June's Books

    Hi everyone. If you celebrated yesterday's Juy 4th holiday, I hope you had a nice day. Of course, I hope everyone had a nice day whether you celebrated the holiday or not.😀 

   It's time for another book post; once again it's on the longish side. This time it's my reading choices from June.

   This past month  I chose several light and quick reads. Since my hammock  is back up in my screen porch and it's a great place to spend some afternoon hours on a warm day, I had some lazy reading time. Plus I am also working  at the boat ramp (at a local lake) 10 hours a week. Most days at work I'm  not   busy for my entire 5 hour shift and that gives me a lot of extra reading time too. ❤

  I enjoy Marie Benedict's historical fiction, and I've read several of them, but not this one (before now) from 2019.  This is the story of Hedy Lamarr, at least her life into the Second World War.

   Benedict's books are not difficult reads, and since they are fiction, don't go into all the details of the main character's life. However, the author focuses in on some parts of their life that makes a good story. Women's  roles in society is the general theme of this book.  The story starts Lamarr's first marriage where she was expected to be a silent, obedient wife to one of Austria's wealthiest men. However, the benefit was that she learned a lot sitting at the dinner table listening to conversations, and when she escaped (quite literally) from that relationship and made her way to Hollywood, she decided she was not going to be just a trophy wife nor a beautiful face on the silver screen. 

   Lemarr wanted to do her part for the war, especially since she had been able to leave Austria and come to the United States. She had this great idea for a way to make  remote controlled bombs where the detonation could not be intercepted by the enemy. She worked with a musician because  the idea came to her while playing the piano with him and her idea was, although not strictly musical,  a similar process to how music is written. Although she and her partner did receive a patent for their technology, the navy would not use it because she was a woman. However, she is acknowledged for it today, and  her invention is part of the technology used for cell phones.

    I very much enjoyed this  book. My short synopsis really doesn't do this story justice. However, as I mentioned, this is not an annotated biography but a well written and enjoyable fictional tale based on some actual events in Hedy Lamarr's life. I'm still curious about her invention, although the author did a great job of explaining in general terms, but I would love to know more about the process and also how she felt about the navy not using it since it was invented by a woman. 

   My next read was this classic Agatha Christie from 1945. In England it was published under the name Sparkling Cyanide and in the US it was published under the name Remembered Death. I believe this was the first Christie mystery book I ever bought way back in my teenage years. Since I still have all the Christie books that I've collected during my life, I pulled this book off my bookshelf. Ha ha, I had to laugh because my version book only cost 95 cents, and it was brand new when I bought it.

     Rosemary Barton dies when she drinks poisoned champagne at her birthday party. It's not a big party, so everyone around the table is suspect. Near the 1 year anniversary of her death, Rosemary's husband decides to throw another party in her remembrance. He ends up drinking poisoned champagne at this event and dying.  Who could  have killed both Rosemary and her husband George? And was the cyanide actually in George’s glass or was that glass meant for someone else? Then there’s the question of who put the cyanide in the glass. Was it George's personal secretary? The couple who were their neighbors at their country house? Was it Rosemary's sister? Or was it the mysterious man that some suspect Rosemary was having an affair with? Or perhaps, it was someone else?

    This time you don't have any of Christie's more popular detectives, but you have Police Inspector Race, who shows up occasionally in some of Christie's books. He leads the police investigation into both of the deaths and gets the verdict changed from suicide to murder for Rosemary’s death. 

    This was another enjoyable Christie with some good twists and turns. I've also discovered how fun it is to look at the historical covers of her various books. The photo at the top is the cover of my old book. 

    

     My next book was a new release that was a light read that still had a big emotional impact on me.  Atmosphere is a fictional story set in the late 1970's and into the mid 1980's It focuses on a class of astronauts going through space shuttle training. Although this is not the first NASA astronaut class to contain women, you get to know a few in this class, and you especially get to know the  2 main characters  Joan and Vanessa. 

     The title of this book has a double meaning in this story. Not only does it have to do with the air space around our planet, but it also has to do with the atmosphere  of the times.  This book goes through the training program until the members of the class received their silver stars (which means they are actual training complete astronauts), but just to note, this is light fiction so if you're looking for more specifics then this is not the book for you.

      Besides the parts at NASA, you also get to meet Joan's sister Barbara and her niece Frances who also have big roles in this novel. There is also an in-space incident, also totally fictionalized, but the author did  enough background research so I could definitely buy into it. That incident weaves its way through the story, and it is how the story wraps up. I'm not dropping any spoilers so if you're curious, you'll have to read the book.

      I liked this book quite a bit. It might be more of a beach or summer book as it’s not a difficult read. It's woman's fiction, and I guess you'd call it historical fiction since it does go into the space program at the time of this story. Even though it says it's a love story, I wouldn't call it a romance novel as there is so much else going on. Love can means all kinds of love. 

    My first listen for June was this 1956 classic mystery by Barnard J. Farmer re-released by the British Library. In this novel, Sargent Wigans escorts a drunk book seller named Michael Fisk home. They become friends, and the Sargent becomes interested in collecting rare first edition books. However, on a future visit to his friend, Wigans finds him stabbed  and dead, having fallen onto the book he was reading.

    Not only is his friend dead, but Wigans discovers that a rare first edition Keats poetry book has gone missing. All clues lead to a man named Fred Hampton, but Hampton insists he is innocent.  The story then continues with  Wigans trying to find the actual killer to get Hampton cleared of the charges so he can avoid hanging. This is because Wigans doesn't believe that Hampton killed his good friend.

    I listened to this story that was narrated by Nick Rawlinson. At first I wasn't sure about the narrator's voices, but I was soon sucked in and actually very much enjoyed them.  It was fun to be taken into another world in another time where book runners were buying and selling first editions to clients able to pay a lot of money (in 1950's terms) for them. It was a pretty cut throat trade, no pun intended, and there’s some fascinating characters.  All along I wondered if Hampton was indeed innocent, and I waited for some proof.   Wigan’s superiors thought he was going a bit bonkers trying to find the answer to the question of Hampton's innocence. They thought he should accept the court’s decision.  The author keeps you in suspense right up until the end of the story if Wigans is able to do what he sets out to do.  

    I then reread book 3 of  the Dr. Ruth Galloway mysteries.  I'm really enjoying following this series again, especially seeing  the characters develop to get to where they end up in book 15, the last of the series (at least and maybe permanently at this point).

     In this book Ruth is back to work after a maternity leave. Her daughter Kate was born, and she is juggling not only being a working Mom, but the time she spends with Kate's father. If you've read any of these books, you know Kate's father is married and Ruth occasionally works with him. In this volume Ruth is once again connected to him through work when  6 bodies are discovered in a cliff at the shore. From there the story brings you back to the Home Guard during the Second World War, when there were stories of Germans trying to invade the Norfolk Coast in Britain.

     Of course there is also the usual cast of characters that make these stories more interesting. And there is another exciting ending with a burning boat, the tide rushing in and people trying not to get washed out to sea.  I didn't remember the ending  from when I first read this book, nor did I remember who the murderer was, nor actually did I remember all that much of this story except for a few parts.  I'm glad I read it again because it is a good mystery.

     After I finished The House at Seas End I then went onto book 5 in this Dark Iceland series by Ragnar Jonasson. These stories are set in a small town in Northern Iceland called Siglufjordur. In fact, I looked it up since it is a real town (although these stories are fictional) and discovered it is the most northern town in this country. 

   The main character of this series is Ari Thor. He  is down with the flu, and he  did not get the head police job when his old boss Tomas moved to Reykjavik. However his new boss is gunned down at point blank range. Since Ari Thor is the only policeman left in town, Tomas comes back to help with the investigation.  That causes a bit of tension for Ari, because Tomas settles right back into his old chief's  position, even though he is only filling in and helping with the police shooting. As a reader you also get some glimpses into Ari Thor's personal life, which is a bit stressful also. 

   While Ari Thor and Tomas investigate the shooting, you meet the mayor of the community,  the assisted mayor, Tomas' not so above board cousin, one of the town selectmen,  as well as a few other locals. There's also a journal that you read through as part of the big story, but you don't find out  what the connection of the journal is to the shooting until the end of the book. I didn't expect the ending of this story, and this whole book is well done. I think this series gets better as you read through the books. I believe there is only 1 left so I'm curious how the author wraps it up.

     My next read was another Agatha Christie. This time it's a Hercule Poirot mystery that I have never read before. Or at least I don't believe I've read it since the book was not on my bookshelf, and I didn't recognize any of the story. 

     After the Funeral was published in 1953 and in the US the title was Funerals are Fatal. This book starts with much of the Abernathy Family gathered for the funeral of the eldest son Richard. After the funeral, the youngest daughter Cora makes a comment and says "Wasn't Richard murdered?" Within a matter of days Cora is found murdered by a hatchett at her home in her bed.

     Was Cora’s death just a random murder or was someone out to get her?  And was Richard’s death natural or a murder?  Richard inherited all of the family money, and when he died others family members received it.  They could all use it too.   Who needed it the most and was willing  to kill for it? Or was it even a family money motivated murder?

         When the murdered Cora’s live companion is poisoned, the plot not only thickens but it goes to show that Cora’s murder was not a random act of violence.  However, Christie loved her twists, so the all suspects may  be the actual murderer.  I didn't figure it out until  I was just about at the end of the book.

    If you like big families with lots of personality all vying for more of the inheritance, then you might enjoy this mystery.  I did. And I was totally surprised by who the actual murderer was.  

   This next book was non-fiction and very informative. It was my other listen during June. Wild Chocolate by Rowan Jacobsen is not only about the chocolate industry, but also a lot about  cacao plants. After having the best chocolate in his life, Jacobsen decides to go in search  of the heart of the chocolate industry, the wild cacao tree. He writes  about the history of  chocolate from the Aztec times forward.  He also takes the reader into the jungles of Central and South America on  explorations. I didn't know there were multiple types of Cacao trees, all producing beans that may or may not be suitable for making tasty chocolate.

    One type of Cacao tree has become the agricultural species now grown in many places of the world to feed the chocolate industry. Jacobsen doesn't focus on that particular species, but instead he writes mostly about  wild cacao that (he says) produces amazing chocolate and was probably the type that the original chocolate drink makers (chocolate was first consumed as a drink) used. 

    To do this, the author takes us with him as travels through South and Central America, meeting people who have helped locals discover the value of their small cacao stands. He also has some crazy adventures in the process, all that he describes in this book. 

   I thought this book was well written and interesting. It's part food book, part travel book,  and a little bit of a history book too.  I know I will never look at chocolate the same way again , and I'm now curious to try some of these heirloom varieties of chocolate. Since I am bit of a chocolate snob I might have had it already, but because I didn't realize it existed I never thought about which type of cacao tree one of my favorite foods came from. 

     I mentioned to some friends the names of  the last 2 Peter Swanson books I read (The Kind Worth Killing and The Kind Worth Saving), and those friends,  having never read any  Swanson novels, became totally hooked and have been recently reading several of his books. To keep up with them (at least a little bit) so that we could talk more about his books, I decided to read this one, Every Vow You Break. This novel is more of a thriller than a detective story, but Swanson has a hard to put down style of writing. I flew through this one in a couple of sittings.

    I’m not sure I liked this book as well as his detective stories, but even so it is a twisty and enjoyable read.   Abigail is marrying Bruce, and at her bachelorette party she meets a man and sleeps with him.  Then it seems like this man is stalking her. He even shows up at her and Bruce’s wedding as well as their honeymoon.  

   It’s while Abigail is on her honeymoon that things really start to take a turn for the worse. Not only is her stalker there, but there are many conflicting explanations for events happening. Which explanations are true, and who should she believe?  This book takes a while to get moving, but once it does it’s get weird and exciting at the same time. Swanson not only writes a good mystery, but he’s a good thriller writer also .

   

 

   This next  book is #31 in the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich, and is  titled Now or Never: Thirty-One on the Run.  I can't believe the author is at book 31 in this series. I know I read book one back when my daughter was just shy of being a toddler. I don't think I've read any other books from this series since maybe book 22, but the beauty about this series is all the characters are still there, and time doesn't seem to have passed since book 1. It's great being able to pick up any book in the series and meet up with all the characters again.

   Stephanie Plum is a bounty hunter.She works for her sleazy cousin Vinny a bails bondsman in Trenton, New Jersey. She always seems to get herself into messes, like her apartment blowing up or if not  her apartment, her car. Her side kick is the ex-prostitute Lulu who wears colorful outfits that match her outgoing personality. Her parents live nearby with Grandma Mazur, who is one crazy older lady. Plus Stephanie  has 2 men in her life, the Trenton police officer Joe Morelli and Ranger, a tall dark and very handsome security guy who is also a bit mysterious. This book starts with her being engaged to both men at the same time.

  These books are light and funny. They are all generally similar, but are still a good read when you're looking for something that doesn't require a lot of thinking and/or you want a good laugh.  This time Stephanie is after Robin Hoodie, a YouTube sensation who steals from places like UPS and stores to give those spoils to the poor. And then there’s Jugs, a local crime boss who everyone says is going to try to kill Stephanie. There's also a Vampire, well not an actual one, but someone who was discovered by Stephanie leaning over a dead body drinking their blood. Bringing in these folks who skipped out on their court dates is always an adventure. And I shouldn't forget to forget to mention the guy who used to sit behind Stephanie in high school algebra is now pursuing her also.

  This was another fun read and was great for heat wave reading. It may not be a heavy duty nor a dark  noir  book, but it was a good break from mysteries without really breaking away from mysteries. 👍 And I'm glad I read this particular title because Stephanie, finally after 31 books, decided who she wants to spend her life with. But I'm not giving anything away.😏

    My final June book is the last/#6 volume in the Dark Iceland series by Ragnar Jonassson. I can't say the series has to end here, because even though there is some wrapping up of Ari Thor's life, he doesn't die. That means there is always a chance for him to investigate some more mysteries. Plus, the author never wrapped up what happened to Ari Thors' father, which is a mystery he mentioned several times in the earlier books in this series.

    I actually read this book in 1 day. It wasn't particularly long, around 4 hours of reading. Plus it was a good mystery story. This time a teenage girl falls to her death from  a balcony on a house. The question is, was it suicide or was it murder?  It is the long Easter holiday weekend in Iceland, and in the north where Ari Thor lives in Siglufjordur a huge blizzard hits town. The death happens right before the blizzard, but the story wraps up in the blizzard with the power having gone out all over the area.

    I liked learning about Icelandic life from this series, and I think the mysteries just became better as each book went on. The characters were good with many of them continuing from book to book. I'm not sure these books have to read in any particular order, but I think the story would be better if that was the case.

    

    I enjoyed this month of light reading, but I'm getting the hankering for something a little more in depth. I guess I'll have to see what I'm feeling like next month, and if you  read these posts, you'll have to wait to see in my book post what July's books were. Grin. 😏   

    Thanks for stopping by  and enjoy the rest of your weekend.