Books Read in February and March 2025

 

I read a lot of good books in February and March, in a variety of genres and different settings. 

Fiction

The Goodbye Cat (2021) by Hiro Arikawa, translated by Philip Gabriel

This book consists of seven short stories; all of the stories are about cats and are set in Japan. See my review.

Rachel's Holiday (1997) by Marian Keyes

This book was one of two books I read for Reading Ireland Months 2025. It is the second in Marian Keyes' Walsh family series. The story focuses on Rachel, the third of five sisters, after she overdoses on drugs and almost dies. I enjoyed this book and the preceding one, Watermelon. See my review.

Plays

Much Ado About Nothing (1598) by William Shakespeare

I read this play for my Classics Club Spin in February. I haven't written a post about it but I will do one, soon I hope. I was leery of reading any Shakespeare play, so I picked a comedy that I was more familiar with. I read the play in the Folger Library Edition which presents explanatory notes on the left hand page and the actual text of the play on the right hand page. That was useful at first but with the last three acts I found I could pick up the meanings myself and move faster through the play. All in all it was a good experience.

Historical Fiction

A God in Ruins (2015) by Kate Atkinson

I am sad that I don't have time to review this book, because I loved it so much when I read it. I did not like the ending and I still gave it 5 stars. It is a hard story to summarize and describe. This book is sort of a sequel to Life After Life by the same author. Life After Life was about Ursula Todd, and is a time loop novel, where portions of Ursula's life are repeated over and over with different results. A God in Ruins is about Ursula's brother Teddy. It also has a strange structure jumping back and forth to various times in Teddy's life and focusing most often on his years in the RAF during World War II.

Science Fiction 

The Ministry of Time (2024) by Kaliane Bradley

This was another book that I rated very highly, even though it was confusing and I was not fond of the ending. The book is advertised as time travel, romance, espionage, and "a workplace comedy." Looking back on it, it does have elements of all of those, but having these thrown into one book diluted each of them. Nevertheless, it was a compelling read and I wanted to get back to reading it every day. The characters were interesting and fleshed out and mostly sympathetic. One thing I especially liked was that I learned a lot about the Franklin Expedition, a failed attempt to find the Northwest Passage. I have never been interested in that story but now I am. 

Diving into the Wreck (2009) by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

This is the first book in Rusch's Diving Universe series. The protagonist in this story is a woman who makes her living diving into derelict ships out in space. She does these salvage operations to support herself, but her real love is history and she likes to study the ships. See my review.

Crime Fiction

Silent Parade (2018) by Keigo Higashino, translated by Giles Murray

This book is the 9th book in the Detective Galileo series, but only the 4th book translated to English. It is about two crimes that take place in Tokyo, separated by about 20 years. In both cases, young girls have been killed. The suspect is the same for both but all the evidence is circumstantial. Detective Chief Inspector Kusanagi turns to his old friend, physics professor and sometimes police consultant, Manabu Yukawa (aka Detective Galileo), to help solve the murders. See my review.

Fall From Grace (1991) by L.R. Wright

This is the fourth book in one of my favorite Canadian mystery series. The main character is Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sergeant Karl Alberg. I have found most of the books in the series to be more of a character study than a mystery. See my review.

The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules (2012) by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg, translated by Rod Bradbury

This book is  kind of a comedy / heist / romance all mixed into one. (The romance is very low key.) It is the first book in the League of Pensioners series. The main characters are all around 80 years old and living in a retirement home that is going downhill. The owners are medicating the residents to keep them in line and manage costs. Five of the residents, three women and two men, decide to carry out some robberies, sort of a Robin Hood scheme to give money to the poor. I enjoyed reading this book, but it required suspending my disbelief a lot. 

I have seen a lot of good reviews of this book, but this review at AnaBookBel was my favorite. The book was published in 2012 in Sweden, then a few years later in the UK and the US, but this was the first I had heard of it. It was an interesting picture of Sweden. 

Scene of the Crime (2024) by Margot Kinberg

This is the fifth novel in Margot Kinberg's Joel Williams series. The setting is academia; the protagonist is a college professor in Tilton University’s Department of Criminal Justice. Joel is not a policeman but he was in the past, and he has ties to the police department. Thus, the books are part academic mystery and part police procedural. I have read the four previous books in the series and this was another good one. See my review.

Winterland (2008) by Alan Glyn

This book is another book I read for Reading Ireland Month 2025. It is a thriller, and I don't always like those, but this one worked for me. Very dark and a good bit of violence, but none of that bothered me. Two men named Noel Rafferty die in one day in Dublin. The younger one was part of a gang; the second one was his uncle, who was chief engineer for the development of a high rise building.  Supposedly the second death was the result of a car accident, but Gina Rafferty (sister of the older Noel Rafferty) doesn't believe that. And she refuses to stop asking questions. I liked the book; if you are OK with thrillers and enjoy reading about Ireland, you might enjoy it too.

Three Witnesses (1956) by Rex Stout

This book is a collection of three novellas in the Nero Wolfe series. In January, I reviewed "Die Like a Dog." In March, I reviewed "The Next Witness" and "When a Man Murders." All three novellas were entertaining and clever.

The photos at the top and bottom of this post were taken at the Santa Barbara International Orchid Show that we attended in March. I plan to share more photos from the show in a future post. Click on the images for the best viewing quality.

Fall from Grace: L.R. Wright

 

The Prologue opens in Spring 1980. Several friends are attending the high school graduation of Bobby Ransome, a young man who was graduating several years late due to problems in his earlier years. The second part of the prologue takes place ten years later, in the summer of 1990, when Bobby has returned from several years in prison for dealing drugs. Bobby joins his ex-wife, Wanda, and her family for dinner, much to the dismay of her current husband, Warren. Bobby's return has caused some excitement and some dismay around the small town of Sechelt. 

A few weeks later, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sergeant Karl Alberg is out sailing with his lover Cassandra when they see the body of a man on the beach. It turns out that he had fallen from a cliff above. The dead man was Steven Grayson, who grew up in Sechelt but has been living in Vancouver for the last ten years. 

The story is told from multiple perspectives (Karl Alberg's, Cassandra's, the various members of the community that are affected by the death and by Bobby's return). At the same time that Cassandra and Karl are continuing to figure out their relationship, one of Karl's daughters is visiting for the summer and working part-time for the local newspaper. And Karl is dealing with the fact that his ex-wife is getting married again.

My thoughts:

As usual, the characters in this story are very well-drawn. This is the fourth book in the Karl Alberg series and I have found most of the books to be more of a character study than a mystery. And I like them that way.

The setting and the atmosphere are lovely. Sechelt is a real-life seaside community on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, northwest of Vancouver. As described below...

   On the Sunshine Coast that year, summertime was long and hot and dusty, and the world smelled of raspberries and roses.

   For weeks the sky remained utterly clear, and the air was hot and still.

   The waters that lapped at the western shoreline were such a deep blue they looked as if they might stain the skin. The nearer islands near the Strait of Georgia were etched fine and clear, every tree and every rock sharp-edged; the islands somewhat farther away were soft dark shapes against the sky; the most distant islands were purple shadows in the far-reaching sea.

I continue to enjoy this series and I am surprised each time at the themes the author covers and the different approaches she takes to each novel.

 -----------------------------

Publisher: Felony & Mayhem, 2010. Orig. pub. 1991.
Length:  275 pages
Format:  Trade paperback
Series:   Karl Alberg #4 
Setting:  Sunshine Coast in British Columbia, Canada
Genre:   Mystery, Police Procedural

Books Read in January 2025

 

With the exception of one book, I was very happy with the books I read in January. I read two books for the Japanese Literary Challenge. I read several new-to-me authors and continued some series I had started earlier. 

Fiction

The Travelling Cat Chronicles (2012) by Hiro Arikawa
Translated by Philip Gabriel

This was the first book I read for the Japanese Literary Challenge. It is the story of a man and his cat, which he adopted after the cat was hit by a car. After they have lived together for five years, the man has to find a new home for the cat. They travel to various parts of Japan to visit with several of the man's old friends to see it they can take the cat in. See my review.

Anything Is Possible (2017) by Elizabeth Strout

This book, the second book in the Amgash series, consists of linked short stories. Some of the stories give more information about Lucy Barton and members of her family who still live in Amgash. Other stories are about other residents of Amgash, who are in some way connected to Lucy Barton. I liked it and am ready to start something else by Strout. See my review. 

Crime Fiction

Parting Breath (1978) by Catherine Aird 

Parting Breath is an academic mystery set in Catherine Aird's fictional county of Calleshire, England; it features Detective Inspector C.D. Sloan of the Berebury CID, and his assistant, Detective Constable Crosby. The first book of the series was published in 1966 and the 28th book in 2023. Catherine Aird is one of my favorite mystery writers, and I hope to read all the books in the series. See my review.

The Woman in Cabin 10 (2016) by Ruth Ware

I had not read any of Ware's books, I was curious, and I thought I would like a book about a woman on a cruise.  For most of the book I was not too impressed. There were no characters I cared about, and especially not the main character. But the end was very well done and kept me turning the pages, so I revised my overall opinion a bit.   

The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies (2023) by Alison Goodman

My husband and I were both interested in this book when it first came out; the setting in the Regency period was appealing. The story is a good blend of historical fiction, mystery, romance, and adventure, with the emphasis on adventure. Some of the scenes of life in Regency England, depicting the way the poor were treated and the mistreatment of women in general, are excruciating to read. Overall, I enjoyed the book and expect that I will read the sequel.

Thirteen Guests (1936) by J. Jefferson Farjeon

In mid-January, Neeru at A Hot Cup of Pleasure reviewed five books by J. Jefferson Farjeon. Her post motivated me to read one of Farjeon's books. I found that my husband had a copy of Thirteen Guests in his TBR stacks, so I started reading it. It is a country house mystery and I enjoyed it much more than I expected. I liked the characters and how the author developed them, and there was some romance that did not take over the story. And I especially liked the unusual ending.

Three Assassins (2004) by Kōtarō Isaka
Translated by Sam Malissa

This was the second book I read for the Japanese Literature Challenge. The author also wrote Bullet Train, and the two books are similar in many ways. The main character is Suzuki, who was formerly a schoolteacher but is working for a crime gang. Suzuki is seeking revenge for the murder of his wife by working undercover in the gang. See my review.

Currently reading

I am about a third of the way into Fall from Grace by L.R. Wright, published in 1991. It is the fourth book in a series starring Karl Alberg, a staff sergeant in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Sechelt, British Columbia, Canada. I am enjoying it very much.

In early February, my husband and I had jury duty. Although the trial we were called for was not being tried at the main courthouse, we did visit the beautiful Santa Barbara County Courthouse while we were there. My husband took some photos, and I am sharing two of them in this post. Click on the images for the best viewing quality.

Monthly Reading in February 2019

In February, I read ten books. Four of the books were not crime fiction, although one was a reference book about classic crime ficton. And I read six crime fiction books, published between 1941 and 2015.

Mystery reference

The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books (2017) by Martin Edwards

From the introduction by Martin Edwards: "This book tells the story of crime fiction published during the first half of the twentieth century. I see it as a tale of the unexpected. The diversity of this much-loved genre is breathtaking, and so much greater than many critics have suggested. To illustrate this, I have chosen one hundred examples of books which highlight the achievements, and sometimes the limitations, of popular fiction of that era." 

The book is comprised of chapters discussing various types of Golden Age mysteries, with several examples of each type examined in detail. My favorite part was the introduction to each group of books, where many other books and authors are briefly discussed.

Nonfiction

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania (2015) by Erik Larson

In telling this story of the events leading to the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915, Erik Larson focuses on the Lusitania, the U-boat that attacked the ship, and governmental groups in the US and the UK. This was a very entertaining book and I raced through it. Of course, I knew the basic story, but there was so much I did not know, so there were many surprises.

Graphic novel

Descender, Vol. 1, Tin Stars (2015) by Jeff Lemire (Writer),  Dustin Nguyen (Artist)

One of my reading goals in 2019 is to read more of the graphic novels I have. In this science fiction story, TIM-21 is a robot designed to be a companion to a child. He wakes up from a 10-year long sleep to find that everyone on his world is dead and robots have sort of been outlawed. I will be continuing with this series; this was an intriguing start to the story.

Fiction

The Tin Flute (1945) by Gabrielle Roy

This is a classic Canadian novel, first published in French as Bonheur d'occasion. The book tells the story of the Lacasse family in the St. Henri area in Montreal, during World War II. They are poor, and only the oldest daughter, Florentine, is working. Eugene, the oldest brother, has joined the military. The father, Azarius, is usually unemployed, a dreamer, always leaving one job for a "better" opportunity. It took me a while to get into the story, but about halfway into the book it gripped me and I could not stop reading.

Crime Fiction

Murder in Mykonos (2010) by Jeffrey Siger

This is the first book that features Inspector Andreas Kaldis. In this book he is Police Chief on the island of Mykonos, but in later books he works in other parts of Greece. I am looking forward to reading more of the series. Reviewed here.

A Chill Rain in January (1990) by L.R. Wright

This is the third book in the Karl Alberg series by L. R. Wright. Alberg is a Sergeant in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The novel is set in Sechelt, which is on the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia, Canada. I have read books 1 and 2 and will be continuing on with the series. Reviewed here.

A Killing in Quail County (1996) by Jameson Cole

This is a perfect story of growing up in the 1950's in rural Oklahoma. Fifteen-year-old Mark Stoddart lives with his older brother Jess, a deputy sheriff in the small town of Bob White. Mark plans to spend his summer looking for evidence of a local bootlegger, to help out his brother. This turns out to be very complicated and more dangerous than he expected. The teenage characters are depicted especially well.

Evil Under the Sun (1941) by Agatha Christie

A while ago we purchased a set of three films based on mystery novels by Agatha Christie, and one of them was Evil Under the Sun. So I skipped ahead to read this book in the Hercule Poirot series out of order. The setting is the Jolly Rogers Hotel, on Smugglers’ Island, off the coast of Devon. A beautiful woman is killed and the murderer must be one of the guests on the island. As usual for an Agatha Christie novel, this is a clever and entertaining story.

The Shanghai Factor (2013) by Charles McCarry

Charles McCarry is one of my favorite writers of spy fiction and this novel did not disappoint. It is narrated by a young male American spy, working as a sleeper agent for an unnamed US agency, who is living in Shanghai to learn Mandarin. Many of the spy novels I have read have an underlying theme of betrayal and mistrust, and this one is no different.  Reviewed here.

All the Old Knives (2015) by Olen Steinhauer

Olen Steinhauer is another of my favorite authors of spy fiction. This book has an unusual format, taking place during a dinner between two people who used to work together at the CIA station in Vienna. Henry is following up on an investigation into the hijacking of an airliner that occurred when Henry and Carol worked together. During the dinner they both think back to that event and we gradually learn how it turned out. 

A Chill Rain in January: L.R. Wright

Zoe Strachan was an angry, dangerous child, who eventually learned to keep her anger under control and hide her true self. As an adult, she has moved to Sechelt, on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, and has structured her life the way she wants it. Until her brother shows up and threatens to reveal some of her secrets. Shortly after that he dies from a fall down a flight of stairs.

Ramona Orlitzki, elderly and a widow, used to enjoy living alone in her small cottage, going out and enjoying her friends and neighbors and depending on them for help now and then. Eventually, her memory deteriorated and she got too old to live alone and had to move to Sechelt's hospital floor reserved for the elderly who needed care. But she tires of the regimented existence and lack of freedom and makes a break for it. The strange thing is, she is successful and eludes discovery.


The lives of these two women intersect and Staff Sergeant Karl Alberg gets involved. The local medical examiner hesitates to sign off on the death of Zoe's brother as accidental. Alberg doesn't think that there has been a crime, but he knows something is off.

This is not your standard mystery. The story is told from many points of view: Zoe's, Ramona's, Karl Alberg's, and more. The reader knows what is happening and the only mystery is... how will the situation be resolved? The story slowly moves to a climax.

A Chill Rain in January reads more like a straight novel than a mystery, focusing in part on the reaction in a small town when Ramona disappears. Some readers may not care for that, but it was perfect for me.

This is the third book in the Karl Alberg series by L. R. Wright. The first book, The Suspect, won the Edgar for Best Mystery Novel. I have read the first three books in the series, and they all feature excellent characterization and development of relationships over time, and loads of atmosphere. I would love to visit Sechelt.

-----------------------------

Publisher:   Felony & Mayhem, 2009 (orig. pub. 1990)
Length:      261 pages
Format:      Trade paperback
Series:       Karl Alberg #3
Setting:      Sunshine Coast in British Columbia, Canada
Genre:        Police procedural
Source:      I purchased my copy.

2019 TBR Pile Challenge!

Roof Beam Reader’s Official TBR Pile Challenge is back for its EIGHTH YEAR! And this will be my 5th year participating.

The idea is:
1) Read 12 books that have been sitting on your TBR shelf for at least a year.
2) The books must be listed in advance and the post up by January 15, 2019. Two extra alternate titles are allowed in case you run into a title that you cannot read or finish for any reason.
3) Books must be read and must be reviewed (doesn’t have to be too fancy) in order to count as completed.

Last year I did not do so well with the challenge. Of the total of fourteen books, I read 11 of them, which is not bad. But of those 11, I only reviewed 4 of them.

So here is my list and we will see how well I do with it this year.

• Deadly Nightshade (1940) by Elizabeth Daly
• The Iron Gates (1945) by Margaret Millar
• The Long November (1946) by James Benson Nablo
• Perfect Gallows (1988) by Peter Dickinson 
• A Chill Rain In January (1990) by L.R. Wright
• The Axeman's Jazz (1991) by Julie Smith
• The Summons (1995) by Peter Lovesey
• Tarnished Icons (1997) by Stuart Kaminsky
• What Never Happens (2004) by Anne Holt
• The Secret in Their Eyes (2005) by Eduardo Sacheri
• City of Shadows (2006) by Ariana Franklin
• The Shanghai Factor (2013) by Charles McCarry

Alternates:

• Death in Amsterdam (1962) by Nicolas Freeling
• Murder in Mykonos (2009) by Jeffrey Siger

Six Degrees of Separation from Memoirs of a Geisha to Blue Lightning

The Six Degrees of Separation meme is hosted by Kate at booksaremyfavoriteandbest. The idea behind the meme is to start with a book and use common points between two books to end up with links to six other books, forming a chain. Every month she provides the title of a book as the starting point.

It is not a requirement that the books be ones I have read, but this month I have read all of the books in my chain.

The starting point this month is Arthur Golden’s bestseller, Memoirs of a Geisha. I have not read the book, and I will be interested to read what others have to say about this book, as there was controversy surrounding its publication.

Moving on to my first link, I chose to go with another book set in Japan. The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino is a crime fiction novel first published in 2006 in Japan, then translated to English and published by Minotaur Books in 2011.

Yasuko Hanaoka is surprised when her abusive ex-husband Togashi shows up at her apartment. He wants money from her and threatens both her and her teenaged daughter Misato.Togashi ends up dead, strangled. Yasuko’s next door neighbor, Mr. Ishigami, offers to help them dispose of the body. Of course, once the body is discovered, the police consider Yasuko one of the suspects and life becomes very tense for Yasuko, her daughter, and her neighbor.
https://bitterteaandmystery.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-devotion-of-suspect-x-keigo.html

This book is an inverted mystery; the reader knows from the beginning who committed the murder. Thus the story focuses on how the murderer is discovered.

My next book in the chain is The Suspect by L. R. Wright, another inverted mystery. In this book the murder takes place at the beginning of the novel and we know who did it. At eighty, George Wilcox murders a man, and this story is as much about why the murder was committed as how.

This was the author's first mystery novel, and we are introduced to Staff Sergeant Karl Alberg of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The novel is set in Sechelt, which is on the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia, Canada. It is character-driven, slowly develops the relationships of the main characters, and has a cozy feel. The Suspect won the 1986 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel of the year. It was the first Canadian novel to do so.

For my next choice, I link to another book by a Canadian author, but in this case the action occurs in France during World War II. Kaleidoscope by J. Robert Janes is set in Occupied France, in December of 1942. It is the story of two men who are on opposite sides but must work together. Gestapo Haupsturmführer Hermann Kohler and  his partner, Sûreté Chief Inspector Jean-Louis St-Cyr have been thrown together by circumstances to investigate crimes.  They have developed a trusting relationship, but know that due to the realities of war, it will probably not end well. One side or the other will be the victor, and then where will their loyalties lie? This is the third book in a series of 16 books.

Another series that centers around World War II is the Bernie Gunther series by Philip Kerr. The series begins in 1936 in Berlin, and features plots that show Bernie's experiences before and after World War II. In The One from the Other, the fourth book, he is a private detective in post-war Germany who takes on some missing person cases with connections to ex-Nazis. Before the war he was a policeman. He had served in the military in both World War I and World War II.

Philip Kerr was a Scottish author who died in March 2018.

My next book is also by a Scottish author, Peter May.

The Blackhouse (and the other books in the trilogy featuring Fin Macleod) are set in the Outer Hebrides, an island chain off the west coast of mainland Scotland. The book is worth reading just for the setting.

Description from the dust jacket of my edition:

When a grisly murder occurs on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland's Outer Hebrides that bears the hallmarks of the work of a similar killer on the Scottish mainland, Edinburgh detective and native  islander  Fin Macleod is dispatched to investigate, embarking at the same time on a voyage into his own troubled past.

Next I move to the Shetland Islands, a subarctic archipelago of Scotland that lies northeast of Great Britain.

My favorite book in the Shetland series by Anne Cleeves so far is Blue Lightning, the fourth book in the series. DI Jimmy Perez has gone to Fair Isle with his fiancée to see his parents. A reception honoring the couple is held at the bird observatory on the island. The next day, Perez is called in because the leader of the institute has been murdered. Perez is on vacation, of course, but the island is socked in due to weather conditions and there is no one else to handle the situation. I liked the depiction of the birding community and the claustrophobic feel of not being able to get off the island or get help in.

So my journey in Six Degrees of Separation has taken me from Japan to Scotland, via Canada, France and Germany.

2014 Global Reading Challenge Wrap Up

The goal of the 2014 Global Reading Challenge is to read one or more fiction books set in each of the seven continents. To make it easier, the Seventh Continent can be Antarctica or a "place" of your choice. It is hosted by Kerrie of MYSTERIES in PARADISE.

This year I opted for the Easy Level, just one book for each continent. In most cases I read more than one book for a continent, but it took me awhile to decide on a book from South America.

These are the books I read for each continent:

Africa: The Cairo Affair by Olen Steinhauer (Egypt)
Asia: Slicky Boys by Martin Limón (South Korea)
Australasia: A Few Right Thinking Men by Sulari Gentil
Europe:  The Collini Case by Ferdinand von Schirach (Germany)
North America:  Sleep While I Sing by L. R. Wright (Canada)
South America:  December Heat by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza (Brazil)
The Seventh Continent (outer space): The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov

7th annual Canadian Book Challenge: Summary post

This year I participated in the 7th annual Canadian Book Challenge. This is an online reading challenge hosted by The Book Mine Set: the Book Blog with a Canadian Bias. Participants from Canada and around the world aim to read and review 13 or more Canadian books in a one year span: July 1, 2013 through June 30, 2014. A Canadian book is a book written by a Canadian author or set in Canada.

This was my 2nd year participating in the challenge. I read only 10 books for the challenge this year, but I was happy with that accomplishment.

I read these books for the challenge this year:

Unholy Ground by John Brady

The author was born in Dublin but immigrated to Canada at the age of 20. The first book in the series won the Arthur Ellis award for Best First Novel. The next four books in the series were all finalists for the Arthur Ellis award for Best Novel. The protagonist is Matt Minogue, a Detective Sergeant in the Murder Squad, a division of the Gardai, the Irish police force. The death of a elderly resident of Dublin is being investigated; he appears to be merely a British citizen who had settled in Ireland. It turns out he was connected to MI5 in the United Kingdom. This book was published in 1989, and is set in Dublin, Ireland. Thus the political issues in Ireland at the time are a big factor.

I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley

Speaking from Among the Bones by Alan Bradley

The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley 

The 4th, 5th, and 6th books in a series, set in post World War II Britain, in the village of Bishop's Lacey. Flavia narrates the stories. She is the youngest daughter (around 11 years old) in the de Luce family, and lives with her two sisters and their father in an ancient country house.

The Little Shadows by Marina Endicott

The Little Shadows by Marina Endicott is a historical novel set in the years preceding and during World War I. It is the story of three sisters, teenagers as the story begins, who travel with their mother to support the family as a vaudeville act. I loved this book and it is hard to describe why. I was engaged in the story immediately. I loved the way the author switched back and forth between the sisters (especially) and the mother (occasionally). This book covers the years from 1912-1917 and thus World War I figures a great deal. That was also a plus for me. I like to learn about wars in a fictional setting.

Under the Dragon's Tail by Maureen Jennings

This is the second book in the Murdoch Mysteries series, published by Maureen Jennings in 1998, and featuring William Murdoch, an Acting Detective in Toronto in the late 1800's. Maureen Jennings does a wonderful job of portraying Victorian-era Toronto.

We also get well-developed and interesting characters. Without dwelling on Murdoch's past, the author conveys how his childhood has affected him, and his continuing grief for his fiancee who died of typhoid, at the same time he yearns for a relationship with a woman. Maybe he is a tad too perfect, but I can live with that. Constable George Crabtree, and several of the suspects at varying levels of society are also well-defined; their portrayals contribute to the overall portrait of the city, its poverty and its inhabitants. 

The Night the Gods Smiled by Eric Wright

Eric Wright was born in 1929 in South London, England and immigrated to Canada in 1951. He is an academic; he taught English at Ryerson Polytechnic University, Toronto from 1958  to 1989. Four of his novels have been awarded the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novel, including this one. 

This book gives us some insight into the relationship between the French areas of Canada and the English speaking areas. Toronto police detective Charlie Salter is assigned as liaison to a case of murder that takes place in Montreal, because the victim is from Toronto. It is the kind of case that his department doesn't have the time or inclination to deal with, so it is passed down to him. He is thrilled to get it, since he has been working essentially as a "gofer". He works with Sergeant Henri O'Brien from Montreal, and they develop a nice relationship along the way.

In the Shadow of the Glacier by Vicki Delany

This mystery novel is set in the fictional mountain town of Trafalgar, British Columbia. Constable Molly Smith is assigned to assist veteran Detective Sergeant John Winters in a murder investigation. Although Molly (also know as "Moonlight") is a rookie, she has insider knowledge of the community that Winters does not have; on the other hand she is closely involved with various persons who could be suspects. There were a lot of elements to the story: draft dodgers who had moved to Canada years earlier, ecological issues associated with a resort development, treatment of women in police departments, and the complexity of family relationships and working relationships.

Sleep While I Sing by L. R. Wright

This book is the second in a series by L.R. Wright (1939- 2001). The series features RCMP Staff Sergeant Karl Alberg and is set in a small town on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. This second entry in the series starts with the discovery of a dead woman in a secluded area. The woman remains unidentified. An artist's sketch is made and distributed, but does not generate the identification they were hoping for.

L. R. Wright excels at characterization. Karl is a loner and divorcee who misses his family. He has his problems, but he is happy in his work and good at it. The secondary characters and side plots are interesting. The writing is understated.

The Film Club by David Gilmour

Overview from Dundurn Press: "The Film Club is the true story about David Gilmour's decision to let his 15-year-old son drop out of high school on the condition that the boy agrees to watch three films a week with him. The book examines how those pivotal years changed both their lives." I read this book as much for the commentary on the films watched as for the story of Gilmour's experiences during those years. 

I will be signing up for the 8th Annual Canadian Book Challenge as soon as I read my first Canadian book for the challenge.

Sleep While I Sing: L. R. Wright

This book is set in an unusual part of Canada, or so it seems to me. RCMP Staff Sergeant Karl Alberg works in Sechelt, a small town on the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia, Canada. As described in the book:

This part of British Columbia was famous for sun, and for a balmy climate in which roses and eucalyptus trees thrived alongside giant Douglas firs and wild rhododendrum. The richness of the land was equaled only by the richness of the coastal waters...

But in winter the sun often disappeared for days or weeks at a time. And then Alberg couldn't easily recall how brilliantly blue the sea could be, how bright and hot were the days of spring and summer and fall.

Sleep While I Sing is the second book in the Karl Alberg series by L. R. Wright. The first book, The Suspect, won the Edgar for Best Mystery Novel. Both books feature good storytelling, excellent characterization, and loads of atmosphere.

At the end of The Suspect, Karl Alberg and Cassandra the librarian seem to be getting seriously interested in each other. My thought was... another series with a developing love interest. Sometimes those are fine, sometimes I find them tiresome. But no. In this second book in the series, Cassandra has a thing going with an actor from Los Angeles who has been visiting his mother and sister in Sechelt. The relationship between Karl and Cassanda is awkward. I liked this unexpected element.

This second entry in the series starts with the discovery of a dead woman in a secluded area. A big problem is that there is nothing to identify the woman, and she is not from the area. This severely limits the investigation. An artist's sketch is made and distributed, but does not generate the identification they were hoping for.

I enjoyed this  mystery immensely. I liked the characterizations. Karl is a loner and divorcee who misses his family. He has his problems, but he is happy in his work and good at it. The secondary characters and side plots are interesting. The writing is understated. I also liked how various elements of the story tied together at the end.

I did guess who the culprit was, although certainly not the motivation. But I never consider that a negative. I recommend this author, and I recommend starting with the first book in the series. This one can certainly stand alone, but the first one is well worth reading and you get a fuller picture of Karl.

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Publisher: Reprint ed., Penguin Books, 1987. Orig. pub. 1986.
Length:  212 pages
Format:  paperback
Series:   Karl Alberg
Setting:  Sunshine Coast in British Columbia, Canada
Genre:    Mystery, Police Procedural