Sunday, November 6, 2016

Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd - Bradley / The City Baker's Guide to Country Living - Miller

I finished these two library books in the last few days.  I whipped through both of them, so you get a 'two-fer' today.



I've read all the Flavia de Luce books.  They're like a cross between Nancy Drew and the Addams family.  I like that sort of mix.

Flavia rides off on Gladys (her bicycle) to deliver a message to an old man who does wood carving.  Someone has damaged some of the carvings in the local church.  Flavia finds the man dead, hanging upside down from a contraption of some sort.  She, of course, investigates before calling the police.

I think the mystery in this one is a little thin.  I was a bit disappointed by the perpetrator and the solution.  But, on the way, there were some interesting characters and incidents.  The ending was abrupt and unexpected, though.



Danielle at A Work in Progress mentioned The City Baker's Guide to Country Living a while ago and just recently posted her review of it.  Danielle is a much better reviewer than I am.  I'm always in too much of a hurry to get on to the next book.

Olivia Rawlings is a baker who sets a prestigious private club in Boston on fire while serving Baked Alaska.  She was ready to leave anyway, to leave the club and her married, wealthy lover.  She goes to visit her friend Hannah in Vermont and ends up taking a job baking at the Sugar Maple Inn.

Livvy, as her friends call her, also plays the banjo.  She's invited to play with a group in town.  One of  the other musicians, a fiddler, is handsome and she falls in love with him.  His family treats her like a daughter.  But it all comes apart when his father dies.  It's the kind of small town where everyone has known each other for generations and where everyone knows everyone else's business, even though there are lots of secrets.

This was a light read, full of lots of baking and cooking.  It inspired me to bake a Lemon Drizzle Cake, which I've been intending to do for weeks.  Once it's baked, it has to be eaten, which is why I'm feeling a big porky at the moment.

It also ticked several of my boxes, as they say.  Olivia lived and worked in Boston, where I used to live and work, she has an Irish Wolfhound mix, and I've had the pleasure of sharing my life with three Irish Wolfhounds, and she uses Nancy Drew books to level the legs of a table, and I love Nancy Drew.  Although I'd never use them to level a table.

6 comments:

  1. Yep, I think we've crossed a line where the rest of the series won't quite measure up but I still enjoyed visiting Flavia world. I hated the ending though!

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    1. It's always reassuring to have another reader validate my reading experience. There were flashes of the old Flavia, but I didn't think it was as oddly charming as others in the series. It must be so hard to write a series and keep it engaging.

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  2. That's a shame about the Flavia book, but I'll read it anyway, when I get to the front of the queue!
    They do say that lemon drizzle cake keeps well - but how do they know! It always disappears too fast in our house!

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    1. Peggy and I seem to agree that this one's not up to snuff. Maybe he'll get a second wind with the next one. Our Lemon Drizzle is disappearing fast, too. But I know where it's going!

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  3. Nancy Drew and the Addams Family -- what a combo! Too bad the mystery was a little thin. I like that Gladys rides a bike named Gladys though!

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    1. There are many things about Flavia that I find charming, not the least is her naming her bike Gladys. I named my bike, too, but it's name escapes me now. I think it might have been Princess. I used to ride around pretending my bike was a horse, with my white mouse, Snowball (so original!), in the basket. I THINK she enjoyed the ride.

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