Let me inject a dose of frivolity into this worthy thread. Books read in the past two weeks: Pru Warren's History's Muse, a contemporary romance that incidentally and amusingly bashes Mormons; Mary Lancaster's Petteril's Ladybird, a Regency murder mystery that's the third in a series featuring a reclaimed street urchin; Christina Dudley's Minta in Spite of Herself, part of another Regency series that takes place nowhere near London and features a tomboy out to rescue her best friend from a fortune hunter; Emma Melbourne's Miss Fleming Falls in Love, another Regency, one that Amazon pushed at me at least a dozen times but turned out to be worth reading for the dry wit and the absurd minor characters; Lynn Messina's A Murderous Tryst, the latest in the Regency series in which a spinster-now-duchess solves crimes and frets over her marriage to a delightful man; and Jessie Clever's The Duke Always Wins, another Regency (yes, sensing a theme here) about two people who intelligently grope their way toward love despite the pain of the past. I also read seven other Regencies during this same time period, but they were not sufficiently noteworthy to be listed here. I'm also in the middle of a collection of time travel stories, in which the very British characters call each other "Darling" at the drop of a hat. It's a word that is used much more sparingly in the U.S. As Mies Van Der Rohe said, "Less is more."

Did I get anything else done during this same length of time? Short answer: yes. Long answer: probably should stop reading and spend the same amount of time on marketing and/or writing more.

I just finished The Wager, A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann. It's not my usual kind of thing, but was recommended by a cousin who did make it sound interesting, and it was. The Wager was one of a fleet of British ships that set out in 1740 with the goal of sailing around the Horn, up the west coast of the Americas and taking and looting a Spanish galleon (one of the ships that didn't wreck succeeded at that in the end). The Wager didn't make it, and some of the crew only made it back to England years later and rather miraculously.

Since I told cousin the last book he wanted me to read was too depressing and no thanks, I felt kind of obliged to try this one even though it's not my usual thing. I like reading about history, but early 1700s and seafaring isn't my usual choice. However, this did catch my interest in several ways. Next cousin recommends Killers of the Flower Moon, which is by the same author, but that's another no thanks. I already know that story well enough and don't need hundreds of pages of that miserable tale.

Before that was The Longmire Defense by Craig Johnson, which is more my normal kind of reading. I thought Johnson jumped the shark a couple books ago and demoted him to the don't buy, get from library list, but he's finally kind of back to what made it a good series to start with.

If you enjoy a British setting and humour then don't miss this feel-good happy-ever-after read.

When 40-year-old former US navy officer Adam Wild takes up the position of head teacher at St Mary’s Academy for Girls in England, he knows he’ll have his work cut out for him. But what he doesn’t realise is that his greatest challenge will be in managing the all-female staff.

Intrigue, scandal and suspense simmer beneath the surface of this light-hearted and humour-peppered romance, where one man’s influence on a school full of wayward girls and their teachers changes their lives in ways none of them could imagine – and eventually his own.

FREE on all Amazon sites 9-13 November 2023 (US times)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00HB6329C
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HB6329C

Bump.

Bodies is quite entertaining. Especially, how well they mange the time shifts.



R.C.