FTWBooks2024

  I thought I had read all of Dick Francis' books.  I love him because his books are all about horses and horse racing, as well as mysteries to be solved. Imagine my surprise to discover that (a) I had not read this book and (b) it's not really about horses.  Oh it's about horses.  Sort of. In London, Charles Todd, a painter of horses (among other things) goes to visit his cousin and discovers that his cousin's wife has been murdered and the cousin is the suspect. Charles is determined to find his cousin innocent and that determination sets him off on travels to Australia and New Zealand, he is beaten up more  than once, is nearly killed, and his investigations involve a large ring of criminals determined to bilk money from rich buyers, ending up burglarizing homes and, in at least one case, burning the house down. Charles, his buddy Jik and Jik's bride Sarah get involved in amazing situations that kept me reading until I finished the book.   All the h...

A pen pal recommended Freida McFadden to me and I found that several of her books were free for Kindle, so I tried  one.  I will probably try another. This is a strange story told in two voices, psychiatrist Adrienne Hale, who vanished several years ago, who speaks in the past and Trisha, who speaks in the present.  Trisha and her new husband Ethan (they've been married 6 months) are house hunting and find a mansion previously owned by Hale.   It is snowing and they are trapped and break into the house to be protected from the storm.  Ethan manages to get electricity going, but there is no phone and no cell phone access so they can't call anybody for help.   As they try to settle in, Trisha is uncomfortable, but Ethan thinks it's the house he's been looking for and wants to raise a family in the house.  Trisha, who is convinced she will never live in  this house, uncovers secrets that might help understand why Hale disappeared. This book...

  This book came up as one of the choices on BookBub  and it sounded kind of interesting, and was only $3, so I ordered it.  It promised to be The Golden Girls meet Jessica Fletcher, which could be an interesting story. In stars, I give it 2.  The good thing is it's short (only 120 pages) and could be read in a couple of hours.  It's very plain and reads like a new writer.  Lexy owns a bakery and when she goes to work in the morning, the police come to question her about her ex-boyfriend, who has been killed by eating poisoned cupcake tops.   Throughout the story, the killer has brief chapters where you learn what he/she is doing (a pronoun is never used, so we don't know if it's a man or a woman) Lexy just happens to live next door to a handsome policeman who is heading the murder investigation and who is attracted to Lexy, as she is to him.  (I don't read romances, so this relationship didn't do anything for me) Lexy also has a grandmother,...

I visited a friend recently who raved about this book and said she had given several copies to friends.  I found it on Kindle and read it in a day.  It's a true story, and delightful. Dewey was a kitten who was fund in book depository in the dead of winter of the library of the town of  Spencer, Iowa.  He ws found by librarian  Vicky Myron.  He had survived the coldest night of the year and over the coming weeks, with vet help, he survived and became the library cat, named Dewey Readmore Books. This book tells the tales of Dewey and how he changed the town, how everybody loved him, how he had a 6th sense of knowing who needed him and what t hey needed him to do.  Dewey won international fame, and even had a TV crew from Japan come out to film him. The book also shows his bad side, and the mischief he could get into. Dewey lived 19 years and his inevitable death had me sobbing. The whole thing is just delightful and I highly recommend it. Videos of Dewe...

  This book is #10, the final in the "Tales of the City" series.  I have been reading this series since Book #1 was serialized in the San Francisco Chronicle in 1976. Time-wise, this book takes place after  book 9 (which told of the death of Anna Madrigal) and is the story of Anna's daughter, Mona, who owns an estate in England.  She married Lord Teddy Roughton so he could secure his visa—allowing him to remain in the gay world of San Francisco—she never imagined she would be the sole owner of Easley House, Teddy’s grand, romantic country manor in the UK. Maupin sets this story in the 1990’s when Mona Ramsey lives with her adopted son Wilfred, and they rent out rooms in the estate to customers, to help keep  the expenses paid. The problems of a rental couple set the stage for most of the story.  There is also reference to Barbary Lane residents in San Francisco.   Michael Tolliver is dealing with HIV having lost his partner to AIDS.  He convi...