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Showing posts with label Louise Penny. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Louise Penny. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 18, 2026
Top Ten Tuesday: But Series-ly...
I'm a sucker for a good series, the longer the better. The only problem is that I often find myself getting stuck in the middle of them, usually forgetting who's who and what's what between installments. Sometimes, I've blanked so much that I just start the whole thing over! And I'm not a person who loves rereading. The struggle is real. Today's TTT prompt is right up my alley: Top Ten Book Series I Want to Catch Up On (Or Start). I could make a Top 100 list just using the first part of this topic, but I'll try to narrow it down to just ten mystery series I want to catch up on.
As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.
Top Ten Mystery Series I Want to Catch Up On
(Book covers show the first installment in each series.)
1. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny
Books in Series: 21 (and counting)
Books I've Read: 13
Next Up: Kingdom of the Blind
This is one of my favorite mystery series of all time and I don't want it to ever end. I've been reading the books slowly (very slowly) in order to savor them. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is one of the most likable and admirable detectives I've ever encountered. His colleagues, friends, and associates are a complex and colorful bunch, which makes for a lot of interesting tales. It's a great series. If you like mysteries, you have to give it a go.
2. Veronica Speedwell series by Deanna Raybourn
Books in Series: 10 (and counting)
Books I've Read: 6
Next Up: An Impossible Imposter
Veronica is no ordinary Victorian woman. She's a daring, outspoken lepidopterist who solves mysteries in her spare time. With the help of her hunky associate, she has all kinds of crazy adventures in the name of bringing about justice. These books are hilarious and fun.
3. Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths
Books in Series: 15 (series complete)
Books I've Read: 4
Next Up: A Dying Fall
Ruth is an archaeologist who helps the Norfolk police solve crimes.
4. Gilded Newport series by Alyssa Maxwell
Books in Series: 14 (and counting)
Books I've Read: 6
Next Up: Murder at Crossways
As a second cousin to Cornelius Vanderbilt (albeit one without his abundant wealth), 21-year old Emma Cross is in a unique position in society. She uses that status to her advantage as she writes a newspaper column about high-society happenings. What she really wants is to be an investigative reporter breaking important news. Luckily (or unluckily as the case may be), crime seems to have a way of finding her, putting her in the position of playing amateur sleuth both above and below stairs.
5. Amish Candy Shop Mysteries series by Amanda Flower
Books in Series: 11 (and counting)
Books I've Read: 7
Up Next: Blueberry Blunder
Bailey King leaves her dream job as an assistant chocolatier in New York City to help her Amish grandmother run her candy shop in a small Ohio town. As quaint as the village is, there's a whole lot going on under the surface. Bailey finds herself digging into a surprising number of murders among both the Amish and English residents.
6. Bakeshop Mysteries series by Ellie Alexander
Books in Series: 24 (and counting)
Books I've Read: 1
Next Up: A Batter of Life and Death
This is one of those series that I had to start over with. I reread Meet Your Baker a few months ago.
Set in Ashland, Oregon—a real town that is famous for its annual Shakespearean festival—this culinary mystery series stars the mother/daughter team that runs Torte, a popular (fictional) bakery. With the yearly festival chaos as well as the usual conflict that abounds in a small, insular town, baker Juliet Capshaw always has her hands full serving up baked goods and helping to solve the murder du jour.
7. Kate Hamilton series by Connie Berry
Books in Series: 6 (and counting)
Books I've Read: 4
Next Up: A Collection of Lies
American antiques dealer Kate Hamilton helps to solve her first murder while visiting Scotland. Later, she moves to the U.K. where she continues helping her detective boyfriend solve crimes.
8. Shana Merchant series by Tessa Wegert
Books in Series: 6 (series complete)
Books I've Read: 5
Next Up: The Coldest Case
This crime series features Shana Merchant, a former NYPD detective with a traumatic past. Trying to put her trauma behind her, she takes a job in New York's Thousand Islands area. There, she solves new cases while also dealing with the unresolved issues from her past.
Although this series is complete, Wegert is now writing a spin-off series that I'm excited to read.
9. Baker Street Mysteries series by Valerie Burns
Books in Series: 5 (and counting)
Books I've Read: 2
Next Up: A Cup of Flour, A Pinch of Death
This fun cozy culinary series stars Maddy Montgomery, a fashionista social media star who's reeling from being left at the altar. When a great-aunt she never knew leaves Maddy a surprise inheritance, she sees it as the new start she desperately needs. It doesn't matter that she can barely boil water, she can totally run Aunt Octavia's popular bakery, right? It's not long before Maddy is in over her head trying to learn to bake, run a business, wrangle a giant mastiff, and...solve a string of murders?
10. Royal Spyness series by Rhys Bowen
Books in Series: 20 (and counting)
Books I've Read: 2
Next Up: Royal Flush
I started this historical mystery series this year and have really been enjoying it (especially on audio). It stars Lady Victoria Gergiana Charlotte Eugenie—Georgie—a cousin of England's King George V. With her family's fortune waning, she leaves her Scottish castle for London, where she'll have to make her own way for the first time in her life. In addition to worrying about how to make ends meet, she's at the mercy of Her Majesty, the Queen, who often enlists Georgie's help with various inconvenient projects. Then, there are all the murders that seem to happen around her...
There you go, ten mystery series that I need to catch up on. Have you read any of them? What do you think? Which series do you need to catch up on? Which are you planning to start? I'd love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.
Happy TTT!
Wednesday, May 13, 2026
Top Ten Tuesday (on a Wednesday): Favorite Books By Favorite Authors
I'm late to the party this week. Yesterday was a DAY, and I just wasn't up to crafting a TTT list. I was up all night with an upset stomach, so I finally just got out of bed in spite of the early hour. It's quiet and peaceful in my house, so it's the perfect time to make my belated list. This week's prompt is May Flowers, a follow-up to the April Showers one from a few weeks ago. Even though we haven't had much rain at all this year in the Phoenix area, we do have flowers blooming. The lantana in our backyard has been growing like crazy. I'm not sure how long it will last considering the crazy hot temps we've had this week. Our high yesterday was 105! Anyway, as much as I like flowers, I'm going to go rogue this week. Since I will be cruising the Yucatan on May 26, I'm going to jump ahead and do the theme for that week: My Favorite Books By My Favorite Authors (submitted by Cathy @What Cathy Read Next). Sounds like fun!
As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.
My Favorite Books By (Ten Eleven of) My Favorite Authors
The following authors aren't my ten absolute favorites. However, they are all writers I love and read often. More importantly, I can identify the one book of theirs that I love most. I can't necessarily do that with all of my favorite authors, you know? Or am I just weird? (I might just be weird. That's okay!) Here we go in alphabetical order:
1. A Rip Through Time by Kelley Armstrong—I yap about Armstrong a lot because I enjoy her crime fiction so much. Her urban fantasy novels don't interest me at all, and I haven't loved her horror novels either. As much as I enjoy her Rockton/Haven's Rock series, the Rip Through Time series is my favorite. The books are less graphic than the Rockton/Haven's Rock ones and funnier. All of the installments are worth reading, the but the first one is the one I like best so far.
In A Rip Through Time, a modern-day homicide detective travels to Edinburgh, Scotland, to visit her dying grandmother. While taking a mind-clearing jog, she is assaulted in the same spot where a chambermaid was attacked exactly 150 years earlier. When Detective Atkinson wakes up, she's in Victorian Scotland inhabiting the body of the maid, who works for a physician who moonlights as a coroner. As a confused Mallory tries to figure out what is happening and how to get home, she realizes that her professional skills can be of great use to her boss, who helps the police catch killers. How can she help him without revealing that she's not actually an uneducated maid? And how in the world is she going to get home?
2. Bluebird by Sharon Cameron—This YA author pens historical novels centered around World War II as well as sci-fi/fantasy books. Bluebird is the former. It's about a young German woman who travels to the U.S. after the war in order to unmask the Nazi who spearheaded a series of psychological experiments performed on concentration camp prisoners. Absorbing and memorable, Bluebird is a stunner of a novel.
3. Exiles by Jane Harper—I've enjoyed every book I've read by Harper, but those starring federal investigator Aaron Falk are my favorite. Of those, I like Exiles best. It tells a quieter, more intimate story than the other installments in the series do, but it's still a compelling mystery/thriller in its own right. The mystery revolves around a young mother who goes missing at a town festival, leaving her infant behind.
4. The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth—Another Australian author, Hepworth writes domestic fiction with lots of warmth and wit. This novel, my favorite of hers, is my book club's selection for May, so I'll be happily rereading it before next Tuesday. As is indicated by the title, the story concerns sisters, twins Fern and Rose. Fern lives a carefully structured life, sticking religiously to her routines in order to keep her fragile psyche intact. Rose is one of her few friends, someone for whom she is profoundly grateful, so when Rose learns she can't have children, Fern offers to carry a baby for her. She just needs to find a father. That search begins a journey that will profoundly affect both sisters as old secrets surface and new tensions emerge between them.
5. The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee—Lee writes YA novels, most of which are historical fiction, featuring characters of Chinese descent. This one tells the story of 17-year-old Jo Kuan, a Chinese American who works as a maid for a wealthy, powerful family in Atlanta. Secretly, she also writes an advice column, doling out wisdom for genteel Southern ladies. As Jo's writing gains in popularity, she decides to use it to protest against the injustices she sees every day in her community. She's not prepared for the backlash those articles receive or the danger it will put her in if anyone discovers her secret identity. In the meantime, she's also grappling to understand her own mysterious past.
6. The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner—I've read almost all of Meissner's books and this one, about the San Francisco earthquake in 1906, is the one that has lingered most in my mind. It stars Sophie Walen, an Irish woman who is so desperate to escape poverty in her homeland that she travels across the sea to become the mail-order bride of an American man she's never met before. She's confused by her silent stranger of a husband, although she quickly becomes enamored of his young, mute daughter. Although she doesn't know it yet, Sophie's life is about to be rocked to its core, not just by a deadly earthquake that will literally shake up her world but also by the unknown woman who will appear at her door, revealing shocking secrets that will change the course of both of their lives.
7. The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton—Morton's rich family sagas always sweep me away. Although I haven't loved her more recent books nearly as much as I do her older ones, I still consider her one of my favorite authors. Published in 2012, The Secret Keeper is about a woman who secretly witnesses a disturbing crime when she is 16 years old, an event that puts into question everything she knows about her mother. Fifty years later, Laurel is back home to celebrate her mom's 90th birthday. Realizing that time is running out to discover the truth about her mother, she determines to uncover all of the woman's many secrets.
8. How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny—Although I've only read 13 of the 20 books in the Armand Gamache series (the 21st comes out in October), it's one of my very favorite crime series. How the Light Gets In, #9, is set at Christmastime. Our hero, Inspector Armand Gamache, is at a low point in both his professional and personal life. When a friend in Three Pines invites him to come back to the quaint village to investigate a disappearance, he leaps at the chance to return to the place that always feels like home. Turns out, the missing woman is a celebrity who was once famous all over the world. What has happened to her? Because I hate to see my beloved Gamache suffer, How the Light Gets In was a bit of a painful read for me, but it's also a tender and heartening one.
9. The Spies of Shilling Lane by Jennifer Ryan—Ryan's latest two novels (one of which comes out next month) are set in the 1950s, but the rest of her books are all set during World War II. The Spies of Shilling Lane is my favorite of hers because although it has its poignant moments, it's mostly a fun, lively, madcap adventure. It stars the indomitable Mrs. Braithwaite, a hilarious queen bee who's knocked off her throne by her scandalous divorce. Indignant, she hies off to London to lick her wounds with her daughter, Betty, who has been in the city helping with war work. When Betty's timid landlord informs her mother that Betty is missing, Mrs. Braithwaite strong arms the reluctant landord into helping her locate her daughter. Turns out, her child has a much more complicated complicated life than Mrs. Braithwaite ever could have imagined, a life that will put all of them in grave danger.
10. Middle of the Night by Riley Sager—Final Girls is the only one of Sager's novels that I haven't read. I've enjoyed all of them, some more than others naturally, but Middle of the Night is my favorite. It's different from his other books, more gentle and moving. Never fear, though, it's just as riveting as his other thrillers. The story revolves around Ethan Marsh, a man who returns to the picture-perfect neighborhood he lived in as a child. It was there that, many years ago, his 10-year-old best friend disappeared during an overnight campout in Ethan's backyard. Already suffering from insomnia and disturbing nightmares, Ethan is plagued by strange things happening in the middle of the night. Signs of his missing friend keep appearing. Is someone playing a terrible joke on Ethan? Or has his long missing pal returned? What really happened the night of the campout? Ethan is determined to find out.
11. The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James—I love St. James' eerie thrillers. This one is set in a rundown motel in a dying town where strange things are known to happen. Viv Delaney reluctantly takes a job at the dumpy place with the goal of saving enough money to escape to New York City. It doesn't take long for her to realize that something is very wrong at her place of employment. There's a reason for the bad juju that emanates from the Sun Down Motel and she's going to uncover all its many secrets.
There you go, eleven of my favorite books by eleven of my favorite authors. Have you read any of them? Which are your favorite books by your favorite authors? I'd love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.
Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
Tuesday, January 21, 2025
Top Ten Tuesday: The Most Recent Additions to My Book Collection
I've been feeling a little emotionally bruised lately because of some...things, which has led to a *bit* of indulgence in the bookish retail therapy department. Needless to say, this week's TTT prompt is going to be a cinch for me: Top Ten Most Recent Additions to My Book Collection.
As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.
Top Ten Most Recent Additions to My Book Collection
1. The Agatha Christie Collection by Agatha Christie—I've read a few of Christie's iconic Hercules Poirot mysteries, but I've been wanting to start at the beginning and read the rest in order. The first one, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, always seems to be checked out from my library, so I finally just bought this volume which includes that title, as well as The Murder on the Links (#2) and Poirot Investigates (#3). I'm excited to see how it all began!
2. Stranded by Nikki Shannon Smith—I've mentioned this middle grade novel before. It's about a young Black girl from New York City who loves nature to a degree that confounds everyone around her. She finds a kindred spirit in her aunt, who lives in a remote cabin in the Adirondacks. Despite all that Auntie Raven teaches Ava about wilderness survival, though, Ava's terrified when she finds herself alone in the woods. Does she have what it takes to make it ouf of the forest alive?
3. What Happened to Nina? by Dervla McTiernan—I have been enjoying this Irish-Australian author's Cormac Reilly crime series, so I was eager to give this standalone a go. It has not been available in my local libraries or bookstores and even Amazon didn't have it until recently. Finally, I was able to get myself a copy. The story revolves around a young couple who go on a romantic vacation to a remote cabin in the woods. When only the man returns, telling a story full of holes, everyone is asking the titular question: What happened to Nina?
4. The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu—Considering what is going on right now, particularly in the U.S., I figured this was a good time to buy a copy of this book, about which I've heard great things. A warm, respectful conversation between two wise, compassionate leaders about what really matters in life sounds like just what my soul needs.
5. Not Nothing by Gayle Forman—I've never been overly interested in this author's YA novels, but I do like the sound of this one, her first middle-grade book. Alex is a lonely 12-year-old boy who commits an act that gets him sentenced to a summer performing community service at a retirement home. He is not at all enthusiastic about the prospect until he meets a 107-year-old resident named Josey. A man who has lived through it all, including the Holocaust, Josey just wants his long life to be over. When he meets Alex and begins telling the boy his story, the experience changes both of them. Can Josey's tales of courage give Alex the strength he needs to own up to the worst mistake he's ever made?
6. Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny—Changing Hands Bookstore, my local indie, offers a $10 birthday discount to its customers when we shop during our birth month. I used mine to pick up a copy of this 14th installment in the Armand Gamache crime series. It's one of my favorite series of all time, so I want to own all of them so I can re-read the books whenever I want. I haven't read Kingdom of the Blind yet, but it begins with a strange letter informing Gamache that he has been named in the will of a woman who is a complete stranger to him. He's baffled. When a dead body is found, the deceased's intentions become a little more clear—and a lot more sinister.
7. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett—Santa Claus brought me the beautiful Fingerprints edition of this children's classic. It's about a young girl who discovers a neglected garden on her uncle's estate. As she nurtures it back to life, she unearths secrets, clues, and answers to important questions about her family and herself.
8. The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton—My sister gave me a Barnes & Noble gift card for my birthday, which is a few days before Christmas. I used it to buy this dystopian/murder novel that I've been eyeing. It has a very intriguing premise: a killing fog has decimated the world's population, leaving only 125 people living on an idyllic island protected by a security system that keeps the fog away. Then, a scientist is murdered. The death triggers not just a lowering of the security system, which will disappear entirely if the killer isn't found in the next 107 hours, but also an erasure of everyone's memories of the night before. Someone on the island is a murderer, even if they don't remember that they are. Can the islanders solve the murder before it's too late?
9. Death at Morning House by Maureen Johnson—I also used my gift card to buy a copy of this murder mystery by one of my favorite YA authors. It concerns Marlowe Wexler, a teenage girl who takes a summer job as a tour guide at a mansion that was built on a remote island in the 1920s and abandoned soon after. It's an easy gig, if not the most exciting job in the world. Except for the unexplained deaths that happened on the island. Those are...something. When Marlowe's employer mysteriously vanishes, Marlowe worries that the house's haunted history is making a deadly comeback...
10. The Magdalen Girls by V.S. Alexander—You know those tempting Kindle deals, where interesting-looking books can be had for just a few dollars? I fall for those way too often! Such is the case with this historical novel about three young Irish women who are sent to a Dublin convent that now serves as a Magdalen laundry for the crimes of being too pretty and too independently-minded. Despite the grimness and cruelty they experience in their new home, the young women form a fast, deep friendship. When they are finally able to escape the laundry, they'll need that bond to help them survive in the outside world, which might be more harsh than the one they've just escaped. Sounds depressing, but intriguing.
There you go, ten of my newest book acquisitions. Have you read any of them? What did you think? Which volumes have you acquired lately? I'd love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.
Happy TTT!
Monday, August 05, 2024
Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Book Series
I've been MIA with Top Ten Tuesday lately and on the blog in general. Life's been busy. I just got back from an Alaska cruise and a family reunion in the Seattle area. Stepping out of the Phoenix airport into oven-hot temps very early this morning was a rude awakening after all the lovely, cool (but not all that cold) PNW weather. I'm hot, exhausted, and still nauseous from a bumpy plane ride, BUT I'm happy to be home!
Today's TTT prompt is all about series. I love sinking into series, where I can enjoy characters, settings, and stories. I'm in the middle of so many of them that I started keeping a spreadsheet to keep them all in order. The topic is Top Ten Favorite Books From Ten Favorite Book Series. That's too big of a challenge for my tired, aging brain, so I'm just going to give you my top ten favorite series. How's that?
As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.
Top Ten Favorite Book Series
(Covers are for the first book in each series, not necessarily my favorite one.)
1. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling (middle-grade fantasy)
2. Armand Gamache by Louise Penny (adult murder mystery)
3. Bloody Jack by L.A. Meyer (YA historical fiction/action adventure)
4. Rockton/Haven's Rock by Kelley Armstrong (adult murder mystery)
5. Myrtle Hardcastle by Elizabeth C. Bunce (middle-grade historical fiction/mystery)
6. Tempe Brennan by Kathy Reichs (adult murder mystery)
7. Alcatraz by Gennifer Choldenko (middle-grade historical fiction)
8. Aaron Falk by Jane Harper (adult murder mystery)
9. Veronica Speedwell by Deanna Raybourn (adult historical fiction/mystery)
10. Jane/Mary books by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows (YA historical fiction/alternate history/supernatural)
There you go, ten of my favorite book series. Have you read any of them? What are your favorite series? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.
Happy TTT!
Tuesday, October 24, 2023
Top Ten Tuesday: Atmospheric Books
I missed my favorite weekly meme last week for the very best reason in the world: my first grandbaby was born last Tuesday! My daughter-in-law has a heart condition that put her in the ICU for post-partum observation until today, so this little cutie was discharged from the hospital before her mommy. Because of that, the two of us have gotten to spend lots of time together this week (especially late at night). She's a sweet, calm baby, and we're all smitten with her.
My son and daughter-in-law don't want pictures of their precious newborn's face on the Internet, so you're just going to have to trust me when I say that she is the most beautiful granddaughter ever born! (Although my red, squinty eyes make me look demonic in this picture, they're just the result of me crying lots of joyful tears.)
Today's TTT topic is a fun one: Top Ten Atmospheric Books. I love a story that immerses me in a rich, evocative setting that makes me feel like I've stepped right into another world. If a book is described as "atmospheric," I will 100% take a closer look at it. It's maybe not so surprising then that the word I tend to most overuse in my reviews is "atmospheric." My memory isn't the greatest (I am old enough to be a grandma, after all) so I don't remember all the details that made these books stand out to me, but I described them all with my favorite review word.
Top Ten Tuesday is, as always, hosted by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. She has COVID, so give her some extra love today.
Top Ten Atmospheric Books
1. Dry by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman—This YA novel is about a drought in California that makes people so desperate for water that they create a dystopian situation for themselves. The story is so vividly told that my throat felt parched the entire time I was reading it. I've never guzzled as much water while reading before!
2. Anything by Kate Morton—Morton is one of my all-time favorite authors because her books are always soaked in atmosphere. They feature old homes, buried secrets, and evocative settings.
4. The Broken Girls by Simone St. James—Haunted house stories are often eerie and atmospheric. This one, set in an abandoned school for troubled girls, certainly is. Even though it creeped me out big time and ultimately gave me nightmares, I couldn't stop reading it. That's how gripping it is.
5. I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys—Almost everything about this historical teen novel feels heavy and oppressive. This is done on purpose so that the reader can feel deeply what it must have been like to live in Communist Romania under the rule of a cruel, power-hungry tyrant.
6. The Girls in the Stilt House by Kelly Mustian—Set in the 1920s in a squalid Mississippi swamp community, the setting comes very much alive in this novel about two girls living bleak, hardscrabble lives who come together to cover up a murder.
7. Eventide by Sarah Goodman—I read this spooky teen novel while doing the overnight shift with my grandbaby. It's got a "don't go into the woods" plot that had me jumping a little every time I heard a noise that wasn't a sweet baby coo.
8. The Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny—These are my favorite mystery books, in part because the author makes the little town of Three Pines come alive in such a brilliant way. Yes, it's a quaint, cozy village, but its residents are complex individuals with abundant quirks, faults, and secrets. This causes the hamlet to come alive in a way that makes me want to move there immediately, warts and all.
9. These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly—It's been years since I read this YA mystery set in Gilded Age New York City, but I remember loving it. A page-turner for lots of reasons, it boasts a vivid setting.
10. The Dry by Jane Harper—Like #1, this contemporary Australian mystery novel is set in a parched, drought-stricken land. The author creates such a dynamic backdrop that I could taste the dust in the air.
There you go, ten atmospheric books I enjoyed reading. Have you read any of them? Which titles did you choose for your list today? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.
Happy TTT!
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