I just finished After a Hours at Dooryard Books, by Cat Sebastian. It was good. A similar vibe to her Page books, but in a different location/time. It’s set in New York City, in 1968. It’s doing my head in a bit that that’s now a historical novel setting, since I turned one that year. I don’t have any memory of it, but the cultural moment sort of culminated in Watergate, and that I do remember.

Lo, I have become historical.

Good book, tho.

Consuela - the narrator for "Curse of Chalion" is Lloyd James. He's narrated a lot of books in Audible but I don't think I've listened to anything else read by him. "Paladin of Souls" is read by someone else.

Maybe it's just me. I'm listening to Ian Carmichael's narration of "Have His Carcase" and having issues as well. I don't hear any differentiation between Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane, so when they're bouncing ideas about the case off each other, I can't tell who's saying what.

Oh, I think Ian Carmichael is one I love, but I’ve only listened to him in radio plays where he’s only Peter, I guess. His delivery is so good. The working together parts of Have His Carcase are the best, too, so that’s a shame.

It’s doing my head in a bit that that’s now a historical novel setting, since I turned one that year.

Yeah, I found it kind of distracting that several characters were very close to my parents’ ages who also had small children at that time but otherwise a very different environment. Just couldn’t help making those comparisons as I read. And then thinking about reading stuff published in the 40s (by which I mean murder mysteries, mostly) would have been like that for my mother and that kind of made my head explode.

And then thinking about reading stuff published in the 40s (by which I mean murder mysteries, mostly) would have been like that for my mother and that kind of made my head explode.

Yes, exactly!

I tend to have a hard time with "historicals" that are in my lifetime - "Endeavour", the Inspector Morse prequel, and "Prime Suspect: Tennison". My brain doesn't accept that they're historicals.

Having said that, I totally fell in love with "After Hours at Dooryard Books". And "Hither Page" and "Missing Page" are set early enough that I don't have issues.

I totally fell in love with "After Hours at Dooryard Books". And "Hither Page" and "Missing Page"

IJWTS, quite aside from the books which I do like on their own merits, these are such good titles. This is probably not really a spoiler but when they plant a lilac in the Dooryard, uh, yard I was overcome at the perfection

Star Shipped, Hell's Heart, and Nobody's Baby all just came off hold. This is making it very hard to start my actual book club book! What have I done to myself

Surely the bookclub will understand. Paarticularly if they are library books that have immediate deadlines.

I read the first chapter! We aren’t actually going to start discussing it until next week, I can do a little every day in between binge-reading the library books…yeah, that’s the ticket