Books Read in May 2026

 

I read nine books in May, more than I expected to, but it is a good thing, because with only 3 days left in June, I have only read three books. Plus I thought all of the books read in May were very good reads.

Graphic novel, Nonfiction

My Cat is Such a Weirdo, Vol. 1 (2023) by Tamako Tamagoyama (Writer and Artist)

This is the first in a manga series about cats. In this case the stories are true, based on the author's blog, and the emphasis on the weird behavior of the author's cats. We thought our latest cat was pretty crazy, in comparison to previous cats we had owned, but really some of his weirdness could be due to his age, about 4 years old, acting much like a teenager. One chapter in the manga was about the cats her parents had, and that one was especially good.

Fiction

Dept. of Speculation (2014) by Jenny Offill

This is the story of a marriage in vignettes. It is novella length, in 46 short chapters. The man and woman are not young when they marry and they suffer through some trials and tribulations. They have a child; the wife is not prepared for how much she loves their daughter. The wife tells the story, and when she talks about herself, she calls herself "the wife." The descriptions of her daughter as she grows up are lovely. I had some problems with the style; too fragmented I think. But I look back and think about how much it affected me, and that I liked it very much.

Nosy Neighbors (2024) by Freya Sampson

This was the first book I read in May, and I could not remember why I had purchased it. I like books with elderly protagonists and it is a mystery of sorts. In the end, I liked it very much, so it is good that I did read it. Nine residents live in a beautiful old Victorian apartment building that has not been kept up. There are young tenants, elderly tenants, and others in between. They soon learn that they will be evicted and their home will be torn down. Many of the tenants do not get along, but when faced with eviction they band together to fight against it. That is a very pared down version of the story and there is much more depth to it. 

Science Fiction

The City in the Middle of the Night (2019) by Charlie Jane Anders

The focus of this book was climate fiction; the setting is a colonized planet, where half of the planet is perpetually cold and in the dark, and the other half is always in the light and hot. It wasn't perfect but I found a lot to like. My review is here.

Crime Fiction

The Ivy Tree (1961) by Mary Stewart

Mary Stewart was an author well-known for her romantic mystery novels and her Merlin series. The Ivy Tree is an impersonation novel, and doesn't have much romance in it. A beautiful young woman who is visiting England from Canada is convinced by a man she meets while traveling to pose as a missing heiress in a scheme to get the inheritance. I liked it very much. See my review here.

Three for the Chair (1957) by Rex Stout

This is one of the Nero Wolfe books that consists of three novellas. Back in 2025, I read and reviewed "Immune to Murder," the second story in this book. In May of this year, I read and reviewed the other two novellas in Three for the Chair. They were all excellent stories.

An Ordinary Decent Criminal (2005) by Michael Van Rooy

I will say first that I enjoyed reading this book and could hardly put it down. But, in some ways it was the most shocking, violent mystery I have read in a long time. The protagonist is an ex-con who has turned his life around and has a wife and a young son. But many people will not give him a chance to prove that he has changed. The first two chapters were so violent I nearly quit reading it. I am glad I stuck it out to the end. Bill Selnes at Mysteries and More from Saskatchewan wrote a very good review of this book.

People Who Walk in Darkness (2008) by Stuart Kaminsky

This was the 15th book in the Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov mystery series and every bit as good as all the prior ones in the series. Rostnikov is the head of a team of investigators in the Office of Special Investigations in Moscow. His boss is Igor Yakovev, formerly of the KGB. In this book the Inspector is sent to Siberia to investigate the death of a Canadian man, who was killed while inspecting a diamond mine. Others on his team are sent to Kiev related to the same case. It was wonderful to get back to all the characters I had loved in previous books in the series. Sadly, the next book in the series was the last book, and after that one, I will have no more of them to read. On the other hand, Kaminsky wrote three other series and I can read more books in those series.

The Man Who Died Seven Times (1998) by Yasuhiko Nishizawa

This is a cross-genre novel. I see it primarily as in the mystery genre because the main theme is solving a murder, but the protagonist is stuck in a time loop so that firmly places it in the time travel genre. There are many versions of time loop novels, and this one is different than any of the ones I have read. It is far from perfect, but I liked it so well that I would read others by him if they were translated to English.

About The Photos

At the top of the post is our wonderful cat, London. The photo was taken at the end of May; London had been with us about ten months then and he is close to four years old. His personality is very different from either of our two previous cats and he is huge; I can barely pick him up.

The other two photos were taken at the Rose Garden across from the Santa Barbara Mission. One was taken in June 2020 when most places were still closed down due to Covid. The other was taken in June 2021 when places were beginning to reopen after Covid. Click on the images for the best viewing quality.

The Ivy Tree: Mary Stewart

This story is about a young woman, Mary Grey, who bears a strong resemblance to the heiress to a fortune, Annabel Winslow, who disappeared several years before the story starts. Mary Grey lives in Canada but is visiting Scotland because her ancestors lived there. 

As soon as I read the first few pages of The Ivy Tree, by Mary Stewart, I was pulled into the story. It is rare that I get interested in the characters that early in a book. Partly it was the first person narration by Mary Grey, but also her encounter with Connor Winslow, in which he mistakes her for Annabel. He is convinced that Annabel has returned to the area so that she can take over the estate when her grandfather dies. Connor has been working as the manager of the estate, and believes that he should rightfully inherit it. Eventually she is persuaded to impersonate the heiress in a scheme to get the inheritance.

My Thoughts:

I was not sure if I would like the romantic suspense type of novel as much as I might have when I was younger. It ends up that I liked pretty much everything about The Ivy Tree. I was pulled into the impersonation story from the very beginning. I thought that the main character's voice was done very well. And the plot was very compelling and believable.

I usually don't like TV shows or movies where characters go undercover; the suspense is too much for me. And impersonation stories are very much the same type of thing. This one was very convincing and there were many tense moments for me. 

At about 50 percent into the 400-page book, there is a big surprise that changes everything, and it makes perfect sense. And then there was at least one more major twist at the end but I had pretty much guessed that last one. 

I just cannot say enough good things about this book. The ending was great, the suspense was great, and the writing was beautiful, especially regarding nature and the setting.

I had not realized that there was a connection to Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey. The two books have similarities. I had read Brat Farrar when I was much younger, but I don't remember much about it. Brat Farrar was published in 1949 and The Ivy Tree was published 12 years later in 1961. Brat Farrar is mentioned in The Ivy Tree, as Connor's sister schools Mary Grey in all the facts she needs to know to play the part of Annabel. 

Also, the story begins as Mary Grey stands by a tree near Hadrian's Wall. That doesn't affect the plot much but there is a minor connection.

Also see two other reviews at Clothes in Books (by Moira) and Staircase Wit (by Constance).

Six Degrees of Separation: from Wuthering Heights to Dancing in the Dark

The Six Degrees of Separation meme is hosted by Kate at booksaremyfavoriteandbest. The idea behind the meme is to start with a book and use common points between two books to end up with links to six books, forming a chain. The common points may be obvious, like a word in the title or a shared theme, or more personal. Every month Kate provides the title of a book as the starting point.

The starting book this month is Wuthering Heights by Charlotte Brontë. I don't remember ever reading that book, but recently when I read some reviews, it was described as being about obsession and revenge.

1st degree:

I searched on my blog for a book that combined obsession and revenge and the only one that came up was The Beast Must Die by Nicholas Blake. This book, a part of the Nigel Strangeways series, is widely acknowledged to be a crime classic. But I resisted reading it for years.

The story begins with these lines from Frank Cairnes' journal, in which he plans the death of the person who killed his son. 

"I am going to kill a man. I don’t know his name, I don’t know where he lives, I have no idea what he looks like. But I am going to find him and kill him…"

2nd degree:

I purchased my copy of The Beast Must Die at the Annual Book Sale in September 2019. The same year, I purchased four old paperback editions of books by Mary Stewart at that same book sale. One of them was The Ivy Tree, published in 1961. It is about a young woman, Mary Grey, who has a strong resemblance to the heiress to a fortune, who disappeared years before. She is persuaded to impersonate the heiress in a scheme to get the inheritance.  

3rd degree:

Josephine Tey's Brat Farrar is another impersonation novel, published in 1949. I read that novel but it has been so long that I want to read it again. From what I have read, Brat Farrar was an inspiration for Mary Stewart's book. I have read all of Josephine Tey's mystery novels. She wrote six Inspector Grant novels and two standalone mysteries.

4th degree:

Josephine Tey is the sleuth in a historical crime fiction series by Nicola Upson. I have read the first book in that series, An Expert in Murder. I don't always enjoy mysteries where the sleuth is a real person, and I had reservations about how much the sleuth in this book resembles the real Josephine Tey (whose real name was Elizabeth Mackintosh), but I did find the story compelling and enjoyed the setting, so I had planned to read more of this series. I have four more books from this series on my shelves so I should follow up on that.

5th degree:

Another mystery novel with a real-life author as the sleuth is Jane and the Man of Cloth. In this case the sleuth is Jane Austen. This 2nd book in the series was published in 1997 (and I read my copy in 2004). The 15th and final book in the series was published in 2023. I have only read the first two books but I have read many good things about the series and the way that Jane Austen is handled as a main character, so I may return.

6th degree:

My final book for this Six Degrees is from a historical mystery series that features real-life people as characters, but not as the sleuth. Toby Peters is a private investigator who is often asked to help movie stars of the 1940s with their problems. The first book in the series, Bullet for a Star, features Errol Flynn, Humphrey Bogart, and Peter Lorre. In Dancing in the Dark, the 19th book in the series, Fred Astaire is being harassed by a gangster and his girlfriend. The series is written by one of my favorite authors, Stuart Kaminsky. 

And that concludes my Six Degrees. All my books were mysteries. All of them were either vintage mysteries or historical mysteries. And all of the books were set in the UK except for the very last one. I prefer more variety in my Six Degrees chains, either in genre or setting or both, but these are all good books, so I am happy with the chain.

If you did this month's Six Degrees, where did your list take you? Have you read any of these books? 

The next Six Degrees will be on April 4, 2026 and the starting book will be  Virginia Evan's epistolary novel, The Correspondent.

Bookshelf Traveling for Insane Times No. 15

I am participating in the Bookshelf Traveling For Insane Times meme, hosted by Judith at Reader in the Wilderness. This week I am focusing on a few paperbacks I bought at the last Planned Parenthood Book Sale, which are still in boxes waiting to be cataloged.

Mary Stewart

First, four books by Mary Stewart. I don't particularly care for these covers. While researching books by Mary Stewart, I found I preferred the older covers on the hardcover editions or the covers on newer editions. But I felt lucky to find four books I was interested in and in good condition for $4.00 total, so I am not complaining.

From a brief article at The Guardian, after Mary Stewart's death at 97:

Known for much-loved novels including Touch Not the Cat, This Rough Magic and Nine Coaches Waiting, Stewart was among the first novelists to integrate mystery and romance. She made the archetype of the determined, intelligent heroine her own, thrusting her into daring adventures from which she would emerge intact and happily romantically involved. ....

 

Stewart wrote a trilogy of hugely popular novels about the life of Merlin – The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills and The Last Enchantment – a departure from her previous books, along with acclaimed children's books, including Ludo and the Star Horse and A Walk in Wolf Wood.

This post at The Emerald City Book Review discusses three of the books I have. 

This Rough Magic centers around an old house inhabited by a Shakespearean actor obsessed with The Tempest; Nine Coaches Waiting takes its title and organization from a quotation from The Revengers’ Tragedy; The Ivy Tree is named after an old song and has a strain of ancient folklore running through it. 

 

For My Brother Michael, set in Greece, here is a review at Fleur in Her World.

Katrina at Pining for the West has reviewed all four of these books: This Rough Magic, Nine Coaches Waiting, The Ivy Tree and My Brother Michael.

I had great fun researching for this post. Mary Stewart is of course very well known and probably I read some of her books when I was young, but I wanted to reacquaint myself with what she has written. That took me to articles about Gothic novels and other interesting topics.

Nicholas Blake

I also picked up some paperback editions of books in the Nigel Strangeways series by Nicholas Blake. I read several books by Blake years ago, and recently have read a few more of them.

One of the books is The Beast Must Die, published in 1938, which is often noted as Blake's best mystery.  

That book was reviewed in 1001 Midnights (published in 1986) by Bill Pronzini:

   British Poet Laureate (1968-72) and novelist Cecil Day Lewis, writing as Nicholas Blake, published a score of popular detective and suspense novels from 1935 to 1968, all but four of which feature an urbane amateur sleuth named Nigel Strangeways. For the most part, the Blake novels are fair-play deductive mysteries in the classic mold and are chock-full of literary references and involved digressions, which makes for rather slow pacing. But they are also full of well-drawn characters and unusual incidents, and offer a wide variety of settings and information on such diverse topics as sailing, academia, the British publishing industry, and the cold war.

   The Beast Must Die is considered by some to be Blake’s finest work and a crime-fiction classic. When the young son of mystery novelist Felix Cairnes (a.k.a. Felix Lane) is killed by a hit-and-run driver, Lane, who doted on the boy, vows to track down and kill the man responsible.

 

Pronzini concluded that The Beast Must Die is a good novel but not a mystery classic. 

I had not realized that this is the 4th book in the Nigel Strangeways series (of 16 books). I have read books 1 and 2 in the series, so I am hoping to read The Beast Must Die soon.

Another book by Blake that I picked up at the same time is Head of a Traveler. It is a later book in the series, published in 1949, but it follows another book I have read, Minute for Murder, so I think I could read it soonish too.