Sunday Salon: Short Stories and a Love Story

 I have read and liked many of Elly Griffiths' mystery novels set in the north of England, so NetGalley offered me this read. Looking forward to it. 

The Man in Black: Stories by Elly Griffiths

June 18, 2024; Mariner Books, NetGalley

Description:

An eclectic, thrilling collection of short stories, featuring many characters that readers have come to know and love from her mystery books featuring her main character, forensic archaeologist and university lecturer, Ruth Galloway.

I liked the clear lines of this book cover and the simple yet intriguing title, Lines, a novel by a young Asian American writer, Sung J. Woo, to be published October 29, 2024. The book is described as a "star-crossed" love story set in New York City. It promises to be tragic. I'm curious. 

Another of his books, Everything Asian is an earlier book about a 12-year-old Korean boy moving with his mother and teenage sister to the U.S. to join his father, and adapting to life in New Jersey. 

WHAT ARE YOU READING/WATCHING THIS WEEK?  

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves 

Bleeding Heart and Lonely Hearts: Book Reviews

Bleeding Heart Yard by Elly Griffiths
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publication: November 15, 2022

Genre: mystery, crime fiction, NetGalley

I've enjoyed many of Elly Griffiths' novels, though this is the first in this series for me. I was pleased as expected, and loved the intricate plotting and it subtle twists, the characterizations, and the whodunnit suspense.

The murder mystery revolves around The Group, a set of high school students at Manor Park School, who were always together, even when one of them, David, falls to his death in front of a moving train. Now, twenty years later, the remaining members of The Group are at a school reunion, where another one of them is murdered. Suspicion falls on all of them.

I loved that the mystery plot is not predictable, nor is the culprit or the reasons behind the murders. Another excellent mystery by the author.

View all my reviews (Goodreads)

Sophie Go's Lonely Hearts Club by Roselle Lim

Publication: August 16, 2022; Berkley

Genre: rom com, romance, magical realism, NetGalley

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sophie Go moves out of her demanding and demeaning parents' home, determined to make it on her own as a matchmaker in Toronto, even though she is not accredited by the matchmaking school. Her skills are challenged by the Old Ducks, a group of lonely 70-year-old Chinese Canadian men, who hire her to find them suitable wives or partners.

Sophie is a very sympathetic individual as she struggles to help support her parents as well as herself,  while trying to show she can do the job she has always dreamed of. She becomes close to the Old Ducks, the septuagenarians who are her clients, mostly likeable characters, each personality having his own foibles, quirks, and skill sets.

The character delineations as well as the clever plot make this novel. Sophie becomes close to the Old Ducks while trying to find them love partners, and you wonder if she will also find her own match along the way.

Magical realism makes this rom com unique. Sophie can see the "red threads" of people's hearts that flare to indicate their interest or willingness to meet a special someone.  The matchmaking society or association to which she belongs is a group of people with special magical insights and skills.

What are you reading this week? 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday

It's Monday: What Are you Reading?

 

The Night Hawks by Elly Griffiths, June 29, 2021. Netgalley

Genre: mystery set in Northern England

There’s nothing Ruth Galloway hates more than amateur archaeologists, but when a group of them stumble upon Bronze Age artifacts alongside a dead body, she finds herself thrust into their midst—and into the crosshairs of a string of murders circling ever closer. (publisher)

What are you reading this week? 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon

Book Review: The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths

The Crossing Places

The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths, August 2009, Quercus Books
Genre: mystery set in Norfolk, UK
A child's bones are discovered near the site of a pre-historic henge on the north Norfolk coast, and the police ask local forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway to date them

Ruth is a lecturer at the local university, recognized as as expert in her field. She lives alone in a small cottage at the edge of a saltmarsh near the sea. Attracted to the local deputy chief inspector of police, Ruth is torn regarding her affections, as DCI Harry Nelson is married with two grown daughters. The two work together to solve the crimes and become romantically involved for one fateful night, in spite of his married status.

The personal and professional life of the unusual character, Ruth Galloway, pulls the reader in, and I found myself reading the second, third, and fourth books in the series, just to keep up with her life, personal and otherwise. There are several books to go in the series yet!

Thanks to Quercus for a review copy of this book. 

The Janus Stone

The House at Sea's End

A Room Full of Bones

Dying Fall

These are all the books in the series I've read so far, 1-5. They are all available at my library, in ebook form, hurray!  I am now starting No. 6, The Outcast Dead.

Have you read any in this series?