Escapism...

...is necessary for my sanity.  I don't often read pure fluff, but I have to say that my recent discovery is a tad on the fluffy side, and I liked it!

Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen is a lighthearted mystery set in 1930 England.  Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie is 34th in line for the throne, and she is also flat broke.  Unfortunately, it is inappropriate for a member of the Royal Family to work for a living, but if she doesn't find a way to support herself soon HM the Queen will be shipping her off as Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Victoria's only surviving daughter. (Think very old and very boring.)  So what is a young royal to do?  First, learn to light a fire in her family's frigid London house.  Second, clean other people's homes, incognito of course.  Third, go to house party in country to spy on Wallis Simpson and the Queen's playboy son, on secret orders of Her Majesty. If that isn't enough, someone seems determined to remove her from the list of Who's Who, permanently.

Her Royal Spyness is the first in this Rhys Bowen series.  A Royal Pain, Royal Flush, Royal Blood and Naughty in Nice are next in my queue. Expect a report soon!

Angel with Two Faces

Playwright Josephine Tey is back in Nicola Upson's Angel with Two Faces. Huzzah! It is 1935, and Josephine has escaped to Cornwall for a much needed rest from the world of London theatre. She is staying on the country estate of her friends Lettice and Ronnie Motley, who also happen to be cousins with Archie Penrose, Josephine's Detective Inspector complicated-sort-of-love-interest.  Archie has also come to his ancestral home for summer vacation, but of course, murder gets in the way. Will Josephine be able to help Archie sift through the secrets, lies and red herrings perpetuated by the tight-knit community of the Penrose Estate?  You'll have to read the book to find out!

What I find so interesting about Nicola Upson's work is that it has such a basis in real life events.  Josephine Tey was the pseudonym of Elizabeth Mackintosh, a successful author and playwright.  This book is set on the Penrose Estate, which is a real estate in Cornwall now run by the National Trust.  The outdoor Minack Theatre featured in the story is also a real place, which actually did produce a 1935 production of The Jackdaw of Rheims, also part of this novel.  Nicola is an expert in weaving together fiction and non-fiction, leading the reader deep into a story of her own.  I hope you enjoy her books as much as I do!

The Dog Who Knew Too Much

Chet and Bernie are back!  Yeah!!  Actually, they came back last fall, but I just now caught up with their latest shenanigans.  What?!  You say you don't know who Chet and Bernie are???? Well, let me fill you in...

The Dog Who Knew Too Much by Spencer Quinn features one of my MOST favorite teams of crack private investigators.  Bernie is ex-military, and he's an ethical, honorable and capable PI.  Chet is his dog.  Now, he's not just any dog, he is definitely Bernie's right hand man.  (Or right canine paw, if you will.) In fact, Chet is SO important that he is the one who tells the story, but sometimes he gets distracted by squirrels, other dogs, shiny things, smelly things, cats, people food, kibble...perhaps he has ADD.  Despite the obvious disadvantages of being a dog in a human world, he usually does have his hyper-sensitive nose pointed in the right direction, if only he could get Bernie to pay attention.

The Dog Who Knew Too Much finds Chet and Bernie in the mountains searching for a young hiker who's disappeared from the Big Bear Wilderness Camp. But a simple search and rescue mission soon turns into a rotten stew of greed, gold, drugs and dirty small-town cops. Things start to look grim for our heros, but Chet helps Bernie find his way out of the stickiest of situations. And then he'd lick that stickiness right off, because that's what dogs do.

Enjoy Chet and Bernie!  Can't wait for the next one...

The Circus Arrives Without Warning...

No, I an NOT talking about an invasion of teenagers, relatives or scary clowns.  In fact, in The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern there is not a clown to be found.  What you will find is a completely original and imaginative story about magic, manipulation and dreams coming true.

Everything about The Night Circus is mysterious.  There are no advertisements announcing its impending arrival, and no one knows how long it will stay or where it will go next.  Its tents and performers are clad exclusively in black and white, and the performances are beyond anyone's wildest dreams.  Oh, and it opens at nightfall and closes at dawn, which explains the whole Night Circus thing. If you are beginning to think that this is no ordinary circus, you would be correct.  Just like the black is balanced against the white, darkness is pushing against the light in this "Circus of Dreams".

Now, I could be more specific, but I think saying anything more will ruin the complete surprise of this fascinating tale.  This is Erin Morgenstern's first novel.  I hope she writes more!

Here's Another One...

It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it.  ~Oscar Wilde

It's an "I AM Reading but Life Is Getting in the Way SO Here Is a Quote" Day

I know every book of mine by its smell, and I have but to put my nose between the pages to be reminded of all sorts of things.  ~George Robert Gissing

Peter Abrahams ROCKS!!!

I discovered Peter Abrahams several years ago when my daughter was still in grade school.  I've always loved young adult and children's books, but her fantastic 3rd AND 5th grade teacher, Mr. Singley, introduced us to books we probably never would have read without him.  One of these was Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams.  This was the first book in his Echo Falls Mystery series, and I was hooked.  If you haven't read them, hop on Amazon or BarnesandNoble.com to order, or run to the library.  Today.  What I didn't realize until recently was Abrahams is also an acclaimed adult mystery writer.  Even better, and now things in my world make complete sense, he writes the Chet and Bernie mysteries under his pen name Spencer Quinn!!!  I LOVE Chet and Bernie!!!!  (See my post from 1/28/2011)  So now I have just read the first book in another series by Abrahams, and I love him even more.

Robbie Forester and the Outlaws of Sherwood Street is the story of Robbie, a 7th grader in a private school in Brooklyn.  Her father is a writer, and her mother is a Manhattan lawyer.  She has a big, lovable but cowardly dog named Pendleton.  All should be idyllic, but of course, things are not always what they should be.  Someone big and powerful is forcing longtime businesses and tenants out of their Brooklyn homes, and Robbie and her friends find themselves in the middle of big trouble. Injustice is in the air, and with the help of a mysterious homeless woman the rich begin to give to the poor.

Robbie Forester and the Outlaws of Sherwood Street is everything I love in a book.  It has great characters, atmosphere and imagination, and the potential for many more stories to come. I can't wait for the next one!