Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Thursday Murder Club is the first book in a continuing series. It is a contemporary series. The series is still being written. 

All my socks and most of my underwear is older than this book series. It is also written by a celebrity. I had my doubts.

I read Thursday Murder Club right after I read Demon Copperfield, a long, difficult subjects, intense book. 

It took me a little bit to get into the swing of Thursday Murder Club. If I got distracted, I had to rewind a bit and relisten, because the characters change often. A distraction meant I missed a whole section. 

Once I got into the flow of the book, I could keep track of the characters and the plot easily. 

I started with a short character list. Once I got into the book, I no longer needed the list. 

Joyce Meadowcraft

And her daughter Joanna

Elizabeth Be 

and her husband Stephan

Ron Ritchie

And his son Jason

Ibrahim Arif

Bogdan Janowski

Most live at Coopers Chase.

Willows is the hospital/care unit.

The nearby cemetery is The Eternal Garden of Rest.

Police -

Donna De Freitas

Chris Hudson

If you need a full list, I did not,  there’s one here -

https://www.bookcompanion.com/the_thursday_murder_club_character_list.html

Note, there were long waits for all of these books, in audio format, through my various library connections. I purchased all the books in this series thru Audible. 

There is an interview with the author at the end of the first book on Audible.

I am in the process of listening to the whole series as I sew over the holidays. I am doing the books one right after the other while the characters are all fresh in my mind. 

I think these books will make a good TV series. It is being developed Netflix. I wondered if the whole series was written with TV in mind. My understanding is it is easier to sell a TV series if it is based on a popular book series.

When I saw Osman’s photo, and noted his height of 6’7”,  I knew him from somewhere. 

His bio clarified it immediately, “Would I Lie to You? is a favorite show.

Sometimes I prefer the TV version, rather than read

 James Patterson TV -

James Patterson has a very long list of books. I have not read any of his books. 

I recently watched his Alex Cross TV series (Amazon Prime). Well cast, well directed, good series IMO. But be forewarned, it is dark on two levels. 

First, something about the lighting during filming made many scenes very dark. I adjusted my TV for as bright a screen as possible, still dark. 

Second, content was dark.

Michael Connelly Television -

Michael Connolly is a prolific author. There is information on his books at the bottom of this post. 

Sometimes I make a conscious decision to watch the TV series instead of reading a series of books. 

I loved the original Bosch TV series (Amazon), a couple years ago. I think it is well cast, well written, well shot/directed. It continues with Bosch: Legacy (FreeVee). I did not read the books.

I recently watched the Lincoln Lawyer, also Michael Connelly, TV series on Netflix. 

Yes, it was a movie first. I watched the original movie. I did not read the books. 

I watched three seasons of the Lincoln Lawyer on Netflix. I think it is well written and well cast. Again, I have no idea how it relates to the books, I did not read them. I watched this series around the election. It kept me happily occupied. 

Michael Connolly Books - 

This is an author where I enjoy the TV adaptations (Bosch and Lincoln Lawyer, above). I probably will never read the Bosch and Lincoln Lawyer books. 

There are too many to list -

https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/michael-connelly/

But I am making a note here, that Connelly has a nice list of other books that I plan to read, when I have a lull -

Quilts I made between July 2023 and June 2024

9 patch variation / double bed
Oldest/DIL (1st guest room) -
The quilt stitch pattern is “Flower vine inside wreath”.

Chaining 9-Patch / king
Nephew’s bed 
The quilt stitch pattern is “Nesting waves”.

Simple 9-patch / queen

BIL’s guest bedroom 

The quilt stitch pattern is “Slanted”.

Half Square triangle / king
Oldest/DIL (2nd guest room) -
The quilt stitching is Straight lines 1.75” apart.

9-Patch variation / antique 3/4 bed. 

Youngest’s bed 

The quilt stitch pattern is “Bubble vines meander”.

Granddaughter -

This is a large baby quilt. The center is a purchased panel. The quilt stitch pattern is “Alpha doodle 1”.

Demon Copperfield by Barbara Kingsolver

Yes, this was a library book group assignment. 

My normal is to start a new book on Monday with the discussion group meeting that Wednesday or Thursday, so the book is fresh in my mind. 

The librarian who runs this group, also co-hosts another group, so I see her a couple times a month. Two weeks before the Demon Copperhead meeting, she suggested I might want to start early.

I listened to her. I started two Mondays before the assigned meeting date. This book is just over 21 hours on audio. I did the math, 21 hours divided by ten days, equalled at least two hours a day. I did that until I got down under 6 hours and then sprinted to the end. From now on, I need to check the length of the assigned books, well in advance. 

Yes, it was very well written. The construction of the plot and interweaving of the characters was very well done. I did not need a character list, everyone was memorable. Author tied up the plot lines nicely. Yes, award winning author.

I would like to add that I was one of the few people who finished the Demon Copperhead book. Many did not allow themselves enough time. A few were triggered by the sadness and bailed. One person read the beginning and the end and skipped the middle.

Several were surprised I finished. They thought it would be too distressing for me. 

I was not surprised. Once I made the decision to read it, I made the decision to finish it. 

And I have a trick. 

My trick is “Tess of the D’Urbervilles” mentality. When I read Tess, middle warned me - it is sad all the way thru, it goes from bad to worse, nothing ever goes right. If you know that from the beginning, you will do fine.

When I am reading something that is an Oprah book club pick or I know from conversations/reviews is bound to be sad, I start out expecting it to go from bad to worse. I expect absolutely nothing to go well. I do not look for an up-side. I know there is not going to be one. 

Demon Copperfield is likened to David Copperfield. Based on the title, I would imagine this was on purpose. I had visions of an outline constructed to mirror the two books, but that was just my guess. 

When I finished, I looked to see if I have read David Copperfield and I have not. I have read Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, Tale of Two Cities, Bleak House. I have read four of Dickens’ fifteen novels. We read one Dickens per year, in my classic book group, over the course of two months. Would I like to be able to have Dickens on my read author list? Yes. I wish I had continued with the once a year read.

I am tempted to read David Copperfield, but the 36 hours is daunting. One other person said she had the same reaction.  She went so far as to hunt out her copy. 

Mr Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

This was a library book group assignment. 

I had a schedule conflict the day of the meeting. I read it on time, in case something changed and I was able to attend, but no.

I enjoyed the book. It is quick paced. It is original. It is well written. All IMO.

It is easy to follow, on the edge of YA. I found it a relaxing listen in audio format. It would be good to read/discuss with either a child or grandchild. 

https://www.robinsloan.com/

The Librarian of Burned Books by Brianna Labuskes

 This is Historical Fiction, WWII era. 

It was a library book group assignment. 

I listened to it over the course of three days, I needed to get on to my next book club book which was a long one (Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver).

I think it is possible, in general, I do not like historical fiction. I don’t think I have read much of it.

I liked this book in the end, but it took me until the half way point to really engage with the characters.

There are three main characters in this book. It helped to start with this character list, there are no spoilers, this information is all stated at the beginning of the book. I found it helpful to have the list as I read -

Althea James - American in cultural exchange program in Germany, published first book.

Hannah Brecht - fled Germany, now librarian in library of burned books 

Vivian Childs - American, volunteer for counsel/ initiative/books for armed services, husband died 

The characters are contemporaries, they intermingle in the story. 

Besides the German burned book plot, there is a second plot about books for service men. This was a real thing during WWII. 

This author has a nice list of other books. 

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center

This is a book I read for a library book group in December 2024.

It was also my “Thanksgiving on the road book”. 

I traveled, by myself, to visit youngest (and the kittens) Wednesday-Saturday of Thanksgiving week. 

Youngest and I share a Libby account. We can see each other’s books. Sometimes middle has a book on there too. The books are not identified by person, they are just all listed. 

Youngest assumed The Bodyguard was middle’s book. Nope, I said, it was mine.

Youngest said the cover definitely identified it as a modern romance. 

Her definition of a modern romance is the woman has a solid life/career of her own, she does not need a man, she might not even be looking for a man, but she finds one anyway. They tend to be very PG.

I had not given the cover a thought. And at that point, I was not far enough along to know anything. But her comments helped temper my expectations for the book. I had a realistic outlook. 

Now, I can verify, yes it is a modern romance. I would classify it as a very light hearted Rom-Com. I thought it was a unique storyline, but it needed editing. There were some disjointed sections. Everyone on my group agreed about the editing. 

Would I read Center’s book list? Personally, probably not. I am not a romance book type of person. It did not have enough depth for me. This was the consensus of my book group too.

But if you like romance and want light reading, you might like this author, she has a nice list of books. I would guess her books are all very good for driving, no character list needed, very straightforward listening.

Center’s website has great biographical information -

https://katherinecenter.com/about/

Normal life

This is the fifth kitten post. Four addition kitten stories posted earlier in the week.

Now the kittens also have access to her living room with supervision. Youngest has had to kitten proof like crazy. We thought puppies were a challenge. Kittens have all the silliness of puppies, but kittens can jump/climb.

They still sleep in the bathroom. 

Each morning she feeds them wet food and spends about an hour with them before work. When she leaves for work, now they have access to the bathroom and her extra bedroom all day. 

When she gets home from work, they are in the living room with her. Kitten wildness ensues. They eat wet food dinner about 6pm. They are in the living room with her from roughly 5-8pm.

From 8-9pm they wind down with her in the extra bedroom. 

9pm is bedtime in the bathroom. 

They have access to dry food 24/7. She has a camera set up so she can see them from her bedroom and at work. She has a litter box in every room.

They are thriving 100%. They follow her around like the pied piper. They are very social and very very affectionate. 

Middle was there for five days a couple weeks ago (dogs stayed with me) and they clearly remembered her. They jumped right in her lap and went after her toes, just like the cat condo days. 

Youngest has had friends visit, the kittens were friendly with them too.  But not as friendly as they were with middle, they remembered her affectionately.

Photos from the living room -

If you are wondering what is the bottom left corner of the photo, it is this fun guy (Chewy) -