"The Least" -- My New Story in "Sparkler"

Are you or someone you know on the hunt for clean fiction that is appropriate for teen readers?  If so, then you definitely need to check out Sparkler, a brand-new online magazine!  Sparkler is devoted to connecting readers in search of clean YA fiction with authors who write exactly that.

Authors like me :-)

In fact, I have a flash-fiction story in their debut issue, which dropped today!  It's all about a young man striking out on his own who has taken what he was told is a shortcut, and he finds something unexpected along his chosen trail... something that forces him to make a difficult decision.  It's called "The Least," and you can read it right here. 

My short story is historical fiction, a cozy Christian western just like you'd expect from me :-)  But there are lots of genres represented in this magazine, including fantasy, contemporary, and sci-fi.

"The Adventures of Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Thief" by Maurice LeBlanc

What fun!  I had honestly never heard of Arsène Lupin before I bought this book.  I bought it because I really love the MacMillan Collector's Edition books, which are elegant pocket-sized hardcovers with delightful dust jackets.  I check every now and then to see what books they have released lately in case any are of interest to me, and this one looked like fun.  Sort of a precursor to The Saint books by Leslie Charteris, in a way. 

Arsène Lupin steals expensive things from rich people. Along the way, he often solves a crime or clears up a mystery.  Sometimes, though, the story is really just all about a clever heist he pulls of.  He's a gentleman thief, after all, not a detective.

Of the nine short stories in this collection, my top favorites were:

"The Seven of Hearts," in which Lupin not only executes a daring burglary, but solves an old crime.

"The Escape of Arsène Lupin" because I always enjoy prison-escape stories.

"Holmlock Shears Arrives Too Late" because it was really funny, and didn't so much poke fun at Sherlock Holmes as play with his character like this was a fanfic story (which it basically is).

I liked this book so much, I have asked my mom for a boxed set of the complete collection (there are like 8 or 9 more books, though not all in these editions, alas) for my birthday.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for a little violence here and there, plus obviously themes of theft and robbery.  No cussing; no smut.

This has been my third classic book read and reviewed for my fifth Classic Club list.

"A Merry Christmas and Other Christmas Stories" by Louisa May Alcott

What a wholesome and cozy collection of Christmas stories!  Well, stories plus a section from the very beginning of Little Women.  

I thoroughly enjoyed all the stories here -- there wasn't a single one that didn't move me in some way and bring a smile to my face.  I'd read a few of them before, but long ago, so they felt pretty fresh and new to me again. 

The stories included here are:

"A Merry Christmas" -- the March sisters share their Christmas breakfast and find their own joy doubled, then exchange and receive gifts with their own family plus others.

"Kate's Choice" -- a wealthy orphan must decide which of her aunts and uncles she will live with now, and surprises everyone with her choice.

"The Quiet Little Woman" -- a warmhearted orphan is taken in by a family to be their maid-of-all-work, but yearns for their kindness and friendship more than anything.

"Tilly's Christmas" -- a poor child rescues a half-frozen bird and shares kindness and love with those around her, and is rewarded by an unexpected friend.

"What Love Can Do" -- people living in a boarding house with a poor family acquire a fresh understanding of what it means to show love and kindness to others.

"Rosa's Tale" -- an aging horse uses the Christmas gift of speech to tell the story of her life.

"Mrs. Podgers' Teapot" -- a widow learns the truth about her dead husband, a man who lodges at her house, and herself.  Probably my favorite story of all!

Particularly Good Bits:

Half the real beauty, virtue, and romance of the world gets put into humble souls, hidden in plain bodies (p. 117, "Mrs. Podgers' Teapot").

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: G.  Good, wholesome, heartwarming stories.

This has been my 48th book read and reviewed for my fourth Classics Club list.  Looks like I'll be finishing this list and starting another one this winter sometime!

"The Happy Prince and Other Stories" by Oscar Wilde

When I found this book in the children's section at a bookstore sometime within the last year or so, my first instinct was, "This must be mis-shelved."  Oscar Wilde?  In with the books for kids?  But lo and behold, he wrote fairy tales that are totally kid-friendly.  They remind me a lot of Hans Christian Andersen's stories -- most of them are poignant or even melancholy, but also lovely and often funny.

My favorite stories were:

"The Remarkable Rocket" -- a firework thinks he's the coolest thing ever and ends up a total dud.  It's so slyly funny!

"The Young King" -- a new king goes through a series of lessons to become wise and good.

"The Star-Child" -- a fallen star is rescued in the form of a human baby, grows up thinking he's awesome, and eventually learns a really important lesson about appearances and pride.

As I typed those out, I just noticed that all three of those have a very strong common theme.  Huh!

Most of the stories were a bit sad or almost-sad, but most of them also had really funny things in them, as you might expect from Oscar Wilde.

Particularly Good Bits:

"But I have imagination, for I never think of things as they really are; I always think of them as being quite different" ("The Remarkable Rocket," p. 47).

They did not understand a single word of what he was saying, but that made no matter, for they put their heads on one side, and looked wise, which is quite as good as understanding a thing, and very much easier ("The Birthday of the Infanta," p. 105).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for some really sad bits.

This has been my 45th classic read and reviewed for my fourth Classics Club list.

"Follow the Lonesome Trail" Releases Today!

It's here!  The wild west anthology Follow the Lonesome Trail releases today!

This brand-new collection boasts stories by Allison Tebo, Hannah Kaye, A. Hartley, Emily Hayse, Elisabeth Grace Foley, and Rachel Kovaciny (aka me).  

My short story in this book is called "Safekeeping," and it's a story of second chances and hope.  A loner learns that he's inherited a poke of gold, but it's in the clutches of a greedy bartender, and he has to come up with a creative solution to get what's rightfully his.  Along the way, he helps out a whole lot of other people and just might find himself a place to belong.

Here's what one reader had to say about it:

You can buy Follow the Lonesome Trail as a paperback and ebook today!  And you can check out more reviews (and review it yourself once you've read it) right here on Goodreads.

If you're on Instagram, I invite you to join me there at 1pm (CST) for a live video chat where I will read the first scene from "Safekeeping" aloud to you -- and I might have time to answer a few questions, too.

If you want to know more about the other books I've written, you can check out this page on this blog or my author website.

Happy reading!

"Midsummer Mysteries" by Agatha Christie

I did it!  I read all four of these season-themed Christie collections in four consecutive seasons!

It's the little things in life, amiright?

The short stories in this volume include stories about Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Mr. Quin, Tommy and Tuppence, and Mr. Parker Pyne.  Plus a story or two with none of them.  I've grown so fond of Pyne and Quin that I have actually picked up collections of stories about only them, because I'd like to read more!

I'd say my favorite stories in this are "Jane in Search of a Job" and "The Rajah's Emerald," which happen to be two of the stories with no famous detectives in them.  I also really liked "The Oracle at Delphi" and "The Incredible Theft."

I most definitely did NOT like "The Idol House of Astarte," which was creepy.

I just learned that Harper Collins is doing two more collections similar to this: Capital Christie and Country Christie, and now I want those too.  So far, it seems like you can only buy the former in the UK, and the latter won't be released until September.  I will probably wait until September and then see if I can't order them both from someplace like Waterstones that ships to the US.  Or maybe they'll have them in the US by then too.

Particularly Good Bits:

The book she took with her to read was not the excellent one on Grecian Art recommended to her by her son but was, on the contrary, entitles The River Launch Mystery.  It had four murders in it, three abductions, and a large and varied gang of dangerous criminals  Mrs. Peters found herself both invigorated and soothed by the perusal of it (p. 165, "The Oracle at Delphi")(I love that last line because that's what good mysteries do for me, too.)

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG for crimes such as murder and abduction and theft, and the sorts of violence you might expect Agatha Christie to write about.  No rubbing gore in the reader's face, in other words.  There are a handful of mild curse words, and some very polite dialog mentions about people having romantic affairs, etc.

This has been my 41st book read and reviewed for my 4th Classics Club list.

"Sinister Spring" by Agatha Christie

Like Autumn Chills and Midwinter Murder, this is a collection of short mysteries by Agatha Christie that all take place in a particular season.

Hands down, my favorite short story in here was "The Girl in the Train," which was funny, quirky, and exciting all at the same time.  It made me think alternately of P. G. Wodehouse and F. Scott Fitzgerald, which is no mean feat!

I also very much enjoyed "Have You Got Everything You Want?" (I'm becoming a Parker Pyne fan) and "The Soul of the Croupier" (I'm also becoming a Mr. Quin fan).  

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for various crimes such as murder and theft, and attendant mild violence.

This is my 37th book read and reviewed for my fourth Classics Club list.

"What You are Looking for is in the Library" by Michiko Aoyama (translated by Alison Watts)

This may be the most unique book I read this year.  And I never would have heard of it if not for Joel G's review on I Would Rather be Reading.  Thank you again, Joel, for bringing it to my attention!

What You are Looking for... is a collection of stories about people living in Japan who are all seeking something.  Tomoka is looking for a more fulfilling job.  Ryo is trying to find a way to make his childhood dream come true.  Natsumi is searching for a better way to balance motherhood and her career.  Hiroya feels like his life has no purpose or goal.  Masao needs to figure out who he is now that he has retired.  One by one, they end up at a neighborhood library, where a memorable librarian gives them unusual book recommendations that help them find their way to what they're seeking.  And she also gives them each a little felted talisman, because the librarian likes felting.

Each story unfolds at a leisurely pace, but there's nothing wasted here.  Like a haiku, details can be sparse, but that means what we do see is carefully chosen for maximum meaning.  The stories build on each other a little bit, with a side character from one showing up in another, and so on.  They are interconnected marginally, not closely.  

Reading this book was a slow and gentle pleasure, like sipping hot tea or savoring very dark chocolate.  If you love character studies, the movie Love Actually (2003), or learning about other cultures, you might enjoy this too.

Particularly Good Bits:

There are so many things to do, but I won't make the excuse that I have no time anymore.  Instead, I will think about what I can do with the time I have.  One day is going to become tomorrow (p. 117).

It's weird how ideas keep springing into my head now, as if a stopper has been removed.  Yet when I had all the time in the world, I never had a single idea.  I didn't even feel like drawing (p. 235).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for some occasional bad language.  No smut or violence.

"Midwinter Murder" by Agatha Christie

Like Autumn Chills, this is a collection of short stories by Agatha Christie that are all set in a specific season.

I'd previously read only one story in this, "Christmas Adventure," which stars Hercule Poirot.  He's in several other stories, and there are also some with Miss Marple, Tommy and Tuppence, and some other semi-regular characters of Christie's.

Aside from that one, which I like a lot, my favorite stories were "The Manhood of Edward Robinson," which had a lovely twist, and "The World's End," which delighted me with the way it ended.

The subtitle to this book is "Fireside Mysteries from the Queen of Crime," and these stories are absolutely as cozy as that implies.  I'm really glad I picked up all four of these seasonal Christie collections, and I'm looking forward to the spring and summer editions!

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for murder, mild innuendo here and there, and a couple instances of mild cussing.

This is my 35th book read for my fourth Classics Club list.

"Autumn Chills" by Agatha Christie

Over the past few years, HarperCollins has put out four seasonal collections of Agatha Christie short stories.  I've collected them all up, and I decided to try to read them all over the coming months, each during the season where they take place.  I began with Autumn Chills because I wanted to read it for the #AMonthOfMystery challenge on Instagram.  I didn't finish it before November, so it didn't count for that challenge, but that's okay!  I had a lot of fun reading one of these short mysteries every couple of days.

And then this review sat in my drafts for a month.  Because my life has just been so blasted busy!  That means I don't actually remember which stories were my favorites anymore, except that I wholeheartedly loved "The Case of the Rich Woman."

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for murder, mild innuendo here and there, and I think maybe a couple instances of mild cussing?

This was my 28th book read from my TBR shelves for the 2024 Mount TBR Challenge and my 33rd book read and reviewed for my fourth Classics Club list.

"Bowdrie's Law" by Louis L'Amour

Well, this was fun!  Like its predecessor, Bowdrie, this is a collection of ten short stories starring Chick Bowdrie, a Texas Ranger who rides a mean hammerhead roan and always gets his man... eventually.  The stories range from a bit humorous to very serious, and some have more action than others.  But they're all enjoyable.  I read the whole book over a couple of very stressful weeks, savoring one short story every evening or so as a way to unwind and recharge, and they were perfect for that!

Interspersed among the short stories are several historical notes about real people and places from the Old West.  I loved those!  They were always short and to-the-point, but informative.

Particularly Good Bits:

He realized what a fool he had been.  There could be no tolerating of evil.  One stamped it out or the evil grew worse (p. 140, from "The Outlaws of Poplar Creek").

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for some mild cuss words, some western violence, and some vague hints about what could happen to good women at the hands of bad men.

This has been my 22nd book read from my TBR shelves for the 2024 Mount TBR Reading Challenge.

"The Realm Beneath" ed. by Allison Tebo

This is a fun anthology!  I haven't really read loads of books involving mermaids or other undersea fantasy creatures, which made this collection especially refreshing for me.  Here's a little of what I thought of each of the seven short stories contained here:

+ "The Song of Arion" by Emily Golus had a marvelous theme of kindness triumphing over fear.

+ "The Mermaid Search" by Anna Christine had a great twist to it that made me want to reread the whole story to see it from a different point of view.

+ "A Fighting Chance" by Allison Tebo was heisty fun.  I really enjoy heist stories, and this one also had a bit of a found family vibe, which I love.

+ " Krakensong" by Olivia Gratehouse had a cool concept, and I liked how it twisted some stereotypes.

+ "In My Blood" by Jane Maree had great character development, and I loved the gladiatorial vibes.

+ "Loshed'Vo" by Danielle Bullen was lyrical and haunting, and the inclusion of a magical horse of the sea really bumped this one up in my favorites list.

+ "A Handful of Scales" had a lovely message about trusting God to provide.

I would say that "The Mermaid Search" and "Loshed'Vo" were my favorites.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher.  I was not requested or required to review this book.  All opinions stated here are mine and unvarnished.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-10 for some intense scenes of underwater danger, some non-gory violence, and themes about loss of family members that might be harder on some younger readers.  No cussing, no smut, no gore.

"The Smoking Iron and Other Stories" by Elisabeth Grace Foley

I think this is Foley's best short story collection yet!  Also, how marvelous is that cover?  I absolutely love silhouettes, and the colors in that sky here are so delightful!

This is a collection of seven short stories, all set in the American West, but not all in the classic "Cowboy Era" of the 1860s-1880s.  In fact, some are set in the 20th century!  

Here's a bit of what I thought about each story:

"Dakota Clothesline" made me angry.  This is not a great way to start a review, and I promise I liked the rest of the stories, but this one gets a huge red X from me.  No parent of a helpless infant has any business leaving that infant alone to go out into a life-threatening situation.  Sure, this mother did so to try to save her husband's life during a blizzard, but if she had gotten lost or otherwise died in that blizzard, she was dooming her child to a slow and horrible death by starvation.  That is absolutely unacceptable behavior, and I will never condone it.  Parents who abandon a child to try to rescue another adult make me furiously angry, and I don't care who knows it.

"The Heiress and the Horse-Trade" was pleasingly clever in places, though the main character annoyed me a little by getting herself into such a predicament in the first place.  Money should be left in the bank where it's safe, not toted all about the countryside just because you want to show it to someone.

"Sheep Need a Shepherd" was my favorite.  In fact, I would buy this book solely for this one story, even if I disliked all the others.  A minister with a young family takes a call to a church in a town surrounded by ranchers, only to have lots of trouble with the ranchers because of his unorthodox side job that he takes on to put food on his family's table since the church is too small to fully support him.  As a pastor's daughter, I am very particular about how ministers are portrayed in fiction, and I absolutely loved this fictional preacher.

"Professor Pruitt's Circulating Concert Company" made me chuckle aloud.  A young man tries to run away from home and join a troupe of entertainers, but mishaps abound.  

"Lark's Nest" was poignant and thought-provoking.  A young woman tries hard to be a hearthkeeper for her grandfather and her brothers, but her efforts seem useless for a long time.  Good stuff.

"Big Aspen" was a solid coming-of-age story, but also dealt with the difficulties of coming back home to 'normal life' after WWII.  In some ways, it reminded me of The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), but make it a western instead.  It was my second-favorite story in the book.

"The Smoking Iron" was very exciting, and almost to tense for comfort!  A young man is accused of stealing cattle by changing their brands and has to find a way to prove his innocence.  Good stuff.

Particularly Good Bits:

"If there's one thing I've been convinced of -- maybe believed more strongly than anything else, ever since I first felt called to preach - it's just that one thing: the gospel is sufficient.  If I ever tried to preach in any way apart from that, I wouldn't be any good for anything." ("Sheep Need a Shepherd")

"I never have appreciated being told what's the Christian thing to do by people who aren't Christians." ("Sheep Need a Shepherd")

And even if no one saw or noticed, she must be faithful in the little things and trust that it would all matter in the end. ("Lark's Nest")

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for some violence and threats of violence in several stories.  No cussing; no smut.

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher.  I was not required to review it.  All thoughts and opinions here are my own.

"Classic Christmas Crime Stories" ed. by David Stuart Davies

There's something about the bustle and chaos of the lead-up to Christmas that makes me crave the restoration of order that a good mystery provides.  This collection of festive mysteries and other crime stories was just what I wanted to read in the middle of December!

There are eleven short stories here, ranging from very familiar Christmas mysteries like "The Blue Carbuncle" by A. Conan Doyle to story featuring the characters from the BBC show Rosemary and Thyme.  I enjoyed nearly all of the stories ("The Case of the Seven Santas" by H. R. F. Keating got really tedious after a while, for me).  My favorites, in the order in which they appear, were:

• "The Blue Carbuncle" by A. Conan Doyle (already one of my absolute favorite Sherlock Holmes short stories)
  
  
• "The Case of the Dead Wait" by Peter Lovesey
  
  
• "Markheim" by Robert Louis Stevenson
  
  
• "Death on the Air" by Ngaio Marsh
  
  
• "Stuffing" by Edgar Wallace

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for murder, bloodshed, poisonings, a smattering of bad language here and there, and occasional hints at lascivious behavior.

This is my 58th book read off my TBR shelves for #TheUnreadShelfProject2023.

"The L. M. Montgomery Christmas Collection"

I love L. M. Montgomery's writing, and I love Christmas, so I am naturally drawn to her festive stories and poetry.  The Christmas with Anne collection is one of my favorite Christmastime reads, so I am excited to add this new collection to my shelf.  It does have some overlap with that other volume -- both contain the "Matthew Insists on Puffed Sleeves" from Anne of Green Gables, as well as several of the same short stories.  This collection has a couple of different Anne chapters too, and six Christmas/winter poems that are paired with appropriate classic paintings.  There are paintings to go with the short stories and Anne chapters as well, and I love all the thought that obviously went into the pairings.

I bought the paperback edition of this book, but I wish I had gotten the hardcover instead.  I see there is now a pocket-sized hardcover edition available, as well as the full-sized one, and I might get that for myself and put this paperback copy into my kids' box of Christmas books that we haul out every year.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: G.  It's everything sweet, wholesome, and lovely.

This is my 57th book read from my TBR shelves for #TheUnreadShelfProject2023.

"Noel Streatfeild's Christmas Stories" by Noel Streatfeild

This is EXACTLY the sort of book I want to read at Christmastime!  Heartwarming, sweet, uplifting short stories featuring realistic people in realistic situations that are treated with humor and kindness.  

My favorite stories were:

+ "The Moss Rose," about a young skater who loses her costume and skates on the subway, but it all turns out okay.

+ "The Princess," about a princess who goes shoe-shopping and gets shanghaied into performing in a ballet incognito.

+ "The Chain," about a boy who imagines that all of his favorite fictional characters form a chain of joy that helps his sister get well enough to come home from the hospital for Christmas.

+ "Christmas at Collers," about some city kids who are forced to spend Christmas in the country with their ailing grandmother and discover that hustle and bustle are not essential elements for a merry Christmas.

I absolutely loved this collection!

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  G.  As wholesome and uplifting as they come.

This is my 22nd book read and reviewed for my 4th Classics Club list, and my 55th book read off my TBR shelves for #TheUnreadShelfProject2023.

"Carry On, Jeeves" by P. G. Wodehouse

Earlier this summer, a friend shared this news article that stated that Penguin Random House has started censoring P. G. Wodehouse's books.  Incensed by this kind of Nazi-esque behavior, I went to various used book sites and bought up a complete collection of the Jeeves books, all in one cool, older paperback edition that I really liked the looks of.  While the CEO of Penguin Random House later released this statement saying that the whole issue has been blown way out of proportion, I still prefer to censor books myself rather than have someone else try to tell me what or how to be offended.  

I am an intelligent person who is well aware of the continual shifting of societal mores over the few thousand years of human history, and I am able to read books written in the past and know whether or not there are words or ideas there that I disagree with, find distasteful, or would not espouse/use myself because they would be hurtful to others.  I also find books written in the past with differing attitudes to ours to be a help in teaching my own kids about how ideas and attitudes change over time.  I find it very dangerous to try to erase those differences by pretending they never existed, whether it's by censoring fiction or burning history books under a swastika flag.  You can't change the fact that people thought differently from you in the past, but you can prevent yourself from learning by blinding yourself to the past.

None of which tells you anything about how funny this book is.  It's downright hilarious.  I laughed aloud multiple times while I read this.  From Bertie Wooster hiring Jeeves because he cured his hangover to the way that Jeeves pulled so many of Bertie's friends out of terrible scrapes, every story here was ridiculously nonsensical and adorable and funny.  So funny!  

I'm not sure I've ever read a full Jeeves book before, though I have read quite a few of Wodehouse's stories in anthologies and so on.  Of course, this is more like a collection of short stories than a novel, but that made it great to pick up and read a bit, and then go do something else.  I am so happy to have the whole series now!  This was an absolutely perfect book for me to read at the tail end of summer when I was feeling blue and gray and unhappy with the world.  I am going to try really hard to remember how well these stories work for me at the end of summer.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG because I don't think it's allowable to rate a P. G. Wodehouse book anything different.  Also because there is a little mild cussing, but nothing else objectionable.

This is my 18th book read for my fourth Classics Club list, my 46th read off my TBR shelf for #TheUnreadShelfProject2023, and the last book I completed for #20BooksOfSummer23.

"Sherlock Holmes: The Montana Chronicles" by John S. Fitzpatrick

This was an enjoyable collection of short stories about Holmes and Watson having four adventures in Montana in the 1890s.  While I didn't fully love any of the stories, I did have fun reading them, especially since I took this book along on vacation and read it while in Montana!

Of the four stories, I liked "The Mysterious Woman" best because it felt most like a story from the canon, with Holmes uncovering the reason behind a woman's sudden and inexplicable behavioral changes.  

The places and many of the people in this book are historically accurate, which was nifty.  The book contains lots of photos of locations from around the time the stories take place.  However, the writing sometimes dragged because the author often hared off on tangents about how various bits of mining machinery and apparatus operated.  Where one paragraph would have sufficed, we got a page or two, and so on.  Great if you're fascinated by 1890s mining methods in Montana, I suppose, but I eventually began to skim them.

Also, the author repeatedly portrays Holmes as using cocaine to keep alert while on a stakeout, and I am pretty sure (though I admit it has been a few years since I read the whole canon) that he canonically only uses cocaine when he is between cases and suffering from extreme ennui, never while on a case.  That bugged me.

So... it was a fun read, but not one I'll be rereading.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for some mentions of husbandly "urges," some alcohol and drug use, and some violence.

This is my 33rd book read off my TBR shelves for #TheUnreadShelfProject2023.

"Nightmare Town" by Dashiell Hammett

You may have noticed this book was in my sidebar for like three months.  That's because I was savoring it.  For three months?  Indeed.  It's a collection of a novella and a lot of short stories by Dashiell Hammett, and I was using it as inspiration while I hammered my way through the first draft of my own 1940s mystery book, Murder Most Foul, which I talked about here on my other blog earlier this week.

I had a great time reading this collection.  My favorites in it were:

+ Nightmare Town, the titular novella about a corrupt desert town and two people who try to escape it.

+ "Ruffian's Wife," a short story about a woman who loses confidence in her husband when he turns out to not be the big, bad tough guy she believes him to be.

+ "The Man Who Killed Dan Odoms," a short story about a man seeking sanctuary on a remote farm as he hides from people who want to avenge the man he killed.

+ "The Second-Story Angel," a short story about a writer who gets a surprise visitor in the middle of the night, then learns something even more surprising about her a few weeks later.

+ "Tom, Dick, or Harry," a short story about a robbery that has a really cool twist on the identity of the robber.

+ "A Man Called Spade," a short story featuring Sam Spade, the detective from The Maltese Falcon, and has him solve a murder that seems to be open-and-shut, but isn't.

Particularly Good Bits:

...where knowledge of trickery is evenly distributed, honesty not infrequently prevails (Nightmare Town, p. 15).

I don't like eloquence: if it isn't effective enough to pierce your hide, it's tiresome; and if it is effective enough, then it muddles your thoughts ("Zigzags of Treachery," p. 99).

Ninety-nine per cent of detective work is a patient collecting of details -- and your details must be got as nearly first-hand as possible, regardless of who else has worked the territory before you ("One Hour," p. 253).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for lots of different kinds of violence, some light and occasional bad language, and the occasional oblique reference to sexual activity in a non-descriptive and non-titillating way.

This is my 17th book read from my TBR shelves for #TheUnreadShelfProject2023.

"The Mistletoe Murder" by P. D. James

This is a collection of four short Christmas mysteries by P. D. James.  I'm afraid I didn't actually love any of them, though I did enjoy three of the four.  Here's a bit of what each is about, and what I thought of them:

"The Mistletoe Murder" -- A crime novelist reminisces about the time she was invited to a traditional English country house Christmas, someone got murdered, and she eventually figured out how and why.  I liked the 1940s setting and atmosphere, but was overall meh about the way this one basically excused murder as being okay if you have "good" reasons.

"A Very Commonplace Murder" -- A peeping tom knows that the wrong person is being tried for murder, but doesn't come forward.  This one was fairly icky and voyeuristic, and I was not a fan.  Also, I figured out whodunit before the reveal, which annoyed me.

"The Boxdale Inheritance" -- Chief Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh investigates a long-ago death at the behest of a family who wants to know if they can accept an inheritance in good conscience.  This one surprised me several times, and I quite enjoyed it.  My favorite of the four.

"The Twelve Clues of Christmas" -- Sergeant Adam Dalgliesh investigates what appears to be a suicide, but which he is convinced is a murder.  It got a little too cute here and there, and I kept feeling super sorry for Dalgliesh because he was missing out on enjoying Christmas with his family to deal with the crime.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 overall, but R for "A Very Commonplace Murder," which has all sorts of stuff about porn and voyeurism and rape.  The rest have little light cussing, four murders, some adult dialog.

This is my fourth book read for the Literary Christmas reading challenge and my 60th for #TheUnreadShelfProject2022.