Just hanging around...

the house on Saturday - me and my furry associates.  Aggie has been sacked out on the floor while I am working my way through this pile of client paperwork; Peter and Bee have checked in with me periodically throughout the day.

Looking for treats, probably.

I finished up some correspondence, paid some bills for one of my clients and packed up two belated Christmas goodie boxes for two of my patient friends.

Managed to get a few thank-you notes written -

and a sentence in my Jane-a-Day journal.

My mail lady brought me a package from my friend, Kathy, in Utah.  She is a candy-maker extraordinare, let me tell you.  She found time to make several different kinds of goodies during the holiday season, after volunteering with the Red Cross in NYC for two weeks after Hurricane Sandy.  She was away from home from November 29 until December 15 - and still managed to work her magic in the kitchen.

She makes divine homemade truffles, excellent fudge and this year there is something labeled chocolate log wrapped in parchment paper.

I can't wait to investigate that!

I collected up some books for my weekly Sunday afternoon on the sofa tomorrow.  I think I'll start with A Deal to Die For - second in the Good Buy Girls series.

Review to follow one day soon...

But first I think I'll sample a truffle!

Bangs, bees, birthdays and books...

are an odd combination of things for a blog post, but it's my birthday and I can write about anything I want.  I was going to do a post a while back about my front door and the bee decor, but I didn't - so I'm showing it off now because bees just make me happy.  I found the wooden flower cut-out, welcome sign and little bee by the door knocker on Etsy.  Aren't they cute?  The sign on the left, the corner of which is peeking out, says Bee Happy.  The new sign confused my clients a little when I switched the flag out for it, but it's been up there since January.  I think they're used to it by now.  Come on in - it's raining outside.

Let's see, what was I going to say?  Oh, yes - bangs.  When is one too old for bangs?  I haven't cut my hair in a while, and while I am inordinately fond of headbands, that unfortunate hairstyle has a tendency to really show the grey in my mousy, brown hair.  I just can't do the hair color thing.  If I try to color it myself it looks like crap - seriously.  And I hate paying someone at least $75 to do it for me; consequently, I am besieged by greying temples.  Solution: I trimmed my own bangs and amazingly, I don't look my age - so maybe I'm not too old for bangs after all.  I may give in and go somewhere for a cheap quick trim.

Is this not the coolest thing?  My friend, Kathy, sent this lovely handmade sewing gadget to me for my birthday.  She said it had my name written all over it: ME fabric and useful, too!  It is a tile padded and covered with an attached pin cushion - with a fabric waste basket hanging over the edge.  Matches my bedroom sewing corner (and ME sewing basket liner) perfectly and I can't wait to use it!

Now for the books: I just finished reading Sunshine on Scotland Street - the latest installment in that wonderful series.  It was a lovely chronicle of the adventures of Cyril, the only dog in Edinburgh sporting a gold tooth, while his owner Angus is on his honeymoon with his new wife, Domenica.  Bertie is still the victim of his mother's yoga classes, Italian lessons and the psychobabble of Melanie Klein.  Bruce, the narcissist, has an interesting experience with his new found doppelganger and the lottery.  Danish reality television wants to do a documentary on Matthew and the triplets - but plans change with the filmmaker meets Big Lou.  Of course, now I have to wait about a year for the next one.

Fortunately, Mr. McCall Smith is about the release the next book in the Isabel Dalhousie series - I can't wait until the end of October.  No murders in Isabel's little corner of Edinburgh - but her adventures are interesting all the same!

I haven't fallen...

off the face of the earth - yet.  It's just summer.  And it's hot.  Really hot and humid - and who feels like doing anything much in that sort of weather?  I've been working, reading, clearing out closets, reading a little more, getting rid of stuff I haven't used in forever, reading - and well, you get the picture.  Since I finished up reading M.C. Beaton's Agatha Raisin series, I started in on Hamish MacBeth.  I've read the first eight - but I'm waiting on the ninth book, which is on its way from a used bookstore somewhere in the UK.  Any day now, I keep telling Aggie and Pete.  In the meantime, I've been tidying and rearranging stuff.  I used to be a mad furniture mover in my previous life (and home).  It was much easier with wood and tile floors - not so much with carpet.  And I somehow seem to have lost my former ability to move heavy objects single handedly.  I am not sure when that happened.  At any rate, I now content myself with rearranging stuff: the shelves, the kitchen counter, my desk.  Incentive to dust the place every now and then.  I was also hoping that messing around with my stuff would be good therapy for writer's block.

Not yet - but I am hoping for a breakthrough soon.

Well, I am ashamed...

to admit that I have whiled away the entire day reading the adventures of Agatha Raisin in merry old new England.  No, I am not really ashamed at all.  It's not like I can go anywhere and it's too hot to sit outside on the screened porch.  We are all the way up to book number seventeen - my OCD really kicks in on serial mysteries!  Over the past dozen books or so, Agatha has become much more likeable, her ex-husband James is a complete ass, I still haven't figured out that motivates Sir Charles, Detective Bill Wong is still his same, sweet self and Mrs. Bloxby continues to be the voice of kindness, reason and sanity in the small village of Carseley.  I like to think that Aggie and Peter are enjoying these cozies as much as I am, but they don't say much.  They just curl up next to me or on my lap - they're great company!.

And another great character...

is M.C. Beaton's Hamish MacBeth, the lanky Scottish constable serving the people of Lochdubh in the West Scottish Highlands.  I took a short break from Agatha Raisin to get acquainted with Constable MacBeth and his dog, Towser, in Death of a Cad.  It's a fun little romp at a house party on the estate belonging to the parents of the unrequited love of Hamish's life, Priscilla Hallburton-Smythe.  The victim is what the policeman rather accurately refers to as a murderee - someone who was annoying enough to provoke his own murder.  In other words, he had it coming.  I've known quite a few people like that, haven't you?  Still and all, it's MacBeth's job to investigate and his unique talent lies in conducting an investigation without people realizing that he's sizing them all up for motive and opportunity.  Hamish is much more personable than Agatha Raisin, and although he's a bit of a penny-pinching mooch, he's charming enough to get away with it.  There are a great many Hamish MacBeth adventures and I'm looking forwarding to reading them.  But first things first - back to the English countryside and Agatha Raisin...

You can never have too many...

Agathas in your life.  I've been an Agatha Christie fan from the moment I read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.  I even named my little scottish dog after her.  And now I've discovered Agatha Raisin - the blundering amateur sleuth created by M.C. Beaton.  We are introduced to Agatha in The Quiche of Death, wherein she has just retired from a successful public relations career in London.  She fulfills a lifelong dream of living in a small English village by purchasing a quaint, thatched cottage in the Cotswolds.  She is welcomed to Carseley by the Ladies Society, headed by Mrs. Bloxby, the vicar's wife.  Always competitive in both business and personal matters, Agatha enters a local baking contest at the village fete.  She can't cook, so she travels to London and buys a quiche at her favorite shop, entering it as her own.  Lo, and behold, the philandering judge of the contest dies after eating Agatha's quiche and she's suspected of his much-deserved murder.  And so begins her career as a detective.  Along the way, she makes her first real friend, local police Detective Bill Wong - half English, half Chinese - whose love life is continually sabotaged by his horrible parents with whom he unfortunately resides.  Agatha Raisin isn't terribly likeable at first; she's pushy, petty and suffers from seriously low self-esteem.  About halfway through the story, we begin to understand her a little better and by the end, well, she's become someone it might be interesting to know.  I won't spoil the story if you haven't had the pleasure of reading it - but if you do, you'll want to read the next one and the next...  I'm on the fourteenth Agatha Raisin mystery now with seven more to go.  The books and quirky characters just keep getting better and better!

I had a lovely evening...

spent on patrol with Mr. Monk.  I really miss watching Mr. Monk solving murders in his own inimitable way on television, but I have the say that the books have turned out to be even better.  The latest paperback release, Mr. Monk on Patrol, is the best one yet.  If you're a Monk fan, you know that Randy Disher moved to Summit, New Jersey at the end of the series to be with Sharona.  He's the chief of police there and it seems he is having some difficulties with some city corruption.  He asks Monk and Natalie to head east and work with him for a few weeks to help catch some serial burglars.  I can't spoil the plot, but hilarity ensues, particularly when Mr. Monk meets a lady who runs a gift shop which sells items manufactured from, well, poop.  As you might imagine, Mr. Monk is horrified to the point of donning a hazmat suit to extract Natalie from the store.  It is purely delightful, purely Monk entertainment from beginning to end.  Not a bad way to spend an evening.  If you are a Monk fan, check out the mysteries - you will be glad you did!

Back to Piney Point...

and it's about time, isn't it?  I was doing great, diligently writing a new chapter every day when I started on January first, but then tax season arrived and something had to give.  Unfortunately, it was the new adventures of my amateur detective, her hunky husband and their precocious offspring that got put on hold temporarily while I spent the next several months doing paying meaningful work.  I'm finally all caught up, the spring summer cleaning is done and I am determined to get back on my chapter-a-day schedule.  My goal is a finished mystery by the end of August and with any luck, a free Kindle download for Dead and Dug Up on Amazon by the first of October.  Apparently, digital is the new wave of publishing for emerging writers - no agent necessary.  We'll see how this goes...  If you've been waiting with bated (yes, bated - not baited) breath for a new installment of Dead and Dug Up, check back later this evening on my Piney Point blog for the latest chapter.

Where did June go?

That's the question I've been asking myself all day today - and what did I accomplish this month?  On the surface it doesn't look like I did much, but I am all caught up on the bookkeeping I let slide during tax season, the spring cleaning is done (yes, I know it's summer...) and I finished my photo scanning project.  So I have been working hard, just not working very hard at blogging or writing.

Which I plan to begin again in earnest - tomorrow.

I've also spent my evenings reading.  I discovered M.C. Beaton and her Agatha Raisin mystery series.  And her Hamish MacBeth mystery series.  Very Agatha Christie in style and substance.  I like them both very much - the only problem is that I am waiting on Agatha Raisin book number nine - I found a used copy for cheap - and the postal service keeps disappointing me!  I've read some Hamish MacBeth in the meantime; his adventures can be read out of order without too much disruption to the continuing story line.  I'd download the Kindle version, but it really irritates me off that the digital edition is often more expensive than the paperback.  I've been getting the paperback versions because then I can share with my book buddies.  I know that defeats the purpose of digital books and saving trees and all that, but what can I say?  I'm an avid reader, but I'm also a cheapskate!

Time to read is a gift...

that I am really grateful for this quiet time of year.  While I still haven't completely caught up from tax season, I'm working on it and I've taken advantage of a few phone-free hours to indulge my inner bibliophile.  I read the latest in the Isabel Dalhousie series from the wonderful Alexander McCall Smith and while it's not a murder mystery, it's still a mystery.  It's a gentle sort of story - that's the only way I can describe The Forgotten Affairs of Youth.  A couple of ongoing plot issues are resolved, a couple of new ones are introduced and Isabel helps a young woman find her biological father.  Or so she thinks.  As always, I recommend anything by this wonderful author and this book is no exception.

Eleven-year-old sleuth, Flavia deLuce is back in I Am Half-sick of Shadows, the fourth mystery in Alan Bradley's series set in 1950s England.  Christmas is coming and Colonel deLuce has rented out Buckshaw, their crumbling country estate, to a film company in the hope of boosting the ever-dwindling family fortune.  Of course, there is a murder and Flavia is determined to expose the killer - and maybe catch Santa Claus while she's at it.  A fun read, but still not nearly as good as Flavia's debut in The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.

And finally, rounding out today's reviews: Major Pettigrew's Last Stand - a delightful first novel by Helen Simonson.  The retired (and widowed) major lives somewhere south of London in the small village of Edgecombe St. Mary.  Sounds vaguely Christie-esque, doesn't it?  Mrs. Ali is the widow of the Pakistani shopkeeper in the village.  The two strike up an unlikely friendship; will it turn to romance?  You'll have to read it and see - it's a lovely little book and I am looking forward to Simonson's next novel.

The stack of books...

for one reason or another, did not dwindle much during my stay-cation the week after Christmas.  As much as I love my Kindle, its portability, compact storage capacity (3,500 books!) and all the great freebies associated with it, there are still some authors' books that I like to hold in my hands.  I savor every page and then lovingly put them with their friends on my bookshelves.  When I moved from my house, I let go of literally hundreds of books by authors I've enjoyed over the years: Stephen King, Patricia Cornwell, Anne Rice, John Grisham, Mary Higgins Clark, Ken Follett, Maeve Binchy - I knew I really didn't have room for them and I was never going to read them again.  I boxed up the pile I hadn't read yet and spend the year of the first, small apartment with no cable reading myself to sleep every night.  I passed the books along to my friend Richard who enjoyed them and then passed them along to our mutual friend Neil.  Yes, I know, it seems like all my friends are men - I'm not sure why that is.  But I digress...  One of the authors who made the I-have-to-keep-the-books cut is Alexander McCall Smith.  I loved the detective agency series and I adore the Isabel Dalhousie series.  I am reading his latest installment of the Corduroy Mansions series - still not finished!- and I have his 44 Scotland Street series waiting in my book basket.  I also have Allen Bradley's latest Flavia deLuce mystery to read - I love that kid.  So precocious - but in a good way.  Bradley's books are definitely keepers.  Not long ago, I read a newspaper article about a local author I had to check out.  His name is Ransom Riggs and he's written a book with a most interesting title: Miss Peregine's Home for Peculiar Children.  I can't wait to read it - as well as his Sherlock Holmes Handbook.  I'm also looking forward to reading three books by Jenny Cote.  They are young adult fiction featuring a scotty dog and a cat: The Ark, the Reed and the Fire Cloud; The Dreamer, the Schemer and the Robe; and The Prophet, the Shepherd and the Star.  I'm sure you can guess what the books are about based on their titles.  I may not have gotten much reading done during my alleged week off, but at least I have something to read while I wind down at night during tax season.  Stayed tuned for some book reviews...

Stay-cation book one...

is the next book in Alexander McCall Smith's Corduroy Mansions series: A Conspiracy of Friends.  It is the continuing story of Pimlico terrier Freddie de la Hay and his owner - along with the other quirky residents of Corduroy Mansions and the surrounding area.  I'm about a third of the way through it and once again, McCall Smith does not disappoint.

It makes me want to live in a place like that!

Aggie wasn't happy with the dinner offering tonight: oven roasted green beans with a little olive oil, kosher salt and Mrs. Dash.  Still a little crunchy and very tasty.  She ate some, but she wasn't happy.

My very first mystery...

was this sweet little book from the Weekly Reader Book Club called The Case of the Cat's Meow.  I got it on February 22, 1966 - I know because my mother wrote the date inside along with my name.  I guess I had a tendency to lose things back then at the ripe old age of seven.  Lord knows I didn't lend my books out even then - and I still don't.  The only time a book leaves my hands is when I intend to let it go forever.  Isn't that terrible?  I guess I imagine the borrower turning down a page or breaking the spine and well, that would not be good.  But back to my first mystery story - it's about a missing cat and the little boys who investigate her disappearance.  It's not very suspenseful and it has a happy ending, but for a seven-year-old, it was a terrifically spell-binding story and I've hung on to it for forty-six years.  And I've never lent it out so it's still in pretty good condition for an antique.  Like me.

What was your first memorable book as a child?

It's a lazy Sunday and...

we are spending the afternoon on the sofa with Mr. Monk.  Lee Goldberg's latest Monk mystery, Mr. Monk on the Couch, just came out in paperback and those kind people at Amazon with their delightfully free shipping delivered it right to our door along with a Christmas present we ordered for someone.  It's been a while since my Monk-a-thon and it's time to catch up.  Mr. Monk continues to wage war on crime, dirt and germ - not necessarily in that order - his agoraphobic brother, Ambrose, has taken up with a tattooed biker chick and Natalie is determined to solve a mysterious natural death that Mr. Monk has no interest in.  This should be good.  We'll let you know...

Wouldn't you love to live in St. Mary Mead?

I would simply adore having Miss Marple as a neighbor - imagine solving crimes over tea and cake!  While Agatha Christie's spinster super sleuth has been portrayed by many fine actresses, including Angela Lansbury, my favorite is Joan Hickson.  I just finished watching 4:50 from Paddington for about the tenth time.  It's such a great story and I notice new clues every time I watch it - Aggie's namesake is the master of the red herring.  My favorite Miss Marple story is Murder at the Vicarage, where she makes her debut - but all of the stories are great.  If you've never read a Marple mystery, pick one up - you won't be sorry.  And if you're in the mood for a great mystery movie, choose one of the BBC adaptations with Joan Hickson - excellent every time!  I think I'll head on back to St. Mary Mead and see who the latest victim is...

Gotta love free books...

for the Kindle!  I've discovered a new author: Judy Christie and her Green series.  The first book is called Gone to Green and tells the story of big city reporter Lois Barker who moves to Green, Louisiana and takes over the local paper there.  She is a woman of dormant faith and many doubts.  I really liked the story and the writer's style, so when the next installment was available,

I downloaded it too - for free!

Goodness Gracious Green continues Lois' journey of the heart - not only in her faith, but in meeting a wonderful man and finally finding her place in her community.  One of the things I am really enjoying about this series is the cast of quirky Southern characters.  And the dogs.  Yes, Aggie, the dogs.

The third book, which I just finished, is called

and you guessed it, Lois and Chris get married - but the main focus of the book is about the tornado that all but wipes out the town of Green, its residents and their hopes for the future.  The next book in the series is called Rally Round Green and I am anxiously awaiting its arrival on the Kindle free e-book list.  Lois' next adventure, Downtown Green, comes out early next year.

The next installment...

of the London adventures of Freddie de la Hay is here!  We are off to see what's new in Freddie's little corner of the world.  Well, I am at least; Aggie will probably nap while Peter and I read.