The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon: My Current Read

A book I have admired online and on other bloggers' pages is now on my desk, and is my current read. I really enjoy books about youngsters trying to solve mysteries involving the adults around them and observing and commenting on everyone around them.

The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon, published July 12, 2016 by Scribner.
England, 1976. Part coming-of-age story, part mystery, The Trouble with Goats and Sheep is a quirky and charming debut about a community in need of absolution and two girls learning what it means to belong. (publisher)

About the author: Joanna Cannon graduated from Leicester Medical School and worked as a hospital doctor, before specialising in psychiatry. She lives in the Peak District with her family and her dog. The Trouble With Goats and Sheep is her first novel.

I am thoroughly loving the novel. The two young protagonists, Gracie and Tillie, are not as precocious as Flavia de Luce, another young fictional sleuth, being much more realistic but equally enjoyable characters.  

Sunday Salon: Watching the Olympics AND Reading

A collection of short stories by Rosie Thornton arrived courtesy of the author.

Sandlands by Rosie Thornton, to be published October 28, 2016. Book description:
This beautifully written short story collection is inspired by coastal England, by the landscape and its flora and fauna, as well as by its folklore and historical and cultural heritage. Several of the stories focus on a bird, animal, wildflower, or insect characteristic of the locality, from barn owl to butterfly. The book might be described as a collection of ghost stories; in fact, while one or two stories involve a more or less supernatural element, each of them deals in various ways with the tug of the past upon the present, and explores how past and present can intersect in unexpected ways. (publisher)

Also on my desk this week,

The Velvet Hours by Alyson Richman, to be released September 6, 2016, Berkley.
As Paris teeters on the edge of the German occupation, a young French woman closes the door to her late grandmother’s treasure-filled apartment, unsure if she’ll ever return. 
Inspired by the true account of an abandoned Parisian apartment, Alyson Richman brings to life Solange, the young woman forced to leave her fabled grandmother’s legacy behind to save all that she loved. (publisher)

Mercury by Margot Livesey, to be published September 27, 2016 by Harper
Genre: emotional thriller
An optometrist in suburban Boston, Donald is sure that he and his wife, Viv, who runs the local stables, are both devoted to their two children and to each other. Then Mercury—a gorgeous young thoroughbred with a murky past—arrives at Windy Hill and everything changes. (publisher)

Books finished:

Falling by Jane Green, a novel with a twist at the end that makes an ordinary romance memorable. 

 Tahoe Dark by Todd Borg, the 14th in the Owen McKenna Mystery series published August 1, 2016. Set in Nevada and California around Lake Tahoe, the series has always been captivating and suspenseful. In this novel, evidence points to a young woman, Evan Rosen, as the perpetrator of three murders. Owen McKenna doesn't believe she is guilty, however, and sets out to prove it. 

Are you watching the Olympics this week or reading, or both?

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. And Mailbox Monday.

Author Susan Spann, the Hiro Hattori Mysteries: Guest Post

Swords & Crosses: Jesuit Missionaries in Japan

by Susan Spann 

Many people became aware of the Jesuits (the Society of Jesus) in 2013, when Pope Francis became the very first Jesuit Pope. However, the Jesuit order was founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola (along with six other university students) in 1534, and since the 16^th century, the Jesuits have among the most active Christian religious and missionary groups.

The Jesuits first arrived in Japan on August 15,1549, when Saint Francis Xavier (then Father Francis Xavier) landed at Kagoshima. By the end of September, Xavier had obtained official permission to share the Christian religion in Japan—an astonishing feat, considering that Japan was almost completely closed to foreigners at that time.

Father Xavier traveled extensively in Japan, meeting with various daimyō (Samurai lords) and attempting to teach Christianity despite the significant language barrier. He is also responsible for the first translation of the Catholic catechism into Japanese.

Unlike many missionaries, who tried to covert native populations without respecting (or trying to learn) the local language and customs, Jesuit priests attempted to learn local languages and often lived according to local customs (at least to the extent the customs did not directly conflict with their vows or the Christian faith). For example, many Jesuits dressed in Japanese clothing and learned to appreciate Japanese food, art, and culture. Understandably, this flexibility had a positive impact on their ability to obtain permission to travel throughout Japan and share the gospel with Japanese people.

During the 16^th century, Japan was nominally ruled by an emperor, but day-to-day power resided in the hands of the shogun and the daimyō who ruled the provinces. (The country would not be officially unified until Tokugawa Ieyasu conquered the other daimyō and seized the Shogunate in 1603.) Foreigners could not travel freely in Japan, and foreign trade was severely limited. The Jesuits’ greater freedom of movement allowed them to act as brokers for the Portuguese traders who hoped to expand their markets into Japan, and in return these merchants financed some of the Jesuits’ missionary activities.

As it happens, the 16^th century was also the height of ninja activity in Japan, with the strongest ninja (shinobi) clans operating in the mountainous provinces of Iga and Koga.

When I decided to write a mystery series featuring a ninja detective, I wanted to give my protagonist a Western sidekick, to act as the reader’s “cultural filter” and to offer a different perspective on medieval Japan. Historically speaking, a Jesuit was the perfect choice to fill this role.

Although I originally planned for Father Mateo to act as a “Watson” to my primary detective, master ninja Hiro Hattori, the characters quickly developed a life—and a relationship—of their own. By the end of the first Hiro Hattori (Shinobi) Mystery, Claws of the Cat, the men had become true partners in crime-solving, using their complementary skills to find and identify the killer. Their developing friendship, and good-natured banter, makes the Hiro Hattori mysteries fun to write and hopefully, fun to read as well!

Thanks to the author for this guest post 

Susan Spann is a transactional publishing attorney and the author of the Shinobi Mysteries, featuring ninja detective Hiro Hattori and his Portuguese Jesuit sidekick, Father Mateo. Her debut novel, CLAWS OF THE CAT (Minotaur Books, 2013), was named a Library Journal Mystery Debut of the Month. Susan has a degree in Asian Studies from Tufts University, where she studied Chinese and Japanese language, history, and culture. Her hobbies include cooking, traditional archery, martial arts, and horseback riding. She lives in northern California with her husband, son, two cats, and an aquarium full of seahorses. 

Today is release day for the fourth in the mystery series.

The Ninja's Daughter:
 A Hiro Hattori Mystery

Broadway, Schrafft's and Seeded Rye by Lyla Blake Ward : First Paragraph

A memoir about "growing up slightly Jewish on the Upper West Side" of NYC

Broadway, Schrafft's and Seeded Rye, a memoir by Lyla Blake Ward, published February 1, 2016

First paragraph, first chapter:

Born Yesterday...or the day before
I think the neighborhood we now know as the Upper West Side came into being at around the same time I did -- 1928. High-rise apartment buildings were beginning to crop up along Riverside Drive by then, before the great renovation of the park was even a twinkle in Robert Moses's eye. 

My mother gave birth to me at home, 375 Riverside Drive, so she would not have to be separated from her two older children: my brother George (ten) and my sister June (five). She was a very protective mother. Very. This meant I didn't start school until first grade because my mother thought too many germs lurked in kindergarten classrooms. And when I did go to school at six years old - the city of New York had the final say here - I trotted off to P.S. 54, one block on Amsterdam Avenue, bundled up to the chin like Nanook of the North, from September to June. I didn't know what cold ari felt like until I was in high school. 

 Book description: Through essays and poems, histories and vintage photos, Lyla Blake Ward makes this unique neighborhood-- 72nd street to 110th-- east and west of Broadway, come alive. (publisher)

Meme: 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

Based on the first paragraphs of the book, would you keep reading? 

Sunday Salon: Advanced Readers Editions

Three new books have been added to my shelves.

Commonwealth: A Novel by Ann Patchett, advanced readers edition, published 2016.
"One Sunday afternoon in Southern California, Bert Cousins shows up at Franny Keating’s christening party uninvited. Before evening falls, he has kissed Franny’s mother, Beverly—thus setting in motion the dissolution of their marriages and the joining of two families.

Spanning five decades, Commonwealth explores how this chance encounter reverberates through the lives of the four parents and six children involved. Spending summers together in Virginia, the Keating and Cousins children forge a lasting bond that is based on a shared disillusionment with their parents and the strange and genuine affection that grows up between them." (publisher)

All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda, advanced readers edition published June 28, 2016
"Megan Miranda’s novel is a nail-biting, breathtaking story about the disappearances of two young women—a decade apart—told in reverse." (publisher)

Intimations: Stories by Alexandra Kleeman, proof, to be published September 13, 2016 by Harper
A collection of twelve stories irresistibly seductive in their strangeness explores human life from beginning to end: the distress of birth into a world already formed; the brief and confusing period of “living” where we understand what is expected of us and struggle to do it; and the death-y period toward the end where we sense it is ending and will end only partially understood, at best. (publisher)

Are you reading more, or less, in this summer heat? Summer makes me want to read more, it seems.

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. And Mailbox Monday.

Love Her Madly by M. Elizabeth Lee: Waiting on Wednesday

A new thriller for summer reading:

Love Her Madly by M. Elizabeth Lee, to be published August 16, 2016 by Atria Books
A debut novel about an intense best friendship between two college girls which leads to the abrupt disappearance—and presumed death—of one and the survival of the other, who reveals the twists and turns of their relationship seven years later. (publisher)

Setting: New York City, Costa Rica, secluded island
Characters: Glo, Cyn, Raj in a romance triangle 

What book release are you waiting on?
Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine. It spotlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating.

Book Review: The Ninja's Daughter by Susan Spann

The 16th century Japan setting by Susan Spann makes the Hiro Hattori novels a unique historical mystery series.  This is the fourth in the series.

The Ninja's Daughter: A Hiro Hattori  Novel by Susan Spann, to be published August 2, 2016 by Seventh Street Books
Autumn, 1565: When an actor's daughter is murdered on the banks of Kyoto's Kamo River, master ninja Hiro Hattori and Portuguese Jesuit Father Mateo are the victim's only hope for justice. This is the fourth in the historical mystery series set in Japan. (publisher)

The characters and setting are intriguing. Hiro is a shinobi or ninja who is tasked with protecting the life of Portuguese Jesuit, Father Mateo, while the priest is living in Japan. Hiro poses as a translator and interpreter for Mateo, and is seen by the shogun's officers as a ronin, or a samurai without a master.  Father Mateo likes to dabble in crime solving while ministering to the Christians in the region, and helps Hiro in his detecting. 

The relationship between the priest and the shinobi brings the novel and the times to life, showing the differences between East and West during this period. Hiro has to constantly remind Mateo about what he can or cannot do or say in order to stay safe from the shogun's officers and not to create offense to the people. Mateo brings more sympathy and understanding of the characters they encounter. Together they solve the crime and help bring a criminal to light.

The plot and the action in The Ninja's Daughter reveal much about Japanese traditional culture and customs of the time. The two sleuths have to understand motivation and circumstance in order to find the real murderer of the actor's daughter found dead on the banks of the river. There are many suspects and the most obvious one is not necessarily the right one. 

Beginning paragraphs, chapter 1:

Knocking echoed through the silent house.
Hattori Hiro sat up in the darkness and pushed his quilt aside. His cat, Gato, tumbled to the floor. She mewed in protest.
Careful footsteps passed the door to Hiro's room. He recognized the pace of Ana, the housekeeper who cooked and cleaned for the Portuguese priest whose home they shared. Her rapid response told Hiro sunrise must be close at hand. Only a person already awake and dressed would reach the door so quickly. 

Suspects: The actor, Satsu, the father of the dead girl, is a suspect in this murder that is brought to Hiro's attention. The girl Emi had a thirst for freedom and wanted to live life on her own terms, to open her own teahouse and not marry as her family wished. Her actions might bring shame to the actor, who relies on his and his family's good reputation to advance in his career. 

The boy Emi was supposed to marry is also a suspect, as is her brother-in-law, the husband of her older sister. The solving of the mystery comes after much deliberation and snooping by Hiro and Mateo, who put their lives on the line while trying to avoid the Shogun's police and officers. 

Recommendation: This is another excellent, atmospheric mystery novel with enough twists and turns and suspense to kept me very interested. The characters are realistic, individualistic, and very likeable and I look forward to reading more about them in future books in the series.

About the author:

Susan Spann is a transactional publishing attorney and the author of the Shinobi Mysteries, featuring ninja detective Hiro Hattori and his Portuguese Jesuit sidekick, Father Mateo. Her debut novel, CLAWS OF THE CAT (Minotaur Books, 2013), was named a Library Journal Mystery Debut of the Month. Susan has a degree in Asian Studies from Tufts University, where she studied Chinese and Japanese language, history, and culture. Her hobbies include cooking, traditional archery, martial arts, and horseback riding. She lives in northern California with her husband, son, two cats, and an aquarium full of seahorses.

Thanks to the author/publisher and TLC Book Tours for an ARC of this book for review. For other reviews of The Ninja's Daughter, visit the tour schedule

Meme: 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