May’s Mutterings: Rants and Ramblings
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Book review: Murder on Black Swan Lane by Andrea Penrose
Murder on Black Swan Lane by Andrea Penrose My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is the first novel in a mystery series with an interesting premise. The hero, Lord Wrexford, is a member of the aristocracy and very scientifically minded. The heroine, A.J. Quill, is a satirical artist, who seems to know facts about…
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Book review: The Secret Lives of Codebreakers by Sinclair McKay
The Secret Lives of Codebreakers: The Men and Women Who Cracked the Enigma Code at Bletchley Park by Sinclair McKay My rating: 3 of 5 stars You have to set your expectations when reading this book. First and foremost, the author is British, so, not surprisingly, Bletchley Park and the contributions by the British codebreakers…
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Book review: The Scourge of War: The Life of William Tecumseh Sherman by Brian Holden-Reid
The Scourge of War: The Life of William Tecumseh Sherman by Brian Holden-Reid My rating: 4 of 5 stars The author of this book has a definite viewpoint, which is that William Tecumseh Sherman got a bad rap and was not the savage butcher and scourge of the South that he has been portrayed to…
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Thanksgiving 2020
Relief is probably the thought uppermost in most people’s minds–relief that this year is finally drawing to a close. Relief and hope that 2021 will be an improvement. Thanksgiving for our family is always an opportunity to remember our many blessings (and to eat lots of food). We feel fortunate that our extended families are…
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Book review: Tilly and the Bookwanderers by Anna James
Tilly and the Bookwanderers by Anna James My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book (the first in the series) has a very clever premise. Bookwanderers are those readers who have the ability to actually wander into a book and “live out” the book’s experiences. Tilly is one of those fortunate to have the ability…
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Book review: Death in Focus by Anne Perry
Death in Focus by Anne Perry My rating: 4 of 5 stars I’ve been a fan of Anne Perry’s for a long time, and I was delighted to see that she had a new series. This is the debut novel of the Elena Standish mystery series. And while the book is a debut novel of…
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Book review: Chalice by Robin McKinley
Chalice by Robin McKinley My rating: 4 of 5 stars I have loved almost everything I’ve read by Robin McKinley, and “Chalice” is no exception. On the surface, this is a conventional fantasy with magic and villains and heroes. The author lifts the book out of its conventional genre with lyrical–almost poetical–writing (as is typical…
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Book review: The Innocents by C.A. Asbrey
The Innocents by C.A. Asbrey My rating: 4 of 5 stars This isn’t the normal setting for my preferred historical mystery books as the book takes place in the U.S. in the late 1860s, but I couldn’t resist the premise of a female Pinkerton detective. Abigail McKay is one of the few female detectives working…
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Book review: The Black Company by Glen Cook
The Black Company by Glen Cook My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book is a departure from what I often read. It’s fantasy, yes, but it’s a gritty, mercenary fantasy–all sharp edges and plot-driven. I liked it a lot–it’s a little magical, a lot gory, generally unsentimental, and a tad dystopian. For some reason,…
Got any book recommendations?