Here they are! (Sorry- I didn't rotate the picture before I posted it- you'll have to turn your head.)
Book #22: Hieroglyphics by Jill McCorkle
Summary: Lil and Frank married young, launched into courtship when they bonded over how they both—suddenly, tragically—lost a parent when they were children. Over time, their marriage grew and strengthened, with each still wishing for so much more understanding of the parents they’d lost prematurely. Now, after many years in Boston, they have retired in North Carolina. There, Lil, determined to leave a history for their children, sifts through letters and notes and diary entries—perhaps revealing more secrets than Frank wants their children to know. Meanwhile, Frank has become obsessed with what might have been left behind at the house he lived in as a boy on the outskirts of town, where a young single mother, Shelley, is just trying to raise her son with some sense of normalcy. Frank’s repeated visits to Shelley’s house begin to trigger memories of her own family, memories that she’d rather forget. Because, after all, not all parents are ones you wish to remember.
Rating: C. I really wanted to like this more. McCorkle hasn't written a book in quite some time, so I was thrilled when I saw this. I loved her previous books but this one just didn't do it for me.
Summary: It is the week before Halloween and Theodosia Browning, proprietor of the Indigo Tea Shop, and her tea sommelier, Drayton, are ghosting through the dusk of a cool Charleston evening on their way to the old Bouchard Mansion. Known as the Gray Ghost, this dilapidated place was recently bequeathed to the Heritage Society, and tonight heralds the grand opening of their literary and historical themed haunted house. Though Timothy Neville, the patriarch of the Heritage Society, is not thrilled with the fund-raising idea, it is the perfect venue for his grandniece, Willow French, to sign copies of her new book, Carolina Crimes & Creepers. But amid a parade of characters dressed as Edgar Allan Poe, Lady Macbeth, and the Headless Horseman, Willow's body is suddenly tossed from the third-floor tower room and left to dangle at the end of a rope. Police come screaming in and Theodosia's boyfriend, Detective Pete Riley, is sent to Willow's apartment to investigate. But minutes later, he is shot and wounded by a shadowy intruder.
Rating: A-. This is the twenty-second mystery in Childs' tea shop mystery series and the stories are still as good as they were in the beginning. I love reading about Charleston and the familiar characters that work in Theodosia's tea shop.
Book #24: London Calling by Sara Sheridan
Summary: Set in the post-war atmosphere of 1952, London Calling follows ex-Secret Service agent Mirabelle Bevan as she investigates the mystery of a missing debutante, wealthy eighteen-year-old Rose Bellamy Gore. Mirabelle is assisted once again by the upbeat Vesta Churchill as they explore an underworld of smoky nightclubs, jazz bars, and intriguing characters to gather information and seek answers. Detective Superintendent Alan McGregor keeps an eye on Mirabelle's activities as a fledgling romance blooms between the two.
Rating: B-. This is the second in the Mirabelle Bevan series. I enjoy the time period and like the diversity of the characters and will continue reading the series.
