Hello book dragons,
First of all, some shameless self-promotion. ☺ By the time you read this, my first solo cozy mystery will be available to the public – both as an eBook and as a paperback. Although it’s a church choir cozy mystery, it’s a religious book (think Agatha Christie, not Guidepost mystery!). The old adage says “write what you know”—and having played piano for church choirs since I was 6, I know choirs!
Here is a brief synopsis of the story: Trouble is brewing in the quaint Shenandoah Valley town of Crooked Run. Clarence Jackson, the persnickety choir director, has a knack for making practice less than joyful. And with a state singing competition looming, members are becoming disgruntled.
Local authorities are left baffled when murder strikes. Newly hired assistant minister, Jane Cartwright, retired Scotland Yard Detective, Jasper Reaves, must help unmask the killer before the choir’s next performance becomes their final act. Can they unravel the tangled threads of deceit in time, or will the harmony of Crooked Run be forever shattered?
You can find the book on Amazon, Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, and Google.
And now, on to my reading for the month.
Trust – Hernan Diaz -Although this book was a Pulitzer Prize winner, I found it extremely difficult to get into. (Perhaps that says more about me than it does the book.) For the first hundred pages, I was absorbed into what I thought was a single view, one perspective story. And then, boom. It wasn’t. It was the same story with four perspectives. Trust is first and foremost about money. About the art of navigating a shaky stock market. And about the joys of having it all. Until you don’t. Maybe this just wasn’t the right time for me to read this literary puzzle. My brain is sometimes lazy and wants to be entertained, not challenged. Nevertheless, I probably won’t try the book again anytime in the near future.
The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel – Douglas Brunt –The beginning of the book is actually the end – or one version of the end. In truth, nobody is sure what happened to Rudolf Diesel. Halfway between Belgium and England, he disappeared forever. Murder? Accident? Suicide? Noone knows. What is known is that he became an enemy of two powerful men – Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and John D. Rockefeller, the founder of Standard Oil and the richest man in the world. Both wanted Diesel’s engines to power war submarines, but Diesel wanted his engines to be used to better the world – not destroy it. This book is the story of Diesel’s rise from poverty to become one of the world’s most sought-after engineers. It sometimes gets a bit technical, but overall, I enjoyed this historical novel.
The Glassmaker – Tracy Chevalier –Similar to Trust, The Glassmaker is also a novel that takes liberties with time. But in this case, it was easy to follow. The story begins in 1486 with the Rosso family – glassblowers who are well-known for their craft. Specifically, the tale is from the perspective of Orsola Rosso, the eldest daughter. We follow the family over six centuries (Chevalier compares the time travel to “skipping a stone through centuries”). While their contemporaries live their lives and die, the Rosso family moves through generations aging only nominally. The story features themes of endurance and family loyalty through all circumstances of life and death. (The children’s book Tuck Everlasting has a similar vibe). I found the book to be a wonderful escape to Venice and a great immersion in a life so different from my own.
Other books I’ve read in July: Murder at an English Séance by Jessica Ellicott, Pocket Full of Rye by Agatha Christie,
