“The Cracked Spine,” by Paige Shelton

A Scottish Bookshop Mystery

Delaney works in a museum in Kansas. As a result of budget cuts, she looses her job. Well! I was not at all surprised when she packs her bags and moves to Scotland to work at a bookstore in Edinburgh ~ and a mighty fine bookstore it is! What a shop to explore! :)Shortly after she arrives in this interesting country, someone is murdered. Delaney – loaded with determination – won’t stop until the mystery is solved.

I really really enjoyed this story. What an adventure! Delaney is a little quirky but up for the challenge of relocating and living in a new country. I liked her. However, my favorite characters were Elias, the cab driver, and his wife Aggie. They were so warm, friendly, and hospitable. They received Delaney with open arms and were always available to help in any way they could.

There was so much mystery inside this mystery. Edwin, the owner of the bookstore, was an enigma. Hamlet, the thespian, definitely had a mysterious quality to him. The auctions were mysterious. Edwin’s friends seemed hidden, in a sense, and unexplained. And Edinburgh has it’s own unique baffling qualities. This story held my attention!

This author has great words in her book ~ fortuitous, nestled, canny, cryptic, mishmash, froufrou, discombobulation, traipse and nefarious! 🙂

I am so ready to board a jet and travel to Scotland! Enjoy! 5***** mysterious stars!

Advertisement

“The Flaming Forest,” by James Oliver Curwood

David Carrigan of the Northwest Mounted Police, is a man on a mission. He has been given the task of tracking, locating and capturing the outlaw Roger Audemard. While David is on his quest to apprehend the criminal, he is shot and becomes ill. In a fog of injury he realizes a woman shot him and the same woman nurses him back to health! David falls in love with her, only to discover she is another man’s wife.

Well! This was a good story. It’s adventure, romance and mystery. There are twists and surprises in the story. And Curwood, once again, carries it through, and brings it all together in the end.

The Flaming Forest became a silent film in 1926, starring Antonio Moreno an Renee Adoree!

Happy Birthday Charlotte Bronte!

This lovely lady wrote “Jane Eyre,” one of my favorite classic novels.

 

Top Ten Tuesday!

With the warmth of spring, the park near our home is blessed with more activity. So, for top ten Tuesday I have created a list of activities I have enjoyed observing or participating in at the park. Enjoy!

~ Men playing bagpipes! That’s right, with the warmer temperatures, it is not uncommon to see and hear, the caterwauling sound of someone playing the bagpipes! That amazing sound, which I do enjoy, can be heard for many blocks. 🙂

~ Male and female performers practicing tight rope walking! 🙂 I haven’t examined the rope up close and personal, but these daring ladies and gents do stretch out a tight rope, in the park, and practice their talent. I might ask them if I can give it a try sometime. 🙂

~ Weddings. With the warmer temps, it is not uncommon to see a wedding in the park every weekend. My favorite wedding ~ the bride and the groom drove away on a scooter/vespa! Oh yea! He was wearing his tuxedo and she was fully adorned in her wedding gown. He was driving and off they went. It was great! I loved it!

JUST MARRIED!

~ Family Reunions, picnics and birthday parties!

~ Owners training their dogs, or maybe, dogs training their owners!

~ Church services are very common in the park.

~ Concerts.

~ Story telling and plays for children. This is very popular. It attracts children from all over the city.

~ Friends tossing Frisbees to one another.

~ Horseshoe competitions.

Below ~ My awesome photography of flowers in the park. This photo is from the spring of 2015.

“To Helvetica and Back,” by Paige Shelton

We have a vintage typewriter with a “L” key that doesn’t work correctly and a strange man demanding to purchase it. Later strange man is discovered dead.

It was a good mellow murder mystery. ****4 stars. No gangbusters or shoot ’em up type stuff. No cavalry coming to the rescue ~ well, maybe a little. This is the first book in this series.

Clare is our amateur sleuth and Jodie is her best fiend and local police officer. The two women grew up together in Utah. They make quite a pair.

Back in the day, Clare’s Grandpa Chester started a business to repair typewriters. Grandpa expanded his business through the years. This unique shop is called, The Rescued Word. They restore old books, sell high end paper products and “modern day writing instruments.” Oh yea, they continue to repair typewriters. Grandpa also has a replica of a Gutenberg printing press. Yes, they do use the printing press. Clare runs the business now and enjoys her work. I like this business. I would work here. Yup, I would.

This small town has other interesting businesses. One man in town teaches Latin. That’s right, Latin. I would sign up for his classes! 🙂 Yes I would. I would be speaking Latin to everyone I meet. Then we have mines and a geologist, goats and bikers. Yes, it is an interesting cozy mystery.

I gave it four stars because it has a couple of very minor things that made me crinkle up my nose *haha* but I enjoyed the book.

Have you read “To Helvetica and Back?” I’d love to hear from you.

 

 

Inkling Explorations

http://www.heidi-n-peterson.blogspot.com

This month’s selection is ~ A Description of a Lady in Literature ~ I chose Lady Eowyn from The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers and she’s also in The Return of the King.. Eowyn is my favorite character in Tolkien’s books. She’s strong, she loves her people. She faces her fears and has amazing passionate patriotism. She feels and hurts deeply but does take time to heal. Most of you know how she rode into battle with the army of Rohan and faced the witch king Angmar. Later she met Faramir, they fell in love and became one of my favorite couples in fiction.  I love her. She’s amazing.

*******

“The woman turned and went slowly into the house. As she passed the doors she turned and looked back. Grave and thoughtful was her glance, as she looked on the king with cool pity in her eyes. Very fair was her face, and her long hair was like a river of gold. Slender and tall she was in her white robe girt with silver; but strong she seemed and stern as steel, a daughter of kings. Thus Aragorn for the first time in the full light of day beheld Eowyn, lady of Rohan and thought her fair, fair and cold, like a morning of pale spring that is not yet come to womanhood. And she now was suddenly aware of him: tall heir of kings, wise with many winters, grey cloaked, hiding a power that yet she felt. For a moment still as stone she stood, then turning swiftly she was gone.” ~The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, J.R.R. Tolkien

The Red Door Inn, by Liz Johnson

Marie Carrington flees Boston for Prince Edward Island. She’s hurting, desperate and broke. As she stares at the ferry that carries people to PEI, she meets Jack. He’s widowed and in need of a woman who can put the finishes touches on his Inn. Jack pays her fare and they cross the water together in this charming story of hope and second chances.

I read this story at the perfect time. I had just tried to read two horrible books and needed a nice, gentle read with characters I would come to love and a setting that would make me sigh. This was the book. I loved it. I enjoyed the Inn, the renovations, the interior design, the antique shop and the auction. I loved the bakery and of course, I loved all the characters, especially Jack. He was my favorite! 🙂 And! Prince Edward Island was the perfect setting for such a sweet story. *****5 stars.

Classic Movie Friday! ~A little early :)

The House of Fear ~1945

Basil Rathbone

Nigel Bruce

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are called upon to investigate a mysterious situation at a castle in Scotland. One by one members of a group of seven men are being bumped off after they receive a puzzling envelope containing an orange pip delivered to the next victim.

Have you seen this Holmes classic mystery? Not my favorite, but a good one.

TOP TEN TUESDAY!

Good morning. Rissi has inspired me! That’s right. She has. She writes a Top Ten Tuesday feature on her blog ~ maybe ~ once a month? once a week? once every two weeks? Anyway, I enjoy her TOP TEN TUESDAY, sooooo, I decided to start writing a Top Ten Tuesday here. You can find Rissi at ~

http://www.rissiwrites.com

I might be doing something a little different for my first Top Ten Tuesday. I wrote a list of the Top Ten messes I enjoy. Messes? That’s right, messes. I discovered the idea in a magazine I was reading at the bookstore a few days ago. I have not included people 🙂 in my Top Ten mess list, however, people do create the messes. 🙂

~ scattered pillows

~ rumpled, unmade bed with fluffy blankets

~ an overly full bulletin board

~ stacks of books piled high along the stairway

~ a dining room table, with scattered colored pencils, paper, and journals

~ my doodle journal, full of scribbles, scratches, scriptures, notes and simple art

~ wrapping paper, bows, gift boxes scattered around a room after the gifts have been opened

~ autumn leaves covering our lawn in the fall

~ wooly mittens and scarves drying by the fireplace in the winter

~ stuffed animals tossed about

Do you have a favorite mess? Maybe an unusual idea, but I like it. I’d love to hear from you. 🙂

 

The Sidekick? The Unsung Hero/Heroine!

Happy April 1st! 🙂 I am happy to say, the unsung heroine for this feature is Marmie from Little Women.

Her husband is away in battle. She is trying to feed, clothe and keep her daughters warm on a very limited budget – no money – and she tries her best to help the needy. Interesting, when she could use a helping hand herself. I know this sounds like a cliché, but her riches are not in money.

She raises four amazing daughters!