The Greengage Summer (1958) by Rumer Godden #ParisInJuly2025 #20BooksofSummer2025

💚 The titular greengage summer is the summer when five siblings were staying at Hotel Les Oeilletes in a French seaside village. The story is narrated by Cecil Grey (13 y.o.), girl number two. The rest of the siblings are Joss, the eldest girl of 16; Hester (third girl); and the Littles, Will and Vicky. But wait, are they holidaying to France unchaperoned? Initially, their widowed mother took them there to see the Battlefield of France, however she got very ill on the way, and collapsed right upon arrival at the hotel. The proprietress, Mademoiselle Zizi almost let the family away - what hotel would receive a very ill woman with five children anyway? - but her charming and mysterious lover Monsieur Elliot interfered, and rescued them. He put Mrs. Grey into hospital, and the children are staying under his care.

💚 Without their mother's care, Joss and Cecil turned to womanhood, faster than any would expect. Especially Joss, she turned to be a very attractive woman, and this brought the children, previously left alone and unnoticed, to be under limelight. I loved all the children, from Hester who's always honest, to Will with his fashion aficionado. Even Vicky, who has the least role in the story - I loved how she's always hanging out in the kitchen with the old cook (and who always supplies hot news to her siblings!).

💚 At first, it seems like a perfect holiday for the siblings - loitering leisurely around the orchard, among greengage trees, picking and eating the fruits, and be free. But of course it's not that. I knew instantly that Elliot wouldn't have received them without reason, there's a catch somewhere. The children were drawn to Elliot instantly, and also with few of the other residents. Monsieur Armand the painter is my favorite! However, little by little they noticed strange, inexplicable things, mostly concerning Elliot. You'll be wondering all the time, whether he is a good man (he really took care of the children) who was misunderstood, or a genius villain hiding his crime behind his kindness? 

💚 I won't reveal further of the plot, because what happens next is the key to enjoy this book. In short, it is, unexpectedly, a rather intense coming-of-age story with a hint of mystery and a sinister plot twist at the end. It was an evocative reading, not the lazy one you'd enjoy during summer holiday - but definitely a perfect one for #ParisinJuly; it celebrates the glorious summer of a French seaside village!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
 

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A Picture of Murder (2018) by T.E. Kinsey #20BooksofSummer2025

📽️ T.E. Kinsey's Lady Hardcastle's Mysteries is one of the cozy mystery series I love to read through. Besides being a period cozy mystery (the early 1900s), I like it because for once, the amateur sleuths (Lady Hardcastle and her maid/companion Florence 'Flo' Armstrong) are women with strong characters, and without any personal 'problem'. Most cozy mysteries I've read these days seem to depict a 'broken' heroine, who had endured some sort of problems in the past, and now they must juggle between solving a murder and their own problem. I'm tired of it all, for once I want sound-minded heroines who solve murders just because they love doing it, not for saving someone or something. Lady Hardcastle and Flo are just that.

📽️ We are back at the small village of Littleton Cotterell. Lady Farley-Stroud asked Emily (Lady Hardcastle) to host a group of movie maker and actors on her behalf, due to a little fire that had just happened at the Grange (the Farley-Stroud's abode). Emily agreed to that readily; in fact both Lady Hardacstle and her maid Flo and the servants were all excited. For Lady Hardcastle especially, as she had been nurturing a new hobby: moving picture. The first night of screening would play a movie called The Witch Downfal, to mark the coming Halloween. But not everyone in Littleton Cotterell was excited; a group of church-fanatic were against it, and even put protest signs during the first screening. That night, one of the actors died, murdered, the same way as a character on the movie died. Then another was following, with the same pattern; this time the murder even happened at Lady Hardcastle's house.

📽️ As usual, Inspector Sunderland from Scotland Yard, who was supposed to lead the investigation was busy, so he called upon Lady Hardcastle and Miss Armstrong to help him (it's nice that for once it's the police who wanted the amateur sleuth, instead of the amateur sleuth who interfering with the the police work!). Who could be the murderer? The main suspects were the church-fanatic leader and another movie maker who claimed that the group had stolen his idea. But of course, the victims' friends were also suspects. But what was their motive? Would a movie maker or actor murder his friends and jeopardizing his work?

📽️ I loved this fourth book of the series; in fact, I think it's my favorite so far. Not only the story is compelling, it provides a backstory of Lady Hardcastle and Flo's past adventures. It had been a mystery so far - we only know that something happened when they were on a mission in Shanghai, China, but what mission, how dangerous it was, or how they have escaped it, were mystery to us from first book. I'm glad that Kinsey finally fulfills our curiosity. In short, I loved every single element of this story - Lady Hardcastle and Flo Armstrong's dynamic relationship; their mocking and teasing of each other were constant entertainment to us, with dry humour that made you chuckle - and the unexpectedly dark nuances of the case - all provide the perfect element for a not-too-cozy mystery to read for Halloween!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

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The Elegance of the Hedgehog (2006) by Muriel Barbery #ParisInJuly2025 #20BooksofSummer2025

🦔 The story takes place in an elegant apartment building in central Paris, where two of our heroines live. One is a genius teenage girl from a bourgeois family, the other is the concierge. Paloma, the little girl, is planning to end her life by committing suicide, because she feels she'd never fit in the world. Nobody understands her - neither her family, her schoolfriends, nor her teachers. Paloma feels she would never manage to be whatever the world expect her to be. So, ending her life seems the only possible solution.

🦔 Having the entirely different background than Paloma, Renée, the concierge, is also having the same predicament. She is actually an intelligent and cultured woman, though autodidact. She loves art, literature, and even Japanese culture. However, the apartment tenants regards her as a server. So, she hides her talents as best she could, and appears to be the dumb concierge everyone expect her to be. Both Paloma and Renée hide into obscurity, because the world would not have them to be different from themselves.

🦔 Paloma and Renée would have lived through their lives as usual, albeit separately - if Monsieur Ozu, a wealthy Japanese man, hasn't arrived in the building as a new tenant. From the on, both lives change completely, because Mr. Ozu isn't like everybody else. He is himself an intelligent and cultured man, and on his first encounter with both souls, Mr. Ozu noticed right away, both Paloma's and Renée's hidden talent. 

🦔 Someone has given me a hint before, that at the start the story seems boring, but it would get much interesting after Mr. Ozu's appearance. I must thank that hint, since without it, I might have stopped reading after several chapters. They were so boring (I skipped a lot of the philosophy stuffs), and yet I felt that Barbery could have made it that way purposely. It was like the kind of life Paloma and Renée had expected they would have to endure the rest of their lives. But if they waited a little longer, something unexpected, more exciting and meaningful might come from the next corner. It's a lesson for us all to never lose courage.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

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Agatha Christie Short Stories 2025: Reviews for JULY #AgathaChristieSS25

The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb

It is always a treat when Christie indulged in her fascination about archeology and ancient Egypt. In this short but engaging story, an excavation of the tomb of the Pharaoh Men-her-Ra had suddenly became public's fascination after two men involved died one after another in just a fortnight - one of a heart failure, the other blood poisoning. People had been questioning whether the curse of the Pharaoh hunted the excavation, when the third death occurred, this time a suicide.

The widow of the excavation's leader, Sir John Willard, asked Poirot's help to protect her son, who now led the excavation. So Poirot and Hastings left for Egypt, and stayed the night at the camp. They felt the forces of evil in the air - Christie used this a lot in her novels. Things began to be out of control when Poirot choked on the tea brought by the servant. Was he being attacked by the desperate murderer, or this was just one of Poirot's theatrical acts to reveal the murderer?

On the whole, it's fun to read. The exotic expedition in Egypt, the superstitions, and the little dramatic act. It was what I always expect from Christie's shorties.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Adventure of the Sinister Stranger

It's a boring day at Blunt's International Detective Agency. The blue letter or number 16 that they must be wary of, had, so far, never come. But three arrivals broke the dull; the first was a package, the second a letter, and the third a client. The package contained Tuppence's purchase, a silver cigarette case with "to Francis, from Tuppence" engraved on it, which was a gift for a General Francis, whom Tuppence drove for at war. The letter was the blue Russian letter that they've been looking forward to. However the client's arrival checked their discussion. Moreover, the client seemed to be eyeing on the letter, longer than he should have been. Was he a real client, or the disguised enemy?

This one was a highly entertaining story, a reminiscent of The Secret Adversary, albeit the tiny-weeny version of it. Friend-turned-foe, deception, decoy, fast-paced action - all was packed into a well-proportioned short story. My favorite part is the different fictional-detective-style that the Beresfords always adopted on each case. This time they adopted Francis and Desmond, the Okewood Brothers, created by Valentine Williams (1883-1946). Usually these were just to add humor to the story, but this time, it was key to their victory. A clever move by Christie!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Jacqueline in Paris (2022) by Ann Mah #ParisInJuly2025 #20BooksofSummer2025

🔻 A little confession... I have picked this book just because of the title (everything with "Paris" attracts my attention) and the cover (again, every images of Paris will catch my attention).  I knew vaguely that this was set in post World War II, but had no idea what (or more importantly who) this was about. Although the heroine's name: Jacqueline Bouvier seemed vaguely familiar, I must have been almost mid way through before I caught 'White House' being mentioned casually. I thought, why would Jacqueline go to the White House, and what was the significance? I then browsed about this book, and just realized that this book is actually a historical fiction about the inimitable Jacqueline Kennedy!!

🔻 The story covered Jacqueline's earlier life, when she, in her twenty, spent one year in post-war Paris to study. Away from her mother's pressure to find a brilliant match, and the rigid social circle of New York, Jacqueline found freedom in Paris. She and some of her friends from the college were billeted with de Renty family. She soon found that Madame de Renty and her deceased husband had been spies during the war - Madame had even spent time in a women's concentration camp. It was unimaginable for Jacqueline, and so, instead of spending much of her time with her friends to museum, theatre, or dances, Jacqueline started to have interest in the war. She visited the poverty stricken post-war Germany, where she met John.

🔻 John was an impoverished writer, and for his new novel, did many researches on Communist communities - which were starting to emerge during the post-war. From de Renty family, she came to know that Communist spies had been spreading their wings around France. It's difficult to know the difference between real friends (or lover) and enemies. Was John, with whom Jacqueline was falling in love, the man he told her he was? Or was he a communist spy which one of de Rentys accused him of? Even if he's not, how would her mother react to their relationship?

🔻 At first, this book seemed to be about a girl's having fun in post-war Paris for a year. It was, until midway. After that it's a mixture of semi-political story with a tiny bit of mystery. But on the core, it was a coming of age re-imagining of Jacqueline Bouvier's earlier life. That one year in France touched and influenced the girl who would become one of the most famous first lady of the United States. I felt related to Jacqueline's first love to France, and I'm happy for her that she could always bring that in the next stage of her life. I loved that Ann Mah didn't stopped at Jacqueline's departure from Paris, but ended the story with her coming back there after she became Mrs. Kennedy. It was a bitter sweet way to end a book!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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The Red Notebook (2014) by Antoine Laurain #ParisInJuly2025 #20BooksofSummer2025

📕 Antoine Laurain has become a staple author for me. His books (so far) are always highly entertaining, and so I had decided two or three years ago that I will read at least one Laurain's every #ParisInJuly. This year, The Red Notebook was my choice - red is my favorite color too - and again, I loved it! Laurain never disappoints, and I can't wait to read more of his next year. Now to the story...

📕 The red notebook belongs to a Parisian woman in her forty, who had been mugged one morning, and lost her handbag. Her head got hit quite hard from the incident, and for several days she was in hospital, having a coma. Meanwhile, the thief thrown the bag (after stealing the smartphone and purse, of course) on nearest garbage bin.

📕 That morning, bookstore owner Laurent Letellier was on his morning stroll when he noticed a mauve handbag discarded on top of a garbage bin. On impulse, he saved the bag, intended to drop it at the police station. But one thing led to another, he ended up taking the bag home to his apartment. Searching for any identification (which was none), he was fascinated to read the contents of the red moleskin notebook, which was a diary. Little by little Laurent came to "know" the woman, though not her name or address. Laurent was then on a mission to track down the woman, using some of the bag's contents as clues: a dry cleaner's receipt, a key ring with hieroglyphics, and a signed copy of Patrick Modiano's book. Would he succeed in his quest? 

📕 A little mystery, a quest, and a budding romance are the best ingredients for a lovely light book, and this one has all of them. Rare glimpses of the exotic profession of a Gilder added the charm; not mentioning the everyday life in Paris' apartment buildings, streets, and cafés which seeped through every lines of the story. Together, they create a little bubbling of happiness I always feel during #ParisInJuly, especially while reading Antoine Laurain's! ;)

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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A Year in Provence (1989) by Peter Mayle #ParisInJuly2025 #20BooksofSummer2025

🍷 A Year in Provence became my first entry for #ParisInJuly2025, hosted by Emma @ Word and Peace. It's the first of a series of memoir written by Peter Mayle, an American guy who moved to France with his wife and two dogs in the 1980s. My initial choice had been Toujours Provence (the second book in the series) - planning to read it for A Century of Books project, but unfortunately I couldn't find any available ebook. So, I picked the first book, which was available, and someone has commented that it was slightly better than the second. In the end, I'm quite happy with the book - it was an entertaining read.

🍷 The premise is quite cliché - a foreigner found Provence a charming place, fallen in love with the Francophile life, decided to move in, then struggle to adapt at first, but loved the adventure anyway. There are more than a dozen books similar to this, I believe. And so, it's the narrative that would make one book different from the other. In this case, I loved Mayle's witty and humorous prose, with steady pace, alternating between frustrating and triumphant moments.

🍷 The Mayles chose a small and remote Southern French country called Lubéron as their new homeland. They found a 200-year-old dilapidated stone farmhouse, and bought it. And this book is a yearlong story of their introduction to the new Provençal life. They not only endured the mistral or frosty winter, but also with the fact that living in a farmhouse means never-ending repair works to be done. And with the Provençal laissez faire way of life, it may frustrated town people on their first arrival in Provence, but little by little Peter and his wife got used to it. Mrs. Mayle even came up with a clever way to get the repairmen worked their house faster - a gentle kick it was - and very efficient, and wonderfully hilarious!

🍷 On the whole, it might not be an enlightening book (you'll read many of these kinds), but if you are yourself a Francophile, this would be a charming and delightful book to read. It'd transport you to Provence, And together with the Mayles, you'd experience the charm and beauty of living in a Provençal farmhouse. You'd be imagining harvesting your own grapes, or hunting your own truffles, or cooking your own French cuisine. I loved this book, and enjoyed every page of it. It's rather difficult to convey the nuances I got from this book, but I found a passage that might describe it well:

"And, as for the oil, it is a masterpiece. You’ll see.” Before dinner that night, we tested it, dripping it onto slices of bread that had been rubbed with the flesh of tomatoes. It was like eating sunshine.”

Well, can you imagine what I have felt, and why I think his is a perfect book to read for #ParisInJuly2025, n'est-ce pas?

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Mid-Year Check-In Book Tag

I found this book tag at Cathy's 746 Books (it originated with Eric Karl Anderson at Lonesome Reader on YouTube), and thought what fun it would be to do it to mark the midway through this turmoil year! 

How many books have you read so far this year?

I have finished 34 books, with 30 reviews already reviewed, 3 on the queue, and one DNF. I originally planned to read 45, but... things happened, as always... 

What’s your favourite book so far this year?

It's between The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher, Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa, and Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns. But after long consideration, I think Sweet Bean Paste is the most poignant of them.

What’s the most disappointing book you’ve read this year?

Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit of Love. Actually John Irving's The Hotel New Hampshire was worse, but then I DNF-ed it, so it didn't count, did it?

What genre have you read most this year?

Literary Fiction, with Crime/Mystery closely following.

Name a new favourite author that you’ve discovered this year.

Rosamunde Pilcher - After The Shell Seekers, I am most definitely going to read more of her! What's your favorite from Pilcher?

What’s the most surprisingly good book you’ve read so far this year?

Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa. From the title (not mentioning the cover), I have thought this was a bitter sweet story of life struggle, with a hint of romance, perhaps. But boy, how wrong I was! It's far deeper than that.

What are your favourite and most anticipated 2025 releases?

Since my taste has been switching to the 20th century lately, I haven't read many newly published books, so... my favorite's got to be The Venice Murders by Merryn Allingham, because that's the only one I've read so far that's been published this year. The most anticipated release? I don't follow new releases, but there's one book (it's been released very recently) that I can't wait to read: Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man) by Jessie Sutanto - it's the second in a cozy mystery series that I loved! Here's the first book, if you're curious. 

What’s your next big priority for your reading?

I'm still behind schedule of my reading plan, especially for A Century of Books - my project to read one book for each year in the century - which I have started last year. I've been through 49 at the end of 2024, and intended to read the rest this year. Right now I'm still about 6 books behind, and is hoping to catch up soon!

What’s been your bookish highlight of the year so far?

The 1952 Club back in April. The club is one of my most favorite events of the year, and now I can't wait for the upcoming #1925Club next October!

Agatha Christie Short Stories 2025: JULY #AgathaChristieSS25

This post marks the end of the first semester of 2025, and that we are entering the second half of the year. how have you been doing so far? I'm personally proud of myself to have read all the twelve stories intended for 1st semester. Some I adored, but some are 'meh'. But now, let's see what we are going to read this month. Both are adventures (by title), and so I hope we are going to have some fun, with Poirot and our beloved couple: the Beresfords!

The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb

(A Hercule Poirot story)

Here Christie brought one of her favorite themes: ancient Egypt. An ancient Egyptian curse is murdering anyone who evacuated the tomb of Pharaoh Men-her-Ra. And it depends on the little grey cell of Hercule Poirot to solve the case. It reminded me instantly of one of my favorites in Hergé's The Adventures of Tintin: The Prisoners of the Sun. So, hopefully this story is at least as fun as I have expected.

The story was first published as a book in the collection Poirot Investigates, 1924, by Bodley Head. In 2004 the story was adapted for the Japanese anime series Agatha Christie's Great Detectives as a two-part episode, titled The Riddle of the Egyptian Tomb, where Poirot teams up with Miss Marple's great niece to solve the mystery. How exciting it sounds!

The Adventure of the Sinister Stranger

(A Tommy & Tuppence story)

This time the Beresfords must solve a mystery of some seemingly unrelated incidents: a mysterious cigarette lighter, the first anticipated blue Russian letter, and a doctor who keeps receiving hoax calls. Are they really unrelated? 

This story was published by Collins in the collection Partners in Crime, 1929, where the Beresford’s adopt the style and methods of Francis and Desmond, the Okewood Brothers, created by Valentine Williams (1883-1946), writing as Douglas Valentine. The Okewoods’ methods typically involved Desmond getting into a life-threatening scrape, only to be rescued by Francis, who “turns up as the gardener or something in the nick of time, and saves the situation.” In this case Tuppence unwittingly takes Francis’s role. Can't wait to read this one!

The Black Cabinet (1925) by Patricia Wentworth #20BooksofSummer2025

⚫ I've just realised, while starting this review, that I should have saved this book for the #1925Club next October! But then I thought, I would have forgotten altogether what the story is about by then, so here it is. I have planned to read it for #20BooksofSummer2025 anyway, and it did not disappoint me. Patricia Wentworth never disappoints me - so far.

⚫ Young, pretty, independent, sensible Chloe Dane worked at a dressmaker. She had been born in a wealthy family in Danesborough, but then the family fell on hard times. She didn't enjoy stitching fine clothes for rich but tasteless women, and was keen on doing something more exciting. It came to her unexpectedly soon after a party. A wealthy man called Mr. Dane, who was distant relative of hers. He had bought Danesborough, and made Chloe his heir - despite of her reluctance. Along with the property, is a black cabinet that had always been a fixture when she was a child.

⚫ Apparently, Mr. Dane's fortune came from blackmailing. He had built a safe inside the black cabinet, with intricate locks. He showed Chloe how to open the safe, and its contents - packet of letters which some people wouldn't hesitate to murder to be in possession of. Mr. Dane also warned Chloe not to trust anyone. Short time later, he died, and Chloe found herself a mistress in Danesborough. But it's not what she had expected. She felt alone among the pack of wolves in sheep's clothing. Mr. Dane was right, she couldn't trust anyone - not even the two suitors who said they loved her. Was one of them worked for the enemy? But which one? Or was it only her illusion? Was she really alone with no one to trust?

⚫ This was a delightful mystery-thriller to read, and I had so much fun reading it! Though sometimes romantically foolish, Chloe is brave and intelligent. Her determination of not letting anyone gets into the letters, and of refusing Mr. Dane's fortune when she'd come of age, was exemplary. Overall, it's a cozy thriller, the hapless heroine fighting alone against the enemies, with great plot, and sweet romance. It's another success for me with Wentworth, and I can't wait to read through her other numerous books!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

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Agatha Christie Short Stories 2025: Mini Reviews for June #AgathaChristieSS25

Ingots of Gold

It's Raymond West's turn to tell a mysterious story when The Tuesday Night Club next re-convened. It involved his newest acquaintance, at whose abode in Cornwall, Raymond had been invited to spend the Whitsun. It was an unsolved mystery, and which he expected the club would discuss and find a solution.

John Newman had bought rights from Spanish Armada to salvage the wreck of a sunken ship, which he believed contained of treasure. On the way to Newman's, Raymond met a Police Inspector, who was investigating another, more recent shipwreck with ingots of gold in it which had been stolen. Throughout his stay, Raymond felt a foreboding of something bad about to happen; with the menacing pub's landlord, and big storm. On top of it all, Newman was missing - apparently abducted, and witnessed a smuggling. Was this the answer of the stolen ingots of gold? In the end, it was, as usual, the meek Miss Marple who solved the mystery. Quite an entertaining one!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Sing a Song of Sixpence

I have found that the stories from The Listerdale Mystery collection are by far my most favorites. This one is no exception. Sir Edward Palliser received a visit from a young woman, Magdalen, whom he'd known years ago, and whose plead for help he couldn't refuse. Magdalen's eccentric aunt had been murdered, and the household - consisted of Magdalen, her brother, the aunt's nephew and his wife, and a devoted servant called Martha. To clear her family's reputation, Magdalen asked Sir Edward to investigate.

From his visit to the house, and his interview, Sir Edward found himself with a puzzle, but without nothing to suggest how to proceed, until, by chance, he caught a sight of a shop. And then, eureka! He saw how the murder had been committed. The key is the nursery rhyme which Christie used as this story's title. I loved the solution and twist, which I would've never guessed by myself. 

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Cold Comfort Farm (1932) by Stella Gibbons #20BooksofSummer2025

💙 Flora Poste found herself an orphan and penniless at age nineteen. Her friend encouraged her to take a job, or be trained for something, but Flora had a better idea. She would bestow her numerous relatives - which she didn't quite know - with opportunity to take her to live with them. Accordingly Flora wrote these relatives, and one reply came from the Starkadders who lived in Cold Comfort Farm in Sussex. The fact that Flora - a city girl - must live in a farm didn't deter her determination. 

💙 Flora is a sophisticated urbane girl, level-headed and sensible. She found the Starkadders as coarse and ignorant farmers, isolated from the modern world. They had taken Flora in not willingly, but to atone for an unthinkable wrong once done to Flora's father (which was never revealed througout the book). But that's not the only unsolved mystery in this book - the other is Flora's Aunt Ada Doom, the elderly matriarch who confined herself at her bedroom for the past twenty years, because when she's a child she had seen "something nasty in the woodshed." I'm curious to know what that is, but sadly, it, too, was never revealed. :(

💙 To make the Starkadders more sophisticated and happier, was the job that Flora had taken herself during her stay. There's cousin Amos with his obsession to religion; Reuben who knew how to improve their badly-run farm but can't do anything because brother Amos was taking charge; and Elfin the unruly passionate young girl, for whom Flora had to arrange an honorable marriage. Not mentioning Aunt Ada, whose presence hindered everyone's happiness. Not too subtly, but unflinchingly, Flora forced changes upon changes into the family, bringing the family to more adept to modern world.

💙 It was really a humorous and witty satire of rural life in early twentieth century, with a touch of romance. Despite of her self-centered manner, I couldn't help to be fond of Flora right from the beginning. In certain books, her character would be much annoying, but here, it provides many hilarious scenes.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐12

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The Shell Seekers (1987) by Rosamunde Pilcher #20BooksofSummer2025

🐚 The Shell Seekers is the title of a painting which hung on the wall of Penelope Keeling's abode. It was a wedding gift from his father, with herself as one of the shell seekers depicted in the painting. The story opens when Penelope is sixty years old, and has just been out of hospital and recovering from a heart attack. After that, the story runs parallelly between Penelope's past and present, giving us the view of how she had become what she is now, and why she does things that is incomprehensible to her children.

🐚 Penelope is the daughter of a bohemian parents; her father was a painter who married a much-younger French girl. And so, Penelope had been brought up quite unconventionally, and has an unconventional way of thinking too. For her, money means freedom. And it is money that created diversions between the mother and the three children: the bubbly, self-indulgent Nancy, the sensible, businesslike woman Olivia, and the selfish, greedy Noel. Nancy and Noel, especially, have been pestering her to sell The Shell Seekers and other paintings by grandpa Lawrence Stern, whose name had been resurfacing lately in art galleries. But Penelope was adamant, the paintings were hers - her father had given them to her only, and it's up to her what she'd like to do with it. She had done everything to make her children happy - she had even put up with her ill-suited and cheating husband for the sake of the children. And now it's her turn to make herself happy - free and happy. And I agreed with Penelope 100%.

🐚 I loved Penelope from the start, both as young girl and elderly lady. I always believe that when a child is brought up with love and trust, the child would be blooming to be unique, affectionate, and self-confident adult. I loved the relationship between Sophie - Penelope's French mother, and her daughter. Their relationship reminded me of mine and my mother - not that my mom's a bohemian, but she always put trust in me, and let me be what I want to be. Unfortunately for Penelope, only Olivia who has similarity to her mother; while Nancy and Noel must have inherited their father's character - money-oriented and petty.

🐚 I couldn't decide which part of the book I loved most - each had charm and interesting characters. Penelope's wartime story with, first, her husband, and then with the only man she ever loved, and also her friends who were evacuees, living at the family's house? Or Penelope's story as an old lady living alone in the village, befriended the young gardener and a girl that acquainted to Olivia, of whose future she helped building? Each had its warmth and charm, and I loved how Pilcher interwoven the past and the present into one wholesome story.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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20 Books of Summer 2025

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Taken at the Flood (1948) by Agatha Christie

💜 It was during a raid in The World War II, that Hercule Poirot, sheltering in a club, had heard an interesting story from a Major Porter. He was reading a news about the death of one Gordon Cloade, and how his new wife would inherit his estate. He - Major Porter - befriended the wife's former husband, a man named Robert Underhay, who was believed to be dead in Africa, though Major Porter was sure the man wasn't dead, and surely, one day he would appear in England. The story quite intrigued Poirot, and he was reminded to it several months later when he was asked to identify a mysteriously murdered man.

💜 The Cloade family (the late Gordon Cloade's siblings and their family) had been dependent to Gordon; he financed their expenses, provided them with capitals to start a venture - in short, he always told them to never think about money, as his wealth would someday be divided amongst them all. And so, his sudden death left the family vulnerable, and in want of ready money for their household expenses, or to continue on their ventures. They started asking Gordon's widow - a young and naive Rosaleen - for money. Her brother David protected his sister like a lioness protecting its cub.

💜 One day a stranger called Enoch Arden came to the village's inn and blackmailed David that he knew how to find Rosaleen's first husband. This conversation was heard by the landlady, who then told one of the family members. The next day, the man was found dead with his head smashed. Of course, David was instantly suspected. He had the strongest motive, since, if Robert Underhay was found alive, his sister wouldn't inherit the estate after all. But was he the real murderer? And why did Rowley Cloade asked Poirot to find the whereabout of Robert Underhay? Has that something to do with the fact that Lynn Marchmont, his fiance, seemed to be attracted to David Hunter?

💜 All in all, it was an interesting case. I loved that Poirot was not involved in the case until about half the story. If gave Christie ample opportunity to focus on the family dynamic, giving each character (suspects) to reveal their true selves, but without giving up too much to keep us in the dark of the murderer's identity until almost at the end. 

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Missing or Murdered (1929) by Robin Forsythe

🤎 I have read two Algernon Vereker's mysteries before, and have enjoyed both. One thing that make them interesting is the friendly competition between Vereker - the amateur detective, and Detective Inspector Heather from Scotland Yard. I always enjoy their bantering, usually over a bottle of aperitif or beer at the bar. This book is the first in the series, and the one where they both met for the first time. I've been excited over this one, and in the end it proved to be satisfying!

🤎 Lord Bygrave from the Ministry office seemed to had vanished into thin air the day after he last left the office for a fortnight holiday in his country house. Detective Inspector Heather from Scotland Yard was in charge of the case, and Vereker, being Lord Bygrave intimate friend and executor, joins Heather in the investigation. The first thing to be established is whether Lord Bygrave is dead or alive, missing or murdered,  - hence the title. But that is difficult to determine. A lot of things were discovered, of course, such as the visit of a mysterious veiled lady shortly before the disappearance; bonds missing from his personal cabinet; a proposal to his beloved niece from a man he didn't approve of. In short, there are several possibilities, but very limited clues.

🤎 Like the usual Golden Age mysteries, it has several plot twists and red herrings, and we are continually wondering whether the man is missing or murdered. The story revolves around these possibilities with its many red herrings, till almost the very end. And that made it highly entertaining, besides the challenge between the Scotland yard and the amateur detective, of who could solve the puzzle first - each with his own strategy of pulling the other's legs, though with good sport, without jeopardizing the case.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Agatha Christie Short Stories 2025: Mini Reviews for May

The Million Dollar Bond Robbery

This is a Hercule Poirot story, where Poirot and Hastings were asked to investigate a bond robbery. The story opens with Hastings remarking how often one reads about bond robbery those days. Then a young woman came with exactly the same case. Her fiancee, a bank clerk, had been asked by his boss to take a packet of one million dollars of Liberty bonds on board a ship, for sale in the United States. The packet was placed in a trunk, of which, only the trusted clerk and two managers had the key. Later on the clerk found attempts to force-opening on the trunk, and the packet gone! The ship was thoroughly searched to no avail. Who the theft is, and how they did it?

Upon investigation, Poirot found that the bonds were instantly bought by a broker. And that fact convinced him of the solution to the mystery. This has been a straightforward case, and not hard at all to guess.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

The Affair of the Pink Pearl

The third story in Partners in Crime collection found Tommy as the star detective for a change! He has just bought a camera "for taking photographs of footprints and "all that sort of thing", while a client arrived. She's a young woman from Wimbledon, whose house guest had lost a valuable pink pearl. Her necklace had been laid aside on a table after the clasp broke, and she forgot to take it upstairs at night. The following day, the necklace was there, but without the pink pearl pendant. There's no doubt that someone inside the house had stolen it, but who? And how did they hide it so that the search revealed nothing?

As Tuppence questioned the servants, Tommy took photographs of the whole room. Both efforts weren't fruitless. Tuppence found a kleptomaniac who'd been hiding spoons on their muff, but Tommy deduced correctly the theft of the pink pearl. On the whole, it's a satisfactory story. I've been waiting to read one where Tommy outwits Tuppence, and here it is!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Wish You Were Here (1990) by Rita Mae Brown #ReadingtheMeow2025 #20BooksofSummer2025

🐱 For the third and last book I read for #ReadingtheMeow2025, I picked a cat-mystery. Mrs. Murphy is the cat-detective; she's a tiger cat who lives with a divorced-postmistress named Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen as her companion. To complete the household, there's a Welsh Corgi named Tucker. They all live in a small town, where everyone knows about everyone else, and there's not such thing as secret. Harry - as the postmistress - has a habit of reading postcards not addressed to her. In one of these, she found one postcard with Paris cemetery image, captioned "wish you were here". Few days later, a citizen was murdered - the one who'd received the postcard. Then another death, with similar "warning". It was then that Harry realized the significant of the anonymous postcards. There's a murderer among them, and most probably he/she knew that Harry knew more than she supposed to.

🐱 Mrs. Murphy and Tucker don't really fond of humans - they're too slow on anything. Nope, humans don't concern them much. But when it comes to Harry, they'll do anything to protect her. And now, they must solve the mystery before the murderer could harm their beloved mom! One thing that amused me is that the animals in this story talk to each other, but not to the humans. There are a few secondary animal characters, like Pewter - the butcher's grey cat, who often visits the post office. With their helps, Mrs. Murphy and Tucker investigated every murder, and they found a strange smell always accompany the corpse - a smell like that of... turtles (what a turtle smell like, I wonder?...) Anyway, it was they who finally solved the mystery, and they tried hard to let Harry know, but how dense their mom always is - she always thinks they need foods or a few cuddles; like those are all that pets need! 

🐱 All in all, it was a delightful read, combining murder mystery with small town dynamic and cute but smart animals. I loved most of the characters - both humans and animals - though the name "Bonbon" is rather funny for a woman; it got me giggling everytime. As a cat book, this is a fulfilling one, since the cat (supported by its gang) is front and center as the mystery solver.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Reading the Meow 2025

hosted by Mallika

20 Books of Summer 2025
hosted by Annabel and Emma

The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips (2005) by Michael Morpurgo #ReadingtheMeow2025 #20Booksof Summer2025

🐈 Lily Tregenze is a girl of about 13 years old, who lives in 1943 with her family in Slapton, a seaside village in England, during the World War II. Her father is away, but apart from her missing him, she's quite contend to live with her beloved cat, an adventurous one, called Tips. Everything seems generally good, and the war has not touched their village. Until one day it was announced that the villagers must evacuate, living their house - the lock-stock-and barrel situation - because the Allied troops will use it for practices, before invading France.

🐈 Just when they were about to move to Uncle George's house in nearby village, Tips - the cat - is missing. Lily and the family, helped by two young American soldiers whom Lily had befriended, searched for it without avail. The area around the farm would be barbed-wired, and nobody could enter it after that. But Lily couldn't leave Tips alone, she must find her. Her American soldier friends - Addie (short of Adolphus) and Harry, had promised her that they would keep looking for Tips, and that one day the cat would surely come home. They also warned the danger of being near the vicinity of the practice. But Lily must find Tips, so she made plans to cross the wire, into the danger zone. Would she find Tips - alive? And what would happen next?

🐈 It was a wonderful story of courage, resilience, love, and friendship during the war, which was written in the form of diary - Lily's diary. Sixty years after the war, Lily wrote a letter to her grandson, following her re-marriage and move to a new place. The diary was included in the letter. It told him of her extraordinary life, and how an adventurous cat named Tips had become the key that changed her life - during the war, and even sixty years later. 

🐈 I've actually expected this to be a story from a cat's point of view. Or perhaps a story about the cat's adventures during the war - the kind which tells you the horrible things brought by war but seen from a cat's view, so that it becomes less horrifying, and even comes as cute and sweet. But this one is different. Surprisingly, Tips, the cat, isn't the center of the story. It is an amazing story, but not of Tips - which was implied by the title - although the story wouldn't even exist without Tips. So, the cat here has a very important role. The ending is unexpected, and threw the whole story to another level - made it much more memorable than just an adventure of a cat.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Reading the Meow 2025

hosted by Mallika

20 Books of Summer 2025

hosted by Annabel and Emma

The Dalai Lama's Cat (2012) by David Michie #ReadingtheMeow2025 #20BooksOfSummer2025

🐈 My first choice for Mallika's #ReadingtheMeow2025 has long intrigued me. I don't know why, but I'm always fascinated by Tibet. Reading Herge's Tintin in Tibet more than forty years ago might be the first trigger. Tibet has been some sort of magnet for me ever since. Then, when you add the cat element in it, how could I ever resist? Hence, it had been my first choice, and I'm not disappointed - it's simply delightful and inspiring.

🐈 I love it when an animal tells a story from its point of view. This story is that - the titular cat told the story of its wonderful life, from near death to the highest point that could possibly be achieved by a cat. She was rescued by the Dalai Lama when, as a kitten, she was being snatched from her mother by two naughty boys who wanted to sell her and her siblings. It was in the street of New Delhi, and Dalai Lama passed by in his car from a visit. She soon became Dalai Lama's pet. And people call her various names, from His Holiness' Cat (HHC) - by Dalai lama himself and his entourage; Rinpoche (meaning precious) - by a cafe owner who's a Buddhism enthusiast; Snow Lion; and The Most Beautiful Creature that Ever Lived - by Dalai Lama's chef.

🐈 Living with Dalai Lama, it's no wonder that HHC gets used to listening to many Buddhism lessons as she's always around when Dalai Lama receives visitors. She's even practicing (or trying to) meditation, in fact, she aspires to be a bodhicatva!🐱 And HHC has a lot of weaknesses to be righted; gluttony is one of them. With her status of His Holiness's Cat, there're people who want to please her. And how one pleases a cat if not by offering foods - delicious foods, which HCC could not resist. And that's how she's getting fatter and fatter. But Dalai Lama's advice to a visitor inspired her to overcome her greediness. That's just an example, she is also guilty of pride, jealousy, and insecurity. She is attracted to a tiger tabby, but feels insecure about her own (non) breeding, and so, plays hard-to-get all the time. Is it wise, though? She just have to sit still on the windowsill of Dalai Lama's study, to get the answer.

🐈 In short, this is a book "written" by a cat who tells you her own story, while at the same time imparts spiritual lessons of how to live a happier and more wholesome life. I love it when a cat writes a book, especially if it has a well-balanced proportion between cat's daily life and its interaction with human beings. Of course, HHC's observation on Dharamsala and Jokhang monastery and temple life, brought to me by the cat's point of view every time she perches high on the magazine shelf at the cafe, or while wondering on the Dharamsala streets and alleyways - it made this an even wholesome book. Even if you aren't a cat person, this book is funny, charming, and inspiring, without being preachy.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Reading the Meow 2025

hosted by Mallika

20 Books of Summer 2025
hosted by Annabel and Emma

Agatha Christie Short Stories 2025: JUNE #AgathaChristieSS25

We are welcoming June with two interesting stories: the stolen gold from a shipwreck, and a murder.

INGOTS OF GOLD

(a Miss Marple story)

The Tuesday Night Club is meeting again, and this time it's Raymond West, Miss Marple's nephew, whose turn it was to tell a story. It's about a shipwreck, stolen gold, and abduction. Frankly speaking, I am excited to read this one, an exotic mystery solved by the demurred Miss Marple. 

The story was published in the Royal Magazine in the UK in 1928 and in the US later that year, although under the revised title The Solving Six and the Golden Grave. It was then included in the 1932 collection, The Thirteen Problems.

SING A SONG OF SIXPENCE
(a non detective story)

Sir Edward Palliser helps investigating the mystery of an old friend's murdered aunt. Family truths come to light as he begins to pull together the clues, where the police could find no supporting evidence.

The story was first published in book form in the UK collection The Listerdale Mystery in 1934. It was then included in the US collection, The Witness for the Prosecution in 1948. The title was taken from the popular nursery rhyme of the same name, as Agatha Christie had done with several of her works.

Are you quite intrigued by now? I am, and I can't wait tor read both stories!

The Venice Murders (2025) by Merryn Allingham

💙 I was actually invited by the publisher to participate in this book's blog tour on its publication day, but since I was in the middle of my tax certification course, I had to withdraw from it. I had finished reading at that time, but just couldn't find time to write a proper review to give this delightful book a credit. But I have promised to publish a review on this blog, so here it is..

💙 The Venice Murders is the 11th book in Flora Steele Mystery instalment, and that, in itself, is a wonderful achievement - to be able to write (and publish) a series of eleven nice cozy mysteries that still fascinate its readers. This time the newlywed couple: bookshop owner Flora Steele and her husband, a mystery writer Jack Carrington, embarked for their (belated) honeymoon to Venice. Thus we are nicely treated with the late 1950s of Venice atmosphere along the story. Of course, a murder occurred almost at the beginning of their no-sleuthing-intended course. Their favorite hotel's receptionist was found dead, floating on the Grand Canal, while they had witnessed him in arguing with the restaurant owner the night they checked in to the hotel. No doubt, he was murdered. But by whom? The restaurant owner? His jilted fiancée?

💙 But that wasn't all. A priceless painting had disappeared from a small parish church. And on top of that, the priest's elderly housekeeper was missing too. Are the murder, the theft, and the kidnapping(?) three separate cases? Or they were somehow connected to each other? If you have been following the series, you'd guess easily that Flora thought so, while Jack thought otherwise. It's always the same pattern, isn't it? Flora always thought the worse in these cases, with her various 'hunches', and Jack's always the skeptic one. Well, it makes them the perfect and most interesting sleuthing couple! 

💙 For me, The Venice Murders has the perfect balance in the amount of mystery, dangerous actions, and fun (the foods, the romantic escapades you naturally want to happen in Venice - riding the gondola under the moonlight, for instance). It's just the kind of cozy mystery I'll enjoy anytime. Moreover, few of the familiar characters from Abbeymead (their home village) made appearance too, without making it too boring. In short, a gripping mystery with a sprinkle of excitement here and there. Loved it!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Reviews for #AgathaChristieSS25: April

The day finally come when I can say that I loved very much BOTH of the stories I read for #Agatha ChristieSS25! Here are my (belated) reviews: 

The Idol House of Astarte

This might be one of my favorites in Miss Marple's short stories collection - so far. You know how Christie could infuse the evil atmosphere into the story, that you could even feel it yourself surround you while reading? This story is just that. 

When the Tuesday Night Club was meeting again, it was Dr. Pender's turn to tell his story - and it was an amazing one. It happened during a house party where he was invited by Sir Richard Haydon. The house is called Silent Grove, near which there's a grove, thick of trees, which Sir Richard believed to be the grove of Astarte (an ancient Egypt goddess), and where he had built a stone summerhouse as a kind of 'temple'.

It was the midsummer, and Sir Richard with his guests visited the grove. Instantly they felt the evil atmosphere was closing on them. One of the guests was an enchanting society beauty called Diana Ashley, whom most of the men were attracted to, including Sir Richard. She suggested a dress party at the grove, and there they went. But when the others approached the temple, Diana disappeared and later appeared in front of the temple dressed magnificently as priestesse of Astarte. Despite her warning to not approaching, Sir Richard walked towards her. He suddenly collapsed, dead with a knife stabbed into his heart, though no one had approached him, nor the weapon found near him. The police suspected Diana, though couldn't find out how she could have committed the murder. Only Miss Marple could solve the mystery, as correctly as what Dr. Pender had learned years ago after the murderer confessed to him through a letter.

What a wonderful mystery, well plotted and geniusly written!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Philomel Cottage

A thirty something Alix Martin is newly married to a man she met at a friend's house: Gerald Martin. She's a typist, and had had an understanding with a fellow clerk Dick Windyford. The latter was annoyed when Alix's fortune changed after a cousin died. But much chagrin after her marriage with Gerald, warning her that Alix didn't know anything about her husband. 

Meanwhile, the Martin's moves to Philomel Cottage, a picturesque house. Strange things began to happen. The gardener told Alix that Gerald told him she's going to London the next day - which she's not - and that the cottage costs two thousand pounds - when Gerald told her three. Her recurring dreams of Dick murdering Gerald didn't help either. She began to be suspicious. Finding Gerald's diary and picture were the last straw, Alix was sure that her husband was a murderer, and he's going to murder her! What was she going to do?

This is another success for April's #AgathaChristieSS25. Thriller isn't often found in Christie's collection, and this one is my favorite. We know who the murderer is - it's not a tough guess - and how he'd planned to execute it, and it's only how the victim would survive it. In short, it's what a good thriller should be, and short though it is, Christie managed to write it so well!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

High Rising (1933) by Angela Thirkell

💜 High Rising is the first novel in Thirkell's Barsetshire Chronicles - a series of 29 books set in Antony Trollope's fictional English county: Barsetshire. Like her contemporaries, E.F. Benson and E.M. Delafield, Thirkell's works were placed in the comedy of manners genre. It's witty and hilarious - the perfect light domestic satire which I liked very much.

💜 Laura Morland is a middle-aged widow with three children. Two of them had left home to pursue their careers, leaving the youngest, a precocious and boisterous boy named Tony, to be still in her care. The two of them spent Christmas holiday at their country home in a small village of High Rising. Her closest neighbor, George Knox, has just hired a secretary. She turned out to be a scheming woman, and her goal is to be next Mrs. Knox. And Laura made it her duty to help her friend George out of Miss Grey's clutches. Will she be able to do it?

💜 I enjoyed the whole reading - it's a light one, but full of well defined characters, and it never lacks of mild surprises and amusing incidents along the way. Laura, especially, is a lovely woman, full of affection for people around her, energetic, and efficient. It's no wonder that she got a few suitors - even a man younger than her. She is a successful writer, though she daubed herself as a writer of good bad books (who doesn't love this kind of book?!). The others are interesting too - her son Tony, for example, who loved automotive and obsessed with his model railway. Countless hilarious events come from that! And I also loved how the women closed rank in their "fight" against the scheming secretary they nicknamed "the Incubus". Well, not only the women, but also few of the men. And beyond that scheme, Laura still had time to bring a young couple together. On the whole, it's a charming and heartwarming story!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2