KILLING TIME by M.C. BEATON

 KILLING TIME by M.C. BEATON (319 Pages)

Life is never, ever dull in Agatha Raisin's sleepy Cotswolds village! Agatha Raisin's private detective agency is working flat out on a series of burglaries which take a violent turn when a friend of Agatha's is murdered during a raid on his antiques shop. Although determined to nail the villains, Agatha still makes time to help Sir Charles Fraith prepare to stage a massive, hugely glamorous event in the grounds of his ancestral home, Barfield House. When Agatha begins to receive death threats and narrowly avoids being abducted by kidnappers, she takes advantage of a previously arranged trip to Majorca to lie low for a while. There she meets her partner, former police officer John Glass, who is now working as a dance instructor on a cruise liner. Their relationship founders over John's apparent closeness to his stage dance partner, Louise. Putting her love life on hold, Agatha heads home, having worked out who has been threatening her life. Can Agatha track down the would-be killer, nail her friend's murderers and rescue her romance with John? Everything comes to a climax at the Barfield Extravaganza when on top of everything else, Agatha also manages to solve a 400-year-old Cotswold murder mystery!

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov

 I, Robot by Isaac Asimov-273 pages (Mass Market Paperback)

⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is more a collection of somewhat related/connected short stories than a novel, at least in the strictest sense. I found some of the stories amusing and others thought-provoking. There are the 3 Laws of Robotics and robots can't directly disobey these Laws. The book is presented as flashbacks on Dr. Susan Calvin's (a renowned robopsychologist) long career at U.S.R. I liked this book and it's pretty good. This is the first book in a series on robots by Asimov. 

CHRISTMAS CARD MURDER by LESLIE MEIER, LEE HOLLIS, and PEGGY EHRHART

 CHRISTMAS CARD MURDER

 by LESLIE MEIER, LEE HOLLIS, and  PEGGY EHRHART - (LP 479 Pgs)

CHRISTMAS CARD MURDER by Leslie Meier
In the midst of holiday home renovations, Lucy Stone accidentally unwraps a murder mystery decades in the making when she discovers an old Christmas card with a nasty message belonging to one of her farmhouse's previous residents. The case may be colder than a New England Christmas, but Lucy's determined to sort it out before Santa comes to town.

DEATH OF A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Lee Hollis
The Island Times Christmas soiree gets off to a scroogey start when Hayley Powell, Mona Barnes, and Rosana Moretti receive a Christmas card from the town flirt, Carol Waterman, who threatens to run off with one of their husbands! The ladies chalk it up to an imprudent prank...until they find Carol mistletoe-up under her tree...

DEATH OF A CHRISTMAS CARD CRAFTER by Peggy Ehrhart
Slay bells ring when the body of Arborville High School's beloved art teacher (and annual Christmas card designer), Karma Karling, is discovered on the first day of the Holiday Craft Fair. Now, Pamela Paterson and the Knit and Nibble crew must swap swatching for sleuthing in order to put a Christmas killer on ice.

WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR IS IN THE LIBRARY by MICHIKO AOYAMA

 WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR IS IN THE LIBRARY by MICHIKO AOYAMA (pgs 304)

What are you looking for?

This is the famous question routinely asked by Tokyo’s most enigmatic librarian, Sayuri Komachi. Like most librarians, Komachi has read every book lining her shelves—but she also has the unique ability to read the souls of her library guests. For anyone who walks through her door, Komachi can sense exactly what they’re looking for in life and provide just the book recommendation they never knew they needed to help them find it.

Each visitor comes to her library from a different juncture in their careers and dreams, from the restless sales attendant who feels stuck at her job to the struggling working mother who longs to be a magazine editor. The conversation that they have with Sayuri Komachi—and the surprise book she lends each of them—will have life-altering consequences.

With heartwarming charm and wisdom, What You Are Looking For Is in the Library is a paean to the magic of libraries, friendship and community, perfect for anyone who has ever found themselves at an impasse in their life and in need of a little inspiration.

I checked this book out because of the title😊and I ended up really enjoying it, as did my 92 year old mother! It is just a sweet and uplifting little book of somewhat connected short stories from a Japanese author.

MURDER ON THE POET'S WALK by ELLERY ADAMS

 MURDER ON THE POET'S WALK by ELLERY ADAMS (Pages 315)

When corpses clutching poems begin turning up around Storyton Hall, resort manager Jane Steward is on the trail of someone exercising poetic license to kill . . .

As Jane eagerly anticipates the wedding of her best friend Eloise Alcott, Storyton Hall is overrun with poets in town to compete for a coveted greeting card contract. They’re everywhere, scrawling verses on cocktail napkins in the reading rooms or seeking inspiration strolling the Poet’s Walk, a series of trails named after famous authors. But the Tennyson Trail leads to a grim surprise: a woman’s corpse drifting in a rowboat on a lake, a crumpled copy of “The Lady of Shallot” in her lifeless fist.

When a second body is discovered, also holding a page from a poetry book, a recurring MO emerges. Fortunately, Jane is well versed in sleuthing and won’t rest until she gives the killer a taste of poetic justice . . .

THE WHITE HARE by JANE JOHNSON

 THE WHITE HARE  by JANE JOHNSON  (388 Pgs)

In the far west of Cornwall lies the White Valley, which cuts deeply through bluebell woods down to the sea at White Cove. The valley has a long and bloody history, laced with folklore, and in it sits a house above the beach that has lain neglected since the war. It comes with a reputation and a strange atmosphere, which is why mother and daughter Magdalena and Mila manage to acquire it so cheaply in the fateful summer of 1954.

Magda has grand plans to restore the house to its former glory as a venue for glittering parties, where the rich and celebrated gathered for cocktails and for bracing walks along the coast. Her grown daughter, Mila, just wants to escape the scandal in her past and make a safe and happy home for her little girl, Janey, a solitary, precocious child blessed with a vivid imagination, much of which she pours into stories about her magical plush toy, Rabbit.

But Janey’s rabbit isn’t the only magical being around. Legend has it that an enchanted white hare may be seen running through the woods. Is it an ill omen or a blessing? As Mila, her mother, and her young daughter adjust to life in this mysterious place, they will have to reckon with their own pasts and with the secrets that have been haunting the White Valley for decades.

This is the first book I have read by this author and I really enjoyed it. Will definitely read more books by Jane Johnson.

GOOD OMENS: THE NICE AND ACCURATE PROPHECIES OF AGNUS NUTTER, WITCH by NEIL GAIMAN

 GOOD OMENS: THE NICE AND ACCURATE PROPHECIES OF AGNUS NUTTER, WITCH by NEIL GAIMAN  384 Pages

According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (the world's only completely accurate book of prophecies, written in 1655, before she exploded), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner.

So the armies of Good and Evil are amassing, Atlantis is rising, frogs are falling, tempers are flaring. Everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon—both of whom have lived amongst Earth's mortals since The Beginning and have grown rather fond of the lifestyle—are not actually looking forward to the coming Rapture.

And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist . . .

This book was turned into a series on Amazon Prime, the 2nd season is coming out next year, my family liked it so much that we binged watched the 1st season in one day! I liked the TV series better that the book, possibly because of the actors who portrayed the main characters. (Michael Sheen plays Aziraphale and David Tennant plays Crowley).

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TIME'S CONVERT by DEBORAH HARKNESS

 TIME'S CONVERT by DEBORAH HARKNESS  436 Pages

On the battlefields of the American Revolution, Matthew de Clermont meets Marcus MacNeil, a young surgeon from Massachusetts, during a moment of political awakening when it seems that the world is on the brink of a brighter future. When Matthew offers him a chance at immortality and a new life free from the restraints of his puritanical upbringing, Marcus seizes the opportunity to become a vampire. But his transformation is not an easy one, and the ancient traditions and responsibilities of the de Clermont family clash with Marcus's deeply held beliefs in liberty, equality, and brotherhood. Fast-forward to contemporary Paris, where Phoebe Taylor -- the young employee at Sotheby's whom Marcus has fallen for -- is about to embark on her own journey to immortality. Though the modernized version of the process at first seems uncomplicated, the couple discovers that the challenges facing a human who wishes to be a vampire are no less formidable than they were in the eighteenth century. The shadows that Marcus believed he'd escaped centuries ago may return to haunt them both -- forever.

UNDER THE WHISPERING DOOR by T.J. KLUNE

 UNDER THE WHISPERING DOOR by T.J. KLUNE  376 pgs

Under the Whispering Door is a contemporary fantasy about a ghost who refuses to cross over and the ferryman he falls in love with.

"When a reaper comes to collect Wallace Price from his own funeral, Wallace suspects he really might be dead.

Instead of leading him directly to the afterlife, the reaper takes him to a small village. On the outskirts, off the path through the woods, tucked between mountains, is a particular tea shop, run by a man named Hugo. Hugo is the tea shop's owner to locals and the ferryman to souls who need to cross over.

But Wallace isn't ready to abandon the life he barely lived. With Hugo's help he finally starts to learn about all the things he missed in life.

When the Manager, a curious and powerful being, arrives at the tea shop and gives Wallace one week to cross over, Wallace sets about living a lifetime in seven days."

This book made me laugh and cry, sometimes both at the same time! This is the second book I have read by this author, the first was The House in the Cerulean Sea. Loved them both!