No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, #1)

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love this book! I think I have read it 3 times. Every time a new one comes out, I go back and read them all again. I think that's because these books are not about plot, they are about relationships. Precious Ramotswe is a wonderful character and I would truly love to meet her. The books are beautifully written and remind me of Alan Patton's, Cry the Beloved Country. Both have captured the timelessness of Africa.

Precious Ramotswe solves problems for her clients, but the work of the agency is more like a vehicle to express the daily life and philosophy of an extraordinary woman. Her kindness and simple wisdom are a refreshing change from the hard-driving, iconoclastic female detectives that are so popular. I absolutely fell in love with her...even more so when I found some of the bush tea that makes up such a big part of her day. (It is actually delicious and I have been haunting the Internet to find more.) Do yourself a favor and sit down with a cup of tea and meet a new friend.


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The Charming Quirks of Others (Isabel Dalhousie, #7)

The Charming Quirks of Others by Alexander McCall Smith

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I always love any of Alexander McCall Smith's books and this was no exception. Isabel Dalhousie has been called upon to help find some information about three candidates for the job of headmaster of a local private school. It seems that the committee has received an anonymous letter stating that one of the candidates has a secret that might prove embarrassing to the school, but the person is not named. Isabel is to get background on the three men and determine if there is any truth to the letter.

At the same time, her relationship with Cat, always shaky, is finally on an even keel for a change. She has found a new man and, unbelievably, he is one of the candidates and is quite normal, which is saying something for Cat. I don't see that relationship continuing for that very reason.

Isabel and Jamie are working out their relationship and little insecurities come to the surface. I always hold my breath when they come up, but the two seem to weather each challenge. Along the way, Isabel deals with the questions of moral philosophy which make these books such a delight. As she investigates the three candidates for the headship, she covers ideas such as guilt, loyalty and sacrifice as well as some traits much darker.


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The Lost Art of Gratitude (Sunday Philosophy Club, #6)

The Lost Art of Gratitude by Alexander McCall Smith

This is my favorite book of all Alexander McCall Smith's and it is for one huge reason...the poem at the end. While the book is very entertaining and Isabel has numerous situations which cause her to work through various moral dilemmas; her insecurities about Jamie, what to do with the obnoxious Professor Dove, and especially the possibly amoral Minty Auchterlonie, the book is always more about then people than the plot. Minty approaches Isabel to help her resolve two connected issues and Isabel reluctantly agrees to help, but finds herself being used by Minty to further her own schemes. Somehow, she manages to work good in the lives of the victims instead of the evil left from Minty.

Her niece, Cat, has found a new boyfriend and this is possibly the worst of all. He is a tightrope walker and stuntman and Jamie and Isabel can only shake their heads and get ready to hold up Cat when the end comes, as they pray that it will. I am always inspired by the way Isabel finds to see beyond Cat's thorniness and love her. I can almost see Cat 20 years in the future finally realizing that it was her aunt's abiding love which remained constant through the angst of her struggle for maturity.

All of this leads to the end of the book where Jamie puts to music one of the most moving poems I have read in ages.

What we lose, we think we lose forever,
But we are wrong about this, think of love –
Love is lost, we think it gone,
But it returns, often when least expected,
Forgives us our lack of attention, our failure of
Our cold indifference; forgives us all of this, and more;
Returns and says, “I was always there.”
Love, at our shoulder, whispers: Merely remember me,
Don’t think I’ve gone away for ever:
I am still here. With you. My power undimmed.
See. I am here.”

I was listening to the audio book and I could just hear God at my shoulder saying those words and I found myself playing them over and over. I read that the handwritten poem was sold at a charity auction and felt that if I had a lot of money, I surely would have bid on it, even to the point of sacrifice.
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Hiss of Death (Mrs. Murphy, #19

Hiss of Death by Rita Mae Brown

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This was a little disappointing. There were so many medical warnings that I felt like I was being preached at through most of the book. It became very tiresome. I think it is fine to slip in that the main character is going for a yearly check up or that another has been told by his doctor to lead a healthier life style, but it was everywhere you turned in this book and got in the way of the story. The mystery also didn't take center place. I never felt as if it developed because there were so many side stories. I haven't read any of Rita Mae Brown's book for quite a while and this may be why.

There are two murders which take place in the book and they are only loosely connected. The reason for the murders has to be spelled out by the murderer who spills his/her guts in the last few pages telling every little detail without benefit of lawyer or common sense. Those reasons were not a serious enough threat, I thought, to motivate any but the most paranoid and the murderer was not portrayed as any kind of extremist throughout the book. Sorry, but this is just the way this book struck me. I know the author has written many other books which are a lot better than this one.


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Spanish Dagger (China Bayles Mystery, Book 15)

Spanish Dagger by Susan Wittig Albert

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When China finds a body while looking for some Yucca, or Spanish Dagger, she knows she has the unpleasant task of breaking the news to her good friend and business partner, Ruby. She is doubly reluctant because Ruby is dealing with her mother, who is difficult at best, and is now suffering from dementia and even more quarrelsome. There has always been a mystery about Colin and now China feels that he is not what he appeared to be and has been living a double life. When another body is found, the situation is even more complicated. People are not who they appear to be and seemingly nice people are involved in the most unexpected things.

This mystery was pretty fast paced and entertaining. There was plenty of suspense and the conclusion was neat and believable, however sad it was. As always, the author's comments about various herbs and recipes enhance the book.


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The Persian Pickle Club

The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have become very fond of these books by Sandra Dallas. This was one of her best. It involves a quilting circle in a small Kansas town during the depression. As the women meet together to quilt and discuss the details of their lives, they become so bonded to one another that they are able to share intense secrets almost as one person.

Into this mix comes the son and brother of two of the members and his new wife, Rita. Tom has gone to college in Denver and he and his young wife intended to continue to live in the city until unemployment and the need of his family force him back to the farm. His wife has her heart set on becoming a reporter and life in the small Kansas town is difficult even though she is welcomed into the Persian Pickle Club by virtue of the membership of her mother-in-law and sister-in-law. When bones are dug up in a local field, she attacks the mystery as an investigative reporter, not understanding the ways of these rural people.

There is enough tension in the book to make it not just another sewing/knitting circle book. The characters are well drawn and compelling. There is also a great variety in the characters in the group which provides an interesting mix. I will be reading all of Sandra Dallas' books.
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Murder at a Vineyard Mansion by Philip R. Craig

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I enjoyed this book and it kept my attention, but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. The main character, JW Jackson, a former Boston detective, loves his family and life on Martha's Vineyard. When he is asked by the female version of and "old curmudgeon" to investigate a murder, JW finds himself investigating some of the old line aristocracy of the island whose lives are intertwined. At the same time, there is a different kind of criminal...kind of a high tech Robin Hood on the island. This Robin Hood robs from the loud and gives peace and quiet to the multitude. He has found a way to electronically silence the loud car speakers and stereo systems so that they can never break ear drums again. Do we really want to see this guy caught and stopped? He sounds like a public benefactor to me, but JW makes the point that he might decide that Mozart needed to go also and that wouldn't sit too well. This is a good easy read.
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Murder at a Vineyard Mansion by Philip R. Craig

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I enjoyed this book and it kept my attention, but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. The main character, JW Jackson, a former Boston detective, loves his family and life on Martha's Vineyard. When he is asked by the female version of and "old curmudgeon" to investigate a murder, JW finds himself investigation some of the old line aristocracy of the island whose lives are intertwined. At the same time, there is a different kind of criminal...kind of a high tech Robin Hood on the island. This Robin Hood robs from the loud and gives peace and quiet to the multitude. He has found a way to electronically silence the loud car speakers and stereo systems electronically so that they can never break ear drums again. Do we really want to see this guy caught and stopped? He sounds like a public benefactor to me, but JW makes the point that he might decide that Mozart needed to go also and that wouldn't sit too well. This is a good easy read.
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Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter (Dixie Hemingway Mystery #1)

Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter by Blaize Clement

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I wasn't as fond of this book as I thought I might be. The plot is simple and fits the cozy mystery genre, but I got tired of all of the posturing the author does throughout the book. Dixie was a Sarasota Sheriff's Deputy until her husband and daughter were killed and she became emotionally unstable. She gets embroiled in an investigation when one of the cats she cares for is found cowering in a corner and a man is found duck taped to the cat's water bowl. Dixie has an uneasy feeling about the whole set-up and she has a hard time explaining to Lieutenant Guidry what is going on.

The part I got very tired of was Dixie's gay brother, Michael and his partner. It is very heavy handed to make all the gay people incredibly handsome, mature and wise and the people who are uneasy about the relationship stupid, intolerant and homophobic. Enough, all ready! This is exactly like the old morality plays except the roles have been reversed and the PC proponents are just as prejudiced and sanctimonious as the people they vilify. Wouldn't it be better to just treat people, gay and straight, as simply people, sometimes bigoted and sometimes wonderful, sometimes handsome, sometimes plain etc.? Isn't that what being inclusive is all about. Just because you are gay doesn't make you handsome, wise and charming and everyone else jerks.
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The Tale of Hawthorn House (The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter, #4)

The Tale of Hawthorn House by Susan Wittig Albert

My rating: 4 of 5 stars




Fairies take center stage in this book also and we get to know them even better as they interact with the “big people.” During the village fete, a baby is deposited on Beatrix Potter’s doorstep with a sprig of hawthorn on it. Beatrix would love to care for it herself, but the care of her demanding parents and her work as an author seem to make it impossible. Still, she lives with regret, which is made even more poignant, by her work as a children’s author and her instinctive understanding of them and the magical world they inhabit.

Keeping the baby is no problem for her friend, Dimity though. All thoughts of having children seem to have gone from Dimity’s life with the marriage of the Boer War hero from the last book. Dimity has loved him all her life and she has never married, content to keep house for her brother and make herself respected and useful in the village.
But where did the baby come from? The only clue is the hawthorn sprig tucked in with the baby. It apparently has come from Hawthorn Manor, an unfortunate old mansion cursed by the spirits in the Hawthorn trees ruthlessly chopped down to improve the view of the lake. It wouldn’t have been so bad if the trees had been informed and treated with reverence. Part of the curse put on the house is that no babies will fill its walls. An old crone was seen running to Beatrix’s house with a bundle and many of the villagers think she was the spirit of the hawthorns or a fairy in disguise.

This book was especially good, I thought. There was a little more of a mystery in this one and it took some research and more active sleuthing on the part of Beatrix to solve. The development of the children is richer in this book also and they are becoming characters with a following as well as Beatrix and her friends.
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The Tale of Cuckoo Brow Wood (The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter, #3)

The Tale of Cuckoo Brow Wood by Susan Wittig Albert

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In this third book of the series, the local children are attempting to get the fairies to help them and they find a true believer in Beatrix Potter. Susan Wittig Albert writes about fairies with the same mix of awe, reverence and fear that Tolkien does. The quest for the fairies help and the plight of the children is by far, the most important thread in the book. We are led into a world where fairies do get involved with the life of the “big people,” but they can never be taken for granted or controlled. They come and go as they please and are only visible to the young at heart.

In contrast, the “big people” are embroiled in their own problems and most don’t see how fairies could possible be a part of them. The local Boer war hero, has returned dreadfully wounded, but with a new bride who sets the village’s teeth on edge. What in the world could he be thinking of? She is totally inappropriate for village life and she isn’t even nice. To add to it, there is something suspicious in her relationship to a new man who appears to be a relative of the vicar’s and has come to stay, and stay, and stay.

One of the things I like about this series is that it follows the life of Beatrix Potter and weaves known attitudes and events into a beautifully crafted historical and yet fanciful--- tale. It is a wonderful series to curl up with on a rainy day and enjoy to the fullest. There is just enough mystery to keep you engaged while you enjoy life in a kinder and gentler time.
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The Tale of Holly How (The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter, #2)

The Tale of Holly How by Susan Wittig Albert

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In this second tale of life in the village, Bearix Potter is beginning to fit in better because of her kind manner and quiet ways. The villagers don’t know what to make of her determination to run her farm by herself though, but they like the fact that she is attempting to build up a herd of local sheep which are in danger of dying out. When she goes to look over some sheep she has bought, she finds the body of the elderly shepherd and it appears that he has been murdered.

At the same time, she is struggling to build an addition to her farm so that she can keep on the family who have worked the farm for so long and yet give her the privacy of her own home. Working with the local builder is a daunting task, but Beatrix is proving to be tougher than she looks.

In the village a crisis has arisen when the job of head teacher is vacant and the hiring of a new head is suddenly called into question. Everyone favors the primary teacher, but the lady of the manor has suddenly brought in a new candidate with much better credentials. Something seems wrong about him though and it is not just his credentials. The Lady’s personal assistant seems to be wielding more and more power and things just smell funny to Beatrix.

This is a delightful book to just sit back and read or, even better, listen to as an audiobook. The people are engaging and the animals keep up enough chatter to push the plot ahead and sometimes get through to their owners.


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The Tale of Hill Top Farm (The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter, #1

The Tale of Hill Top Farm by Susan Wittig Albert

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a delightful tale based loosely on the life of Beatrix Potter while she was staying on a village farm in the lakes district which she bought with the proceeds of her books. It is a combination of the Miss Read tales with The First Ladies Detective Agency books. There is a mystery here, but it is secondary to the goings on of the village. This is especially charming because the village animals and Ms Potter's pets also talk to each other to move the plot along and provide commentary.

In her description of village life, I could hear the echoes of Miss Read as she describes the little puzzles of life in Thrush Green. Many of these seem like mysteries because the reader is unsure of how the problems can be resolved in a way that is good for all the people involved.

This is definitely a cozy mystery and a comfort book, wonderful to read when you are tired of the complexity of your life and the plights or our modern world. The book is a far cry from Osama bin Laden and the Japanese earthquake and will definitely recharge your batteries.
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The Cold Dish (Walt Longmire, #1

The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I listened to this book in my GPS on the way home from Mississippi. This is a new experience, but it worked very well. The book was fairly well written although it dragged a bit in the middle. One thing I objected to was the language. When you are reading a book, you can skip over it, but in an audiobook, especially in the car, you are forced to just sit there and be assaulted.

The story begins with the murder of a boy who was the ring-leader of a group of 4 boys who raped and abused a Native American girl who suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome. They received very light sentences and two of the boys showed very little remorse. Someone has murdered the most obnoxious boy and there is a strong feeling that the murder has taken justice into his/her own hands. When another boy is killed, the sheriff is desperate to protect the two remaining boys.

The book is interesting, but there are some supernatural scenes which become tedious. The ending also could have been foreshadowed or at least some groundwork done to make it fit the book better.


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Cain His Brother (William Monk, #6)

Cain His Brother by Anne Perry

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was another good book in this series. William Monk has a case that involves twin brothers who are like Cain and Abel. When Angus, the proper family man, turns up missing, his wife knows that his evil twin, Caleb has murdered him. She engages Monk to find out for certain that Caleb has murdered him and turn up the body, or have him declared dead so that she can either get a new manager for his business or sell it while it is still profitable to provide for herself and her five children. When everything the woman says appears to be true, Monk looks in earnest for the murderer and Angus's body.

At the same time, typhoid fever has broken out in the slums and Hester, Lady Callandra, and the missing man's stepmother work ceaselessly in the same area Monk is searching for Angus and Caleb. As usual, the cases intersect and Hester becomes involved with Monk’s search for Caleb. To add to this mix, Monk has gotten involved with a person who is determined to extract revenge for something that he did early in his career and for which he has no memory.

At one point, the book seems to drag, but then another plot thread begins and the book is takes off again. As usual, Monk runs into his former callous self and has no memory of things he has done and people he has wronged. One of the interesting things about Monk and the way Perry has developed him is that he is still basically the same person he was before he lost his memory, but he has seen himself and wants to change. So, while he does not want to treat people in his old callous way, he finds himself being inconsiderate and thoughtless towards Hester, only now recognizing it and feeling guilty. This is the main reason I like the Monk books better than the Pitt series. I think that Monk is changing in the way a real person would, two steps forward, one step back.


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The Woman in White

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've read this several times in my life and I am reading it again for a group I belong to. I had forgotten how good it was. It has all of the elements of a Gothic mystery. There is a spooky old mansion with a lovely and rich young girl, an earnest but poor young man who loves the girl but can't marry her, a capable older sister, a weird, reclusive old uncle/guardian, a mysterious suitor/husband, a creepy Count and the mysterious "woman in white" who appears and disappears throughout the story.

Of course, the beautiful young girl, Laura, marries the mysterious suitor, Sir Percival Glyde, who turns out to be a cruel monster, terribly influenced by the Count Fosco and his wife, who happens to be the sister of the reclusive uncle and is bitter about her lack of inheritance. Her sister, Marian Halcombe, comes to live with Laura and tries to protect her from her husband and Count Fosco. Her devotion to Laura knows no bounds and there is a wonderful scene where she proves her mettle by climbing on the roof of the mansion and listening to an important conversation between Sir Percival and Count Fosco in the pouring rain. The poor young lover, Walter, comes back into the picture after he returns from a long time in the jungle in Ecuador, where he attempted to recover from his devastation over the loss of Laura. Walter then attempts to solve the mystery of the Count and Sir Percival and their machinations.

The two best characters in the story are Marian and Walter, and that was one of the things that bothered me about the book. When Walter first meets Marian, he sees her at a distance and she appears to have an especially beautiful figure and presence, but when she turns around, he sees that she is ugly. When he meets Laura, he finds her beautiful and falls in love with her even though, Marian is, by far, stronger, more intelligent and interesting of the two. As the book proceeds, Marian becomes his friend, partner and confidant and yet all his love still goes to Laura. I am sure I am being unfair to Collins, as he was a product of his time, but to my way of thing Marian was a much better candidate for a life companion!


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The Double Comfort Safari Club

The Double Comfort Safari Club by Alexander McCall Smith

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love this series so I bumped this up to the top as soon as it was available in an audiobook. It was another beautiful visit with Precious Ramothswe and her friends and family. In this story we learn a little more about Mme Makutsi when her fiance is injured in an accident. When Mme Makutsi meets up with a ferocious Auntie it seems as if she might be defeated.

In the midst of her troubles, Mme Ramothswe decides that the two women need to make a journey to the other side of Bothswana, the Okavango Delta, to a safari camp where they attempt to locate a guide who has done such a good job that an American woman has left him a legacy. The adventures at the safari camp reminds us that the tame and pleasant city life is only a small part of Bothswana.

The 50% Violet Sephotho is back again with another clever scheme to defraud someone and build her life at the expense of another. Without giving away the plot, suffice it to say that Mme Makutsi enjoys her encounter with Violet at the end of the book. Mma Potokwane puts in an entrance to the delight of everyone and helps resolve a very sticky situation.

I enjoy the beauty of the language of Alexander McCall Smith and the common sense he gives to his characters. When I finish the book, I long for the next book so I can visit with these wise and charming people again.
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The Innocence of Father Brown

The Innocence of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Father Brown, that innocent cleric, always has the answer because he is used to dealing with good and evil and is able to see it more quickly than his more jaded companions. It also helps that he has an amazing intellect and keen observation.

These stories are so much fun. A crime is committed and no one can see how it could have been done. Father Brown gives 3 or 4 explanations and his companions are stupefied. He explains that they said there could be no explanation and he has provided 4, none of which is correct. Then this innocent innocuous little priest explains exactly what happened.

As you would expect, he is always completely moral and concerned more about the spiritual condition of the criminal than the offense to society. He has some interesting ways for the criminal to be reconciled to God though and than makes these stories even more interesting.


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Belgrave Square (Charlotte & Thomas Pitt, #12

Belgrave Square by Anne Perry

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thomas Pitt is called in to investigate the murder of a money lender and blackmailer because the murder may involve a member of the "inner circle," a powerful secret society pledged to support each other whenever called upon. There are two lists left at the money lender's house; one of the debts of poor struggling souls and another of upperclass men who are more likely to have been victims of blackmail.

Thomas finds himself investigating people whom he knows and in many instances, people who are very admirable. He has to dig deep to find the secrets they are hiding and each discovery pains Pitt as it could end promising careers and many good works.

At the same time, Emily's new husband, Jack, is attempting to run for Parliament and, since she is in the early stages of pregnancy, Charlotte has to stand in for her at some of the social events important to Jack. As usual, Emily and Aunt Vespasia become Charlotte's confidents and attempt to get to the bottom of the mystery.

I found this book to be one of the best of Anne Perry's Pitt novels. As usual, the ending is abrupt and in this one, the ending is not my favorite, but the clues do fit and explain the trail of clues.


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Highgate Rise (Charlotte & Thomas Pitt, #11

Highgate Rise by Anne Perry

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As this series progresses, Anne Perry is going into some of the worst excesses of the Victorian age. This book centers on two aspects that were hotly debated at the time. The book begins with a terrible fire which kills the wife of a very outspoken local doctor. She had been quietly become involved in trying to breach a system of rental property law which allowed investors to charge extremely high rents for tenements in horrible conditions without anyone being able to tell who the property owner was. The poor were forced to live in such crowded and unsanitary places and they were also leased as brothels, opium dens and sweatshops. Many a righteous upper class families fortune was build on the backs of the wretched poor without anyone being the wiser. Neither of the Pitts can decide if the doctor or his wife was the intended victim.

When another fire errupts at the home of the doctor's friend with whom he is staying, the focus returns to the doctor however, the friend was an outspoken proponent of liberal Fabinism, which was also a source of contention in the village. While Thomas Pitt explores the motives relating to the doctor, Charlotte, Emily, Jack and Aunt Vespasia concentrate on the work the doctor's wife, Clemency, was doing. It appears that she had managed to trace the landlord of a despicable tenement and was surprised and appalled by whom she found as the owner.

While this plot was convoluted, all our main characters were engaging as usual and Charlotte's maid Gracie made an enterance as a detective also. She was an entrancing addition and a breath of fresh air, especially as various characters engage in some very long winded philosophical speeches which strain the patience of the reader.


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