Kathleen's bookshelf: all en-US Tue, 29 Apr 2025 15:13:09 -0700 60 Kathleen's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Blood & Ink: An Heiress, a Tabloid War, and the Unsolved Double Murder That Hooked America on True Crime]]> 60461896 Vanity Fair's Joe Pompeo investigates the notorious 1922 double murder of a high-society minister and his secret mistress, a Jazz Age mega-crime that propelled tabloid news in the 20th century.

On September 16, 1922, the bodies of Reverend Edward Hall and Eleanor Mills were found beneath a crabapple tree on an abandoned farm outside of New Brunswick, New Jersey. The killer had arranged the bodies in a pose conveying intimacy.

The murder of Hall, a prominent clergyman whose wife, Frances Hall, was a proud heiress with illustrious ancestors and ties to the Johnson & Johnson dynasty, would have made headlines on its own. But when authorities identified Eleanor Mills as a choir singer from his church married to the church sexton, the story shocked locals and sent the scandal ricocheting around the country, fueling the nascent tabloid industry. This provincial double murder on a lonely lover's lane would soon become one of the most famous killings in American history--a veritable crime of the century.

The bumbling local authorities failed to secure any indictments, however, and it took a swashbuckling crusade by the editor of a circulation-hungry Hearst tabloid to revive the case and bring it to trial at last.

Blood & Ink freshly chronicles what remains one of the most electrifying but forgotten murder mysteries in U.S. history. It also traces the birth of American tabloid journalism, pandering to the masses with sordid tales of love, sex, money, and murder.]]> 344 Joe Pompeo 006300173X Kathleen 0 to-read 3.50 2022 Blood & Ink: An Heiress, a Tabloid War, and the Unsolved Double Murder That Hooked America on True Crime
author: Joe Pompeo
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/29
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]]> The Left Hand of Darkness 18423 The Left Hand of Darkness tells the story of a lone human emissary to Winter, an alien world whose inhabitants spend most of their time without a gender. His goal is to facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the completely dissimilar culture that he encounters.

Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an alien world, The Left Hand of Darkness stands as a landmark achievement in the annals of intellectual science fiction.]]> 304 Ursula K. Le Guin Kathleen 5 4.11 1969 The Left Hand of Darkness
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1969
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/28
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]]> <![CDATA[The Last Four Things (The Left Hand of God, #2)]]> 8737174 To the warrior-monks known as the Redeemers, who rule over massive armies of child slaves, "the last four things" represent the culmination of a faithful life. Death. Judgement. Heaven. Hell. The last four things represent eternal bliss-or endless destruction, permanent chaos, and infinite pain.
Perhaps nowhere are the competing ideas of heaven and hell exhibited more clearly than in the dark and tormented soul of Thomas Cale. Betrayed by his beloved but still marked by a child's innocence, possessed of a remarkable aptitude for violence but capable of extreme tenderness, Cale will lead the Redeemers into a battle for nothing less than the fate of the human race. And though his broken heart foretells the bloody trail he will leave in pursuit of a personal peace he can never achieve, a glimmer of hope remains. The question even Cale can't answer: When it comes time to decide the fate of the world, to ensure the extermination of humankind or spare it, what will he choose? To express God's will on the edge of his sword, or to forgive his fellow man-and himself?
]]> 422 Paul Hoffman 0718155211 Kathleen 0 to-read 3.54 2011 The Last Four Things (The Left Hand of God, #2)
author: Paul Hoffman
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/25
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]]> <![CDATA[Appointment with Death (Hercule Poirot, #19)]]> 16363
With only 24 hours available to solve the mystery, Hercule Poirot recalled a chance remark he’d overheard back in Jerusalem: ‘You see, don’t you, that she’s got to be killed?� Mrs Boynton was, indeed, the most detestable woman he’d ever met.]]> 303 Agatha Christie 0007119356 Kathleen 0 3.87 1938 Appointment with Death (Hercule Poirot, #19)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1938
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[A Life in Error: From Little Slips to Big Disasters]]> 20453731 152 James Reason 1472418433 Kathleen 0 to-read 3.63 2013 A Life in Error: From Little Slips to Big Disasters
author: James Reason
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/14
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]]> <![CDATA[Murder in the Mews (Hercule Poirot, #16)]]> 121646
Are you ready for a question about each of the stories? How did a woman holding a pistol in her right hand manage to shoot herself in the left temple? What was the link between a ghost sighting and the disappearance of top secret military plans? How did the bullet that killed Sir Gervase shatter a mirror in another part of the room? And who destroyed the "eternal triangle" of love involving renowned beauty, Valentine Chantry?

Hercule Poirot is faced with four mystifying cases: 1. Murder in the Mews, 2. The Incredible Theft, 3. Dead Man's Mirror, and 4. Triangle at Rhodes. Each of them is a miniature classic of characterization, incident, and suspense.

Listening length: 4 hrs. 26 mins.]]> 5 Agatha Christie 1572702842 Kathleen 0 3.82 1937 Murder in the Mews (Hercule Poirot, #16)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1937
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/12
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]]> The Outfit (Parker, #3) 447212 224 Richard Stark 0446674672 Kathleen 0 to-read 4.11 1963 The Outfit (Parker, #3)
author: Richard Stark
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1963
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/11
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]]> <![CDATA[Paris, 1919: Six Months that Changed the World]]> 26348
Between January and July 1919, after "the war to end all wars," men and women from around the world converged on Paris to shape the peace. Center stage, for the first time in history, was an American president, Woodrow Wilson, who with his Fourteen Points seemed to promise to so many people the fulfillment of their dreams. Stern, intransigent, impatient when it came to security concerns and wildly idealistic in his dream of a League of Nations that would resolve all future conflict peacefully, Wilson is only one of the larger-than-life characters who fill the pages of this extraordinary book. David Lloyd George, the gregarious and wily British prime minister, brought Winston Churchill and John Maynard Keynes. Lawrence of Arabia joined the Arab delegation. Ho Chi Minh, a kitchen assistant at the Ritz, submitted a petition for an independent Vietnam.

For six months, Paris was effectively the center of the world as the peacemakers carved up bankrupt empires and created new countries. This book brings to life the personalities, ideals, and prejudices of the men who shaped the settlement. They pushed Russia to the sidelines, alienated China, and dismissed the Arabs. They struggled with the problems of Kosovo, of the Kurds, and of a homeland for the Jews.

The peacemakers, so it has been said, failed dismally; above all they failed to prevent another war. Margaret MacMillan argues that they have unfairly been made the scapegoats for the mistakes of those who came later. She refutes received ideas about the path from Versailles to World War II and debunks the widely accepted notion that reparations imposed on the Germans were in large part responsible for the Second World War.

A landmark work of narrative history, Paris 1919 is the first full-scale treatment of the Peace Conference in more than twenty-five years. It offers a scintillating view of those dramatic and fateful days when much of the modern world was sketched out, when countries were created--Iraq, Yugoslavia, Israel--whose troubles haunt us still.

Winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize, the PEN Hessell Tiltman Prize and the Duff Cooper Prize]]> 624 Margaret MacMillan 0375760520 Kathleen 0 to-read 4.11 2001 Paris, 1919: Six Months that Changed the World
author: Margaret MacMillan
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2001
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Club: Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age]]> 41154986 The story of the group of extraordinary eighteenth-century writers, artists, and thinkers who gathered weekly at a London tavern

Named one of the 10 Best Books of 2019by theNew York Times Book Review � A Publishers WeeklyBest Book of 2019 •� AKirkusBest Book of 2019

“Damrosch brings the Club’s redoubtable personalities—the brilliant minds, the jousting wits, the tender camaraderie—to vivid life.�� New York Times Book Review

“Magnificently entertaining.”� Washington Post

In 1763, the painter Joshua Reynolds proposed to his friend Samuel Johnson that they invite a few friends to join them every Friday at the Turk’s Head Tavern in London to dine, drink, and talk until midnight. Eventually the group came to include among its members Edmund Burke, Adam Smith, Edward Gibbon, and James Boswell. It was known simply as “the Club.�

In this captivating book, Leo Damrosch brings alive a brilliant, competitive, and eccentric cast of characters. With the friendship of the “odd couple� Samuel Johnson and James Boswell at the heart of his narrative, Damrosch conjures up the precarious, exciting, and often brutal world of late eighteenth‑century Britain. This is the story of an extraordinary group of people whose ideas helped to shape their age, and our own.]]> 488 Leo Damrosch 0300217900 Kathleen 0 to-read 3.90 2019 The Club: Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age
author: Leo Damrosch
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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]]> The Aosawa Murders 51054767
The police are convinced Hisako had a role in the crime, as are many in the town, including the author of a bestselling book about the murders written a decade after the incident, who was herself a childhood friend of Hisako’s and witness to the discovery of the killings. The truth is revealed through a skillful juggling of testimony by different voices: family members, witnesses and neighbors, police investigators and of course the mesmerizing Hisako herself.]]> 315 Riku Onda 1912242249 Kathleen 0 to-read 3.60 2004 The Aosawa Murders
author: Riku Onda
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2004
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook]]> 191746386
On July 12th, 1776, Captain James Cook, already lionized as the greatest explorer in British history, set off on his third voyage in his ship the HMS Resolution . Two-and-a-half years later, on a beach on the island of Hawaii, Cook was killed in a conflict with native Hawaiians. How did Cook, who was unique among captains for his respect for Indigenous peoples and cultures, come to that fatal moment?

Hampton Sides� bravura account of Cook’s last journey both wrestles with Cook’s legacy and provides a thrilling narrative of the titanic efforts and continual danger that characterized exploration in the 1700s. Cook was renowned for his peerless seamanship, his humane leadership, and his dedication to science-–the famed naturalist Joseph Banks accompanied him on his first voyage, and Cook has been called one of the most important figures of the Age of Enlightenment. He was also deeply interested in the native people he encountered. In fact, his stated mission was to return a Tahitian man, Mai, who had become the toast of London, to his home islands. On previous expeditions, Cook mapped huge swaths of the Pacific, including the east coast of Australia, and initiated first European contact with numerous peoples. He treated his crew well, and endeavored to learn about the societies he encountered with curiosity and without judgment.

Yet something was different on this last voyage. Cook became mercurial, resorting to the lash to enforce discipline, and led his two vessels into danger time and again. Uncharacteristically, he ordered violent retaliation for perceived theft on the part of native peoples. This may have had something to do with his secret orders, which were to chart and claim lands before Britain’s imperial rivals could, and to discover the fabled Northwest Passage. Whatever Cook’s intentions, his scientific efforts were the sharp edge of the colonial sword, and the ultimate effects of first contact were catastrophic for Indigenous people around the world. The tensions between Cook’s overt and covert missions came to a head on the shores of Hawaii. His first landing there was harmonious, but when Cook returned after mapping the coast of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, his exploitative treatment of the Hawaiians led to the fatal encounter.

At once a ferociously-paced story of adventure on the high seas and a searching examination of the complexities and consequences of the Age of Exploration, THE WIDE WIDE SEA is a major work from one of our finest narrative nonfiction writers.]]> 408 Hampton Sides 0385544766 Kathleen 0 to-read 4.47 2024 The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook
author: Hampton Sides
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[A Wilder Shore: The Romantic Odyssey of Fanny and Robert Louis Stevenson]]> 202102004 A portrait of the fascinating, unusual and fruitful creative partnership between Fanny and Robert Louis StevensonThe romance between Fanny and Robert Louis Stevenson was an unlikely Victorian love he was an ambitious but drifting college-educated writer from a prominent family in Scotland; she was a forceful and determined farm girl from Indiana with a high school education. She was married, with children, and 10 years his senior when they met in France in 1876. How could a union between them work?A Wilder Shore is a portrait of these two extraordinary people and a nuanced examination of the improbable union that stimulated, frustrated and ultimately sustained them. The book travels the world with the couple as they seek better health for him, a looser lifestyle and more creative freedom, beginning in an art colony outside Paris and ending in Samoa, where they lived and joined the native islanders� fight for independence from imperialist powers. Along the way, the ferment of the Stevensons� deeply loving but stormy marriage produced literary masterpieces by Robert such as Treasure Island, Kidnapped and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.This sweeping love story of Fanny and Robert Louis Stevenson and their search for freedom and self-discovery opens up new perspectives on both writers, as well as showing how astonishingly modern they were for their times.]]> 480 Camille Peri 0670786195 Kathleen 0 to-read 3.88 A Wilder Shore: The Romantic Odyssey of Fanny and Robert Louis Stevenson
author: Camille Peri
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.88
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]]> <![CDATA[Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum]]> 145624993 The Immortal Life ofHenriettaLacks, a page-turning 93-year history of Crownsville Hospital, one of the nation’s last segregated asylums, that New York Times bestselling author Clint Smith describes as “a book that left me breathless.�

On a cold day in March of1911, officials marched twelve Black men into the heart of a forest in Maryland.Under the supervision of a doctor, the men were forced to clear the land, pour cement, lay bricks, and harvest tobacco. When construction finished, they became the first twelve patients of the state’s Hospital for the Negro Insane. For centuries, Black patients have been absent from our history books. Madness transports readers behind the brick walls of a Jim Crow asylum.

In Madness, Peabody and Emmy award-winning journalist Antonia Hylton tells the 93-year-old history of Crownsville Hospital, one of the last segregated asylums with surviving records and a campus that still stands to this day in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. She blends the intimate tales of patients and employees whose lives were shaped by Crownsville with a decade-worth of investigative research and archival documents. Madness chronicles the stories of Black families whose mental health suffered as they tried, and sometimes failed, to find safety and dignity. Hylton also grapples with her own family’s experiences with mental illness, and the secrecy and shame that it reproduced for generations.

As Crownsville Hospital grew from an antebellum-style work camp to a tiny city sitting on 1,500 acres, the institution became a microcosm of America’s evolving battles over slavery, racial integration, and civil rights. During its peak years, the hospital’s wards were overflowing with almost 2,700 patients. By the end of the 20th-century, the asylum faded from view as prisons and jails became America’s new focus.

In Madness, Hylton traces the legacy of slavery to the treatment of Black people’s bodies and minds in our current mental healthcare system. It is a captivating and heartbreaking meditation on how America decides who is sick or criminal, and who is worthy of our care or irredeemable.
]]> 368 Antonia Hylton 1538723697 Kathleen 0 to-read 4.25 2024 Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum
author: Antonia Hylton
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Bluestockings: A History of the First Women's Movement]]> 200679358 352 Susannah Gibson 0393881385 Kathleen 0 to-read 3.92 2024 The Bluestockings: A History of the First Women's Movement
author: Susannah Gibson
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> Someone Like Us 201102290
With Hannah and their two-year old son back in Paris, Mamush sets out on an unexpected journey across America in search of answers to questions he'd been told never to ask. As he does so, he begins to understand that perhaps the only chance he has of saving his family and making it back home is to confront not only the unresolved mystery around Samuel's life and death, but his own troubled memories, and the years spent masking them. Breath-taking, commanding, unforgettable work from one of America's most prodigiously gifted novelists.]]> 272 Dinaw Mengestu 0385350007 Kathleen 0 to-read 3.53 2024 Someone Like Us
author: Dinaw Mengestu
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/11
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]]> <![CDATA[Pain Killer: A Wonder Drug's Trail of Addiction and Death]]> 1226104 336 Barry Meier 1579546382 Kathleen 0 to-read 3.96 2003 Pain Killer: A Wonder Drug's Trail of Addiction and Death
author: Barry Meier
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2003
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/10
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]]> <![CDATA[The Big Book of Reel Murders: Stories that Inspired Great Crime Films]]> 44672349
Lights! Camera! Action! The latest book in the Big Book series takes us behind the curtain to uncover the stories that became some of the greatest films of the silver screen. There's the W. Somerset Maugham short story that inspired Hitchcock's Secret Agent ; Robert Louis Stevenson's horrifying tale that was later turned into the iconic movie The Body Snatcher , starring Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff; Sir Ian Fleming's "From a View to a Kill," later one of Roger Moore's greatest Bond films; and "Cyclists' Raid," the short story that formed the basis for the legendary Brando film The Wild One .

Otto Penzler delivers the director's cut on these classic short stories and the films they gave rise to. So grab your Sno-Caps and a jumbo box of popcorn and curl up with these cinematic tales from the likes of Agatha Christie, Dennis Lehane, Joyce Carol Oates, Dashiell Hammett, O. Henry, Edgar Allan Poe, and Arthur Conan Doyle.]]> 1200 Otto Penzler 0525563881 Kathleen 0 currently-reading 3.66 2019 The Big Book of Reel Murders: Stories that Inspired Great Crime Films
author: Otto Penzler
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/08
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]]> <![CDATA[Dumb Witness (Hercule Poirot, #17)]]> 16344
So, on April 17th she wrote about her anxieties and suspicions in a letter to Hercule Poirot. And included a request that he consult with her as soon as possible. Mysteriously he didn’t receive the letter until June 28th � by which time Emily was already dead.]]> 317 Agatha Christie 0007120796 Kathleen 0 3.88 1937 Dumb Witness (Hercule Poirot, #17)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1937
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Cards on the Table (Hercule Poirot, #15)]]> 16297
Mr. Shaitana was famous, as were his parties. He was also a man of whom everybody was a little afraid. So, when he boasted to Poirot that he considered murder an art form, the detective had some reservations about accepting a party invitation of cards and viewing Shaitana’s private art collection. Indeed, what began as an absorbing evening of bridge was to turn into a more dangerous game altogether…]]> 324 Agatha Christie 0425205959 Kathleen 0 3.94 1936 Cards on the Table (Hercule Poirot, #15)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1936
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/04
date added: 2025/04/04
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]]> <![CDATA[Three Act Tragedy (Hercule Poirot, #11)]]> 140360
Unfortunately, thirteen guests arrived at the actor's house, most unlucky. One of them was a vicar. It was to be a particularly unlucky evening for the mild-mannered Reverend Stephen Babbington, who choked on his cocktail, went into convulsions and died. But when his martini glass was sent for chemical analysis, there was no trace of poison -- just as Hercule Poirot, also in attendance, had predicted. Even more troubling for the great detective, there was absolutely no motive!

Librarian's note: the first fifteen novels in the Hercule Poirot series are 1) The Mysterious Affair at Styles, 1920; 2) The Murder on the Links, 1923; 3) The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, 1926; 4) The Big Four, 1927; 5) The Mystery of the Blue Train, 1928; 6) Peril at End House, 1932; 7) Lord Edgware Dies, 1933; 8) Murder on the Orient Express, 1934; 9) Three Act Tragedy, 1935; 10) Death in the Clouds, 1935; 11) The A.B.C. Murders, 1936; 12) Murder in Mesopotamia, 1936; 13) Cards on the Table, 1936; 14) Dumb Witness, 1937; and 15) Death on the Nile, 1937. These are just the novels; Poirot also appears in this period in a play, Black Coffee, 1930, and two collections of short stories, Poirot Investigates, 1924, and Murder in the Mews, 1937. Each novel, play and short story has its own entry on ŷ.]]> 336 Agatha Christie 0425205975 Kathleen 0 3.84 1934 Three Act Tragedy (Hercule Poirot, #11)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1934
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/31
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]]> <![CDATA[Murder in Mesopotamia (Hercule Poirot, #14)]]> 16360
It was clear to nurse Amy Leatheran that something sinister was going on at the Hassanieh dig, something associated with the presence of ‘Lovely Louise�, the wife of the celebrated archaeologist Dr. Leidner. But she couldn't pinpoint it.

In a few days� time Hercule Poirot was due to drop in at the excavation site. With Louise suffering terrifying hallucinations, and tension within the group becoming almost unbearable, Poirot might just be too late…]]> 264 Agatha Christie 0007113803 Kathleen 0 3.92 1936 Murder in Mesopotamia (Hercule Poirot, #14)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1936
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/26
date added: 2025/03/26
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]]> <![CDATA[Death in the Clouds (Hercule Poirot, #12)]]> 16326
From seat No.9, Hercule Poirot was ideally placed to observe his fellow air passengers. Over to his right sat a pretty young woman, clearly infatuated with the man opposite; ahead, in seat No.13, sat a Countess with a poorly-concealed cocaine habit; across the gangway in seat No.8, a detective writer was being troubled by an aggressive wasp. What Poirot did not yet realize was that behind him, in seat No.2, sat the slumped, lifeless body of a woman.

How could this happen with the world's No. 1 private detective on board?]]> 336 Agatha Christie 000711933X Kathleen 0 3.84 1935 Death in the Clouds (Hercule Poirot, #12)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1935
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/22
date added: 2025/03/22
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]]> <![CDATA[Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History]]> 35171984
Over the course of five centuries--from the Salem witch trials to Scientology to the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, from P. T. Barnum to Hollywood and the anything-goes, wild-and-crazy sixties, from conspiracy theories to our fetish for guns and obsession with extraterrestrials--our love of the fantastic has made America exceptional in a way that we've never fully acknowledged. From the start, our ultra-individualism was attached to epic dreams and epic fantasies--every citizen was free to believe absolutely anything, or to pretend to be absolutely anybody. With the gleeful erudition and tell-it-like-it-is ferocity of a Christopher Hitchens, Andersen explores whether the great American experiment in liberty has gone off the rails.]]> 429 Kurt Andersen Kathleen 0 4.09 2017 Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History
author: Kurt Andersen
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/21
date added: 2025/03/21
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]]> <![CDATA[The Longest Con: How Grifters, Swindlers, and Frauds Hijacked American Conservatism]]> 195790583 A sardonic chronicle of how conservatism turned into a racketeering enterprise � and why Donald Trump became the living emblem of the American right’s moral decay.The Longest Con tells the fascinating story of the partisan con artists who have corrupted conservative politics in our time, creating a toxic phenomenon that culminated in the election of Donald Trump, a bumptious fraud whose checkered career and tawdry retinue, including his presidential cabinet, have featured almost every variety of scam. But long before he appeared, Trump’s path to power was blazed by the motley horde of swindlers and quacks who preceded him.From the “professional anti-communists� (whose tactics even J. Edgar Hoover despised) to the “populist� grifters of the Tea Party movement and the religious charlatans of the “prosperity gospel� (who provided a pious front for Trump), the right-wing ripoff has remained remarkably consistent, even as personalities change and new technologies Stir up anger and resentment, demonize political opponents, promise vengeance, and collect donations from the gullible. It’s a highly lucrative game that any unscrupulous charlatan can play, as many have � and they are named in these pages.In an unsparing and often comic narrative, Joe Conason explores the right’s long, steep descent into a movement whose principal aim is not to protect freedom or defend the Constitution, but merely to line the pockets of pretenders and blowhards whose malevolent tactics now endanger the nation.]]> 320 Joe Conason 125062116X Kathleen 4 I knew most of the information but it was good to have it clearly laid out.]]> 4.07 2024 The Longest Con: How Grifters, Swindlers, and Frauds Hijacked American Conservatism
author: Joe Conason
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/26
date added: 2025/02/26
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A very easy read; clear, concise, and thorough.
I knew most of the information but it was good to have it clearly laid out.
]]> <![CDATA[Hidden in Snow (The Åre Murders, #1)]]> 60400625
On the day Stockholm police officer Hanna Ahlander’s personal and professional lives crash, she takes refuge at her sister’s lodge in the Swedish ski resort paradise of Åre. But it’s a brief comfort. The entire village is shaken by the sudden vanishing of a local teenage girl. Hanna can’t help but investigate, and while searching for the missing person, she lands a job with the local police department. There she joins forces with Detective Inspector Daniel Lindskog, who has been tasked with finding the girl. Their only lead: a scarf in the snow.

As subzero temperatures drop even further, a treacherous blizzard sweeps toward Åre. Hanna and Daniel’s investigation is getting more desperate by the hour. Lost or abducted, either way time is running out for the missing girl. Each new clue closes in on something far more sinister than either Hanna or Daniel imagined. In this devious novel by the bestselling author of the Sandhamn Murders series, discover what it will take to solve a case when the truth can be so easily hidden in the coming storm.]]> 434 Viveca Sten 1542037506 Kathleen 4 4.10 2020 Hidden in Snow (The Åre Murders, #1)
author: Viveca Sten
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/16
date added: 2025/02/16
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]]> <![CDATA[The Last Murder at the End of the World]]> 213570810
Outside the island there is nothing: the world was destroyed by a fog that swept the planet, killing anyone it touched.

On the island: it is idyllic. One hundred and twenty-two villagers and three scientists, living in peaceful harmony. The villagers are content to fish, farm and feast, to obey their nightly curfew, to do what they're told by the scientists.

Until, to the horror of the islanders, one of their beloved scientists is found brutally stabbed to death. And then they learn that the murder has triggered a lowering of the security system around the island, the only thing that was keeping the fog at bay. If the murder isn't solved within 107 hours, the fog will smother the island—and everyone on it.

But the security system has also wiped everyone's memories of exactly what happened the night before, which means that someone on the island is a murderer—and they don't even know it.

And the clock is ticking.

From the bestselling author of The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and The Devil and the Dark Water comes an inventive, high-concept murder mystery: an ingenious puzzle, an extraordinary backdrop, and an audacious solution.]]> 432 Stuart Turton 1464221847 Kathleen 4 The futuristic yet primitive setting seem at odds but as the story unravels we see hope for the future.]]> 3.58 2024 The Last Murder at the End of the World
author: Stuart Turton
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/13
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves:
review:
An enjoyable tale about an apocalyptic aftermath and the humans and (simula)crums who share it. An apparent murder and ensuing second apocalypse seem inevitable unless a crum with an unusual personality can discover what happened.
The futuristic yet primitive setting seem at odds but as the story unravels we see hope for the future.
]]> The Hike 60196529
When sisters Cat and Ginny travel with their husbands to the idyllic Swiss Alps for a hiking holiday, it’s not just a chance to take in the stunning scenery. It’s an opportunity to reconnect with each other after years of drifting apart—and patch up marriages that are straining at the seams.

As they head into the mountains, morale is high, but as the terrain turns treacherous, cracks in the relationships start to show. With worrying signs that someone might be following them, the sun begins to set and exhaustion kicks in. Suddenly, lost high on a terrifying ridge, tensions spill over—with disastrous consequences.

When only two of the four hikers make it down from the mountain, the police press them for their story—but soon become suspicious when their accounts just don’t add up.

What really happened up on that ridge? Who are the survivors? And what secrets are they trying to hide?]]> 266 Susi Holliday 1542035333 Kathleen 0 currently-reading 3.59 2022 The Hike
author: Susi Holliday
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Common Sense, The Rights of Man and Other Essential Writings]]> 99955 416 Thomas Paine 0451528891 Kathleen 4 4.15 1776 Common Sense, The Rights of Man and Other Essential Writings
author: Thomas Paine
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1776
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/10
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves:
review:

]]> Doreen 2728105 238 Barbara Noble 1903155509 Kathleen 4 4.35 1946 Doreen
author: Barbara Noble
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.35
book published: 1946
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/09
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves:
review:
This was a bittersweet story of an aspect of war too many are unaware of. A mother makes the difficult decision to evacuate her daughter out of London to the country during WWII. The effects of this decision on the lives of the four principal people involved are far more profound than any of them could have imagined.
]]> <![CDATA[Dance of Thieves (Dance of Thieves, #1)]]> 37906104 A stunning new young adult adventure set in the kingdoms of the Remnant, by the author of the New York Times-bestselling Remnant Chronicles and the Jenna Fox Chronicles.

A formidable outlaw family that claims to be the first among nations.

A son destined to lead, thrust suddenly into power.

Three fierce young women of the Rahtan, the queen's premier guard.

A legendary street thief leading a mission, determined to prove herself.

A dark secret that is a threat to the entire continent.

When outlaw leader meets reformed thief, a cat-and-mouse game of false moves ensues, bringing them intimately together in a battle that may cost them their lives—and their hearts.]]> 507 Mary E. Pearson 1250159024 Kathleen 0 to-read 4.21 2018 Dance of Thieves (Dance of Thieves, #1)
author: Mary E. Pearson
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America]]> 53562067 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER � When did America give up on fairness? The author of Fantasyland tells the epic history of how America decided that big business gets whatever it wants, only the rich get richer, and nothing should ever change—and charts a way back to the future.

“Essential, absorbing . . . a graceful, authoritative guide . . . a radicalized moderate’s moderate case for radical change.”�The New York Times Book Review

During the twentieth century, America managed to make its economic and social systems both more and more fair and more and more prosperous. A huge, secure, and contented middle class emerged. All boats rose together. But then the New Deal gave way to the Raw Deal. Beginning in the early 1970s, by means of a long war conceived of and executed by a confederacy of big business CEOs, the superrich, and right-wing zealots, the rules and norms that made the American middle class possible were undermined and dismantled. The clock was turned back on a century of economic progress, making greed good, workers powerless, and the market all-powerful while weaponizing nostalgia, lifting up an oligarchy that served only its own interests, and leaving the huge majority of Americans with dwindling economic prospects and hope.

Why and how did America take such a wrong turn? In this deeply researched and brilliantly woven cultural, economic, and political chronicle, Kurt Andersen offers a fresh, provocative, and eye-opening history of America’s undoing, naming names, showing receipts, and unsparingly assigning blame—to the radical right in economics and the law, the high priests of high finance, a complacent and complicit Establishment, and liberal “useful idiots,� among whom he includes himself.

Only a writer with Andersen’s crackling energy, deep insight, and ability to connect disparate dots and see complex systems with clarity could make such a book both intellectually formidable and vastly entertaining. And only a writer of Andersen’s vision could reckon with our current high-stakes inflection point, and show the way out of this man-made disaster.]]> 430 Kurt Andersen 1984801368 Kathleen 0 to-read 4.22 2020 Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America
author: Kurt Andersen
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Ipcress File (Secret File, #1)]]> 171624
The Ipcress File was not only Len Deighton’s first novel, it was his first bestseller and the book that broke the mould of thriller writing.

For the working class narrator, an apparently straightforward mission to find a missing biochemist becomes a journey to the heart of a dark and deadly conspiracy.

The film of The Ipcress File gave Michael Caine one of his first and still most celebrated starring roles, while the novel itself has become a classic.]]> 342 Len Deighton Kathleen 4 Overall it was a good story and now I would like to see the movie.
]]> 3.95 1962 The Ipcress File (Secret File, #1)
author: Len Deighton
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1962
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/02
date added: 2025/02/02
shelves:
review:
I am sure it is me, but there were too many times I felt something was missing, left out. One example is no mention of the narrator lighting a cigarette, but then he is told “we don’t smoke in the kitchen.� It seemed a nonsequiter until ashing the cigarette is mentioned.
Overall it was a good story and now I would like to see the movie.

]]> <![CDATA[Eighteen: A History of Britain in 18 Young Lives]]> 203640289
At eighteen, your life is full of of what-ifs and why-nots. You have everything to look forward to � unless you’ve got the plague.

From a young Elizabeth Tudor, the orphan facing deadly intrigue at court, to a teenage Richard Burton, the rugby-obsessed son of a Welsh miner, historian Alice Loxton explores Britain’s past through the lives of eighteen figures at this crucial age.

How do you make a living in Georgian London with no arms or legs? What would you do if a world war interrupted your university studies? With plenty of wit and insight, Eighteen invites readers to join an eclectic cast of young Britons across the nation and throughout its history, to find out what makes us who we are.

Filled with fascinating stories of royalty, explorers, writers and entertainers, Eighteen asks what lessons we can learn for modern Britain.

]]> 338 Alice Loxton 1035031302 Kathleen 0 to-read 3.84 Eighteen: A History of Britain in 18 Young Lives
author: Alice Loxton
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.84
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Fourteen Days 213344068
One week into the COVID-19 shutdown, tenants of a Lower East Side apartment building in Manhattan have begun to gather on the rooftop and tell stories. With each passing night, more and more neighbours gather, bringing chairs and milk crates and overturned pails. Gradually the tenants - some of whom have barely spoken to each other - become real neighbours. In this Decameron-like serial novel, general editor Margaret Atwood, Authors Guild president Douglas Preston, and a star-studded list of contributors create a beautiful ode to the people who couldn't get away from the city when the pandemic hit. A dazzling, heartwarming and ultimately surprising narrative, Fourteen Days reveals how beneath the horrible loss and suffering, some communities managed to become stronger.

Includes writing from:
Margaret Atwood, Douglas Preston, Celeste Ng, Emma Donoghue, Dave Eggers, John Grisham, Diana Gabaldon, Ishmael Reed, Meg Wolitzer, Luis Alberto Urrea, James Shapiro, Sylvia Day, Mary Pope Osborne, Monique Truong, Hampton Sides, R. L. Stine, Scott Turow, Tommy Orange, and more!]]> 384 Margaret Atwood 0063280183 Kathleen 0 to-read 3.52 2024 Fourteen Days
author: Margaret Atwood
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Listerdale Mystery: A Short Story]]> 17851744 Previously published in the print anthology The Golden Ball and Other Stories.

After Mr. St. Vincent's death, his family is plunged into poverty. Living in reduced circumstances, they are surprised to find an elegant townhouse—with staff—for a suspiciously cheap rent. Why would Lord Listerdale lend them his home for such a low price, and why are the servants so accommodating?

]]> 36 Agatha Christie 0062302272 Kathleen 0 3.68 The Listerdale Mystery: A Short Story
author: Agatha Christie
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.68
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2025/01/19
date added: 2025/01/19
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Daughter of Time (Inspector Alan Grant, #5)]]> 77661 206 Josephine Tey Kathleen 5 Apparently Winston Churchill was not a fan of the premise.]]> 3.89 1951 The Daughter of Time (Inspector Alan Grant, #5)
author: Josephine Tey
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1951
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/18
date added: 2025/01/18
shelves:
review:
Other authors have done similar things with historical mysteries. I am not sure if I would enjoy those but I certainly enjoyed this. I ended up learning a lot of history as I felt the need to check on some of the information just for clarification at some points.
Apparently Winston Churchill was not a fan of the premise.
]]> Why Didn't They Ask Evans? 102303 Why didn't they ask Evans? Bobby and Frances would love to know. Unfortunately, asking the wrong people has sent the amateur sleuths running for their lives--on a wild and deadly pursuit to discover who Evans is, what it was he wasn't asked, and why the mysterious inquiry has put their own lives in mortal danger...
]]> 288 Agatha Christie 0312981597 Kathleen 4 3.92 1934 Why Didn't They Ask Evans?
author: Agatha Christie
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1934
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/14
date added: 2025/01/14
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Hound of Death - an Agatha Christie Standalone Short Story]]> 19032040
Previously published in the print anthologies 'The Golden Ball and Other Stories' and 'The Hound of Death and Other Stories'.]]> 36 Agatha Christie Kathleen 3 3.27 1933 The Hound of Death - an Agatha Christie Standalone Short Story
author: Agatha Christie
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.27
book published: 1933
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/07
date added: 2025/01/07
shelves:
review:
I did not really like this story. I feel like something was missing. Perhaps I am not clever enough.
]]> Lord Edgeware Dies 128937439 0 Agatha Christie Kathleen 3 3.89 1933 Lord Edgeware Dies
author: Agatha Christie
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1933
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/04
date added: 2025/01/04
shelves:
review:
This story of very casual murder is filled with casual racism too. It is an interesting story but the racism does spoil it and I understand the impulse to rewrite.
]]> <![CDATA[The Thirteen Problems (Miss Marple, #0.5)]]> 31309
Pit your wits against the powers of deduction of the ‘Tuesday Night Club�. But don't forget that Miss Marple is present. Sometime later, many of the same people are present at a dinner given by Colonel and Dolly Bantry. Another set of six problems. Even later there's a thirteenth. Can you match Miss Marple's performance?

The 13 stories are: 1. The Tuesday Night Club, 2. The Idol House of Astarte, 3. Ingots of Gold, 4. The Bloodstained Pavement, 5. Motive v. Opportunity, 6. The Thumbmark of St. Peter, 7. The Blue Geranium, 8. The Companion, 9. The Four Suspects, 10. A Christmas Tragedy, 11. The Herb of Death, 12. The Affair at the Bungalow, and 13. Death by Drowning.

Librarian's note: this entry is for the collection of short stories, "The Thirteen Problems." Entries for each of the stories are located elsewhere in ŷ. There are 12 Miss Marple novels and 20 short stories, thirteen of which are in this collection. The 20 short stories about Miss M can be found by searching ŷ for: "a Miss Marple Short Story."]]> 315 Agatha Christie 0007120869 Kathleen 5 Christie must have been somewhat like Miss Marple.]]> 3.98 1932 The Thirteen Problems (Miss Marple, #0.5)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1932
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/03
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves:
review:
This is the introduction of Miss Marple, and a wonderful one it is. Though written after Murder at the Vicarage, this is really the beginning, the introduction of Miss Marple. The cases told are varied and do provide insight into human motivations.
Christie must have been somewhat like Miss Marple.
]]> <![CDATA[The Mystery Guest (Molly the Maid, #2)]]> 218537468
Alors que l’affaire menace la réputation du Regency Grand, et que tous les employés sont des suspects, Molly se rend compte qu’elle a un lien important avec la victime. La clé de cette énigme se trouve nichée dans son passé, à l’époque où, enfant, elle accompagnait sa grand-mère dans le mystérieux manoir des Grimthorpe�

Afin d’aider ses amis, de sauver l’hôtel et d’empêcher un nouveau drame, Molly va se lancer corps et âme dans cette nouvelle enquête haute en couleur !]]> 336 Nita Prose 0593356209 Kathleen 0 to-read 3.83 2023 The Mystery Guest (Molly the Maid, #2)
author: Nita Prose
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Murder at the Vicarage (Miss Marple, #1)]]> 16331 288 Agatha Christie 1579126251 Kathleen 5 4.07 1930 Murder at the Vicarage (Miss Marple, #1)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1930
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/30
date added: 2024/12/30
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Murder Is Announced (Miss Marple, #4)]]> 16298
The novel was promoted on both sides of the Atlantic as Agatha Christie's 50th book and published in 1950 by William Collins.

Librarian's note: this entry is for the novel, "A Murder is Announced." Collections and other Miss Marple stories are located elsewhere on ŷ. The series includes 12 novels and 20 short stories. Entries for the short stories can be found by searching ŷ for: "a Miss Marple Short Story."]]> 288 Agatha Christie 1579126294 Kathleen 5 4.01 1950 A Murder Is Announced (Miss Marple, #4)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1950
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/28
date added: 2024/12/28
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories (Hercule Poirot, #28)]]> 909870 288 Agatha Christie 0312979738 Kathleen 4 3.92 1932 The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories (Hercule Poirot, #28)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1932
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/24
date added: 2024/12/24
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Mysterious Mr. Quin (a Harley Quin Short-Story Omnibus)]]> 16356
Indeed, he is Harlequin. The only consistent thing about the mysterious Mr. Quin is that his presence is always a harbinger of love .. or death.

Quin and Satterthwaite appear in a string of short stories by the incomparable Agatha Christie. She often said that some of them are among her personal favourites. They'll be yours too.

Librarian's note #1: the characters, settings, etc. have been done for the 12 stories in this collection: 1. The Coming of Mr. Quin; 2. The Shadow on the Glass; 3. At the 'Bells and Motley,' 4. The Sign in the Sky; 5. The Soul of the Croupier; 6. The Man from the Sea; 7. The Voice in the Dark; 8. The Face of Helen; 9. The Dead Harlequin; 10. The Bird with the Broken Wing; 11. The World's End; and, 12. Harlequin's Lane.

Librarian's note #2: the characters, settings, etc. have also been done for the other two Mr. Quin stories which are found in other collections: 'The Love Detectives,' and 'The Harlequin Tea Set.' Mr. Satterthwaite also appears in 'Three Act Tragedy' and 'Dead Man's Mirror.' All by Agatha Christie, of course!

Librarian's note #3: this is the entry for the collection of 12 short stories, 'The Mysterious Mr. Quin.' Entries for each of the stories are located elsewhere on ŷ. All 12, plus the 2 extras in note #2, can be found by searching ŷ for: 'a Harley Quin Short Story.' Or, for 'Harley Quin.' Details on characters and settings, etc., can be found there.]]> 396 Agatha Christie 0007154844 Kathleen 4 The variety and length of the stories in this book made it an easy read during a few busy days.]]> 3.77 1930 The Mysterious Mr. Quin (a Harley Quin Short-Story Omnibus)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1930
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/17
date added: 2024/12/17
shelves:
review:
I really enjoyed Mr Satterthwaite and his interactions with Harley Quin.
The variety and length of the stories in this book made it an easy read during a few busy days.
]]> <![CDATA[She Died a Lady (Sir Henry Merrivale, #14)]]> 1273213
"What about your husband?"

"He doesn't know!"

But was Alec Wainright ignorant of the fact that his beautiful young wife was having an affair? And what possible solution was there for Rita and Barry with Alec standing in their way, so old, so ill, and so devoted?

Then one black night the unexpected happens. and that's where Sir Henry Merrivale comes in. The great H.M. has a nasty time with this ironclad puzzle.]]> 266 Carter Dickson 0821722387 Kathleen 5 Two narrators tell the tale of lovers doomed to tragedy.]]> 3.91 1943 She Died a Lady (Sir Henry Merrivale, #14)
author: Carter Dickson
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1943
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/11
date added: 2024/12/11
shelves:
review:
A thoroughly enjoyable who dunnit on the brink of WWII.
Two narrators tell the tale of lovers doomed to tragedy.
]]> <![CDATA[Peril at End House (Hercule Poirot, #8)]]> 16424
Poirot quickly takes a particular interest in the young woman. Recently, she has narrowly escaped a series of life-threatening accidents. Something tells the Belgian sleuth that these so-called accidents are more than just mere coincidences or a spate of bad luck. Something like a bullet! It seems all too clear to him that someone is trying to do away with poor Nick, but who? And, what is the motive? In his quest for answers, Poirot must delve into the dark history of End House. The deeper he gets into his investigation, the more certain he is that the killer will soon strike again. And, this time, Nick may not escape with her life.]]> 287 Agatha Christie 0007119305 Kathleen 4 And I was ahead of him on one point, sort of.
This is a fun read, thoroughly engaging.
I have enjoyed reading about, and learning about, Devon too.]]> 4.00 1932 Peril at End House (Hercule Poirot, #8)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1932
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/06
date added: 2024/12/06
shelves:
review:
I should not have been so easily taken in, but so was Poirot.
And I was ahead of him on one point, sort of.
This is a fun read, thoroughly engaging.
I have enjoyed reading about, and learning about, Devon too.
]]> The Sittaford Mystery 16339
Is this black magic or simply a macabre joke? The only way to be certain is to locate Captain Trevelyan. Unfortunately, his home is six miles away and, with snowdrifts blocking the roads, someone will have to make the journey on foot...]]> 248 Agatha Christie 0007136846 Kathleen 4 A rush in a snowstorm to check on a friend after table turning (a seance) says he is dead leads to several suspects and a flurry of activity for a reporter, and the fiance of the accused.
Some relationships that threw me are never fully explained and I still have some questions, but it was fun.]]> 3.77 1931 The Sittaford Mystery
author: Agatha Christie
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1931
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/03
date added: 2024/12/03
shelves:
review:
What a story!
A rush in a snowstorm to check on a friend after table turning (a seance) says he is dead leads to several suspects and a flurry of activity for a reporter, and the fiance of the accused.
Some relationships that threw me are never fully explained and I still have some questions, but it was fun.
]]> <![CDATA[Minority Rule: The Right-Wing Attack on the Will of the People―and the Fight to Resist It]]> 127282159
The mob that stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, represented an extreme form of the central danger facing American democracy a blatant disregard for the will of the majority. But this crisis didn’t begin or end with Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election. Through voter suppression, election subversion, gerrymandering, dark money, the takeover of the courts, and the whitewashing of history, reactionary white conservatives have strategically entrenched power in the face of a massive demographic and political shift. Ari Berman charts these efforts with sweeping historical research and incisive on-the-ground reporting, chronicling how a wide range of antidemocratic tactics interact with profound structural inequalities in institutions like the Electoral College, the Senate, and the Supreme Court to threaten the survival of representative government in America.

“The will of the people,� wrote Thomas Jefferson in 1801, “is the only legitimate foundation of any government.� But that foundation is crumbling. Some counter-majoritarian measures were deliberately built into the Constitution, which was designed in part to benefit a small propertied upper class, but they have metastasized to a degree that the Founding Fathers could never have anticipated, undermining the very notion of “a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.� Chilling and revelatory, Minority Rule exposes the long history of the conflict between white supremacy and multiracial democracy that has reached a fever pitch today―while also telling the inspiring story of resistance to these regressive efforts.]]> 384 Ari Berman 037460021X Kathleen 4 It is an important take on how a minority of our population has maintained a stranglehold on our political system and how, in fact, our founding principles have been inadvertently to blame.]]> 4.31 2024 Minority Rule: The Right-Wing Attack on the Will of the People―and the Fight to Resist It
author: Ari Berman
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/02
date added: 2024/12/02
shelves:
review:
I don’t know why it took me so long to finish reading this. Perhaps it’s the depressing nature of the political fight our nation has experienced or that I remember too much of it. For whatever reason, it has taken far longer than I expected.
It is an important take on how a minority of our population has maintained a stranglehold on our political system and how, in fact, our founding principles have been inadvertently to blame.
]]> The Emperor's Snuff-Box 63723 298 John Dickson Carr 0786702230 Kathleen 5 Then, at the end of this story of the lovely Eve he gives us a glimpse of a new mystery we will never know the truth about.
Highly entertaining and recommended ]]> 3.79 1942 The Emperor's Snuff-Box
author: John Dickson Carr
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.79
book published: 1942
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/02
date added: 2024/12/02
shelves:
review:
John Dickson Carr is a very talented writer of mysteries. He is clever at creating twists and turns that are very difficult to figure out ahead of the story’s end.
Then, at the end of this story of the lovely Eve he gives us a glimpse of a new mystery we will never know the truth about.
Highly entertaining and recommended
]]> <![CDATA[At Bertram's Hotel (Miss Marple, #10)]]> 16333
When Miss Marple comes up from the country for a holiday in London, she finds what she's looking for at Bertram's: traditional décor and impeccable service. But she senses an unmistakable atmosphere of danger behind the highly polished veneer. Not even Miss Marple can foresee the violent chain of events set in motion when an eccentric hotel guest makes his way to the airport one day late!

Librarian's note: this entry is for the novel, "At Bertram's Hotel." Collections and other Miss Marple stories are located elsewhere on ŷ. The series includes 12 novels and 20 short stories. Entries for the short stories can be found by searching ŷ for: "a Miss Marple Short Story."]]> 223 Agatha Christie Kathleen 4 Fun read 3.72 1965 At Bertram's Hotel (Miss Marple, #10)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1965
rating: 4
read at: 2017/09/12
date added: 2024/11/28
shelves:
review:
Fun read
]]> <![CDATA[The Man Who Could Not Shudder (Dr. Gideon Fell, #12)]]> 1090422 John Dickson Carr 0425019411 Kathleen 5 A weekend party in a ghost house results in murder and Dr. Gideon Fell and Inspector Elliott arrive on scene to investigate. The twists and turns on the path to the solution are cleverly plotted.
This would make an enjoyable movie.]]> 3.76 1940 The Man Who Could Not Shudder (Dr. Gideon Fell, #12)
author: John Dickson Carr
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1940
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/27
date added: 2024/11/27
shelves:
review:
This is an interesting and clever “closed room� murder.
A weekend party in a ghost house results in murder and Dr. Gideon Fell and Inspector Elliott arrive on scene to investigate. The twists and turns on the path to the solution are cleverly plotted.
This would make an enjoyable movie.
]]> <![CDATA[Bad Food: Game of Scones (Bad Food #1)]]> 55977928 160 Eric Luper 1338730355 Kathleen 4 There are lots of fun puns too.

Thanks to my grandson for introducing me to it, and the series.]]> 3.62 Bad Food: Game of Scones (Bad Food #1)
author: Eric Luper
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.62
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/08
date added: 2024/11/27
shelves:
review:
There are some plot holes but the target audience won’t mind.
There are lots of fun puns too.

Thanks to my grandson for introducing me to it, and the series.
]]> <![CDATA[Black Reconstruction in America (The Oxford W. E. B. Du Bois): An Essay Toward a History of the Part Which Black Folk Played in the Attempt to Reconstruct Democracy in America, 1860-1880]]> 22459113 Black Reconstruction in America tells and interprets the story of the twenty years of Reconstruction from the point of view of newly liberated African Americans. Though lambasted by critics at the time of its publication in 1935, Black Reconstruction has only grown in historical and literary importance. In the 1960s it joined the canon of the most influential revisionist historical works. Its greatest achievement is weaving a credible, lyrical historical narrative of the hostile and politically fraught years of 1860-1880 with a powerful critical analysis of the harmful effects of democracy, including Jim Crow laws and other injustices. With a series introduction by editor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and an introduction by David Levering Lewis, this edition is essential for anyone interested in African American history.]]> 1700 W.E.B. Du Bois 019938567X Kathleen 0 to-read 4.59 1935 Black Reconstruction in America (The Oxford W. E. B. Du Bois): An Essay Toward a History of the Part Which Black Folk Played in the Attempt to Reconstruct Democracy in America, 1860-1880
author: W.E.B. Du Bois
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.59
book published: 1935
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Dark Maestro 217453559 From the author of The Violin Conspiracy and Symphony of Secrets comes a mesmerizing page-turner about a young Black musical virtuoso at the peak of his career who’s forced into hiding when his family runs afoul of a ruthless international cartel—and uses his music to fight back.

Curtis Wilson is a classical music prodigy. Having played since the age of five, he is that rare performer who, through sheer force of will and phenomenal talent, has clawed his way out of inner-city DC and risen to the heights of the classical music world—soloing with the New York Philharmonic. Zippy, his father, is a midlevel drug dealer, and Larissa, his father’s girlfriend, is a loving mother figure to Curtis and the heart of the family.

Then, when Zippy runs afoul of the kingpin who has provided his livelihood and nurtured his son’s talents, the family finds their lives in danger. With no choice but to run, they enter the witness protection program and abandon their former lives, including Curtis’s extraordinary career. When law enforcement seems unable to bring the cartel down, Curtis, Zippy, and Larissa realize that their only chance of returning to the way things were is to take on the cartel themselves—their own way.

A propulsive and moving story about sacrifice, loyalty, and the indomitable human spirit, TheDark Maestro is Slocumb at the height of his powers.]]> 416 Brendan Slocumb 0593687612 Kathleen 0 to-read 4.06 2025 The Dark Maestro
author: Brendan Slocumb
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/19
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Bright Years 214152211 One family. Four generations. A secret son. A devastating addiction. A Texas family is met with losses and surprises of inheritance, but they’re unable to shake the pull back toward each other in this big-hearted family saga perfect for readers of Mary Beth Keane and Claire Lombardo.

Ryan and Lillian Bright are deeply in love, recently married, and now parents to a baby girl, Georgette. But Lillian has a son she hasn’t told Ryan about, and Ryan has an alcohol addiction he hasn’t told Lillian about, so Georgette comes of age watching their marriage rise and fall.

When a shocking blow scatters their fragile trio, Georgette tries to distance herself from reminders of her parents. Years later, Lillian’s son comes searching for his birth family, so Georgette must return to her roots, unearth her family’s history, and decide whether she can open up to love for them—or herself—while there’s still time.

Told from three intimate points of view, The Bright Years is a tender, true-to-life novel that explores the impact of each generation in a family torn apart by tragedy but, over time, restored by the power of grace and love.]]> 288 Sarah Damoff 1668061449 Kathleen 0 to-read 4.40 2025 The Bright Years
author: Sarah Damoff
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> My Last Name 56569094 44 Eric M. Schumacher 1736408003 Kathleen 0 to-read 4.49 2021 My Last Name
author: Eric M. Schumacher
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Not in My Book 203194039 The Hating Game meets Beach Read in this sexy and hilarious contemporary romance from a debut Peruvian-Tennessean voice.

Rosie, an idealistic and passionate Peruvian-American who has grown up without strong ties to her culture, leaves her Tennessee hometown to pursue her dream of making it in New York as a writer. But her plan is derailed when she ends up in class with her arch-nemesis and ex-crush, Aiden Huntington—an obnoxious, surly, and gorgeous literary fiction writer who doesn’t have much patience for the romance genre, or for Rosie.

Rosie and Aiden regularly go to verbal battle in workshop until their professor reaches her breaking point. She allows them to stay in her class on one condition: they must co-write a novel that blends their genres.

The reluctant writing duo can’t help but put pieces of themselves into their accidentally steamy novel, and as they slowly get to know each other, they try to put their differences aside. Meanwhile, their manuscript-in-progress provides an outlet for them to confess their feelings—and explore their attraction toward each other.

When Rosie and Aiden find themselves competing against each other for a potentially career-changing opportunity, the flames of old rivalry reignite, and their once-in-a-lifetime love story is once again at risk of being shelved—unless they can find a way to end the book on their own terms.]]> 320 Katie Holt 1639109757 Kathleen 0 to-read 3.81 2024 Not in My Book
author: Katie Holt
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Keeper of Lost Art 199532069
As Allied bombs rain down on Torino in the autumn of 1942, Stella Costa’s mother sends her to safety with distant relatives in a Tuscan villa. There, Stella finds her family tasked with a great responsibility: hiding nearly 300 priceless masterpieces from Florence, including Botticelli’s famous Primavera.

With the arrival of German troops imminent, Stella finds herself a stranger in her family’s villa and she struggles to understand why her aunt doesn’t like her. She knows it has something to do with her parents—and the fact that her father, who is currently fighting at the front, has been largely absent from her life.

When a wave of refugees seeks shelter in the villa, Stella befriends Sandro, an orphaned boy with remarkable artistic talent. Amid the growing threats, Sandro and Stella take refuge in the villa’s “treasure room,� where the paintings are hidden. There, Botticelli’s masterpiece and other works of art become a solace, an inspiration, and the glue that bonds Stella and Sandro as the dangers grow.

A troop of German soldiers requisitions the villa and puts everyone to forced labor. Now, with the villa full of German soldiers, refugees, a secret guest, and hundreds of priceless treasures, no one knows who will emerge unscathed, and whether the paintings will be taken as spoils or become unintended casualties.

Inspired by the incredible true story of a single Tuscan villa used as a hiding place for the treasures of Florentine art during World War II, The Keeper of Lost Art takes readers on a breathtaking journey into one of the darkest chapters of Italy’s history, highlighting the incredible courage of everyday people to protect some of the most important works of art in western civilization.]]> 352 Laura Morelli 0063206013 Kathleen 0 to-read 4.16 The Keeper of Lost Art
author: Laura Morelli
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.16
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[December Dread (Murder by Month Mystery, #8)]]> 204119090
Revised: This edition of December Dread includes editorial revisions.]]> 268 Jess Lourey 1662519370 Kathleen 0 to-read 4.32 2012 December Dread (Murder by Month Mystery, #8)
author: Jess Lourey
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[M is for Malice (Kinsey Millhone, #13)]]> 64854
Malek Construction is a mega-million-dollar company that grew out of modest soil to become one of the big three in California construction—and one of the few still in family hands. Today, the three Malek sons stand to inherit a fortune, but in order for any one of them to claim his share, the missing fourth brother must be found.

M is for MISSING�

Now it’s up to Kinsey Millhone to find Guy Malek, the man who, eighteen years ago, vanished without a trace. Did he run away—or was he abducted? Did he intend to make something of himself on his own, apart from the wealth and prowess of his family, or were his motives something more sinister?

M is for MALICE...

The ties that bind. The rivalries of brotherhood. The fall of an empire� As Kinsey tries to unravel the mystery of the missing Malek brother she finds herself in a heart-stopping race against time in which loyalties are tested, greed is rampant, and no one—including Kinsey herself—is safe…]]> 337 Sue Grafton 0449223604 Kathleen 4 4.09 1996 M is for Malice (Kinsey Millhone, #13)
author: Sue Grafton
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/19
date added: 2024/11/18
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Last Murder at the End of the World]]> 216967150
Until, to the horror of the islanders, one of their beloved scientists is found brutally stabbed to death. And then they learn that the murder has triggered a lowering of the security system around the island, the only thing that was keeping the fog at bay. If the murder isn't solved within one hundred and seven hours, the fog will smother the island—and everyone on it.

But the security system has also wiped everyone's memories of exactly what happened the night before, which means that someone on the island is a murderer—and they don't even know it...]]> 354 Stuart Turton 1728254655 Kathleen 0 to-read 3.80 2024 The Last Murder at the End of the World
author: Stuart Turton
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Bridge Kingdom (The Bridge Kingdom, #1)]]> 211081101
The only route through a storm-ravaged world, the Bridge Kingdom enriches itself and deprives its rivals, including Lara's homeland. So when she’s sent as a bride under the guise of peace, Lara is prepared to do whatever it takes to fracture its impenetrable defenses. And the defenses of its king.

Yet as she infiltrates her new home and gains a deeper understanding of the war to possess the bridge, Lara begins to question whether she’s the hero or the villain. And as her feelings for Aren transform from frosty hostility to fierce passion, Lara must choose which kingdom she’ll save� and which kingdom she’ll destroy.

Passionate and violent, The Bridge Kingdom is a seductive fantasy perfect for fans of From Blood and Ash and A Court of Thorns and Roses.]]> 430 Danielle L. Jensen 0593975189 Kathleen 0 to-read 4.01 2018 The Bridge Kingdom (The Bridge Kingdom, #1)
author: Danielle L. Jensen
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Short Stay in Hell 11003233
In this haunting existential novella, author, philosopher, and ecologist Steven L. Peck explores a subversive vision of eternity, taking the reader on a journey through the afterlife of a world where everything everyone believed in turns out to be wrong.]]> 110 Steven L. Peck Kathleen 0 to-read 4.24 2011 A Short Stay in Hell
author: Steven L. Peck
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Mother's Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy]]> 25937937 For the last sixteen years, Sue Klebold, Dylan s mother, has lived with the indescribable grief and shame of that day. How could her child, the promising young man she had loved and raised, be responsible for such horror? And how, as his mother, had she not known something was wrong? Were there subtle signs she had missed? What, if anything, could she have done differently?
These are questions that Klebold has grappled with every day since the Columbine tragedy. In"A Mother s Reckoning," she chronicles with unflinching honesty her journey as a mother trying to come to terms with the incomprehensible. In the hope that the insights and understanding she has gained may help other families recognize when a child is in distress, she tells her story in full, drawing upon her personal journals, the videos and writings that Dylan left behind, and on countless interviews with mental health experts.
Filled with hard-won wisdom and compassion, "A Mother s Reckoning"is a powerful and haunting book that sheds light on one of the most pressing issues of our time. And with fresh wounds from the recent Newtown and Charleston shootings, never has the need for understanding been more urgent.
"All author profits from the book will be donated to research and to charitable organizations focusing on mental health issues."


"From the Hardcover edition.""]]> 305 Sue Klebold 1101902752 Kathleen 0 to-read 4.18 2016 A Mother's Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy
author: Sue Klebold
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> My Evil Mother 60497502 32 Margaret Atwood 1662504497 Kathleen 4 3.88 2022 My Evil Mother
author: Margaret Atwood
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/09
date added: 2024/10/09
shelves:
review:

]]> The Nine Wrong Answers 930190 186 John Dickson Carr 0881842206 Kathleen 4 ]]> 3.74 1952 The Nine Wrong Answers
author: John Dickson Carr
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1952
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/04
date added: 2024/10/04
shelves:
review:
Cleverly written, and an engaging storyline

]]> The Wheel Spins 12364191 The Lady Vanishes, Ethel White's book The Wheel Spins is a gripping and accomplished work in its own right. The plot is deceptively simple and the premise is classic: a woman meets a mysterious stranger during a long railway journey. It's easy to see in this novel what Hitchcock found so compelling and so well-suited to his particular brand of filmmaking.

The protagonist of the story is Iris Carr, who suffers a blackout just before boarding a train that is traveling across Europe to London. On board the train, the still-woozy Iris befriends a certain Mrs. Froy, a fellow Englishwoman who is perhaps a bit eccentric but seems to be for the most part agreeable and benign. Mrs. Froy is the "vanishing lady" of Hitchcock's title, and it is Mrs. Froy who mysteriously disappears while Iris is napping. Her inexplicable departure throws Iris into a mind-bending mystery that will make her alternately question her sanity and the designs of the people around her. When Iris asks about Mrs. Froy, everyone on board the train denies ever having seen the old woman. Although Iris could perhaps be swayed due to the knock on her head that Mrs. Froy was merely a vivid hallucination, a few stray details suggest that something more sinister is happening, and Iris resolves to get to the bottom of the mystery.

As gripping as the plot is, the novel's true strength is the masterful way in which White builds a brooding and ominous atmosphere that hangs over even the most seemingly ordinary scenes. White has been compared to Edgar Allan Poe, although White also has much in common with Wilkie Collins, Patricia Highsmith, and Mary Higgins Clark. Unlike traditional mystery stories or whodunits which generally open with a crime, White's novels trade on our anticipation of a future transgression and the eventual explanation of unusual events.]]> 239 Ethel Lina White Kathleen 0 to-read 3.74 1936 The Wheel Spins
author: Ethel Lina White
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1936
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Necessary Lies (Necessary Lies, #1)]]> 17286747
After losing her parents, fifteen-year-old Ivy Hartis left to care for her grandmother, older sister and nephew as tenants on a small tobacco farm. As she struggles with her grandmother’s aging, her sister’s mental illness and her own epilepsy, she realizes they might need more than she can give.

When Jane Forrester takes a position as Grace County’s newest social worker, she doesn’t realize just how much her help is needed. She quickly becomes emotionally invested in her clients' lives, causing tension with her boss and her new husband. But as Jane is drawn in by the Hart women, she begins to discover the secrets of the small farm—secrets much darker than she would have guessed. Soon, she must decide whether to take drastic action to help them, or risk losing the battle against everything she believes is wrong.

Set in rural Grace County, North Carolina in a time of state-mandated sterilizations and racial tension, Necessary Lies tells the story of these two young women, seemingly worlds apart, but both haunted by tragedy. Jane and Ivy are thrown together and must ask themselves: how can you know what you believe is right, when everyone is telling you it’s wrong?]]> 368 Diane Chamberlain 1250010691 Kathleen 4 The story, out of necessity, concentrates on one group of people, most of whom are clients of a social worker freshly out of college. She makes several bad decisions and the story is rather predictable but interesting.
It would be more interesting to read true stories about the eugenics program in the US.
Kellogg’s contributions and their results, how real people were affected.
Perhaps these easy reading story will inspire some to read this real history.]]> 4.28 2013 Necessary Lies (Necessary Lies, #1)
author: Diane Chamberlain
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/20
date added: 2024/09/20
shelves:
review:
An interesting fictionalization of an awful time in history when some people thought they knew what was best for others to do with their bodies. Hum, sounds familiar.
The story, out of necessity, concentrates on one group of people, most of whom are clients of a social worker freshly out of college. She makes several bad decisions and the story is rather predictable but interesting.
It would be more interesting to read true stories about the eugenics program in the US.
Kellogg’s contributions and their results, how real people were affected.
Perhaps these easy reading story will inspire some to read this real history.
]]> <![CDATA[The Wayward Girls of Samarcand by Melton A. McLaurin (2012-05-28)]]> 147038193 0 Kathleen 0 to-read 0.0 The Wayward Girls of Samarcand by Melton A. McLaurin (2012-05-28)
author: Melton A. McLaurin; Anne Russell
name: Kathleen
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Corpse in the Wax Works (Henri Bencolin, #4)]]> 24105857
It is the wax museum of Monsieur Augustin, a little man with large staring eyes who is certain that shadowy figures move among his statues--and who is not so mad as he seems...

It is into this grotesque world that the famous detective Bencolin, scourge of the Paris underworld, comes to solve two terrible murders--and uncovers the orgiastic Club of the Silver Key, infamous trysting place for masked lovers...]]> 224 John Dickson Carr Kathleen 5 ]]> 4.00 1932 The Corpse in the Wax Works (Henri Bencolin, #4)
author: John Dickson Carr
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1932
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/19
date added: 2024/09/19
shelves:
review:
This was an intriguing story about a vile blackmailer and the secret life of Paris at night colliding with the ideals of old France. The story line is well told with some exciting moments and bits of interesting history.

]]> Ladies from Hell 7981552 288 Robert Douglas Pinkerton 1110814003 Kathleen 5 The writing is a clear, easy reading style and gives a vivid picture of a privates life at the beginning of the war. Pinkerton even predicts who will win the war accurately. His prediction that submarines will go the way of the zeppelins was not as accurate.
I would highly recommend this book as part of an education about The Great War.]]> 4.25 1918 Ladies from Hell
author: Robert Douglas Pinkerton
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1918
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/10
date added: 2024/09/10
shelves:
review:
I bought a copy of this book at an estate sale for several reasons. First, the cover is attractively designed. Second, my father told me the story of The Plains of Abraham and the Scots in their kilts coming out of the fog, bagpipes playing and causing French troops to fear “the ladies from hell.� Third, it is a first hand account of the first world war. Fourth, the copy was dedicated to a Mrs. Botsford and Botsford is an historic name in this part of Michigan.
The writing is a clear, easy reading style and gives a vivid picture of a privates life at the beginning of the war. Pinkerton even predicts who will win the war accurately. His prediction that submarines will go the way of the zeppelins was not as accurate.
I would highly recommend this book as part of an education about The Great War.
]]> The Cases That Haunt Us 8123307
Confident in his opinions and systematic in his examination of high-profile whodunits, FBI veteran John Douglas proves his worth once again as one of the world's best psychological detectives. You may think you've read all there is about Jack the Ripper, Lizzie Borden, and the Lindbergh kidnapping, but Douglas has a few surprise conclusions in his modern analysis of these gripping crimes. By applying criminal personality profiling techniques he developed while stalking more current killers, Douglas provides a fresh, sage outlook on some disturbing history. He also sheds new light on San Francisco's Zodiac Killer, the Black Dahlia murder, Bambi Bembenek, the Boston Strangler, and the continuing mystery of who killed 6-year-old JonBenét Ramsey. Douglas sometimes reveals his chief suspect; other times he simply narrows down who the killer is not. In the JonBenét mystery (in which Douglas was hired by the Ramseys to find the killer), he presents a convincing case for why he believes the girl's parents are not guilty of murder. Douglas is founder of the FBI's Serial Killer Profiling Unit. His method of solving a crime by entering the mind of the killer inspired Thomas Harris's book The Silence of the Lambs. In this dissection of our most sensational crimes, Douglas proves that reality can be more horrifying than fiction. --Jodi Mailander Farrell]]> 512 John E. Douglas Kathleen 4 I probably learned most about the Lindbergh kidnapping. I hadn’t known much detail about it before.]]> 4.17 2000 The Cases That Haunt Us
author: John E. Douglas
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/03
date added: 2024/09/03
shelves:
review:
An interesting examination of some of the more famous unsolved cases in history.
I probably learned most about the Lindbergh kidnapping. I hadn’t known much detail about it before.
]]> The White Cottage Mystery 383197
NOTE: White Cottage Mystery was her first mystery, published as newspaper serial 1927; first published in book form 1975.]]> 139 Margery Allingham 088184666X Kathleen 4 3.49 1927 The White Cottage Mystery
author: Margery Allingham
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.49
book published: 1927
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/28
date added: 2024/08/28
shelves:
review:

]]> The Story of Philosophy 18885195 This brilliant and concise account of the lives and ideas of the world's great philosophers—Plato, Aristotle, Bacon, Spinoza, Voltaire, Kant, Schopenhauer, Spencer, Nietzsche, Bergson, Croce, Russell, Santayana, James, and Dewey—is "a delight" (The New York Times) and remains one of the most important books of our time.Will Durant chronicles the ideas of the great thinkers, the economic and intellectual environments which influenced them, and the personal traits and adventures out of which each philosophy grew. Durant’s insight and wit never cease to dazzle; The Story of Philosophy is an essential book for anyone who wishes to understand the history and development of philosophical ideas in the Western world.]]> 737 Will Durant Kathleen 0 currently-reading 4.31 1926 The Story of Philosophy
author: Will Durant
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1926
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> The Dovekeepers 10950924
In 70 C.E., nine hundred Jews held out for months against armies of Romans on Masada, a mountain in the Judean desert. According to the ancient historian Josephus, two women and five children survived. Based on this tragic and iconic event, Hoffman's novel is a spellbinding tale of four extraordinarily bold, resourceful, and sensuous women, each of whom has come to Masada by a different path. Yael's mother died in childbirth, and her father, an expert assassin, never forgave her for that death. Revka, a village baker's wife, watched the horrifically brutal murder of her daughter by Roman soldiers; she brings to Masada her young grandsons, rendered mute by what they have witnessed. Aziza is a warrior's daughter, raised as a boy, a fearless rider and an expert marksman who finds passion with a fellow soldier. Shirah, born in Alexandria, is wise in the ways of ancient magic and medicine, a woman with uncanny insight and power.

The lives of these four complex and fiercely independent women intersect in the desperate days of the siege. All are dovekeepers, and all are also keeping secrets - about who they are, where they come from, who fathered them, and whom they love.]]> 504 Alice Hoffman 145161747X Kathleen 0 to-read 4.05 2011 The Dovekeepers
author: Alice Hoffman
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Mind Readers (Albert Campion Mystery, #18)]]> 76640 Two schoolboys have discovered a miraculous gadget that enables them to read other people’s minds. Then one of the children vanishes—and Albert Campion is called in to crack the case. Soon the intrepid sleuth becomes snared in a sinister web of conspiracy, violence, and assassination—and in a lethal power play for control of a devastating device that could shatter the world!
Mystery at its British Best
Equally at home in the underworld and among the upper crust, super-sleuth Albert Campion rarely misses a clue or fails to find a motive. Behind his horn-rimmed glasses and mild-mannered facade is a brilliant mind that can penetrate to the villainous heart of the most heinous crime.]]> 260 Margery Allingham 0380705702 Kathleen 4 Perhaps it took me so long to read it because of my confusion, or perhaps being drawn out as it was made the story difficult to follow. ]]> 3.33 1965 The Mind Readers (Albert Campion Mystery, #18)
author: Margery Allingham
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.33
book published: 1965
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/24
date added: 2024/08/24
shelves:
review:
Much of the time I felt confused reading this. I still have many questions but the main plot of the book was interesting.
Perhaps it took me so long to read it because of my confusion, or perhaps being drawn out as it was made the story difficult to follow.
]]> <![CDATA[Around the World in Eighty Days]]> 54479 252 Jules Verne 014044906X Kathleen 4 3.95 1872 Around the World in Eighty Days
author: Jules Verne
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1872
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves:
review:

]]> The Call of Cthulhu 15730101 The Call of Cthulhu is a harrowing tale of the weakness of the human mind when confronted by powers and intelligences from beyond our world.]]> 43 H.P. Lovecraft Kathleen 0 to-read 3.97 1928 The Call of Cthulhu
author: H.P. Lovecraft
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1928
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Fashion in Shrouds (Albert Campion Mystery, #10)]]> 76637 femme fatale. Vain, stupid, and selfish, she attracts men like moths to a flame. When these men die, Albert suspects Georgia is more deliberately fatale than alluring.

All the books from Albert Campion series are standalone titles and can be read in any order.]]> 579 Margery Allingham 0708901522 Kathleen 5 I fell for the false ending though.
I now want to watch the video versions of Campion stories.]]> 3.92 1938 The Fashion in Shrouds (Albert Campion Mystery, #10)
author: Margery Allingham
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1938
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/03
date added: 2024/08/03
shelves:
review:
My favorite of the three Allingham’s I have read so far.
I fell for the false ending though.
I now want to watch the video versions of Campion stories.
]]> Leaving Seattle 215042096 197 J.C. Cole Kathleen 0 to-read 3.41 Leaving Seattle
author: J.C. Cole
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.41
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> From the Midst of Wickedness 51023818
Thomas Simpson, a professor at Sessions University, is seduced into joining the administration of president, Bryan Q. Fitz-Hugh, an extraordinarily brilliant, visionary, charismatic leader. As the new director of university communications, he begins to have disturbing concerns about the administration.

The new Beijing Center is dedicated and funded. No one is sure how it was paid for yet the president is planning such centers worldwide to fulfill his vision of Sessions as The Global University.

Anonymous international wire transfers of tens of millions of dollars are being received by the university's capital campaign.

The president is sleeping with the Secretary of State, with whom he graduated from the Kennedy School at Harvard.

The university's provost, who is jealous that Fitz-Hugh was chosen over him, successfully petitions the Faculty Senate to vote for an independent audit of the university.

His sudden, mysterious death and the uncertainty of whether it was a suicide or murder shocks the university.

As if Thomas did not have enough family, political and relationship troubles, an attractive and savvy reporter begins to stalk him, inquiring about the issues facing the university. Thomas's, his family's and the university's situation becomes ever more perilous and at risk.]]> 292 Nelson Cover 1944037640 Kathleen 0 to-read 4.00 2017 From the Midst of Wickedness
author: Nelson Cover
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Case of the Late Pig (Albert Campion Mystery, #8)]]> 383184
The Case of the Late Pig is, uniquely, narrated by Campion himself. In Allingham's inimitable style, high drama sits neatly beside pitch perfect black comedy. A heady mix of murder, romance, and the urbane detective's own unglamorous past make this an unmissable Allingham mystery.]]> 144 Margery Allingham Kathleen 4 I suspect this may be due to not having read previous Campion stories by Allingham.
Perhaps I was just not tuned in to this story well enough.

]]> 3.79 1937 The Case of the Late Pig (Albert Campion Mystery, #8)
author: Margery Allingham
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.79
book published: 1937
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/19
date added: 2024/07/19
shelves:
review:
An interesting book but a bit confusing in parts.
I suspect this may be due to not having read previous Campion stories by Allingham.
Perhaps I was just not tuned in to this story well enough.


]]> <![CDATA[The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness]]> 171681821
A must-read for all parents: the generation-defining investigation into the collapse of youth mental health in the era of smartphones, social media, and big tech—and a plan for a healthier, freer childhood.

“With tenacity and candor, Haidt lays out the consequences that have come with allowing kids to drift further into the virtual world . . . While also offering suggestions and solutions that could help protect a new generation of kids.� —Shannon Carlin, ,i>TIME, 100 Must-Read Books of 2024

After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s. Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose sharply, more than doubling on many measures. Why?

In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit many countries at the same time. He then investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults. Haidt shows how the “play-based childhood� began to decline in the 1980s, and how it was finally wiped out by the arrival of the “phone-based childhood� in the early 2010s. He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this “great rewiring of childhood� has interfered with children’s social and neurological development, covering everything from sleep deprivation to attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, social comparison, and perfectionism. He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences for themselves, their families, and their societies.

Most important, Haidt issues a clear call to action. He diagnoses the “collective action problems� that trap us, and then proposes four simple rules that might set us free. He describes steps that parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments can take to end the epidemic of mental illness and restore a more humane childhood.

Haidt has spent his career speaking truth backed by data in the most difficult landscapes—communities polarized by politics and religion, campuses battling culture wars, and now the public health emergency faced by Gen Z. We cannot afford to ignore his findings about protecting our children—and ourselves—from the psychological damage of a phone-based life.]]> 400 Jonathan Haidt 0593655036 Kathleen 0 to-read 4.36 2024 The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness
author: Jonathan Haidt
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Flowers for the Judge (Albert Campion Mystery, #7)]]> 383200
All eyes are on the other partners at the firm � cousins of the dead man with much to gain from his demise � and all rumours hint at a connection to the disappearance of another director decades earlier.

Desperate to salvage their reputation, the cousins turn to Albert Campion � but will his investigations clear the Barnabas family name, or besmirch it forever?]]> 256 Margery Allingham 0099492822 Kathleen 5 Well worth the read just for it, and the rest of the story is quite good too.
I really enjoyed Allingham’s writing.]]> 3.97 1936 Flowers for the Judge (Albert Campion Mystery, #7)
author: Margery Allingham
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1936
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/14
date added: 2024/07/14
shelves:
review:
I still don’t understand how the title fits, but this has one of the best endings I’ve read in a detective story.
Well worth the read just for it, and the rest of the story is quite good too.
I really enjoyed Allingham’s writing.
]]> The Love Child 60533559
In a moment of panic, she risks everything to pretend that Clarissa is her own daughter. But Agatha has created a love child for herself alone and refuses to share Clarissa even as she senses her slipping away.]]> 149 Edith Olivier 0712367934 Kathleen 5 4.18 1927 The Love Child
author: Edith Olivier
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1927
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/04
date added: 2024/07/04
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Crime at Black Dudley (Albert Campion Mystery, #1)]]> 76633
Luckily for Abbershaw, among the guests is Albert Campion—a garrulous and affable party-crasher with a great knack for solving mysteries and interrogating suspects.

The Crime at Black Dudley, first published in 1929, is the first novel to introduce Margery Allingham's amiable and much loved sleuth � Albert Campion.]]> 208 Margery Allingham 0140007709 Kathleen 4 She has a very different style from Christie, but crafted a very engaging story nonetheless.]]> 3.63 1929 The Crime at Black Dudley (Albert Campion Mystery, #1)
author: Margery Allingham
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.63
book published: 1929
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/02
date added: 2024/07/02
shelves:
review:
The first book I have read by Margery Allingham.
She has a very different style from Christie, but crafted a very engaging story nonetheless.
]]> <![CDATA[Below Suspicion (Dr. Gideon Fell, #18, Patrick Butler, #1)]]> 1824864 186 John Dickson Carr 0930330501 Kathleen 4 It was quite an entertaining read.
At another estate sale I found other books by him, and by other authors mentioned on She Dunnit.
I have a fun summer and fall ahead reading books from the golden age of detective fiction.]]> 3.40 1949 Below Suspicion (Dr. Gideon Fell, #18, Patrick Butler, #1)
author: John Dickson Carr
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.40
book published: 1949
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/24
date added: 2024/06/24
shelves:
review:
I heard about John Dickson Carr on the She Dunnit podcast. Shortly after I was at an estate sale and saw the book.
It was quite an entertaining read.
At another estate sale I found other books by him, and by other authors mentioned on She Dunnit.
I have a fun summer and fall ahead reading books from the golden age of detective fiction.
]]> A Pin to See the Peepshow 59927846 Part of the British Library Women Writers series, rediscovering forgotten works by early to mid-century women writers with beautiful new editions

Julia Almond believes she is special and dreams of a more exciting and glamorous life away from the drab suburbia of her upbringing. Her work in a fashionable boutique in the West End gives her the personal freedom that she craves but escape from her parental home into marriage soon leads to boredom and frustration. She begins a passionate affair with a younger man, which has deadly consequences.

Based on the events of a sensational murder trial in the 1920s � the Thompson/Bywaters case � Julia becomes trapped by her sex and class in a criminal justice system in which she has no control. Julia finds herself the victim of society’s expectations of lower-middle- class female behavior and incriminated by her own words.

Tennyson Jesse creates a flawed, doomed heroine in a novel of creeping unease that continues to haunt long after the last page is turned.

Part of a curated collection of forgotten works by early to mid-century women writers, the British Library Women Writers series highlights the best middlebrow fiction from the 1910s to the 1960s, offering escapism, popular appeal and plenty of period detail to amuse, surprise and inform.]]> 464 F. Tennyson Jesse 0712367985 Kathleen 3 I find the real case far more compelling.]]> 4.10 1934 A Pin to See the Peepshow
author: F. Tennyson Jesse
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1934
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/20
date added: 2024/06/20
shelves:
review:
I really expected to like this book but I just didn’t like Julia. She seems far too self centered and has very little compassion or concern for anyone but herself.
I find the real case far more compelling.
]]> <![CDATA[Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder]]> 31487 352 Richard Dawkins 0618056734 Kathleen 0 to-read 4.02 2000 Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder
author: Richard Dawkins
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Benson Murder Case (A Philo Vance Mystery #1)]]> 1094330 251 S.S. Van Dine 0701206772 Kathleen 0 to-read 3.40 1926 The Benson Murder Case (A Philo Vance Mystery #1)
author: S.S. Van Dine
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.40
book published: 1926
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Man Lay Dead (Roderick Alleyn, #1)]]> 280847 176 Ngaio Marsh 0006512518 Kathleen 0 to-read 3.80 1934 A Man Lay Dead (Roderick Alleyn, #1)
author: Ngaio Marsh
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1934
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Last Murder at the End of the World]]> 197715421
Outside the island there is nothing: the world was destroyed by a fog that swept the planet, killing anyone it touched.

On the island: it is idyllic. One hundred and twenty-two villagers and three scientists, living in peaceful harmony. The villagers are content to fish, farm and feast, to obey their nightly curfew, to do what they're told by the scientists.

Until, to the horror of the islanders, one of their beloved scientists is found brutally stabbed to death. And then they learn that the murder has triggered a lowering of the security system around the island, the only thing that was keeping the fog at bay. If the murder isn't solved within 107 hours, the fog will smother the island—and everyone on it.

But the security system has also wiped everyone's memories of exactly what happened the night before, which means that someone on the island is a murderer—and they don't even know it.

And the clock is ticking.

From the bestselling author of The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and The Devil and the Dark Water comes an inventive, high-concept murder mystery: an ingenious puzzle, an extraordinary backdrop, and an audacious solution.]]> 368 Stuart Turton Kathleen 0 to-read 3.86 2024 The Last Murder at the End of the World
author: Stuart Turton
name: Kathleen
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Trial of Simon: Lord Lovat of the '45 (Notable British Trials Series)]]> 66309141 0 David Norman Mackay 1561691208 Kathleen 0 to-read 0.0 Trial of Simon: Lord Lovat of the '45 (Notable British Trials Series)
author: David Norman Mackay
name: Kathleen
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Trial of Captain Kidd 126449341 223 Edited by Graham Brooks Kathleen 0 to-read 0.0 Trial of Captain Kidd
author: Edited by Graham Brooks
name: Kathleen
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Thomas John Ley and Lawrence John Smith (Notable British Trials)]]> 76695886 366 F TENNYSON (editor) JESSE 0852790295 Kathleen 0 to-read 0.0 Thomas John Ley and Lawrence John Smith (Notable British Trials)
author: F TENNYSON (editor) JESSE
name: Kathleen
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The trial of Hawley Harvey Crippen (Notable British trials)]]> 208547901 211 Hawley Harvey Crippen 1561691615 Kathleen 0 to-read 0.0 The trial of Hawley Harvey Crippen (Notable British trials)
author: Hawley Harvey Crippen
name: Kathleen
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Trials of Oscar Wilde (Notable British Trials, #70)]]> 29928436 Exhaustively researched, exciting, definitive account of trials, with all their fireworks and catastrophe, plus lengthy chapters on background and aftermath.
]]> 360 H. Montgomery Hyde 0852790252 Kathleen 0 to-read 5.00 1948 Trials of Oscar Wilde (Notable British Trials, #70)
author: H. Montgomery Hyde
name: Kathleen
average rating: 5.00
book published: 1948
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Trial of Guy Fawkes (Notable British Trials, #61)]]> 37631376 191 Donald Carswell Kathleen 0 to-read 4.50 1934 Trial of Guy Fawkes (Notable British Trials, #61)
author: Donald Carswell
name: Kathleen
average rating: 4.50
book published: 1934
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Trial of John George Haigh, The Acid Bath Murder (Notable British Trials #78)]]> 16070699 271 Lord Dunboyne Kathleen 0 to-read 5.00 1953 The Trial of John George Haigh, The Acid Bath Murder (Notable British Trials #78)
author: Lord Dunboyne
name: Kathleen
average rating: 5.00
book published: 1953
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]>