I am currently reading a mystery series that I stumbled across because the first book in a different series by the same author showed up on one of the emails that tells me about deals on books and I was intrigued by the title enough to look into the series and this first book is all there is of it so far but there was this other series that is Regency era and I thought sounded vaguely familiar (but that may only be because Kurland St Mary is slightly reminiscent of St Mary Meade) and the first book of *that* series was available on Kindle Unlimited, so I gave it a try and I quite like it! Kurland St Mary Mysteries by Catherine Lloyd - likable characters with relatable problems, decent mysteries, either well researched or plausibly made up historical detail. The first one is Death Comes to the Village.

I'll investigate that one, -t. I do like a series. Maybe I'll recommend it for the book club!

I do love some mysteries that are not modern!

Laura, Anne LeBastille? My old boss at The Nature Conservancy used to vacation in the Adirondacks and gave me a signed copy. I felt pretty much the same.

Oh yeah, Cash. Her high opinion of herself kind of overshadows her accomplishments. I guess the locals don't care much for her either. I'll be interested to see what the consensus of opinion is tomorrow at the meeting. My sister hasn't opened it yet! I told her to read the jacket cover.

I just finished Psalm for the Wildbuilt, and I immediately put a hold on the sequel at the library. It's great to read a book that I found gripping—I very much wanted to see how it ended—with such an underlying thread of kindness.

Calli, I found somewhere (off tiktok?) a list of …I dont remember what they called them—calm books? Comfort books? Cottage core? Anyway. Books like that. Many of them were ones I’d already read and loved, but a few I was able to download. I’ve really been appreciating that kind of book lately. I highly recommend Celia Lake, but I don’t know that any of her books are library ones, sadly. I gave in and bought each of them eventually! Magical England in the post WW1 era, mostly.

Thank you, meara. I'll check Celia Lake out.

OK, I have to share. I have discovered a series that essentially has Bertie Wooster solving locked room mysteries and it is thoroughly delightful. I am hearing most of the dialog and narrative description in Hugh Laurie's voice. So fun. I am sure the concept is not for everyone, but if that description sounds appealing to you, you will probably enjoy the actual books - the first one is The Case of the Canterfell Codicil.

For comfort books, I really enjoy Jenny Colgan's romances. They're mostly set in ridiculously cute small towns in the UK, where a girl from the city shows up and opens a bookstore or bakery or something, and falls in love with some unrealistically-chill local dude. The nice thing is that the books do deal with mental health and poverty, and have gay and multi-racial characters. I really like them.

Finished my reread of Gaudy Night for book club. I enjoyed it, but it is seriously classist, y'all. None more classist. I highlighted several sections with the note "yikes!"