go on? And will Merry be able to reopen her shop at the busiest time of year?
I enjoyed the story, and didn't figure out the murderer much before Merry did!
The Christmas Jigsaw Murders, by Alexandra Benedict. Edie O'Sullivan is an 80 year old woman who sets crosswords and speaks her mind. As a result of devastating losses in her life at Christmas, she tries her best to ignore the entire season.
One year, on December 1, she receives a package in the mail with a few pieces of a jigsaw. The sender says that in order to avoid additional murders, she must prove that she "is sorry."
Edie adopted her nephew Sean when his father and brother were killed in a car crash. He is now a Detective Inspector with the local police, and shortly after she shows him the pieces, a man is found in nearby woods having been attacked, with jigsaw pieces near his body.
This is an excellent and creepy story. Even if you aren't overly fond of Edie, you want the best for Sean, and you want to understand what the murderer's motivation is. As other victims turn up, it becomes more and more a race against time. And when Sean is kidnapped, Edie has a lot to answer for to herself and others.
There's a lot of suspense in this book, and the author knows just how to keep you reading.
Santa Clawed, by Rita Mae Brown. Harry and friends are busy preparing for Christmas, but murder takes over. When Harry and her husband Fair return to the Christmas tree lot to pick up the tree they'd chosen earlier, they find Brother Christopher with his throat slit.
He was a member of Brothers of Love, a local religious community whose members have served prison time, and are now devoting their lives to helping AIDS patients, and working at the local hospice. Everyone is shocked about the murder, but when another Brother is killed the same way, it's clear that more is going on than just bad feelings towards one of them.
Harry, her critters, and the local sheriff's office are working hard to restore peace in the community before Christmas. But a shocking event leads to more secrets than just those kept by some of the Brothers.
Marley, by Jon Clinch. I have wanted to read this since it was published, since "The Christmas Carol" is such a favorite of mine. This book fills in the story of Jacob Marley, who is already dead at the beginning of Dickens' story.
This book us interesting enough. I'm glad I did read it, but I think it spent a lot of time and machinations trying to develop why and how Marley became so awful a person. I really would have been convinced if half of the story of Marley had been told. And I just didn't like his relationship with Scrooge and family.
I do give the author credit for using the names of some of Dickens' other characters as "real" people in this story - it was kind of fun to know where you met them otherwise.
But overall, I'd say you can skip this.
A Christmas Murder, by Mary Grand. This was an excellent read. Though there are clearly earlier entries in the series, I didn't feel that it was a problem reading this as a standalone.
The premise is that a woman named Meera has refurbished and restored a Tudor mansion, planning to turn it into an exclusive hotel on the Isle of Wight. As a kind of soft opening, arrangements have been made for Duncan Fern and his family to spend the week of Christmas there. When Meera has a fall, the main character Susan is asked by a mutual friend to help out. Since Susan will not be seeing her family, she agrees.
Duncan Fern and family are similar in lots of ways to Rupert Murdoch. When Duncan is found dead in bed, things get really interesting. Power shifts at his empire are one thing, but also - what happened and who may have murdered him? Add in a snowstorm that shuts down just about everything, and everything is amplified.
What I liked about this book was that it took its time, but never dragged. There were plenty of red herrings, and each character had a lot going on. The story took its time, much like Susan trying to find out what happened. I don't remember how/where I came across this book, but I'm glad I did.
Well written and very atmospheric.
Bright Lights, Big Christmas, by Mary Kay Andrews. An enjoyable holiday season read.
Kerry Tolliver has returned home to live with her mother after she is laid off from her graphic design job in Charlotte. But she still feels out of place in small Tarburton, NC where she grew in and where her family owns a Christmas tree farm. When her father suffers a heart attack, she is recruited to join her brother to go to Greenwich Village, New York, to the corner where her family has sold trees since she was a baby.
To say she is reluctant is an understatement, but she agrees. She's not that well acquainted with her brother Murphy, who stayed with her dad when her parents divorced, but suddenly she is living with him in a rickety trailer with no amenities.
The thing I liked about this book was that the main characters were very imperfect, but they tried hard. It illustrated the importance that neighborhoods have in big cities, where each one is like its own small town. Kerry and her by brother Murphy make it work, and come out of it with a relationship. Kerry learns that sometimes you just need to believe in yourself and take a leap of faith.
Are things sometimes too perfect? Yes. But it's a holiday story, not a meaningful fable about the human condition. Read it how it's intended to be, and you'll be glad you did.
Kiss Me At Christmas, by Jenny Bayliss. Harriet Smith surprises herself by having a one-night stand. But in her defense, she had just found out that her daughter was staying in New York over the Christmas holiday rather than coming home to England and wax allowing herself to wallow in too many mulled wines. She is definitely not feeling like Christmas this year.
But she wakes up fast the next day when she finds that a group of her [high school level] students have broken into a nearby abandoned theater. And the owner, a wealthy woman, is ready to press charges. That is, until her lawyer - who turns out to be Harriet's one-night stand! - talks his client into a compromise. Harriet's and her students are to clean up the place and put on a production of "A Christmas Carol." The woman thinks it will make the property more attractive to potential buyers.
So now, Harriet has even more stress. Can she rely on her students? Will they be able to pull it out in such a short time? What about the lawyer, who is tasked with keeping things going?
The story is well-done. It's not too sappy, not completely unlikely, and predictable but not boringly so. I enjoyed this book.
The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore. When Barbara Van Laar disappears from her family's camp in the Adirondacks, everyone is reminded of her brother Bear's disappearance years before. Her very well-to-do family seems to be pulling out all of the stops to find her, as they did years before for her brother.
But this book is as much about the gulf between rich and poor as it is anything else. The Van Laars wield power with their money and their pedigree, and it gives them the ability to completely control any narrative that involves them.
The people who work for them, and the people in the town near their summer camp home, are more or less dismissed as unimportant other than how they can serve the thyfamily's purposes.
When investigators start digging into Barbara's disappearance, they start to learn as much about those involved in the previous investigation as they are learning now. And there's a lot to uncover.
This book keeps you guessing, makes you angry at what wealth can do compared to what most people have available to them, and it also makes you appreciate Barbara's behavior when you learn how her family views her.
A good story, well-written.
*****
I'm looking forward to the books that await in this new year. Some will be things I have just never heard of, that were discovered by serendipity, which is one of my favorite things. Others will be ones that are new, or that others are already familiar with. But I know they are waiting for me to find them and pick them up. I hope we'll be able to make friends.
