Book Beginnings: Still Life, by Louise Penny

Still Life, by Louise Penny (first published 2005).

First book in her series of Chief Inspector Gamache mysteries.

Opening Lines

Miss Jane Neal met her maker in the early morning mist of Thanksgiving Sunday. It was pretty much a surprise all round.

About the Book

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surêté du Québec and his team of investigators are called in to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montreal. Jane Neal, a local fixture in the tiny hamlet of Three Pines, just north of the U.S. border, has been found dead in the woods. The locals are certain it’s a tragic hunting accident and nothing more, but Gamache smells something foul in these remote woods, and is soon certain that Jane Neal died at the hands of someone much more sinister than a careless bowhunter. 

Still Life introduces not only an engaging series hero in Inspector Gamache, who commands his forces—and this series—with integrity and quiet courage, but also a winning and talented new writer of traditional mysteries in the person of Louise Penny. (—GoodReads)

Initial Thoughts

This is a series I've been meaning to sample for years now. My husband recommended it, which is a little odd since he doesn't read many mystery novels. And I'm doing something that's quite unusual for me, too — starting with the very first book! Instead of starting near the end of the series and working my way back. It's definitely a new experience — but so far, a happy one.

Have a good weekend, everyone.
Stay safe. Stay calm. And happy reading!

Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Friday.  As she says, the idea is to post the first sentence (or so) of the book you're currently reading, along with any first impressions or thoughts you have about the book, the author, etc.  It's a wonderful way of adding new books to your must-read list, and a chance to connect with other readers and bloggers.

Book Beginnings: Miss Austen

Miss Austen, by Gill Hornby (Flatiron Books, April 2020). 

Opening lines

"Let us take that path." 

He closed the garden door behind her and gestured toward the Elm Walk. She pulled her shawl close and drank a deep draft of the new, green air. The year was 1795, and the day seemed to assume itself to be the first of that spring. Birds high in the oak tree sang out their relief; a new stickiness shone from the twigs. Together they walked up the slope at the back of the rectory, through the gap in the hedgerow and there — out of sight of her family — he stopped and took her hand.

About the Book

England, 1840. For the two decades following the death of her beloved sister, Jane, Cassandra Austen has lived alone, spending her days visiting friends and relations and quietly, purposefully working to preserve her sister’s reputation. Now in her sixties and increasingly frail, Cassandra goes to stay with the Fowles of Kintbury, family of her long-dead fiancé, in search of a trove of Jane’s letters. Dodging her hostess and a meddlesome housemaid, Cassandra eventually hunts down the letters and confronts the secrets they hold, secrets not only about Jane but about Cassandra herself. Will Cassandra bare the most private details of her life to the world, or commit her sister’s legacy to the flames? (Publisher's description)

Initial Thoughts

There seem to be several books out right now with Jane Austen as a character or theme. I'm usually a bit wary of that sort of historical fiction, but this one sounds more interesting than most. Got my copy from GoodReads in one of their giveaways, and I really should have read it by now. Running slow (as usual), but I'm eager to get started on it.

Have a good weekend, everyone.
Stay safe. Stay calm. And happy reading!

Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Friday.  As she says, the idea is to post the first sentence (or so) of the book you're currently reading, along with any first impressions or thoughts you have about the book, the author, etc.  It's a wonderful way of adding new books to your must-read list, and a chance to connect with other readers and bloggers.

Books from the Backlog

Books from the Backlog is a weekly linkup hosted by Carole's Random Life in Books. As she says, "Books from the Backlog is a fun way to feature some of those neglected books sitting on your bookshelf unread.  If you are anything like me, you might be surprised by some of the unread books hiding in your stacks."

I really haven't been able to make myself do a lot of reading lately. Just can't seem to settle down long enough. Keep feeling like I should be making masks or disinfecting something.

What I have been doing is spending a huge amount of time going through my "Want to Read" shelf at GoodReads. I started out thinking I would thin it out a bit, but of course just ended up adding more books to it. The thing that really surprised me was just how far back my TBR list goes – I started it back in 2008! One of the first books I added was Daphne, by Justine Picardie (first published 2006, by Bloomsbury).

Here's the description from GoodReads:

It is 1957. The author Daphne du Maurier, beautiful and famous, despairs as her marriage falls apart. Restlessly roaming through Menabilly, her remote mansion by the sea in Cornwall, she is haunted by regret and by her creations—especially Rebecca, from her most famous novel. Seeking distraction from her misery, Daphne becomes passionately interested in Branwell, the reprobate brother of the Brontë sisters, and begins a correspondence with the enigmatic scholar Alex Symington as she researches a biography. But behind Symington's respectable surface is a slippery character with much to hide, and soon truth and fiction have become indistinguishable. 

In present-day London, a lonely young woman, newly married after a fleeting courtship with a man considerably older than her, struggles with her Ph.D. thesis on du Maurier and the Brontës. Her husband, still seemingly in thrall to his brilliant, charismatic first wife, is frequently distant and mysterious, and she can't find a way to make the large, imposing house in Hampstead feel like her own. Retreating instead into the comfort of her library, she becomes absorbed in a fifty-year-old literary mystery… 

Daphne is a tale of obsession and possession, of stolen manuscripts and forged signatures, of love lost and love found: a tantalizing literary mystery that takes its reader into the heart of Daphne du Maurier's world. 

Daphne du Maurier's classic Gothic novel Rebecca is one of my favorite reads, and I've always been fascinated by the Brontës, too. So Picardie's book sounds like something I'd love. You wouldn't think it would take me more than ten years to get to it. Would you?

So what d'ya think? Sound good to you? Like something you'd read? Or maybe you've read this one already? I think I'll keep it on the Want-to-Read list. For now, anyway.

Happy reading, everyone!

Book Beginnings: Gin & Daggers

Gin & Daggers (Murder, She Wrote #1), by "Jessica Fletcher" and Donald Bain (first published 1989). These are the book's first lines:

"Care to take a closer look, Mrs. Fletcher?"
"Well, I suppose so," I said.
"Hold on, then, here we go." 

My heart, which had been nestled securely in its usual place, now moved up to my throat and lodged there, beating as though a crazed bass drum player were doing a paradiddle on it.

About the Book:

Jessica Fletcher is off to London to deliver the keynote address at a mystery writers convention. She's also looking forward to seeing her mentor, Marjorie Ainsworth, who's hosting a party on her estate to celebrate her latest book. But a routine business trip becomes murderous business–when Jessica discovers Marjorie stabbed to death in her own bedroom. 

Gossip about Marjorie's failing health and an unknown ghostwriter takes on more serious meaning now that everyone–including Jessica–is a suspect. Inspector George Sutherland of Scotland Yard is eager to help with the investigation for reasons that go a bit beyond the professional. And Jessica's sleuthing introduces her to a whole new side of London, populated with some very colorful–and sinister–characters. (Publisher's description)

Initial Thoughts:

Actually, my very first thought after reading that opening, was that I wasn't at all sure what a "paradiddle" was. I've heard the word before, but only had a vague notion of what it really meant until today when I Googled it and found this definition:

... one of the basic patterns (rudiments) of drumming, consisting of four even strokes played in the order left-right-left-left or right-left-right-right. 

Also found a bunch of YouTube videos of drummers showing how it's done. Amazing! Just shows, you're never too old to learn something new and interesting.

But I digress.

I loved the Murder, She Wrote TV show back in the '80s and '90s. I'm still watching the reruns just about every night on the Hallmark Movie channel. So I was definitely intrigued when I found out that someone had written a series of mystery novels based on the show, and I've been meaning to give them a try for years now. And for once, I decided to start out with the first novel in the series! (How unique is that?)

So far, Gin & Daggers has been very enjoyable and sounds very much like something the TV Jessica Fletcher might have gotten herself involved in. (Uh-oh! Jessica would never end a sentence with a preposition.) It's definitely lifting my spirits, and goodness knows they can use some lifting right about now. I might just read nothing but Jessica for the rest of this increasingly dismal year.

Have a good weekend, everyone. Stay safe. Stay calm. And happy reading!

Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Friday.  As she says, the idea is to post the first sentence (or so) of the book you're currently reading, along with any first impressions or thoughts you have about the book, the author, etc.  It's a wonderful way of adding new books to your must-read list, and a chance to connect with other readers and bloggers.

Book Beginnings: And Be a Villain

And Be a Villain (Nero Wolfe #13), by Rex Stout. First published 1948. These are the book's first lines:

For the third time I went over the final additions and subtractions on the first page of Form 1040, to make good and sure. Then I swiveled my chair to face Nero Wolfe, who was seated behind his desk to the right of mine reading a book of poems by a guy named Van Doren, Mark Van Doren. So I thought I might as well use a poetry word. 

"It's bleak," I said.

About the Book:

Madeline Fraser, radio talk show host extraordinaire, had a natural dread of dead air. So when one of her on-air guests "signed off" at the mike after drinking a glass of a sponsor’s beverage, it was a broadcaster’s nightmare come true. Enter Nero Wolfe. He agrees to take the case, with his sizable fee contingent on his solving the murder. But to Wolfe’s surprise, everyone connected to the case now tells lies in unison about it. And as the portly detective soon discovers, the secret worth lying about only hides another worth killing for. (--GoodReads)

Initial Thoughts:

I've been looking for soothing reads lately, to take my mind off the current depressing situation, and what could be more soothing than a Nero Wolfe mystery? I read quite a few of these when I was much younger, but there are so many of them (Stout published 33 Nero Wolfe novels, and 41 novellas and short stories between 1934 and 1975), I've still got a huge selection to keep me occupied and calm.

This one begins, as so many do, with Nero Wolfe's assistant and legman Archie Goodwin lamenting how bad Wolfe's financial situation has become. Not to worry — the great man will come up with some high-profile, high-paying case to pursue very soon. Miscreants will be punished. And readers will be dazzled.

Have a good weekend, everyone. Stay safe. Stay calm. And happy reading!

Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Friday.  As she says, the idea is to post the first sentence (or so) of the book you're currently reading, along with any first impressions or thoughts you have about the book, the author, etc.  It's a wonderful way of adding new books to your must-read list, and a chance to connect with other readers and bloggers.

Book Beginnings: A Fragment of Fear

A Fragment of Fear, by John Bingham (first published 1965). First paragraph of Chapter 1:

We live in a dangerous age, and this is not only because of the hydrogen bomb and high taxation.

About the Book:

"James Compton, a young journalist and crime writer, becomes intrigued by, and then involved in, the mysterious death of an older British woman tourist apparently on holiday near the ruins of Pompeii. On his return to England he becomes further implicated in what he now knows was a murder, but his efforts to help the police are sabotaged by unknown forces who discredit him to such an extent that his evidence and his theories are devalued. However, so determined is he to bring the criminals to justice that he endangers not only his own life but that of his fiancee Juliet on the very day of their long awaited wedding." (–GoodReads)

Initial Thoughts:

Well, my first thought was something about how very, very true that opening line is — especially with all the craziness we're living through at this moment in time. I guess every era has its dangers, but some just seem more frightening than others. And make you feel extremely helpless. But fortunately, this book has kept me nicely distracted from current events, at least for a while.

Have a good weekend, everyone. Stay safe. Stay calm. And happy reading!

Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Friday.  As she says, the idea is to post the first sentence (or so) of the book you're currently reading, along with any first impressions or thoughts you have about the book, the author, etc.  It's a wonderful way of adding new books to your must-read list, and a chance to connect with other readers and bloggers.

Book Beginnings: The Five Red Herrings

The Five Red Herrings, by Dorothy L. Sayers (first published 1931). These are the book's opening lines:

If one lives in Galloway, one either fishes or paints. 'Either' is perhaps misleading, for most of the painters are fishers also in their spare time. To be neither of these things is considered odd and almost eccentric.

About the Book:

"The body was on the pointed rocks alongside the stream. The artist might have fallen from the cliff where he was painting, but there are too many suspicious elements — particularly the medical evidence that proves he'd been dead nearly half a day, though eyewitnesses had seen him alive a scant hour earlier. And then there are the six prime suspects — all of them artists, all of whom wished him dead. Five are red herrings, but one has created a masterpiece of murder that baffles everyone, including Lord Peter Wimsey."

Initial Thoughts:

The Five Red Herrings is one of the few Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries I've never read. It's been on my must-read list for decades now, and one of my 2020 reading challenges finally gave me the nudge I needed to get started on it.

I love Lord Peter, and he's up to his usual form in this one. But I'm having a really hard time getting through all the Scottish dialect in the book. It's definitely slowing me down. Will I be able to stick with it long enough to finish? Och! A dinnae ken.

Anyway....Happy reading, everyone!

Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Friday.  As she says, the idea is to post the first sentence (or so) of the book you're currently reading, along with any first impressions or thoughts you have about the book, the author, etc.  It's a wonderful way of adding new books to your must-read list, and a chance to connect with other readers and bloggers.