Maggie Anton > Recent Status Updates

Sorry, mistyped the page number

As a retired female chemist [now a historical novelist], I experienced quite a few of the protagonist's job difficulties. I greatly appreciate the author's voice as she gets readers to identify with our heroine.

There are better books on Yiddish, most of which have sections on curses. My complaint about this one is that the sayings aren't translated word for word, and I want to understand what each individual Yiddish word means, which the glossary doesn't do. I'm especially frustrated by long phrases.

So far there are both men who might have wanted to run off with the missing woman and men who might have wanted to kill her. I suppose there could be women who wanted to kill her too.

Grafton's previous alphabet mystery was different because our detective heroine Kinsey was more of a secondary character who told the story than its protagonist. This volume is also different in that instead of completely told from Kinsey's first person POV, we get some third-person POVs showing what the major suspects were doing a few days before the woman missing since 1953 was last seen.

Nothing like being stuck at home with Covid-19 to catch up on my reading. At last things are going in our heroes' direction. Picquart is released from gaol and Dreyfus from Devil's Island. The evidence against them is increasingly being disproved. I will undoubtedly finish this novel over Shabbat.

Nothing like being isolated at home with Covid to get a lot of reading done. Our protagonist Picquart, who is determined to find proof that will expose the real spy and exonerate Dreyfus, has been banished to Africa to prevent him from uncovering more evidence of the Army's incompetence and prejudice.

Not that I didn't know how the Dreyfus affair ends, but now our protagonist Picquart believes Dreyfus is not guilty. Unfortunately, the army doesn't want to do anything with the new evidence, even though it means the real spy will get away with his crimes, because it will make the army look bad.

Now the protagonist gives us a flashback to the Dreyfus trial. Even though I know he will eventually be exonerated, it's still upsetting and painful to read.

I've just started this novel and already I don't want to put it down. The the first-person present-tense writing is excellent; I feel like I'm back in early 1900's Paris as the author is telling me his story.

The plot thickens as we learn that there's a connection between the two victims and that: 1] some of the possible suspects can't account for where or what they were doing at certain times, and 2] some of the victims can't either.

I admit I'm an American Jew who has no familiarity with modern Hebrew poetry, but I don't think that's entirely my excuse for merely skimming the interminable 25-page first chapter that introduces dozens of characters. Thankfully, this being a murder mystery, we get the first victim in Chapter 2 and the next in Chapter 4.

I'm enjoying this book more than Book 3. Also appreciating how expertly the author reintroduces the many characters from Books 1-3 without TMI, and how she keeps so many plot balls in the air without dropping them. I'm both looking forward to what will surely be a happy ending, and feeling sad because this is the final book of the series.

I had to give up on this book. The protagonist [can't call him a hero] is so depressed yet I couldn't even pity him. He's so caught up in his own angst that he can't be a decent detective. And then I heard that the ending is a cliffhanger for the next volume. That did it for me; I quit. I'm going back to Batya Gur's mysteries.

A short and easy read, but you should definitely read book #1 first. Things are even worse for the Jews in the GFS [God Fearing State] so their friends/accomplices in the UPR [United Progressive Regions] spring into action to help. There's now a Korean set of twins added to the mix, too.

Ahah! Our heroines have escaped their captors and found their way into Jericho, where miraculously, they've been taken in by Alanah's mother and Rahab. I've read enough Torah, specifically the book of Joshua, to know what's going to happen next - a daring rescue.

So far I like book 3 in the "Out of Egypt" trilogy better than book 2. At least the Hebrew names are more accurate for the time. Still no mention of what happened to Moses' wife, sons and father-in-law. However the premise, that a Hebrew soldier who takes captive a beautiful woman must either marry her or free her [Deut 12:10-14] will be put to good use in the plot.

The start was slow, full of TMI about the psychoanalysis institute, but it eventually got to the murder and then became more interesting. I'm probably spoiled from reading so many fast-paced Sue Grafton mysteries'

Well, it looks like we know who done it, but we don't know why or how yet. More important, is Harry going to accept Fair's marriage proposal before his deadline or not?

Interesting mystery, a monastery's statue of Virgin Mary that appears to shed tears of blood, that at first does not involve a murder. But we only know the frozen monk was murdered because Harry's animals learn this by questioning a cardinal. Lots of intrigue among the community's women, including some lesbian yearnings. Since the author is a lesbian, I'm surprised the subject hadn't been addressed earlier.

So far: one missing woman and her horse, two suspicious human, deaths from rabies, and one outright murder. Plus Harry quits her post office job when her animals are not allowed inside.

More college women's basketball games but no more murders. But apparently somebody has been selling university sports equipment. Does this have something to do with the murders or is it just a red herring? Only 50 more pages until we know who done it and why [my copy only has 315 pages].

Now there's a second murder (of course, there's never just one murder), but no obvious connection except that both victims are in the construction business and both were killed in the basketball arena.

Since the murder was committed at a basketball game [amazingly, in a very crowded stadium], I appreciated the pun in the title. Of course our heroine sleuth Harry can't stop wondering who done it, especially since she was sitting behind the murdered man. she's just received a phone call warning her that, "curiosity killed the cat, mind your own business." Harry's 3 animals, also at the fatal game, are worried too.

This novel is a sweet and fast read. Short chapters easily switch between grandmother's 1918 POV and granddaughter's 1994 POV, each one describing their matchmaking experiences. One book with multiple romances, but I only just got to the grandmother's marriage and the granddaughter is still single. I'm sure I'll finish this book over Shabbat.

Up until now I was ready to give this book 5 stars, but it's getting too bogged down in detailed scientific explanations that don't advance the plot. Weir sounds like he's just trying to show off how he knows that his readers don't. Well, I have a degree in Chemistry from UCLA, so I'm just skimming it. I want more focus on the relationship between our protagonists.

Our hero has not only met and learned to communicate with the alien Rocky, but now they are friends with a common goal to save both their planets.

As expected from Andy Weir, we're off to an exciting, and difficult to put down, start. A mix of lots of science, mysterious aliens, and [shocking] government bureaucrats working together.

The plot thickens as Kinsey returns from a trip to Louisville where she uncovers all sorts of new information that ties together several of the characters to Mickey in ways not known before. Also she realizes that there are actually two different, and possibly unrelated, crimes going on here. Compared to the N book, I haven't noticed any plot holes.