Spell the Month in Books — March 2026

Spell the Month in Books is a monthly meme hosted by Jana at Reviews from the Stacks. Each month one or two themes are suggested for the books that are chosen. One of the themes for March 2026 is "March Madness," and I am focusing on books related to madness.

You will notice, of course, that I am just barely finishing this one on time, with only a little over one day left in the month of March.

M is for The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny

I have read twelve books in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny. This is the seventeenth book in the series, so I have a few more to read to get there. The book was published in August 2021, at a time there was some relief from Covid but it still felt very present and threatening. I haven't read much about the book (on purpose) but I think that the pandemic, and its effects on society, is one of the themes.

A is for Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear

I have read four books in the Maisie Dobbs series. This is the sixth book and I do have a copy on my TBR. Among the Mad begins on December 31, 1931; Maisie Dobbs gets involved in tracking down a madman who has threatened that many lives will be lost if his demands are not met.

R is for Road Rage by Ruth Rendell

I chose this title because I see road rage as a type of madness. However, the plot seems to be more about five kidnapped hostages. The kidnapping is related to the planned construction of a new highway; the construction will destroy a beloved woodland area. I thought I had read all of the Inspector Wexford series by Rendell, but I since discovered that I may have missed some titles published in the 1990s, and this could be one of them. 

C is for Crazy Rich Asians by Keven Kwan

I read this book in December 2019. It is about extremely rich Chinese families in Singapore, and a young American-born Chinese woman who is dating the son of one of the families. There were many things about the story I found impossible to believe (even though I am sure many of them are very true) but even so, I just settled in and enjoyed the ride. It seemed like a fairy tale to me, but it could also be described as a soap opera, and both of those can be very entertaining.

H is for The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson 

This is a quote from the first paragraph of The Haunting of Hill House: "Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more." I haven't read this book; I have always avoided the horror genre. But I have a beautiful edition of The Haunting of Hill House, and now and I think I will try it. I have read that it falls somewhere between supernatural and psychological horror.

Spell the Month in Books — September 2025

 

Spell the Month in Books is a monthly meme hosted by Jana at Reviews from the Stacks. The link up post is posted on the first Saturday of each month. Each month one or two themes are suggested for the books that are chosen. The theme for September is "longer books."

I had a bit of difficulty with September, because of having to find three books with titles beginning with E that fit the theme.

S is for The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher   (580 pages)

I have only read one book by Pilcher, Winter Solstice. I liked that one and plan to read more. This one has been on my physical shelves for two years. I don't know much about the story except that it is set in Cornwall and London. If you have read The Shell Seekers, tell me what you think of it.

E is for The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen L. Carter (657 pages)

I have read this book but it was way back in 2004. I remember liking it but that is about it. Fortunately I can link to a very good review at Bill Selnes's blog Mysteries and More from Saskatchewan.

P is for The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker   (603 pp)

Description at Goodreads:

This collection ranges over the verse, stories, essays, and journalism of one of the twentieth century's most quotable authors.

I have been wanting a copy of this book for years. My husband found this lovely edition at the book sale a few years ago. I have not read any of it yet and I will first check out the short stories.

T is for Time's Witness by Michael Malone (576 pp)

Michael Malone is the author of three mystery novels that feature two policemen working in a small town in North Carolina. The two policemen are very different. Justin Savile V is the scion of an old and important family in the state. Cuddy Mangum's origins are much lower, but he and Justin are very good friends. Time's Witness, the second in the series, is narrated by Cuddy. Cuddy is educated, but he is not refined, and to the powerful and rich inner circle of Hillston residents, he is a redneck. And at the point in time of this story, he is the Chief of Police. He has cleaned up the police in his town and he has hired women and blacks as police officers. The book was published in 1989 and set around the same time period. (My review)

E is for East of Eden by John Steinbeck  (602 pages)

Description at the Penguin Random House site:

Set in the rich farmland of California’s Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families—the Trasks and the Hamiltons—whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel.

I do not think I ever read this book, although I have read other books by Steinbeck. It is not currently on my TBR, although I may consider reading it someday. 

M is for Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz  (580 pages)

Moonflower Murders is the sequel to an earlier book by Anthony Horowitz, Magpie Murders. In both books the main character is Susan Ryeland, and both feature the "book within a book" format. However, Horowitz labels them as standalone books on his website. I agree that this book can stand alone, but it does reveal some parts of Magpie Murders, if the reader wants to go back to read that one. (My review)

B is for Believing the Lie by Elizabeth George  (610 pp)

I read this book in 2012; it was the 17th book in the series and the last novel in this series that I read. I had read and enjoyed all the books preceding it. The main characters are Detective Inspector Lynley and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers; they work for Scotland Yard. Lynley is an aristocrat. Havers is from a working-class background. There are numerous secondary characters that are well-portrayed and also evolve throughout the series. I found a lot of praise in this novel, but I was not happy that the books were getting longer and longer.  My review of the book included a general overview of the series up to that time.

E is for Exodus by Leon Uris   (608 pages)

I read several books by Leon Uris when I was younger, and Exodus was one of them. 

Description on Wikipedia:

Exodus is a historical novel by American novelist Leon Uris about the founding of the State of Israel beginning with a compressed retelling of the voyages of the 1947 immigration ship Exodus and describing the histories of the various main characters and the ties of their personal lives to the birth of the new Jewish state.

R is for Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb   (648 pp)

This is the second book in the Farseer Trilogy, following Assassin's Apprentice. The main character in this trilogy is FitzChivalry, a royal bastard who becomes the king's assassin in the first book, a fact that he and only a few others know. The story is very dark, with little relief. Fitz is shunned by most people in the court and leads a difficult life. I cared about many of the characters, and loathed all the bad ones. And I look forward to reading the third book in the trilogy, which is an even longer book.

Spell the Month in Books — August 2025

 

Spell the Month in Books is a monthly meme hosted by Jana at Reviews from the Stacks. The link up post is posted on the first Saturday of each month. Each month one or two themes are suggested for the books that are chosen. The theme for August is “favorite authors.”

Once again, I am getting this post in very late in the month. 

A is for And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

This is one of Agatha Christie's most well-known mysteries. I have read at least 50 of Christie's mystery novels, but I did not read this one until 2020. I knew the general setup but had not watched any film adaptations, and was wondering how it all ends. Could it live up to the acclaim it has always gotten? It did for me. The writing is very suspenseful. I could not help trying to figure out not only who was the killer but how it was all managed. I did at one time suspect the actual culprit but Christie is very competent at making you second guess your deductions.

U is for Unruly Son by Robert Barnard

This book was published in the UK as Death of a Mystery Writer. The main character is an obnoxious and overbearing mystery author who has made many enemies and insulted just about everyone he encounters. His wife and daughter love him, or at least tolerate him, but his two sons don't have much good to say about him. Of course, all of his children would like to inherit his money. So when he dies by poisoning they are the first persons the police consider as suspects. This was a very good read, which I expected because Robert Barnard is one of my favorite authors. He rarely disappoints me. 

G is for Gambit by Rex Stout

Rex Stout is my favorite author of all. He wrote 33 novels and 41 novellas about the private detective Nero Wolfe and his assistant, Archie Goodwin. The books are narrated by Archie. The series began in 1934 and the last book in the series, A Family Affair, was published in 1975, shortly before Stout's death. The Nero Wolfe series is fun to read because Wolfe has so many quirks. He hates to leave his home, thus he needs Archie Goodwin to do the legwork for him. He raises orchids and spends four hours each day in the plant rooms.  Eating and good food are very important to him and he never discusses business when eating. And those are just a few of his quirks. However, Gambit has one of the most straightforward plots of the 33 novels that Rex Stout wrote. Less of the quirks are evident or emphasized. The plotting is intricate and the mystery is especially challenging.

U is for The Unfortunate Englishman by John Lawton

I have been a fan of John Lawton's writing for years. His Inspector Frederick Troy series consists of eight novels published between 1995 and 2017. Those novels are a mix of police procedural and espionage, and are set between 1934 and 1963, with many of them covering multiple timelines. The Unfortunate Englishman is the second novel in the Joe Wilderness series. That series (so far) has focused on English / Russian / German relations in Berlin following World War II. The books in this series are really good spy fiction, but also complex and confusing. I love the focus on Berlin and the wall. This second novel in the series doesn't make as much sense if you have not read the first book.

S is for SS-GB by Len Deighton

SS-GB is an alternate history in which England has been invaded by Germany. The protagonist in this story is Detective Superintendent Douglas Archer of Scotland Yard, working under Gruppenführer Fritz Kellerman of the SS. The story is very complex. Len Deighton is one of my favorite authors, and I especially enjoy his spy fiction novels. I love his writing. This book, which is both a whodunit and a spy story, is no exception.

T is for A Tale about a Tiger and Other Mysterious Events by S.J. Rozan

S.J. Rozan is the author of the Lydia Chin / Bill Smith mystery series, one of my favorite contemporary mystery series. Lydia Chin is an American-born Chinese private investigator in her late twenties who lives in New York’s Chinatown with her mother. Bill Smith is a private investigator in his forties who lives in Manhattan. They are not partners but they often work together on cases. The element that I have always liked about this series is that the narrator of the books alternates. The first book was narrated by Lydia; the second book was narrated by Bill; and so on.

In A Tale about a Tiger and Other Mysterious Events, published by Crippen & Landru in 2009, there are nine stories by Rozan; six of the stories feature either Lydia Chin or Bill Smith or both. 

Spell the Month in Books — July 2025

Spell the Month in Books is a monthly meme hosted by Jana at Reviews from the Stacks. The link up post is posted on the first Saturday of each month. Each month one or two themes are suggested for the books that are chosen. The theme for July is “set in a fantasy world or fictional place!”

This is the first time I have done this meme, and I am very late. 

 

J is for Just One Damned Thing after Another by Jodi Taylor

This is the first book in a time-travel series. The main protagonists are historians from St. Mary’s Institute of Historical Research. Each has a special area of expertise but the assignments may take them to any time in the past. The story carries you along pell mell through adventure after adventure, and the historians find out that there are lots of challenges ahead.  I think that there are now 14 books in the series, and I have read the first two books. 

U is for Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett. 

Terry Pratchett is well-known for his fantasy books set in the Discworld Universe. I am no expert on the books in this series; I have only read two of them. But I did enjoy those. I read The Light Fantastic, the second book in the series. Later I read Mort, the first book in the Death Series. Unseen Academicals is set at a university where the wizards must win a game of football without using magic. It is a later book in the series, #37.

L is for The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. 

This is a space opera. To get away from an unhappy event in her past, Rosemary Harper joins the small crew of a ship that creates tunnels through space for faster travel. She is the clerk, taking care of ordering and forms and such. Some of the crew is human and others are various types of aliens.

I liked the various aliens and their different gifts, needs and culture. The author did a great job with differentiating between the characters. Many of the characters are quirky and everyone has to learn to accept the quirks on a long journey in a small ship.

Y is for The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon.

This novel crosses genres, being both an alternate history and a mystery, with elements of a conspiracy thriller. This book came to my attention via my husband, who read it first and recommended it to me. The setting is an alternate universe where Jewish refugees and their descendants have been allowed to in live the Federal District of Sitka, in Alaska. At the point the novel begins, the District is about to revert to Alaskan control.