We had a busy day and just got home after a mad and unsuccessful attempt to watch the Dragon space launch. We had planned to watch from our driveway but the weather changed and we hopped in the car in an attempt to get to the other side of the storm. We accomplished that but the cloud cover was too great.......bummer! @PenI hope you are able to get your library card renewed without too much effort! I have been listening to another Dog Book 😂 and enjoying every minute of it! Blind Search https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43263537-blind-search?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=lxetLXIW9g&rank=1 @Seasider tooI hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving..........I am currently trying to confine myself to BaW so I understand your decision. @MothersweetsThose puzzles are beautiful! Dd may need one for Christmas...... Last night I finished reading my nonfiction book (which is rare for me) called The Dead Duke, His Secret Wife, and His Missing Corpse https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25622302-the-dead-duke-his-secret-wife-and-the-missing-corpse. Let’s face it that is an intriguing title for a mystery lover. It wasn’t written in a manner that made it a great story but it kept me reading, very factual......... I ended up really enjoying it because I quickly discovered the dead duke’s seat was about 20 minutes from our home village in England.......Didn’t have a clue that this book was about one of the Dukeries before starting to read. The Dukeries are several large estates in Sherwood Forest that were built as hunting lodges/estates for the royals back in the 1600’s. The great wars essentially ended their former existence as pleasure palaces but there are lovely footpaths in the grounds. We just go to the garden center and sometimes a walk at Welbeck Abbey. I have never bothered to pay the admission and go inside because I didn’t know about this Duke’s passion for tunnels and underground ballrooms. He was extremely secretive and would go weeks without seeing another person. He used his tunnels to escape outside. Now I am curious! My friend and I are planning a day out there next summer.....she is also going to read the book! She has lived within 20 miles of Welbeck her entire life and never went in ......she didn’t know about the tunnels either. She sent me an email that said “Of course there are tunnels.....she meant coal tunnels. They are under everyone’s houses.....you actually are required to insure against tunnel collapses. I found this link with some pictures and books that may be less factual it also has a Dh Lawrence connection https://nottinghamcityofliterature.com/blog/literary-locations-64-welbeck-abbey

@Kareni A Season of Love is new! I also happen to enjoy the Blessings Georgia series and have not read the novella so I downloaded that also. Thank you! Today hasn’t been very productive on any front. Not sure why. I abandoned a couple of books late last night and have started reading a Grace Burrows which I am enjoying. My Heart’s True Delight is a bit different as the main male character suffers from the “blue devils” which is such a British illness description. He suffers from depression from the sounds of it.......I am always entertained with the illness descriptions in my other home country. Dh and I learned to just ask for the symptoms because the chill sickness(norovirus) and other odd descriptions confuse us. We just want to know if we are apt to catch it!

Oh yeah, it was such a bummer when Dallas did that! In American Demon it might just preserve of suspense for the future. It was literally one sentence. Falcon Crest was my personal favorite.😉 I also finished the forth in the Mistress of the Art of Death series by Ariana Franklin and her daughter(I think). I set Murderous Procession https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8695473-a-murderous-procession to the side a few years ago so I could read it before continuing on the the final book in the series that was just released. I wanted to preserve some continuity ........this is a series that many people recommended to me over the years. When I finally got around to reading it I had to agree that it really is an awesome series. Set when King Henry 2 was king so all the Thomas Becket, Queen Eleanor, and the horrid sons feature prominently. At the start of the series we meet a young female physician (trained in Sicily) who was sent to England with her assistant a moorish eunuch. these books can be rather violently descriptive at times......Pillars of the Earth level. I have the final book Death and the Maiden ready to go! Going into my “Henry and his kin” 10x10.

I believe both @Robin M and @melmichigan have finished the latest book in The Hollows series American Demon........today I got to the Dallas tv show moment......the previous happy ending was all a dream. I hope the next book is going to be released soon!

Things in Jars looks great @Robin M I just put a hold on it.

I have my October Ladies of Lit spelling challenge prepared......I did the pen name Jayne Castle since I loved the romances that used she wrote with that pen name. J........Once Dishonored by Mary Jo Putney A........Appointment with Death by Agatha Christie Y........You Lucky Dog by Julia London N........Nobody’s Sweetheart by Maggie Robinson E........How to Save an Undead Life by Hailey Edwards C........Cat Me If You Can by Miranda James A........Checked Out for Murder by Allison Brook S........In the Shadow of the Glacier by Vicki Delaney T........And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie L........Queen Anne’s Lace by Susan Wittig Albert E........A Midsummer’s Equation by Keigo Higashimo

@Robin MThanks for the thread. I read Boneshaker and a sequel maybe a couple of years ago and enjoyed them. Another Steampunk for your challenge. I actually did my Ladies of Lit spelling challenge last month. I didn’t realize you hadn’t posted either!😂. I will pull out my note book and post my list later today. Thanks to my posts from yesterday I don’t have much new to say here. Still reading the Verity Kent. I have started listening to American Demon which was supposed to be an October Spooky......it just came off hold. I am really enjoying it. Kim Harrison finished The Hollows series off very similar to the Harry Potter series with a forward flash summarizing the past twenty or so years. American Demon starts up where the last book truly stopped......rather like a book about Harry and Ron’s first apartment. I wasn’t sure if I could go back and love it......

@Kareni Softly Falling was new. thank you! I started the new Verity Kent cozy by Anna Lee Huber earlier today and am hoping to finish it tonight. So good!

I just finished Love in Amsterdam by Nicholas Freeling https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53053950-love-in-amsterdam A few years ago we asked @Loesje22000 for a list a Dutch mysteries.......I thought this was one of them as it is the Van Der Valk detective series! 😂 When my library added it to overdrive I put myself on the hold’s list thinking World Detectives 10 x10 and as a bonus a translated book which I keep track of. Ummmmm, I finish, look to verify it is translated. Not! British author...........I probably would not have stuck this book out to the end if I hadn’t thought I was reading a Dutch dectective mystery! It is set in the twenty or so years post WWII in post war Amsterdam. A bit grim.....sort of free thought. My formatting was poor because I had to read it in the browser which I dislike and normally only do for a book I love. A woman is murdered with her former lover apparently gazing at a canal outside her home. The detective VanderValk does not believe he did it........the decade long affair is rehashed extensively so adult content. The lover, his wife, and Detective V all work together to solve the case. The justice system in Holland now interests me.....I am looking forward to some conversations to understand better when we hopefully return to England next summer with our many Dutch friends.

I have been busy listening and sewing to Eight Perfect Murders https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50797373-eight-perfect-murders which is basically a huge long list of great mysteries. The main character owns a somewhat famous bookstore complete with the bookstore cat and becomes involved in a series of murders based of famous mysteries. The mysteries in question seem to all be based on a blog post titled Eight Perfect Murders which the bookseller wrote for his stores blog.. I immediately thought of my BaW friends because we do lists really well. The ABC Murders kicks things off........I do regret listening even if I do really like the narrator because it makes it hard to take notes on the books mentioned. Many are classics like Strangers on the Train, Rebecca......the titles I am unfamiliar are probably classics that I haven’t had a chance to read yet!😉

I enjoyed You Lucky Dog also.

I gave up on it maybe 40 pages in. I just wasn’t following it well and it seemed pretty random. So I decided to stop and wait for someone else to read it first! 😉. I just didn’t have the concentration level to enjoy it. I was also super disappointed to discover it really wasn’t anything like Jonathon Strange. Can’t wait to hear what you think!

Sending Prayers!

@Violet CrownSending hugs. I hope you are able to return soon! i didn’t really post about my reading for the week. I have a stack of spooky audiobooks that have arrived in my hold’s.........since I expect to need stress relief this week I will be working on a couple of fun quilts this week......today’s project are some reindeer and a couple of gnomettes. Anyway I will hopefully get through several....... I have also started Jennifer Estep’s Venum which I am enjoying.

I ran into a non fiction book that has been on my list last week and added it to the stack knowing November was coming........The Dead Duke, His Secret Wife, and His Missing Corpse. Quite a concept and sounds like it might be better than fiction! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25622302-the-dead-duke-his-secret-wife-and-the-missing-corpse

Kareni, Great plague pumpkin!

@Penguinand @MatryoshkaI remember loving The Witch Family. I feel the need to buy a copy!😉

Kathy.......Happy Birthday!🧁🎉🍰💐🥳

It’s new! Thank you.........I really need to do that Carla Kelly week! The only problem is I keep adding to the stack of things with due dates. This morning I decided to check and see if finishing the A to Z challenges was a possibility. I normally do both the by author and title, just as it sounds reading one book for each letter of the alphabet, overlap is fine, any genre so fluffy is more than fine. This is one of those that is by my personal rules. But it does stretch one to read books that they never would have chosen., I am 4 away from finishing both so I checked out 2 romances and 2 mysteries so I can feel on schedule for the year!😂🙃😎 The A to Z got me started reading a Japanese author I love.......Keigo Higashimo https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23847971-a-midsummer-s-equation and his Devotion of Suspect X which I loved and picked for the X one year. I happen to be listening to his Midsummer’s Equation right now as I am using his nerdy crime solving physicist for my Worldwide Detective 10. Reading this probably spurred to A to Z inventory.😉

He’s beautiful. I hope he starts improving. Hugs.......

@Kareni so glad your Sister and bil are doing well!

Yeah! So glad you don’t have to deal with one of your tech’s having Covid. We had a Covid scare that was the flu too.......I wonder if we are all going to be doing this dance all winter. We got our flu shots last week which will hopefully reduce some anxiety! We aren’t doing Halloween either beyond a candy supply for our dc’s. I love the Alpha and Omega series!

I show myself as having read Distant Echos an liking it. I think she plays a minor role in this one, ends up on the cold case team somehow........That said Darker Domain was really good (book 2 per Goodreads).

😂Robin beat me to posting. Since I have all of this done I am still posting!😉 Robin’s Bingo Card for 2020 and most other challenge info is all in Kareni’s “here”.😂. Robin adds bonus squares for overly enthused people like me! ❤️ I tend to make an attempt at most challenges......the Ladies of Lit challenge tab is what I am doing when I post the author’s name spelled out with book titles each month. The 10x10 may not be listed on 52 books. Essentially this is 10 books in 10 different categories.......or 5. Completely up to you! These are a personal challenges that some of us have been known to embark on each year........I think we have all decided they can be carried over to a new year if we haven’t finished. Everybody plays by their own rules so cross over etc are allowed in my world. 😉. So everyone designed their own reading challenge.......I have my 10 Agatha Christie’s, 10 Brit Tripping- Detective books set in 10 counties of England, 10 World Detectives.........you get the idea ........ mainly mysteries. Lots of cozies.......I do have Science Fiction and Steampunk categories so I do read other things!😉 We tend to have fun naming these categories.......I abandoned my “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” and replaced it with sniffer dogs. My 10 is completed in that category! The Nose Knows......sniffer dogs Suspect by Robert Crais Lone Wolf by Sara Driscoll The Scent of Murder by Kylie Logan The Scent of Bones by Kylie Logan A Borrowing of Bones by Paula Munier Burning Ridge by Margaret Mizushima Killing Trail by Margaret Mizushima Stalking Ground by Margaret Mizushima Hunting Ground by Margaret Mizushima Tracking Game by Margaret Mizushima So Still Life which I talked about in an earlier post fits two of my categories.......they travel to both Greater Manchester and Northumberland so I will check off a county. She is a Scottish detective so I can check off a country too. I am requiring 10 countries and 10 counties of myself. So far I don’t have either! And Then Their were None doubles too.........county Devonshire and Agatha Christie.

Sometime in the past couple of months I encountered a recently published book that was set in April 2020. I ended up abandoning that work of incredible fiction out of irritation because it had no pandemic, Life was normal and it made me mad! So I started reading Still Life https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3610138836 by Val McDremid and immediately noticed February 2020 and wondered if the case was going to move into March and how far. Was I going to find myself getting irritated ....... I am happy to report this book deals with the coming plague realistically. About halfway trough a doctor friend of the main character (still February) told her she needed to prepare a bit......pick up a box a gloves and some masks. By the end of the book stay at home was happening. It was edited in........yeah, Val McDermid for the extra effort! Anyway I loved this book. Karen, the detective, specializes in cold cases and the ones in this book were sooooo good! The first was a skeleton found in a camper van found under a tarp in the garage of an accountant who died a couple of weeks before in a traffic accident. The second started out as a bit of French Foreign Legion coolness and ramped up from there! I decided to use it as my Rhythm and Blues Bingo square.......the FFL guy played saxaphone in Jazz clubs and one was visited in the course of the story. Not perfect but if I am going to finish my Bingo card I need to check some more off! I also finished listening to And Then There Were None while sewing yesterday. ❤️ I think I need to finish three more Christie’s for that challenge to be completed for the year!