What We're Reading

DEBORAH CROMBIE: We had so much fun with our "recommends" yesterday I thought we'd extend our chat to WHAT WE'RE READING–always a big fave here on Jungle Red. We love nothing more than talking about our latest finds.

I'll start with BLOOMSBURY GIRLS by Natalie Jenner. Set in 1949 London in a bookshop in Lamb's Conduit Street (the location of Duncan's police station in the present day–how could I not want to read this book?) three very different women navigate a changing world.

The male characters are very well done, too, and lots of famous literary figures are woven into the plot. I loved this book so much that I read Jenner's previous (and debut) novel,  THE JANE AUSTEN SOCIETY, as there is some character and plot crossover. I enjoyed it, too, although I didn't adore it as much as BLOOMSBURY GIRLS.

Another big thrill for me was a new book by Ella Risbridger–you may remember me raving about MIDNIGHT CHICKEN last year. This one is called THE YEAR OF MIRACLES and is ostensibly a cookbook, but it is so much more. The subtitle is "recipes about love + grief + growing things) and is a journal of Risbridger's year following the death of her partner. It's also an accounting of the first year of the pandemic, as it begins in January, 2020. Risbridger's writing is absolutely gorgeous and it's a very inspiring and affirming book. The book is beautiful, too, so I'd highly recommend the hardcover. It will be a keeper even if you never cook a single recipe. (NOTE: It won't be released in the US until July 26th but it is out in the UK and you can order from Book Depository. It's fast and no more expensive.)

And one more! I somehow ran across a book called THE NOTHING GIRL by Jodi Taylor. We've mentioned her CHRONICLES OF ST. MARY'S series before, as Julia and I are big fans. Do not be put off by the invisible talking golden horse!! This is a gem of a novel about an isolated young woman who agrees to marriage as a business proposition and gets much more than she bargained for. It's laugh-out-load funny, touching, suspenseful, AND it's on Kindle Unlimited at the moment!

I also thoroughly enjoyed Connie Berry's latest Kate Hamilton mystery, THE SHADOW OF MEMORY. This series just gets better and better. Connie will be here Thursday to tell us more!

LUCY BURDETTE: I’m betwixt and between. I have just finished Alicia Bessette’s SMILE BEACH MURDER and I hate to leave the Outer Banks! Last week I hated leaving Julia Child’s Paris. I have a lot of books ordered, including Krista Davis’s newest and Sarah Stewart Taylor’s newest and Paula Munier and Kristan Higgins, and I have a million books on my nightstand. But still, sometimes it’s hard to dive into something brand new. Any recommendations for THE PARIS LIBRARY or THE TASTE OF GINGER or FENCING WITH THE KING?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Absolutely do not miss Sulari Gentill’s THE WOMAN IN THE LIBRARY.  It’s a meta-literary mystery and I cannot say anything more, but just–read it.

Along those same lines, ish, THE APPEAL by Janice Hallett. Those books both delve into the workings of a writer’s mind, and a reader’s too, and they’re marvelous and hilarious and brilliant, both of them.  And I am getting ready for THE MURDER RULE by Dervla McTiernan.   Also LOOK CLOSER, by David Ellis, one of my favorite authors ever. And I am reading JAMES PATTERSON by James Patterson–in preparation for interviewing him in June!  Reds and readers, this autobiography is AWESOME and wonderful and charming and unique.

DEBS: Hank, what fun! I sat next to James Patterson at the Bouchercon Dallas GOH dinner, and he was so nice. A very charming and interesting man.

JENN McKINLAY: I’ve been enjoying a wild variety lately. ALLOW ME TO RETORT: A Black Guys Guide to the Constitution by Ellie Mystal. Fascinating book mostly about the amendments and why they need to be revisited. DOUBLE SHOT DEATH by Emmeline Duncan.

A terrific cozy mystery set in Portland about a coffee cart owning amateur that really captures the PNW vibe. THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS by Lisa Jewell. Delicious suspense novel about three families and deep dark secrets. So good! 

RHYS BOWEN:   Rhys, the blurb queen here. It seems like a never-ending stream. They are mostly good reading but sometimes I’d like to choose.

I’ve just finished another upcoming book to blurb called The Spying Eye by Michelle Cox.

Quite good

And now I’m embarking on a non fiction about women’s lives around the world called Women’s  Work by Megan K Slack. Fascinating so far.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: The heat has been climbing into the 70s and even 80s here in southern Maine, I've been mowing daily for the past five days (yes, I have that much lawn) so for me, it's beach read time! First up, THE HOMEWRECKERS by Mary Kay Andrews. If you've ever read her, you know she describes home renovation and decorating like a dream, and when I saw she had come up with that's basically about a young widow getting her own HGTV-like show, you know I had to have it. 

Next on my TBR pile, NEVER COMING HOME, a delicious domestic thriller from Hank's First Chapter Fun buddy, Hannah Mary McKinnon. Here's the start of the jacket copy:

Lucas Forester didn't hate his wife. Michelle was brilliant, sophisticated and beautiful. Sure, she had extravagant spending habits, that petty attitude, a total disregard for anyone below her status. But she also had a lot to offer. Most notably: wealth that only the one percent could comprehend.

For years, Lucas has been honing a flawless plan to inherit Michelle's fortune. Unfortunately, it involves taking a hit out on her.

Sounds awesome! I love rich people behaving badly.

Finally, this summer's book from my friend Nancy Thayer, SUMMER LOVE. It doesn't feel like summer until I've read one of Nancy's tales of heartache and hope, set on the idyllic island of Nantucket. SUMMER LOVE is about a reunion of people in my age bracket, which I love, accompanied by their twenty-something kids, which my daughters love. Something for everyone.

HALLIE EPHRON: I’ve just started reading Susan Orlean’s ON ANIMALS. She’s a wonderful essayist, musing on everything from household pets (hers) to the animals we eat to her experiences keeping chickens and critters further afield (Moroccan donkeys)… and on and on. It’s a book for animal lovers and perfect for the summer because you can savor it in chunks.

 

READERS, what books have tickled your fancy lately?

Nancy Thayer...Mystery Fiend?

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING here, stepping in for Rhys for the day. One of the great pleasures of being a writer is meeting other authors - usually at conferences or literary festivals or bookstores. I met today's guest in an entirely different fashion. I was headed to Nantucket - you all remember my wintery island adventure, right? - and my agent said, "I have a client/friend who can come pick you up at the ferry. Her name is Nancy Thayer."

"Nancy Thayer!" I squealed. "I love her books!"

"That's good," my agent said, "because she loves yours."

Nancy Thayer, like the heroines of her intimate family sagas, seems to have come to rest in an enchanted place. For the past thirty years, she's lived in a lovely historic home in Nantucket with her witty, good-looking husband, Charley. She's been on the New York Times bestseller list 157 times (roughly.) Her life is enriched with kids (2), grandkids (4), cats (several), and the praise of book reviewers everywhere. Her newest book, The Guest Cottage, is out now, just in time for your Memorial Day weekend.

I’m delighted that Julia Spencer-Fleming invited me to write a guest post on Jungle Red Writers. I’m a mystery fiend. Just ask Julia, who sat in our Nantucket living room with our bookshelves packed with books and after a moment asked me, “Why don’t you write mysteries? That seems to be all you read.”

Or ask my good friend Jill, who knows about my obsession and made me a notebook cover AND a fleece-lined throw out of Nancy Drew material.

What IS it about a good mystery that is so inviting and delicious? Part of it is, maybe, the brain-fun of trying to solve a puzzle. Much of it is getting to know the characters who become part of my life. (When I first met Julia, I hope I said hello before demanding: “Does Clare have her baby?”) It might also be the location, the sense of being in another place while tucked away at home. There’s the excitement, too, the What’s-Going-to-Happen? that makes my heart pound and keeps me reading until I’ve finished the book. And, for me, I suppose much of it comes from the sense that by the end of the book, someone will have set things right, at least for a while. 

Oddly, my favorite season for reading mysteries is winter. It’s great to know I won’t be interrupted. Nantucket is crazy busy in the summer, and lonely, dark, and isolated by gale force storms in the winter. This is what you see on my little book shrine when you enter our front door in December.

I’m also fascinated with women who write mysteries. I write novels about families, and to me families are enormous mysteries. My sister and I still argue about whether our father loved her more than me. (He did.) But I haven’t yet succeeded in writing a mystery. . .maybe someday.

Now that I’m a grandmother, I’m happy to say I’m continuing the tradition of mystery reading in my grandchildren. 

One of my top five favorite pleasures is curling up with a brand new mystery and a huge bowl of popcorn, or a nice box of chocolates. I take the phone off the hook and silence my cell for 45 minutes. My husband and children have learned not to speak to me when I’m in my special zone.

I wonder: Do any of you have a similar habit of curling up in/with a book?

Nancy Thayer’s newest novel is The Guest Cottage. Sophie and Trevor are strangers dealing with deep personal losses in their lives. They rent a house on Nantucket for the summer to help them and their children heal. When it turns out to be the same cottage, they decide to make it work, and all is well, so extremely pleasant that they begin to fall in love with each other. But a handsome, wealthy, gentle European pursues Sophie and a hostile, gorgeous, territorial widow tries to claim Trevor. In the midst of this all, Sophie rediscovers a talent that awakens her to the joys of life.

Nancy Thayer is the author of twenty-seven novels, including The Guest Cottage, Island Christmas, Nantucket Sisters, A Nantucket Christmas, Island Girls, Summer House, The Hot Flash Club, and twelve other novels available in e-format. You can find out more about her books on her website, and visit her on Facebook, where she posts daily.