Cozy Mystery
I rarely read cozies these days, except for a few like Laura Childs' Tea Shop Mysteries. This latest is the 28th in the popular series. popular because of tea shop owner and amateur sleuth, Theodosia Browning, and the setting in Charleston, South Carolina, as well as the recipes and tea time tips included in the books.
Peach Tree Smash will be published August 6, 2024 by Berkley. I just got the eARC and I'm looking forward to reading it.
Description: Murder at an Alice in Wonderland–themed event threatens to send Theodosia Browning through the looking glass. During the Mad Hatter Masquerade, a fundraiser hosted by the Friends of the Opera, Harlan Sadler, husband of Cricket Sadler, the chairwoman, is murdered. Theodosia and her gang are resolved to find the culprit.
Another book I'm looking forward to:
My visit to Toronto sped by like a long weekend instead of the seven days I was there. Having family company and good food was a great way to spend the start of spring.
This novel, Long Weekend by S.M. Thomas (April 16, 2024) will be quite different for the people in the weekend thriller. Set on a luxurious island resort with famous guests, journalist Emma's anticipated fun trip turns instead into a nightmare!
Just finished
The Blue Bar by Damyanti Biswas (January 1, 2023) was one of the books available to download for free through World Book Day 2024, a yearly program that promotes reading worldwide. The date is always April 23 in the U.S.
The Blue Bar is a noir thriller set in Mumbai, India, and is a police procedural that involves corruption on many levels - in the police, among well known businessmen, underground mafia, and the social elite and their families. There is an unnamed deranged man or "boy" as he is called by his assistant, who has been kidnapping and killing bar girls over the years but who is "protected" from discovery by many of the influential people.
Police inspector Arnav Singh Rajput tries to save a former bar dancer, his lover, from landing in the hands of this serial killer and risks his life to find the man's identity. The suspense of the novel lies in the many likely and unlikely suspects that Arnav must sort through find the "boy."
I gave this intriguing thriller 4 stars. There were a few inconsistencies, though minor ones. Though it was a good read for adult lovers of mysteries, I was surprised it was included in the World Book Day selection because of the noir quality of the book, the vivid descriptions of violence, physical and psychological.
What I'm Watching
I'm still watching tv more than reading. I finished the 16 episode kdrama series, Queen of Tears, a family drama and romance which was ultra popular in Korea as well, a big plus for Netflix. The same main male actor was also in another drama I liked, It's Okay to Not Be Okay. He's the top wage earner today in Korean drama, and it's easy to see why.
What are you reading/watching 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
