Monthly Archives: October 2020

This is the first book in this series which is set in a small town in current day England. Penelope Parish is an American, who has unexpectedly written a best selling Gothic novel. She is having problems with writer’s block and looks for a change of venue to help with it. That is, not to mention getting away from family and friends who, simply, are not helping.

She applies and is accepted to be the author-in-residence at the Open Book bookstore in Upper-Chumley-On-Stoke. It seems to do the trick and gets her writing again.

She has made friends with people at work and has writer’s and book groups at the store. She gets involved in the local fest and someone turns up murdered. Penelope is pulled into helping solve the crime.

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I so enjoy these cute short stories which involve Cousin Charlotte. They are whodunnits but they do not involve murder.

Charlotte steps in to be in charge of a candy cane exchange when Bailey King has too much on her plate to do it. Charlotte takes it very seriously, indeed. It is the first time this sweet Amish young woman has done anything of this magnitude.

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This is the sixth book in this series. I enjoyed it so much, I have purchased the earlier books as well. It can easily be read stand-alone, as I had no problem in picking up the story line. I wanted the earlier books to get the back history and because I enjoyed the author’s writing so well.

Siobhán O’Sullivan is a Garda and she is engaged to a Detective Sergeant. She is taking time off at Christmas to spend with her siblings, as she and her older brother, James, have been responsible for raising them.

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While this is the fourth book in this series, it is the second one that I have read. I recently finished the third and jumped right into reading this book afterwards. It is a story which can be read stand-alone without any problems. While there is an overall progression of plot and characters, all of the whodunnits are self-contained in each novel.

Edwina Davenport is an English spinster in her forties. Beryl Helliwell is an American who is well known for her for her adventures. They became friends at school and Beryl is now living at Edwina’s home in a small and sleepy village called Walmsley Parva. They have started a private enquiry agent business to investigate various crimes that occur.

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I started reading this series at about book ten. I decided to go back and read the first of the books, beginning with this, the first one. What a wonderful way to start the series!

In this story, Mary Russell is fifteen years old when she, literally, stumbles over Sherlock Holmes, who is in his fifties. He has retired to a country cottage and is spending his time raising bees.

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I greatly enjoy reading this series. Lucy Richardson is a librarian at the Lighthouse Library in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. She has been making her residence in small apartment that is actually in the library.

Bertie, who is the director in charge of the Library, has invited her starting college class from years ago to have a reunion in town, including events at the library.

There is a wide variety of current and former librarians that meet, including the nasty former director of the self-same library.

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