a bookish month

Life is super busy just now and I've hardly been in the sewing room. 

I have, however, found a little time to read this month.

"The Woman in the Library" by Sulari Gentill is a clever mystery within a mystery. It begins with a Bostonian chap named Leo writing to an Australian author, Hannah Tigone. When Hannah is stuck in the pandemic lockdown in Australia, she continues to email Leo, who is more than happy - if a little too assertive - to help research her settings & plotting style, etc . I should add this is not really a read about the pandemic, but it does get mentioned. 

Hannah's 'new' novel involves four strangers who are sitting in the same area in the Boston Public Library when they hear a shrill scream. The scream ends up bringing these twenty to thirty-somethings together. As the foursome begin to build stronger relationships, they find themselves entangled up in the mystery surrounding the death of the young woman. The trouble is, one of them is a murderer.

As things grow more and more complicated, so too do Hannah and Leo’s interactions. The cat and mouse games between the several characters leads to different thrilling surprises, and a tense ending. 

This book won't be everyone's cup-of-tea, but once I got past my initial confusion I needed to keep going!

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I did enjoy reading this next one, great writing and character development! Spanning just ten days in the 1950s and told from multiple points of view, Towles’ novel provides an array of new and elaborately imagined settings and characters.

Eighteen year old Emmett has just been released from a juvenile detention facility after serving time for involuntary manslaughter. Now that his father has passed away and he no longer has family in town, he plans to pick up his little 8yr old brother and drive along the Lincoln Highway to California where they can start anew.

But his carefully laid plans go awry almost from the very beginning - with so many different 'side trips' - all I can say is, what a journey!

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I had 'The Maid' by Nita Prose ordered at the library for months & months, and it arrived last week. Molly Grey, a maid at the Regency Grand Hotel, gets herself into a bit of a pickle when she discovers a guest, Mr. Black, dead in bed. Who is responsible for the crime and will Molly go down just for being a bit different?

Molly knows that she is different. She has problems with social skills. She can offend people when she means to compliment them. She says wrong things at the wrong time. And I found her incredibly endearing.
She's always had her beloved Gran to explain things to her, however since Gran passed away she has had no one to help her navigate all these challenges. I found it a quirky read, well written with great character development and descriptive detail.
And the ending was just. so. perfect!

I think if you enjoyed "eleanor oliphant is completely fine" then I'm sure you will like this one too. 

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S.A. Cosby's novel "Blacktop Wasteland" is categorised as a crime novel, but it's about so so much more... first and foremost being a father and risking everything for others. 

Beauregard "Bug" Montage is a good father, a faithful husband, and is trying to make an honest living working hard as an excellent mechanic. But he has a troubled past and, even though he has "gone clean", those in the underworld know him as one of the best drivers in the business.

After a series of money troubles where nothing seems to be going right, Bug reluctantly takes part in a daring diamond heist to solve his finacial issues - just one last crime to save his family and then he's going straight once and for all. 

However, when it all goes awfully wrong, he's sucked into a grimy underworld which threatens everything, and everyone, he holds dear.

Happy reading,

Linda