Recent Reads - Monet For Nothing

Monet For Nothing by PJ Fitzsimmons - Teddy Quillfeather's third mystery takes the clever flapper to Paris in order to help out her friends Stella and Dabs. The situation is questionable right from the start - it's something to do with Teddy smuggling a painting out of France to England, and Stel and Dabs and all their circle in Paris are strange characters. 

There's a lot going on and a lot to keep track of, and Teddy slips lightly through the entire labyrinth, always seeming to have a plan or a backup plan. Stella is supposed to get a painting of her grandmother back to England, but the trick to it is that the painting may have been done by a famous master, which is why it will need smuggling. Shortly after Teddy arrives, Dabs confesses that he's "enhanced" a signature on what is believed to be an unfinished Monet painting . . . that has been authenticated and is scheduled to go to auction. This unlikely crew comes up with a scheme to make enough copies of the unfinished work to confuse the issue, but then the original is stolen which confuses things even more thoroughly!

The characters are exaggerated and often ridiculous, but oddly likeable for all that. Dabs is supposed to be painting for an upcoming exhibition but he can't concentrate. Stella is impatient for Dabs to finally marry her. Mick and Melda are an author couple who are perpetually hosting parties and roasting each other in the way that only truly loving couples can. Oola La is an over-the-top art agent representing Dabs. Even Teddy's dear friend Stilts makes an appearance. 

Delightfully fast-paced and packed full of clever alliterations, word plays, and turns of phrase, the narrative certainly kept my attention, though I felt the clues and important details were in danger of being obscured by so many interesting words. I loved the humor and hilarious visuals I imagined from the descriptions. It's not strictly necessary to read the previous Teddy Quillfeather adventures in order to enjoy this one, but it would set you up to enjoy it even more.

From the publisher:

Taking refuge from London's mating season, Teddy travels to Paris for a little light smuggling but soon finds herself at the centre of the impossible heist of a priceless masterpiece on its way to auction. Her friends are under the gavel for forgery, fraud, and filching fine art, but sorting the clues from the counterfeits only gets more surreal as Teddy's seemingly simple smuggling scheme turns into yet another impossible theft, and she must canvas the capricious, suspicious, and radically seditious authors, artists, swindlers, and socialites of the literary Left Bank of 1920s Paris.

Like all Teddy Quillfeather Mysteries, Monet for Nothing aims to frame a caper in comedy for those who take their cosies with a couple of coats of clever.

By the same author: Frauds On Favourite, Hardy Haul at Hardy Hall

I received a digital copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book's plot includes a heist (#5) for The 52 Book Club's 2025 Reading Challenge.

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This post will be linked at the current BookWorms Monthly link-up hosted by At Home A Lot, and at  the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2025 hosted by The Intrepid Reader and Baker.

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©2008-2025 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. This post was written by a human.  http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/ 

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Recent Reads - The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year

The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year by Margaret Renkl - As an amateur birdwatcher and an admirer of crows in particular, this book was very appealing to me. It is a collection of essays that combines aspects of nature journals, almanacs, and personal reflections and it's somewhat reminiscent of a devotional book as well. The beautiful colored illustrations on the cover and throughout are done by the author's brother, artist Billy Renkl.

The journey through the backyard year begins with Week One of Winter, and there's an essay for each week of the year, following the cycle of the four seasons. Interspersed are some shorter and more lyrical observations of creatures or plant life that the author titles 'praise songs'. The essays comment on the growing things, changing of seasons, environment, and the bird and animal life observed in the author's backyard and local surroundings. She draws interesting and often beautiful or thought-provoking comparisons to what is happening in her personal life and in her family, especially the aspects of getting older and facing the empty nest and retirement years. Her great respect and care for all the creatures that cross her path, whether she sees them or not, comes through in simple eloquence, and in reading my own desire to have a backyard space of own again was stirred. A backyard space that is wild enough to provide habitat for small animals and for birds, as well as a restful place for me to enjoy. And yes, I wold welcome crows. I feel even more justified that crows are among my favorite birds, in fact.

The 'praise songs' were quite lovely, but occasionally gave me pause as there was a hint that they strayed a little too close to worshiping created things rather than the Creator, but that is my personal impression. There was a sense of sadness throughout the book, as if there was not much reason to hope that anything of nature would survive for long, that human-caused 'climate change' will end it all. One hopes that tinge of despair and regret will move readers to pay more attention to the remarkable natural world and consider how we can be better and more appreciative stewards of it.

From the publisher:

From the beloved New York Times opinion writer: a luminous book that traces the passing seasons, both personal and natural.

In The Comfort of Crows, Margaret Renkl presents a literary devotional: fifty-two chapters that follow the creatures and plants in her backyard over the course of a year. As we move through the seasons―from a crow spied on New Year's Day, its resourcefulness and sense of community setting a theme for the year, to the lingering bluebirds of December, revisiting the nest box they used in spring―what develops is a portrait of joy and grief: joy in the ongoing pleasures of the natural world, and grief over winters that end too soon and songbirds that grow fewer and fewer.

Along the way, we also glimpse the changing rhythms of a human life. Grown children, unexpectedly home during the pandemic, prepare to depart once more. Birdsong and night-blooming flowers evoke generations past. The city and the country where Renkl raised her family transform a littler more with each passing day. And the natural world, now in visible flux, requires every ounce of hope and commitment from the author―and from us. For, as Renkl writes, "radiant things are bursting forth in the darkest places, in the smallest nooks and deepest cracks of the hidden world."

With fifty-two original color artworks by the author's brother, Billy Renkl, The Comfort of Crows is a lovely and deeply moving book from a cherished observer of the natural world.

This is a book with a character that can fly (#18) for The 52 Book Club's 2025 Reading Challenge.

#the52bookclub #the52bookclub2025

With so many birds and insects featured throughout the book, I decided these creatures all count as characters that can fly!

This post will be linked at the current BookWorms Monthly link-up hosted by At Home A Lot.

©2008-2025 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. This post was written by a human.  http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/ 

 This post contains affiliate links - using affiliate links from Just A Second helps supply books and coffee. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Recent Reads - A Perilous Perspective

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A Perilous Perspective by Anna Lee Huber - This installment in the series opens with Kiera and Gage relaxing with friends and family at a great-uncle's estate as they all prepare for a wedding. Kiera's friend Charlotte and her cousin Rye are soon to be wed in a private ceremony, and all seems to be going perfectly, despite some minor tensions between guests and servants. Then Kiera takes the opportunity to view their host's extensive art collection and is dismayed to realize that one of his most priceless paintings is actually a forgery. When she and Gage bring this to the attention of the Marquess of Barbreck, he reacts with rage and inexplicably blames the lady of a neighboring estate.

Kiera is asked to examine the rest of the collection and try to trace what happened to the originals and when the switches were made. Several other paintings turn out to be forgeries as well, and tensions run high with the accusations Barbreck has made against the Campbell ladies.Then things take an even more sinister turn when a maid from the Campbell estate is found dead―apparently poisoned―in Barbreck's gallery. Now Kiera and Gage are charged with solving a murder as well, and catching a very clever and ruthless killer before he or she strikes again.

This story has it all―interpersonal tensions between friends and family, an intriguing art mystery, new details about Kiera's family, a suspenseful murder mystery with an unknown villain, and bits of romance at all ages and stages of life. The danger Kiera and the others face, not having any real clues to the killer's identity, is complicated when they can't initially identify what kind of poison was used. It's hard to read clues when one has little idea what to start looking for! The revelation of the killer's identity is an unexpected twist to the plot, but this time I suspected that character quite early. And this is one time when the killer's motive wasn't as convincing as I would have liked. 

From the publisher:

Argyll, Scotland. July 1832. After a trying few months in Edinburgh, Kiera and her husband and investigative partner, Sebastian Gage, are eager to escape to the Highlands with their three-month-old child. Kiera is overjoyed for her cousin Rye and her detractor-turned-friend Charlotte who are being wed in a private ceremony at the estate of Rye's great-uncle, the Marquess of Barbreck, in what seems to be the perfect wedding party.

But when Kiera is invited to peruse Barbreck's extensive art collection, she is disturbed to discover that one of his most priceless paintings seems to be a forgery. The marquess's furious reaction when she dares to mention it leaves her shaken and the entire house shocked. For it turns out that this is not the first time the word forgery has been uttered in connection with the Barbreck household.

Matters turn more ominous when a maid from a neighboring estate is found murdered where the forged painting hangs. Is her death conneccted to the forgeries, perhaps a grisly warning of what awaits those who dare to probe deeper? With unknown entities aligned against them, Kiera and Gage are forced to confront the fact that they may have underestimated their opponent. For they are swifly made to realize that Charlotte's and Rye's fututre happiness is not the only issue at stake, and this stealthy game of cat and mouse could prove to have deadly consequences.

By the same author: The Anatomist's Wife, Mortal Arts; A Grave Matter, A Study in Death, A Pressing Engagement, This Side of Murder, As Death Draws Near, A Brush With Shadows, Treacherous Is The Night, An Artless Demise, Secrets in the Mist, Penny for Your Secrets, A Stroke of Malice, A Pretty Deceit, A Wicked Conceit

This is a book featuring the whole family for the Summer Reading Challenge.

This is a book with an alliterative title (#23) for The 52 Book Club's 2023 Reading Challenge

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©2008-2023 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/ 

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Recent Reads - Mortal Arts

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Mortal Arts by Anna Lee Huber - In this second book in the Lady Darby series, Kiera is traveling to Edinburgh with her sister's family. On the way, her brother-in-law Philip receives a message requesting them to stop for a night or two with Michael Dalmay, an old family friend to Kiera's family. A problem has arisen regarding Michael's upcoming marriage to Philip's cousin. Michael refuses to take the title of Lord Dalmay, which belongs to his older brother William. Kiera believes that William, who had once been her drawing master, has been missing and presumed dead for almost ten years. 

The evening's dinner party turns awkward when it is revealed that William is not dead but has been in an insane asylum. Even worse is the fact that his own father consigned him there, and all indications are that he was terribly mistreated. Several months previous, Michael had finally located William and brought him home, but has kept this quiet because of his unpredictable moods and despair.

Sebastian Gage is in attendance at Dalmay House as well, which initially puzzles Kiera. But she is grateful for his help when William Dalmay is suspected of the murder of a missing girl from the village. Gage and Kiera join forces to find the girl and what happened to her. Intertwined with that mystery are the questions about what happened to William and others at the insane asylum, and whether William is involved with the girl's disappearance. Kiera desperately wants to believe her beloved art tutor and friend is not capable of violence, but she is also plagued by doubts, and things continue to be complicated by her relationship with Gage.

Kiera wants the truth about William but a part of her fears it as well. She is also torn about what she wants from Gage, and how much she can trust him. 

This was heart wrenching in places because of the mental and emotional suffering of William Dalmay. Seen through Kiera's eyes, he is a tragic hero, because she idealized him when she was a young girl, and trusted him. He was a beloved mentor and friend, and she is touched deeply by his brokenness, and she understands some of his pain because of her own experiences. Her sympathy and loyalty to Will causes Gage to wonder whether there was a romantic attachment between them, and the reader is left to wonder if Kiera truly understands how deeply Gage cares for her.

(Check out the Lady Darby Read-Along group on Facebook if you're interested.)

By the same author: The Anatomist's Wife, Mortal Arts (my first reading in 2014); A Grave Matter, A Study in Death, A Pressing Engagement, This Side of Murder, As Death Draws Near, A Brush With Shadows. Treacherous Is The Night, An Artless Demise, Secrets in the Mist, Penny for Your Secrets, A Stroke of Malice, A Pretty Deceit

©2008-2021 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

  

Share Four Somethings - October 2019

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It's the last day of October, which means a couple of things. It's Reformation Day. It's Halloween. It's my niece's birthday. I have today to finish all the things left on my to-do list for the month (which is not going to happen). And I had better hurry up and share Something Loved, Something Said, Something Learned, and Something Read for the month!

Something Loved

I loved having the family plus some auxiliary kids here to help us celebrate Thanksgiving (the Canadian edition!). I took the day off work, and my son had the day off as well, so the two of us cooked and baked and prepared so we could enjoy a big family dinner once everyone else arrived.

In October 2018 one of the things I loved was attending a Twenty One Pilots concert with my daughter and two friends. Well, we did the same in October 2019! I wish it could be an annual thing, but I rather doubt they will tour that often. Anyway, we had a blast and I'm so honored that these young people put up with my going along with them.

Something Said

If you lost your ability to make music today, would your church still see you as a spiritual leader tomorrow? ~ Aaron Keyes

Earlier this month, hubby and I attended a worship leaders conference, and this was the gist of one of the keynote messages. Definitely gave us some food for thought!

Something Learned

I learned that with a good instructor (Sharon Hofer from the online art instruction Creating A Masterpiece), even I can create a decent piece of art. This was my first time using charcoal, but the drawing lessons at Creating A Masterpiece made it easy. (We reviewed this course on Homeschool Coffee Break - see the full review here: Creating A Masterpiece ~Drawing Lessons)

Something Read

I completed three books in October. You can see more about my reading in my Monthly Bookshelf Review for October 2019.

Secrets in the Mist (A Gothic Myths Novel) by Anna Lee Huber
Detective Trigger and the Ruby Collar by M.A. Owens
A Stranger at Fellsworth by Sarah E. Ladd


   

This post will be linked at Share Four Somethings hosted by HeatherGerwing.com

 ©2008-2019 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Share Four Somethings - August 2019

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August was full of so much to love and many things to learn! We kept very busy, mostly with vacations and preparing for the new school year to come. Time to look back and pick out Something Loved, Something Said, Something Learned, and Something Read to share today.

Something Loved

Vacation time that included family time and many beautiful sights and experiences.

We went to a church camp for a weekend and did a concert of worship music. We visited our son and his family and had fun with our granddaughter. We visited conservatories and gardens and an art museum. We were able to take friends of Kennady's with us to a couple of those conservatory experiences - it was her Summer of Kennady vacation, after all!

At Franklin Park Conservatory, Columbus, Ohio

At Duquesne Incline, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

At Rawlings Conservatory, Baltimore, Maryland

Something Said

Knowing a person is like music, what attracts us to them is their melody, and as we get to know who they are, we learn their lyrics.  ~Unknown

Something Learned

I actually learned quite a bit about plants, as you might imagine! I especially enjoyed the orchid houses. The Baltimore Museum of Art was an educational experience as well. My husband and I were both very interested in the mosaic sections from Antioch and the methods used to excavate these large pieces that are a couple thousand years old, and how they were restored and transported.

Something Read

I completed four books in August, but only three of the reviews are up so far. You can see more about my reading in my Monthly Bookshelf Review for August 2019.

Unshakeable: A Story of Unwavering Faith and Conviction by Elizabeth Wiens
An Artless Demise (A Lady Darby Mystery) by Anna Lee Huber
The Yellow Lantern: True Colors: Historical Stories of American Crime by Angie Dicken
Britfield & the Lost Crown by C.R. Stewart (review coming!)



   

This post is linked at Share Four Somethings hosted by HeatherGerwing.com

 ©2008-2019 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.