Fiction

I’ll continue my journey through mystery series books by Dorothy Sayers and Ngaio Marsh. For the former, Clouds of Witness, and the latter will be Enter a Murderer. I found the first Sayers book a bit…clunky and ponderous, but the Marsh turned out to be nimble and engaging. Will see if that holds up, for the second book from each.

Umberto Eco – The Name of the Rose. I know, I know, how could I have gone this long without reading it? When I attempted it in the 80s, I’ll admit to being quite distracted from being a new mum to give it the level of concentration a book like it needs, so it wound up on my DNF pile, and for longer than I'd realized.

All the Wind in the World by Samantha Mabry. This will be a strange book, about two itinerant farm workers in a dystopian future with dreams of owning their own farm if they can only work hard enough, earn and save enough. Well, we’ll see if it works out for them.

The Secret Stealers by Jane Healey. I burned out on the WWII fiction craze, long ago, but I had a challenge prompt for ‘protagonist with a unique profession.’ Hm. Seemed to me that a French teacher becoming an OSS spy for the French resistance behind enemy lines would tick that box. My ex’s grandfather carried out a similar mission during that war, and the experience shattered him. As his wife put it, he came back a man she didn’t know—and didn’t want to know. Somehow, I doubt this book will be that visceral in its realism, but one never knows…