Postcards from a Stranger - (Audio) Book Review

 

Postcards from a Stranger by Imogen Clark
Audio book narrated by Henrietta Meire
(10 hrs and 11 min) (2018)

Cara grew up with her father and brother, and doesn't have any proper memories of her mother, who died when she was just around 2 years old. As an adult, she's still living with her father, who now has Alzheimer's; while her older brother, Michael, lives in London and has a family of his own. Cara has a skill for dressmaking, and runs her own business from home, designing wedding dresses; which also allows her to keep an eye on and be at hand for her father. In the long run that all gets a bit too much for Cara, tough; but then she manages to employ a qualified nurse to help her father in the daytime.

One day, Cara happens to find a stash of old postcards in the attic. The cards, from various corners of the world, are addressed to Cara and Michael, sent regularly every year until Cara's 18th birthday, always with the same message. The sender is anonymous, but Cara starts thinking that it feels like the cards could be from her mum - if not for the fact that the cards are all from after her mum died...

Cara's father is too deeply lost in his disease to be of any help, so Cara tries talking to her brother about it. But Michael says he does not know anything about the cards - and obviously they can't be from their mum, as she was already dead when they were sent.

Cara can't let go of the mystery though. She finds out that her mother had a sister, now living in America, and actually flies over there to try and get in touch with her aunt.

Even this does not seem to unravel the mysteries involved, though.

Somewhere half way into the story I began to have some suspicions of my own about the outcome in the end... But as it turned out, I too was on the wrong track.

I'm not going to reveal any more, but I got quite wrapped up in this book while listening to it. (It was another one included to listen to for free in my Audible membership. Seems to be the only one of hers included there for free, though.)

The author's page on Audible says:

Multi-million copy bestselling author Imogen Clark writes contemporary book club fiction about the hidden truths within families—and the consequences of uncovering them. Her novels have topped the Amazon Kindle charts eight times and are now translated into twelve languages, reaching readers worldwide. Originally a lawyer, Imogen left her legal career to raise her four children before returning to her first love—books. She studied English Literature part-time at university and soon began writing stories of her own. When she’s not writing, Imogen is usually planning her next adventure. A passionate traveller, she finds inspiration for her novels everywhere from Yorkshire, where she lives with her husband, to the far corners of the globe.

When I tried looking her up in Wikipedia, I just found an author with the same name who lived 1858-1936, though!

Books I Read/Listened to in May 2026

 

The Saint Mary's Cipher by Anna Elliott and Charles Veley
No 9 in The Homefront Sleuths Cozy Mystery series
Release date 2026-04-27
Audio book narrated by Iona Campbell (9:50 hrs)

Introduction from the Audible website: 

Palm Sunday brings spring to Crofter’s Green and a deadly secret. When a postal van crashes outside the Cozy Cup, Dorothy agrees to hold a registered parcel for the shaken driver. Minutes later, the parcel vanishes and the postman is found murdered. The only clues are an address in London and a faint cipher that points back to St Mary’s Church.

As Alice, Blake, Harry, and Evie follow the trail, the Homefront Sleuths uncover a chilling wartime plot that could leave the village in ruins. With blackout-darkened church bells, a father’s fate hanging in the balance, and a wedding at risk, they must stop a ruthless local ring before the first bombs fall.

My opinion: I've listened to all 9 books (so far) in this series, in order, in four months, becauseI found them included in my Audible membership for free - but am not sure how long that will last... I wouldn't be able to re-tell the plot in each individual book/mystery, but the characters are likeable, and the books have been entertaining enough to listen to. The setting is an English village in the early 1940s, during the war. (The events in the first seven books all took place during 1941, while with No 8 we moved into 1942 - and as you can see in the introduction for No 9, that one starts at Easter 1942.) 

I assume the series will continue... Whether I'll also continue to listen, probably depends on if it will also continue to be included among my "free" titles!

 

In the time of Five Pumpkins by Alexander McCall Smith
No 26 (!) in The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series
Release date 2025-09-04 
6 hrs 54 min

Introduction from the Audible website:

The rains are coming, but not just yet. When they do, there will be green shoots of growth throughout Botswana. Pumpkins will flourish – particularly those of Mma Potokwani, matron of a children’s home and old friend of Precious Ramotswe. Mma Potokwani and Mma Ramotswe have many other things to talk about, including a new friendship that Mr J.L.B. Matekoni has struck up with Mr Freddie Mogorosi, a prominent figure in the motor trade.

In the meantime, Mma Ramotswe looks into what seems to be a straightforward matter involving a husband who thinks his wife may be having affair. But there is a surprise in store: she, it transpires, suspects that he himself has a lover. This is obviously a case that will require tact – which of course is a quality Mma Ramotswe has in abundance. Along with kindness.

In this latest visit to The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency we are reassured that no matter how unhappy the world may be, there is always an oasis of courtesy and peace in that special place in southern Africa. To which you are now invited.

My opinion: I repeat what I said about the previous one in this series (in April): I'm  impressed that Alexander McCall Smith still manages to keep this long series enjoyable. The "concept" is pretty much the same as it has been all along, but at the same time the main characters do keep developing and maturing - giving the sense that time does pass in their lives as well as it does for us who have kept following the series from start (1998). (It's only the last few that I've bought with Audible credits, in the past I borrwed them from the library.) 

 

The Man with a Load of Mischief by Martha Grimes
Book 1 in the Richard Jury series (first published in 1981)
Audio book 9 hrs 32 min; narrated by Steve West

Introduction from the Audible website: 

At the pub The Man with a Load of Mischief, they found the dead body stuck in a keg of beer. At The Jack and Hammer, another body was stuck out on the beam of the pub’s sign, replacing the mechanical man who kept the time. Two pubs. Two murders. One Scotland Yard inspector called in to help. Detective Chief Inspector Richard Jury arrives in Long Piddleton and finds everyone in the postcard village looking outside of town for the killer. Except for one Melrose Plant. A keen observer of human nature, he points Jury in the right direction: into the darkest parts of his neighbors’ hearts…

My opinion: This is the first book in another very long series of detective novels. From Wikipedia I learn that Martha Grimes too by now has written 26 books about DCI Richard Jury. I have read a couple in the past, a long time ago (and not in order); and now decided to go back to the first one in the series to see where it all started. Besides the detective Richard Jury, and I think also the character Melrose Plant, another thing that links all books in this series is that their titles are all names of English pubs.

Murder on the Rocks by T.E. Kinsey

A Lady Hardcastle Mystery, Book 13
Release date 26 May, 2026
Audiobook 8 hrs 11 min
Narrated by Elizabeth Knowelden

Introduction from the Audible website:

February 1913. Lady Hardcastle and her diminutive but brave lady’s maid, Flo, have been invited by their friend JB McIntyre to spend the weekend at his recently renovated Tudor fort on a remote island off the Devonshire coast. But the holiday quickly turns sinister when first a number of valuable jewels go missing—and then a fellow guest is murdered with a most unusual weapon.

Asked by JB to investigate, the stakes are raised for the sleuthing duo when a violent storm traps the group on the island and cuts them off from help. Is the murderer in their midst? With everyone claiming to have an alibi—but each also having a skeleton in their closet—can Lady Hardcastle and Flo unravel this complex web of secrets and deception before the killer strikes again?

My opinion: This is one of my favourite mystery series in later years, told from the point of view of Florence, lady's maid (but really more like companion/friend) to Lady Hardcastle - both of them with a rather adventurous background from travels in foreign countries, but in the first book coming back to England to "settle down" in an English village. ... Well - as all of us who enjoy this genre of British literature, the idea of a peaceful and mystery-free life in the English countryside is really a contradiction in itself... 

This 13th book is a little bit different in that they leave their own house and village to go and stay with a limited number of guests in an isolated big house on an island. So their usual set of friends in their own village are not involved in this story.

I enjoy this series as I like the characters, the setting, and the witty repartee between Lady H and her maid. (Originally I fell for the series because one of my paternal grandmother's older sisters was a travelling lady's maid more or less in the same era. To my knowledge she didn't solve any murders, but she still led a more adventurous life than most girls/women of her time.)  

 

Read in April 2026

Two audio books that I listened to in April, both bought with 'credits' included in my Audible membership.  

The Killing Time by Elly Griffiths
Book 2 in the Ali Dawson series*

Release date: 2026-02-12

Audiobook 10 hrs and 33 mins

Narrated by Julie Maisey 

Book 1 was called The Frozen People, and was reviewed by me here a year ago.

Audible's introduction:

Ali Dawson is a police detective who leads a unit that investigates cases so cold her team must travel to the distant past to solve them. But Ali and the team haven't been allowed to time-travel ever since their technical expert, Jones, got stuck in Victorian London.

To distract herself, Ali looks into a present-day case - an apparent suicide of a young man who fell to his death from a high building. She believes the death is linked to a psychic medium called Barry Power, who convinced the boy he could fly. Ali goes to one of Power's shows where he claims to be in contact with Jones.

When Ali notices that evening that her cat, Terry, has gone missing, she decides to go back in time just long enough to prevent Terry from escaping through his open cat flap. A dangerous plan which backfires, and she finds herself once more in Victorian London, where she meets Jones, as well as Power...

My opinion: I still find myself struggling a bit with the time travelling concept in this series - but from her previous books, I know that Elly Griffiths is a good writer; and if this is going to be a longer series, I suppose she may also be planning to develop those ideas further in later books. (The "rules" involved still do not seem to be quite clear even to the characters experimenting with it in the books...) 

Thinking about it now, it also strikes me that in a way, perhaps the idea of time travelling is not really all that far-fetched for an author who already wrote a long series with an archaeologist (Ruth Galloway) as the main character... Those books too do involve quite a lot of "digging into the past", even if in a (literally) more "down to earth" way... (haha)

You can find more info about the author and her books on her own website

 

* * * * * 
 

The Great Hippopotamus Hotel
by Alexander McCall Smith
Book 25 in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series

Release date: 2024-09-05
Audiobook 8 hrs
Narrated by Adjoa Andoh

Audible's introduction:

Mma Ramotswe has a deft hand in delicate cases, and never allows an act of injustice to pass unanswered. So, when it comes to her attention that a matter involving dubious motives has arisen, and that it will require the utmost discretion to resolve, she has no choice but to lend her skills in the arts of detection and reconciliation. She is, after all, head of Botswana’s premier detective agency, but that doesn’t mean she can’t use the help of Mma Makutsi and Mma Potokwane. Meanwhile, Mr J.L.B. Matekoni has found himself in complicated circumstances of his own, requiring not a little of Mma Ramotswe’s time and expertise.

In the end, as each of these predicaments comes untangled, Mma Ramotswe draws on her goodwill and generosity to bring important truths to light – of friendship, honesty and love.

My opinion: I'm quite impressed that Alexander McCall Smith has managed to write yet another book in this long series, and is still able to make them enjoyable - with the main characters still remaining essentially "themselves", but also developing a bit. I always find them quite relaxing reading. (In the past I've borrowed most of them from my local library.)

 

"Homefront Sleuths Cozy Mysteries" - continued...

I keep finding it harder to write book reviews these days, as I mostly listen to audio books, which makes it difficult to go back and check on details. And to be honest, I also often miss bits and pieces nodding off... (mostly listening when I'm resting, or awake in the night!)

I do listen quite a lot, though - and also often re-listen to books, some of which I may already have written reviews of in the past. 

Lately I've been thinking that I should try and get back to making some monthly (or so) notes on my blog about what I've been reading/listening to recently, even if not necessarily writing detailed reviews. If nothing else, I might find it helpful for my own memory! ;)

In February I wrote about the first two books in a series called The Home Sleuth Cozy Mysteries: (1) The Blackout Murders and (2) The Spectre of Hawthorne Manor, which I found as free bonus titles with my current Audible membership. 

It turned out that I could continue to listen for free to even more titles in the same series... So I did! (...not knowing for how long I'll be having free access to them...) 

Without writing detailed reviews of my own, I'll just copy the cover images together with the introductions given on the Audible website.

 

No 3 - The Spitfire Murders

England, 1941: When a factory security guard dies under suspicious circumstances and a Spitfire test flight ends in disaster, the quiet village of Crofter’s Green is abuzz with questions. With the local police stretched thin by the war effort, it’s up to the Homefront Sleutha to uncover the truth.

Leading the charge is Evie Harris, village tea shop owner and amateur detective, who bravely goes undercover at the aircraft factory—despite a cryptic warning from a shadowy German spy. Watching out for her are:

Harry Jenkins – A retired detective with a sharp eye for trouble.
Alice Greenleaf – A no-nonsense herbalist with a knack for noticing what others miss.
Blake Collins – A clever schoolteacher who sees patterns no one else does.
Dorothy Baker – A quick-witted young mother whose instincts never fail.

As they untangle a web of sabotage and secrets, another worker turns up dead. Can they uncover the saboteur before disaster strikes again?

 

 No 4 - The Judas Monk Murders

The peaceful village of Crofter’s Green buzzes with questions when a young commando trainee is found dead at the ruins of St. Swithin’s Abbey. The military calls it an accident—but is it? And what does it have to do with the legend of the Judas Monk, a tale of betrayal that has haunted the abbey for centuries?

Harry Jenkins and the Homefront Sleuths must untangle a web of wartime deception before the truth is buried for good.

As the investigation unfolds, each of the Sleuths has their own challenges to face. Evie faces a new threat from an old enemy, while Alice must find a way to delve into a murder mystery dating back to the middle ages. Harry must press on with his investigation despite a military commander determined to stop him at all costs. Dorothy and Tom are busy with the renovations of their cottage—and Blake… well, let’s just say Blake may have the biggest adjustment of all.

Meanwhile, Bonzo the Pomeranian is about to prove that sometimes the best detective work is done on four paws.

With danger lurking in the shadows and secrets hidden beneath the ruins, Harry and his friends must navigate military red tape, hidden tunnels, and village gossip to uncover the truth—before some very, very serious damage is done.

 

 No 5 - The Murders at Clarion Castle

July, 1941. When Evie Harris vanishes after visiting her late fiancé's parents, the Homefront Sleuths of Crofter's Green vow to find her. But their investigation takes a bizarre turn when Nigel's police superiors send him to nearby Clarion Castle.

There, the first under-butler has just taken his final bow in the castle's wine cellar.

Could there be a connection with Evie's disappearance? Or with a hush-hush VIP visit to the castle?

The Sleuths must navigate a maze of deception, and nothing is easy. Harry finds the murdered butler's journal, but it's in a code, Blake knows codes, but he and Katherine are busy unlocking secrets in the castle library, hampered by her still-fragmented memory, Alice dons pilgrim garb to infiltrate suspicious travelers (her herb basket now doubling as spy gear), and Dorothy must size up mysterious tea shop visitors and give her friends at the castle a warning.

Not to mention Evie, who must discover where she is and then find a way to escape.

With time ticking louder than Harry's pocket watch, Evie and the Sleuths must reunite to unmask a master spy before a the course of the war is changed forever.

 

 

No 6 - The Harvest Festival Murders

The Homefront Sleuths thought their biggest challenge would be planning Blake and Katherine's perfect autumn wedding. But when a mysterious government inspector turns up dead at the Harvest Festival, their cozy village celebration becomes the scene of something sinister.

What starts as a puzzling murder quickly becomes a race against time. Missing microfilm, coded messages, and suspicious "diplomats" suggest this case is far more dangerous than anything the Sleuths have faced before. With potential Nazi spies lurking behind familiar faces, no one in Crofter's Green is above suspicion.

Between wedding preparations and investigating clues, the beloved team finds themselves busier than ever. Katherine balances bridal duties with mystery-solving, Dorothy's sewing circle provides the best village intelligence, and Bonzo the Pomeranian proves once again that four paws beat two feet when sniffing out trouble.

But as a second murder rocks their community and Evie's partnership with Detective Inspector Nigel grows complicated by unprofessional feelings, the stakes have never been higher.

Can the Sleuths unmask a killer before their village—and their hearts—pay the ultimate price?

No 7 - The Scrooge Conspiracy

Christmas comes early to Crofter's Green—but so does murder.

When a charming American actor arrives to direct a Christmas production of A Christmas Carol for evacuee children at a grand country manor, it seems like the perfect holiday treat. But on the very day Pearl Harbor is attacked, the actor is found murdered—and he's been carrying mysterious coded messages that suggest this "Christmas spirit" hides something far more dangerous.

As snow blankets the English countryside and Christmas approaches, the Sleuths must unravel a web of theatrical deception, wartime espionage, and long-buried secrets. With a houseful of vulnerable children and a killer still at large, can they solve the mystery before the final curtain falls?

Packed with holiday atmosphere, wartime intrigue, and all the cozy charm you love about Crofter's Green, The Scrooge Conspiracy delivers the perfect blend of Christmas magic and mystery mayhem.

- - -

While preparing this post, I discovered that yet another installment in the series has just been released, which I haven't listened to yet. But as that one too turned out to be available for me for free, I soon will - so I'll include it here with the others:

No 8 - The Valentine Cipher

Crofter’s Green is abuzz with excitement. Seven young couples are preparing to say their vows at a Valentine's Day celebration—an event made even more thrilling by the expected arrival of a very important (and very secret) guest: the most famous woman in the world.

But when the beloved village curate is found dead just days before the ceremony, Harry is called in to investigate what looks suspiciously like murder. Then, in London, Evie and Nigel intercept a Norwegian spy’s cipher—and the dead curate’s name is hidden within it.

As the Homefront Sleuths race to uncover the truth, they're forced to ask: Which of the blushing brides is hiding a deadly secret? And can they stop a plot that could change the course of history—before vows are spoken and lives are lost?

Meanwhile, as love hangs in the air, Evie and Nigel must confront a question that’s far more personal—and one only Valentine’s Day may help them answer.

 - - -

The authors behind the series are Anna Elliott and Charles Veley. When I looked them up, I learned that they are a father & daughter team - and a very productive one. (These are not the first series they've been writing.)

Another thing to be noted, which I find a bit unusual, is that events in the first seven books all take place (in chronological order) in one and the same year: 1941. With No 8, it seems we'll be moving on into 1942, though. If they intend to go on with 6-7 books per year throughout the whole WWII, it's going to be a very long series... 

So far (apart from all the unlikely mysteries concentrated to one little village) my general feeling is that the books probably do reflect a British WWII atmosphere pretty well, though. But then of course, most of my previous concepts about that have also been collected from similar books, films and TV series...

Homefront Sleuths Mysteries - (Audio) Book Reviews

 

 

The Blackout Murders
(The Homefront Sleuths Cozy Mystery Series, Book 1)

By Anna Elliott, Charles Veley
Narrated by Iona Campbell

England, 1941. The tranquil village of Crofter’s Green seems like a haven from the chaos of wartime. But when a local air raid warden is found dead in the village churchyard, five villagers decide they need to uncover the truth:

Evie Harris, recently widowed, is new in the village, where she is opening a tea shop (in spite of the difficulty of finding ingredients in wartime).
Dorothy Baker is a young mother who is helping her 
Alice Greenleaf, the village herbalist.
Blake Collins, a schoolteacher, wounded in the war (and with a talent to see patterns that others might miss).
Harry Jenkins, a retired detective. 

 

(The setup of characters reminds me a bit of "The Thursday Murder Club" which I watched as film some time around Christmas, and then also listened to as audio book - but found my impressions of the two clashing a bit in my head, so did not get round to writing a review.)

 

As I'd never heard of this book/series before, and it was included for free, I didn't expect all that much from it. But I found it entertaining enough to keep me company through the first week of my recent cold - even if I also frequently kept dozing off to it, so for that reason did not find it all easy to keep track of all details. 

 

And when I had finished the first, the next one in the series turned up for me as well - so why not continue...

 

 

 

The Spectre of Hawthorne Manor 

(The Homefront Sleuths Cozy Mystery Series, Book 2)

By Anna Elliott, Charles Veley
Narrated by Iona Campbell 

 

"England, 1941: Evie Harris doesn’t believe in ghosts—not even when she spots a glowing figure outside her bedroom window in the quiet village of Crofter’s Green. But when the same eerie spectre is seen by Lord Hawthorne, tied to a long-buried family scandal, even Evie starts to wonder if the past is haunting Hawthorne Manor.

Before she can investigate, Lord Hawthorne is found dead at the bottom of his grand staircase. An accident? Not likely. When the glowing figure begins tormenting Lady Gwendolyn, Evie rallies the Homefront Sleuths to unravel the manor’s secrets.

As the sleuths dig deeper, the twists keep coming:

    A furious daughter returns for the reading of the will.
    Priceless antiques vanish from the estate.
    And Lady Gwendolyn’s strange behavior hints at dangers far beyond ghostly hauntings.

With hidden passageways, family feuds, and wartime schemes at every turn, the sleuths must race to uncover the truth. Is the danger truly from the dead—or the living?"¨

(Just quoting the Audible presentation in full with this one.)

Having got to know the characters a bit better now, I think I'll also continue with No 3 in the series - which also automatically popped up as soon I had finished No 2...

 

 

 

For those who prefer reading with the eyes rather than listening, I see that the books are also available for Kindle at rather reasonable prices.

The Forsytes (2025 vs 1967)

 

 Around Christmas, the new 2025 TV series version of The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy was broadcasted on Swedish Television (SVT). I watched it, but wasn't overly impressed - and some things "disturbed me", as they seemed to clash with my memories from the first TV adaptation from1967 - which must have been one of the earliest "grown up" TV series I was allowed to watch (I was 12 years old in 1967); plus I'm pretty sure I also watched it when it was shown here again in 1970 and 1986. 

There was also a second version made in 2002-2003, and I know I watched that one too - but when I think back, it's still the 1967 TV version that sticks in my memory, while I can't really recall the 2002 version at all. 

Having watched the new six episodes now, I still find myself comparing everyone and everything to my memories from the 1967 version (and thinking things like "but surely Irene wasn't a ballet dancer, but a pianist??"). So I decided to go back and re-listen to the original novels, written between 1906-1921 by John Galsworthy (English novelist, 1867-1933). In 1932  Galsworthy was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.   

I have listened to this audio book version (narrated by John Williams, and lasting 42+ hours) once before, in 2021, and also mentioned it on my blog back then.

  

Blackstone Audiobooks introduction from 2005: 

"The three novels that make up The Forsyte Saga chronicle the ebbing social power of the commercial upper-middle class Forsyte family through three generations, beginning in Victorian London during the 1880s and ending in the early 1920s. Galsworthy's masterly narrative examines not only their fortunes but also the wider developments within society, particularly the changing position of women.

The Forsyte Saga is a sequence of novels comprising The Man of Property (1906), In Chancery (1920), and To Let (1921) with two interludes, "Indian Summer of a Forsyte" (1918) and "Awakening", published together in 1922.

The saga begins with Soames Forsyte, a successful solicitor who buys land at Robin Hill on which to build a house for his wife Irene and future family. Eventually, the Forsyte family begins to disintegrate when Timothy Forsyte, the last of the old generation, dies at the age of 100.

In these novels, John Galsworthy documented a departed way of life, that of the affluent middle class that ruled England before the 1914 war. The class is criticized on account of its possessiveness, but there is also nostalgia because Galsworthy, as a man born into the class, could also appreciate its virtues."

In my review from 2021, I wrote:

---  I'm guessing that many of my blogging friends around my own age probably remember the old TV-series - I'm talking of the 1967 black & white one, not the one from 2002-03. While I listened to original novel now, it was the characters from the 1967 one that I kept seeing in my head. I do think that first TV series must have kept rather close to the novel. 
--- If you're not familiar with the story, it spans over three generations of a "commercial upper-middle class" family in London, starting in the Victorian era during the 1880s and ending in the early 1920s. It's a lot about their relationship to money and social status, but also deals with the general developments within society during that time - and not least the changing position of women. 

And to answer one of my own "but surely..." questions from the latest TV version: No, in the book Irene is not a ballerina, and she does play the piano. And I still can't figure out why on earth they'd change that... (To me, the new Irene does not at all match my impressions of her, neither from the 1967 TV series nor from the books. And neither does Soames, really.)

 

Irene and Soames 1967 vs 2025

 

Some Books I Read in 2025

It strikes me that I seem to have written very few book reviews this year. I think it's primarily to do with the fact that most of my reading has been "by ear" (Audible) - and also that the majority of my reading this whole year has been re-reading/listening to books I've read before...

On average I've probably as usual listened to one book per week or so, but that includes a lot of re-reading - for example all six major novels by Jane Austen, the Harry Potter series (for the umpteenth time), Mary Stewart's Arthurian Saga, and Jaqueline Winspears whole series about private investigator Maise Dobbs (16 novels, most of which I've probably reviewed separately before). 

More recently (during the autumn) I have listened to two new releases in J.R. Ellis' Yorkshire Mysteries series (which I have been following since the beginning): The Otley Murders (No 11) and Murder in York (No 12). I enjoyed them both but didn't get round to writiting reviews. Here's the publisher's blurb for the York one, which also has a Christmas setting:

In the ancient city of York, winter brings Christmas markets, cold weather…and murder.

Snow dusts the cobbled streets of York as tourists flock to its famous Christmas markets. But for DCI Oldroyd, what starts as a peaceful evening on a ghost tour quickly turns deadly.

The tour guide’s grim discovery is no theatrical performance—he finds the body of Henry Marlow, a notorious local landlord, in the doorway of a derelict building. Oldroyd soon has no shortage of suspects: a resentful ex-wife, angry tenants, and even the guide who knows every secret passage of the old city.

As festive lights sparkle above the narrow passageways of York, darkness gathers below when a second body is found in the shadow of the ancient cathedral. Can Oldroyd untangle the web of secrets and lies before anyone else dies? As the holiday season approaches, it seems the killer is planning on making this a Christmas to remember—for all the wrong reasons…

 

 

This month, I was also pleasantly surprised to come across a new crime novel by Ann Cleeves:  The Killing Stones - subtitled "The Return of Jimmy Perez", the dectective from her "Shetland" series, which was also turned into a successful TV series which continued to live its own life even after Perez himself had left it.

In this new book, we find Perez having...

"... traded the stark beauty of Shetland for the wild isolation of Orkney, but the darkness of human nature follows him everywhere.

When a ferocious storm rages across the islands, it leaves behind more than just damage: it uncovers the body of Archie Stout, a popular, larger-than-life member of the community.

The murder weapon? A Neolithic stone, bearing cryptic, ancient inscriptions.

Now living in Orkney with his partner, Willow, and their young son, Perez is drawn into a case that is chillingly personal—Archie was a friend from his own childhood. And the island is full of familiar faces, all of whom are potential suspects in the killing.

Perez must immerse himself in the lives of the islanders, separating truth from local legend before a desperate killer can strike again. . . and threaten the new life he's desperately trying to build. "

By placing Perez in the Orkneys the author has managed to keep the atmosphere from the Shetland series, while at the same time giving Perez a "fresh start", so to say. I enjoyed listening to this book, narrated by Kenny Blyth (in Scottish dialect). There was one chapter that the first time round made no sense to me at all though (especially since I often tend to do some of my listening half asleep in the middle of the night!). I had to go back later in a more conscious state of mind and do some googling... It turned out to involve a strange island custom that I'd never heard of before - a kind of medeival football game known as The Ba' ... So no wonder I suddenly felt "lost" in unknown terminology... ;)

 

Resting

 

A rain-free day today, but very grey - until the clouds began breaking up in the afternoon...

 I've been having a lazy/sleepy day, and have not been out at all, except for a little while on my own balcony - taking down my trellis ('privacy screen') with the fake leaves (which is not recommended to leave outdoors through winter).  It's lightweight and was just fastened to the railing with pieces of gardening wire; so not even a 10 minutes job, in dry weather. (All live plants out there already taken in and/or got rid of.) 

Photo from June 2024, when I bought it

I also haven't really been "doing" anything indoors today; except heating some soup for lunch, washing up a few things, and reading some blogs on my tablet. (Just now sitting at the computer for a little while, putting together this post, though.)

If anyone is wondering what else I do for entertainment when just resting, half-sleeping and doing "nothing", Audible sent me a reminder the other day. I'm pretty sure what Déja Vu book(s) they are referring to with the "at least 20 times". Do you know me well enough to dare a guess?? And do you have favourites of your own that you keep returning to? (audible or text)

Book Review: Lady Clementine

 

 Lady Clementine by Marie Benedict

Audio book narrated by Elizabeth Sastre
(10 hrs 50 mins) (2020) 

I have read other books (and seen films) about both Churchill and his wife Clementine before; this is one I listened to just recently as audio book.

Looking up the author, I find that Heather Terrel  (or Heather Marie Benedict Terrell), born 1968, is an American novelist and lawyer, using Marie Benedict as pen name for some of her novels. Her speciality seems to be "fictionalized biographies". Lady Clementine is one of those; and it is the only book by this author that I have read so far.

Lady Clementine is not only a fictionalized biography, though, but a "fictional autobiography". I found it engaging and easy to read/listen to, and I don't doubt that quite a lot of research must have gone into writing it. But at the same time, I felt that I had to keep reminding myself throughout that this is not actually an autobiography written by Lady Clementine herself, but a book written by someone else, "speaking on her behalf" so to say. Which means that it's not easy for the reader/listener to be sure how close the author has managed to come to the real lady Clementines feelings, or her influence on her husband in various political situations. So while I don't hesitate to recommend this book as a very interesting read, I would also recommend readers to keep the "fictionalization" in mind.

Audible Review: The Jane Austen Collection

 

    Narrated by: Claire Foy, Gugu Mbatha-Raw,
Billie Piper, Florence Pugh, Emma Thompson
    Length: 45 hrs
    Unabridged Audiobook
    Release date: 11-05-20
    Language: English
    Publisher: Audible Originals
    Categories: Literature & Fiction, Classics

From mid January to mid February or so I've been having a Jane Austen month, listening to a collection of dramatised readings of her novels (included in my current Audible membership). The "storytelling" parts of each book are read by a main narrator, while the dialogues are performed by a full cast of other actors. 

I did like some of the performances better than others; but that may also be related to the fact that it differs a bit how much I like the books. And two of my favourites happened to also be narrated by one of my favourite actresses - Emma Thompson.

Jane Austen lived 16 Dec 1775 - 18 July 1817.

- - - - - -

The introductary summaries below are from Audible's website.

 Sense and Sensibility (1811) - narrated by Gugu Mbatha-Raw.

Austen introduces us to the Dashwood sisters who upon the death of their father are left with little money or status and without their family home. Marianne Dashwood wears her heart on her sleeve and when she falls in love with the dashing but unsuitable John Willoughby she ignores her sister Elinor's warning that her impulsive behaviour leaves her open to gossip and innuendo. Meanwhile Elinor, always sensitive to social convention, is struggling to conceal her own romantic disappointment, even from those closest to her.


Pride and Prejudice (1813) - narrated by Claire Foy.

Pride and Prejudice is centred around the Bennet family, their five unmarried daughters and their mother’s desperation for at least one of them to make a wealthy match to save the family from destitution. When Charles Bingley moves into Netherfield, a nearby estate, it seems that Jane, the eldest daughter, may have found her match, but it also introduces our heroine Elizabeth to Bingley’s friend, the aloof Mr Darcy.

Mansfield Park (1814) - narrated by Billie Piper.

Adopted into the household of her uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram, Fanny Price grows up a meek outsider among her cousins in the unaccustomed elegance of Mansfield Park. Soon after Sir Thomas absents himself on business, Mary Crawford and her brother, Henry, arrive at Mansfield, bringing with them London glamour and the seductive taste for flirtation and theatre that precipitates a crisis.

Emma (1816) narrated by Emma Thompson.

Emma is perfectly content with her life and sees no need for either love or marriage; nothing however delights her more than matchmaking her fellow residents of Highbury. But when she ignores the warnings of her good friend Mr. Knightley and attempts to arrange a suitable match for her protegee Harriet Smith, her carefully laid plans soon unravel and have consequences that she never expected.

Northanger Abbey (1803/1817)* - narrated by Emma Thompson.

A coming-of-age tale for the young and naïve 17-year-old Catherine Morland, Northanger Abbey takes a decidedly comical look at themes of class, family, love and literature. Revelling in the sensationalist —and extremely popular—Gothic fiction of her day, the story follows Catherine out of Bath to the lofty manor of the Tilneys, where her overactive imagination gets to work constructing an absurd and melodramatic explanation for the death of Mrs Tilney, which threatens to jeopardise her newly forged friendships.

Persuasion (1817)* - narrated by Florence Pugh.

Anne Elliot, daughter of the snobbish Sir Walter Elliot, is woman of quiet charm and deep feelings. Eight years before our story begins, she is happily betrothed to a naval officer, Frederick Wentworth, but she breaks off the engagement when persuaded by her friend Lady Russell that such a match is unworthy. The breakup produces in Anne a deep and long-lasting regret.

* Northanger Abbey and Persuation were both published after the author's death in 1817.

- - - - -

My personal No.1 favourite among Austen's novels is (and has always been) Emma. One reason may be that this book was included in my English literature studies at university, a long time ago - which means I read and discussed it it more thoroughly than any of the others. But another main reason why I love it is the underlying theme of the main character being a bit too full of herself to start with, but learning by her mistakes along the way. And I think it's rather brilliant how the author manages to let the reader be one step ahead of the heroine most of the way.

I also always liked Northanger Abbey, and it struck me now that my reasons for that are rather similar to why I like Emma: Catherine too is a heroine who is prone to jumping to conclusions and letting her imagination run away with her...

All in all, I enjoyed getting reaquainted with all the books in this Audible format. One thing that I didn't really appreciate all that much, though, was that there was often music played in the background behind the narrative parts. That I found more distracting than helpful. 

Listen and Learn...

 

King Arthur - 12 h. * The Old Testament - 12 h.
C.S. Lewis - 6 h. * Mythologies of the world - 31 h.

I have listened to a few Great Courses from Audible in the past as well, then mostly to do with languages (Language Families of the World, The Story of Human Language). Recently I noticed that a whole lot more Great Courses about all kinds of topics are now included in my membership (i.e. free for members to listen to without using monthly credits to buy them for keeps). The above are what I've been listening to (or more correctly, have often been half asleep to) during November. While I don't expect a lot of details to stick in my memory, I'd like to think that I may still have added a little bit to my general understanding of the contexts in which those details belong. Like: how various cultures across the world (and across Time) share a surprising amount of stories with common or very similar themes, even if characters (both humans and gods) may have different names and the stories may even serve different purposes. Mythologies I'm only half way through yet - 18 hours left, and if memory serves me right I'm just about to dive into African mythology, which I don't think I've ever heard very much about at all.

(Decided to put this on the blog today because it's been an exceptionally grey and wet and gloomy day when I've not set foot outside. Needed to remind myself that I've actually not spent all of November just re-watching Gilmore Girls on Netflix for the umpteenth time (however much I also love doing that).

 

 

Summer Reading (By Ear)

 

I've been writing very few book reviews so far this year, and none at all over summer. That does not mean I've not been reading - but since my macular degeneration problem (diagnosed back in the autumn), I'm now reading (and re-reading) even more books "by ear" (i.e. listening to them as audio books) - and I do usually find it harder to write reviews from just listening.

In March/April, I listened (again) to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series, all three books. 

My old paperback box of LOTR (from 1977)

In March, I also started re-reading (now as audio books) Elly Griffith's series (15 books) about Ruth Galloway, archeologist, and DI Harry Nelson and his team, investigating crimes in one way or another related to archaeology - set in Norfolk, England. Most of them I previously read on Kindle, and I think I've reviewed all of them on this blog in the past. As this is a series I do find worth reading more than once, I decided to now get them all as audio books as well. (Most of them I was able to get at reduced price.)  So between the beginning of March and the end of July, I re-read/listened to that whole series - with one or two exceptions, in the order that they were written. I enjoyed that, and I'm sure I'll do it again. Some of the individual mysteries I remembered better than others - some I found I had forgotten almost completely. But there is also an ongoing story in the background stretching through all of them, involving the main characters with families and friends.

 

* Ruth’s First Christmas Tree is a short story set between the fourth and fifth books

In between those, I also read/listened to a couple of new additions to two other "cosy crime" series that I've also been following for years by now. With both those series, too, I always enjoy getting back together with the main characters/detectives. Both also have the customer-friendly advantage of offering Kindle+Audible version at reduced price (and have stuck to that throughout).

The Canal Murders by J.R. Ellis
(Yorkshire Murder Mysteries, Book 10)
Narrated by: Michael Page

An Assassination on the Agenda by T.E. Kinsey
(A Lady Hardcastle Mystery, Book 11)
Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden

In August, I've also listened to the latest (4th) book in Elly Griffith's series involving detective Harbinder Kaur: The Last Word. (Narrated by: Nina Wadia)  

(Personally, I do prefer the set of characters in the Ruth Galloway series, though.)

Publisher's summary

A cosy, twisty mystery that reintroduces the glorious characters we met in the bestselling The Postscript Murders - shortlisted for the Gold Dagger.

Natalka from Ukraine has quit her job as a carer and joined up with retiree, Edwin, to run a detective agency on England's south coast. Despite a steady stream of minor cases, Natalka is frustrated, longing for a big juicy investigation such as murder to come the agency's way. She is now living with dreamer, Benedict, who continues to run his coffee shack. Life gets complicated when her Ukrainian mother, Viktoria, joins them from her war-torn country - three's a crowd. Viktoria invades the tiny flat, cooking borscht and cleaning things that are already clean. To add to Natalka's irritation, Benedict and Viktoria get on brilliantly.

Edwin is a big reader of obituaries, so when a local obit writer, Dan Haynes, dies, Edwin decides to look further, only to discover a series of unexpected deaths. Are the clues in the obits themselves? Edwin decides to write an obit to see what clues it throws up. Then he disappears.

The chase to find him takes the team to London and back to the south coast, where the solution lies remarkably close to home. 

After that one, I've also listened to three books by a Swedish author, but as her books don't seem to have been translated to English, no use giving details here.

And I've started a few others that I feel I'd better start over, as I kept nodding off too often... (Whether because of the book, the narrator or just myself being tired is not always easy to sort out!)

P.G. Wodehouse - Blandings Castle

 

Something New by P.G. Wodehouse
(Blandings Castle, Book 1 - first published in 1915)
Audio book narrated by B.J. Harrison - 8 hrs 2mins

P.G. Wodehouse - or Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (1881-1975) - was an English author, and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. (The link will take you to an extensive Wikipedia article about him.)

I read several books by Wodehouse already in my teens. He's perhaps best known for his stories about Jeeves and Wooster - with the young English gentleman Bertram Wooster as the narrator, but his manservant Jeeves really the main character. (There's also a memorable British TV-series from the early 1990s based on those books, starring Hugh Laurie as Bertie Wooster, and Stephen Fry as Jeeves.)

But there is also quite a long series of books about Blandings Castle, involving among others the elderly Lord Emsworth, and his son Freddy Threepwood. (My parents had two or three of those in Swedish translation, but I can't recall this first one being among those.)  

In his books, Wodehouse makes fun of both English aristrocrats and wealthy Americans; and also the hierarchy among servants on big old estates in England, like Blandings Castle.

This first book in the Blandings series was published in 1915 - in the UK entitled Something Fresh, but in the US Something New. One recurring theme in this and following books set at Blandings is that people often seem to be visiting there under false name - for various reasons pretending to be someone else than they really are. Leading of course to lots of complications until finally sorted out... There is also often some object (or animal) involved that more than one person wants to get their hands on. In this book, it's a lost or stolen ancient Egyptian scarab (a beetle-shaped amulet).

I enjoyed listening to this audio book; but have to admit that I would not be able to satisfactorily sort out neither characters nor the plot from memory afterwards... 

So I'll leave that to the publisher's summary:

Here, we have a glorious ensemble of Woodhousian characters knocking elbows to foreheads in the elegant and grand Blandings Castle. Meet Freddy Threepwood, the vagrant son of doddering old Lord Emsworth of Blandings Castle. Freddy has recently become engaged to Aline Peters, the American heiress of an irascible father. The snag is that Freddy seems to have at one point become enamored of a struggling actress, Joan Valentine, and written some impetuous and imprudent letters to her. Joan has now moved on and is currently employed as a writer for a magazine's society column. Freddy has employed a certain R. Jones, a man of portly and dubious character, to attempt to buy back Freddy's letters, and keep his engagement safe. We also meet Ache Marson, an athlete who writes the Gridley Quayle series of pulp mystery stories, and also lives in the flat just below the actress/writer Joan Valentine. Got that straight? Sounding confusing? Wait till we get going.

(Publisher's summary copied from the Audible website)

From Green Gables to Ingleside

 Auido Book Review(s)

Anne of Green Gables - The Collection

Author: Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942)
Collection of six books written between 1908-1921
Audio books narrated by: Beth Kesler (2021)
Total length: 55 hrs 18 min

(Note: The same collection is available for Kindle, for less than 1 dollar.)

I listened to the whole Audible collection during February and into the month of March. The original Anne of Green Gables book I have read many times. The second and third I've read before as well, but never the last three. 

My Swedish copy of Anne of Green Gables from the 1960s

Book 1: Anne of Green Gables (1908), is a well known classic; and for me it's one I've kept returning to now and then over the years, ever since I first read it in my pre-teens. (My own copy in Swedish was printed in 1961 but probably bought a few years later.)

This book was first published in 1908. It tells the story of Anne Shirley, a talkative orphan girl with vivid imagination, who is mistakenly sent to live with two middle-aged, unmarried siblings, Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, on their farm Green Gables in the fictional town of Avonlea, Prince Edward Island, Canada. The brother and sister originally intended to adopt a young boy to help with farm work; but due to a mix-up, they received Anne instead. Anne, a red-haired eleven year old girl, turns out to have a certain talent for getting in trouble, but at the same time she's very resourceful and loyal, and Matthew and Marilla decide to keep her. Anne finds a close friend in Diana Barry, a girl of her own age living on a neighbouring farm. In the village school she's in constant competition with a boy called Gilbert Blythe, whom she finds it hard to forgive for initially having teased her about her red hair. We follow Anne and her schoolmates and neighbours through her school years until her mid teens. Towards the end of the book, Anne and Gilbert finally decide to put old animosity aside and be friends rather than rivals. 

Book 2: Anne of Avonlea (1909). Anne is now 16 years old, and from having been a pupil, she takes on the role as teacher in the same school - a challenge which is not all easy, but she also learns a lot from it. Matthew has died, and Marilla, with help from Anne, takes on two more young orphans to bring up: Davy and Dora (twins). In their spare time, Anne and Gilbert plus Diana and some other old school friends of theirs start a Village Improvement Society - an initiative met with some skepticism from other villagers at first, but they manage to achieve some good after all. 

Book 3: Anne of the Island (1915). Anne leaves Avonlea to attend college; and so does Gilbert. Anne's friend Diana stays behind in Avonlea and gets married. Anne makes a couple of new friends at college, and they move into a boarding house together. She also remains friends with Gilbert; but there are also other boys in the picture. Gilbert  expresses his love for Anne, but she hesitates to do the same, and prefers to just stay friends.

Book 4: Anne's House of Dreams (1917). Somewhat to my surprise*, in the next book I found Anne and Gilbert (the latter now a doctor) getting married. Gilbert is taking over a medical practice from an uncle of his, and finds them a house at the seaside nearby.

* I say "to my surprise", because I recall in the past having read a book dealing with events taking place between books 3 and 4 in this collection, with Anne teaching at some other countryside school after college. A bit of research tells me that such a book does indeed exist - entitled Anne of Windy Poplars. But that books was not written (or at least not published) until 1936. So I guess there are copyright reasons behind why that one, + another one written in 1939, were not included in this collection. (The earlier six books are now all 100 years old; but the two later ones are not...)

Anyway: In Anne's House of Dreams, Anne and Gilbert get married, move into a little house at the seaside, and are making new friends in their new neighbourhood. Anne also gives birth to their first child - a girl who sadly dies shortly after birth. This loss brings Anne close to a neighbour, Leslie, who has suffered some tragedies of her own, being trapped in a love-less marriage. As a young girl Leslie was forced to marry a cruel man, who did not treat her well. He was later lost at sea and was thought to have died - but one day came back, now brain-damaged and helpless. His temper is now meeker, but he depends on Leslie for everything - more like a child than a husband. Meanwhile, Leslie meets another man she falls in love with. But as she's already married, nothing can come of that. However, the whole story takes an unexpected turn when Gilbert examines Leslie's husband and comes up with the suggestion that he might be helped by brain surgery. And in connection with that, it turns out that nothing about this whole sub-story is quite as it has seemed to be, after all...

Anne herself has another baby, a son; and this time all goes well. At the end of the book, Anne and Gilbert decide to move to a bigger house in the same neighbourhood, with their new baby and their faithful maid/housekeeper Susan.

Book 5: Rainbow Valley (1919). Again a big time-jump from the previous book: Anne is now married to Gilbert since 15 years, and they have six children. The focus in this book is mainly on the children; but also on a new minister moving into the village, a widower with four children. The children from both families become friends; and they also rescue an orphaned girl and find a new home for her.

Again, some further research tells me that the author later filled in the years between books 4 and 5 with one written twenty years later, in 1939: Anne of Ingleside. (I've never read that one. I might seek it out and read it later.)

Book 6: Rilla of Ingleside (1921). And once again a big leap in time for the reader: Almost a decade after the events in Rainbow Valley, this book starts on the brink of the outbreak of World War I, with the events in Europe also affecting Canada. Rilla, the youngest of Anne's and Gilbert's children (named after Marilla, who adopted Anne as a child) is now 15 years old. Her parents worry about her, as she does not seem to have any ambitions, and is not interested in attending college. When the war breaks out in Europe, many young men in Canada enlist, including Rilla's oldest brother Jem. Her other siblings return to school, but Rilla does not. She stays in the village, but becomes involved in forming a junior Red Cross organisation. In connection with this, she also happens to find a two-week-old baby whose young mother has just died, while the husband is away at war. Finding no other solution, Rilla takes the child back home with her, and ends up caring for him herself (even if with some assistance from her family). As the war continues, her brother Walter also enlists; and so does another boy for whom Rilla cares very much. Finally her youngest brother Shirley also makes the same decision, once he's old enough. Walter ends up killed in action. Jem is reported missing, but later turns out to have been taken prisoner in Germany, and eventually returns. 

To me, Rilla of Ingleside was the most interesting book in the series since the original book Anne of Green Gables. It's the one that in my opinion comes closest to the spirit of the original, although it is now Anne's daughter Rilla who is in focus, and is struggling to "find her place, and herself" in the circumstances she finds herself thrown into. And another reason is the setting of this last book, as we get to follow the development of World War I from the Canadian point of view, and through the eyes of a family step by step following every piece of news made available, as they have close family members actively fighting in that war. 

The Wikipedia article about this book also adds that "Rilla of Ingleside is the only Canadian novel written from a woman's perspective about the First World War by a contemporary."