November Reading

53. The Handsome Man's De Luxe Cafe - book 15 in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series

by Alexander McCall Smith

fiction 2014

Kindle

finished 11/1/14

I love this series, I love the characters, I love the setting. It is one of the most perfect reading experiences I've ever had. I can't believe this is the 15th book. AMS is a wonder. He is my age, and I am just astounded at all the writing he does along with his many other activities. 

54. Mystery in White

by Joseph Jefferson Farjeon

mystery 1937

Kindle

finished 11/9/14

Have you heard about the British Library Crime Classics reprints? You may read more here. I am thrilled with the new-to-me reading opportunities! Mystery in White is the first one I've read, but I've bought a few others in paperback. I'm pretty sure I will end up buying them all. Beautiful covers and old mysteries. Heaven. 

I so enjoyed Mystery in White. It begins in one of my favorite settings for a mystery - a train, and then moves to another favorite setting, the English country house. The train is caught in a snowstorm and cannot go on. Five passengers get off to find another train, get lost, and find an abandoned house. It looks like whoever lived there left very quickly. And the reader is off on a little Christmas adventure. 

If the name Farjeon seems familiar it may be because his sister was Eleanor Farjeon, a writer of books for children, whose words I recently posted in a 'Book Passage' quote here. And she also wrote a very special song that is sung in churches, and was made famous by Cat Stevens, who is now known as Yusuf. 

1976

November 2014

He put the song up on his Facebook page recently when a new grandchild was born. What life Eleanor Farjeon's 1931 song has all these years later!

55. Holiday Buzz - book 12 in the Coffeehouse Mysteries series 

by Cleo Coyle

mystery 2012

Kindle

finished 11/12/14

In 2013 I made myself a reading schedule for the Coffeehouse Mysteries I hadn’t read yet so I would end up in November or December with Holiday Buzz. Well, that went out the window with the excitement of the pregnancies, then Margaret’s hospitalization and Hazel Nina’s early birth. So, this year I tried to catch up so I could read it this year and I did pretty well, except I haven’t read book 11 yet, A Brew to a Kill. I decided that if I wanted to read Holiday Buzz in time for the holidays, I wouldn’t make it unless I skipped ahead, something you may know I never like to do! But, because Cleo Coyle does such a good job catching the reader up on who’s who and how they fit into the story, it worked out okay. I'm happy in the company of these ongoing characters whose lives change a bit with each new book. Great series.

56. The Sands of Windee - book 2 in the Inspector Bonaparte series 

by Arthur Upfield

mystery 1931

Kindle

finished 11/17/14

57. Wings Above the Diamantina - book 3 in the Inspector Bonaparte series

by Arthur Upfield

mystery 1936

Kindle

finished 11/24/14

I briefly mentioned this series in my October Reading post. Many of us who read series books know the disappointment that may come with the second book, or the fifteenth. I just wrote about this with the Isabel Dalhousie books. Sometimes we go back, but sometimes we leave forever. As of this writing, I have now read nine books in this marvelous Australian series, and I can't imagine stopping until I finish. Much more in the December Reading post.