May Book List

Nicer weather plus outdoor work = only six seven books read this month. That may be a new record for fewest books read in one month!

The Gate Keeper by Charles Todd, my favorite mother/son writing team. This is their 20th Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery. I especially like these books because they are set in England in the teens and twenties of the last century. Rutledge has to deal with his own mental problems relating to his war time service while still solving murders the old fashioned way.

So Long At The Fair by Christina Schwarz is about the ways actions of the parents can have consequences for their children many years later. (I liked Schwarz's Drowning Ruth better than this book.)

Winter Prey and Night Prey are numbers five and six in John Sandford's Lucas Davenport series. In #5 Lucas works with a doctor who is also the county coroner. Weather (her unusual name) may be the right woman for him because in #6 they are living together and he is back on the force in Minneapolis.

The Good Pilot Peter Woodhouse is one of Alexander McCall Smith's stand alone novels. Set during and after WWII, an American Pilot stationed in England falls in love with a local woman. He is shot down over Holland, saved by the resistance and then saved again by a German soldier when he is discovered hiding and the German doesn't turn him in. The American and German meet again during the American airlift of Berlin. A thoughtful tale of love and friendship.

To Die But Once by Jacqueline Winspear continues the story of Maisie Dobbs, now at the beginning of WWII. This is one of my favorite series.

Stormy Weather (#7 this month, I just finished it this morning) is by Paulette Jiles, a new favorite author. Set in Central Texas during the depression and dust bowl, it centers around a young woman, her widowed mother and two sisters, trying to make a go of the family farm after the death of  their father/husband. Jiles has a way of putting the reader right into the lives of her characters. Of course, it doesn't hurt that I love reading about this era.

Jiles, you may remember, I discovered when a Facebook friend reviewed one of her books. Joan is a friend of my daughter's. I sent her a friend request because I enjoyed her posts and loved seeing the daily photos of her cats. I may never meet Joan in person, but I think having her as a FB friend is an example of how Facebook did/does/should work.

Oh, and speaking of my daughter.....

.....today is the Princess' birthday. Happy Birthday, Kari. 💕