The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder by C.L. Miller

 Freya Lockwood has been estranged from her mentor/father figure, Arthur Crockleford, since a disastrous incident in Cairo Egypt 20 years earlier. Now in her 40's, Freya is drawn back into a world of complex emotions when she finds out that Arthur has been murdered, but left clues for her and her flamboyant aunt Carol to find his murderer.  Their search leads the two women into the world of the illegal antiquities market and they must use all their wit and charm to expose the villains without becoming victims themselves. 

Here is a new flavor of cozy mystery.  There are the cooking mysteries, and the knitting club mysteries, and now antique hunter mysteries.  It is the author's first novel, and there were a few writing elements that were a little amateurish.  Still, the plot is well constructed, with a lot of interesting suspects and clues.  I ended up enjoying it and will probably at some point read the sequel.  I personally am not really into antiques, and if someone was, they would especially enjoy this novel.  The author is the daughter of a host of one of these famous antique shows on TV, and really seems to know her stuff. (2024 304p.)

Hillbilly Elegy by J. D, Vance

 J.D Vance was raised by grandparents who were Kentucky hillbillies.  His mother moved in and out of relationships with a variety of men, and suffered from alcohol and drug addiction, so Vance relied on the stability provided by his grandmother and grandfather to get him through his teenage years, and provide the motivation and support to go to college. This memoir that launched Vance's political career looks at both the failings and the resilaincy of the working class white culture from the south, plagued with unemployment, teenage pregnancy, and drug addiction. He posits that those who make it out of the destructive cycle are those who have people in their life that keep them in line and point--or even shove-- them toward a better life. 

This book was incredibly popular when it came out in 2016.  It was published before Vance became a senator, or a the Vice President.  It shows a segment of American culture that I have not personally had much experience with.  It was interesting to me to see a portrayal of how the working poor live. Vance doesn't shy away from the messiness of their lives.  He resists showing them as merely the victims of oppression and openly admits that many of their social challenges are the result of their own poor choices.  Some critics of the book claim that Vance is, himself, guilty of stereotyping in the book, but be that as it may, I still found the book interesting and enlightening.  The reader should beware that the book is full of harsh language and behavioral elements, but I believe they are authentic and it would have been impossible to tell an accurate story without them.  (2016, 272 p)

The Third Wife of Faraday House by B.R. Meyers

 Emeline's guardians are hoping to find a suitable match for her from among the social elite.  Emeline, however, is in love with handsome Lieutenant Fletcher.  She dreams of the day when he will return from his tour of duty and sweep her off her feet. When he does return, things don't go as planned, and she finds herself in terrible scandal.  To escape getting shipped off to a nunnery, she accepts an offer to marry a reclusive widowed sea captain on a creepy island in Halifax. When she arrives, she discovered that his current wife, (wife #2) though very ill, has not actually died yet.  The mansion on the island is full of dark secrets and it is hard to tell friend from foe.  Emeline decides her best hope is to try to keep the sick wife alive long enough for her beloved Lieutenant to come and save her, but to do that she needs to uncover the dark secrets of Faraday House.

This is a very gothic historical mystery. I must admit is was almost too scary for me. I had to stop and take a break from it a couple of times while I was listening to it.  I had to keep telling myself that it was likely to turn out alright in the end. The characters are well written and the author does a great job of giving clues without giving away the solution.  One interesting element is that through most of the book the reader doesn't know if something supernatural is going on or if it is a trick someone is playing on Emeline. It is also unclear until nearly the end if this character or that character is the bad guy. For those who like gothic novels, it is a pretty good choice. (2024, 352 p.)

Winterborne Home for Vengeance and Valor by Ally Carter

 April has been in the foster care system for years, but in her heart she knows she is not an orphan.  Her mother dropped her off with the promise that she would return, and a key shaped necklace as a token of the promise. April is surprised to find the same emblem from her necklace in a new museum display about the tragic Winterborne family. Her efforts to find out more about the emblem leads to a fire, and then to her being becoming a ward of the Winterborne family.  Four other children at the Winterborne mansion as well, and so they discover that all of them have ties to the ancient ill-fated family.  As they join together to try to find answers it becomes clear that there are some secrets that don't want to be discovered.

I enjoyed that Stuart Gibbs book so much I jumped right into another middle grade mystery. It did not disappoint.  The children each have distinct but likable personalities, despite their tragic histories.  The setting is appropriately gothic, and there is just the right amount of action and peril. I was impressed that I didn't know who were the good guys and the bad guys for sure until pretty near the end.  Of course, the children are smart, and end up outwitting the bad guy. but the story ends with some questions unanswered, urging the reader to check out the second book in the series. (336 p. 2020)

Spy Ski School by Stuart Gibbs

 Ben Ripley is getting called into action again, but this time officially.  A Chinese billionaire, whom CIA suspects is a mega criminal,  is bringing his teenage daughter to Vail Colorado to learn to ski. Ben has been asked to befriend her and try to figure out her father's evil plot. Erika is coming too, as are some other of Ben's schoolmates.  It's going to be a cool ski vacation, right?  It starts out that way.  Ben quickly makes friends with Jessica Shang, but a mission is never as easy as it seems. It isn't long before the kids are in deep snow with bullets whizzing around their heads. 

I was ready for a lighthearted middle-grade and this fit the bill. The plot for each of the books in this series is basically the same, but the characters are fun and there are exciting and/or funny action sequences. The narrator is also good, doing different voices for all the characters.  I really like Stuart Gibbs in general and this series in particular so I put the next in the series on hold as soon as I was finished with this one.  There is a 12 month wait, so I guess I am not the only one who likes them. (2016, 368)

Great Courses: Epigenetics by Dr. Charlotte Mykura

Epigenetics are a complex set up chemicals that surround a gene and tell it when to express itself or go dormant. In this 12-part lecture series, Dr Mykura explores the science and controversy of epigenetics study. She discusses how epigenetics applies to the formation of a fetus, how it responds to external and internal environment.  She explains the importance of the gut biome and how epigenetics play out in autoimmune diseases.  She ends the series by tackling the question as to whether epigenetic states can be passed from parent to child. 

Dr. Mykura presents this fairly technical topic with the charisma and energy of a TED talker. She is fond of enthusiastic hyperbole, like "This is the most amazing process in the history of human biology". This makes her lectures very engaging despite the density of scientific terminology.  Throughout the lectures I kept reminding myself, that, of course, things like exercise, stress, and diet change our body's makeup.  I just had never thought about how that worked before, and now I feel like I have a better sense of what that process looks like. I enjoyed her creative metaphors to describe difficult concepts, like how a methylated chromosome looks like a tangled ball of string.  My favorite fact from the series is that, since a woman's eggs are formed while she is a fetus in her mother's womb, parts of us have been around much longer than we think. That means part of me was first formed in 1935!  (6 hours, 2023)

Facing the Enemy by Paige Edwards

 Elise Henderson is both a Scottish aristocrat, and an elite MI6 operative--or at least she was until she was severely injured in a crash that killed her partner.  Now her only goal is to get her body back into shape so she can return to active duty. Harry Benson is also a MI6 operative, who was a college sweetheart with Elise. After they broke up, he rebounded and married a girl who was meek, and sweet, and unfaithful.  Now they are divorced, and Harry has the custody of his seven-year-old son Sammy. Fate brings Elise and Harry back into contact when Harry is assigned to investigate a smuggling ring in Scotland, and he asks Elise if she can take care of Sammy just until he can find a daycare provider. Forces combine to pull Elise into Harry's investigation, and Sammy into Elise's heart. With those kind of forces at work, how long can Harry and Elise stubbornly stay apart?

From the cover of the book I was expecting this to be a historical mystery romance, and even through the first chapter that is what I thought it was. Then suddenly Harry is using a cell phone. It was a little bit of a whiplash. Still, I ended up liking the book alright. Elise is a charming character with both toughness and a hidden feminine side. Harry is the dashing "James Bond" character whose bravado is hiding a broken heart. Even Sammy is a fun character, at times brave and at other times authentically distractable. I will have to try more from this author. (2022 288 p.)