Crowned and Dangerous by Rhys Bowen: Book Beginning

The tenth mystery novel in the series by Rhys Bowen, set in the 1930s,  is getting good reviews.

Crowned and Dangerous: A Royal Spyness Mystery by Rhys Bowen, to be released August 2, 2016 by Berkley. Thirty-fifth in line for the British crown and with plans to elope, Lady Georgiana Rannoch and her beau Darcy O’Mara hope to bypass a few royal rules... But news that her future father-in-law has just been arrested sops thoughts of marriage, for the moment. It seems a rich American was murdered and Darcy’s father had more than enough motive. With the elopement postponed,  they head for Ireland where Darcy's father insists he’s innocent. (amazon)

Book beginning:

I was in a motorcar, sitting beside Darcy, and we were driving northward, out of London. He had whisked me away earlier that day, after we had both attended Princess Marina's wedding to the Duke of Kent. I first thought I was being taken for a romantic dinner. Then, as we left the streets of London behind, I began to suspect it may not be a dinner we were going to but a hotel in a naughty place like Brighton. But we were heading north, not south, and I couldn't think of any naughty places to the north of London. Surely nobody goes to the industrial grime of the Midlands to be naughty? I suppose in a way I was relieved. Much as I wanted to spend the night with Darcy, and heaven knows we had waited long enough, there was also that element of worry about the consequences. 

Page 56:
"Then he will need friends to stick by him," I retorted. "And fortunately Darcy seems to have plenty of friends, including me."

The Friday 56. Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% of your eReader. Find any sentence that grabs you. Post it, and add your URL post in Linky at Freda's Voice. Also visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader.

First Chapter: Gone With the Wool by Betty Hechtman

The colorful book cover of this cozy mystery caught my eye right away - butterflies, a cat, and a basket of yarn!

Gone with the Wool: A Yarn Retreat Mystery by Betty Hechtman, published July 5, 2016
Every October, thousands of monarch butterflies flock to California’s Monterey Peninsula to spend the winter. Cadbury by the Sea holds a week long festival with a butterfly queen and her court. 
Casey Feldstein finds herself fluttering back and forth between setting up a yarn retreat, baking and helping out at the festival. But when a former butterfly queen is found dead after a Bless the Butterflies service, Casey must hook a killer with a score to settle.

First paragraph:
Why hadn't I realized this problem before?
The bright red tote bag with Yarn2Go emblazoned on the front fell over as I tried to cram in the long knitting loom for my upcoming yarn retreat. My selection of round looms rolled across the floor before falling flat. The other long looms scattered at my feet. Julius, my black cat, watched from his spot on the leather love seat in the room I called my office as I gathered up the odd-looking pieces of equipment. 

Based on the first paragraphs, would you read on?

Every Tuesday First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros are hosted by Bibliophile By the Sea. Share the first paragraph sometimes two, of a book you are reading or plan to read soon.  

Sunday Salon: Romance, Adventure, Memoir

A romance novel, an adventure novel, and a memoir are among the new additions to my bookshelves.

The Last Treasure by Erika Marks is a new adventure and romance novel about three college friends involved in a search for a lost nineteenth century schooner along the Carolina Banks.

The Mountain Story by Lori Lansens will be out in paperback this week by Simon and Schuster.
Four young hikers have to rely on each other when they become lost in a mountain wilderness.

Dressing a Tiger: A Memoir by Maggie San Miguel hasn't been listed with amazon or goodreads as yet, so I couldn't get a cover photo to post. To be released in October, it is by a woman who grew up in a mob family. The link above is for the Kirkus review of the memoir.

I borrowed from the library and finished M.C, Beaton's new mystery, Death of a Nurse, in less than a day. Here is my goodreads mini review:

Another excellent and entertaining Hamish Macbeth mystery novel. This time Hamish shares the spotlight with his new policeman in the Highlands village station, Charley. I hope the personable and likeable Charley sticks around for a while, unlike the previous policemen sent out to help Hamish, who eventually left for one reason or another.

My current read is Jane Green's new romance and contemporary fiction, Falling,

which I'm reading for a book tour organized by the publisher. A former banker leaves a high-powered job in NYC for a quiet waterfront town in Connecticut and has to find a new home, a new career, and a new love. Of course, she does all three.

New resolutions: Since I have to cull my books because of lack of space, I've decided to give away lighter general fiction, keeping mystery novels, literary novels, and all nonfiction. That breaks my heart, but I have found a few nonprofit service organizations that should put the books to good use.

Keep cool for the rest of this week!
Welcome to the Sunday Salon where bloggers share their reading each week. Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer.
Also visit It's Monday, What Are You Reading? hosted by Book Date. 

The Summer Guest by Alison Anderson: Book Beginning

The Summer Guest, historical fiction by Alison Anderson, May 24, 2016 by HarperCollins. Blinded by a fatal illness, young Ukrainian doctor Zinaida Lintvaryova is living on her family’s rural estate in the summer of 1888. When a family from Moscow rents a cottage on the grounds, Zinaida develops a deep bond with one of their sons, a doctor and writer of modest but growing fame called Anton Pavlovich Chekhov.

Zinaida's journal is based on a true story and on the little known about her from the letters and the obituary Chekhov wrote  for her when she died.  (publisher)

Book beginning:
The road is leading into the distance, the distance where we are going and which we cannot see; there is a slight rise toward the horizon and tall grass and a long line of poplar trees. It's deserted, we have the whole world to ourselves, the tall grass is bending to the breeze.... (more)

She was pleased with her words.
Well, not exactly her words; they were meant to be his words, and only as she reported them. Perhaps he had said something quite different. They had been for a ride in the carriage, and these words were a gift of vision, a way of helping her see the world. The difficulty lay in capturing a moment; his voice, its warmth and depth, was lost already. What could a short paragraph do to convey so much - the road, the trees, the sky, the light, a whole vista no one could see now, except through words?  And his presence there, with her, a brief respite in her darkness, his breath, his low laughter.

Page 56:
Don't apologize, Zinaida Mikhailovna. You are right. I'm going to give serious thought to starting a novel. I now you will be an ally. But please don't mention it to the others -- my sister Masha, or my friends when they arrive. They'll only badger me, in their way. 

I was impressed that the author has written novels on Amelia Earhart and a romance inspired by Darwin, and is also a literary translator, the translator of The Elegance of the Hedgehog, one of my favorite books.  I find her writing elegant. I hope to finish The Summer Guest this summer!

Memes: The Friday 56. Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% of your eReader. Find any sentence that grabs you. Post it, and add your URL post in Linky at Freda's Voice. Also visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader.

First Chapter: Iris and Ruby by Rosie Thomas

The winner of the Romantic Novel of the Year Award (2007), Iris and Ruby, is about a grandmother-granddaughter relationship, with flashbacks to the grandmother's early history in Egypt. The novel was reprinted April 2016. I started it several weeks ago but then got sidetracked by new arrivals! It's one I'm looking forward to reading in its entirety.

Iris and Ruby: A Novel by Rosie Thomas, published April 5, 2016 by The Overlook Press
Setting: Cairo
Genre: romance, part historical fiction

First chapter, first paragraph:

I remember.
And even as I say the words aloud in the silent room and hear the whisper dying away in the shadows of the house, I realize that it's not true. 
Because I don't, I can't remember. 
I am old and am beginning to forget things.
Sometimes I'm aware that great tracts of memory have gone, slipping and melting away out of my reach. When I try to recall a particular day, or an entire year, even a damned decade, if I'm lucky there are the bare facts unadorned with color. More often than otherwise there's nothing at all. A blank. 

Book description: 
Iris Black's Cairo house is disturbed by the unexpected arrival of willful granddaughter Ruby from England. Ruby helps Iris document deteriorating memories of glittering, cosmopolitan Cairo and her WWII one true love, enigmatic Captain Xan Molyneux, who was lost to war. Iris’ early devastation shaped her daughter, granddaughter, and leads them into terrible danger in the Egyptian desert.

Teaser from Chapter 5:

"Ruby, do you remember we talked about you helping me to collect some of my old memories?"

Memes: Every Tuesday Bibliophile By the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where readers share the first paragraph sometimes two, of a book that they are reading or plan to read soon. 

Do the book description and first paragraph of the first chapter above appeal to you? Would you read on?

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB at Books and a Beat, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Sunday Salon: A Working Weekend

We had planned a getaway this weekend but then decided to stay home and fix up house - painting and decluttering in prep for visitors later this summer. It's working out okay and good to get things done, though I'd rather be at the beach! Happy Fourth!

Two new cozies:

Spells and Scones: Magical Bakery Mystery #6 by Bailey Cates, to be released July 26, 2016, NAL
There's a body in the bookshop in this latest novel from theNew York Times bestselling author of the Magical Bakery mysteries...

A Grave Prediction: Psychic Eye Mystery #14 by Victoria Laurie, to be released July 26, 2016,
Abby has to prepare herself for one steep uphill battle when she’s sent to San Diego to help train FBI officers to use their intuition. I am looking forward to reading this.

I have two boxes of books to give away next week. My shelves are full and I need the space! What a sad dilemma! What are you up to this holiday weekend! Enjoy the fireworks!

Welcome to the Sunday Salon where bloggers share their reading each week. Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer.
Also visit It's Monday, What Are You Reading? hosted by Book Date.  

Book Beginning: Books of a Feather by Kate Carlisle

A cozy mystery, the tenth in the Bibliophile Mystery series.

Books of a Feather: A Bibliophile Mystery #10 by Kate Carlisle
San Francisco book-restoration expert Brooklyn Wainwright’s latest project is for the birds, but it may have her running for her life. 

First paragraph, first chapter:
The air inside the old bookshop was thick with the heady scents of aged vellum and rich old leathers. Heaven. I breathed in the lovely pulpy odors as I climbed the precarious rolling ladder up to the crowded top shelf to start cataloging books.

The aisles of the shop were narrow, barely three feet wide,  which meant I could reach out and touch the volumes on the sides of the aisle - if I was willing to let go of the wobbly handrail, which I wasn't. 

Page 56: 
"Let her in," Inspector Lee grumbled. "She's already got her footprints all over the place anyway."

Book description: Covington Library is hosting an exhibit of John James Audubon’s massive masterpiece, Birds of America. Brooklyn is approached by Jared Mulrooney, the president of the National Birdwatchers Society, to repair a less high-profile book of Audubon drawings. But when Mulrooney’s body is discovered in the library, rumors fly about a motive for murder. 

 The Friday 56. Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% of your eReader. Find any sentence that grabs you. Post it, and add your URL post in Linky at Freda's Voice. Also visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader.