Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Dead Boy Detectives

The Dead Boy Detectives have had a rocky go of things. It seems like they are destined to forever be DOA. Ironic really. They premiered in The Sandman comic way back in 1991 in issue #25 and despite having read and reread "Season of Mists" quite a few times they were completely and utterly forgettable. Or at least that's how I felt. But I have issues with The Sandman. In the intervening ten years between their introduction and Ed Brubaker writing them a four issue miniseries which you just cannot find anywhere Charles Rowland and Edwin Payne picked up their raison d'etre with the moniker of "Dead Boy Detectives." Their first appearance on screen was in Doom Patrol in 2021 with Sebastian Croft and Ty Tennant, yes David Tennant's stepson Ty, playing the roles. Which resulted in Max wanting to do a spinoff that got stuck in developmental hell and when Netflix realized they might have a hit on their hands with The Sandman it seemed logical for them to scoop up Dead Boy Detectives. But not as Max had envisioned it. A whole new very peak CW version starring Jayden Revri and George Rexstrew with in-universe crossovers with The Sandman. Because two dead boys are kind of in the remit of Death... So yes, this show has Death! And when this show premiered on Netflix it got a loyal following almost instantly. It's like all of Neil Gaiman's shows put into a blender and coming out as a show that could air between Smallville and Veronica Mars. I mean Blake Neely even did the music and he did ALL the Arrowverse! Which, yes, I know, it's not peak CW, but at least it's CW. It was a cute show with overarching themes of acceptance and love while also sticking to a slight monster of the week format. The show consists of eight episodes and for me personally it didn't really click until episode three, "The Case of the Devlin House." Our leads get caught in a murderous time loop with "Owner of a Lonely Heart" proving that it's a song that doesn't get annoying no matter how many times you listen to it. This is when I finally connected to the characters. This is when I realized I could watch ten seasons of this show and never get bored. I should have remembered that Netflix hates their viewers and never wants them to be happy. Though personally, I don't blame this cancellation on them. But before I go into that I need to discuss Lukas Gage as the Cat King. Lukas Gage is having a moment. Within the last three years he has shown up in seven shows I've been watching. And been spectacular in all of them. Even when he's a complete a total asshole, he's such a spectacular one you have to applaud him. He was perfect as the Cat King. He WAS a cat! But more importantly, he was a wonderful sexy foil for Edwin. He helped Edwin come to accept himself while also being so damn sexy. I mean, I know we're not getting more of this show, but can I get a Cat King spinoff? And that's the sad truth, we're not getting ten seasons of this show. We're not getting more than the eight episodes we've gotten because of Neil Gaiman. And for those who claim, this isn't fair on the fans and he didn't have anything to do with this show... Um, first, he created the characters AND wrote all of Death's dialogue, but more importantly, he is an abuser and Netflix and his fans can't condone this by turning a blind eye so they can be entertained by a show. There are bigger things in life than television shows. So yeah. I'm sad that this show is more collateral damage from the truth of Neil Gaiman being revealed. But I don't know if I could go back and watch this show knowing what I know. Things have shifted. This dark yet hopeful world that Gaiman created in his works was a false reality that he used to lure his fans into his web. And that web needs to meet a blowtorch.

Monday, November 18, 2024

Tuesday Tomorrow

A Lively Midwinter Murder by Katy Watson
Published by: Mobius
Publication Date: November 19th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"First comes love... and then comes murder.

A high society Christmas Eve wedding at a secluded Scottish castle sounds like the perfect winter getaway for the three Dahlias - until a dead body wearing a wedding dress and a stolen diamond necklace turns up in the snow outside the family chapel, and the bride and groom are suddenly the prime suspects in a murder case..."

Oh boy! A new Three Dahlias book AND a Christmas murder mystery. Is it my birthday or something?

We Three Queens by Rhys Bowen
Published by: Berkley Books
Publication Date: November 19th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"New mother Lady Georgiana "Georgie" Rannoch finds herself trying to separate fact from fiction when a murder occurs while a film is being made on the grounds of her estate in a new Royal Spyness Mystery from beloved bestselling author Rhys Bowen.

It's late 1936, and King Edward is in turmoil, having fallen in love with the scandalously divorced and even more scandalously American Wallis Simpson. He wants to marry her but knows that doing so will jeopardize his crown. Edward confides in his dear friend Darcy, Georgie's husband, and the couple agree to hide Wallis in their home while Edward figures out what to do.

But unbeknownst to Georgie and Darcy, Sir Hubert, the owner of the estate, has given a film crew permission to shoot a motion picture about Henry the Eighth and Anne Boleyn on the grounds. Trying to keep Mrs. Simpson hidden while raising a newborn baby seems like it couldn't be any more stressful for the Rannochs, until one of the stars of the film is found murdered on set. Georgie must solve the murder for king and country before scandal threatens to envelop them all."

Oh, the delicious irony of Wallis Simpson AND Anne Boleyn! BTW if you need to know I'm pro Anne anti Wallis.

A Deadly Legacy by E.V. Hunter
Published by: Boldwood Books
Publication Date: November 19th, 2024
Format: Kindle, 282 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A tragic accident or an untimely death?

When Drew Hopgood's brother, Frank dies whilst out climbing, it's initially thought his death was simply a tragic accident. But when Frank's much younger wife, Stella arrives at Hopgood Hall demanding half of Frank's inheritance the Hopgoods and Alexi Ellis begin to suspect foul play...

Stella has no claim to Frank's legacy, but she isn't giving up easily. And with the reputation of Hopgood Hall still fragile, Alexi can't afford to lose any more money because of Stella's greed.

So Alexi, her partner Jack, and Cosmo of course, decide to dig deeper into Stella's background. Just how did she meet Frank and were they really as in love as she claims?

As the trio investigate, they discover Stella has her own reasons for being back at Hopgood Hall. And rather than console the grieving widow, Alexi and Jack think they might need to look again at Frank’s tragic death - because rather than an accident this could have been a deadly fall - planned by his own wife!

A boutique hotel. A feral cat. A recipe for murder!

A gripping murder mystery, perfect for fans of Faith Martin, Frances Evesham and Emma Davies."

The feral cat totally knows everything and is keeping it from them.

Christmas with the Queen by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb
Published by: William Morrow and Company
Publication Date: November 19th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"'Tis the season! The Crown meets When Harry Met Sally in the latest heartwarming historical novel from Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb, bestselling authors of Last Christmas in Paris, Meet Me in Monaco, and Three Words for Goodbye.

December 1952. While the young Queen Elizabeth II finds her feet as the new monarch, she must also find the right words to continue the tradition of her late father's Christmas Day radio broadcast. But even traditions must evolve with the times, and the queen faces a postwar Britain hungry for change.

As preparations begin for the royal Christmas at Sandringham House in Norfolk, old friends - Jack Devereux and Olive Carter - are unexpectedly reunited by the occasion. Olive, a single mother and aspiring reporter at the BBC, leaps at the opportunity to cover the holiday celebration, but even a chance encounter with the queen doesn't go as planned and Olive wonders if she will ever be taken seriously.

Jack, a recently widowed chef, reluctantly takes up a new role in the royal kitchens at Sandringham. Lacking in purpose and direction, Jack has abandoned his dream to have his own restaurant, but his talents are soon noticed and while he might not believe in himself, others do, and a chance encounter with an old friend helps to reignite the spark of his passion and ambition.

As Jack and Olive's paths continue to cross over the following five Christmases, they grow ever closer. Yet Olive carries the burden of a heavy secret that threatens to destroy everything.

Christmas Day, December 1957. As the nation eagerly awaits the Queen's first televised Christmas speech, there is one final gift for the Christmas season to deliver..."

Chance encounters can often lead to change during the most magical time of the year.

Duchess Material by Emily Sullivan
Published by: Forever
Publication Date: November 19th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"When her student goes missing, an independent bluestocking must seek the help of the arrogant duke who spurned her in this sizzling tale of romance and intrigue, perfect for fans of Netflix's Bridgerton series.

Phoebe Atkinson is what society might call unconventional. Instead of marrying well like other women born to wealth, she chose to be a schoolteacher. Not to mention she lives in a leaky flat in an unfashionable part of town rather than stay in her parents' mansion. But when her most promising pupil goes missing she has only one option: beg her sister's best friend, the powerful Duke of Ellis, for help.

The last thing William Margrave ever expected was to inherit a dukedom. But now that he has it, he's determined to act the part perfectly - and that includes marrying the perfect duchess. A bluestocking Bohemian schoolteacher is decidedly not duchess material. But he can't resist her plea for help regarding her missing student.

As they fall further into the mystery, William discovers that he never got over his childhood crush on Phoebe..."

I think a bluestocking Bohemian schoolteacher would be the better duchess by far. She'd be so well organized!

The Muse of Maiden Lane by Mimi Matthews
Published by: Berkley Books
Publication Date: November 19th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A silver-haired equestrienne and a charismatic artist turn a scandalous bargain into a vibrant portrait of love.

Stella Hobhouse is a brilliant rider, stalwart friend, skilled sketch artist - and completely overlooked. Her outmodish gray hair makes her invisible to London society. Combined with her brother's pious restrictions and her dwindling inheritance, Stella is on the verge of a lifetime marooned in Derbyshire as a spinster. Unless she does something drastic...like posing for a daring new style of portrait by the only man who's ever really seen her.

Aspiring painter Edward "Teddy" Hayes knows true beauty when he sees it. He would never ask Stella to risk her reputation as an artist's model but in the five years since a virulent bout of scarlet fever left him partially paralyzed, Teddy has learned to heed good fortune when he finds it. He'll do anything to persuade his muse to pose for him, even if he must offer her a marriage of convenience. After all, though Teddy has yearned to trace Stella's luminous beauty on canvas since their chance meeting, her heart is what he truly aches to capture...."

Aw, I love this, it sounds like a plotline for a seventies British miniseries. Must read!

The Estate by Sarah Jost
Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication Date: November 19th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
""The world of art is blown wide open" (Jonathan Santlofer, national bestselling author of The Lost Van Gogh) in this novel for fans of The Cartographers, a simmering speculative suspense following art historian Camille Leray, whose secret ability lands her in the middle of the dangerous schemes of the most powerful players in the industry...

Art historian Camille Leray has spent her career surrounding herself with fineries and selling pieces worth millions. But she harbors a secret: she has the ability to enter the world of any piece of artwork, and she can take others with her. But tapping into history comes with great risks. And someone has been watching, someone who knows about her magic, and her mistakes...

After Camille ruins her career and reputation by misusing her powers, she vows to get her old life back. So when Maxime Foucault, an enigmatic aristocrat who owns a sprawling French estate, enlists her help in authenticating the statues of a mysterious artist, whose disappearance she has been trying to solve for years, she knows this could be her chance to turn her career around and get the man she's always wanted.

But something isn't right about the Foucault family and the grand chateau they inhabit, and as Camille gets sucked into its walls, she finds a world of luxury and greed that causes her to risk losing herself, and everything she has ever known, forever.

Filled with magic, suspense, the allure of Arthurian legend, and dark academia, The Estate unravels a mystery that spans generations. This captivating tale will leave readers pondering the fine lines between reality and imagination, creation and destruction, and being haunted or free."

A book that is hard to quantify and yet I just want to move into its pages.

The Memory Place by Nate Dimeo
Published by: Random House
Publication Date: November 19th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Incredible true stories reveal strange new magic in American history in this wondrous first book from the creator of the award-winning podcast The Memory Palace.

The Memory Palace is a collection of crystalline historical tales that read like luminous short fiction and, like Nate DiMeo's acclaimed podcast of the same name, conjure lost moments and forgotten figures who are calling out across time to be remembered.

Space capsules filled with fruit flies and future senators. A socialite scientist who gives up her glamorous life to follow love and the elusive prairie chicken. A boy genius on a path to change the world who gets lost in the theoretical possibilities of streetcar transfers. An enslaved man who steals a boat and charts a course that leads him to freedom, war, and Congress. A farmer's wife who puts down her butter churn, picks up the butter, and becomes an international art star. An amusement park glowing at the water's edge when electric lights are a brand-new thing. This cabinet of curiosities teems with wonder.

For fifteen years, Nate DiMeo has turned to the past to make sense of the way we live today, finding beauty and meaning in history's dustier corners, holding things up to the light and weaving facts, keen insight, wit, and poignant observation into unforgettable tales. With new stories and treasured favorites from the beloved podcast assembled alongside dynamic illustrations and archival photographs for the first time, enchantment awaits you."

Because everything needs to be remembered. And it's often the stories we overlook that might be the most fascinating. 

The Unfinished Harauld Hughes by Richard Ayoade
Published by: Faber and Faber
Publication Date: November 19th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 224 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Richard Ayoade's fictional quest to rescue Harauld Hughes - the almost mythical mid-century playwright - from obscurity.

The gifted filmmaker, corduroy activist and amateur dentist, Richard Ayoade, first chanced upon a copy of The Two-Hander Trilogy by Harauld Hughes in a second-hand bookshop. At first startled by his uncanny resemblance to the author's photo, he opened the volume and was electrified. Terse, aggressive, and elliptical, what was true of Ayoade was also true of Hughes's writing, which encompassed stage, screen, and some of the shortest poems ever published.

Ayoade embarked on a documentary, The Unfinished Harauld Hughes, to understand the unfathomable collapse of Hughes's final film O Bedlam! O Bedlam!, taking us deep inside the most furious British writer since the Boer War. This is the story of the story of that quest."

What they don't mention here is that Richard Ayoade got SO DEEP into the character of Harauld Hughes he wrote all of Harauld's books. 

The World According to Cunk by Philomena Cunk
Published by: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: November 19th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Romans! Madrigals! The Dark Ages! Revolutions! Trumpets! The Oranges of The First World War! All of this (except trumpets) and more, is covered in this definitive, easy-clean history of all world history so far, written by the 21st Century's leading historian, philosopher and thinkerer Philomena Cunk.

Focussing on the inventions, art, and brainboxes that made the modern world the unbearable place it is today, The World According To Cunk is the history book to end all history books: more unputdownable than Andrew Marr's History Of The World, less unpickupable than Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens, and noticeably less in ancient Greek than Herodotus' Histories.

Philomena Cunk says: "About the world, written on the world, and available at all the world's remaining bookshops, The World According To Cunk is the definitive history of the world. There will never need be another history book. Unless something major happens. Even then they'll probably just put something up on TikTok about it. A word of warning: please don't buy it if you're expecting anything about trumpets in it. You will only be disappointed.""

Dammit, I wanted trumpets. But only in the ancient Greek.

Friday, November 15, 2024

The Artful Dodger

Here's the thing. I am the target audience for The Artful Dodger. Period piece set in Australia which continues the chronicles of Charles Dickens with beloved named stars and I only heard about it by accident. This is a crime against humanity. And by humanity, I mean it's a crime against me in particular. Thankfully things worked out. This past holiday season I rewatched David Thewlis in the magnificent 2015 adaptation of An Inspector Calls. Which got me to thinking, what else has David Thewlis been up to lately? And I saw he was playing Fagin in a show called The Artful Dodger with Thomas Brodie-Sangster and oddly Tim Minchin, who is the composer and lyricist for the Broadway musical Matilda, which made me cry for hours and hours. Damn you Minchin! I instantly went, I must watch this show immediately. Which lead me to learning that my PS3 no longer supports Hulu and therefore I'd have to find a time to watch it when I wasn't on the treadmill. At about the time I finally started watching it was when Disney+ and Hulu merged and out of nowhere everyone was talking about this show. A show which had premiered almost half a year earlier. I mean it's not like the weird Suits success years after it ended, but The Artful Dodger took awhile to find it's audience. People were binging it as fast as they could. Twitter, and yes, I will always call it that, was twittering about how this show deserved a larger audience and several seasons. That The Artful Dodger isn't just a show to binge and forget, it was a show to binge and to never recover from. While I agree that more seasons would fill me with glee, I don't think I'm as fanatical was the other viewers. I enjoyed it. I thought it was a wonderful concept and a fresh twist on the Charles Dickens classic, Oliver Twist, with Dodger finding a new life as a surgeon in Australia and running into Fagin who has been transported there and is up to his old tricks, as well as some wonderful jokes at the expense of Oliver being thrown in. But despite the stellar casting this felt like a kind of in between show. It was in between being a kind of cheap Jack of All Trades esque show and a typical Dickens adaptation. Mostly likely this had to do with budget. And don't get me wrong, I'm not disparaging shows like Jack of All Trades, which I adore. It's just that you can see that the money wasn't there and it makes me sad, almost as sad as those weird cages all the women were wearing under their dresses. Do they REALLY have to swing that much!?! But again, budget. I would far rather a show look cheap and be well acted than the reverse. It's why I love British miniseries from the seventies. Because in the end, this isn't about the money, all though within the story, it is about the money, it's about the characters and their relationships and how I got so invested that everything else fell away. Now I'm not saying that slapping on a banging Murray Gold score like Gentleman Jack, a show with the same type of pacing, wouldn't bring this show to a whole new madcap level. I'm just saying it can do without. But with it would be amazing.

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

The Spiderwick Chronicles

When my mom became interested in something she became obsessed with it. This could work in my favor, or, like the Christmas the Badgers went to the Rose Bowl, it could backfire magnificently. I'm not now nor never have been a football fan but at one point I had more Rose Bowl sweatshirts and hats than I could count. But I really benefited when she became obsessed with The Spiderwick Chronicles. This happened in 2008, which as fans of the series will know is when the movie adaptation starring Freddie Highmore came out. For my birthday I got notebooks and field guides and the deluxe collector's trunk. I got it all. So while I didn't love the movie, though I will admit to balling uncontrollably when David Strathaim and Joan Plowright were reunited at the end, I did love the books. Because the books are amazing, just simply magical. They made me feel like I felt when I first discovered the joys of reading as a kid. The story, the illustrations, everything about them made me fall in love with reading all over again. So I was over the moon when I heard about the new adaptation. Then devastated when Disney+ shelved it. I mean, cut Christian Slater a break already! First you pull Willow, which he was magnificent in, and then you decide to not even air The Spiderwick Chronicles!?! At least, in this instance, Roku came to the rescue. I still wish someone would do the same for Willow dammit. And this show works for one reason and one reason only, Daddy Christian Slater. He is magnificent as Mulgarath. So yes, I was rooting for the villain. I can almost, almost, even forgive him from eating Madisynn King from She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Almost. Random aside, anyone else wondering why the magician who accidentally got Madisynn sucked through an inter-dimensional portal was also present? Oh wait, this was a Disney+ show originally and they're all about synergy when they're not about shelving shows to save a buck. OK, so that makes some sense to me now. Back to Christian Slater. I don't think I'm the target audience for this show and yet I'm probably the one getting the most enjoyment out of it and it's serious Legend vibes. Because while anyone can relate to the moral ambiguity of who are monsters? The actual monsters or man, the "problem child" Jared is the biggest "problem" in this show. His entire family talk about him creating scenes and being the reason they've had to move, and yet it's just them telling us this, we never really see this until he beats the shit out of his best friend, which makes him irrediable in my mind. And how did he get expelled for a really bad comic with an obvious interpretation? He's so one dimensional and his "problems" are so vague that I just didn't care about him. I kept want Christian Slater to show up and do another evil puppet show. I mean seriously, we are in the Christian Slater renaissance. I know most people date this to his role on Mr. Robot almost a decade ago, but I'm saying that it's really now. So do I want a second season? If they fleshed out the humans more, possibly... But seeing as things are very up in the air Christian Slater-wise... It's a no go for me if he's not in it. I'd call him Daddy any day.

Monday, November 11, 2024

Tuesday Tomorrow

The Color of Revenge by Cornelia Funke
Published by: Chicken House
Publication Date: November 12th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Vengeance awaits in the follow up to the epic, award-winning, New York Times bestselling Inkheart trilogy by internationally acclaimed author Cornelia Funke.

Five years after the events of Inkdeath, Meggie, Mo, and the people of Ombra lead peaceful lives, their fires warmed by the flames of Dustfinger - the Fire-Dancer. But when Dustfinger spots Orpheus's glass man within the gates of Ombra, a familiar restlessness begins to haunt him once more. And for good reason...

The past five years have been a different story for Orpheus, who has spent his days living a meager and deprived existence, fueled only by his thirst for revenge against Dustfinger and all those who betrayed him. Now, Orpheus has found an unexpected way to seek vengeance against his greatest adversary. He has corrupted an artist to create bewitched portraits that will see the heroes fade to gray.

When Dustfinger's deepest fears come true, he'll have to figure out whether the words still obey Orpheus. Or if he should be afraid of the pictures this time..."

Oh, oh my. A new Inkworld book. I think I need a fainting couch.

The West Wind by Alexandria Warwick
Published by: S and s/Saga Press
Publication Date: November 12th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 464 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the author of The North Wind comes a darkly reimagined tale of forbidden love, inspired by the Greek myth of Hero and Leander and the Scottish ballad Tam Lin.

Brielle of Thornbrook has dedicated her life to the abbey. She spends her days forging iron and her evenings studying the Text, all in preparation of becoming an acolyte. Twenty-one years on this earth and she has never touched a man. And she never will.

But when she finds an injured stranger in the forest, Brielle can't resist the urge to help him. The encounter leads her to the realm of Under, where the air breathes rot, and the fair folk dance and whisper. Where she discovers that the man she helped is actually a god: Zephyrus, the West Wind, Bringer of Spring.

There are few Brielle can trust in Under, least of all Zephyrus. He is charming, dangerously so, and never has a man so thoroughly ensnared her. As she embarks on a journey through the eerie banks and caves of Under, Brielle finds herself in a perilous situation. For here is where faith and heart collide - and where she risks not only her future...but her life."

Is it wrong that I'm more excited about the Tam Lin aspect than the Greek aspect?

We Shall Be Monsters by Alyssa Wees
Published by: Del Rey Books
Publication Date: November 12th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A girl marked for death ventures into the wooded realm of the fairies to rescue her mother in this dark, lyrical fantasy about vengeful witches, beastly fathers, and the stories mothers tell to keep their daughters safe - from the author of Nocturne.

Gemma Cassata lives with her mother in an isolated antiques shop in Michigan, near a seductive patch of woods concealing an enchanted gateway to fairyland. Gemma knows she's not supposed to go into the woods - her mother, Virginia, has warned her multiple times about the monsters that lurk there - and yet she can't resist.

Virginia understands her daughter's defiance. She knows the allure of the woods all too well. Her own mother warned her about the monsters, and Virginia also did not listen - until a witch cursed her true love just days before their child's birth. So Virginia will do whatever she can to protect her daughter - even if it means stealing Gemma's memories.

But everything changes when Gemma gets too close to the truth, and the witch takes Virginia. Now it is up to Gemma to venture deep into the mysterious woods to rescue her mother and break the curse.

Told in the alternating viewpoints of Gemma and Virginia, this novel is not only a tale of a girl's fantastical quest through a darkly magical fairyland but also an exploration of the complex bonds between children and their parents."

Ah yes, the point wherein you have to venture into the forbidden to save everything.

The Twice-Sold Soul by Katie Hallahan
Published by: Orbit
Publication Date: November 12th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 432 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"I locked away my magic and ran from home for a good reason. So why am I ready to undo everything when my demon ex finally tracks me down?

You can't outrun your demons - McKenna Ellerbeck knows this all too well. She's been running from literal demons for a decade, one that will stop at nothing to take McKenna's magic for their own and one that shattered her heart by grasping for dark power. After a horrible run-in with hellhounds on the streets of Paris, McKenna is ready to hide again when she's confronted by her ex, the Archdemon of Desire Remiel Blake. Remi, the sexiest of gender-shifting demons, calls in an old debt that McKenna owes her, though unlike other deals the terms of fulfillment are simple: all she needs to do is return to her hometown of Arcadia Commons, Massachusetts, for seven days.

Disgruntled and disguised at her own insistence, McKenna returns home to the magical community, intent on simply staying in her hotel room watching pay-per-view. But with her high school reunion conveniently happening in the same hotel she's staying at - the one owned by her ex-boyfriend Bastien Lemaire - and her brother mysteriously picking fights with the town's most prominent witch family, she finds she can't stay away for long and decides it's finally time to face her past and the witches, werewolves, demons, and friends she left behind.

If you miss Supernatural, True Blood, or Buffy, you'll love this sexy and magical contemporary fantasy from a marvelous new voice in fiction, Katie Hallahan!"

I don't know... I find it's quite easy to stay away from high school reunions.

We Call Them Giants by Kieron Gillen
Published by: Image Comics
Publication Date: November 12th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 104 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A poignant, romantic, and devastating story of a young girl who wakes up to find her world has turned upside down.

Lori wakes to find the streets empty. Everyone has gone. Or at least, nearly everyone. She's thrown into a world where she has to scrape by in the ruins of civilization, nearly starving, hiding from gangs when...

They arrive.

The award-winning team behind dark fantasy smash DIE release their first stand alone original graphic novel."

SUCH a fan of Kieron Gillen!

In Wonderland by Paul Magrs
Published by: Penguin Group UK
Publication Date: November 12th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Doctor Who is the longest running sci-fi show in the world, and a flagship BBC property. First appearing on air in 1963, it follows the adventures of the Doctor, a Time Lord who travels through time and space, fighting alien monsters and saving the universe."

Two things I love, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and my friend Paul's books. Oh look, they have combined to be a new thing I love!

The Keeper of the Key by Nicole Willson
Published by: Parliament House Press, LLC
Publication Date: November 12th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 264 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"There are a thousand things sixteen-year-old Rachel would rather do than upend her life to move into Morgan House, an old, run-down mansion owned by her mom's boyfriend, Geoff.

But when her mother announces they're relocating to St. Mary, Virginia to live with him, Rachel's cut off from her friends and life as she knows it. St. Mary is a remote, lonely place, and the best thing about it is Nick, a guy she knows is worth keeping when he takes her to a cemetery on their first date.

Rachel struggles to get along with Geoff and his mile-long list of annoying house rules - in particular, his bizarre insistence that she stay out of the basement. But something in Morgan House plays by its own rules. At night, an unknown force pulls Rachel down to that forbidden cellar, showing her harrowing visions of a strangely familiar man lurking in the shadows. When a sudden tragedy strikes her family, those visions become more frequent-and more violent.

The dead issue urgent warnings, and if Rachel doesn't heed them, she'll become part of Morgan House forever.

From the author of the Bram Stoker Award-nominated Tidepool comes a chilling new Gothic horror novel that will sink into your bones."

Never trust the boyfriends of mothers who own haunted houses.

Games Untold by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Published by: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: November 12th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 448 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Over 4 million copies sold of the #1 bestselling series!

Romance, luxury, and secrets abound in this thrilling new collection that takes readers deeper into the world of the #1 bestselling Inheritance Games series.

There is nothing frivolous about the way a Hawthorne man loves.

An amnesiac playboy and the woman with every reason to hate him. A daredevil, his favorite heiress, and three nights in Prague. An unlikely pairing between a cowboy and a goth. Four brothers with an inescapable bond, strengthened by the family they chose, in a house of wonders that promises to always deliver one more secret.

Discover their stories of love and loss, power, puzzles, and life-and-death secrets in this mind-blowingly romantic collection that proves that when you love the way Hawthornes love, there is no going back.

This collection includes:
-That Night in Prague (novella)
-The Same Backward as Forward (novella)
-The Cowboy and the Goth
-Five Times Xander Tackled Someone (and One Time He Didn't)
-$3CR3T $@NT@
-One Hawthorne Night*
-What Happens in the Treehouse*
-Pain at the Right Gun
*previously published in limited release."

We are FINALLY going to learn what happened that night in Prague!

The Legacy of Arniston House by T.L. Huchu
Published by: Tor Books
Publication Date: November 12th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A dangerous cult craves a dark power. The Legacy of Arniston House is the spellbinding fourth instalment of the USA Today bestselling Edinburgh Nights series by T. L. Huchu.

Ropa Moyo is a wannabe magician, can speak to the dead, and has officially given up being an intern. Leaving Scottish magic behind, she now works for the English Sorcerer Royal. But just as she adjusts to working for the English, an old enemy reveals a devastating secret about her Gran, and Ropa's world falls apart.

Outraged, she rushes home, but finds her grandmother dead - murdered - with no killer in sight. What's more, she's the prime suspect. In her quest to find the true murderer, Ropa becomes caught in the dark tendrils of a cult, hell-bent on resurrecting an ancient power. Ropa must use her wits, her magic, and call in all favors to stop the ritual - and clear her name."

I'm just saying, if Ropa was elsewhere and rushed home to her dead grandmother I really don't think that would make her the prime suspect...

Hobtown Mystery Stories Vol. 2: The Cursed Hermit by Kris Bertin
Published by: Oni Press
Publication Date: November 12th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 208 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Welcome back to Hobtown, the charming but bleak rural village whose placid exterior belies the surreal underbelly teeming below.... The second must-read volume of the page-turning series that the New York Times calls "forceful and haunting" starts here in the first fully colored edition from creators Kris Bertin and Alexander Forbes!

Intrepid young investigators Brennan and Pauline are excited for Christmas break, until they're sent to an extra-credit boarding school called Knotty Pines. After attending their first classes, however, they grow suspicious of the unusually strict headmaster and headmistress, who seem to be controlling their students and transforming them into boneheads and bullies.

On their final night at Knotty Pines, the students are paired up to pledge eternal allegiance to the long-dead Lord Hobb, and to each other, in unholy matrimony! Isolated from their fellow sleuths, Brennan and Pauline forge new alliances to lift a curse that has plagued the good people of Hobtown for centuries."

It's like Nancy Drew written by Edward Gorey.

All's Fair in Love and Treachery by Celeste Connally
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: November 12th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Bridgerton meets Agatha Christie in this dazzling next installment in a captivating Regency-era mystery series with a feminist spin.

21 June, 1815. London may be cheering the news of Napoleon's surrender at Waterloo, but Lady Petra Forsyth has little to celebrate after discovering that the death of her viscount fiancé three years earlier was no accident. Instead, it was murder, and the man responsible is her handsome, half-Scottish secret paramour Duncan Shawcross - yet the scoundrel has disappeared, leaving only a confusing riddle about long-forgotten memories in his wake.

So what's a lady to do when she can't hunt down her traitorous lover? She concentrates on a royal assignment instead. Queen Charlotte has tasked Petra with attending an event at the Asylum for Female Orphans and making inquiries surrounding the death of the orphanage's matron. What's more, there may be a link between the matron's death and a group of radicals with ties to the aristocracy, as evidenced by an intercepted letter.

Then, Petra overhears a nefarious conversation with two other men about a plot to topple the monarchy, set to take place during three days of celebrations currently gripping London.

As the clock counts down and London's streets teem with revelers, Petra's nerves are fraying as her past and present collide. Yet while all's fair in love and war, she can never surrender, especially when more orphaned girls may be in trouble. And to save their lives, the monarchy itself, and even her own heart, Lady Petra must face her fears with the strength of an army of soldiers and fight with the heart of a queen."

I love that Queen Charlotte basically has her fingers in ALL the pies.

In Want of a Suspect by Tirzah Price
Published by: HarperCollins
Publication Date: November 12th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The first book in a thrilling mystery duology that follows Lizzie Bennet and Mr. Darcy from the acclaimed Jane Austen Murder Mystery series!

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that London's first female solicitor in possession of the details of a deadly crime, must be in want of a suspect.

The tenacious Lizzie Bennet has earned her place at Longbourn, her father's law firm. Her work keeps her busy, but luckily it gives her plenty of reasons to consult (and steal occasional kisses) with Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, a stern but secretly softhearted solicitor at Pemberley.

Lizzie is hired to investigate a deadly warehouse fire and to find the mysterious woman who was spotted at the scene moments before the flames took hold. But when the case leads to the sitting room of a woman Darcy once proposed marriage to, the delicate balance between personal and professional in their relationship is threatened.

Questions of the future are cast aside when the prime suspect is murdered and Lizzie's own life is threatened. As the body count rises and their suspicions about what was really going on in the warehouse grow, the pressure is on for Lizzie and Darcy to uncover the truth.

Classic characters with an enthralling twist - Lizzie and Darcy, as introduced in the hit novel Pride and Premeditation, are back for more suspense, danger, and romance!"

I mean who can resist a Pride and Prejudice twist? I can't.

Time and Tide by J.M. Frey
Published by: W by Wattpad Books
Publication Date: November 12th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 408 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Historical fiction with a touch of time travel, for fans of Diana Gabaldon, Alexis Hall, and Olivia Waite's Feminine Pursuits series, where a modern bisexual woman is thrown into Regency England and must figure out how to survive, while she falls in love with a woman who will become a famous author.

Just a twenty-first century gal with nineteenth-century problems...

When Sam's plane crashes catastrophically over the Atlantic, it defies all odds for Sam to be the sole survivor. But it seems impossible that she's rescued by a warship in 1805. With a dashing sea captain as her guide, she begins to find her footing in a world she'd only seen in movies.

Then Sam is betrayed. At the mercy of the men and morals of the time, and without the means to survive on her own, she's left with no choice but to throw herself on the charity of the captain's sisters. She resigns herself to a quiet life of forever hiding her true self. What she doesn't expect is that her new landlady is Margaret Goodenough - the world-famous author whose yet-to-be-completed novel will contain the first lesbian kiss in the history of British Literature, and a clever woman. Clever enough to know her new companion has a secret.

As the two women grow ever closer, Sam must tread the tenuous line between finding her own happiness in a place where she doesn't think she'll ever fit in, and possibly (accidentally) changing the course of history."

Perhaps Sam is the one who inspired the kiss? Hmm...

The Viscount and the Thief by Emma Orchard
Published by: Boldwood Books
Publication Date: November 12th, 2024
Format: Kindle, 312 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Preorder a brand new regency romance from the bestselling author of A Duke of One's Own.

Spring, 1811... A stranger arrives at Wyverne Hall.

Sophie Delavallois is the new companion to the ageing Dowager Marchioness, but she also has another reason for coming to the infamous Wyverne mansion, one that will shake the family to their core.

Lord Drake left his childhood home many years ago, and only returns now to see his beloved grandmother. He takes little interest in the goings on of the house, until the arrival of Mademoiselle Delavallois. There's something about her that he can't put his finger on; it's as if he's seen her before, but surely, that is not possible...

Sophie is also drawn to Drake, but he is a Wyverne, and she cannot allow herself to fall for him, because her intentions towards the family are resolute - revenge. But inside the walls of Wyverne Hall, she discovers the rumours about the family barely scratch the surface, and she can't escape the dangerous allure of the Viscount.

Once her plans are set in motion, will he be her saviour or her ruin?"

Such a dilemma, revenge or romance...

The Davenports: More Than This by Krystal Marquis
Published by: Dial Books
Publication Date: November 12th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The anticipated sequel to the instant New York Times bestseller featuring escapist romance and a wealthy Black family in 1910s Chicago.

Like the blazing Chicago sun, the drama is heating up for the Davenports and their social set. Before the summer of 1910 drops its last petal, the lives - and loves - of these four young women will change in ways they never could have imagined:

Newly engaged Ruby Tremaine is eagerly planning her wedding to the love of her life when a nasty rumor threatens her reputation and her marriage. Olivia Davenport has committed to the social justice cause and secretly hopes she'll be reunited with dashing lawyer Washington DeWight - until her parents decide she's to marry someone else. Amy-Rose Shepherd is making her lifelong wish of owning a salon come true, but when an incident forces her to return to Freeport Manor, she's back in the path of John Davenport, who still holds her heart. Helen Davenport is determined to get over her own heartbreak and bring the Davenport Carriage Company into the new century, even if it means teaming up with a thrill-seeking racecar driver who just loves to get under her skin.

Inspired by the real-life story of the Patterson family, More Than This is the second book in critically adored Davenports series, following four empowered and passionate young Black women as they navigate a rapidly changing society and discover the courage to steer their own paths in life - and love."

Oh yes, more OF this!

Guilt and Ginataan by Mia P. Manansala
Published by: Penguin Publishing Group
Publication Date: November 12th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Autumn is in full swing for the town of Shady Palms - the perfect time for warm drinks, cozy cardigans, and...dead bodies?

The annual Shady Palms Corn Festival is one of the town's biggest moneymakers, drawing crowds from all over the Midwest looking to partake in delicious treats, local crafts, and of course, the second largest corn maze in Illinois. Lila Macapagal and her Brew-ha Cafe crew, Adeena Awan and Elena Torres, are all too happy to participate in the event and even make a little wager on who can make it through the corn maze the fastest - but their fun is suddenly cut short when a dead body is found in the middle of the maze...and an unconscious Adeena lies next to it, clutching a bloody knife.

The body is discovered to be a local politician's wife, and all signs - murder weapon included - point to Adeena as the culprit. But Lila knows her best friend couldn't have done this, so she and her crew put on their sleuthing caps yet again to find the killer who framed Adeena and show them what happens when they mess with a Brew-ha..."

Not enough murders happen in corn mazes! Or is it very Midwest of me to think this?

The Museum of Wes Anderson by Johan Chiaramonte and Camille Mathieu
Published by: Prestel Publishing
Publication Date: November 12th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 216 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Welcome to the Wes Anderson museum - a place packed with illustrations, ephemera, trivia, and insightful commentary, and as whimsical and visually arresting as the cult director's films themselves.

This museum in book form takes readers deep into the world of Wes Anderson. Bursting with an exhaustive and eclectic collection of film stills, accessories, clothes, souvenirs, books, and delightfully bizarre ephemera, this immersive treasury offers extraordinary insight into Wes Anderson's literary, musical, and cinematic influences, which range from Indian cinema, French pop music, Italian speed car racing, to The New Yorker magazine and the work of J. D. Salinger.

Among the museum's artifacts are a recipe for a ham sandwich from The French Dispatch's Le Sans Blague café; the history of Tang - the drink of choice for the campers in Moonrise Kingdom; and the secret of L'Air de Panache, the cologne worn by the concierge of the Grand Budapest Hotel. Readers will discover Anderson's connections to the balalaika, The Beatles, and Benjamin Britten, and they'll discover how the filmmaker was inspired by the works of Hal Ashby, Satyajit Ray, Orson Welles, Mike Nichols, and Francis Ford Coppola. Perfect for dipping into and filled with information that will surprise even the most diehard Wes Anderson fan, this technicolor treasury is as profoundly entertaining as it is authoritative."

Yet another unique book looking at the innovative filmmaker. 

The Watkins Book of Urban Legends by Gail De Vos
Published by: Watkins Publishing
Publication Date: November 12th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A comprehensive and entertaining collection of urban legends from around the world, with a history and analysis of the origin of each tale, compiled by a leading authority in the field.

A rich and unique collection of folktales and urban legends from around the world. Each story comes with an accompanying brief note to provide context. Including new tales reflecting new concerns; old tales repurposed for new audiences and new ways of telling.

The collection illustrates that these stories are now alive across many new media. This is the first such popular book to bring together stories with both traditional and digital media origins and to examine how the phenomenon of social media has affected both the spread of urban legends and their very nature.

-Features the uniquely modern manifestation of folk mythology and legend, now made ubiquitous by the internet; the conspiracy theory.
-Includes urban legends such as: The Pickled Hand, The Babysitter, The Sandman.
-Includes conspiracy theories such as: Wild Fires, Fifteen Minute Cities and Organ Theft.
-40% of the stories originate in North America, 30% in Europe, 20% in Asia, 10% in Africa and elsewhere.
-The book also shows how stories spread and change from the country of origin to become global."

And if you buy the book you'll get an email saying that if you don't forward it to ten friends you shall be forever cursed. Or was that just something someone told me once? Read this book to find out!

Friday, November 8, 2024

Archie

The very first thing I thought when I heard about this series was; "Can Jason Isaacs do the voice?" Because if he couldn't nail that studied yet somehow relaxed transatlantic accent there was literally no point to this miniseries. And the trailers they released didn't really confirm or deny this. Therefore I went into Archie blind with my fingers crossed. And somehow, I don't know how, Jason Isaacs did it. He pulled it off. You believed him to be Cary Grant, especially the older greying Cary. You were able to suspend disbelief for a few hours and learn about this very secretive man. Because Cary Grant was a secretive man. He believed his life was his life. He might have been a celebrity, one might even say one of the greatest stars ever, but no one really knew him. There were the rumors, was he gay? What about his drug use? And I give props to this series for not dodging any of those questions. They weren't interested in making a puff piece, they were interested in showing some truth, be it flattering or, well, not at all complimentary. The controlling Cary if you will. You came out feeling as if you really did know Cary Grant. Or at least more than you knew before. But you also have to keep in mind that having this based on Dyan Cannon's memoir you're getting it through the filter of her experiences. Therefore making sense of the fact that the best cast character on this show was Dyan's. Laura Aikman as Dyan isn't about suspending disbelief, it's about seeing Dyan living and breathing in this show. It was eerie to say the least. But by having Dyan kind of being the lens through which we see Cary my Dad who I was watching this with assumed that Dyan was the love of Cary's life and that they rode off into the sunset together, which isn't the case. At all. Dyan was Grant's fourth wife and their marriage only last three years. Which wasn't his shortest marriage, but it was far from his longest. But the importance of Dyan is that she brought Cary's only child into the world. Jennifer Grant became Cary's whole world. She was born in 1966 and after her birth he stopped acting. He was at the height of his career and he ended it to be a father. Which is the most amazing thing. He found the love he'd spent his life looking for. Because this show does a supreme job of showing the horrors her grew up with, the deprivation, the lies, the love he sought. He thought his mother was dead until he was thirty-one and found out his father had had her institutionalized when Cary was nine so that he could start a new family. The poor Archie Leach used vaudeville as his ticket to America and remade himself. Everything about his life was constructed. If there's one thing this show shows you is that the greatest role Cary Grant ever played was that of Cary Grant. To think that this man, this man who was always acting, was then an actor, it's astonishing the depths to which he was about reinvention. You might find him not as perfect as you'd hoped he was, but you will come away with awe at what he did.

Wednesday, November 6, 2024

3 Body Problem

I legit thought that the book, The Three-Body Problem, was a murder mystery. I mean why else would it have had "Body" in the title? They're corpses right? Wrong. I now know it refers to celestial bodies... But until I watched this show I would have put money on it being some sort of procedural. At least there was a cop played by Benedict Wong, so I had something right. Maybe? Well there are "unexplained deaths" so I'm sticking to a partial victory no matter how slim. My first exposure to Liu Cixin's novel is a little infamous as it went from my friend Aaron's favorite book to his most hated book in the span of a month. So when I heard it was going to be adapted by the creators of Game of Thrones for Netflix, and knowing how Aaron feels about that show, I thought that there was no way it could possibly be good and it would probably really piss off Aaron. So of course I suggested we watch it together on our Thursday Night Teleparty. And the problem with this was this is a show that needs to be binged. 3 Body Problem doesn't work spread out over weeks. You need to keep that threat of alien invasion at the forefront. I mean, sure, this is probably the longest game of an alien invasion in probable history. They won't arrive for a long long long time and made first contact decades previously. But the horror, the danger, there's an immediacy to it that suffers over the long haul. A countdown clock can not strike fear forever, eventually there will be fatigue. Though what I found oddest about the show is that while it is obviously science fiction it leans very strongly into the horror genre. You thought Game of Thrones was bloody? Wait until you see poor old Alfie from Lark Rise to Candleford disassembled. His body is sliced into a bloody morass by nanofibers. Jonathan Pryce meets the same fate. At least he had two seasons on Game of Thrones before he went boom with the Great Sept of Baelor. And this is my problem with the show. There's a rotating door with the cast. As soon as you like someone they're dead. I mean, I don't think I can even figure out how many characters died this season without multiple flow charts and perhaps a white board. But of the core college group that are these oh so great scientists that are our only hope? Of the five of them two are dead by the end of the first season. Because OF COURSE this is getting a second season. Why wouldn't it be? They're the Game of Thrones creators. Let's just totally ignore how that show tanked and there is no fanbase anymore and concentrate on the earlier seasons when it was all anyone was watching. But back to 3 Body Problem, how are they going to keep me invested if anyone I get attached to might go all 'splodey at a moments notice? Then there's the tonal shifts. The smaller collegiate setting with depression and video games and somehow now we're at the UN!?! The characters are the only way to keep this sliced ship from sinking, and if they're all dead... Well. Needless to say, I'm very interested to see if they can keep this show afloat.

Monday, November 4, 2024

Tuesday Tomorrow

The Author's Guide to Murder by Lauren Willig, Beatriz Williams, and Karen White
Published by: William Morrow and Company
Publication Date: November 5th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Agatha Christie meets Murder, She Wrote in this witty locked room mystery and literary satire by New York Times bestselling team of novelists: Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White.

There's been a sensational murder at historic Castle Kinloch, a Gothic fantasy of grey granite on a remote island in the Highlands of Scotland. Literary superstar Brett Saffron Presley has been found dead - under bizarre circumstances - in the castle tower's book-lined study. Years ago, Presley purchased the castle as a showpiece for his brand and to lure paying guests with a taste for writerly glamour. Now it seems, the castle has done him in...or, possibly, one of the castle's guests has. Detective Chief Inspector Euan McIntosh, a local with no love for literary Americans, finds himself with the unenviable task of extracting statements from three American lady novelists.

The prime suspects are Kat de Noir, a slinky erotica writer; Cassie Pringle, a Southern mom of six juggling multiple cozy mystery series; and Emma Endicott, a New England blue blood and author of critically acclaimed historical fiction. The women claim to be best friends writing a book together, but the authors' stories about how they know Brett Saffron Presley don't quite line up, and the detective is getting increasingly suspicious.

Why did the authors really come to Castle Kinloch? And what really happened the night of the great Kinloch ceilidh, when Brett Saffron Presley skipped the folk dancing for a rendezvous with death?

A crafty locked-room mystery, a pointed satire about the literary world, and a tale of unexpected friendship and romance - this novel has it all, as only three bestselling authors can tell it!"

Treat yourself for helping to save democracy with a new book! You'll be out voting anyway. And this books is all about a sexual predator getting his just deserts. So VERY applicable to our current situation. Hopefully. Just please go vote.

The Village Detectives and the Poison Pen Letters by Fiona Walker
Published by: Boldwood Books
Publication Date: November 5th, 2024
Format: Kindle, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"We regret to announce the tragic death of Phoebe Fredericks...

When crime novelist Phoebe opens the post and receives an invitation to her own funeral, she's horrified. Not least because the date of her death is marked as tomorrow.

Deciding it's nothing more than a prank from an enemy from her past, she determines to put it to the back of her mind.

But the next morning, when her completely infuriating postman (who likes to think himself her no.1 literary critic) rings her doorbell, a parcel of poisoned pen-nibs explodes in his face. Forced to confront the fact her correspondence is more RIP than RSVP, Phoebe realises someone must want her dead.

Together with the newly-formed Village Detectives - Juno, Mil and Felix - Phoebe resolves to find out who is behind the poison pen letters before they strike again and her fate is signed, sealed and delivered!

An totally hilarious, modern cozy crime mystery, from million-copy bestselling author Fiona Walker, perfect for fans of Richard Osman, Janet Evanovich and Janice Hallett."

Did the poor postman die for being her no. 1 critic!?!

Constant Reader: The New Yorker Columns 1927-1928 by Dorothy Parker
Published by: McNally Editions
Publication Date: November 5th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 224 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Dorothy Parker's complete weekly New Yorker column about books and people and the rigors of reviewing.

When, in 1927, Dorothy Parker became a book critic for the New Yorker, she was already a legendary wit, a much-quoted member of the Algonquin Round Table, and an arbiter of literary taste. In the year that she spent as a weekly reviewer, under the rubric "Constant Reader," she created what is still the most entertaining book column ever written. Parker's hot takes have lost none of their heat, whether she's taking aim at the evangelist Aimee Semple MacPherson ("She can go on like that for hours. Can, hell - does"), praising Hemingway's latest collection ("He discards detail with magnificent lavishness"), or dissenting from the Tao of Pooh ("And it is that word 'hummy,' my darlings, that marks the first place in The House at Pooh Corner at which Tonstant Weader Fwowed up").

Introduced with characteristic wit and sympathy by Sloane Crosley, Constant Reader gathers the complete weekly New Yorker reviews that Parker published from October 1927 through November 1928, with gimlet-eyed appreciations of the high and low, from Isadora Duncan to Al Smith, Charles Lindbergh to Little Orphan Annie, Mussolini to Emily Post."

The House at Pooh Corner review is a classic takedown. I can't wait to read all the rest!

The Gardener's Plot by Deborah J. Benoit
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: November 5th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A woman helps set up a community garden in the Berkshires, only to find a body in one of the plots on opening day.

After life threw Maggie Walker a few curveballs, she's happy to be back in the small, Berkshires town where she spent so much time as a child. Marlowe holds many memories for her, and now it also offers a fresh start. Maggie has always loved gardening, so it's only natural to sign on to help Violet Bloom set up a community garden.

When opening day arrives, Violet is nowhere to be found, and the gardeners are restless. Things go from bad to worse when Maggie finds a boot buried in one of the plots...and there's a body attached to it. Suddenly, the police are looking for a killer and they keep asking questions about Violet. Maggie doesn't believe her friend could do this, and she's going to dig up the dirt needed to prove it.

The Gardener's Plot takes readers to the heart of the Berkshires and introduces amateur sleuth Maggie Walker in Deborah J. Benoit's Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award-winning debut."

Personally I would have expected Violet to be the body blooming out of the garden... An intriguing twist!

The Lake of Lost Girls by Katherine Greene
Published by: Crooked Lane Books
Publication Date: November 5th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Told in alternating timelines, The Lake of Lost Girls is a haunting novel that will thrill fans of All Good People Here and We Are All the Same in the Dark.

Using suspenseful podcast clips to weave a twisty tale of a missing student and her sister who is desperate for answers, The Lake of Lost Girls is perfect for fans of I Have Some Questions for You.

It's 1998, and female students are going missing at Southern State University in North Carolina, but freshman Jessica Fadley, once a bright and responsible student, is going through her own struggles. Just as her life seems to be careening dangerously out of control, she suddenly disappears.

Twenty-four years later, Jessica's sister Lindsey is desperately searching for answers and uses the momentum of a new chart-topping true crime podcast that focuses on cold cases to guide her own investigation. Soon, interest reaches fever pitch when the bodies of the long-missing women begin turning up at a local lake, which leads Lindsey down a disturbing road of discovery.

In the present, one sister searches to untangle a complicated web of lies.

In the past, the other descends ever deeper into a darkness that will lead to her ultimate fate.

This propulsive and chilling suspense is a sharp examination of sisterhood and the culture of true crime."

I really love this trend of books set now but investigating crimes that were at seminal years in my life. Here it's my freshman and sophomore year of college.

Misery Hates Company by Elizabeth Hobbs
Published by: Crooked Lane Books
Publication Date: November 5th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A young woman is invited to a mysterious relative's estate and winds up entangled in a murder investigation in this witty historical mystery that pits the Gothic eeriness of Crimson Peak against the comic absurdities of Knives Out.

Miss Marigold Manners may be steeped in the etiquette of her old-money Boston family, but she is also an accomplished, modern woman and an avid student of archaeology who can handle any situation with poise. When the death of her parents leaves her too destitute to pursue her academic career and she receives a letter from a distant relative on Great Misery Island, Marigold decides she must do what any person of superior sense and greater-than-average curiosity would: she mounts her trusty bicycle and heads up the craggy, fog-shrouded coast of New England for a date with fate.

Marigold arrives at Hatchet Farm, a moldering, Gothic pile of a house inhabited by relatives so mired in the sins of the past, they have no future. She sets out to modernize the recluses with a brisk, ruthless efficiency, but her well-intentioned plans to manage their lives lead to malice - and murder. Marigold spies a body floating in the stormy waters surrounding the island, and her suspicions immediately turn to her hostile, weapon-wielding relatives when one of the local girls turns up missing. And she might not be the only one.

When another dead body is found in the garden of the estate, Marigold finds herself accused. She must enlist the help of an eccentric, colorful cast of friends and found family to save herself - and everything she holds dear. As secrets are uncovered and lies exposed, the question of "who done it?" turns into "who didn't do it?" and Marigold must face a truth that shatters her steely poise and shakes her very sense of self."

Hopefully Marigold can keep herself in the "didn't do it" category and get out alive!

Limelight by Emily Organ
Published by: Storm Publishing
Publication Date: November 5th, 2024
Format: Kindle, 335 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
""Miss Green, the actress Lizzie Dixie has been murdered." I stared at the young inspector. "But it's impossible. She drowned. Years ago."

London, 1883. Fleet Street's pioneering lady reporter Penny Green is stunned when a long-dead actress is found murdered in Highgate Cemetery. Lizzie Dixie supposedly drowned in the River Thames years ago, so how did she end up shot to death on a foggy October night? Penny's personal connection to the victim draws her into the case, as does the charm of Scotland Yard inspector James Blakely. But her return to work sparks the attentions of someone with evil intent.

Why did Lizzie fake her own death? Who knew she was still alive? With each revelation, the killer draws nearer. Can Penny unmask the culprit before she becomes the next victim? Or will the bright lights of Victorian London be forever dimmed by a killer lurking in the shadows?

An enthralling and atmospheric historical mystery that will have you reading deep into the night. Limelight is the first instalment in the bestselling Penny Green Victorian Mystery series."

Oh, so did Lizzie Dixie fake her death? I know you need to know as much as I do!

Where the Library Hides by Isabel Ibañez
Published by: Wednesday Books
Publication Date: November 5th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Where the Library Hides is Isabel Ibañez's stunning conclusion to the story that started in What the River Knows. A lush immersive historical fantasy set in Egypt filled with adventure, and a rivals-to-lovers romance like no other!

Inez Olivera traveled across the world to Egypt, seeking answers into her parents' recent and mysterious deaths. But all her searching led her down a perilous road, filled with heartache, betrayal, and a dangerous magic that pulled her deep into the past.

When Tío Ricardo issues an ultimatum about her inheritance, she's left with only one option to consider.

Marriage to Whitford Hayes.

Former British soldier, her uncle's aide de camp, and one time nemesis, Whit has his own mysterious reasons for staying in Egypt. With her heart on the line, Inez might have to bind her fate to the one person whose secret plans could ruin her."

I love duologies and Egypt. Win win!

Stranger Skies by Pascale Lacelle
Published by: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publication Date: November 5th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 608 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Ninth House meets The Hazel Wood in this riveting sequel to the New York Times bestselling dark academia fantasy Curious Tides, following Emory, Baz, Romie, and Kai on their desperate quests through space and time!

Opening locked doors has a price - even for those who hold a key.

After going through the door that called to them both in dreams, Emory and Romie find themselves in the Wychwood: the same verdant world written of in Song of the Drowned Gods, albeit a twisted, rotting version of it. A sinister force has awoken with their arrival, intent on destruction as it spills across realms, and now Emory and Romie must stop it before it reaches their own shores.

Meanwhile, Baz and Kai are desperate to follow their friends through the door to other worlds, but a mishap pulls them back in time instead - where they come face to face with Cornus Clover himself, famed author of Song of the Drowned Gods. Stuck together in the past, they must navigate a very different Aldryn as they unravel the school's darkest secrets.

Across time and worlds, Emory, Romie, Baz, and Kai find their fates eerily interwoven with the heroes from Clover's book. But when stories can't be trusted, friendships are put to the test, and deadly enemies are not always as they seem, they must decide who gets to be a hero - and who is desperate enough to see themselves become a villain."

I know you're as curious as I am about this sequel. See what I did there?

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