Murder on the Ile Sordou by M. L. Longworth

A murder mystery needs a dead body without an obvious killer, beyond that, it’s all in the presentation. M. L. Longworth recaptures the things I loved in my favorite (now dead) British authors: Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, and Ngaio Marsh. The settings are contemporary to the author’s time; there is a murder, but no grisly description of its occurrence; the characters, especially the sleuths, are well developed and believable. Longworth’s Antoine Verlaque and Marine Bonnet are so appealing I want to join them for a glass of wine and/or dinner!

In their fourth adventure, the pair is on a holiday on an island in the Mediterranean where a decades-abandoned luxury hotel has just reopened. Owners Maxime and Catherine Le Bon have invested everything in restoring the Locanda Sordou and it is vital that the first season be a success. When one of the small group of guests is murdered, Verlaque’s and Bonnet’s holiday ends. To add to the adventure, a major storm cuts off all outside contact. Murder on the Ile Sordou has everything I enjoy in this genre: a beautiful setting, good food and wine, clever conversation, and a murderer to catch. Très agréable.

CAS

Try the other Verlaque and Bonnet mysteries:

Death at the Chateau Bremont

Murder in the Rue Dumas

Death in the Vines

Make It Mighty Ugly by Kim Piper Werker

If you like to create or consider yourself a creative type, chances are you’ve hit a creative block before. Kim Piper Werker wants to help you kick start your creativity in Make It Mighty Ugly. She defines different creative demons and has ideas on how to battle each of them. Exercises throughout the book help you identify those creative demons and work through them.

I picked up this book on a whim. I thought it looked interesting, and I ended up really enjoying it. The ideas seem really helpful, and Kim is a very entertaining writer. She’s funny, and keeps the discussion lighthearted. The illustrations are silly, and I think that just lends to the fun, creative aspect of the book. I liked the book so much that I’m going to get my own copy to refer back to whenever I’m fighting those creative demons.

If you liked this book, you might also like Creative Block by Danielle Krysa.

Carrie

Her by Harriet Lane

Her is a slow moving psychological thriller that leaves more questions than answers.

The book begins with successful, poised, well off artist Nina catching sight of exhausted, poor, overwhelmed Emma. A flood of very bad memories hits Nina, but she befriends Emma (who does not recognize her) anyway. Of course, Nina's way of befriending Emma is quite different than you would expect. The word that comes to mind is menacing...

Tension builds as the novel continues, until the reader understands that something very bad is going to happen. But we just do not know why.

Told from both Emma's and Nina's perspectives, the past unfolds in little snippets in each chapter.

If you have a lot of patience, you may enjoy this novel.

Karen

Read-alike: The Playdate by Louise Millar

The Smartest Kids in the World and How They Got That Way by Amanda Ripley

On many international education tests the United States scores below average for the world's developed countries; especially in the subjects of science and math. In The Smartest Kids in the World and How They Got That Way, Amanda Ripley looks at the education systems of the countries that scored highest on the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment), these countries include South Korea and Finland. Ripley not only speaks to teachers, school officials, and politicians, but also follows American students studying abroad in Finland, South Korea, and Poland.

What Ripley found to be a fairly straight forward difference between the United States and higher performing countries is the expectations teachers and parents had for students. However, that isn't to say that all of these countries achieved this in the best way possible, South Korea was called a pressure cooker more than once and after school tutors have a legally mandated curfew for closing (and their school days already goes until 5:00pm). Ripley discusses what makes American schools different (such as our emphasis on school sports) and what steps the high performing countries took to get their education systems where they are. I found this to be a fascinating look at education in a global context.

Lisa

Wicked Autumn by G. M. Malliet

Agatha Christie enters the 21^st century with this new series. Max Tudor has been the vicar of St. Edwold’s in Nether Monkslip for three years. Prior to becoming an Anglican priest, he was a member of MI5 but became disillusioned and left the undercover world for what he assumed would be a quiet, affirming life in a sleepy English village. Not happening. Just as Miss Marple’s St. Mary Mead was rife with the less-desirable emotions that led to violent ends, so is Max’s world.

The head of the Women’s Institute is the obvious victim early on: vain, bullying, overbearing, and ripe for murdering, but that doesn't spoil the story. I was ready to get her if the murderer didn't! Max pretty much gets roped into investigating – who wouldn't trust the vicar!

The story was a bit slow starting and there was a lot of character detail that I wasn't sure was required, but as the first book in a series, getting to know the locals will probably prove helpful. The identity of the murderer was a surprise with the clues only obvious after the solution – very well played.

Malliet handles the blending of the 21^st century (cell phones, forensics, relationships, etc.) with a small village with great finesse and intelligence. Nether Monkslip is a believable place in a modern world and Max Tudor an engaging protagonist. Wicked Autumn is a satisfying modern mystery in a comfortable, familiar setting.

CAS

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimmage by Haruki Murakami

Tsukuru Tazaki was one of a group of five close friends when he was younger.  These years were the best of his life. They all grew up together in the Japanese town of Nagoya. Tsukuru was the only one in the group to leave their town to attend college in Tokyo. He still frequently went back to Nagoya to see his friends until one day, most likely the worst day of his life, all four of them stopped talking to him without any explanation. After initially being baffled by the group’s decision, he sadly accepted that they no longer wanted anything to do with him and did little in the way of asking why. Instead, he grew depressed and wondered what it was that made them no longer associate with him.

Now in his late thirties, he becomes a romantically interested in a woman named Sara and, though he rarely speaks about what happened, decides to tell her about his former friends. She encourages him to track down each of his four friends in order to ask them what happened.

Colorless TsukuruTazaki and His Years of Pilgrimmage did not go in the direction I expected. In particular, one character shows up in the book and then is pretty much forgotten. The novel does not end with a big bang or come to any sort of clear conclusion. The writing has more of a dream-like quality and a reoccurring dream, in fact, is an important part of the plot. While I wasn’t completely satisfied by Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki, its combination of strong characters and unusual plot and pacing make it very likely that I will pick up another book by Haruki Murakami.

John

One Hundred Names by Cecelia Ahern

One Hundred Names is a story of friendship and second chances.

Kitty Logan is feeling as low as anyone can go. As a journalist, she has just broken the number one rule - be sure your facts are straight on before you run with a story. But Kitty is hungry and caught up and makes the biggest mistake of her life. On top of that, her mentor, Constance, is dying. On her deathbed, she asks Kitty to tell the one story she never got to tell. But the only clue she gives Kitty is there is a list in her office of 100 names. That is all she says - not who these people are or what Constance wanted written about them.

After Constance dies, and with no other job prospects, Kitty takes on her mentor's wish. She finds the list and starts to contact the people, one by one. Slowly, she realizes that these people have no link to Constance or each other. So why did she want their stories told?

Find out in this intriguing yet warm and charming novel.

Karen

Read alike author: Emilie Richards