Showing posts with label Murder at the Porte de Versailles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Murder at the Porte de Versailles. Show all posts

Sep 3, 2022

Sunday Salon: Crime Solving and Romance

 Book Club Pick: 

The Thursday Murder Club

(Thursday Murder Club #1)

by 

We had so much to discuss with this murder mystery book at our book club this week. We loved the main characters, all eccentric in their own way, but very likeable characters. We enjoyed the complexity of the plot and the red herrings, plot switches in the novel, and the humor in the telling of the story.

We did agree however, that there are so many characters, about 27 in all, that we had trouble remembering who did what and to whom, and some of us had to make cheat sheets to keep track of the murders and who the final culprits turned out to be.

Nevertheless, we were enthusiastic about the book, the first of three in the series, and all wanted to read more about main characters, especially Elizabeth and Joyce, all senior pensioners in an upscale independent living complex in Kent, England, who are able to solve murders in their Thursday Murder Club before the police do. 

I just borrowed number 2 in the series from our library, The Man Who Died Twice, and am enjoying this one as well. 


Delightful Rom Com:



The Fraud Squad by Kyla Zhao

Publication: January 7, 2023; Berkley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The novel is part Pygmalion and the story of Icarus, who fell from the sky after flying too close to the sun. At least this is how working class woman Kyla Zhao sees herself, especially when she pictures herself failing in her bold attempt to infiltrate the highest levels of elitist Singapore social circles.

This clever romantic comedy reveals Singapore's upper class behavior and aspirations. Kyla is shown as a daring young woman whose own aims are to become a writer and public relations person for the most prestigious society magazine in Singapore. But first she must show herself socially worthy to be part of the higher echelons of that exclusive group. Kyla enters a pact with two upper class friends to have her pass as a Singapore socialite. 

I liked reading about the ups and downs of a Cinderalla-like young woman chased from the ball by time and by deceitful individuals who may block her in her pursuit of her career goals. 

An enjoyable romantic comedy.

Just finished: 

 

Murder at the Porte de Versailles

(Aimee Leduc Investigations #20)

by 
PI Aimee Leduc and her investigative group work to clear a friend, Boris, of a crime she knows he didn't commit - bombing a police laboratory in Paris. The bombing happened during a birthday party for Aimee's three-year-old daughter Chloe which Boris had just attended.

The complex world of international spies, world politics, and the aftermath of the 2001 World Trade Center bombing in NYC has everyone on edge, even in Paris. Aimee rushes in and through the city that she knows so well, finding clues and interviewing people who might know the reasons behind the deadly bombing at the Paris police lab.

Added to this is Aimee's personal, romantic life, which brings more intrigue and drama to the novel.

I enjoyed this 20th in the Paris mystery series, and through reading it, find Paris as enticing as ever, what with the detailed descriptions of history, place and people in the book.


What are you reading this week? 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated BookreviewerAlso,  It's Monday: What Are You Readingand Sunday SalonStacking the ShelvesMailbox Monday


Dec 12, 2021

Sunday Salon: Murders and a Saint

 Currently reading: 


Murder at the Porte de Versailles by Cara Black, March 1, 2022, Soho Crime, ARC. The 20th in the Aimee Leduc Investigations series set in Paris. 

A Saint from Texas by Edmund White, August 6, 2020, Bloomsbury. Acquired.

Identical twin sisters born in Texas: one becomes famous in Parisian society and the other approaches sainthood in the Catholic Church. 


Finished reading:

The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny, August 24, 2021, Minotaur. The 14th in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache mystery series set in Quebec.

My comments: 

A police procedural and investigation par excellence.

 The time is contemporary, post-pandemic, and the plot revolves around a proposal by a well known statistician to force euthanasia on all of society's elderly, sick, and disabled. 

But is the violent murder of a woman in the small village of Three Pines a case of mistaken identity and was the controversial statistician the real target? 

The book has us guessing and being convinced of one or another of at least four different suspects before the reader is led away in another direction, in each case.

Well crafted plot and writing, this novel is filled with thought provoking questions on the value of family life and of human life in all its forms and stages.  I thought this to be one of the best, if not the best book in the series. 


What are you reading this week?

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


Dec 5, 2021

Sunday Salon: A Cozy Mystery Christmas

 Holiday and Christmas mysteries anyone? 

Mrs. Jeffries and the Three Wise Women by Emily Brightwell, October 17, 2017, courtesy of Berkley.

A man is shot under cover of fireworks at a Guy Fawkes party. With Christmas almost here, Inspector Witherspoon and everyone in his household is upset at the possibility of having to cancel their holiday plans—all to solve a case that seems impossible. (publisher)

Trimmed With Murder: A Seaside Knitters Mystery #10 by Sally Goldenbaum, published November 3, 2015 by NAL

Wreck the Halls: A Home Repair is Homicide Mystery by Sarah Graves, October 2002, Bantam 
Who can get anything done during the holidays, when there's a killer on the loose? And in someone's house!

What holiday books are you planning to read?


New arrival:


Murder at the Port de Versailles by Cara Black, March 1, 2022, Soho Crime, ARC

I've been following Aimee and her investigations in Paris since the start of the mystery series. This is her most recent. 

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

Sunday Salon: Letting Go of September by Sandra J. Jackson

  Books reviewed Letting Go of September by Sandra J. Jackson, July 31, 2024; BooksGoSocial Genre: thriller , family drama Themes: reflectiv...