September 2018 Wrap-Up

Books Read:
Seaview House by Elizabeth Fair  4/5 stars
Another charming, well-written, lightly romantic, English village novel; highly enjoyable.

Miss Buncle Married by D.E. Stevenson  4/5 stars
This follow up to Miss Buncle's Book (my review here) is a delightful, cheerful, enjoyable read.

Olivia in India by O. Douglas   3/5 stars  (my review here)

The Two Mrs. Abbotts  by D.E. Stevenson  4/5 stars
This is the final of the Miss Buncle books, and like the first two, it is charming, fun, and well-written.  I'm sad that there are no more books about Miss Buncle and her community.

Peace Breaks Out by Angela Thirkell  4/5 stars
This fifteenth in Thirkell's Baresetshire Chronicles is just as good as the previous volumes.  In this one, WWII comes to an end, and the characters have to adjust to the lack of war, and find peace time most difficult.  It's witty and snarky, lightly romantic, and fully satisfying to read.

Audio Books Completed:
Shades of Milk and Honey by  Mary Robinette Kowal  3/5 stars (my review here)

The Whole Art of Detection by Lyndsay Faye  4/5 stars
This "continuation" of the Sherlock Holmes stories has all the flavor of the original, but the mysteries are not as believable or as intricate as Dolye's.  Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable read for the dialogues between Holmes and Watson alone.

The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie  4/5 stars
As with most all of Christie's mysteries, this one was entertaining and intelligent.

Calamity Town by Ellery Queen  4/5 stars
While one important point of the mystery was not quite credible, the rest of the story was interesting and, if not riveting, was still a good read.

Ordeal by Innocence by Agatha Christie  4/5 stars
In this stand-alone mystery, Jack Argyle is found guilty of the murder of his mother, but two years later his alibi is verified.  Now the rest of his family are under suspicion, and the true killer will not hesitate to kill again to remain unidentified. This is one of my favorite Christie mysteries: it is intelligent, well-written, and believable.  I highly recommend it.

The Accusers by Lindsey Davis   3/5 stars  (my review here)

Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie  5/5 stars
This is a well-written, credible, and highly entertaining mystery.  I highly recommend it.

The Accusers by Lindsey Davis

The Accusers
Lindsey Davis
2003
3/5

This is the fifteenth in the Marcus Didius Falco mystery series.  I read it first in June 2017.   In my original review, I said:

In this not-particularly-memorable mystery, Falco is hired to prove that a suicide was actually a murder. As usual, the historical details are fascinating, and the wit makes the book; for some reason, though, this one wasn't as charming or engaging as previous volumes of the series.

I can now verify the forgettableness of this novel.  I was eight hours into the ten hour audiobook before I realized that I had read it before.  I would only recommend this one to those readers who are working through the series in order, and then more for the personal details than the story.

Olivia in India by O. Douglas

Olivia in India
O. Douglas 
(pen name of Anna Masterton Buchan)
1912
3/5 stars

Olivia, a young Scotswoman, takes a trip to India to visit her brother, who is a civil servant.  This epistolary novel follows Olivia's ocean voyage to India, her stay in Calcutta, and her visits to outlying posts.  The style is breezy and charming, and the reader gets to know the characters of Olivia and her brother well.  Buchan is quite good at fleshing out minor characters as well, and as a character study, the book is entertaining.  However, there is very little plot to the book; it's main purpose seems to be not to tell a story as to acquaint British readers with the wonders of India, which she does do well.  This lack of plot, though, severely detracts from the novel, making it only an average read.

This book is free on Project Gutenberg.

A Nun in the Closet by Dorothy Gilman

A Nun in the Closet
Dorothy Gilman
1975
3/5 stars

When the Order of St. Tabitha inherits an estate, Sisters John and Hyacinth are sent to inspect it and take inventory.  What they find is a wounded man asking for sanctuary, a suitcase full of money, and multiple jars of sugar in the pantry.  They increase their knowledge of the world with hippies, migrant workers, and the mafia in the adventure of a lifetime.

Gilman's prose is strong and full of enthusiasm.  The characters of Sisters John and Hyacinth were charming and fully enjoyable, with the minor characters being stereotypical.  There was a good deal of social commentary that was so dated as to be boring.  The plot starts of with great promise, but deteriorates toward the end into an unbelievable farce.  It's not that the book was bad, but it's not one I'd recommend or read again.

Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal

Shades of Milk and Honey
Mary Robinette Kowal
2010
3/5 stars

This Regency romance takes place in an alternate universe where magic (glamour) is used.  Jane, an accomplished glamourist, becomes embroiled in the love affair of her sister, while accidentally finding a romance of her own.

Kowal borrows liberally from Jane Austen, but the type of magic she has imagined is quite unique.  The plot is interesting, and was extremely promising, but it lacked that spark that makes a book engrossing.  This is a series, and I certainly won't continue it.

A note on the audio book: The author narrates this novel, and her fake English accent is truly nerve-grating at times.

August 2018 Wrap Up

Books Read:
Miss Bunting by Angela Thirkell  4/5 stars
Another humorous, snarky, yet gentle, novel by Thirkell.  This one had a shade too much snobbism, but was still a good read.

Georgette Heyer's Regency World by Jennifer Kloesters  5/5 stars  (my review here)

Miss Buncle's Book by D.E. Stevenson  4/5 stars  (my review here)


Audio Books Completed:
London: A Short History of the Greatest City in the Western World  (The Great Courses) by Robert Bucholz, D. Phil  5/5 stars
Not actually an audio book, this is a twelve hour course on the history of London.  It was a fascinating course, and Dr. Bucholz was an engaging speaker.

The Vault by Peter Lovesey  4/5 stars
Diamond investigates bones found in a vault, as well as a murder which may have Mary Shelley's Frankenstein at the bottom of it.  I thoroughly enjoy Diamond's personality, and Lovesey's clever mysteries.  This one was well thought out, and good through to the ending.

The Tales of Max Carrados by Ernest Bramah  3/5 stars
These Edwardian tales of a blind detective require great suspension of belief, and coincidence plays a large part in most.

Off With His Head by Ngaio Marsh  4/5 stars
This Inspector Alleyn mystery is intelligent and well plotted, as are all of Marsh's novels.

Sleep No More by P.D. James   5/5 stars
This is a selection of six murder-related short stories that are as near to perfection as one can come.

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle  3/5 stars
This first novel introduces Holmes, and is not as well-written or as believable as the later novels.  Still a fun read, though.

The Case of William Smith by Patricia Wentworth  3/5 stars
This mystery hangs too much on coincidence to be credible, but was still mostly enjoyable.

Did Not Finish:
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
I made it 14 minutes into the audio book, and was intrigued, but the author narrates this herself and is truly terrible.  I may try to read it at some further point.

Pretty Girls Dancing by Kylie Brant
A thriller about a kidnapped girl, well written as far as I got, but too many emotional triggers for me to read it with comfort.

A Casualty of War by Charles Todd
I have enjoyed all the Bess Crawford mysteries up till now.  I listened to eight hours of the audio book and, with three hours to go, just couldn't continue.  It was obvious where the plot was going, and it was taking entirely too long to get there.

Miss Buncle's Book

Miss Buncle's Book
D.E. Stevenson
1934
4/5 stars

Barbara Buncle's income has diminished to a worrisome point, so in an attempt to earn money she writes a novel under the pen name of John Smith.  Not having a vast imagination, Barbara writes of what she knows: the people in her village.  It becomes a best seller and her neighbors are in a fury over the depictions of themselves, seeking to unmask the anonymous author.  At the same time, the book affects some villagers--even Barbara herself--in a positive way that she would never have suspected.

This charming novel is well-written, entertaining, and amusing.  The plot was believable and engrossing.  Stevenson's wit is intelligent, and sometimes sarcastic, but always genuinely funny.  While being a gentle book, it's not overly sweet.  I enjoyed it enough that I will most definitely read more of Mrs. Stevenson's novels.