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Text of the page (random words):
ead challenge wild goose chase winter respite read a thon wishlist challenge women challenge wondrous words world at war www wednesdays yearly wrap up yuletide spirit copyright information this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution noncommercial noderivs 3 0 unported license all reviews and materials posted are the property of my reader s block bev hankins unless otherwise attributed please request permission to use any material in whole or in part elsewhere on the web or in any other format monday april 27 2026 gad mystery word of the day extirpate my new bookish meme for 2026 the golden age of detection gad mystery word of the day whenever i find a word that i m unfamiliar with or shall we say not absolutely confident i know the exact meaning of i m going to actually take time to look it up and share it with mystery lovers everywhere today s gad mystery word of the day extirpate verb a to destroy completely b to pull up by the root he thought the best way to restore our dominion over the colonies would be to lay waste to the land and extirpate the present rebellious race basically through the liberal use of plunder pillage rape and slaughter when the wolves are silent by c s harris posted by bev hankins at 6 00 am no comments labels gad mystery word of the day sunday april 26 2026 when the wolves are silent when the wolves are silent 2026 c s harris candice procter london 1816 we open with sebastian st cyr lord devlin s nephew bayard wilcox awakening from a drunken stupor to find his friend marcus toole s body burning up in the bonfire they had built as part of a raucous night despite the rift between his uncle and his mother his first thought is to run to devlin for help bayard claims that he and marcus got rip roaring drunk as they are wont to do usually with a larger group of friends and thought it would be hilarious to build a bonfire up on primrose hill where people who believe in the druidic practices like to hold little get togethers he wandered off into the woods to relieve himself and the next thing he knew he was waking up to a strange smell coming from the clearing where he d left marcus and the fire while devlin is waiting for sir henry lovejoy and his bow street runners to arrive he searches the area and finds a wooden carving shaped like a wolf on each flank is a celtic knot was this part of some celtic rite gone wrong or is there more to it when devlin learns that another of bayard s friends was recently killed stabbed and thrown into the river he has to wonder if the men themselves hold the reason for the killings in fact he has to wonder if bayard is telling him the whole truth or might be responsible himself his investigation shows him that bayard and his friends were not nice men they picked fights harassed and destroyed the property of the powerless all of the men were privileged sons of the wealthy and were never properly brought to account for their actions has someone decided to take justice into their own hands more deaths follow including two of the groups victims and one of the original six men has disappeared altogether now devlin has to wonder if there is more than one killer at work the crown for which read jarvis the real power behind the throne wants someone anyone arrested and hung for the murders now preferably one of the riff raff who are protesting the government devlin will have to work quickly if he doesn t want to see an innocent man or men hang i don t know why i do this to myself i get the latest sebastian st cyr mystery as soon as i possibly can read it in a day and then look around and bemoan the fact that i have to wait a whole year for the next one you d think i d learn to take my time to savor the experience to let it last as long as possible but no these stories are so good i just can t help gobbling them up harris writes an incredible story using her skills as a scholar to research the period sprinkle interesting facts throughout the narrative without boring us silly with minute details and peopling the plot with both real personalities of the time as well as fictional characters with depth devlin s wife hero has played a role in his detective work occasionally throughout the series and it was nice to see her more involved in this latest case as well her contacts in the scholarly realm helped devlin discover the meaning behind various celtic and druidic symbols which cropped up along the way tom his tiger and calhoun also had their moments to shine tracking down important witnesses and bits of information that devlin needed to unravel the case i will say that this is quite the complicated plot far more than i realized while reading it i can t say much without giving things away but there are a number of threads to keep track of and i didn t manage keep hold of all of them the ending was a surprise but a satisfying surprise i was a bit disappointed that we still haven t made any progress on finding out more about devlin s heritage nor has there been a follow through on a dangling issue from hero s side of the family tree added to that we now have to wonder about sebastian s sister amanda and if what he predicted for her future will come true her son bayard may have been a nasty piece of work but she s not far behind i m hoping that the next installment will bring some closure on at least one of these issues and 1 2 first line where the bloody hell am i it never ceases to amaze me how otherwise intelligent reasonable men can have such faulty antiquated notions about the true nature of fully one half the human race hero lady devlin p 49 last line they got away deaths 19 two drowned two stabbed one burned to death three strangled three natural two in war one beaten to death five shot posted by bev hankins at 5 23 pm no comments labels 13 moons 52 book club cloak dagger historical fiction medical examiner my life in books mystery genre challenge reading by the numbers virtual mount tbr gad mystery word of the day lumper my new bookish meme for 2026 the golden age of detection gad mystery word of the day whenever i find a word that i m unfamiliar with or shall we say not absolutely confident i know the exact meaning of i m going to actually take time to look it up and share it with mystery lovers everywhere today s gad mystery word of the day lumper noun british slang a casual laborer or dockworker employed to load and unload cargo ships and timber vessels originated around the late 18th c from when the wolves are silent by c s harris posted by bev hankins at 6 00 am no comments labels gad mystery word of the day saturday april 25 2026 who done it who done it 2013 by jon scieszka compiler editor synopsis from the book flap can you imagine the most cantankerous book editor alive part voldemort part cruella de vil if she were a dude and worse in appearance and odor than a gluttonous farm pig a man who makes no secret of his love of cheese or his disdain of unworthy authors that man is herman mildew the anthology opens with an invitation to a party care of this insufferable monster where more than 80 of the most talented bestselling and recognizable names in ya and children s fiction learn that they are suspects in his murder all must provide alibis in brief first person entries the problem is that all of them are liars all of them are fabulists and all have something to hide let s start by saying that this was an admirable project get 80ish authors to help put together a book that will be sold to benefit a nonprofit group that encourages young creative writers that s a great project i applaud it most sincerely in theory a whodunnit which featured 80 suspects all providing alibis and ostensibly letting the reader figure out the solution to who killed the odious herman q mildew the editor of nightmares sounds like a real winner i was all ready to put my little grey cells to work and try to outwit the authors and discover the murderer however please note that i cannot continue that thought without completely spoiling the book if my one star rating doesn t scare you off then you probably won t want to continue reading until you ve read this for yourself however this is in my opinion a huge hornswoggle there is no cohesive plot the reader will not pick up clues among the authors alibis there is no way to figure out whodunnit because here s the spoiler herman q mildew is not dead nobody killed him the whole book is a sham now if we believe some these authors there have been some deaths along the way and bless them for that because i can still count the book for the medical examiner challenge but none of those were mildew this could have been such a great project if following in the footsteps of the detection club there had been a real plot a generally agreed upon setting of the scene and then the authors had proceeded round robin fashion to write up their alibis their side of the story adding what details they might and those that followed need to take those new details into account then the reader could have sifted through clues laid down in the framing story as well as the alibis and had a chance to determine the killer as it was this was the biggest disappointment i ve read so far this year the only thing well things that save it is that it was for a good cause and david levithan s poem albi which is a terrific send up of a william carlos williams poem for those two things first line ladies and gentlemen and i use those terms loosely because i know you are all writers and illustrators we have a bit of a situation last line you hold the answer to that question in your hands deaths 4 one natural one fell from height one food poisoning one frozen to death posted by bev hankins at 9 18 am no comments labels 13 moons alphabet soup cloak dagger disappointing read medical examiner mount tbr mystery genre challenge ppbb reading by the numbers gad mystery word of the day cornichons my new bookish meme for 2026 the golden age of detection gad mystery word of the day whenever i find a word that i m unfamiliar with or shall we say not absolutely confident i know the exact meaning of i m going to actually take time to look it up and share it with mystery lovers everywhere today s gad mystery word of the day cornichons noun pl a specific type of tiny tart french gherkin usually 1 2 inches long pickled in vinegar with herbs like tarragon and garlic much cruncier and distinctly sour than dill pickles and usually paired with charcuterie he like full sized pickles i am strictly a cornichons girl who done it compiled edited by jon scieszka except today s word is definitely not gad haven t had a suitable word from a vintage mystery for a while posted by bev hankins at 7 44 am no comments labels gad mystery word of the day thursday april 23 2026 murder by plum pudding murder by plum pudding 2019 by lee strauss ginger basil reed wind up with a houseful of guests at christmas first mr doyle a friend of her late father s writes to say he and his wife will be visiting england and wants to discuss some things with ginger so of course she asks them to stay for the holidays then her step mother sally and half sister louisa arrive unexpectedly on the doorstep because they wanted to surprise ginger so of course she opens her home to them as well then for christmas dinner there s basil s mother and father always a jolly couple especially now that scout s adoption has gone through the adoption they opposed dr gupta and his wife and an older couple who are friends of the elder reeds oh and quite by chance ginger meets the brother of mrs doyle at a christmas eve charity luncheon and invites him as well the dinner is a bit tense for reasons ginger can only guess at but festive enough at least until mr doyle chokes and lands face first in his second helping of plum pudding dead at first it looks like he might have choked on one of the items hidden in the pudding a dreadful accident but an accident all the same but dr gupta s examination in his capacity as police surgeon reveals that it s more complicated than that there was no obstruction to the breathing passages so what killed the man and more importantly who killed him a fun novella mystery that s perfect for christmas or christmas in april as it happens a bit rushed since it s a shorter work and there aren t a lot of red herrings to muddy the waters but it s always delightful to visit with ginger basil and the other regulars i do wish we could give annoying relatives a rest though that theme is getting a bit tired first line the journal remained tucked away in the bottom drawer of mrs ginger reed s bedside table along with a photo of her late husband daniel lord gold last line let s go to the ritz deaths one poisoned posted by bev hankins at 9 59 pm no comments labels abra cadavers cloak dagger historical fiction medical examiner mystery reporter reading by the numbers virtual mount tbr wednesday april 22 2026 murder on eaton square murder on eaton square 2019 by lee strauss basil and ginger reed are invited to a charity event at the eaton square home of mr reginald peck there is obvious tension between peck and his wife peck and his children and even peck and his solicitor peck is an invalid whose demeanor may be affected by his health and that s what the reeds chalk it all up to but the next day basil is called back to the peck home this time as a scotland yard inspector reginald peck has been found dead and while it is assumed that the death is natural it soon proves to be murder by poisoning and questioning soon proves that peck s family had good cause to wish him dead he wasn t a pleasant family man and they all could use an inheritance even his son in law who poses as an indian guru and claims no interest in sordid material matters it s just a matter of deciding whose motive was biggest and who had the best opportunity and then mrs peck dies from poisoning as well ginger and basil will need to sift through motives and opportunity to discover whose behind the poisonings meanwhile basil s parents come for a visit and though they themselves are fairly unconventional they take great exception basil ginger s plan to adopt scout ginger s ward heaven forbid that their heir be a former street urchin and they threaten to disinherit basil if the adoption goes through considering how much the elder reeds go against convention flitting off on trips to south africa and india and adopting a south african child who had since been murdered you d think they d be a little more flexible this was another solid entry in the ginger gold mystery series and it serves up a very interesting solution that i didn t see coming at least i didn t see one half of the solution coming i did figure out the other half i like the way ginger and basil s teamwork plays out basil is the official arm of the law and ginger plies the suspects with charm and disarming conversation very nicely done a quick read with a pleasant mystery that makes for a comfortable read and 1 2 f...