Agatha Christie Read-a-thon Week 1

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 10 Comments

I have been a huge fan of Agatha Christie as long as I can remember. Seriously, my mom saved a Christmas list from when I was eight and I asked for all the Agatha Christie books I didn’t already have. LOL. Of course, I didn’t quite realize I was asking for 80 plus books for Christmas.

Jay is hosting this love fest for the Grand Dame of Mystery. Our first book is The Secret Adversary. The first in the Tommy and Tuppence series.

Basic Summary (Courtesy of Amazon):

Agatha Christie’s first Tommy and Tuppence is a thrill-packed novel of international intrigue and murder with all the Christie hallmarks of suspense and ingenuity. Tommy and Tuppence, two young people short of money and restless for excitement, embark on a daring business scheme – Young Adventurers Ltd. Their advertisement says they are ‘willing to do anything, go anywhere’. But their first assignment, for the sinister Mr Whittington, plunges them into more danger than they ever imagined!

My thoughts:

How disappointing that summary is. Goodreads had almost the same one though. I suppose given it’s Aggie, she doesn’t need much pomp and circumstance to sell books. Tommy and Tuppence are good fun as a mystery duo. I suspect they were quite fun as parents as well. In the later books they have grown children and I can only imagine Tuppence’s pluck balanced with Tommy’s stolid practicality made for an interesting time.

Agatha frequently works in her political opinions in her books. But I’m always much more interested in the way people relate to each other. She gives her characters such complicated inner workings but paints it with such a light hand.

One of my absolute favorite exchanges comes when Julius goes off to procure a Rolls Royce because Tuppence has said she wants one. She has told him it will be impossible, people wait ages. But he comes back in 35 minutes with the car.

“How did you get it?” gasped Tuppence.

“She was just being sent home to some bigwig.”

“Well?”

“I went round to his house,” said Julius. “I said that I reckoned a car like that was worth every penny of twenty thousand dollars. Then I told him that it was worth just about fifty thousand dollars to me if he’d get out.”

“Well?” said Tuppence, intoxicated.

“Well,” returned Julius, “he got out, that’s all.”

I laugh every time I read it. I think that’s the true joy of Christie novels: no matter how many times I read them, I laugh, I cry, I find new little bits that I never noticed before. It’s rich and layered even if she breaks all the “rules of good writing.”

Tuppence and Tommy come out on top, of course. The baddies get their comeuppance.

Next week we’re reading Peril at End House. It’s not too late to join us.

 

 

Fiendish Friday: Productivity

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 6 Comments

I had multiple people ask me this week how I find time to do what I do. I had no answer for them. I don’t know how I find time to to do what I do. I often feel guilty I haven’t accomplished more. It seems to me there are plenty of hours available in the day. And it only makes sense to allocate them to projects that need my attention.

I am only guessing, but I know for some people, “I only have x time” is a real hang up. If I only have 15 minutes until I need to get in the shower to get ready to go somewhere and the kiddo is busy, I’ll spend 15 minutes bashing tile off the wall in the bathroom I am renovating. Or prepping dinner 8 hours before I plan to serve it so I can free up extra time later. I’m kind of compulsive that way.

Part of what helps me is tracking my time for a few days. Generally when I start feeling less productive, I will track everything I do for 3 days and see where my time is going. It might be that I’ve fallen into a bad social media habit or gotten obsessed with a new time wasting game. Sometimes I find I am actually spending my time where I need to be – my feelings just don’t align with reality. Sort of like that guilt I feel for not doing quite everything under the sun(rain) possible.

The concrete, written record of what I do do forces my negative nellie to stuff it. That little internal me who says you really could have done so much more today, this week, this month, this year. She has to shut it. Because there it is in black and white. I do a metric f**k ton of work on a daily basis. LOL.

What do you do when you start doubting your own productivity?

 

Book Review: The Book Stops Here

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 1 Comment

I read Kate Carlisle’s book binding cozy mystery series from time to time. She’s always a safe choice.

Basic Summary (Courtesy of KCLS):

Brooklyn Wainwright is thrilled to be appearing on the San Francisco edition of the hit TV show This Old Attic as a rare-book expert and appraiser. Her first subject is a very valuable first-edition copy of the classic children’s story The Secret Garden,which is owned by a flower vendor named Vera. Once she hears what her book is worth, Vera is eager to have Brooklyn recondition it for resale. But after the episode airs, a furious man storms onto the set, claiming that Vera found the first edition at his garage sale, and he wants it back–or else. Brooklyn is relieved that she’s put The Secret Garden in a safe place, but Randolph Rayburn, the handsome host of This Old Attic, is terrified by the man’s threats. He confides in Brooklyn that he fears he is being stalked by the show’s former creator and star, who was fired when ratings declined. In the days that follow, several violent incidents occur on the set, and Brooklyn is almost killed, leaving both her and her security expert boyfriend, Derek, shaken. Is someone after Brooklyn and the book? Or has Randolph’s stalker become more desperate? And then Brooklyn visits Vera’s flower shop…and discovers her dead. Is the murderer one of the two obvious suspects, or is something more sinister–even bizarre–going on? Brooklyn had better find the clever killer soon or more than her chance at prime time may be canceled…permanently.

My Thoughts:

This is a good solid read. Although I admit to consuming a lot of alcohol while reading it on vacation. In fact, an entire “fishbowl” of a Cruiser was imbibed during the reading of this book.

And yet I can say; there was no trickery, no confusion. The occasional red herring did pop up and occasionally the book really stretched my suspension of disbelief.

No one questions a woman who asserts she found a 20-25K book at a yard sale for 3 dollars? Really?

And Brooklyn gets a new neighbor who can’t wait to be best friends with her. Surprise, the new neighbor just happens to be ex-CIA. Really?

I would still consider Carlisle a safe read, after all you need something mellow when consuming a beverage meant for four.

 

Fiendish Friday: Worst Case Scenarios

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 1 Comment

The kiddo is taking his first ever annual state exams. When you home school in WA state, they don’t have to sit exams until the school year in which they are 8, ie third grade more or less. So here I am, this week, proctoring online exams for him.

First let me just say this is flippin excruciating. I spend 7 days a week 12-14 hours a day helping him with things. And now I can’t. I have to keep all comments limited to the process of taking the test. My tongue has soooo many holes in it.

Back before the testing began, um, last weekend, LOL. The hubs and I were both worried about this. And we had a little “what’s your worst case scenario” discussion.

For the hubs, his worst case, is the kiddo does really badly. Especially since he didn’t get into the school we all wanted for him and our remaining options are slim. For the hubs, the idea that the kiddo is learning nothing at home, scares him to death.

I hear that and I think, hey, we’ll know what to spend more time on. We’ll get him some tutors or more classes or specialized teachers. It will be fine.  I can work with known issues. I can handle those.

My worst case scenario: He scores obscenely well and the arguements on why he has to do home school get worse. LOL

Waiting with baited breath for these results. LOL

On the plus side, all that proctoring left we with lots of time to edit crutch words. First novel in the Dismember Killer series is off to my critique partners.

Wednesday Words 3.28

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 13 Comments

I’ve been mulling over titles for quite some time. I’m thinking I want to give a little homage to the first lady of mystery, Dame Agatha.

Something like:

Murder at Whispering Pines Academy

Body in the Pool

Death at Midnight

 

But then I get crazy ideas like…

It All Started With Melted Ice Cream

 

Or maybe a little play on the lead detectives names,

TnT Explodes on the Scene

Ok that last one is silly, I know.

 

When you think of good mystery titles, what intrigues you?

 

 

Book Review: The Monogram Murders

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 2 Comments

An Agatha Christie book written by someone else. All my spidey sense are tingling. The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah.

Basic Summary (Courtesy of KCLS):

Hercule Poirot’s quiet supper in a London coffee house is interrupted when a young woman confides to him that she is about to be murdered. She is terrified, but begs Poirot not to find and punish her killer. Once she is dead, she insists, justice will have been done. Later that night, Poirot learns that three guests at a fashionable London hotel have been murdered, and a cuff link has been placed in each one’s mouth. Could there be a connection with the frightened woman? While Poirot struggles to put together the bizarre pieces of the puzzle, the murderer prepares another hotel bedroom for a fourth victim.
My thoughts:

I am beyond torn on this one. I want to complain. There are so many issues. The Poirot in this book speaks French, he talks about his little grey cells, but he is not Poirot.

“I would know the difference with my eyes closed.” A line oft repeated in the novel. And the difference is there. This is not Poirot, it’s a detective in a Poirot suit. A third rate bit player in a detective suit in a Poirot suit.

And the real rub?

The book doesn’t need Poirot. It is delightfully torturous. A beautiful murder mystery from start to finish. The plot sets trap after trap in a way that had me patting myself on the back so hard that I managed to catch that trap, I didn’t see I had already fallen into another one. Which way am I digging? Out? Or further down the wrong path?

I get the cache a Poirot mystery brings. And in the book market today, you need everything leg up you can get. But calling this a Poirot mystery detracts from the brilliant work it actually would be with any other detective leading the charge. Lucky for me I am good at pretending she wasn’t talking about Agatha Christie’s Poirot.

Side Note: I was so absorbed in this book, I got burned lobster red on vacation.

 

Sunday Sup: Chicken Bake

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Anyone ever eaten a Chicken Bake from Costco? We all know there is nothing healthy in there. But man are they tasty.

I found this recipe over at Our Paleo Life.  They’ve been one of my fave go to Paleo sites for years. Apparently they went Keto a bit back but I didn’t notice until we went Keto. I  stumbled across this recipe for Cheesy Chicken Broccoli, but I didn’t like how fat heavy, low protein it was so I played with it and the end product – tasted like a Chicken Bake from Costco. Without further ado, I give you…..

The Keto Style Chicken Bake

Turn on your broiler and cook up some chicken thighs or pull apart a rotisserie chicken if you have one. You want 3 cups of cooked chicken, 1/2 inch chop.

Chop and cook 4 strips of bacon in a skillet.

While the meat is cooking:

Place 4 ounces of cream cheese, 2.5 oz cheddar cheese, and 1/2 c Paleo Chipotle Lime Mayo in a large bowl. You’ll need mixing room.

Quick before the bacon finishes, chop one small red onion, aim for 1 c chopped when done to match the macros I’ll give you at the bottom.

Turn over the thighs, probably. Fish out the bacon to drain on a paper towel.

Add the red onions and 1 tbsp minced garlic to the bacon grease pan. Stir occasionally, til soft and fragrant.

Add the onions, garlic, and bacon to your cheese/mayo bowl. Give it a minute for the warm stuff to work on your cream cheese, then start mixing. Add the chicken. Finally add 2.5 c riced broccoli (or Caulif).

When nicely combined evenly spread it into an 8×8 pan. No need to grease it.

Melt 2 tbsp butter and add that to 2 oz of pork rinds blended into dust. Makes a nice crumb topping. Spread evenly over the top.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Heaven

for 1/9th the pan: 32.5 fat, 20.7 protein, 2.2 carb, 1 net carb.

Fiendish Friday: Black Curtain of Despair

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 5 Comments

sigh. I think most of you know I home school my special needs kiddo. In so many ways, he is the coolest kid ever. And in so many ways, he is the most exhausting child ever.

We fight, non stop, all day, about home school.

So the hubs and I decided it was time for him to go back to school. Public is not an option where we live. I researched 100 private schools in a 30 mile radius. Many started at too old an age. Many were ridiculously expensive. (Think 8-10 times what I paid for a year in college.)

Long search short, we found a couple of options. One the kiddo decided was not worth the drive (90 minutes each way in traffic). One was having a space crunch and not sure they would be accepting 4th-6th graders next year. And one was just about right.

They didn’t take him.

My vista of 5 hours to myself 4 days a week just closed like a black curtain of despair. Another year fighting with the kiddo about his education. Another year of chipping away at my writing goals in ten minute increments. Another year of constant companionship that is beyond chatty. Another year of interrupted showers. Another year of a job at the co-op because my child attends there.

oh the horror. Excuse me while I cry in my spilled milk.

Book Review: That Last Weekend

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 1 Comment

I adore Laura DiSilverio. She writes two cozy series I truly enjoy. So when I saw this thriller, That Last Weekend, it was a no brainer.

Basic Summary (Courtesy of Amazon):

A terrible accident. A killer among friends.

A woman risking everything for answers.

Every year for a decade, five college friends spent a weekend together at the atmospheric Chateau du Cygne Noir. Then, tragedy struck.

Ten years later, Laurel Muir returns to the castle for the first time since the accident, hoping to reconnect with her friends and lay the past to rest. When a murderer attacks, it rips open old wounds and forces the women to admit there’s a killer in their midst. The remaining friends make a pact to unearth the truth, but suspicion, doubt, and old secrets threaten to tear them apart. Unsure who to trust, Laurel puts herself in harm’s way, risking it all for friendship and long-delayed justice.

My Thoughts:

Slower than molasses in winter. But so intense, it’s chipotle infused molasses. It’s all about relationships, the psychology of how people behave, of what matters most to them and the lengths they will go to protect that. To manipulate you.

I easily spent 2/3s of the book praying the character I liked the most, wasn’t the killer because I could easily see how she might be. How they all might have done it.

Really well written. Really excellent bead on what makes people tick.

Sunday Sup: Scallops

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 2 Comments

I cobbled together this meal earlier this week and it was madly tasty. I might have posted something similar before, who can remember.

Bacon Spinach Scallops

Cook 1/2 lb bacon in a large skillet over medium heat.

Start defrosting your scallops if frozen. (You know, colander with cold water running?)

Mince a shallot. Mince two garlic cloves (Or get out the premade equivalent.)I put this is a little glass bowl, ready and waiting.

Stir the bacon. Turn over the scallops in the colander.

Zest a lemon, juice two lemons, add 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes. I put this is a little glass bowl, ready and waiting.

Stir the bacon. Turn over the scallops in the colander.

Fish out the crispy bacon, set on paper towel to drain a bit.

Dry the scallops. Cook the scallops in bacon grease. Two minutes per side should have them opaque and slightly browned.

Remove scallops.

Add shallot and garlic to bacon grease pan. Stir round for a minute.

Add Lemon juice, etc mixture to pan, stir round and scrape up all the good bits on the bottom of the pan. Add 4 c baby spinach and stir to wilt, 1-2 minutes.

Add the scallops and bacon back and give everything a good mix.

This was too yummy for a picture to get taken but I do have macros for you….

1/4 the pan: 10.3 fat, 24 protein, 6.3 total carb, 4.3 net carbs.