Beastly Things

 

Beastly Things by Donna Leon  372 pp.

And another Venetian mystery featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti: This time the body of a man is pulled from one of the canals. He was not drowned but stabbed and robbery doesn't appear to be the motive. It's not too difficult for Brunetti to learn the identity of the man, a veterinarian with a private practice and a part-time job as an animal inspector in a slaughterhouse. Aside from the affair that broke up his marriage, there is nothing in the victim's life that would point to him as a target for murder. Brunetti's investigation provokes another round of head butting with his superior, Vice-Questore Patta, whose main function in life seems to be protecting his status in Venice by keeping the old money aristocrats of Venice from any scandal. The whole mystery hinges on money and a ruthless murderer who seemingly can't get enough. This is one of the better books in the series. The funeral for the veterinarian is charming. 

Kitchens of the Great Midwest

Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal, 312 pages

Eva Thorvald was born to a chef and a sommelier, and while both of them left her life pretty early, Eva still had gourmet food and drink in her blood. Told in vignettes from different points in Eva's life, Kitchens of the Great Midwest paints a portrait of an up-and-coming chef as she follows her curiosity from childhood through adulthood, becoming a culinary superstar. It took me a while to get around to this book (originally published in 2015), and while I enjoyed it well enough, I think I liked Stradal's The Lager Queen of Minnesota more. However, I may be in the minority in that opinion, and that's perfectly OK.

Drawing Conclusions

Drawing Conclusions by Donna Leon  273 pp. 

Commissario Guido Brunetti is called away from dinner with his police superiors to investigate the death of a retired schoolteacher. The medical examiner calls it a heart attack but Brunetti wonders about the faint bruises on the woman's neck and shoulders. Why is the woman's son acting suspicious? And why does she have multiple new packages of women's underclothes in different sizes stored in her spare bedroom? Brunetti's investigation takes him to an old people's home, an organization helping abused women, and finds a connection to a long ago death and shady doings surrounding it. This isn't my favorite in the series but it's still good. 

The Kite Runner

 The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, 372 pages.

Amir and Hassan (the son of his father's servant) are best friends and the kings of Kabul (or at least that's what they tell themselves. They go through the trials and tribulations that many young boys do, but everything changes when Hassan goes through something much worse, and everything breaks between them. And then things quickly start breaking all across Afghanistan, as war and political unrest force Amir and his father to immigrate to America. Decades later Amir gets a call in California calling him home, and promising that he can atone for his past. What follows is a harrowing journey to a city full of memories.

It took me a really long time to figure out how to write about this book, and I still don't think I did it justice. It's a story with a lot going on, both plot-wise and structurally. It's a novel about stories that can't seem to stop, and about human connections, and justice, and also about Afghanistan. It's extremely well-done and emotionally difficult to read and I would definitely recommend it. This has been on my to-read list for literally a decade now and I'm very glad I finally got to it. 

Snobbery with Violence

 

Snobbery with Violence by M.C. Beaton  224 pp.

This is the first book in a series by the author of the Hamish MacBeth and Agatha Raisin mystery series. Lady Rose Summer, an strong minded, upper crust, young Edwardian woman, has found herself in disgrace after participating in Suffragette demonstrations and having her photo in the newspaper. This is a disaster for her "season", when she is supposed to be putting herself on display at balls and parties for the purpose of finding a "suitable" husband. While Lady Rose is at a house party a murder occurs and she finds herself assisting in the investigation with a Captain Cathcart who she despises. In addition to the investigation, Lady Rose is trying to prevent being sent to India by her parents who believe her chances of a good marriage have been ruined by publicity but might find a match among the officers stationed there. It's a light and amusing read. 

This is How You Lose the Time War

 

 This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (2019) 209 Pages

I really don't know how to describe this one, I feel like it is simply a story one must read for themselves. It is written like poetry, riddles, puzzles. It's truly beautiful. A substack I read tuned me into this book as it has recently gone viral thanks to a random "Trigun" anime fandom twitter user. It has skyrocketed on the best selling shelves across the board thanks to this tweet and I must say...it is well deserved! 

Time travelers "Red" and "Blue" are rivals from the "Agency" and "the Garden", who travel across the millennia and spaces in order to make subtle changes to timelines or "strands" in order to save, or destroy  populations. They come in contact with each other through letters and soon form a budding relationship that transcends both time and space. The letters are always incredibly unique in the ways they are written and discovered. The sting of a bee, the rings of a tree spanning hundreds of years. I really don't want to give too much away with my recap, if you haven't read it yet you definitely should! 

"I want flowers from Cephalus and diamonds from Neptune, and I want to scorch the thousand Earths between us to see what blooms from the ash, so we can discover it hand in hand, context in context, intelligible only to each other. I want to meet you in every place I have ever loved."

Maisie Dobbs

 

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear 304 pp.

This is the introductory book to the popular Maisie Dobbs series about a young woman private investigator in England. After being mentored by her former employer, sent to college, and then becoming a nurse at the front during the horrendous battles of World War I. After the war she starts her own private detective agency. Her first case leads her to another mystery, one involving veterans of the war who are physically and/or mentally maimed by their experiences and the strange "Retreat" supposed to be helping them. Just enough information is given about Maisie's and her story to make a perfect lead in to the later books. 

The Motion Picture Teller

 

The Motion Picture Teller by Colin Cotterill 240 pp.

I am a big fan of Cotterill's Dr. Siri Paiboun mystery series which ended with The Delightful Life of a Suicide Pilot. This latest book takes place in Thailand with entirely new characters, Supot, a mail carrier with the Thai Royal Mail and Ali, Supot's buddy who runs a video store. The pair spend their evenings watching classic films in the store's back room. When they discover an unknown film "Bangkok 2010" about a dystopian future Thailand they are enthralled by it. The duo sets out to find out the source of this "masterpiece" only to find those who don't want it to be found. Unfortunately, I found this story hard to get into and then rather disappointing once I did. It just didn't have charm and humor of Cotterill's other series.

Effin' Birds

 Effin' Birds: A Field Guide to Identification by Aaron Reynolds  208 pp.

This small, amusing, and profanity laced volume provides bird lovers with identifying details about mostly unknown members of the avian world with mostly black & white and some color illustrations. Some of my favorites include the Hipster Pelican whose habitat is "Probably at the vegan, locally sourced juice bar", Forethoughts Heron whose call is "I tollllld you sooooooo!", and the Weary Jackdaw, "a small, vocal bird with an overdeveloped outrage muscle." The perfect gift for your favorite birder who is not offended by f-bombs.

May totals!

A hearty welcome to our new blogger, Kathleen, who certainly packed a wallop with her blogging this month!

Byron: 3 books/971 pages

Jan: 8 books/2274 pages

Kara: 9 books/3363 pages

Kathleen: 7 books/2615 pages

Regan: 9 books/2879 pages

TOTAL: 36 books/12,102 pages