Reading and Recuperating, Part I

The backdrop to my knee surgery recovery for the first two weeks was the Summer Olympics, paired with channel surfing, The Big Bang Theory and Modern Family.  I’m not a television watcher but I didn’t feel up to reading, so I was doubly glad when I felt better and got off the pain pills.  I began to read again and gave myself permission to read purely for fun and escape.  Therefore, I was delighted when two friends with whom I regularly share books dropped by for a visit, bringing cozy mysteries and box lunches from Heavenly Ham.

The Cracked Spine, by Paige Shelton

Minotaur Books, 2016

A cozy Scottish mystery set in an Edinborough bookshop where Kansas native Delaney Nichols has agreed to work, sight unseen.  She applied for the job and was hired while she was still in the states.  Her eccentric boss Edwin McAlister has two other employees, Rosie and Hamlet.   Shortly after her arrival, Delaney is able to rent a cottage owned by a taxi driver and his wife who befriend her, and a local pub keeper provides romantic interest.  The setting was fun, the mystery was forgettable.  The author gives Delaney special powers that seem unnecessary.  The plot also strains credulity when an heretofore unknown copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio of plays is uncovered, then disappears,  The last person to have it is found dead and Delaney is determined to find the murderer because the police investigators seem to suspect her new colleagues.

Mrs. Jeffries Wins the Prize, by Emily Brightwell

Berkley Prime Crime, 2016

The ladies of the Mayfair Orchid and Exotic Plant Society play for keeps in this latest installment of the Victorian Mystery series featuring Mrs. Jeffries, the housekeeper for Scotland Yard Police Inspector Witherspoon.  Mrs. Jeffries, assisted by the entire downstairs staff and a few neighbors, helps her boss investigate his murder cases unbeknownst to him.  Mrs. Jeffries must determine which society matron stabbed to death a dealer in rare flowers and then subtly guide Inspector Witherspoon to reach the same conclusion.  It’s the recurring characters that make this cozy mystery entertaining.

These mysteries my friend loaned me provided comfort and entertainment as I recuperated, a pleasant escape from being a patient.  I raid my library book shelves for mysteries to read in tomorrow's post.