My February books

This is an overview of the books I have finished in a month (not necessarily started in the same month) and those I have read to the cats (marked with 😸).
I will be adding a short explanation why I chose a book or how I found it and possibly if it's a re-read candidate, but I'm usually not going to add real reviews or ratings (the cats also refuse to give ratings 😉). Should you want a little more information on a book you're interested in, though, just let me know.
Not my best reading month, this. Few highlights.


"Death on the Oxford Road" by E. C. R. Lorac, first published in 1933
(Robert Macdonald 4)

In the middle of the night, Chief Inspector Robert Macdonald and his journalist friend Peter Vernon happen to come to a car accident on Oxford Road. Only it wasn't an accident ...

Someone recommended E. C. R. Lorac (one of the pen names of Edith Caroline Rivett) and her books from the Golden Age of Crime in a comment on a friend's blog post in which she had mentioned Allingham and Marsh. More vintage crime for me which is nice since I'm almost running out of Marsh books.

"Grimsdyke" by Walter Unsworth, first published in 1974 😸

England, early 19th century.
After his father's death, 15 year old Kit Standish receives an invitation to Grimsdyke from his Uncle Gideon of whom he knows only that he didn't get along with his father.
It doesn't take long for Kit to learn that his uncle wants to kill him, but why? He escapes from Grimsdyke to find out, luckily he meets new friends who help him.

When I looked for a different book on The Internet Archive, I didn't find it despite a long list of results, but thought this title and cover looked interesting instead.
I wasn't disappointed. Unsworth wrote books about mountain climbing, but also historical novels for young people against the background of the Industrial Revolution, aiming "to strip the gloss from the period". He sure did that in this one and there was one or the other scene I could have done without (with animals for example, no need to say more), but it was still a really good read.
I love random finds like this one.
(It really should have just half a cat because I read it only to dem Dekan, the lady wasn't interested in the Industrial Revolution, I guess.)

"Die Lockett-Kinder" = "August Adventure" by M. E. Atkinson (Mary E. Atkinson in the German translations), first published in 1936

Three siblings, whose parents live in India, have an invitation for the vacations from a yet unknown aunt.
When they get to the aunt's house, though, she isn't there and the Locketts go looking for her together with two new friends.

This was a re-re-re-re-re-....-read of a childhood favorite for a future blog post.

"Remarkably Bright Creatures" by Shelby Van Pelt, first published in 2022

Widowed Tova cleans at the local aquarium. One night she gets acquainted with the giant Pacific octopus Marcellus and a friendship grows which helps unite family.

I got the recommendation from Kym's blog "Just A Second" and although I had no idea what exactly to expect from the book, I absolutely loved it.

"Cats' A. B. C." by Beverley Nichols, first published in 1960 😸

A cat lover tells facts and anecdotes about cats sorted by letters - A for amusements, F for fur, Y for yawn and so on.

I had never read anything by Nichols before, in fact didn't even know him. This was just another of my random finds.
No idea what his other books are like, but while I liked a lot of his stories about the cats, he added too much to them that sounded judgemental to me, and I also minded the jibes against women. It was a short book, though, and had cute illustrations.
There's also a book called "Cats' X. Y. Z.", but I don't think I'll be reading that one. We'll try another adventure story instead 🙂

"The Book Club for Troublesome Women" by Marie Bostwick, first published in 2025

The suburb in the early 60s. Four women start a book club reading "The Feminine Mystique" by feminist writer and activist Betty Friedan which changes first their views on their lives and later their lives in unexpected ways.

I found the book as a new OverDrive entry.

"The Lost Apothecary" by Sarah Penner, first published in 2021

After finding out that her husband has cheated on her, Caroline goes on their anniversary trip to London by herself.
Here she joins a mudlarking tour and finds an empty vial in the Thames mud. The engraved bear leads her on a search of a lost apothecary and serial killings in the late 18th century.

I found the book mentioned on a blog, I think, and the blurb sounded interesting. We have a dual timeline for the apothecary Nella and her young friend Eliza and for Caroline (and her husband).
The book was a quick read. Actually about as quick as Caroline uncovers the more than two century old secret of Nella and Eliza and then goes on to grad school in Cambridge to write a dissertation about Nella within nine months.
She keeps Eliza her personal secret although the truth "could very likely catapult my dissertation work to the front page of academic journals, but I didn't want the renown" ... you gotta be kidding me.
As a librarian at a university, the "research" part was not relatable to me (if it only were that easy) and that's putting it nicely. That wasn't the only problem of the book, though.
At the moment, I don't think I want to give one of the author's other books a try.

"Finchen" by Lisa-Marie Blum, first published in 1960

Finchen is a living doll who belonged to Gabriele and now lives with her granddaughter Ina who is 10. She has a lot of stories tell and there's something she has to do ...

This is a re-read for a future post.

"Martin Crusoe" by Thomas Charles Bridges, first published as a book in 1920 (before that in serialized form between March and October 1919 in "The Children's Newspaper") 😸

The lost civilization adventure novel begins with 17 year old Martin receiving several wireless messages from an island calling for help. After his father's death, he flies there with his plane - into a big adventure (flying is not his only skill 😜).

This is one of my random finds on The Internet Archive. Kids must have loved this. We have descendants of the survivors of Atlantis, we have "monsters", we have betrayal, revolution, and fights, we have gold and a volcano, earthquakes, and more.
I think Ray Harryhausen could have had a field day with it.

"The Blue Castle" by Lucy Maud Montgomery, first published in 1926

Valancy is 29 and unmarried which her strict family never lets forget her. When a doctor tells her she doesn't have long to live, she breaks free from everything that has held her back, determined to enjoy the short rest of her life - and maybe find love.

This was a readalong with Lisa from Boondock Ramblings.

"The Impersonator" by Mary Miley, first published in 2013
(Roaring Twenties Mystery 1)

Leah, a young vaudeville actress, is hired by Oliver Beckett to impersonate his niece. Jessie, who looked just like Leah, has been missing for seven years and Oliver wants to get his hands on her inheritance before she's announced dead.
There's more to the story, however, than Leah bargained for.

I read about one of Miley's books on Fritzi Kramer's silent movie blog and started with the first one in the series. I would actually have liked to read more about vaudeville than the mystery case, but it was good enough to try the second one as well which is set in the silent film industry.
(And no, I haven't read "Brat Farrar" which Miley named as an inspiration, so I didn't get mad (yet?) at the similarities.)

"Death by Petticoat: American History Myths Debunked" by Mary Miley Theobald, first published in 2012

The short book lists 63 myths in American history which "are repeated in museums and historic sites all across America".

Most of these I had never even heard of, but of course I'm not American.
It was a very quick read which isn't surprising as each myth only gets up to a page, sometimes only a few sentences, which includes the myth itself. There are no sources whatsoever, only a list of people in the acknowledgements. I wouldn't recommend it.

"Lebensbilder aus Göppingens Vergangenheit : Gräber im Oberhofenfriedhof" by Peter Herwig, first published as a book in 2001

My town has two cemeteries which we call the old and the new cemetery (although the new one is over 120 years old and officially called Main Cemetery ).
This little book was originally a series in our newspaper - "Gräber erzählen" meaning "Graves Tell Stories" - and was published as a book to forward the proceeds to the Association for the Preservation of the Oberhofenkirche (which is the second oldest building in town).

I'm interested in my town's history and these life stories are a very interesting part of it.


DNF:

"Cold Feet" by Brenda Novak, first published in 2004

Was Madison's father the "Sandpoint Strangler"? When there's another victim, former detective turned true crime writer Caleb suspects Madison knows more than she's saying.
What he hadn't expected was to fall in love with her.

A random OverDrive find. I managed not even half, then I lost interest because of the love story, skipped to the ending and was glad I had and saved time.

"The Case of the Christie Conspiracy" by Kelly Oliver, first published in 2025

Who killed Neville Lively and why? Was it Agatha Christie whom he wanted expelled from the Detection Club? And why did Christie disappear?

I'll admit the cover drew me in. I thought this could be a fun read, but then I noticed after a while how I only read a few pages and then turned to something else until I literally abandoned the book in the middle of a sentence at about half because the protagonist grated on my nerves so much.