Reading Report: Nemesis by Agatha Christie

Nemesis (A Miss Marple Mystery)
by Agatha Christie
First published 1971

It's been quite a while since I posted any reviews here on the blog. I've been reading, and posting reviews in other places, but for some reason I've been neglecting the blog. So I thought I might start trying to do a little catch-up work and just say a few words about some of the books I've read during the first half of this year.

And I suppose a good place to start would be at the beginning, with the first book I read back in January. 

In this next-to-last Miss Marple novel by Agatha Christie, Jane Marple receives a posthumous request from recently-deceased millionaire Jason Rafiel to investigate a mystery. If she accepts the job and solves the mystery, she'll receive a legacy of £20,000. She's met Rafiel before — they worked together on an earlier mystery (which you can read about in Christie's A Caribbean Mystery, from 1964), so she knows he's eccentric but reliable.

Problem is, Mr. Rafiel doesn't leave any information about the mystery — no clues, no suspect or suspects, no advice about where to start. All she knows is that he wants her to go on a coach tour of English gardens and country houses, which he has arranged and paid for. Now in her eighties, Miss Marple is a bit reluctant at first, but ultimately can't resist the intriguing challenge.

This was a fun read and a good book to start the year with. And though it's hard to improve on Agatha Christie, I think this would have been an even better read (maybe even 5 out of 5 stars) if there hadn't been so much repetition throughout the book. It seemed like every few pages, we'd get another summary of the story so far, or  recap of the assignment Miss Marple was working on. That got very tedious very quickly. But any Miss Marple is better than no Miss Marple, and I'm very sad to realize that I've almost finished the series! (Well, finished with the novels, anyway.) Guess I'll have to start over from the beginning.

Rating: ✭✭✭✭

📚📚📚📚📚📚

Qualifies for the following reading challenges:

2021 Category Challenge at LibraryThing. 
2021 Calendar of Crime Reading Challenge.
2021 Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge.

Book Beginnings: Smilla's Sense of Snow

Smilla's Sense of Snow

by Peter Høeg

First published 1992

Opening Lines

It’s freezing — an extraordinary 0° Fahrenheit — and it’s snowing, and in the language that is no longer mine, the snow is qanik — big, almost weightless crystals falling in clumps and covering the ground with a layer of pulverized white frost.

About the Book

Smilla Jesperson, who lives in a world of numbers, science and memories, is a stranger in a strange land.  And now Smilla is convinced she has uncovered a shattering crime...

It happened in the Copenhagen snow.  A six-year-old boy, a Greenlander like Smilla, fell to his death from the top of his apartment building.  While the boy's body is still warm, the police pronounce his death an accident.  But Smilla knows her young neighbor didn't fall from the roof on his own.  Soon she is following a path of clues as clear to her as footsteps in the snow.  For her dead neighbor, and for herself, she must embark on a harrowing journey of lies, revelation and violence that will take her back to the world of ice and snow from which she comes, where an explosive secret waits beneath the ice. (Pubisher's description)

Initial Thoughts

 

I've had this one on my TBR list ever since I first heard about it back in the '90s. It caused quite a sensation when it was originally published, and became an international best-seller. Sorry it took me so long to get to it, because I'm really enjoying it so far. And even though I'm not a cold weather lover, it's been sort of comforting to read about all that ice and snow in this triple-digit heat we've been having lately. Snow is so lovely...if I don't have to be out in it.

Have a good weekend, everyone.
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 Body at the Tea Rooms

A Body at the Tea Rooms

by Dee MacDonald

May 2021

Opening Lines

No matter how great a holiday was, it was always good to come home, Kate thought, as she got her first glimpse of the wild Cornish Atlantic coast again at close quarters. It was January and the sea was grey and surly, in contrast to the blue of the Pacific which they’d left behind.

About the Book

In this third book in the Kate Palmer cozy mystery series, Kate has another mystery to solve when a body is discovered in the cellar of the new tea rooms her sister Angie is renovating.

If the village gossip is to be believed, the unfortunate dead man was connected to the wealthy Hedgefield family. Kate is reluctant to get caught up in the investigation but a curious card in the victim’s jacket pocket sparks her interest. Not to mention the worrisome rumor that Angie is somehow involved! 

Keen to clear her sister’s name so she can finally eat cake in the charming tea rooms, Kate teams up with handsome retired Detective ‘Woody’ Forrest to untangle the baffling case. 

Initial Thoughts

 

One of the books I read last month — this was my introduction to the Kate Palmer mysteries, and I enjoyed it even more than I expected to. And now I want to go back and read the earlier books in the series, which means more books added to the already-ridiculously-huge TBR list! But I love that, don't you?

Have a good weekend, everyone.
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.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Wow, this month has gone by really fast! Hard to believe the year is almost half over. Hope everyone is having a lovely spring (if it is spring where you are). 

I think time is moving a little faster for me because we’ve been a little more active this month. Now that the hubby and I are fully vaccinated, we’ve been venturing out a bit and trying to recover some of that “normal” life we can just barely remember. Haven’t been to a restaurant or theater yet, but we’ve been doing a little more "real world" shopping instead of ordering everything online. Actually, what we’ve mainly been doing is spending lots of time in doctors’ and dentists’ offices. Somehow we’ve managed to get most of our annual checkups and screenings scheduled in April and May — so that’s been taking up a lot of our time. Not exactly FUN, but at least it’s been getting us out of lockdown. 

We have been doing a little gardening, though — and that definitely is fun. Well, it’s fun for me because I mostly just pick out the plants at our local nurseries, and then the hubby does all the planting and upkeep. But he enjoys it and I like watching everything bloom. So, win-win. 

And even though time seems to be slipping away from me, I did manage to read a few books in May. Last week I finished several I've had going...

A Body at the Tea Rooms

(A Kate Palmer Mystery),

by Dee MacDonald

The Lost Village,

by Camilla Sten

Life in Miniature:

A History of Dolls' Houses,

by Nicola Lisle

This week, I'll be continuing with one of the ARCs I'm trying to finish up...

Dead Dead Girls,

by Nekesa Afia

I've also been reading Jane Eyre this year, off and on, and I'm hoping to finish that this week as well.

Up next...

Castle Shade,

(Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes #17), 

by Laurie R. King

Happy reading, everyone!
Happy Memorial Day, if you're in the US.
And have a great week!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. If you want to let the world know what you're going to be reading this week, head on over to her blog and leave your link. It's also a great way to discover new books and new blogs. 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

 

Once again, it's been a while since I posted a reading update. But I have been doing a bit of reading lately, even though I haven't been doing much blogging. In the last few weeks I've finished these...

Faithful Unto Death

(Chief Inspector Barnaby #5),

by Caroline Graham

The Postscript Murders

(Harbinder Kaur #2),

by Elly Griffiths

An Extravagant Death

(Charles Lenox Mysteries #11),

by Charles Finch

A couple of classic Nancy Drew mysteries by Carolyn Keene:

The Clue of the Tapping Heels (#16)

and...

The Clue in the Crumbling Wall (#22)

As well as...

The Dark Side of Alice in Wonderland,

by Angela Youngman

I also read a few children's books, and (best of all!), a memoir written by my hubby:

My San Antonio Childhood: A Memoir

by Michael L. Hall

Actually, I've read that last one many times by now, since I helped copyedit and proofread it. 

For this week, I'll be reading a new cozy mystery:

A Body at the Tea Rooms

(Kate Palmer #3),

by Dee MacDonald

And I've got a few ARCs I should try to get started on, too. So, back to the books!

Happy reading, everyone! And have a great week!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. If you want to let the world know what you're going to be reading this week, head on over to her blog and leave your link. It's also a great way to discover new books and new blogs. 

Book Beginnings: The Postscript Murders

The Postscript Murders
by Elly Griffiths
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021

Opening Lines

Prologue

The two men have been standing there for eighteen minutes. Peggy has been timing them on her stopwatch.

About the Book

The death of a ninety-year-old woman with a heart condition should absolutely not be suspicious. DS Harbinder Kaur certainly sees nothing to concern her in the account of Peggy Smith's death given by the woman's carer, Natalka.

But then Natalka reveals that Peggy lied about her heart condition and that she had been sure someone was following her. And that Peggy Smith had been a 'murder consultant' who plotted deaths for authors, and knew more about murder than anyone has any right to. 

Then, after a masked gunman shows up in Peggy's apartment while Natalka is clearing it out, DS Harbinder Kaur begins to think maybe there is no such thing as an unsuspicious death after all.

Initial Thoughts

 

I read The Stranger Diaries — the first book in Elly Griffith's Harbinder Kaur series — a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it, so I was very glad to find that she's written a second one. And so far, I'm enjoying this one even more. Lots of twists and turns, and some wonderfully quirky and appealing characters. Hoping to finish it up and maybe even get a review written (imagine that!) in the next day or two. 

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.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Wow, it's been quite a while since I posted my last Monday reading update — sometime in January, I think. And that's mostly because I just haven't been doing much reading this year. Too many things going on and claiming my attention and taking up the time I'd ordinarily spend on reading. But I'm trying to change that and get back to the books now that I've got most of that other "stuff" attended to. I usually get quite a lot of reading done during the spring, so things might be looking up.

So far in 2021 I've only managed to finish eleven books. And several of those were children's books, which means I've been doing even less reading than it seems. 

Of all the books I've read this year, I think I enjoyed Christopher Fowler's Oranges and Lemons the most. 

It's the 17th book in Fowler's Peculiar Crimes Unit mystery series, but it was my introduction to the books. I'll definitely be reading more of the series in the future.

At the moment, I'm trying to finish two ARCs I should have read back in February or March: The Postscript Murders, by Elly Griffiths; and The Lost Village, by Camilla Sten. 

Looking forward to both of those, and they should keep me busy for a while. Now I'm off to see what ya'll are all reading this week. 

Happy reading, everyone! And have a great week!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. If you want to let the world know what you're going to be reading this week, head on over to her blog and leave your link. It's also a great way to discover new books and new blogs.