My September books

Ready for the September roundup?
To me it's interesting to see how many books I have finished in a month (not necessarily started in the same month) and how many I read to the cats which of course takes longer, those are marked with 😸
I will be adding a short explanation why I chose a book and possibly if it's a re-read candidate, but I'm not going to add real reviews or ratings (the cats also refuse to give ratings 😉)

1. "Neighbors and other stories" by Diane Oliver, first published in 2024

In 1966, Diane Oliver died in an accident, only 22 years old.
Four of her short stories had been published then, two more got published posthumously, and only much later eight more were found.
This book contains all of those stories about race and racism in the USA of the 50s and 60s, mostly told through the eyes of young women.

I found the book on Overdrive by accident when I was looking for a different name, and the description drew me in.

2. "The Grace of Wild Things" by Heather Fawcett, first published in 2023

12 year old Grace runs away from the orphanage offering herself as an apprentice to the witch living in the forest nearby.
They make a deal. If Grace learns how to cast all of the 100 1/2 spells in the witch's grimoire before the old cherry tree is blooming again, the witch will take her on as apprentice, if she fails, she'll have to give the witch her magic.

This one was mentioned in the comment to a blog post and sounded good. It's inspired by "Anne of Green Gables", but in a witchy, a bit dark way.

3. "Wenn Geister sterben" = "Death of a Ghost" by Margery Allingham, first published in 1934
(Albert Campion 6)

When a young painter is killed during a (more or less) private unveiling of a painting by the late Lafcadio, Campion, who's a friend of Lafcadio's widow Belle, has to investigate in the surprisingly murky world of the London art scene.

This is still part of my vintage crime project for which I keep getting books by Marsh and Allingham.

4. "The Three Investigators in The Mystery of the Fiery Eye" by Robert Arthur, Jr. (the books were published attributed to Alfred Hitchcock), first published in 1967 😸
(The Three Investigators 7)

Where is the mysterious stone hidden that Horatio August left to his great-nephew August August?
Will the Three Investigators be able to help Gus find it? Is that a dumb question because we all know Jupiter will solve this riddle, anyway?

I read this series a long time ago and am going through it again bit by bit after writing a blog post about it. This book is the seventh in the series.

5. "Trau keiner Lady" = "The Beckoning Lady" by Margery Allingham, first published in 1955
(Albert Campion 15)

Campion just wanted a small vacation with his wife Amanda, son Rupert and his friend, Chief Inspector Luke, but there's no rest for them, instead there's a body under a bridge.

This is still part of my vintage crime project for which I keep getting books by Marsh and Allingham.

6. "Der Geist der Gouvernante" = "The China Governess" by Margery Allingham, first published in 1963
(Albert Campion 17)

When adopted heir Timothy Kinnit wants to find out more about his biological parents before marrying American heiress Julia, Campion is asked to look into the matter.
Things are even more complicated - and murderous - than expected, though.

This is still part of my vintage crime project for which I keep getting books by Marsh and Allingham.

7. "Meet Me at Rainbow Corner" by Celia Imrie, first published in 2024

This is the story of Dot, a nurse, and Lilly, a driver/secretary, who are posted to London during World War II, and the people they meet at Rainbow Corner (also known as the American Red Cross Club) which will be changing both of their lives.

The book was a random find at Overdrive.

8. "Es geht noch ein Zug von der Gare du Nord" = "The Chalk Circle Man" by Fred Vargas, first published in 1991
(Kommissar Adamsberg ermittelt 1)

This is the first case for the unorthodox Commissaire Adamsberg in Paris.
Who is the man drawing the strange blue chalk circles around random items on the streets of Paris? No one pays them much attention except Adamsberg - until a body is found in one of them.

My little brother told me about the Vargas series a while ago already, I thought I'd give it a try. Only afterwards, he told me it was a DNF and he had only read one of the others of the series 😂

9. "Judaslohn" = "Traitor's Purse" by Margery Allingham, first published in 1941
(Albert Campion 11)

Albert Campion wakes up in hospital. He suffers from amnesia not knowing who he is and what it is he has set out to do, except that it's something really important.
On the run from the police and the enemy, he finds out bit by bit what kind of catastrophe he has to avert.

This is still part of my vintage crime project for which I keep getting books by Marsh and Allingham (as you can tell I had a good month and got several Allinghams at a good price from one seller).

10. "The Three Investigators in The Mystery of the Silver Spider" by Robert Arthur, Jr. (the books were published attributed to Alfred Hitchcock), first published in 1967 😸
(The Three Investigators 8)

After meeting the young Prince Djaro of Varania, the Three Investigators are asked by the Secret Service to travel to Varania because of a rumor that there's a plot to dethrone Djaro. When the symbol of power, the silver spider, is missing and turns up in their room, Jupiter, Peter, and Bob have to run from the current regent Duke Stefan and his conspirators, helped by Djaro's friends.

I own the German version of this book which was published in 1981, but haven't read it in a long time. Persons and setting were changed, but the plot is basically the same, a plot, the silver spider and the escape with the help of friends, in this case from the current managing director.
Actually, this book is about Lars, the heir of a company in a small Swedish colony in Texas that cultivates old Swedish traditions.
Maybe they just wanted to avoid stereotypes about European monarchies like that?

I read this series a long time ago and am going through it again bit by bit after writing a blog post about it. This book is the eighth in the series.

11. "Mord vor vollem Haus" = "Light Thickens" by Ngaio Marsh, first published in 1982
(Roderick Alleyn 32 (the final one))

Strange and disturbing things happen during the rehearsals for "Macbeth" at the "Dolphin" in London which feed the idea of the play being cursed.
Then the lead actor gets beheaded during a performance. Who killed him and why?

This is still part of my vintage crime project for which I keep getting books by Marsh and Allingham. What am I going to read when I'm done with them? (Still missing ten of the Marshs and six of the Allinghams (not counting some of the short stories), but we're getting there).

12. "Carbonel" by Barbara Sleigh, first published in 1955 😸
(Carbonel 1)

Ten year old Rosemary wants to help her widowed mother and go cleaning in her holidays. Convinced she will have to bring her own equipment, she goes to the marketplace where she buys a broom and a black cat from an old lady.
Her surprise is huge when the cat starts talking, telling her the old lady is a witch who has stolen him as a kitten and kept him bound by a spell, so he can't try to gain back his throne as the rightful king of cats. Rosemary and her new friend John do their best to help him.

The book, a middle grade novel, was recommended by book blogger Nicole from Momlit. It is adorable and so fun to read. I'm hoping the other two in the series are just as good.

13. "Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves" by Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, first published in 1963
(Wooster and Jeeves 13)

Bertie Wooster is an English gentleman, one of the idle rich, and Jeeves is his valet whose intelligence saves Bertie and his friends from one or the other pickle.
The pickle in this case that Madeline Bassett tries to turn her fiancé Gussie Fink-Nottle into a vegetarian which is a strain on the relationship. Wooster is afraid they will break up and Madeline will be trying to marry him. Matters get complicated even more by an amber statuette, a vicarage needed for another marriage, and the daughter of an American millionaire working as a cook.

Lisa from Boondock Ramblings started reading "Jeeves and Wooster" stories, and since my last Wodehouse read had been ages ago, I'm having a go as well.

14. "Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries" by Heather Fawcett, first published in 2023
(Emily Wilde series 1)

Emily Wilde is a dryadology scholar in Cambridge where she works on putting together an encyclopedia of fairies in different countries. To finish it, she visits the village Hrafnsvik, but she learns and experiences more there than she could have expected.

This one was mentioned in a blog post and sounded like fun.

15. "Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman" by Ernest William Hornung, first published in 1899

A. J. Raffles - national cricket hero and gentleman thief in late Victorian Great Britain. Together with his younger friend Harry "Bunny" Manners, he steals preferably jewelry from the upper society, not just for the money but also the thrill. 

This is the first collection of the "Raffles" short stories (all of them were published as "Engelhörnchen" in German, by the way). I put it on my list after watching the silent movie with John Barrymore.

16. "Skinner's Big Idea" by Henry Irving Dodge, first published in 1918 😸

The third book in the Skinner series (which also inspired a silent movie which is considered to be lost, though) tells about Skinner's partners going on a long business trip and leaving him with the task to fire several of the "old men" in the office.
Skinner, however, doesn't want to do that and has a big idea ...

I read the first book after watching one of the silent movie versions of it and added the others to my list for quick reading.
It's interesting that the Disney Studio had it in their library (but passed it on to another library, there was another tag). I wonder why.

17. "The Dancing Floor" by Barbara Michaels, first published in 1997 

After the death of her father, Heather travels to England to see gardens, a trip they had wanted to do together.
In Troytan House, she finds more than a lost garden, though. Heather is drawn into an adventure of witchcraft, family problems, and love.

Barbara Michaels is one of the pen names of Barbara Mertz. I know a lot of the books she wrote under the name Elizabeth Peters, but not one she wrote as Michaels.
After I DNFed the first one, Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs recommended this one to me.

18. "The Bookshop on the Corner" (also as "The Little Shop of Happy Ever After") by Jenny Colgan, first published in 2016
(Happy Ever After series 1)

Nina is a librarian in Birmingham, but her library branch is shut down and she's out of a job.
How about turning a van into a mobile bookshop? Nina builds a new life for herself in a small village in Scotland, love included.

This was a random find on Overdrive. Librarian, bookshop, Scotland, worth a try for a quick, light read, right?


DNF:

1. "Coffin, Scarcely Used" by Colin Watson, first published in 1958  😸
(A Flaxborough Mystery 1)

Who's killing off respectable men in the city of Flaxborough? How respectable are they really, though?

I made it through three quarters of the book, but got more and more bored with it and skipped to the end which didn't surprise me.
Only then I remembered I used to have the box set of the TV show made after some of the 12 Flaxborough novels and found those boring, too. Duh.

2. "Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands" by Heather Fawcett, first published in 2024
(Emily Wilde series 2)

Emily Wilde is a dryadology scholar in Cambridge where she works on putting together a map of the otherlands after finishing her encyclopedia of faeries.
To help her friend (and possibly more) Wendell to find a door to his realm, she travels with him to Austria.

I got through half of the book, but it was just too repetitive for my taste. Getting attacked by faeries, escaping, making a lot of notes, getting attacked by different faeries, escaping ... repeat.
When I noticed I was only really interested anymore if her Black Dog Shadow would stay alive, I stopped reading in the middle of a sentence (and of course checked the ending for Shadow).