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mumto2

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  1. My 2022 Summary…….. Many thanks to Robin for hosting Book a Week and keeping me organized! I’ve been busy going thru my stats on Goodreads and they are very similar to last years except this year I actually managed to read a book a day after backing out short stories and novellas. That said I read a lot of contemporary romance books, at least 52. So many of my books were quick reads for me. I also listened to 118 Audiobooks which were a third total books read. Challenge wise I completed two 22 book long bookchains. I find bookchains entertaining and have no idea why! I did A to Z and back, A to Z by both author/title, and finally I did all my spelling challenges. My 10’s were all based on the crime spree. I completed most…..totally failed Christie. I loved the Crime Spree! I gave myself permission to bury myself in some of my favorite genres. I read 216 crime spree books. I started with the early short stories and went through many golden age mysteries from the US, UK, and even a couple from other places. I apparently really like police procedurals as I read 69 books that I shelved in that category. I read a lot of romatic suspense…. The only none crime spree favorite book was The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi So now for my favorite books from the Crime Spree……. The Dead Letter by Seely Register written in 1866 The Wintringham Mystery by Anthony Berkeley written in 1927 The Secret of High Eldersham by Miles Burton written in 1930 Mystery in the Channel by Freeman Wills Crofts written in 1931 The Rat Began to Gnaw the Rope by CW Grafton written in 1943 The Better to Eat You by Charlotte Armstrong written in 1954 The Detective Clare Mackay Series by Marion Todd – See Them Run #1 The Rockton Series by Kelley Armstrong Atticus Priest series by Mark Dawson – The House in the Woods #1 Books by Rebecca Zanetti – I read several and liked them all!
  2. Some are. Here is a list from Goodreads showing the connected ones. https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Kate+quinn&qid=v3QehTY1J9
  3. I have finished a few in the past 24 hours. We really did have a peaceful Christmas Day. The first was a new Elly Griffiths that I sort of slogged thru for several days because I was pretty sure the end would be worth it……it was. It was set around a grammar school high school reunion where most of the cool crowd managed to become famous and now are dying by Murder. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60980164-bleeding-heart-yard Royal Valentine by Jenn McKinley was actually a novella written to start a new series. I had no clue this series existed and I grabbed it because Jenn McKinley writes a favorite cozy series. This one was fun….and as believable as a normal person meeting a titled Brit and marrying them can be. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59960488-royal-valentine This one was finished by virtue of my finding it hard to put down. Buried in a Good Book is the first in a new cozy series that I checked out of the library and have been skipping over in the virtual stack……it needed to be tried before it was whisked away by overdrive. Well, it was a good, clean cozy that I found rather humorous. A best selling mystery author lands herself in the middle of a real life mystery when she inherits her grandfather’s cabin and decides to spend the summer there. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58758641-buried-in-a-good-book
  4. I just started listing to The Whalebone Theatre!
  5. I actually spent 10 hours at my sewing machine today trying to get a quilt assembled that I will hopefully be able to gift over the holidays. Otherwords, I finished a second book too. I am another Goblin Emporer fan but hadn’t listened to The Grief of Stones yet. It’s good……..Robin managed to motive me to finish it this year. As a bonus it’s my A and I have now finished the “A to Z and back” challenge.
  6. I finished the first in a newish thriller series by Charles Cumming and really enjoyed it. It was a bit James Bondish and I couldn’t stop listening…….https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58611213-box-88 Lachlan Kite is a member of BOX 88, an elite transatlantic black ops outfit so covert that not even MI6 and the CIA are certain of its existence — but even the best spy can’t anticipate every potential threat in a world where dangerous actors lurk around every corner. At the funeral of his childhood best friend, Lachlan falls into a trap that drops him into the hands of a potentially deadly interrogation, with his pregnant wife, also abducted, being held as collateral for the information he’s sworn on his own life to protect. Thirty years earlier Lachlan, then just out of the upper class boarding school where he was reared, was BOX 88’s newest recruit. In the haze of a gap year summer, in which the study of spycraft was intertwined with a journey of self-discovery, he cut his teeth on a special assignment on the coast of France, where a friendship allowed him special access to one of Iran’s most dangerous men. Today, Lachlan’s nostalgia for the trip is corrupted by recollection of the deceit that accompanied it but, in order to save his family, he’ll be forced to revisit those painful memories one last time. A pulse-pounding narrative that straddles two eras — 1989 and 2020.
  7. I just finished my Christmas Crime Spree mystery, Murder in White by J. Jefferson Farjeon https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44076519-mystery-in-white. I have saved the book all year to read now and it wasn’t nearly as good as my anticipation of it! I wanted to finish the year of the crime spree with a book by a solid golden age author. It started out as what I personally call a Locked House Party mystery but the house wasn’t exactly locked! A group of strangers decide to leave a stranded snow bound train to walk to a station that might have train service on the day before Christmas. They quickly become hopelessly lost and take shelter in a recently abandoned house where the kettle is hot! Chaos sort of reined. But, but it remained entertaining throughout. It will likely never be a reread but I do enjoy the author.
  8. I’m plodding my way through Mystery in White by J. Jefferson Farjeon. I also have a group of people trapped by snow in a house with the owner missing. It’s supposed to be a classic like An English Murder which I almost picked. Maybe next year…..
  9. This week’s theme is perfect for my mood! I have been loading my kindle with all types of romance books, especially holiday romances. I just added Linda Howard’s Ice to my virtual stack! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6283048-ice?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=WxOC5qDtR2&rank On holiday leave from the service, Gabriel McQueen is sent into a brewing ice storm to make sure that his father’s distant neighbor, Lolly Helton, who has fallen out of contact, is safe and sound. It’s a trip that Gabriel would rather not make, given the bitter winter weather—and the icy conditions that have always existed between him and Lolly. Arriving at Lolly’s home, Gabriel spots strangers through the windows—one of them packing a weapon—and kicks into combat mode. But once Lolly is rescued, the heat—and the hunt—are on. Snowbound, unarmed, and literally under the gun, Gabriel and Lolly must depend on each other to endure the merciless forces of nature and evade the ruthless enemy out in the blackness of the silent night—and out for their blood
  10. I just finished Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six, a new release by Lisa Unger. It’s my last letter needed to complete my A to Z by author. Woot! Another challenge done! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60023131-secluded-cabin-sleeps-six It was quite the guessing game in terms of there were just so many bad actors/ red herrings. That said I greatly enjoyed it but a warning…….if you really enjoy renting AirB & B’s I probably wouldn’t read this one. There was plenty of other weirdness ……….. Three couples rent a luxury cabin in the woods for a weekend getaway to die for in this chilling locked-room thriller by New York Times bestselling author Lisa Unger. What could be more restful, more restorative, than a weekend getaway with family and friends? An isolated luxury cabin in the woods, complete with spectacular views, a hot tub and a personal chef. Hannah’s loving and generous tech-mogul brother found the listing online. The reviews are stellar. It’s his birthday gift to Hannah and includes their spouses and another couple. The six friends need this trip with good food, good company and lots of R & R, far from the chatter and pressures of modern life. But the dreamy weekend is about to turn into a nightmare. A deadly storm is brewing. The rental host seems just a little too present. The personal chef reveals that their beautiful house has a spine-tingling history. And the friends have their own complicated past, with secrets that run blood deep. How well does Hannah know her brother, her own husband? Can she trust her best friend? And who is the new boyfriend, crashing their party? Meanwhile, someone is determined to ruin the weekend, looking to exact a payback for deeds long buried. Who is the stranger among them?
  11. @tuesdayschildWonderful list! I’m so glad you enjoyed the Crime Spree. You just reminded me that I need to finish the Dorothy Gilman series.
  12. Anne Bishop, is one of those authors for me. I love The Others and have no interest in any of her other books. I tried. Seanan Mcquire, I don’t seem to be able to attach myself to October Daye. My library has the all and I should love them but never really fall in to the story. I think I am on the third in that series but I have actually reread the first few in the cryptozoologist series. I have never tried any of Marth Wells other books.
  13. I’ve had a couple of interesting finishes this week. The first was the audio for Lessons in Chenistry which @Karenirecommended. I have held off because I really thought I would be the one to dislike it and didn’t want to have to say it! It was great except for one part where something horrible happened in the storyline. It was obvious it had to happen. I knew it was about to happen but……. that the horrible thing happened just as I was finishing listening for the day. I had to make myself start again the next day. If I hadn’t known that Kareni loved the book I might have started something new. I’m glad I kept listening. A read an interesting book by a new to me author that was all about something I know next to nothing about, the history of the LDS church. A Cry from the Dust was not the best book in terms of there were some highly unrealistic leaps to make it all happen but there was enough of interest that I will probably eventually try the next in the series because the main character is a forensic artist and I like forensic mysteries. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18850687-a-cry-from-the-dust @AroundtheCorner Welcome and enjoy your subscription to the British Crime Classics. I didn’t know they had a monthly subscription as I have only seen them sold as collections from the website, not new release subscriptions. I love Golden Age mysteries! Both the American and British authors for that time period. I have a huge collection that I started accumulating on my kindle while planning the Crime Spree that I still need to read. I managed to buy close to 80 books to try! 😂 Who are your favorites of the authors? As I explore I keep changing my mind but I really enjoy J. Jefferson Farjeon and am looking forward to reading his Mystery in White for my Christmas Mystery.
  14. I had some good finishes this week. Nothing More to Tell https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51559209-nothing-more-to-tell was one of those private school mysteries with an inner circle, a murdered teacher and lots of secrets. A true crime show is investigating and one of the students is secretly an intern for the show. I really liked it! I also read the second in a series that actually really does remind me of CS Harris. I have noticed that is a comment being made currently about several historical mysteries. Under a Veiled Moon is set in 1878 London but deals with Irish unrest and the question of Home Rule for Ireland. Great stuff. Good main character. I wish there were more! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62004834-under-a-veiled-moon For audio books I seem to be focused on fantasy/time travel type books right now. Like Robin I read Nora Roberts newest The Choice which was a highly satisfying conclusion to a trilogy. I also finished a book chain by reading The Paradox Hotel which centered on unusual happenings at a time travel port. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58175765-the-paradox-hotel I am currently listening to perhaps my favorite of the three, See You Yesterday which is a recommendation of someone here. It’s ver Groundhog Day! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59365594-see-you-yesterday. From GR……… Barrett Bloom is hoping college will be a fresh start after a messy high school experience. But when school begins on September 21st, everything goes wrong. She’s humiliated by the know-it-all in her physics class, she botches her interview for the college paper, and at a party that night, she accidentally sets a frat on fire. She panics and flees, and when she realizes her roommate locked her out of their dorm, she falls asleep in the common room.The next morning, Barrett’s perplexed to find herself back in her dorm room bed, no longer smelling of ashes and crushed dreams. It’s September 21st. Again. And after a confrontation with Miles, the guy from Physics 101, she learns she’s not alone—he’s been trapped for months.When her attempts to fix her timeline fail, she agrees to work with Miles to find a way out. Soon they’re exploring the mysterious underbelly of the university and going on wild, romantic adventures. As they start falling for each other, they face the universe’s biggest unanswered question yet: what happens to their relationship if they finally make it to tomorrow?
  15. @melmichigan I am being lazy and just asking you........I just finished Faith Hunter’s Final Heir and it seems like the end of the Jane Yellowrock series. It’s certainly a lovely place to stop. I think I read it was supposed to be. Is it?
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