The Hotel Balzaar by Kate DiCamillo

 Kate DiCamillo is a wonderful storyteller and her books have won numerous awards including the Newbery Medal three times for: Because of Winn Dixie, The Tale of Despereaux, and Flora & Ulysses. I have loved reading her stories and one of my favorites is a recent one called Raymie Nightingale. 

This story is very short, a mere 150 pages with large print. Marta lives at a hotel with her mother. Each day she does the same things while keeping her promise to her mother that she will not bother anything or anyone. Both of them are waiting for their father to come home from a war. Her days are the same until an eccentric older woman checks into the hotel and changes Marta and her mother's world in a beautiful way. 

Recommend: yes

Junior fiction, storytelling, family, hope

Olive You to Death by Lynn Cahoon

 This is number 16 in Lynn Cahoon's Tourist Trap mysteries. I have to admit they are formulaic, but I still enjoy reading them or listening to them. The characters have become comfortably familiar. The writing can be a bit tedious, but overall not a bad listen as I work online. 

All of the Tourist Trap mysteries take place in the fictional town of South Cove, California, a city on the coast in southern California. Jill Gardner runs the coffee shop and bookstore, Coffee, Books, and More and her fiance, Greg King, is the town's head detective. There are a cast of other regulars in each book and together they solve the cases of the dead bodies that end up there. 

Recommend: sure. 

Fiction, mystery, California, series

The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery

 Anne of Green Gables is one of my favorite books I read as a young teenager. I have read many of Montgomery's works included the Emily books and all of the Anne books. I saw this book by her on Spotify and thought I would give it a listen. 

It starts out slowly, really slowly. At one point I wanted to give up and not finish it, but my sister assured me it would be worth it. And it was!  Once things took off it was wonderful. The characters are developed extrodinarily well and by the end I loved it!  

Valancy Sterling is living in Canada in the early 1900s. She is turning 29 and not married nor does she have any prospects. Here family is horrified for her and treats her as if she is worthless. Due to some health issues she decides to break free from her family's grip on her and live. She leaves home and nurses a sick girl and makes friends and finds love. 

A wonderful story!

Recommend: yes

Fiction, romance, Canada, families, 1900s. 

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

 In searching for something new to read I came across this book by Mark Haddon. I've read another book by him, a children's science fiction book called Boom! which I quite liked. 

John, a 15 year old autistic, is writing this book for a school assignment. He describes everything in his life including his struggle to interpret emotions and situations, tune out noise, deal with new people and experiences, and understand his parent's choices and relationship. Numbers and science make perfect sense to him and he looks forward to being a scientist someday. 

The book opens with him seeing his neighbor's dead dog and deciding that, like Sherlock Holmes, he will discover the murderer of the dog. This leads him to discover many things about his family that he did not know and he does not know how to process most of his discoveries. Even though his parents are divorced and have a rough relationship they try to help him, encourage him, and love him. 

I didn't love this book, but I didn't hate it either. Sometimes characteristics of the main character seemed inconsistent and I didn't love the language of the adults which seemed to get in the way of the story. The author has worked with autistic individuals in his life and that experience has helped him to see into their world a little bit. I was inspired by John's father's love for him and his patience that he displayed even when John's behavior was very difficult. I would still recommend it, however, because there are not a lot of books that I have heard of that showcase autism as well as this does. 

Recommend: yes

Young adult fiction, autism, parenting

Earwig and the Witch by Diana Wynne Jones

 Diana Wynne Jones is a genius. I adore all her books. The Chrestomanci series and Howl's Moving Castle being among my favorites. Her way of writing fantasy books is unique and her characters are memorable. 

I picked up this book at the library the other day and enjoyed the quick read; it's just over 100 pages. It has some great illustrations by Paul O. Zelinksky, who is a talented children's book illustrator. 

Earwig is an orphan and content with being at the orphanage until some interesting people come to adopt her. She finds herself in a magical household and with the help of Thomas the cat, decides to take control of the situation and become in charge. 

Recommend: yes

Children's fiction, witches, magic, orphans, cats

Close to Death by Anthony Horowitz

 I downloaded book #5 soon after finishing #4. I was happy to hear it was the same narrator and that the author himself narrated a bit as well. The premise of this installment of Hawthorne and Horowitz is a bit different. This time Horowitz is writing about a crime that has already been committed instead of seeing it unfold in real time. His publisher wants another book and Hawthorne doesn't have a case he is working on so they decide to resurrect an old case. Hawthorne slowly gives Horowitz information on the case so that he doesn't know the end from the beginning all at once. 

I really enjoy these mysteries and my only complaint is that this was just published in 2024 and I will have to wait for the next one to be published!

Recommend: Yes

Mystery, murder, detective, crime

The Twist of a Knife by Anthony Horowitz

 I discovered Hawthorne and Horowitz Mysteries a few years ago much to my delight. The Twist of a Knife is #4 in the series that has 5 books in it at present, although the author has said there are more planned in the future. Hawthorne is a former police detective in London and now works as a private investigator. These are unique because Horowitz puts himself in the story as the side kick to Hawthorne who has asked him to write books about him as he solves cases. The reader gets a unique look into the frustrations and insights of a somewhat unobservant companion to a brilliant detective. Horowitz inserts many things about his personal life in these stories that it makes you wonder if they are true and not fiction. My favorite part of mystery series are the reoccurring characters. Hawthorne is a well developed and there is a lot of mystery surrounding his history which makes reading the story engaging and so interesting. 

I listened to the audio book version and the narrator did a wonderful job. His voices of the characters really brought them to life for me. 

Recommend: Yes

Mystery, murder, detective, crime