The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict

THE QUEENS OF CRIME by Marie Benedict received a starred reviews from Library Journal and Booklist; it was also a LibraryReads Hall of Fame selection for February. In her latest work of historical fiction (1930s England and France), Benedict conveys the personalities of five Golden Age mystery writers.  She teams Dorothy Sayers with Agatha Christie, plus Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham, and Baroness Emma Orczy. As part of an effort to impress the male writers at the Detection Club, these women work together to solve a murder of a young English nurse, May Daniels, in France. They trace her stops at the ferry and various shops, often employing their own characters’ techniques to learn much more than the local police while still providing plenty of suspense for readers. In the process, they redeem Daniels’ reputation and enhance their own. A great historical whodunit.

I was fortunate in being able to listen to the Audio Book narrated by Bessie Carter. She did a great job of using Benedict’s words to help readers picture these five authors and their varied personalities. 

The New Rules of Investing by Mark Haefele

THE NEW RULES OF INVESTING by Mark Haefele with Richard C. Morais is subtitled “Essential Wealth Strategies for Turbulent Times.” Haefele is the global chief investment Officer at UBS where he oversees the investment policy and strategy for around $4 trillion in invested assets at UBS. In this book, Haefele stresses that “we must all change our way of investing to meet the needs of our time.” Advocating greater risk tolerance, he argues not for managing investments, but for managing wealth, and allocating your wealth by looking at Liquidity, Longevity, and Legacy. He also highlights the increasingly important role of government and even talks about 5Ds of disruption (debt, deglobalization, demographics, digitalization, and decarbonization). Haefele does offer limited advice on specific topics, like this excerpt on cryptocurrency which was featured in Barron’s. However, it would appear difficult for anyone to predict future actions, much less all unintended consequences, of the current administration. Instead, much of his text is a push for the strategies associated with the “UBS Wealth Way,” often told through client stories. Haefele also provides a varied list of other “books that shaped my thinking” and a lengthy bibliography (almost fifteen percent of the text). THE NEW RULES OF INVESTING offers an easy read, packed with anecdotes, more of a mindset reset than an investment guide. Contemplating the questions it raises could be helpful for readers prior to talking with their own financial advisors.

The Bright Side by Sumit Paul-Choudhury

It has been a week for news, right? Feels as though we would all welcome the more positive perspective that is explored in a couple of new non-fiction texts.

THE BRIGHT SIDE by Sumit Paul-Choudhury is subtitled “How Optimists Change the World, and How You Can Be One.” Paul-Choudhury is a former Editor-in-Chief of New Scientist, with training as an astrophysicist and work experience as a financial journalist. The Guardian described this book as “An engaging, if slightly disjointed romp through the science and psychology of optimism.” As I read, I found myself thinking of Ted Lasso and his BELIEVE sign. Paul-Choudhury breaks the book into three sections, plus a somewhat theoretical Epilogue, a Bibliography, and an Index. He begins with talking about his wife’s untimely death and emphasizes that “Optimism, far from leading us to passively await our fates, can help us to actively explore our limitations -- and transcend them.” Indeed, there is a definite bias towards action; The Wall Street Journal review features this quote: “If we want the world to be better tomorrow than it is today,” Mr. Paul-Choudhury writes, “we first have to expect that it will be. Then we have to imagine the ways in which it could be. And then we have to ensure that it will be.”

Readers might try pairing this book with Hope for Cynics; by Jamil Zaki who argues that hopeful skepticism is a valuable and precise way of understanding others and that it can rebalance our view of human nature, thereby helping us build the world we truly want. An interview with the author, a professor of psychology at Stanford University and the director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab, is available here on PBS NewsHour:

Mrs Hudson and the Capricorn Incident

MRS HUDSON AND THE CAPRICORN INCIDENT by Martin Davies is Book 7 in the series; Others include Mrs Hudson and the Malabar Rose and Mrs Hudson and the Christmas Canary. Davies follows a similar pattern with Mrs. Hudson and the housemaid, Flotsam, integral to solving a case while righting other wrongs along the way. In this case, there is to be a royal wedding, but both bride and groom have gone missing, and an international crisis is brewing. Simultaneously, the amusing socialite Miss Peters is upset about people who are being swindled and she, too, contributes to a solution by leveraging her many connections. Flotsam’s quiet bravery and Mrs. Hudson’s clever, careful thinking are very much on display. As Flotsam says, “It seemed utterly impossible that Mrs Hudson should know so much … when everyone else knew so little, but of course Mrs Hudson did have a habit of knowing things that no one else knew, so although I was bewildered, I wasn't perhaps as astonished as you might expect.” Enjoy this light, entertaining mystery.

The Happy Writer by Marissa Meyer

THE HAPPY WRITER by Marissa Meyer is one of the better books that I have found about writing. I say that because it offers a myriad of practical suggestions and, as Meyer says, is written to connect the readers with their intrinsic love of writing as they “build a foundation of happiness, a love of words, a passion for telling stories, and appreciation of our own bizarre and beautiful imaginations.” Meyer divides her thoughts into six sections that deal with cultivating creativity, setting goals, crafting and revising a first draft, pursuing publication, overcoming common challenges, and finding big payoffs through little joys. For example, she mentions developing a story playlist and listening to different types of music. A very established and best-selling writer herself, Meyer has been providing similar pointers on her Happy Writer podcast and this text certainly offers suggestions on many, many ways to “Get More Ideas, Write More Words, and Find More Joy from First Draft to Publication and Beyond.” I received a preview copy of the text and an audiobook file read by the author. For me, Meyer’s voice was a bit strident, and I found it difficult to focus and retain so many ideas when listening. Personally, I would prefer a print version where I could scribble and highlight – and I would because her ideas are useful and motivating. Meyer even includes a list of sources and further reading like Joyful by Lee, plus writing classics like Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott or Stephen King’s On Writing.  Meyer has added a great pep talk for aspiring and established writers!

Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao

WATER MOON by Samantha Sotto Yambao has an absolutely beautiful cover and contains a story full of wonder that will touch your heart. Imagine if you could leave your deepest regret at a pawnshop. Hana and her father manage such a magical place and she is almost ready to follow fate and take over the Tokyo shop until one day when a young physicist, Keishin, enters. The two of them begin an amazing adventure as they try to locate Hana’s father who has disappeared in his own attempt to find her mother (long thought to be dead). Confusing? Yes, but so are bending the rules of logic, such as riding a rumor or jumping through puddles to move from place to place. Both Hana and Kei are in danger and learn to make sacrifices as they gradually acknowledge their mutual attraction. WATER MOON received starred reviews from both Booklist (“charming, fresh, and difficult to put down”) and Library Journal (“readers … will fall hard for the mix of magical realism, fantasy mystery, and star-crossed romance”) and was a LibraryReads selection for January 2025.  

Work in Progress by Kat Mackenzie

WORK IN PROGRESS by Kat Mackenzie is a very light, romance novel which features glimpses of a tour around the United Kingdom, complete with a reading list (see below) associated with each of the stops. That alone would be great fun, but readers observe the bickering turned attraction between a recently jilted young American woman named Alice Cooper (who loves lists) and the tour bus driver and organizer, Scotsman Robbie Brodie. Their adventures in castle ruins and local pubs are often funny and somewhat absurd, but that just adds to the escapist appeal of this debut travelogue rom-com. WORK IN PROGRESS received a starred review from Booklist (“Readers will enjoy the abundant gentle humor, intergenerational friendships, and armchair travel—as well as the slow burn of a tasteful romance.”) Suggested for fans of Katherine Center and Beth O’Leary.

Reading List: Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson; The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown; The Waverly Novels by Sir Walter Scott; Dracula by Bram Stoker; Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte; A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare; The Liar by Stephen Fry; The Adventures of the Second Stain by Arthur Conan Doyle; Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome; Persuasion by Jane Austen; Sixpence House: Lost in a Town of Books by Paul Collins; Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas; Selected Poems by Robert Burns; Whisky Galore by Compton Mackenzie; To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf; Outlander by Diana Gabaldon; 44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith; With numerous references to Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding; And a couple of bonus titles: Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus by John Gray and Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen.