Audio Book

Dear Mrs. Bird

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By AJ Pearce

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Despite a slow start, this turned out to be a charming and delightful novel very similar in style and substance to D.E. Stevenson. I expected something of the sort, set in England during the Nazi blitzkrieg of London, but I didn’t expect that long swaths could almost be mistaken for her writing. The characters could have stepped right out of one of Stevenson’s wartime novels (except they mostly are not set in London). Our two young heroines are kind, pretty, spunky, bursting with moral fiber, and determined to do their bit in the war. And the young men are their equivalent. If they are not in the military, they prove their bravery by contributing in some way to the war effort. There is at least one thoroughly obnoxious character to challenge them, a daunting parental figure/mentor and a wise protective one. Sad and bad things happen but the overall tone is light and comfortable and sprinkled with gentle humor.

Emmy and her life-long friend Bunty are living in London during the blitz. Fired up by the idea of being a lady war correspondent, when Emmy sees an employment advertisement in the London Evening Chronicle, she applies for the position, and she gets it! To her dismay she soon finds out that she is nothing more than a junior typist for Henrietta Bird, the “Acting Editress” and advice columnist for Women’s Friend magazine. Worse, one of her duties is to read the letters to Mrs. Bird and cut up the letters that request help regarding anything “unpleasant” according to her very rigid lights.

Topics That Will Not Be Published Or Responded To By Mrs. Bird
(NB: list is not exclusive and will be added to when required)
Marital relations
Premarital relations
Extramarital relations
Physical relations
Sexual relations in general (all issues, mentions, suggestion, or results of)
Illegal activities
Political activities and opinions
Religious activities and opinions (excl. queries regarding church groups and services)
The War (excl. queries regarding rationing, voluntary services, clubs, and practicalities)

Words and Phrases That Will Not Be Published Or Responded To By Mrs. Bird For further references see Girlhood To Wife: Practical Advice By A Doctor (1921)
A–C
Affair
Amorous
Ardent
Bed
Bedroom
Bed jacket
Berlin
. . . The list went on for pages.
In other words, the Women’s Friend problem page only wants to be friends with women who have no actual problems or dilemmas. And in the England of 1941, those women are few and far between. And the magazine’s subscriptions and advertising revenue show it.

But as Emmy reads the comparatively few letters that she and Kathleen, her co-worker, receive, her heart is rung by the sometimes desperate cries for help with real world difficulties exacerbated by wartime. Finally, she starts to respond to the most heart-wrenching on the sly if they include a stamped self-addressed envelope. Emboldened by her success (and the fact that she doesn’t get caught) she even starts to sneak a few letters into the magazine (Since Mrs. Bird never reads it.) Meanwhile she tackles her own challenges with her volunteer work as a phone operator for the Auxiliary Fire Service and her personal life, along with her friend Bunty, who is engaged to be married to their childhood friend, William.

Needless to say, “No Good Deed Goes Unpunished” for our heroine on more than one front, and all Hell breaks loose all over the place for poor Emmy who tries her best to Keep Calm and Carry On in the face of several disasters.

*A few spoilers you would probably guess anyway*

It wasn’t quite a 5 star read for me. There were things that didn’t seem right. Emmy was too wishy-washy about trying to help the women who were desperate for advice and support. Of course she should try to help them! Not to do so would have been practically unpatriotic! And her supposedly super-plucky friend Bunty is horrified and scared at the very idea when Emmy feels her out on her dilemma. This didn’t track either. I was kind of shocked at her attitude. In one incident, Emmy lays into Bill for endangering his life and the lives of his crew to rescue a little girl’s doll that was buried in the rubble following a bombing. While on the surface this was kind and brave of Bunty’s fiancé, it was also very dangerous and foolish. She is wracked with guilt for scolding him and the incident has far-reaching consequences. It was frustrating because I thought she was absolutely right and she had nothing to apologize for. I had problems with Bunty and her actions v. what we are told about her character. Lastly, it turns out that the one mistake that Emmy made in writing back to the desperate women was signing Henrietta’s Bird’s name to the letters. That was really dumb, dumb, dumb. She didn’t have to sign them at all.

Naturally, Emmy triumphs in the end. Thankfully, her response to the final letter of the book is very courageous. Her nemesis, Henrietta Bird, one of the most obnoxious and “unpleasant” women I have fictionally experienced in recent years, is summarily disposed of. But unfortunately with more of a whimper than the bang I was hoping for. Still, If you liked the final courtroom scene in Miracle on 34th Street, you will get similar vibes with the dramatic showdown in this book. I’ll probably read one more in this series of four books and then see how it goes. But, like with D.E. Stevenson, I have to take a break and wait for the right mood to hit me.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Far and Away

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by Amy Poeppel

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This is the story of what happens when a family from an upper middle class Dallas suburb exchanges homes for the summer with an affluent husband and wife from urban Berlin. Despite each being thrust into totally unfamiliar cultures and settings they manage to not only survive, but thrive. More or less. The core characters were all likable good people, which is the key to their ultimate success. And the premise was very entertaining. I’ve read 3 other books by this author and this was a close second to Small Admissions, still my favorite by this author. Lucy decides to get the hell out of Dodge Dallas when her sweet, brilliant and somewhat nerdy son Jack is expelled from school and cruelly crucified on social media and in their social circle (It was all a big misunderstanding). I was caught up in the injustice of it all and my fondness for Jack. Always in the background was my hope for eventual redemption and comeuppances. Lucy has a very happy and solid marriage but unfortunately she has to deal with the crisis on her own as her husband, a NASA scientist, is on a special project and incommunicado for 6 months. On the other side of the Atlantic, Otto, a surgeon, who is unhappy at his work and with his colleagues, gets a temporary job in Dallas and moves himself and his wife Greta, a private art curator. I should say loyal wife Greta moves them, because stiff and formal Otto is very much a traditional husband, and it is Greta that handles all of the day to day home type business.

Amy Poeppel’s books are all about the characters, although this one is jam packed with plot developments and many exploits as well. There is never a dull moment. In this novel, it is Greta and Otto who go through the most growth and change. They are different people by the end of this story. Lucy, Jack, and Lucy and Mason’s young twin girls are perfectly fine and happy as they are, barring Jack’s struggles and the fear for his crumbling future. They have other challenges, don’t get me wrong. In addition to trying to keep her rambunctious twins from breaking all of Greta’s priceless antiques in the lovely but museum-like (but tiny!) city apartment, Lucy has to contend with how to keep her bosses from finding out she is no longer in the United States (she mostly works from home), and more importantly, dealing with Jack wanting to meet his Scandinavian biological father when he doesn’t even know Jack exists, as well as the absence of her loving and normally involved husband. Meanwhile Otto and Greta have to contend with how to get Lucy’s huge modern suburban smart home to obey them, their (shock!) unruly dogs, too friendly and interested neighbors, Otto’s sociable new work colleagues, barbeques, and the very casual lifestyle of Dallas. On top of that, Greta has an ethical struggle and possible career-ender regarding a Vermeer painting that might have been painted by his daughter Maria instead. She also is concerned about her daughter Emmi who seems to be pulling away from her, and a mother that might be having an affair with a much younger man.

Stern and formal Otto’s enthusiastic embrace of everything to do with the Dallas lifestyle combined with Greta’s bewilderment over her husband’s new personality and her own more cautious and suspicious approach, provide much of the humor. When kitchen-adverse Otto brags that he has learned how to bake “stickerpoodles”, Greta is totally flummoxed. Despite his failures as a husband, Otto was very endearing in his ultimately successful efforts to fit in and his fracturing of the American language was too funny.

But the book is so much more than two fish out of water stories and how they end up being just what the doctor ordered. Amy Poeppel has a lot to say about social media, hypocrisy, gossip and how vicious and destructive it can be. And it shows how ordinary people can be brave and not go with the toxic mob mentality and make a difference with kindness, common sense, and fairness. It is not a romance at all, but by the end we have five happy couples, or maybe more, I lost count. The epilogue was all that I hoped, which means it was probably a little over the top.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Celia’s House

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By D. E. Stevenson

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Of all of the D.E. Stevensons I have read, this one is right up there. I almost didn’t choose this book to listen to. I usually wait 4 or 5 months between Stevensons and I had just read one last month. But I knew I didn’t want to read another contemporary romantic comedy because the last one I read was so good, nothing else could measure up. I was still on hold for the scary book of my choice at the library and I had just read a domestic thriller and a Georgette Heyer. And some books I just like to read the words, not listen to them.

This one is a little different from most Stevensons because it moves through the years and the stories of various members of the Dunne family. We start in 1905 with Celia Dunne, in her 90s, who has decided not to bequeath her home and estate to the childless (and insufferable) son of her oldest brother who has every expectation of inheriting. Instead, she has settled on a more distant connection, her great nephew, Humphrey, who is a struggling Lieutenant Commander in the Navy with a young and growing family. She leaves her estate to the astounded and confused Humphrey on the condition that Dunnian will eventually go, not to his oldest son, Mark, but, extraordinarily, to a daughter, yet to be born, whom he will name Celia.

Humphrey is a good and loving father although we are told he does not have a sense of humor. His wife Alice is beautiful and sweet but is not too bright (as we see evidence of throughout their story.) We soon realize that the main focus of the story will be their oldest son Mark whom we first meet when he is 5 1/2. We spend a good deal of time with the growing family. Humphrey and Alice add a son, Billy and, sure enough, a daughter, Celia, to their brood. They also take on the care of a cousin, Deb, who comes to live with them when her disinterested mother remarries and moves to India. Unlike her cousins, she is plain and shy. As the children grow to adulthood the Dunne’s story starts to mirror Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park. Deb is devoted to Mark, and Mark is in love with a scheming and manipulative neighbor. Eventually Deb, who eventually blossoms, is pursued by her brother, a bit of a rake. Other parallels emerge with other members of the family. But curiously, we see little of the youngest daughter, Celia, except for a few anecdotes that show that she is an unusual child: lovable, spirited, and with a mind of her own. Rather like her namesake, as a matter of a fact. Sprinkled throughout are some mysterious coincidences and ghostly sightings which hint of a guiding hand from beyond. After Deb and Mark’s fate is settled, we skip ahead to 1932, where we get a another peek at Celia, in her early 20s. She is still uninterested in marriage. She is waiting. When she was 13, we had learned that she didn’t care to get married unless it was to someone “quite different”: Someone like Lochinvar “out of the west.” Quickly, we skip ahead 10 years to 1942. Mark and Billy are doing their bit in the war, while still unattached Celia and newly pregnant Deb are keeping the home fires burning with retired Admiral Humphrey, now in his 70s. There is only one chapter to go. How Celia finally meets “the one” in that last chapter moved me to tears.

I had read the follow up to this one, The Listening Valley before Celia’s House, and that was probably a good thing. Had I read it first, I would have been so anxious to learn more about what became of Celia and Dunnian, that I wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on the first half of our heroine, Tonia’s, story. She does not land in Ryddelton, where Dunnian house is located, until midway through the book. In The Listening Valley, we also are filled in more about the original Celia’s younger years and the ties that bind her to her young namesake’s love story. To anyone interested in trying D.E. Stevenson, you couldn’t do better than Celia’s House, followed by The Listening Valley.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Regency Buck

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By Georgette Heyer

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As familiar as I was with this story, listening to it being read (Audible-Jasmine Blackborow),as always, gave me a fresh outlook and enjoyment. The narrator was excellent, and I must credit her with making the ever-irate Judith a little less irritating and childish-seeming and Worth’s highhandedness understandable. This was the first Regency Romance by the mother of the genre. So this is the book, folks. The origin of it all. The urtext if you will. And as such, a more archetypal example there could not be. Judith is the quintessential strong, fiery, and headstrong type heroine. Worth is the all-knowing all powerful hero, a Corinthian, no mere Dandy, who excels at everything he does. Heyer mixed and matched all kinds of other personalities in her books of course, but this has sure been a popular combination of hers and her followers through the years.

The story unfolds around the country-raised and very rich Miss Judith Taverner and her eager but dumb brother Perry coming to London for the season after the death of their father. Due to a massive error on his part (like father like son in the brain department), they are under the guardianship of the 5th Earl of Worth, not his deceased father, the 4th Earl. Judith must have taken after her mother. To make a long story short, Worth gets on the independent-minded Judith’s bad side from the start with his arrogant dismissive ways, and they are at loggerheads throughout the novel. It is, in fact, an enemies to lovers trope, and a good one. Julian Audley, 5th Earl of Worth is not one of the more popular Heyer heroes. Some find him too overbearing, cold, and dictatorial. His behavior at their second meeting manhandling the prickly Judith into his phaeton (for her own good) and purposely provoking her by giving her a little kiss hasn’t won him any points among enlightened readers on the lookout for sexual harassment either. But I’ve always been a fan. His deft parryings of poor Judith’s every effort to get the better of him are very humorous. I did sympathize with and even admired her persistent efforts to exert her independence but for an intelligent girl she was not very wise when it came to her guardian. “Mad as a wet hen” is a phrase that comes to mind. She was forever letting her emotions and temper get the better of her brain while always trying to maintain her dignity. Worth’s overbearing maneuvers were often only to save her from cutting off her nose to spite her face while purposely provoking her for his own amusement. He just couldn’t help it.

As the Taverners are immersed in all manner of sport, culture, fashion, entertainments, and ways of the elite of society (AKA “The Ton”) in her introduction to London, so is the reader. The plot provides Georgette Heyer the perfect framework to display all of her meticulous research into the Regency period. The book could be used as a primer for aspiring writers of regency romances. Various real historical figures of the time are woven into the narrative including the Duke of Clarence (who proposes marriage), Gentleman Jackson the boxer, The Prince Regent (who makes a pass at her), and particularly Beau Brummel, who is a great friend of Worth and who becomes a wise advisor to Judith. We are treated to many actual quotes from the great Brummel woven into his conversations with Judith. Some readers count all of the factoids, long descriptions, historical details against the book. And I probably skimmed through a lot of it myself in previous readings. But listening to it all seemed different. I couldn’t just skip ahead and I liked it all. It is so obvious that GH took such delight in sharing all she had learned, and worked hard to include all of her little nuggets as seamlessly as possible. After writing historical romances set in other periods for 14 years prior to this first Regency, she finally found her niche, and it seemed to me like she was having a ball with the writing of it.

On top of the slow burn romance and Judith’s adventures amongst The Ton, we have a mystery! Someone is trying to kill Perry. It’s really not much of a mystery. Readers reading the book at the time might have been a little misled, but those who have read other Heyers or almost any other regency or gothic romance written in the years following this one will not be fooled. We 100% know who Judith will end up with from their first meeting so we know he is not the murderer. There is only one other person with a motive, and though he fools Judith, as savvy readers, we see right through him.

After our two combatants/lovers declare their true feelings, we are treated to a long happy conversation in which they have a lot of fun dissecting their relationship. We get a lot along the lines of “What did you think when I…? And when you did this, I just…! How could you have…? I thought I had lost you when…! Oh that day at…! This is very unusual for Georgette, and I absolutely loved it. Usually it’s declarations, clinch, and “The End.”

Georgette would continue to refine her style as the years went by, but this one, although it doesn’t have some of the subtle or hilarious characterizations of some of her later works, should not be missed. It is the foundation of a genre.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

The Tall Stranger

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By D.E. Stevenson

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**Spoilers**

This was a delight from beginning to end. In addition, the narrator, Candida Gubbins, was terrific. I enjoy D.E. Stevenson’s books greatly but often with reservations. Sometimes her abrupt endings are a little too abrupt leaving loose ends untied. She often avoids drama like it is something to be ashamed of, so that the most interesting and looked for scenes happen off stage. Her heroines are too often too obtuse, passive, or too averse to pursuing their own happiness or doing what needs to be done for their own good. Sometimes to the point that they cause others to suffer along with them (until it all comes right in the end, of course.) Not so with this one!

Our heroine, Barbie France, has been very ill and has been hospitalized, but is getting worse, not better. Her good friend and roommate, Nell, decides that the atmosphere in London, and lack of peace in the hospital is to blame for her friend’s depression, and maneuvers matters with the help of her doctor/boss to get her to Barbie’s loving aunt at her country home, Underwoods, where she can recover. It does the trick, and soon Barbie is fully recovered under the loving care of her Aunt Amelie and her companion, Penney. Nell has a story too, and there is a secondary romance.
Barbie’s London career as an Interior Decorator (she’s awesome. She loves her job and is great at it) is on hold. While at Underwoods, she attends the wedding of a childhood playmate, and meets a tall stranger at the reception. They are immediately drawn to each other and Barbie invites him to tea the next day. Strangely, he stands her up, and Barbie is very angry and wonders why she feels so upset by such a relatively unimportant snub by someone she hardly knows. Meanwhile, Edward Steyne, Aunt Amalie’s beloved stepson, and her childhood friend appears on the scene. Edward is a charmer and a gadabout. Aunt Amalie seems relieved that he appears to finally be settling down to a respectable job in the city. It’s not long before Edward proposes marriage and Barbie accepts. Partly because she and Edward have always been fond of each other, partly because she thinks it would make Aunt Amalie happy, and partly because Aunt Amalie has told her that her late husband was very insistent that Barbie inherit Underwoods upon her death, not his own son, Edward, and she feels bad about that. Also, why did he want his beloved Underwoods in his nieces hands rather than his own son?

The reader has already picked up on some clues as to Edward’s true character and on the way back to London, Edward unintentionally reveals his true self to Barbie. To my amazement, having been disappointed too often in the past with Stevenson’s heroines, Barbie acts decisively and doesn’t back down. I was thrilled.

We spend some time back in London where we meet up with Nell again, get to know a bedraggled little 8 year old and her floozy mother, and see Barbie settling back into her career in London. It will not be a surprise to anyone even vaguely familiar with D.E. Stevenson’s novels that Barbie is sent to a Scottish castle on a decorating job. It will also not be a surprise that the Wedding Guy just happens to be visiting his sister, Barbie’s client, there. Yes he is her destiny. Henry is just as nice and upstanding as he was at the Wedding, and when he explains what happened to cause him to ghost her, Barbie is even more disgusted with Edward. I had some concerns about Henry when he tried to rush her into a quick marriage. He started to seem as wheedling and manipulative as Edward was except he had a good heart and really loved her. But that impression was put to rest when he was happy for Barbie to continue her career even after marriage. Also, Barbie had already proven her strong-mindedness and steely character. It was no surprise that her common sense and caution prevailed.

It all comes together in a very satisfactory conclusion. The mistreated little London child even gets a happy ending and Edward’s true character is exposed to all who matter. Unfortunately, that includes Aunt Amalie and I was saddened by her sorrow and disappointment. **4 1/2 stars**

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Auntie Mame: An Irreverant Escapade.

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By Patrick Dennis

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It’s been many many (many) years since I have reread this mid-century classic gem and old favorite of mine. I’ve read a few of Patrick Dennis’s books, many now very hard to find and undeservedly out of print. Two of the three books that are still readily available are (strangely) ones that I haven’t read and have no desire to. I guess that means my taste in novels by Patrick Dennis must be a little off. Around the World with Auntie Mame is still available and is now on my TBRR (To Be Re-Read) list. I’ve also read Guestward Ho, The Loving Couple, and The Joyous Season, which is one of my favorite books of all time, surpassing even this, his most well-known work. The Joyous Season is out of print and rarely mentioned when the subject of Patrick Dennis and his books come up in my poking around the internet. The reason why has always been confounding to me. I absolutely adored the 10-year-old narrator Kerry and his 6-year-old sister Missy whose upper-crust Manhattan parents’ marriage blows up one disastrous and hilarious Christmas Day. Besides the laughs on every page, I loved the romantic comedy aspects to it. I’ll stop there because otherwise this review of Auntie Mame will turn into trying to convince readers to read The Joyous Season instead. (But then read Auntie Mame, because it is a comedy classic and the basis for an award winning Broadway play and Hollywood movie for good reason.)

I listened to this on Audible and the narrator, Christopher Lane, was fine, although I would have wished for a more youthful voice as the book is narrated by Patrick whose adventures with his eccentric Aunt start when he is orphaned in 1929 at 10-years-old and ends around 3 years after his graduation from University. Mame Dennis’s guardianship is abruptly curtailed early on by his conservative trustee when young Patrick is discovered in an avant-garde school where all of the students and two teachers are racing around naked. From then on Mame only gets her “depraved” hands on him Christmases and summers.

I have seen the movie quite a few times and fairly recently. Most of the scenes play out much the same, with the book having the advantage of Patrick’s loving but sometimes acerbic narration and commentary on his and Mame’s life together. And of course the hilarious if sometimes harrowing episodes in their lives are unabridged. The first 3 chapters about Patrick’s and Mame’s first meeting up to when he is shipped off to boarding school for his own protection are pretty much the same. After that we are only favored with Patrick and Mame together only sporadically, while Patrick fills us in on what he knows about her adventures while he is safely at school. With the stock market crash and Auntie Mame “ruined, ruined, ruined!” (not by a long shot), she is forced to keep up with her expenditures by relying on her considerable social contacts for gainful employment. Her adventures on the stage with her great friend, Broadway star Vera Charles, down to her adventures selling roller skates at Macy’s, are almost identical to the movie. It is at Macy’s that she meets the love of her life, the fabulously wealthy Beauregard Pickett Burnside III, one of the “big, genial, easygoing, lovable” southerners. The movie only slightly curtails her clash with the old-time southern culture of Beau’s family and friends in the horsey set revolving around Peckerwood, Beau’s Georgia plantation. However, in the book, (trigger warning) horses die. I had forgotten that. After Beau’s untimely death (kicked in the head by a horse rather than falling off a mountain) Auntie Mame, as his widow, inherits all and is free to indulge her eccentric and lavish lifestyle once again. Upon Patrick’s prep school and then college years things start to diverge from the movie in plot, but not in spirit. The Agnes Gooch affair is much longer and set in Apathy, Massachusetts, home of Patrick’s St. Boniface Academy. Patrick is up to his neck with Agnes while trying to keep her and his aunt isolated from the school authorities to avoid possible expulsion. Agnes’s fate is a much happier one in the book. While in College (Ivy League, of course) we have Patrick entangled with a stripper named Bubbles, and Mame trying to recapture her youth by adopting Patrick’s social set as her own. Patrick’s engagement to the caricature of shallow wealthy WASP-dom, Gloria Upson, and her even more offensive family in the Connecticut suburbs are almost word for word. Except that in the book, they are even more racist, ridiculous, and pompous. Patrick as a young man is not as lovable as Patrick as a child. He takes way too long to rid himself of Bubbles, and to wake up to Gloria and her family. How he ever got engaged to her is a mystery other than she is beautiful and “stacked.” Wouldn’t be the first time, I guess. Moving on to WWII, Auntie Mame takes in some British War Orphans who are nothing more than thugs and reprobates who leave her with a permanent white streak in her hair. This is not in the movie at all, and Patrick’s meeting with his future wife, Pegeen, is completely different. Book Pegeen is a hoot. Patrick was a lucky guy, and sorry to say, given his history with women, I was somewhat amazed he had the good sense to nab her. As in the movie, everything comes full circle with Auntie Mame “kidnapping” their son Mike for an educational summer in India(Ha!).

Mame and Patrick become entwined with any manner of humanity likely to be ensconced in New York or environs from 1929 to 1945. And all are skewered in equal measure be they elite or common, liberal and avant-garde or conservative and stuffy. Some with affection, some not. Only two escape Patrick Dennis cynical wit: Beau, Mame’s late husband, and Pegeen (and maybe her father, Mickey the Mick.)

Despite their devotion to each other, Patrick is under no illusions as to Mame’s foibles and sometimes foolhardy impulses, And this applies to Mame’s insights into Patrick’s youthful follies and sometimes unfortunate tendencies. But the bottom line is that she raised a good man which we know by reading between the lines. Despite his understandable frustrations and complaints, he is always there for his Auntie Mame, and she for him (although as a master manipulator she is too wise to always lay all of her cards on the table.)

Rating: 5 out of 5.

The Bullet That Missed

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by Richard Osman

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“The pool would still be here in the summer.” “Ah, but we may not be,” Joyce had replied, and she was right. It was best to grab everything while you could. Who knows when your final swim might come, your final walk, your final kiss?”

The Bullet That Missed was another great one, the third, in The Thursday Murder Club series. It picks up immediately after the second one leaves off. I found it better than the first but not quite as good as the second. It’s a close call though. I may have liked the second one better because I had forgotten how gently funny and/or wise some passages were and how endearing and well crafted were the characters, even the bad guys (well-crafted not endearing). So it was a lovely and a bit of an exciting surprise. Also, as good as Fiona Shaw was narrating this one, Leslie Manville was brilliant in the second one. In The Man who Died Twice, I was so pleased that DCI Chris Hudson had gotten himself together health and looks-wise, thanks to his new relationship with Patrice, Donna’s mother. And that a spark developed between Constable Donna and Bogdan, a character who was only supposed to be in one scene in the first book, but who was just too interesting to go quietly. In “Bullet”, the relationships are progressing happily, the latter two agreeing that they are “boyfriend and girlfriend” now. And that makes me happy.

Early in this one, Elizabeth and Stephen, her dementia-plagued husband, are kidnapped by an international money launderer, known as “The Viking”. He threatens to kill Joyce if Elizabeth does not kill a rival money launderer, who happens to be an old KGB leader and former lover of hers, Viktor Illyich. Meanwhile, A famous TV journalist asks The Thursday Murder Club to investigate the 10-year-old disappearance and murder of a young journalist who was as close as a daughter to him. Their investigation leads them to the prison where the prime suspect is imprisoned on other charges and which is also home to “Died Twice” ‘s inimitable and ruthless con-woman, Connie Johnson. As she is there courtesy of our gang, she is out for revenge. As always, murder and mayhem follow our intrepid and canny investigators, and as in the preceding book, the two plots eventually merge themselves into a highly entertaining and unlooked-for conclusion.

The twists that crop up throughout the novel, not even including the solution to the murder(s), were delicious. I don’t like using that word but it’s the perfect one. It’s hard to pick a favorite scene, but what occurs when The Viking comes for Joyce is hilarious. I love Joyce. The poignancy of Elizabeth’s beloved Stephen’s mental decline is tempered by flashes of his brilliance of old. It is he who unravels the mystery of the Viking’s identity, which eventually leads to another (delicious) twist.

Everything culminates in an exciting conclusion with answers and solutions aplenty. In both books, the titles have more than one meaning, and are more significant than you might think. Yet we are left with a few loose ends and unrevealed secrets which I sure hope will be picked up in the 4th book in the series. They better be. And that goes for the new characters we get to know. Sure wouldn’t mind even seeing Connie Johnson making a re-appearance. I have a feeling about her.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Ain’t She Sweet?

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Susan Elizabeth Phillips

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“Hold it right there. The only agreement we ever had was that you intended to make me as miserable as possible, and I intended to courageously make the best of an intolerable situation like valiant Southern women have always done.”-Sugar Beth Carey

“They’re all mad, everyone of ’em” Said Rupert with conviction.
Georgette Heyer-The Devil’s Cub.

I have read this 2004 book by the great Susan Elizabeth Phillips a few times, and listened to it once before. The book is great. One of her best. It’s a stand alone, but mention of the Daphne the Bunny books from her Chicago Stars series tie it to that universe. Ultimate Chick Lit, it has all the ingredients I look for in that lightly regarded genre and with a delicious southern twang: Funny dialog, plenty of drama, suspense and anticipation, quintessential enemies to lovers, slow burn, true love, redemption, and justice for all. You name it. In Sugar Beth Carey, SEP has created one of her strongest and funniest heroines. And Colin Byrne, apparently inspired by Georgette Heyer’s The Duke of Avon is more than a match for her. But Sugar Beth is no worshipful Leonie sitting at the feet of Heyer’s Justin Alistair.

Sugar Beth is a one of a kind heroine who was truly a pampered mean girl and bully in her youth. In truth, she deserved every bad thing that came (and will come) to her in this book, and she knows it. The reader, however, soon learns she has reaped the consequences of her past foolish and bad acts and come through the flames a changed and better person. But her former friends and the townspeople, when she returns to her small home town of Parrish Mississippi, only know her as the spoiled rich girl who cruelly bullied and humiliated her shy illegitimate step sister. She’s the girl who dumped the popular hometown high school hero for a big time college athlete and left her provincial small town in the dust. She is still the beautiful and flirtatious teen who falsely accused a young teacher of sexual harassment and got him fired and sent home in disgrace. And who didn’t even have the decency to come back for her father’s funeral. I told you she was bad. But while life has not been kind to Sugar Beth, the nerdy step-sister from the wrong side of the tracks is now the heir of all their late father’s wealth and married to Sugar Beth’s former boyfriend. They are the power-couple of the small town and its social leaders. And the young teacher Sugar Beth ruined? He is now a wealthy and famous author who has returned from England to live in Parrish and who has brought it a certain fame and prosperity. And now Sugar Beth is back in town to find a valuable legacy that will hopefully turn her life around and save the future of a vulnerable dependant. And then get back out of the town which holds so many painful memories as soon as possible. Not gonna happen. Let the games begin.

As backstories unfold, and and secrets are revealed, we love and cheer for the very entertaining Sugar Beth while cringing at the person she used to be. But we also sympathize with and admire her sister and nemesis, Winnie Davis. This is a book with no “bad guys.” A really good romance has great side characters and every character in this one is a finely honed gem, and it is funny as heck.

With this listen on Audible, however, I regret to say that the narration by Kate Fleming got on my last nerve. It tainted large chunks of the book for me, including, unforgivably, the romance part. On paper, Colin Byrne is eccentric and affected but ultimately romantic and intriguing. An original in the 21st century, he is apparently based on an archetypal Regency or Georgian aristocratic romantic hero. In the hands of Ms. Fleming, he becomes a pompous and ridiculous ass. She does OK with Sugar Beth and the rest of characters most of the time, but she rarely lets up on the acid sardonic tone, even when it is not called for by the words or the story. Her southern accent is way over the top. I’m a southerner and when a southerner hears a southern accent that is way too southern, it is. Susan Elizabeth Phillips had the good taste and discernment to preface each of her chapters with an appropriate quote from a Georgette Heyer novel. What Kate Fleming did to those quotes was a train wreck of clown cars. She obviously has no knowledge of the characters that spoke the words of the iconic Georgette. Her reading added insult to the injury she inflicted to one of SEP’s best books. I have listened to other books by this author narrated by Kate Fleming aka Anna Fields and her interpretations have been spot on and wonderful. What the Heck happened, and why did no one stop her? The Book is 5 stars. The narration is unforgivable. But I’m not going to punish the book for that.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

The Man Who Died Twice

/ Rebekahrox / 2 Comments

by Richard Osman

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“More women are murdering people these days,” says Joyce. “If you ignore the context, it is a real sign of progress.”

“I’m involved about as much as I want to be with the Thursday Murder Club. If they can plant cocaine in someone’s cistern, I don’t want to think about what they’d do with my love life.”


The Thursday Murder Club, the initial book in this series is about what happens when a group of murder mystery-loving retirees are confronted with a real life murder in their own retirement community. I liked it quite well. I do not remember too much about the actual mystery, except that I have the vague feeling I was a little disappointed in that part. What I liked was the writing, the humor and the characters. However, books two, three, and four came out in the series and I let them go by with only just a little regret. But with all the publicity about the upcoming Netflix movie they came back to my attention and I decided to listen to the second one on Audible. With The Man Who Died Twice, I got the whole package. The mystery and the other goings on interested me much more than the first one, and the humor and characters were even better. I really grew attached to all in the club and their allies and the bad guys were equally entertaining. The conclusion was touching and satisfying. Justice was done, and extraordinarily so. I also want to add that the narration by the great actress Lesley Manville was brilliant.

Elizabeth, the formidable and fascinating ring leader of the Thursday Murder Club, is contacted by her ex-husband, Douglas, who wants to engage her and her friends to protect him from several organizations or personages that are looking to get back 20 million pounds worth of diamonds that they think he stole. (That pounds as in monetary unit, not weight-Ha Ha.) He believes his life is in danger and he would be right. Meanwhile, Murder Club mainstay Ibrahim, beloved by all, is attacked and beaten by a teenage thug and it is heartbreaking. Murder, Mayhem, Skullduggery, and Retribution ensue. In undertaking their changing goals as far as the Douglas assignment and their relentless pursuit of justice for Ibrahim, much is revealed about our crew. And of course our crew includes Chris, the local DCI and his partner Donna, a police constable. They are trying to put away Connie Johnson, a menace of a drug dealer and all around baddy, who has been a thorn in their side for ages.

Bogdan, a character whom I don’t even remember in the first one, was one of my favorites in this one. He is vital to the success of the Club’s missions, and and there are some personal developments regarding him, as well as Chris and Donna, that make me eager to read the third in the series to see where it all goes. The often underestimated Joyce’s emotional intelligence and Elizabeth’s experience and savvy continue to delight and amaze. We learn a lot more about Elizabeth’s background and adventures as a MI5 agent. Although it is tinged with sadness, her loving relationship with her Dementia-stricken husband Steven, was one of my favorite aspects of the book. I fully expect Ibrahim’s physical and mental recovery to be all but settled in the next entry.

I enjoy being surprised and confounded when reading a mystery as well as seeing through some red herrings and predicting some twists. This one delivered with both. I fear I may have gotten into spoiler territory in a couple of places which is not good territory to be in when reviewing a mystery. If, like me, you had some reservations over Richard Osman’s first book even if you enjoyed it on the whole, please give this one a go.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

The Grand Sophy

/ Rebekahrox / 3 Comments

by Georgette Heyer

“You are shameless!” he said angrily.
“Nonsense! You only say so because I drove your horses,” she answered. “Never mind! I will engage not to do so again.”
“I’ll take care of that!” he retorted. “Let me tell you, my dear Cousin, that I should be better pleased if you would refrain from meddling in the affairs of my family!”
“Now, that,” said Sophy, “I am very glad to know, because if ever I should desire to please you I shall know just how to set about it. I daresay I shan’t, but one likes to be prepared for any event, however unlikely.”

There are few strong Georgette Heyer heroines that match Sophy for their spirit and agency, but none that have her combination of sangfroid, confidence, and levelheadedness. Serena? Too hot-tempered. Deb? Too impulsive. Judith? Too bullheaded. Babs? Too tempestuous. Yes, they are all formidable. But Sophy is a “fixer.” She will stop at nothing to prevent people from going down their chosen path if she knows it will only lead to misery. To the point that she will take out her ladylike pistol and shoot someone for their own good. Luckily. she is always right or she would be intolerable.

“Resolution is all that is needed!” she said. “One should never shrink from the performance of unpleasant tasks to obtain a laudable object, after all!”

Plus she is wise, kind, brave, charming, and witty. Is she my favorite heroine? Surprisingly, No. That would be Arabella. I listened to this book on audible and my enjoyment and admiration for the book was increased by the narrator who got my attention by imbuing the energetic Sophie with a languid tone that gave her a new dimension.

Most of Heyer’s male characters are the kind of heroes that the reader feels are so “Master of the Universe” that every other character seems like they are dancing to their tune. Sophie is the only female character that I think matches her male heroes in that kind of power and leadership. When Lady Ombersley welcomes “little cousin” Sophy into her home for the season, Sophy discovers a lively and charming family of nine, three of whose members have seemingly put themselves on paths to an unhappy future. Her new temporary family discovers that Sophy’s father’s description of her as “a good little thing…not an ounce of vice in her” doesn’t even begin to describe the force of nature that is Sophia Stanton-Lacy. It isn’t long before Sophy discerns what ails them. Cecilia, the eldest daughter, has turned her back on the perfect man and has fallen head over heels for a dreamy (in looks and spirit) poet who will never amount to anything and never be able to support a wife. The second oldest son, Hubert, has gotten himself into trouble with a moneylender and is afraid to tell the de facto head of the household about it, his older brother Charles. And Charles, under the strain of rescuing the family from his father’s gambling debts, has, longing for respite, gotten himself engaged to a very proper and sensible woman of good family but who, under her facade of kindly helpfulness, is a cold and spiteful prig. Charles, against his better nature, but encouraged by his fiance, has kept too tight a rein on his family in an effort to repress the careless and irresponsible behavior that has nearly driven them into disaster. He’s become a bit of a tyrant, and as a result, His mother and the 2 oldest of his 6 siblings have become fearful or hostile towards him.

Sophy has her work cut out for her and sets about putting everything to rights. It takes her the whole book, but by the end, Cecelia is disentangled from her poet and engaged to the right man, and Hubert’s troubles have been uncovered and the moneylender has been dispatched at the point of Sophie’s gun. Charles himself, trapped by propriety to remain engaged to a woman whose unpleasantness, thanks to Sophy, he has finally come to discover, has been rid of her without scandal. And thoroughly in love with Sophie. And vice versa. I assume. But it’s hard to tell. The book concludes with Charles hauling Sophy away in his curricle and Sophy protesting, “Charles! You cannot love me”, and Charles kissing her and “savagely” responding “I don’t: I dislike you excessively!” And that is my one quibble with this book. I wish there had been more romantic interaction between the two. It seemed obligatory only that the two ended up together. Even for Heyer, the “happily ever after”, though a given, left a lot to the imagination.

Rating: 5 out of 5.