A trio of treats to read this FrightFall

 

Happy November, folks and I hope you all had a pleasant Halloween experience earlier this week. I also hope that those who took part in this year’s FrightFall readathon (hosted by Michelle Miller at Seasons of Reading) had a great time as well.

I’m pleased to report that I was able to finish all three of the books on my TBR for this challenge, starting with Vampire Weekend by Mike Chen. Our leading undead lady is Louise, who has not found that particular brand of eternal night life to be anything like the media myths make it out to be.

For one, she doesn’t have any powers beyond staying young and most of her after dark existence involves a night shift job at a local hospital in order to poach blood bags for the vampire collective community. Her main companion is a cute Corgi named Lola,due to the loss of her last human friend who Louise fears she may have doomed by revealing her true nature.

When a couple of long lost relatives literally turn up on her doorstep, Louise is not inclined to let them get beyond the front door but upon meeting Ian, whose father has recently died and his mother not too far gone from that fate, she winds up bonding with him over their mutual love of music.

Of course, their tastes in music differ but soon enough, Louise starts to teach Ian the basics of punk rock and guitar playing, opening up her former passion for being a member of a band. However, when Ian catches on to what she really is, he makes a request that’s she understandably reluctant to grant. Can their friendship survive this impass or is there a way to save the metaphorical day for them both?

I’ve read Mike Chen before and he has a great knack for blending in everyday realism into otherworldly genres with a seemingly casual ease. It helps that Chen aptly adds touches of humor and heart into his characters and their situations with out going overboard on either story element.

Vampire Weekend was a great bookish beat to dance to and one way or another, I plan on reading more of his work soon:

After that, I visited Miss Marple in Agatha Christie‘a A Murder is Announced.  The title refers to an unusual advertisement in the local newspaper in the village of Chipping Cleghorn, inviting anyone interested to the home of Letitia Blacklock that evening for such an offbeat event.

Those who attend believe that it’s some kind of party game that Letitia’s mischievous nephew Patrick has set up yet he insists that this is not of his doing. When the lights go out and a stranger appears, real bullets are fired and someone does dies. 

The why and how of it puzzles the police but fortunately, Miss Marple happens to be in the area, visiting some friends of the family and very willing to help with her subtle style of observations on such a matter. The major part of this mystery is who was the real target of the killer and will they strike again?

I do prefer the Marple mysteries to the Poirot ones in Christie’s body of work yet I also like them more when Miss Marple is more front and center to the action. 

AMIA does take some time to get to Jane Marple but the book does make up for that wait with an array of interesting oddball characters that do engage your attention quite nicely. All in all, it’s a clever story that does keep you guessing in the best sense until the bittersweet end:

The best I saved for last and trust me when I say that Victor Lavelle’s Lone Women was well worth the wait.

The novel begins in California of 1915 as Adelaide Henry leaves her family home in actual flames in order to conceal the gruesome nature of their untimely demise.

She heads out to Montana, where unmarried women and widows are able to claim land grants and start a new life for themselves. The only big ticket item that Adelaide has with her is a mysterious trunk that is always locked and for good reason. While she desperately wants to leave her past behind her, Adelaide has no choice but to drag this unwieldy family secret along with her into the unknown.

That’s all I’m going to say about the plot because this is a story best appreciated by discovering it’s creative charms for yourself. What I will say is that Lavelle is an amazing writer with an imagination that can’t be beat and this is one of the best books that I’ve read this or any other year.

Such a wild ride of emotion, terror and the lore of the Ild West as you have never seen before awaits you on the page and then some:

So, out of the four readathons that I participated in this year, I completed all of the books chosen for those challenges three times out of the four, a nice little achievement that I’m way too proud of there.

Nonetheless, reading is its own reward and much thanks is due to Michelle Miller at Seasons of Reading who makes these readathons the fun and friendly events that they are. There is a Christmas challenge on that horizon but I might take a pause on that for the holidays.

In the meanwhile, this November, I gave myself the challenge of a Thrill Ride TBR(to catch up on a few mystery/thriller stories) and planing to indulge in the second seasons of cable/streaming shows that may take awhile to get third seasons due to the actors’ strike still ongoing(as of this writing, SAG-AFTRA is still waiting to hear from the studios about a counter offer). 

With any luck, the actors might have things settled soon but in the meantime, let’s be grateful for the good stories that are available to us all and hopefully, those who work hard to share their talents with us are given the full slice of the entertainment pie that they truly deserve-in other words, bon appetit!: