Sunday, January 14, 2024

January 14th's Sunday/Monday Post

Happy weekend.  Time for this week's Sunday/Monday Post.  As usual, I am linking up to:

Sunday Post
Sunday Salon
Stacking the Shelves
Mailbox Monday
It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

Last Sunday, after church, I went down to the LA chapter of Sisters in Crime's monthly meeting.  It was interesting as a retired cop talked about some of his experiences on the force.  Pretty wild what they deal with.

The work week was fairly quiet.  I got done what I was needing to do.  Would have been nice to get more done, but isn't that always the case?

Saturday morning, I went to a 5K held at my alma mater every year.  Last year, it was cold and threatening rain, with a little bit of sprinkles on us.  This year?  It was cold, but not nearly as cold.  But the sun was out.  I realize that most of the country can't say that this weekend, and I'm enjoying it.  Anyway, once we started running, I warmed up pretty quickly.  I finished in a little over 36 minutes (like 36:10 or something), which I was happy about.  I took a couple of weeks off from running in December because of my cough, so the last couple of weeks have been a struggle.  I took a couple of walk breaks, but did better than expect overall.  (And I generally walk at some point during my runs, even before I took the break in December.)

I'm typing this about noon on Saturday, and I'm trying to get ready for game day.  I'll be heading over to my friends' in a little bit.  Should be fun as always.

This coming week, I have jury duty.  At least this time, the courthouse is closeish.  Still will require time in the car fighting commute traffic, which won't make me happy.  And, while I have to work on Monday, it's a short week for the courts.  I already know I don't have to report on Tuesday, for example.  Hopefully, that will hold true all week.

This Past Week on the Blog:


This Coming Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Book Review: The Chalice of the Gods by Rick Riordan
Monday - Movie Review: True Justice - Family Ties
Tuesday - Book Review: The Kill of It All by Diane Vallere
Wednesday - Ornament Review: Stocking Stuffers #3
Thursday - Book Review: The Raven Thief by Gigi Pandian
Friday - Friday Post
Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

Book Haul:

Would you believe I only have four books to tell you about this week?  I know, I'm shocked, too.

Up first is my only Kindle sale of the week.  Murder by Invitation Only by Colleen Cambridge was on sale earlier for one day.  This is book three in a series, and I haven't read book one yet.  But a sale.  How can I pass that up?  I have read and enjoyed another book by this author, so I'm expecting to like this series when I get to it.  This series is set in England in the 1920's and features Agatha Christie's housekeeper as the main character.

The other three books were all physical books I purchased at regular price.  I know, it's been a while since I did that (although I think another purchase is coming soon.  We'll see if I have them by next week or not.)

Up first is Wedding Bride and Doom by Mary Karnes.  I actually met the author briefly at Bouchercon back in September.  The book sounds good, so I'm looking forward to it.  The main character is a wedding planner, and the author was a wedding planner for years, so I'm sure there will be lots of great stories in this series.

Next up is Shady Hollow by Juneau Black.  Yes, it's another mystery, but with a twist.  All of the characters are animals who act and live like humans.  This has been on my radar for a while, and I have been hearing lots of good things about it.

Finally, we have another historical mystery.  This time, we are going to 1910's New York City for An Orphan of Hell's Kitchen by Liz Freeland.  This is the third and final book in the series.  I enjoyed the first two, so I'm looking forward to this one.

As always with books I purchased, I don't know when I will get to them.  I need to learn to read faster.

Speaking of which, let's talk about

What I'm Currently Reading:

As I'm typing this, I'm currently in the middle of the second story in the holiday novella Easter Basket Murder, which features stories by Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis, and Barbara Ross.  As usual, I struggled some with the opening story, but the other two authors are usually much stronger, so I'm sure I will enjoy them.

The plan is to finish that anthology up on Sunday, so Monday, I will be diving into The Case of the Canterfell Codicil by P.J. Fitzsimmons.  It's the first in a series, and I know little about it other than it's supposed to be funny.  It's described as a cross between Dorothy L. Sayers and P.G. Wodehouse.  Sounds like something I will enjoy.

If all goes according to play, I will be reviewing both of these next week.

That's it for me.  Hope you have a great week.

23 comments:

  1. The Shady Hollow books are a lot of fun -- hope you enjoy it as much as I did! And your other books too, of course.

    My weekly roundup post.

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  2. I'm intrigued by a mystery series featuring Agatha Christie's housekeeper -- fun idea!

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  3. I've been curious about the Shady Hollow series. It sounds good, but I wonder about the animal characters! I'm interested to hear your thoughts.

    Here is my update post.
    — 𝓓𝓲𝓪𝓷𝓪 ✿

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  4. Running is impressive! Nice that you have good weather for it.
    best, mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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  5. I enjoyed Shady Hallow--I hope you do too!

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  6. Sounds like a good week. It is cold here, 10 with wind chills making it feel like -20. We opted for online church this morning instead of going out. The snow is pretty, and there isn't a lot, which is nice. I had quite a few hauled books this week, taking advantage of some Kindle freebies! I hope jury duty goes well. Have a great week!

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  7. Wow, a 5K in the middle of winter, and jury duty, that's exciting! We're having a cold snap here so no way am I going out running in this weather, but I'm not the best runner even in warmer weather. I've never had jury duty but I love watching legal dramas and I've always been curious. I'm sure it's probably not always as interesting in real life as on TV, but still I'm curious! I hope you have a great week!

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  8. Congrats on the 5K! I was supposed to start training for one of those on Friday, but it's -20 and snowing, so . . . training is postponed. Have a great week!

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  9. Looking forward to your thoughts on this book by Fitzsimmons. It's on my TBR.
    Hmm that Sisters in Crime meeting sounds great!
    https://wordsandpeace.com/2024/01/14/sunday-post-99-1-14-2024/

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  10. We are so lucky not to be dealing with this cold spell that the rest of the country is having!

    I hope jury duty goes smoothly if you have to report.

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  11. Hope jury duty goes well! I've been hearing good things about shady Hollow as well. It sounds like an intriguing series!

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  12. Congrats on the 5K time.

    Wishing you a great reading week

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  13. Lots of reviews for you.

    Happy Reading this week.

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  14. Sounds like you are keeping quite busy. I've never been called for jury duty. I was on the list years ago for jury duty for a court that deals with capital crimes, but no cases qualified while I was on the list. I can't say that I miss not being called. Enjoy your new books. They all sound good. Come see my week here. Happy reading!

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  15. Wow! Congrats on the 5K! I would need to walk most of it, if not all.
    Thank you for mentioning the series by Colleen Cambridge and The Case of the Canterfell Codicil. I hadn't heard of either, but I just borrowed the first Colleen Cambridge from the library, Murder at Mallowan Hall, on audio, and it's perfect for books set in England that I'm reading now in preparation for a trip. The Case of the Canterfell Codicil sounds like a great audiobook for my trip, too, but it's an 18-week wait right now from the library so that won't work for my travel listening. It'll be good for post-trip reminiscing.

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  16. Hope you enjoy your new reads.
    Have a great week.

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  17. Nice job on the 5K. I am more of a walker. Great books this week. Met Leslie Meier at a conference once. Have a book here, but haven't read it yet. Hope you have a great week and that jury duty goes well.

    https://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/2024/01/its-monday-what-are-you-reading-and_14.html

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  18. Sounds like a nice week for you. Shady Hollow sounds interesting. Have a good week and Happy Reading!

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  19. Given that you've had a cough, I think just finishing a 5K is a cause for celebration. I hope jury duty isn't too much of a headache. Leslie Meier's Lucy Stone books make me long to go to the coast of Maine. Lucy is pretty cranky but I love her. The Shady Hollow book sounds delightful.

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  20. Congrats on your reading and your 5K. I don't like jury duty, and I just realized I haven't been called in for a few years! Did I jinx it now?

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  21. Good luck on jury duty!

    Jill
    http://www.allthebooksihaventread.com/

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  22. I meant to comment on this post last week. Congrats on your 5K completion! That Sisters in Crime event sounds awesome. I should check and see when the Chesapeake Chapter will be meeting again and what they'll be talking about. I can't usually make it in person, but some of their events are virtual. I hope you enjoy Shady Hollow when you read it. I really enjoyed that one on audio. I want to listen to the rest of the series, but they're not on Hoopla or Libby through my library right now (which is how I listened to the first one.) Since the characters are all animals, it was uniquely entertaining listening to all of their voices. :)

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