Weekly Reading Round-Up

On tap for this week have been:

— Eva Chase’s Black Rabbit Hall, a dark Gothic (think echoes of The Thirteenth Tale), with a surprisingly upbeat ending, set in a moldering manor house in Cornwall;

— Barbara Michaels’s Wait for What Will Come, because once you read one Gothic set in a moldering Cornish manor house, it generally leads to another (Wait for What Will Come is the archetypal “house” book: American heroine unexpectedly inherits ancestral home in England complete with attic full of antiques, quirky family retainers, and, of course, a family curse);

— Francine Matthews’s Death on Nantucket, the fifth and most recent in her Merry Folger mystery series (which means that I now have to find a new mystery series to binge read…);

— Barbara Michaels’s Here I Stay, because once I start re-reading Barbara Michaels, it’s hard to stay away. My favorite parts of this novel have always been the bits about the heroine’s ups and downs turning an old house into an inn, rather than the ghost story plot.

What have you been reading this week?

20 Comments

  1. Carla on August 18, 2017 at 10:38 am

    Just started The Cottingley Secret, loving it!

  2. Cecile on August 18, 2017 at 11:11 am

    In the middle of The Paris Spy by Susan Elia MacNeal.

    • Dianna on August 19, 2017 at 2:15 am

      In the middle of “Mr. Churchill’s Secretary” now will have to read the whole series!

    • Rachel Adrianna on August 20, 2017 at 9:13 pm

      Oh, I’m so jealous! I’m still waiting for my copy to be available at the library…

  3. Sudan on August 18, 2017 at 11:37 am

    Beyond the Wild River by Sarah Maine. I loved Black Rabbit Hall.

  4. Mary Smith on August 18, 2017 at 11:41 am

    Just finished Nancy Atherton’s Widow’s Curse, and Margaret Maron’s Sigrid Harald series…two very different type stories, but both wonderful. Atherton’s Aunt Dimity stories are magical….

  5. Sheila on August 18, 2017 at 12:45 pm

    I loved Black Rabbit Hall.

    I just finished Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, very different character, but unforgettable and excellent.

    Charles Todd’s An Impartial Witness. Very good, but I think I need a rest from WW One nurses for a while.

    And I am in the middle of The Cottingley Secret, by Hazel Gaynor. Everything she writes is fabulous.

  6. LynnS on August 18, 2017 at 12:57 pm

    Dead End Street, the latest Museum Mystery be Sheila Connolly. Then I have The Café by the Sea by Jenny Colgin, because I read about here.

  7. DJL on August 18, 2017 at 1:17 pm

    Now fully caught up on the Her Royal Spyness mysteries by Rhys Bowen–such a charming series, overall, and it’s really great how Ms. Bowen keeps it fresh, with 11 and counting! I’m off on vacation next week, so taking three different “first in a series” books and will see which grabs me 🙂

    • Lynne on August 20, 2017 at 12:06 am

      I’m loving it, too. And you’re right – Bowen continues to keep it fun and fresh, giving us quirky characters and lots of twists.

  8. Diane (bookchickdi) on August 18, 2017 at 2:01 pm

    I’m reading Tayari Jones’ An American Marriage and it is fantastic. It’s a great read for these times and so gorgeously written.

  9. Pat D on August 18, 2017 at 5:07 pm

    I just finished Karen White’s Sea Change. Excellent as always!

  10. Maria on August 18, 2017 at 7:13 pm

    Mr Churchill’s Secretary by Susan Elia MacNeal

  11. Maria on August 18, 2017 at 7:14 pm

    Mr Churchill’s Secret

  12. Miss Eliza on August 18, 2017 at 7:56 pm

    Just finished The English Wife, wonderful job Lauren! Shades of Du Maurier! Now I’m reading Wylding Hall, gothic house in the English countryside, folk band in the 70s, somethings about to happen! It’s like Spinal Tap and David Bowie and an episode of Midsomer Murders in one!

    • Dianna on August 19, 2017 at 2:17 am

      How did you get to read The English Wife if it isn’t being published until January???

      • Miss Eliza on August 19, 2017 at 3:22 am

        Dianna I run a book blog, Strange and Random Happenstance so I received an Advance Readers Copy from St. Martin’s. In fact I’m doing a theme month in December with a little help from Lauren!

  13. Betty Strohecker on August 18, 2017 at 9:07 pm

    Enjoyed Overseas by Beatriz Williams.

  14. Rachel Adrianna on August 20, 2017 at 9:19 pm

    Read “Bookshop on the Corner” by Jenny Colgan cover to cover in one night! (Although I wish the American version retained her original title “Little Shop of Happy Ever After” since it makes more sense!) Also started “Close Enough to Touch” by Colleen Oakley… interesting to read these titles one after the other since I’m seeing similarities in the protagonists 🙂

  15. Jean on August 22, 2017 at 2:33 pm

    Finishing off Death in Rough Water. Haven’t decided what to read next but have bookmarked a number of the titles listed here!

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