Miraz Jordan

I rarely buy books on paper, but the first couple of pages of Sylvia and the Birds: How The Bird Lady saved thousands of birds and how you can too by Johanna Emeney and Sarah Laing had me hooked. 📚

This gorgeous NZ book is:

Part graphic biography, part practical guide to protecting our bird wildlife

Another darn good read — Murder At Arrow Pass (An Elk Ridge Murder Mystery Book 2) by Anne Shillolo. 📚

A catastrophic pileup on the treacherous winter highway through Arrow Pass draws Inspector Casgrain and her team into a web of violence that threatens the nearby community of Elk Ridge.

Up in Smoke (Kansas Cozy Mysteries Book 6) by Charlene Weir just didn't really gel for me — I even skimmed several (rather irrelevant) chapters rather than reading them. A couple of characters with very dark back stories, endless political discussions and few appearances by the detectives. 📚

I've enjoyed previous books in this series by Alice Bienia, and this was another engrossing read: Knight In The Museum (A Jorja Knight Private Investigator Mystery Book 5). 📚

When the daughter of a former police officer asks Jorja to look into her father’s death … Jorja is determined to find her the answers she’s looking for.

This book was distinctly odd. Maybe it's a 'thing' I don't know about, a genre I don't usually read … I just don't know. I probably won't read more in the series. 📚

The Thin Woman (The Ellie Haskell Mysteries Book 1) by Dorothy Cannell:

Ellie Simons stands to inherit her Uncle Merlin’s huge English country house. But on three utterly bizarre conditions. One: she must lose 63 pounds (rude!). Two: she must marry the fake fiancé she’s been passing off as her true love all weekend. And three: she must catch whoever killed Uncle Merlin in the first place.

Kansas in winter sounds brutal. I have no understanding of how anyone survives. A Cold Christmas (Kansas Cozy Mysteries Book 5) by Charlene Weir has some complex trails to follow, with the cold almost a character in its own right. Another in an enjoyable series. 📚

I'd missed reading this first in a series, so remedied that. The Winter Widow (Kansas Cozy Mysteries Book 1) by Charlene Weir explains the back story and is an enjoyable read too. 📚

I started Blood Orchids (Paradise Crime Mysteries, Book 1) by Toby Neal but found the interpolated inner joys of a sadist disturbing. Then I realised I could skip those segments. When the two threads collided I put the book aside for a while. Now finished, I liked that the protagonist found strength from a past trauma.

I may read more. 📚

I finished reading Murder: Take Two (Kansas Cozy Mysteries Book 4) by Charlene Weir. 📚

It was a pleasant enough read which made us familiar with the characters, but the solution was ultimately reached through an external source rather than through deduction or clues. That feels a bit of a cheat.

This was a good enough read, though a bit slow and very rainy. A Prescription for Murder (Kansas Cozy Mysteries Book 3) by Charlene Weir. 📚

I think I still have another book in the series to read.

I read 3 chapters of Dead Before Dinner (A Maddie Swallows Mystery Book 1) by Kat Bellemore then stopped and read a few other books.

I did eventually read the rest, but it wasn't a favourite. 📚

I quite enjoyed Amazon.com: A Lesson in Murder (Kansas Cozy Mysteries Book 2) by Charlene Weir. 📚

I didn't figure out the guilty party, but the clues had been there.

Going ahead now to read the next one soon.

Changing Gears by L A Wright held my interest. 📚

When Jen embarks on a scenic cycling tour in France, she never expects to have her life upended by Abi, a captivating Scottish travel writer with a magnetic personality.

A fair few annoying typos. And, as the author seems to love the word askance, she should learn what it means and how to use it …

I loved this excellent book by an author whose previous books I've also really enjoyed. A Calculated Risk by Cari Hunter kept me reading. 📚

Jo has to risk her career to save a woman’s life, and a bad night gets worse when the trauma surgeon turns out to be Isla Munro, Jo’s only real love, who walked out on her 15 years ago and never came back.

The Cleaner, the Cat and the Space Station (The Shantivira Book 1) by Fay Abernethy sounded interesting.

The story was spoiled by the huge amount of rather didactic exposition. I admire the author's wish to present us with alternative ways of thinking, but there was just too much explanation. 📚

On one hand fantasy and romance … not my things really. On the other time travel and lesbians, and lots of interesting women. I read and pretty much enjoyed Sweet Paladin (In the Queerness of Time Book 1) by Alex Washoe. 📚

Harks back to Xena and Gabrielle.

Thanks to Cheri for the link.

The first part of A Fine and Bitter Snow (A Kate Shugak Investigation Book 12) by Dana Stabenow seemed to involve a lot of recaps of things we knew from previous books. Then there were some deaths and things ramped up. Mid way I recalled the who and why from when I first read it. I was wrong. 📚

This is a good book. The concepts about crime and treatment and punishment are interesting, but I can't cope with the ghastliness of it all and am stopping reading at about 25%. The Treatment: A mind-bending gripping speculative crime thriller by Sarah Moorhead. 📚

Dana Stabenow's The Singing of the Dead (A Kate Shugak Investigation Book 11) was split between a crime on the campaign trail of a state senator and a crime that took place back in 1915.

Eventually the two crimes were shown to be linked, but I'm not sure the book really worked as a whole. 📚

I liked Blood and Money (McBride & Tanner Book 1) by Rachel McLean pretty well. It seemed fairly straightforward. Apparently the author has written a couple of other previous series that might have been useful to read first. 📚

Even though it's only 10 weeks since I first read the Dana Stabenow book Midnight Come Again (A Kate Shugak Investigation Book 10) I had not fully remembered it. 📚

This time round (and with the book in context) I recognised the central role of Kate's emotional journey. Such an excellent author!

In re-reading Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak novels I delayed Hunter's Moon (Kate Shugak Novels Book 9) because I knew it had a couple of momentous plot points.

Maybe Midnight Come Again (A Kate Shugak Investigation Book 10) which I actually first read a few weeks ago will be easier. 📚

Abandoned at 35% — with its omniscient narrator and sordid sex-based crimes there was far too much time spent within very nasty events. Dark Game (Detective Kelly Porter Book 1) by Rachel Lynch. This was not the right book for me. 📚

A shame, as it's the first of 11 books.

This series by Lynne McEwan has caught hold of me. In The Girls in the Glen (Detective Shona Oliver Book 3) I had my suspicions about the ultimate bad guy from around half way through the book.

A satisfying and well-told story. 📚

The second book was as gripping as the first — Dead Man Deep (Detective Shona Oliver Book 2) by Lynne McEwan. 📚

Interesting fact about Beaufort's Dyke, a real-life natural trench between Scotland and Ireland and a key plot point: well over a million tons of munitions have been dumped there.