It took me a little while after finishing The Boys in the Boat to decide what to read next. I was so immersed in the world of rowing in the 1930s that it was hard to shift gears and decide on something else to read. So…back to a favorite, the mystery!
I’m currently reading An Expert in Murder, by Nicola Upson. She uses one of my very favorite mystery writers, Josephine Tey, as a main character and focus in this book. I’m not overly excited about it as I read it, though. I think I’d rather be reading Josephine Tey’s books again!
Next week, I will be reading Mary Stewart’s, The Ivy Tree, for Anbolyn’s Mary Stewart Reading Week, in celebration of Lady Stewart’s 97th birthday.
And I downloaded to my Kindle a mystery to re-read: The Haunted Bookshop, by Christopher Morley. I remember that I liked it when I read it ages ago, but I don’t remember much about it. I’ll call it a re-read, but at this age, all my re-reads are like first-time reads! Ha!
Finally, during our weekly visit to our library, (we go there more often, but we walk there every Monday!) I found another Hazel Holt mystery, Mrs. Malory and the Fatal Legacy, that I haven’t read yet. I love reading Hazel Holt’s books. They’re like having tea while sitting on the front porch with an old friend!
A Fondness For Reading 
I agree with you about the Nicola Upson book. I’ve read three of them now, and really prefer the Josephine Tey books! I had read those years and years ago, and when I reread one this year, it was just as if it was brand new! But now that I’m 80 I’m finding the old stories not as familiar. Used to be I could read the first page and remember the outcome – no more!
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I’m another Hazel Holt fan. I’ve been away from the series for too long, and plan to pick up the next one on my shelf soon. I so enjoy her company. She does indeed feel like a friend. And to you and Andrea, I thought you’d like this. In an essay, (which I wrote about on the blog. If you are interested it is here:
http://lettersfromahillfarm.blogspot.com/2012/05/todays-essay-by-donald-hall.html)
Donald Hall wrote about his mother:
A week before she died, she read “My Antonia” for the tenth time. Willa Cather had always been a favorite. Most of the time in old age she read Agatha Christie. She said one of the advantages of being ninety was that she could read a detective story again, only two weeks after she first read it, without any notion of which character was the villain.
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Andrea and Nan, I love the Donald Hall quote and the fact that previously read books will always be new to us. I’ll share this all with my 94-year old mother, who will chuckle along with us at the foibles of memory!
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just discovered your blog – and I see you love Barbara Pym đŸ™‚ we may be on a similar wave length. I also like mysteries – sometimes, I don’t read that many and I am a bit picky about which ones I read – but I have wanted to read those Hazel Holt novels, so glad to hear they are nice comforting reads.
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