Read then Write - 15/10/26

This was one I was about to start this week and it didn't take me long to read.

The blurb reads:

A nerve-tingling and atmospheric thriller from master of suspense Nicci French about two families shattered by tragedy and the secrets that have been waiting decades to be revealed.

On the day of Alec Salter’s fiftieth birthday party, just before Christmas 1990, his wife Charlotte vanishes. Most of the small English village of Glensted is at the party for hours before anyone realizes Charlotte is missing. While Alec brushes off her disappearance, their four children—especially fifteen-year-old Etty—grow increasingly anxious as the cold winter hours become days and she doesn’t return. When Charlotte’s coat is found by the river, they fear the worst. Then the body of the Salters’ neighbor, Duncan Ackerley, is found floating in the river by his son Morgan and Etty. The police investigate and conclude that Duncan and Charlotte were having an affair before he killed her and committed suicide.

Thirty years later, Morgan Ackerley, a successful documentarian, has returned to Glensted with his older brother Greg to make podcast based on their shared tragedy with the Salters. Alec, stricken with dementia, is entering an elder care facility while Etty helps put his affairs in order. But as the Ackerleys ask to interview the Salters, the entire town gets caught up in the unresolved cases. Allegations are made, secrets are revealed, and a suspicious fire leads to a murder. 

With the podcast making national news, London sends Detective Inspector Maud O’Connor to Glensted to take over the investigation. Resented by her mostly male colleagues, she has no tolerance for either their sexism or their incompetence. And she will stop at nothing to uncover the truth as a new and terrifying picture of what really happened to Charlotte Salter and Duncan Ackerley emerges.

This was definitely a slow burner but I thought it was well written and it led to a satisfying end.  There was good coverage of the way the police investigations were handled but also the way the families involved reacted to the circumstances.

I'd be more than happy to look out for other books featuring DI Maud O'Connor. 4 stars for me.

I also managed to fit this one in this week:

 

Annie is nine months pregnant and shopping for a crib at IKEA when a massive earthquake hits Portland, Oregon. With no way to reach her husband, no phone or money, and a city left in chaos, she realizes there’s nothing to do but walk.

Making her way across the wreckage of Portland, Annie experiences human desperation and kindness: strangers offering help, a riot at a grocery store, and an unlikely friendship with a young mother. As she walks, Annie reflects on her struggling marriage, her disappointing career, and her anxiety about having a baby. She’s determined to change her life if she can just make it home.

This was quite a good debut novel.  It takes place on one day with Annie looking back on previous events while she walks.  It kept me engaged and I liked the style of writing.  In some ways though it didn't have enough depth and I didn't feel it was always very realistic.  The ending was also a bit predictable and left a lot of unanswered questions.

I'm still 4 books behind on my challenge of 52 books over the year and my next planned read is not going to improve that situation.  It's this one:

This is the Library book club choice.  I tried to start it yesterday and although I've only read a little I'm finding it really hard going.  I don't think I'm going to like it at all and am seriously considering abandoning it and reading something else.  Which is of course not what I'd normally do - I hate giving up on books but this one is nearly 500 pages and I know I won't read it quickly.  We're not meeting until next month so I might leave it for now and try and come back to it.

Anyone here read it?  Was it worth it?

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 14/10/26

Joyce provides the questions each week, we come up with our answers and then we link up here.  Thanks Joyce.

1. Do you think you're driven more by curiosity or comfort? Explain. 

Well I do like my comfort but I am also curious.  I definitely don't like feeling out of the loop but I probably wouldn't stray too far out of my comfort zone to explore things.

2. What non-food item is in your refrigerator or freezer? 

The only non food items are the ice packs that we take with us when we need to keep things cold.

3. Are you comfortable with silence? If you're home alone, do you like silence or do you need regular background noise? Do you seek out times and places to be silent? What's your favourite place to find silence/be silent? 

I definitely prefer quiet.  I'm happy in my home on my own with no background noise.  I like to sit in the garden when the weather permits with a book or my laptop.  It's never totally silent - our road is quite busy and because of the layout you can hear the traffic and occasionally if the wind is in the right direction you can hear the trains but those are the sort of noises that you tune out because you're so used to them.

4. Carpentry, electrical, plumbing, landscaping...which skill would you most like to possess and how would you put that skill to use today?

All of the above please.  Today I would probably start with landscaping.  Our side lawn is looking very sorry for itself after the hot summer we've had.

5. Do you lean more towards being too needy or too independent? Which do you find harder to deal with in others? 

I like to think I'm independent.  I was only 22 when my Dad passed away and my Mum was clueless about a lot of things so I had to step in and help her sort out finances and other stuff so that gave me a good grounding.  After I married I took a career break to bring up the children so I took on most of the admin connected to running a home so I think I would be able to cope if my Hubby dies before me. 

I find it harder to deal with someone who is needy than independent, although of course when the children were younger and wanted to exercise their independence that was sometimes a challenge!

6.  Insert your own random thought here.

I am slowly doing the "Spot the Difference" task on the jigsaw I completed recently - there are 100 differences between the jigsaw and the picture supplied with it.  I managed to take a photo of the jigsaw and now I'm marking them on the photo.  So far I have found 85! (It beats watching the news on TV.)

Waffling on - 12/10/26

It was a fairly quiet weekend here.

I did my usual session at the Foodbank on Saturday morning.  Despite the fantastic amount of donations we had from the Woodford Wells Harvest service last weekend there was still a fair amount of food sent in on Saturday.  Sally one of the other volunteers usually joins me so we're usually done in a couple of hours.  

I took advantage of the sunny weather and walked home via the lake.  It is definitely autumn here now.

Saturday evening I watched Strictly (Strictly Come Dancing) which is a favourite of mine.  Some stars are better than others but it is entertaining.

Sunday was relaxing although I did fit in another walk around the lake.  Then we went to our daughter's for dinner.  Our DIL had done a nice slow cooked beef dish but she wasn't happy with her sticky toffee pudding.  Fortunately we'd taken some of the banana bread I made on Friday which went well with the toffee sauce so all was not lost.

I dropped Hubby off at an open mic on the way home then watched the Strictly results show before getting hooked into a new series here "Winter".  

It follows forensic pathologist Dr. Ethan Winter and DI Lauren Bell as they solve complex murder cases in Bristol, blending weekly mysteries with an overarching personal storyline.  

I watched the first two episodes and could easily have watched more but my bed was calling me.

Today I have given in and put the heating on.  

Shots on Sunday - 11/10/26

I did try and post a weekly photo post of photos taken daily.  Problem is I'm not very good at remembering to take a photo each day but I have found it useful to have a routine to my posts.  Anyway today I just thought I'd post the photos I did take this week and rename the post as Shots on Sunday.  We'll see how long this bright idea lasts!

This was my shopping list on Wednesday.  I only ended up getting the birthday cards for my cousin (Jill) and my brother (John).  I never really intended to get the other items so they're still up there.  I also haven't got a card for my daughter and her wife for their wedding anniversary yet.  I'll probably have to look online for that.  Or try a proper card shop rather than the supermarket.

I took this one on my walk around the lake yesterday.  As you can see the ground is beginning to be covered with leaves although the trees are still looking quite green.  I haven't been walking in the forest much lately but now the weather is cooler I'll be trying to do it more often.

This is a photo of a recipe that my son in the US requested. (Macaroni with sausage meat and carrots.) We use it a lot as you can probably tell by the marks on the page!  It's quite easy to do, freezes well and makes a change from Bolognese.

The rest of my pictures were all taken this afternoon at the lake.  It was good to see that there are still 6 cygnets with their parents and they are really big now.  Hopefully the parents won't start chasing them off too soon but there is a great local team of volunteers who will help relocate the cygnets if it becomes necessary.

It was quite sunny today but the weather has definitely cooled this week - I've had to resort to extra layers and we'll need to put the warmer quilt on when we change the bed this week.  We haven't resorted to putting the heating on yet but I have used the electric fire in the lounge a couple of times when I've just been sitting watching TV.  Thankfully although we've had rain it hasn't been too much so I haven't had to dig my wellies out - yet!