Enjoy the Rest of the Summer. I Plan To. . .
I’m afraid I don’t have any pearls of wisdom for you this week. As I wrote in the last newsletter, the dog days of August are not the time when I enjoy making fresh starts, and that includes coming up with pithy things to say.
Enjoy the last bit of your summer, and I’ll do better when I come back to your inbox again on September 4 (yes, I’m skipping next week. Family vacation plans. . .)
See you in September, dear readers.
What I’m Reading
Pride and Perjury by Alice McVeigh
Not a mystery, but a collection of short stories inspired by Jane Austen’s novels, primarily Pride and Prejudice.
McVeigh took some familiar scenes and recounted them from different characters’ points of view. She also intermingled characters from other novels in interesting ways, so, for example, the boorish John Thorpe and shy Catherine Moreland (Northanger Abbey) intrude into Pride and Prejudice. Miss Hawkins (Emma) makes a cameo appearance, as do Mary Crawford (Mansfield Park) and several others.
All in all, highly entertaining for fans of the incomparable Miss Austen.
A Cyclist’s Guide to Crime and Croissants by Ann Claire
This first-in-series features math nerd and avid bicyclist, Sadie Green.
Less than a year previous, Sadie left her serious job in Chicago to buy and run a small bike touring business in rural France. When friends from her childhood and her former employer sign up for one of her tours, she’s eager to wow them with her new life and the choices she’s made.
The best-laid plans and all that. Her tour is interrupted by the death of the former employer. Was it an accident? Suicide? Foul play? As if that weren’t enough, the obnoxious blogger who’s planning on writing a terrible review of the tour ends up cycling off a bridge.
What else could possibly go wrong?
A Murder Most French by Colleen Cambridge
In keeping with the French theme, this is the second in the American in Paris series, featuring amateur sleuth Tabitha Knight and her friend Julia Child. Yes, that Julia Child.
The book opens with Tabs, as Julia calls her, joining her friend for a cooking demonstration. Unfortunately, the demonstration is interrupted by the murder of a famous chef, after he drinks from a very rare and valuable bottle of wine.
During the course of this adventure, Tabitha is introduced to the catacombs of Paris, and the twists and turns of the plot are almost as convoluted as the twists and turns of the famous (or infamous) burial ground beneath the streets of Paris.
The author conveys beautifully Julia Child’s enthusiasm for food and French cooking which I remember from seeing her show when I was young.
Notable Quotes
This one almost had me spitting out my tea.
He’s a little older than me, I think. Late thirties? I’m bad with guessing ages between toddlerhood and one hundred.
- A Cyclist’s Guide to Crime and Croissants by Ann Claire
Guessing someone’s age can be challenging, sometimes, but between toddlerhood and 100 is a pretty wide range! ROFL.
And here are two from a delightful book of short stories called Pride and Perjury. I’m a big fan of Jane Austen, and McVeigh’s is the first Austen fan fiction I’ve read where her sense of humor and satire are truly reminiscent of Jane herself. Color me impressed.
. . . five young ladies performed, though not one in any danger of throwing their audience into ecstasies.
- Pride and Perjury by Alice McVeigh
Again, wonderful economy of language. No words wasted on the fumbled chord, the out-of-rhythm run, or the lack of musicality. Just a straightforward comment that gives a beautiful picture of the young ladies’ level of accomplishment.
Mama is forever urging me to court a neighbour of her own, a Miss Jennings, who couples a goodly amount of money with the kind of laugh which goes in one ear and refuses to come out the other.
- Pride and Perjury by Alice McVeigh
To that, all I can say is, “Ouch!”
Buy Me a Chai
Some of the links I include in this email may be affiliate links. What does that mean? It means you pay the same — or in some cases a little less — if you click and purchase, and I get a small commission. It’s not a lot, but it helps me buy a few chai lattes here and there. . . Or, if you like what you're reading, you can Buy Me a Chai right now. Thanks! (If you really like what you’re reading, you can upgrade to a paid subscription and buy me a chai every month!)
Wise Words
Welcome back to our weekly word game! Your challenge last week was to select the better word choice for the quote below, and your choices were tracks or tracts.
I’m happy to say that my brilliant readers, as almost always, chose wisely. The correct answer is tracts.
Merrian-Webster provides several definitions for tract. In reference to land, a tract is either “an indefinite stretch of land” or “a defined area of land.”
Track, on the other hand, has more to do with a sequence of steps, such as
detectable evidence (such as the wake of a ship, a line of footprints, or a wheel rut) that something has passed
a path made by or as if by repeated footfalls : trail
a course laid out especially for racing
We’ll have a new puzzle in the next newsletter, which will hit your inbox on September 4, as I’ll be in New England next week visiting my daughter.
Enjoy the rest of your summer! 🌞