Goodnight Mister Tom (1981) by Michelle Magorian

💙 When England was on the brink of Second World War, many children from London were evacuated to the countryside. Tom Oakley, a widower in his sixties, who lived in a farming little village called Little Weirwold, found himself the receiver end of a little spindly and terrified evacuee called William, or Willie. His mother wanted little eight year old Willie to be placed in a house of church person or lives near a church. Tom's was the latter.

💙 Tom soon found sore and bruises all over William's body. That, and the way William flinched, terrified, when Tom took a poker to rake the fire (thinking that Tom would brand him), showed Tom how William had been abused at home, by his over religious and mentally unstable mother. William thought himself full of sin, terrified of doing anything boys used to do, and that made him bullied at school, and was called a sissy. His condition moved Tom deeply; and he, a recluse and cantankerous man ever since his wife and son died, treated William with kindness and affection. The first night of William's sleeping at his own attic bedroom, was undoubtedly the turning point of his brighter future. His "Goodnight, Mister Tom" that night before sleep, was a token of gratefulness and affection - two things William had never felt before.

💙 Soon the two, together with Sammy, Tom's dog, were inseparable. He soon went to school and befriended some children: George, the twins Carrie and Ginnie. But his best friend was another evacuee, a cheerful Jewish boy called Zach. William learned to read and write, but they found out soon that he had a special talent of painting and acting. As William gradually emerged from the timid sickly boy he had been when he first arrived, so was Tom, emerged from his "cocoon". But things were not always bright and happy for William; he would experience dark moments, coloured with violence and death. I have prayed during the second part of the book that Tom would adopt William; that he didn't have to return to his abusive mother.

💙 On the whole, it was a delightful novel, though in some part it became too dark for children, I believe. But other than that, the daily lives of the children, and Tom's affection to William, are all warm and satisfying. It was satisfying indeed when William became happy after all the abuses he had been treated. Above all, this book reminds us that we might never be immune to sorrow or loss, but as long as there's love in us, time would heal our wounds, and make us even stronger.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Agatha Christie Short Stories 2025: OCTOBER Reviews #AgathaChristieSS25

Motive vs. Opportunity

Mr. Petherick, the solicitor, was the next in line to tell his story (or problem, as they called it) for the meeting. The others are afraid that his would be full of legal aspects, but Mr. Petherick confirmed that it's not - it's a simple case. In the end, it proved to be a simple case as promised, with a childish twist.

A client of Mr. Petherick - he named him Simon Clode - was a wealthy man, who's lost by death, first, his only son, and afterwards, the only granddaughter whom he loved dearly. His orphaned nephews and niece were now lived with him. He left in his will, his estate equally to the three. Still on his grief over his late granddaughter, he met a spiritualist called Mrs. Eurydice Spragg, under whose influence he soon found himself. Mr. Petherick was greatly alarmed when, on his dying bed, Simon Clode made a new will, leaving most of his wealth to the spiritualist.
Mr. Petherick did the business, and after the will was signed, he put the document in his overcoat. However, when he opened it after Mr. Clode's death, the will was just a blank sheet. How could it be? Who had replaced the real will with a blank paper? Mrs. Spragg had opportunity, but certainly not a motive; one of the nephews had motive, but not opportunity. At the end, the solution was really a very simple and childish, that it gave Mrs. Marple a good chuckle when it's her turn to offer explanation. What an entertaining little read, and it gives further proof of how fun it would have been to be acquainted with the cheeky Dame Agatha Christie!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Accident

An ex CID Inspector Evans who now lived in an English village told his friend, a Captain Haydock, that he was certain that a Mrs. Merrowdene, was none other than Mrs. Anthony, who had been charged, and acquitted, of poisoning her husband with arsenic, nine years ago. He's theorizing that once a murderer, one will most certainly commit another - in short, there's always a pattern. He found the pattern, and when he met Professor Merrowdene carrying a new life insurance policy, Evans was 100% sure that the woman was ready for action once more. He visited their home, and lo and behold, Mrs. Merrowdene even performed the act before his eyes - what a clever and cheeky woman she was! Now it's up to him to prevent another murder. Would he be succeeded in doing that? Well, I must say that I didn't see that twist coming! That was a genius one from Agatha Christie! The last few sentences implied a good many things that will leave you aghast at the end - it altered the way you se the case, and made it seems like a simple, but complicated one. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Artists in Crime (1938) by Ngaio Marsh

🎨 Chief Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn was on his annual leave holiday when he first met Agatha Troy. The encounter happened right after Alleyn, on board a cruise from Fiji, "exercised" his visual observation on the scenery of the wharf and the shore. Agatha Troy, a painter, was finishing her paint on the same scenery on deck, and Roderick commented upon it, which he regretted instantly. The brief introduction left a significant effect upon both persons, and would affect their next involvement in a murder case.

🎨 Agatha Troy lives in Tatler’s End House, very near the resident of Alleyn's mother, Lady Alleyn. She (Troy) housed several student-artists, who work at her studio. A model was engaged to pose every day, while the students perfecting their paintings or sculpting. One of the students got a commission to illustrate a crime novel's cover, where the victim was stabbed with a knife that's hidden under a drape. The students discussed about the feasibility of it, experimenting with real knife and drape, to suggest the pose for the nude model, Sonia Gluck. One morning, when she preparing herself for the pose, she was knifed through from under the dais/bench she's supposed to pose on. A clever murderer has put the knife in the right position. But which one of them done it? 🎨 Alleyn handled the case since he was staying at her mother's house, which was near the crime scene. He was reluctant, because it was clearly to us, readers, that Alleyn had been smitten by Miss Troy! The romance aspect added a little spark for this mystery, where the mystery itself was rather far from satisfaction. Speaking about motive vs opportunity, the motive is not clear, because apparently Sonia Gluck was a 'pain-in-the-ass' as a model; she's a spoilt girl, fidgeted too much, and seemed to be deliberately ruin everyone's work. Nobody liked her, and it gave them all, including Troy - whose 'masterpiece-painting-to-be' was ruined by Gluck, a motive. About the opportunity, though, I saw instantly who had the best opportunity of all. It's right there, clear as day, and I wondered how nobody even suggested it. Not even Alleyn, not at first, at least. I wonder, have I read too many detective novels to be able to be unsuspecting enough to enjoy one?

🎨 Anyway, all evidence pointed to one student who'd left the studio for London, where he would finish his big sculpting commission - a gig which many believed would give him a breakthrough to his career. But his whereabout was unknown to anyone, and even after some police broadcasts, he never showed up. I knew instantly that this man would be the second victim. And it was right enough. On this second murder, too, I have instantly suspected the murderer due to their ambiguous story. It's not really fun when you can guess the whodunnit of a crime novel that easily. Luckily, the artistic aspect of this novel made up for it a little; I loved reading about the student's daily routine, as well as following Alleyn's train of thoughts while tracing for clues from the student's art works and their scattered tools - left behind suddenly after the tragedy. The character of Lady Alleyn - to whom Alleyn was fond of, and in whose presence he became a son, instead of detective - added a charm to this novel, although I don't really like how Alleyn (and his journalist friend Bathgate) told her many aspects of the investigation. Though I guess, that must be normal in real life? Anyway, Lady Alleyn's concern about her son's love affair (or the lack of it) is really sweet.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Agatha Christie Short Stories 2025 #AgathaChristieSS25: OCTOBER

This month we will read one Miss Marple's story, and the other a non detective one.

MOTIVE VS. OPPORTUNITY

(a Miss Marple story)

A rich man intends to leave his estate to his nephew and two nieces, but just before he dies he changes his will to include a medium who has convinced him his nephew is an impostor. When the rich man dies, they discover his new will is missing. Who among the many suspects could have stolen it? The only people who had a motive had no opportunity – it is left to Miss Marple to solve the case.

The story was published in the Royal Magazine in the UK in 1928 and in the US, under the revised title Where's the Catch? (which I personally would have liked better) later that year. It was included in the 1932 collection, The Thirteen Problems.

ACCIDENT

(a non detective story)

An ex-Inspector spots a woman in the local village who he is sure is a murderer, and who walks free through a country village. Would he be able to prove she is guilty of her crimes when every case looks like an accident?

The story first appeared in the collection The Listerdale Mystery, 1934, in the UK and was published in the US in the collection The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories, 1948. It has never been adapted, though I wish it would - it seems quite interesting!


Which one does appeal to you more? For me, it's the non detective one. It reminded me instantly of And Then There Were None, where every crime committed by the ten people, all seemed like accidents.

Offshore (1979) by Penelope Fitzgerald

🚢 Set in the 1960s, Offshore is Penelope Fitzgerald's third novel, which won her the Booker Prize in 1979. It tells the story of a houseboat-dwellers community, which was closely inspired by her own experience of living in an old sailing barge moored along the bank of river Thames, at Battersea Reach, London. It was difficult times for her, which was also reflected on this book's characters. If I must sum it up in two words, this book is about restlessness and uncertainty.

🚢 The story opens with a sort of community meeting, which took place at Lord Jim, a barge owned by Richard Blake, who lives there, childless, with his wife Laura. Richard was looked up to as the unofficial leader of the community, partly because of his virtue, and partly because he had been involved in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. Lord Jim, a converted minesweeper was also in the best condition compared to the others. Dreadnought, owned by an elderly marine painter called Willis, was in the worst condition with its serious leaks, though Willis was reluctant to sell it, because it meant that he'd have to live on shore with his sister. 🚢 Grace was another barge, owned by Nenna James, who lives there with her two daughters Martha and Tilda. She was anxious to get her estranged husband Edward to move back with them - he loathed living in a boat and chose to live in his friend's house instead. Nenna is the most interesting character in this book, to whom I was rooted for. Interestingly enough, the boat on board which Fitzgerald had been living was also called Grace. Nenna was pestered by Martha and Tilda's school, who claimed that both children were often absent from school, and seen running wildly on the muddy foreshore. Tilda, at least, enjoyed living on Grace, although it's not a good environment for raising children. Especially when their neighbor was Maurice, an old boat owned by a male prostitute, also called Maurice, who allowed his boat to be used for storing stolen goods by his shady friend Harry. There's also Woodie, a retired businessman, who owned Rochester. After Dreadnought sank - the dramatical scene was so beautifully written! - Woodie and his wife took charge of old unfortunate Willis, and let him live contentedly with them - converting Rochester into a sort of boarding house. 🚢 Like I said above, this is a story about uncertainty and restlessness. Even the ending is inconclusive. Normally I dislike this kind of novel, but in this case, I think it fits most perfectly with the whole sense of the novel. I rather like Wikipedia's description of it: "The book explores the emotional restlessness of houseboat dwellers who live neither fully on the water nor fully on the land." I caught the sense of dejectedness of these houseboat dwellers - they were generally frowned upon by the society. And yet, when we dive into their daily lives, they are mostly affectionate people, who wouldn't hesitate to help one another in difficult times. Maurice, for instance, always provides sympathetic ears for Nenna James' worries; Willis is always fond of Tilda; and of course, Woodie and his wife taking Willis under their care, which resulting in their change of plans, is the sweetest of all. Sometimes, one just need to be loved by others, before one can stand by one self - the life in the houseboat community might be that bridge towards brighter future for all characters. At least I wish them all the best. Again, I agree with Fitzgerald for not providing conclusive ending to the story; since it is just a phase that every one of us sometimes must face during our existence. How one would go from there, is one's own choice. Just as the ending of this story, would be how each reader would choose for themselves. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Island of the Blue Dolphins (1960) by Scott O'Dell

🐋 Scott O'Dell wrote this book based on true story of a Nicoleño Native American girl called Juana Maria, who had lived alone for 18 years on San Nicholas Island, in the 18th century. Our girl in this story is Karana, also a Nicoleño girl, who, at the beginning of the story, lives with her father - the leader of the tribe, her little brother Ramo, and older sister Ulape. They live in a village called Ghalas-at, where the people survive by hunting, fishing, and gathering roots. One day a Russian fur-hunter ship called Aleut arrived at the island to hunt for otters. Karana's father dealt with the Russians to let them hunting for a certain price, but the Russians refused to pay, which angered the Ghalas-at people. On the battle that followed, many were killed, including Karana's father.

🐋 Lacking of surviving men, and fear of the Aleuts' returning, the Ghalas-at people decided to move to a new island, leaving their home behind. When the ship was about to leave, realizing that little Ramo had left behind on the island, Karana jumped from the ship amidst the coming storm (which was too dangerous for the ship to return), and swam back to the island. Now alone on the island, Karana and Ramo lived together under the roof of their house, and from the foods they gathered or hunted. The only threat was from the wild dogs, whom, when the people left, became more ferocious. One day they devoured little Ramo, which left Karana really alone on the island, and must somehow survive from the wild dogs, while waiting for the ship to return. But the ship never returned....

🐋 Every girl of Ghalas-at had been taught from childhood that women should not do men's tasks like making weapons or building canoe. It's interesting to see Karana so afraid at first, that something bad would befallen her for what she's doing. But in the end, her survival drive was much stronger than any patriarchal tradition. It's a silly tradition after all; a weaker girl than Karana would soon have been perished of starving or killed by the wild dogs had she not been able to make weapons or canoe, and hunt, and build shelter. On the other hand, Karana still preserved her feminine qualities, like when she made herself a pretty skirt from cormorant skins and feathers, and then wore it when she's out on the shore, admiring herself. 

🐋 It's interesting to read how Karana gathered abalones, then dried them up under the sun. Or how she re-shaped a canoe, that she wouldn't be able to haul herself, to a smaller one. The arrows and spears that she produced, and used to kill some of the wild dogs to avenge her brother's death. Not mentioning how she built a home with fences made of whale bones. It really reminded me of Robinson Crusoe. I loved how Karana tamed the wild dog's leader, to be her only friend. And especially, Karana's kinship with the other inhabitants of the island - the animals: the otters, the sea lions, the whales, the birds. I realized how lonely she was, how longed she was to meet and have conversation with other human beings; and I admired her resilience and spirit. In short, it's a lovely book for young adults, full of adventures and good lessons of survival and character building.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Olive Kitteridge (2008) by Elizabeth Strout

🔴 Olive Kitteridge is Elizabeth Strout's third published book, which won Pulitzer prize in 2009. At first few chapters I asked myself, how on earth could this book win a Pulitzer? It seemed an ordinary literary fiction. But after finishing it, I realized there's the hidden layers beneath the seemingly a book about the lives of some residents of a coastal town Of Crosby in Maine. It is not a novel, to begin with, but a structure that is called short story cycle or story sequence or composite novel - a collection of short stories in which the narratives are specifically composed and arranged with the goal of creating an enhanced or different experience when reading the group as a whole as opposed to its individual parts. [Wikipedia]

🔴 Olive Kitteridge is the main character here, although she didn't always appear as one. Sometimes she's just a passing character that someone mentioned, or just commented upon; but sometimes, like at the last chapter, she became the main character. Nevertheless, she is the connecting element that tied tall the stories together. Olive was a high school math teacher, a cantankerous woman with sharp tongue and abrasive manner. The first story, "Pharmacy", is about her husband, Henry Kitteridge. He's a pharmacist, and had a soft spot for his employee, Denise Thibodeau. At this stage (Henry and Olive were in their 30-ish, with an only son who's in junior high school), I bitterly thought that it's no wonder that Henry is thinking of having an affair with another woman; his wife was always so rude and sharp, either to him or to their son Christopher. But Henry is always a sensitive man, and still loves his wife, despite all that.

🔴 Through thirteen disjointed stories, we followed eventful events of the Kitteridges, as well as some other residents. And as the stories unfolded, I slowly realized what had shaped Olive to be her self. Her past (tragic death of her father and her mother's abandonment) wounded her soul deeply, that I think it had hardened her. Though beneath, she's still a generous and kind person. A bitterness that came during her marriage with Henry, only added the sourness in her. Later on, her perimenopause and menopause stage only made things worse. Her disappointment over her son Christopher's unsuitable (to her) marriage, seemed to be he last straw. And so, she became this unbearable woman.

🔴 On the whole, this hasn't been a charming book to read. It seems that in telling the real lives of people in a town - which is greatly relatable to ours - Kitteridge focused mainly on the dark aspects only; disappointment and disillusionment ranked on top, with bitterness of love (and the lack of it) followed soon. Most of the characters have had hopes and dreams, but more often than not, the opposite happened. It seems that all our adult lives were spent to learn about it, so that in seventies, you'd learn finally to accept things as it is - things that's beyond your control.

🔴 Though this book distressed me a little, I loved the ending - Olive certainly deserves that. She is the epitome of strength, courage, and resilience. I was reminded of what my father had taught me when I was a teenager. When you put an egg and a potato into the same boiling water, they would react differently. The egg would be hardened, but the potato would be softened. Whenever you are having hard times, you can choose how to react, like the egg or the potato. Like Olive, most of us react like the egg; but only a few then change to be a potato in the end. Happiness is in store for the latter!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Murder at Sissingham Hall (2013) by Clara Benson

💙 This was my second Clara Benson - I have loved my first; it's a Freddie Pilkington-Soames - and thought that it might be as nice as the other one. I was wrong. 

💙 The story opens when Charles Knox was coming home from eight years living in South Africa. He went there in the first place, right after his engagement had been broken by Rosamund, his beautiful fiancée, who thought Charles was too poor for her to maintain the comfortable life she's used to - with balls, parties, with all the social life of the kind. Now Rosamund has married a wealthy man, Sir Neville Strickland, and lived in the countryside mansion of Sissingham Hall. And surprise, surprise! It was to Sissingham Hall that Charles was invited to stay for the weekend.

💙 Charles dreaded his first meeting with Rosamund, because it was clear to us, readers, that he's still charmed by her. But the party was jolly enough, where there are other guests too: Bobs, Charles' old friend with his sister Sylvia; Angela Marchmont, Rosamund's cousin and our amateur-sleuth-to-be; the Murrays, Sir Neville's closest relatives; Joan, his ward; and last but not least, Simon Gayle, Sir Neville's secretary. That night Sir Neville retired early to his study, and the next day he was found dead; the study door was locked, but not the French window; and it seemed at first as an accident. But Angela Marchmont's thorough observation led the other to suggest that it's actually a murder. As it happened just after Sir Neville's solicitor arrived, apparently to change his will, it was suggestive that money was the motive. But is that so? 

💙 I have some problems with this book. I know that as a cozy mystery, there will be an equal amount of the mystery and personal life of the characters. But in this one, I disliked Clara Benson's choice of the main character - it should have been Angela Marchmont, instead of Charles Knox, who was a total simp. An unreliable narrator shouldn't be in a murder mystery. I have guessed the murderer easily enough very early, and was just wondering how on earth did both the Inspector and Angela Marchmont not see it right away, even after that incident had been disclosed? The 'dramatic' denouement is a bit ridiculous, thanks to Charles Knox. In the end, it's not a start of a series I have expected, and which I would certainly not continue.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

The Persian Pickle Club (1995) by Sandra Dallas

🧵 You might thought that Persian Pickle Club was some sort of a cooking club (I did), but it's not. It is a quilting club of local farmer-wives in a small village of Harveyville, during the Depression-era of Kansas in the 1930s. It's not been raining that year, and the crops were burning up, and jobs were hard to be found. People were hard up, and money were scarce. The Persian Pickle Club was not only a quilting club. They sewed during the gathering, but it's also a place where they exchanged gossips, and supported each other during the hard times. It's a like a beacon during a dark stormy night that gave you comfort and hope; something to look forward to during the dreary days. 🧵 The women would gather once a week in one of the member's house. The host would provide a pattern they're going to quilt that day, and the refreshments. Each member would contribute a piece (or pieces) of fabric that would be sewn in to the quilt. Then they would sew the pieces during the day, and when that's done, they will "frame" it. The "pickle" here is what a quilter calls a paisley fabric. On their first meeting, the members contributed a piece of their paisley fabric, which then made it in the quilt. That's how they named the club the Persian Pickle. And just like the quilt they sewn, their friendship was so tightly bind, that one member's secret would be kept secret forever, even from their husbands. 🧵 Rita was the newest member of the club. She's a town girl, and but for her and her husband's poverty, would not be thinking of living in a farm. Queenie Bean, from whose point of view the story unfolds, quickly became close friend with Rita, who never felt belonged into the club. Through birth and death, fearful incident to tragedy, their relationship grew stronger and stronger, amidst their different background and passion. Rita wanted to be a writer, and during her work as a journalist for a newspaper, bones of a man had been found in the backyard of one of the club member, apparently murdered. The deceased was a scoundrel, and no one shed tears for his death, but the question remained, who'd killed him? And so, when I have thought this was a story about friendship and caring-for-your-neighbor kind of book, a murder mystery was suddenly thrown before me. Not mentioning the fearful incident that has befallen Queenie and Rita one terrible night - who's dunnit?

🧵 Rest easy, though, this would not turn to be a crime novel. The mystery is something that highlighted the solidarity amongst these women. It's clear that whatever happens to one of the club members, she would be protected and taken care of by the others. Her secret would be their own secrets. On the whole, I think this was one of the most satisfying reads I've ever had lately. I loved everything about it, the quilting (you'd feel the soothing effect of the activity although you aren't doing it) and the deep friendship between those women. I loved Queenie's personalities; how she (and her husband Grover) treated the Massies, the squatter or drifter - as people called them. Queenie treated them like a true neighbor, although it's Grover and Queenie who let them stay at the unused shed.

🧵 I loved also how Sandra Dallas had picked quilts to symbolize the beauty of community - you see it, don't you? Different pieces of fabric, with different shapes or colors or designs, sewn together into one beautiful artwork, and how that one artwork represents the love and thoughts, struggles and happiness, of all who's been providing the fabrics and sewing them together? What a lovely, heartwarming story, spiced with a little mystery, and closed with something you wouldn't have seen coming. You know how wholesome it is when a whodunnit story only reveals the murderer's identity on the very last sentence before the end? Well, that's what this book feels too!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Agatha Christie Short Stories 2025: SEPTEMBER Reviews

The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan

Captain Hastings treated Hercule Poirot to spend the weekend at the Grand Metropolitan Hotel in Brighton, where their eyes were feasting with the grand ladies and their sparkling jewelries. One of these ladies is of Hasting's acquaintance, and soon Poirot was introduced to the Opalsen couple. Mrs. Opalsen loves jewels, and offers to show her pearl necklace to Poirot. However, the pearl necklace wasn't in the jewel box where she'd kept it; it had been stolen! The suspects were Mrs. Opalsen's French maid - who had been instructed not to leave the bedroom while the chambermaid's cleaning it - and, of course, the chambermaid. The police searched the two maids, and found not the necklace. But after thorough search of the rooms, they've found it hidden inside the French maid's bed. Mrs. Opalsen cried: "Oh, my necklace!", and Poirot and Hastings left to their bedrooms. Is it over then, just like that? Of course not....

The Grand Metropolitan in London

Poirot continued his investigation; he inspected the room next to the Opalsen's, and asked a few questions to the chambermaid, the butler, even Mr. Opalsen himself. One of these proved later to be the clue to the true robbery, while the other was a red herring. Then, to Hasting's puzzle, Poirot went to London that very night. It was, in the end, a not very sophisticated case. One thing is sure, the police should have learned more about jewelry - but for Hercule Poirot's wide knowledge, it could have been a simple but perfect robbery!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

The Case of the Missing Lady

The next client of the Blunt International Detective Agency is a famous explorer who has just returned from an expedition to the North Pole. He had been engaged with a widow, Hermione, right before he left two years ago, and now was rushing to marry her. But she's not in her aunt, Lady Susan's, house where she'd been staying, and Lady Susan didn't know, or wouldn't tell him, of his fiancée's whereabouts. Feeling apprehensive that something fishy had been happening, he hired "Mr. Blunt" to investigate and find the missing lady.

Tommy and Tuppence's investigation led them, first to Maldon, from where a telegram from Hermione had been received by Lady Susan, and next to a sinister isolated nursing home in a village. It was there that they finally stumbled to the right trail. But what was really happening to Hermione? And would Tommy and Tuppence succeeded in rescuing her from whatever her predicament was?

This seemingly simple case turned out to be a thoroughly entertaining one to read! The "chase", the thrill, the humorous and witty interchanges of the duo, and especially... the ending. This case ended in much unexpected way that I laughed out loud after finishing it. Such a brilliant job from Agatha Christie, always with her witty and cheeky way!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2
 

Five Quarters of the Orange (2001) by Joanne Harris

🍊 My first introduction to Joanne Harris was Chocolat; I knew I have started that book years ago, but couldn't remember whether I've ever finished it. I think not. Either because it's a borrowed book, and I have to return it before I have finished; or it must've been sold while I was reading (I ran an online second-hand book store back then). Anyway, Five Quarters of the Orange, then, became my first book of Joanne Harris which I did finish. It's a big relieve when I had finished it; it's not a bad one, just that I was not in the right mental state to give it a proper credit. It's a complex story of dark secrets, a childish-folly-turns tragedy, acceptance, revelation, and resilience.

🍊 Framboise Simon was sixty years old widow when she returned to her childhood home in a small village on the banks of the Loire. She owns a creperie, serving delicious food she loves to cook; mostly recreating her late mother's dishes from the recipe scrapbook Framboise inherited from her. Although she was born in the village, the villagers thought Framboise a stranger, because she does not dare to use her own name, Dartigen. Framboise Dartigen was only nine years old when she left the village after a terrible tragedy during the German Occupation in the 1940s. This, then, is an intermingled mixture of Framboise's past and present life; how the past affected her present, and how the present helps her to be free from the haunting past. 

🍊 Framboise's childhood is a troubled one. She lived with her widowed mother Mirabelle Dartigen, brother Cassis, and sister Reine-Claude. Mirabelle was a hard woman, who's often mean and cruel to her own children, although she loved them. Her life seemed to be full of hatred and bitterness, and she poured it to her children, whom in turn, hated her too. She's often a victim of splitting headache, which was usually started with smelling non-existing oranges - a fruit she always hated. The title derived from Framboise's idea to trigger the headache on her mother, so that she and her siblings could be on their own; by secretly slicing a tiny sliver of orange - the fifth of the supposedly quarters - to be placed near her mother's pillow. Once she inhaled it, she'd have another spell, and off the children would go. Go where?

🍊 It's during this German Occupation that a handsome German officer who speaks a perfect French called Tomas Leibniz introduced himself to the children. They instantly took to him, but especially Framboise, who worshipped him. Their friendship grew bigger; but unfortunately, also, their risk. It finally led to the tragedy. But Framboise did not quite understand that at that time, and it was now, while browsing through her mother's recipe book, was written snatches of her mother's thoughts, did Framboise finally (almost) fully understood what had had happened.

🍊 Maybe if I had read this five years ago, I would have appreciated it more. Now, it distressed me a little. I was troubled with how Framboise treated her mother - though I could see why. The only person I could like in this book is Paul. I admired his support and friendship for Framboise, and I liked how it all ended. It was a troubling book, but still worth reading, if nothing else, for its beautiful writing.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Tea on Sunday (1973) by Lettice Cooper

☕ A sixty-ish widow Alberta Mansbridge lives alone with her two servants in London suburb. On Sundays, when her servants take their day off, she likes to throw tea parties for her closest friends or family. On that particular Sunday, eight people were invited: her family doctor, her accountant, her solicitor, the manager of her late father's company, a companion with whom she's lately having a quarrel, her two latest protégés (young men with dubious characters), and last but not least, her nephew Antony Seldon with his wife.

☕ Alberta is a punctual woman, she likes her guests to arrive at four a clock sharp; and her guests well know this fact. On 3:30 that day however, her door bell rang. She had installed an intercom to know who's calling, and if she wants to let the guest in, she would just push a button from her room, and a spring would be released, and the guest would be able to open the door and let his or herself in. She did this, and when the guest entered her room, Alberta's greeting was: "You are early!" Then on 4:00, eight of her guests (two of them were several minutes late) rang and knocked without avail. No one seemed to be at home. Later when the police broke into the house, they found Alberta on her desk, strangled to death.

☕ One thing I liked most of this book is that Lettice Cooper provided us a rarely chance to possess a knowledge that neither the police nor the suspects had known. That is, that Alberta's murderer was definitely one of the tea party guests. Only the readers know it from what Alberta said to her guest: "You are early". The minor thing for me was the denouement, which came too early, despite of the actions that followed, which was also a bit anticlimax. Inspector Corby, the investigator, is a competent police officer. I liked his neat and thorough style of investigation, combining skillful interviews with the suspects and both logical and psychological deduction.

☕ On the whole, it's a cross between the Golden Age mystery and cozy mystery. I liked the side story of Antony Seldon, though, which might not have close correlation with the murder investigation, but provides an interesting glimpse of the life in the 1970s. Antony's relationship with his more superior wife - she's a model with bright prospect, while Antony is just a clerk in a men's boutique - is pretty interesting. I liked also that we were introduced to Inspector Corby's personal life; his brief interaction with his wife Lucy, and their little daughter. The case ended just in time for him to attend his daughter's birthday. Lastly, while the end is a bit anticlimax, like I said before, Antony's personal ending provides a little humour to end the book - and to emphasize its cozy mystery vibes.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Blog Tour: Murder by Firelight (Flora Steele #12) by Merryn Allingham

It’s my stop today on Murder by Firelight by Merryn Allingham Books on Tour. Many thanks to Sarah Hardy of Bookouture for the invite, and for NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this delightful book.

📚 About the book

No one can hold a candle to amateur detectives Flora Steele and Jack Carrington as they ask the burning question… Who is the killer walking the cobbled streets of their historic little town?

Sussex, November 1959. There’s a chill in the air at the Lewes bonfire celebration. Carnival floats fill the narrow streets, fireworks crackle overhead, and Flora and Jack feel the heat of the burning torches lining the streets. But when Trevor French, chief of the Grove Bonfire Society, tumbles from his parade float, they know something is afoot. Trevor didn’t just fall – and amidst the crowds, his killer slips away through the smoke-filled night.

But who would want the respected Trevor dead? As Flora and Jack question the vying bonfire societies, they find a surprisingly competitive underbelly at play. Did Edwin Brooker, former chairman, stoke the flames of rivalry too far? Or are the tears of the victim’s friend, Leo Nelson, faked to keep himself safe?

Just as the sleuths believe they’ve figured it out, the body of a key suspect in the case is found dead on their hearth rug, and Flora and Jack realise that no one is safe – including themselves. Together, can they smoke the murderer out? Or will their chances of survival go up in flames?

A completely addictive and absolutely charming cozy mystery novel. Fans of Agatha Christie, Faith Martin and Joy Ellis will adore this unputdownable series!

📚 My thoughts

🔥 Here we are, back with our favorite amateur sleuth couple, Jack Carrington and Flora Steele. Not long after coming back from their honeymoon-turned-murder-sleuthing in Venice, Jack and Flora are settling back to their routine in Abbeymead - Jack with his crime novel writing, and Flora with the All's Well book shop. Jack is in his last term teaching at the college in Lewes, and Flora - who has never been keen on staying at the their apartment - is expecting their full time stay in Abbeymead. In the meantime, they attended a bonfire festival in Lewes. It was a ritual celebration usually held around November 2nd, to mark Guy Fawkes Night. And during this festival, a man fell down, dead, from a parade float. It seemed like a usual incident, but Jack found out that the man, a Trevor French, had actually been stabbed. It's not an accident, it's a murder!

🔥 For once, it was Flora who isn't keen on involving in the investigation, while Jack, feeling adamant that Leo Nelson, who rented Overlay house (Jack's old home before moving to the cottage with Flora), was one of the suspects. This time, it is Jack that is eager to seek the truth - usually it's the other way round. Moreover, his friend, Inspector Ridley is on family leave, and his replacement is less incapable, prejudiced man, of whom Jack cannot trust. But it turned out to be a tough case; the stabbing happened during a festival, when people could be moving around on the float, and they were wearing costumes. The motives are also insufficient; would Edwin Brooker (the former chairman of Grove Bonfire Society) kill Trevor French (his new replacement) out of spite? Or could Leo Nelson possibly did it because he wants to renew his old love affair with French's wife?

🔥 Jack and Flora were struggling to build their case throughout the story; no evidence or motive are strong enough to focus on anyone. Meanwhile, dangers are lurking from anywhere; electrocuted door bell, for instance; and then, another murder occurred. This time I guessed the murderer correctly from very early of the story, and I was a little surprised that this murderer didn't raise any suspicions from both Jack and Flora. All in all, it was a fun cozy mystery to read, with satisfying ending. I loved that Jack and Flora were back in Abbeymead; I've been really missing the village life, and the interaction of the inhabitants - Jack and Flora's circle - it feels like a warm blanket in which I could take comfort every time I need it. The Friday suppers of Flora, Alice, and Kate are usually full of delicious mouthwatering dishes. Charlie Teague is now a chef - albeit still a part timer - can you believe it? He's still helping Flora delivering books to buyers' houses from time to time, riding Betty. Old Betty - how I missed 'her'! ;) And of course, the All's Well book shop, the one that made me fell in love with this series in the first place! I wish the next book will be closely connected with the book shop - maybe another murder at the book shop? ;)

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

📚 Author bio

Merryn taught university literature for many years, and it took a while to pluck up the courage to begin writing herself. Bringing the past to life is a passion and her historical fiction includes Regency romances, wartime sagas and timeslip novels, all of which have a mystery at their heart. As the books have grown darker, it was only a matter of time before she plunged into crime with a cosy crime series set in rural Sussex against the fascinating backdrop of the 1950s.

Merryn lives in a beautiful old town in Sussex with her husband. When she’s not writing, she tries to keep fit with adult ballet classes and plenty of walking.

https://merrynallingham.com/
https://www.facebook.com/MerrynWrites
https://twitter.com/merrynwrites

Sign up to be the first to hear about new releases from Merryn Allingham here:  https://www.bookouture.com/merryn-allingham


📚 Buying links

Amazon: https://geni.us/B0F6Y558JXsocial
You can sign up for all the best Bookouture deals you'll love at: http://ow.ly/Fkiz30lnzdo


Be sure to check out other stops on the tour to see what others thought. Happy reading!

Weekend at Thrackley (1934) by Alan Melville

💎 This was my second inverted mystery, and contrary to my first one, The 12.30 from Croydon by Freeman Wills Croft (published in the same year), Weekend at Thrackley was a delightful reading for me. It's commercial success - it's his debut, moreover! - made Alan Melville giving up his current job, and dedicated his energy as a full-time writer. As usual with inverted mysteries, we, readers, know from the beginning the whodunnit; and the key of the story's attraction is in the how the crime would be committed, and how the victims-to-be would extricate themselves from the villain's clutches.

💎 Captain Jim Henderson had been unemployed post World War II, and a tenant in a dingy boarding house in London, when he received an invitation from Edwin Carson - old friend of his late father - to a weekend at his country house in Thrackley, Surrey. Jim - curious and excited - accepted the invitation (who wouldn't?) And while telephoning his rich bestie, Freddie Usher, to borrow a suit, Jim learned that Freddie, too, was invited to Thrackley. He learned also, that Edwin Carson is a famous jewels collector and connoisseur. The other six guests, including Freddie Usher, were asked to bring their precious jewelry to Thrackley, to be exhibited to the host. Why, then, Jim was invited too? He's the only poor one of the guests. But maybe he was invited for more of a sentimental reason?

💎 The weekend started very nicely, with the host's amiable welcome, sumptuous food, and the countryside air. And then, we were led to Edwin Carson's sinister way of procuring new jewels to be added to his collection. And that is when this story became most entertaining. From secret cellar, elaborate lift system, hidden camera, to electrical wiring - we were provided with an ingenious plot by Alan Melville. Not mentioning the little love affair which was sweetening the mystery, and Melville's eloquent, but hilarious at the same time, style of writing. I loved its neat ending, and some of the characters are unique, like a Spanish dancer called Raoul, and Lady Stone. I liked Jim Henderson from the start - he's a perfect amateur sleuth for this story. In short, this is a delightful country-house mystery, and I'll definitely look for more of Alan Melville's!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Agatha Christie Short Stories 2025 #AgathaChristieSS25: SEPTEMBER

THE JEWEL ROBBERY AT THE GRAND METROPOLITAN

(A Hercule Poirot story)

Poirot can’t resist a case, even when holidaying in Brighton with Hastings. A pearl necklace is stolen from a hotel room – only two people could have done it. And only Hercule Poirot could solve it....

This was only the second of Agatha Christie's short stories to appear in print. In the UK, it appeared in The Sketch magazine on the 14th March 1923 as The Curious Disappearance of the Opalsen Pearls and in the US it appeared in October 1923 as Mrs Opalsen's Pearls. It was first published as a book in the collection Poirot Investigates, 1924, by Bodley Head.

THE CASE OF THE MISSING LADY

(A Tommy and Tuppence story)

Having proved their deductive talents to the famous explorer Gabriel Stavansson, Tommy and Tuppence are entrusted with a new investigation: discovering the whereabouts of his missing fiancé, for which, they came across a sinister nursing home in the process. Tommy Beresford adopts a Holmesian mode for solving this case. | This story was published by Collins in the collection Partners in Crime, 1929. There was a stage performance of The Case of the Missing Lady in New York in 1950, although the details are unclear. It was apparently accompanied by a live broadcast. Both seems to be promising, especially the Poirot one (for me at least). Let's see how much we'll like them!

The Reviews: 1. My reviews for both stories

Mister God, This is Anna (1974) by Flynn

🧍🏻‍♀️ Flynn is a pseudonym for Sidney Hopkins, the author of Mister God, This is Anna. It is a spiritual and philosophy novel centered on the character of five-year-old Anna, who has a very intimate relationship with God - or Mister God, as she always calls Him. The story is told from the POV of Flynn, a young man of about nineteen to twenty who lives in London in the end of 1930s. Anna's background was unknown throughout the story. She was found by Flynn one foggy night, as he was wandering near London's Dockland, sat still and alone; apparently having been neglected - and most certainly been badly abused - by her parents or family. Anna never told Flynn about her past, and he never insisted.

🧍🏻‍♀️ Anna instantly clang to Flynn from their first meeting, so Flynn brought her home. His mother used to brought runaway children to their house, so she instantly took care of Anna without question. From then on Anna and Flynn were inseparable. Anna is "as busy as a bee, as inquisitive as a kitten, and as playful as a puppy." and has an uncanny way to analyze new things in out-of-the ordinary view. And, as she has a firm love to God, she somehow always manages to apply either mathematic or scientific formulas into the characteristics of God, or into the way human being perceive God and religion. Flynn's love of mathematic and science help nurturing Anna's obsession of investigation and experiments.

🧍🏻‍♀️ And so, the whole book consists of these observations on philosophy or religion or spirituality, from Anna's point of view.

"...Mister God is different. You see, Flynn, people can only love outside and can only kiss outside, but Mister God can love you right inside, and Mister God can kiss you inside, so it's different. Mister God ain't like us; we are a little bit like Mister God, but not much yet."

"...You see, everybody has got a point of view, but Mister God hasn't. Mister God has only points to view."

🧍🏻‍♀️ During the three years of her stay with Flynn, Anna is able to learn more about God and God's way better, perhaps, than an adult who's been to church every week since childhood. 

"Anna searched for Mister God and her desire was for a better understanding of him. Anna's search for Mister God was serious but gay, earnest but light-hearted, reverent but impudent, and single-minded and multi-tracked."

🧍🏻‍♀️ I loved how the story ends. World War II was looming, and Anna was beginning to distressed over the impeding war. Although her stay with Flynn was short, she had managed to wrought a beautiful friendship with him. Not only that, she had changed many lives too, touched many souls with her beautiful soul and firm devotion to God. Even her Mister God would have been touched deeply by her simple love. In short, this is a beautiful book about finding God through everything you could come across - a pure reminder for our battered souls. Though it feels rather redundant sometimes, just continue on, you'll get gems every now and then.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Crooked House (1949) by Agatha Christie: A Reread #20BooksofSummer2025

🩰 Crooked House is always one of my most favorites of Agatha Christie's, with its memorable 'plot-twist.' It is one of Christie's familycide mysteries - the one I enjoyed most, due too its simplicity. It's really a simple murder, at least from our, readers', point of view. The clues are there for us to see plainly, but only a few, perhaps, could solve it due to its impossibility. Well, it's not impossible, but unprecedented. I love Christie's cheekiness in this one; and it is what made Crooked House a memorable one.

🩰 It's post war, and Charles Hayward was engaged with Sophia Leonides. When her grandfather Aristide Leonides was murdered (poisoned with eserine from his own eye drops), Sophia told Charles that their marriage would never happen unless the murder is solved. Charles' father is Assistant Commissioner in Scotland Yard, and he asked Charles to stay with the family, to investigate "from the inside", along with the formal police investigation. And that's how Charles arrived at the Three Gables, the abode of the Leonides, which Sophia called the "crooked house" - inspired by the nursery rhyme: "there was a crooked man who lives in a crooked house...". Sophia acknowledge that there's the ruthlesness among the Leonides.

🩰 The family consists of Brenda - Aristide Leonides' far younger new wife; Philip (the oldest son) and his wife, with their three children: Sophia, Eustace, and Josephine; Roger (the youngest son) and his wife; an Aunt (Aristide's sister-in-law who came after her sister died); and lastly, a private tutor. One of them was widely believed to have been injecting Aristide with a dose of eserine, instead of insulin. But which one? Everyone has the opportunity - Aristide had practically provided the method of his murder to everyone. And so, the motive is what the police are seeking.

🩰 Brenda and Laurence were the "perfect" suspects. They're outsiders, and how convenient it would be that they are the murderer. But are they? Charles did his job quite nicely, mingling with the family, and got them to talk to him. His concern was for Josephine who likes snooping around, listening at doors, and playing detective. She knows too much (even bragging about knowing whodunnit), and likes to write everything in her black notebook. Charles' father asked him to watch her very closely, for her own sake. But he failed at that, because one day Josephine was found lying unconscious from a blow to her head. The murderer strikes again! They need to find the murderer as soon as possible, but which one?

🩰 Crooked House is one of Christie's fine analysis of the psychology of a murderer. What makes a murderer commit the murder? Charles' father described the characteristics of a murderer; it's a pity that Charles used more of his heart than his 'grey cell' when valuing his fiance's family. Christie also presented the theory of hereditary quite splendidly. Each member of the family, especially the direct descendants of Aristide Leonides possesses certain characteristics - good and bad, either from him or his late wife. All these aspects make this book a gem! I still loved it after this second or third reading, and though I won't ever forget the ending, I'll keep rereading it every some years.

Read for:

20 Books of Summer 2025

hosted by Annabel and Emma

The Housekeeper and the Professor (2005) by Yōko Ogawa #WITMonth #20BooksofSummer2025

🔢 In 1975, a brilliant Professor of Mathematics had a car accident, which caused a severe head injury, with a peculiar side effect. His memory of events before the accident is intact, but after 1975, the Professor lives with short-term memory of only eighty minutes. It means that after eighty minutes, his memory would be completely erased, except for that of 1975 and before. "In the simplest terms, it's as if he has a single, eighty-minute videotape inside his head, and when he records anything new, he has to record over the existing memories."

🔢 A housekeeper who works for an agency, was hired by the Professor's widowed sister-in-law, to keep house for the Professor, who is now on his sixties. He lives in a small cottage, adjunct to the sister-in-law's house. Eight other housekeepers had been hired and left, and so this one (we never get to know her name) was a little apprehensive when she arrived at the first day. The Professor is quite peculiar in appearance; his suit was worn, and several scraps of notepaper with his handwriting were pinned on it. It was his way of remembering important things. The most important one seems to be the one with "my memory lasts for eighty minutes", but after the arrival of the new housekeeper, he has a new one that says: "the new housekeeper" with a sketch of a woman's face. And that appears to be the beginning of a deep friendship.

🔢 The Professor is fond of numbers. His first greeting to the new housekeeper was: "What's your shoe number"? It's an odd way to say to a new acquaintance, but it's his way to cover his nervousness or awkwardness. After one produces him any number (shoe, telephone, birthdate, and so on), he would give you a theorem of prime numbers or factorial numbers. But the story gets much more interesting when the housekeeper's son came into the scene. He was nicknamed "Root" by the Professor, as the top of his head is flat, just like the square root symbol. Apparently the Professor cares so much for the boy, and since then, an intimate friendship wrought itself between the three unlikely persons. Either around the dinner table, or the baseball stadium, they were always happy in each other's company.

🔢 I think the biggest question that the author, Yōko Ogawa, wanted us to reflect is, whether it is possible to have an intimate relationship when one does not have memory. How can you have a deep affection to someone whom you completely forgot you've ever met before? That is something I have never thought before. Is our relationships built from things we enjoyed in the past? And if we're get rid of that; if we see the other as a stranger each time, will we recognize the bond, even if we don't understand why or how? Interesting isn't it?

🔢 On the whole, this is a thought provoking story. You'll enjoy it more, perhaps, if you love Math and/or baseball. I don't both, but I still enjoy the trio's deep relationship.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for:

20 Books of Summer 2025
hosted by Annabel and Emma

My Side of the Mountain (1959) by Jean Craighead George

🌳 Sam Gribley, a boy of about thirteen or fifteen, ran away from home, and determined to live on Catskill Mountains of upstate New York, the land of Gribley's ancestors. Every boy must have thought of running away and living in the wild; few perhaps made it true, but mostly for one or two days only before they went home. Sam Gribley, though, made it for months! And this book is telling you of his adventures, complete with detailed account of Sam's day to day activities; his way of securing shelter, water, and food, and how his wit guides him to survive even the snowiest days in winter.

🌳 Sam made his house by hollowing-up a huge and sturdy tree. How'd he done it? By learning a lot about living in the wild from books in the library. How to fish, how to burn the inside of a tree to hollow it, and how to make fire (he failed on his first night, but eventually became a pro after learning from a farmer he encountered). He eats fish he caught by his self-made rod, and learns to season it from plants or roots he forages from the forest. Sam also knows how to set traps for small animals like rabbits. But his ingenious idea came to him after watching a falcon flew on the sky. He stole a young Falcon from the nest (the mother certainly couldn't count!), and trained it to hunt food - very clever!

🌳 One of the setbacks of living alone in the wild is loneliness. Well, Sam is never very lonely. He has Frightful's - the falcon - company, but he also befriends a weasel he nicknamed the Baron. Well, it's not really Sam's pet like Frightful, but the three creatures live side by side in harmony. Sam's 'biggest' threat is rather from human being, than the animals or the weather. From campers (during summer) and hunters, to old ladies picking wild strawberries, who told reporters about the wild boy living in the forest. But the one he did make friend with is a man whom he nicknamed Bando, as he first thought him a bandit, but actually a schoolteacher who'd been lost. Funnily enough, this man - Bando - nicknamed Sam as Thoreau; what an appropriate name! I loved their friendship and everything they are doing together.

🌳 On the whole, it is delightful adventure story; informative, funny, refreshing, and insightful. The most hilarious part for me is perhaps when Sam decided to throw a Halloween party for the forest's inhabitants. He collects foods and placed them neatly around the tree. It was thrilled to see the animals' joyful gathering that night. However, at sunrise the morning after, Sam found that the party isn't over! The animals, no doubt ran out of food, ransacked Sam's inventory for the upcoming winter. And they made a whole mess in his tree house. It seems that all party is always the same, whether with human or animal guests - you inevitably found such mess the morning after. Human guests are slightly better because they know when the party is over, but the animals just didn't know when to stop!!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Nancy Drew: The Hidden Staircase (1930) by Carolyn Keene

🕵🏻‍♀️ I remember perfectly when Nancy Drew entered the reading radar of my younger self; it's in between the Enid Blyton and Agatha Christie phases. I also read Hardy Boys, but only a few, it's not as riveting as Nancy Drew (or Alfred Hitchcock's Three Investigators, which came to me at the same phase). The Hidden Staircase was the second in the series, and if I have read it before, I completely forget. So, I have read it as if it's my first Nancy Drew - and I loved it!

🕵🏻‍♀️ Nancy Drew is an only child of the Drews; her mother had died, so she lives with her father, a criminal lawyer. One day, as she's alone in the house, a man called Nathan Gombet confronted her. He demanded to see Mr. Drew and accused him of having swindled the his money (which Nancy's 100% certain as impossible). Nancy threw him away finally, but the visit rather worried Nancy. Then she met two middle-aged sisters who lived in a dilapidated mansion house called Twin Elms. They believe the house was haunted; footsteps were heard at night, things or foods were mysteriously missing, and things like that. So, when her father left for a week on a mission, she decided to stay in the house to investigate, and helped the kind ladies to find peace again at their house.

🕵🏻‍♀️ Nancy checked every room, every walls, to find hidden doors or entrance where an intruder could have come from outside (as she didn't believe that ghosts are the culprit). It must have been a joke, or else, a crime. But none existed, or so Nancy thought, because I have immediately saw something fishy when the rooms and furniture were described. I was literally screamed at Nancy: there! you must check there! And I was right at the end. I guess I've read too many mysteries that something out of ordinary immediately intrigued me. Anyway, no entrance was found, but a person did enter the house at nights, and stole things. Worse for Nancy, her father was missing too! Are those two facts connected? And what about Nathan Gombet who swore he would get what he thought is his rights?

🕵🏻‍♀️ On the whole, it's unexpectedly a fast-paced mystery/detective/adventure thriller with wonderful plot, and satisfactory ending. I loved how Nancy Drew was portrayed; an independent, resourceful, highly intelligent girl who is generous and kindhearted. I liked how Nancy defended her father against Gombet's accusation. You know right away how she had been brought up with love and respect by a respectable parents. It is nice to know for sure that your father wouldn't do anything bad.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Agatha Christie Short Stories 2025: AUGUST Reviews #AgathaChristieSS25

THE BLOOD STAINED PAVEMENT

As the Thursday Murder Club reconvened, Joyce retold her eerie adventure in Spain. While sketching during her holiday, a young couple arrived to stay at the same hotel. At the same time a red car arrived, and a striking woman in red came out of it. She was the husband's old acquaintance, and was the very opposite of his subdued wife's plain appearance. The three of them went for a swim on a little island.

Meanwhile, Joyce spotted a red taint on the pavement, which a local man shared that it's believed to foretell a death would occur. And right enough, the wife that stayed at the hotel was found dead, while her husband and friend were out swimming.

This story reminded me instantly of Evil Under the Sun. And in this instance, Miss Marple correctly guessed what happened, while the others didn't even think it a murder case. It mixes superstitions and a good plot of murder. However, as it's too closely similar to one of Christie's famous novels, it just felt redundant.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

THE MANHOOD OF EDWARD ROBINSON

Edward Robinson is engaged to a sensible girl called Maud, under whose thumb, had agreed to marry very soon, despite of his preference to postpone until his prospects improve. Edward loves to read novels, and always admires the self-confidence of the men in those stories. He impetuously entered a competition, won a 500 pounds prize, and bought a car. Edward didn't tell Maud about this, as he knew she would insist to save the money for their wedding.

On his Christmas holiday, Edward drove the car into the country - again, without telling Maud. He felt the thrill of freedom as he sped on with his shiny red two-seater along the country road. After sunset he parked his car, and had a walk before leaving for home. However, he mistakenly took another red car when he came back, which was exactly like his, and found a diamond necklace on the its side pocket, and a note with instruction to meet someone at a local village. Edward impulsively obeyed, and met a beautiful young woman who thought that he's the brother of a man she knew. It turned out that the necklace was a stolen object, but Edward played along. How would Edward free himself from this exiting but dangerous situation? And what would Maud do to him when she knew the truth?

This is neither a murder nor mystery story, but it's an exhilarating one that promised to make a very fun and satisfying reading!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Quartet in Autumn (1977) by Barbara Pym #20BooksofSummer2025

🍁 Letty, Marcia, Norman, and Edwin are four early-sixties co-workers who work on the same office. It's not very clear what office that is. I think it's more of a social organization. What kind of work the quartet is doing, I also have no idea. One thing is for sure, they are on the brink of retirement. I believe Pym made their jobs vague on purpose; to emphasize the meaninglessness late middle-aged people might feel in these circumstances. They were there, having their own desk, etc., but with no particular job to do. Like an outcast whom everyone just wait rather impatiently to formally get rid of them. 

🍁 They (and their jobs) are so insignificant, that even the organization won't hire replacements when they're retired. Yet, they are the same as everyone else; they have hopes and fears, searching for happiness, and with a little apprehension about the new life they're about to embark. From the quartet, Letty and Norman are never married. Letty is a kind and caring person, and embraces her independent existence. She was promised to share a country house with her bosom friend, but the friend decided to marry the vicar at the last moment, which threw away Letty's hope. But does she really want that kind of life? Norman is living alone at his bedsitter. He's rather a cranky, eccentric old man, maybe a bit jealous of his friend Edwin, a pious widower, who lives comfortably at his own house. 

🍁 Marcia is the most eccentric of all. She, too, a widower who lives comfortably at her own house - a quite big house with garden. But she's an eccentric miser, who hoards tinned foods and places them neatly on her kitchen cupboards, and keeps her expensive clothes but wears worn ones instead. She and Letty were first to go into retirement, while the two men were still working. The quartet had had a forced intimation during their working together, but strangely, they were closer together right after Marcia and Letty retired. This fact just highlighted the notes of loneliness they all feel - alone, helpless, and insignificant - a feeling that people in sixties and beyond always feel; deeper and deeper until the end.

🍁 In a way, this is not a very cheerful story to read, especially when you are in mid thirties or younger. But for middle-agers like me, it served as a warning, or a glimpse of what to come. It is a little scary, but as it's inevitable, it's better to prepare early, is it not? Back to the story, don't worry, it's not as bleak as it sounds. It's actually rather funny and entertaining, and a happy little twist awaits you on the last corner!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

20 Books of Summer 2025

hosted by Annabel and Emma

The Swiss Summer (1951) by Stella Gibbons #20BooksofSummer2025

🗻 As forty-something Lucy Cottrel, who's been boring with city life of London, received an unexpected invitation to spend summer at a Swiss chalet near Interlaken, she couldn't possibly resist. Lucy's marriage is a happy, but childless one; and she's been longing for a quieter life. Then, on her visit to her friend's house, the friend took her to an elderly widow called Lady Dagleish. The rich old lady owns a chalet on the Swiss Alp, built by her late husband, who, the very opposite of his wife, loved nature much more than social company. Seeing how delightful Lucy Cottrel was when the Swiss chalet was mentioned, Lady Dagleish invited her in a whim, to accompany her companion, Freda Blandish, to stay at the chalet during summer to do inventory of its contents.

🗻 Longing to stay away from London social life, Lucy accepted the invitation, and off she goes one fine morning, boarded on a train, and "pinned on her coat was a bunch of gentians given to her in loving farewell by her husband". Not without apprehension, though, for she knew nothing about Mrs. Blandish, whom, on their first meeting, seemed to dislike her. But the prospect of spending three months on the Swiss Alps, at a quiet chalet, restored her hopes.

🗻 At first, Lucy was delighted with the fresh mountain air, the serene view of the Jungfrau summit from her bedroom window, and the prospect of taking a walk up the mountain everyday. Not even the sour-faced Utta, the loyal servant of Lady Dagleish, seemed to be a nuisance. However, Lucy's dream of quiet life was soon diminished; first by the appearance of Astra Blandish, Freda Blandish' daughter, then the arrival of more people. Lucy was much appalled that Freda Blandish hid the fact that she invited those people from Lady Dagleish, and hoped that Lucy, too, would not reveal it in her frequent letters to Lady D. Lucy hated the situation, but she's the kind of person who can't say no, and to accept things as they are is more convenient than creating a scene. Midway through summer, two young people arrived at the chalet (they are actually permitted by Lady D as Lucy's guests - Bertram and Peter), and soon, love is in the air for the young girls, Astra and Kay (one of the guests).

🗻 However, Mrs. Blandish - who had been promised to inherit the chalet upon Lady D's death - went finally too far by receiving a paying guest. Paying to herself, that is - and of course, hiding it from Lady D. Lucy didn't like it, and Utta the caretaker, hated them all, out of her loyalty to her boss.  

🗻 On the whole, it is a charming story. Its main attraction is, firstly, the beautiful Swiss Alps scenery, and its fresh, cool mountain air, which I could almost feel during my reading. Then, the colorful characters; each portrayed vividly by Gibbons, which provided some of the hilarious scenes along the story. Although this story has neither strong plot, nor character growth, I enjoyed every scene. From the walking and climbing of the hills, the beautiful scenery, the cafe with red and white checked tablecloth where they stopped for rest and a cup of coffee or apricot ice, the youngsters' adventures, and love makings. Each provides delight and freshness to our otherwise rather dreary existences! I also loved the ending, while it's not too conclusive for some characters, it's satisfying and even rather poetic. It is, anyway, a vignette of happy life, in a short period of holiday, that left deep impression to hold on to as long as we live.

 Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

20 Books of Summer 2025

hosted by Annabel and Emma