If you are new to my blog, I just wanted to share with you that I co-host a monthly bookish link party called A Good Book and A Cup of Tea (no, you don’t have to drink tea to participate) with Erin (Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs) and Cat (Cat’s Wire). You can find a link to it at the top of the page. The link party is for all book-related posts from reviews and recommendations to …well, anything related to books at all. Including Top Ten Tuesday, if you want to link your top ten there too!
Today’s Top Ten Tuesday prompt is: Top Ten Tuesday July 7
Book Titles That Include the Word “[insert word of your choice here]” (Pick a word and share ten book titles that include that word!) I chose the word “secret.”
This is a list of books I have read, want to read, would very likely, or possibly, read.
I should note that I could make this entire list out of just Nancy Drew titles alone, since a ton of the books in that series have secret in the title, but I decided to give some variety to the list and instead have three Agatha Christie titles. Ha!
|| The Secret Garden by Frances Burnett Hodgson (have read) ||
|| The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene (a Nancy Drew Mystery. Have read) ||
|| The Secret Adversary (Tommy and Tuppence Mysteries, #1) by Agatha Christie (haven’t read but sure I will at some point) ||
|| The Secret, Book & Scone Society (Secret, Book, & Scone Society, #1) by Ellery Adams (haven’t read but will probably soon) ||
|| The Secret of Chimneys (Superintendent Battle, #1) by Agatha Christie (have read and enjoyed) ||
|| The Codebreaker’s Secret by Sara Ackerman (haven’t read but it looks good) ||
|| Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells (haven’t read but probably will eventually) ||
|| The Secret Life of Walter Mitty James Thurber (haven’t read but it interests me because I’ve seen one of the movie adaptations) ||
|| The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad (never read it, think I’ve heard of it. Probably will read some day.) ||
|| The Secrets of Hartwood Hall by Katie Lumsden (I don’t know anything about it but it popped up when I was searching for books with the word secret in the title and it looks good.) ||
Have you read any of these? Let me know in the comments, especially for the ones I have not read yet.
On Thursdays, I am part of the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot blog link party. You can find the latest one in the sidebar to the right under recent posts.
Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.
You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.
The Ivory Dagger was my first Patricia Wentworth book so it was also my first Miss Silver Mystery as well.
This was number 18 in the series and it didn’t matter that I had not read the previous 17 books. I was able to catch on with the characters and their backgrounds very quickly. Wentworth was a British Mystery writer who published books between the 1920s and the 1960s. The Ivory Dagger was written in 1953.
I liked Maud Silver, the elderly woman called in to help solve the crime, immediately. I also liked Detective Inspector Frank Abbott immediately.
It was made clear, without too much supposition on past cases, that these two had worked together before and had a very teasing and affectionate relationship because of that.
I absolutely loved their interactions.
Let’s go back and grab a description of the book from online, though:
Bill Waring, collecting his wits in hospital after a train crash, receives only one letter from Lila Dryden, his fiancée. When he discovers Lady Dryden, Lila’s guardian, has pressured her into an engagement with Herbert Whitall, he is furious. Herbert Whitall is aggressive, with a cold-hearted possessiveness that expands past the bounds of his ivory collection he can’t bear to lose. His employees hate him, Lila is terrified of him and it appears he has a hold on Lady Dryden. When a dagger in Whitall’s collection becomes the instrument of his own death there are many suspects. Maud Silver must see that justice is done, not merely to punish the guilty, but to protect the innocent.
One thing left out of this particular description, but is in others, is that Lila becomes the prime suspect because she is found standing over his body, holding an ivory dagger that belonged to him.
She has a history of sleep walking, though, and this seems to be another one of those incidents. Could she have killed Herbert in her sleep? Even she is worried about that.
I won’t lie – I wasn’t a big fan of Lila through parts of this book. She was pretty weak and cruel to Bill and others at times, but, then, she was also very young and inexperienced at life.
It’s Lady Dryden who calls in Miss Silver because she has heard about the previous cases Miss Silver has solved.
Miss Silver doesn’t know when she comes to the mansion, that Frank Abbott has been assigned the case but she is pleasantly surprised. Frank is pleasantly surprised with her appearance as well.
“Frank Abbott took the hand and reciprocated the smile. Adrian Gray having mentioned that there was a Miss Silver staying in the house, he was by no means unprepared for the appearance of the lady who he had been known in moments of expansion to address as Revered Preceptress. They were, all jesting apart, on a footing of deep attachment, and, upon Frank’s side, of a most unfeigned respect.”
Miss Silver knows that the focus is on Lila but there is a list of people who didn’t like Whitall, so she must look at them all. She doesn’t think Lila is guilty. Neither does Frank so they will need to join their efforts to find out who really is guilty.
Miss Silver reminds me of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple and has similar hobbies and mannerisms. Miss Silver also has similar great comebacks or lines as Miss Marple.
They both appear to be innocent old ladies just sitting and knitting away while they are actually listening in to solve the crime. In this one, Miss Silver is knitting a vest for a great niece or relative, I can’t remember which. Wentworth likes to remind us she’s just simply knitting along with such lines as, “The crocket hook went in and out, making a delicate shell pattern about the neck of little Josephine’s vest.”
One difference between Miss Silver and Miss Marple is that Miss Silver is an actual private investigator and Miss Marple is simply a spinster living in a small town who becomes involved in solving crimes.
If you’re curious which one came first, it was Miss Marple by a year. Her first story was published as a short story in 1927. The first Miss Silver book came out in 1928.
What I like about Wentworth’s writing is that she is light on description of characters, scenery, and other aspects of the story, but still heavier than Christie. She provides more literary imagery to draw from to create an image in the readers mind of the main characters and the surroundings than Christie does. This doesn’t mean that one is better than the other. Christie was a brilliant stripped back storyteller and Wentworth is also a wonderful storyteller who simply adds a bit more personality and description to her characters.
Wentworth’s writing reminded me more of Margery Allingham, another Golden Age mystery writer, than Agatha’s. Both Wentworth and Allingham were great at creating engaging and well-written sentences or paragraphs that left you wanting to read it again, highlight it, or write it down.
“They sat facing one another. Feature and expression were hidden by the darkness, yet each knew the other so well that his darkness was only a black screen upon which memory could throw its pictures. Bill holding doggedly to what he had said and saying it all over again, as if battering repetition was an argument in itself. Ray on the defensive – quick thrust and parry to met his bludgeon blows, eyes wide and the colour in her cheeks like flame.”
Though this wasn’t the first book in the series, it was a good introduction for me and I am looking forward to reading more.
If you write book reviews or book-related blog posts, don’t forget that Erin, Cat, and I host the A Good Book and A Cup of Tea Monthly Bookish Blog Party. You can learn more about it here.
On Thursdays, I am part of the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot blog link party. You can find the latest one in the sidebar to the right under recent posts.
Notice: This post may contain affiiate links. If you purchase the product from these links I will receive a small compensation at no extra charge to you.
Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.
You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.
If you would like to be the first to get news about my books or just have access to special posts for supporters, you can do so here for $2.99 a month https://lisahoweler.com/support-my-writing/
It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, whatthe rest of the familyand I have been reading and watching, andwhat I’ve been writing.
Happy 250th, America! Whoo-hoo! What an exciting weekend for our country. The heat wave we’ve had this past week has not been welcome, keeping me locked inside so I don’t trigger any of my weird health issues, but I’ve made the best of it by reading books, watching movies and shows, and working a bit on book four in the Gladwynn Grant Mysteries.
I did escape yesterday to go to my parents and it was nice to get out of the house. While we were there a huge storm came in, I watched a huge bolt of lightening slam into the hillside across the valley, and the heatwave finally broke.
The weather canceled most of the fireworks in the area but we could hear some going off in the neighborhood.
What I/We’ve Been Reading
Just Finished
I finished The Unsolicited Journals of Emma Lion Vol. 1 by Beth Brower this past week. It was more of a novella. It was okay but I was not bowled over by it.
In Progress
I am slow reading Stillmeadow Daybrook by Gladys Taber. Since each chapter is a month, I plan to read a chapter a month for the rest of 2026 and into 2027. I’m also reading Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.
I’m still reading Miss Buncle’s Book by D.E. Stevenson and enjoying it. I’ll have it finished today.
Up Soon
I’ll be starting The Rose and The Yew Tree by Mary Westcot (Agatha Christie) for the Christie Reading Challenge this week.
What The Family is Reading
The husband is reading The Land of Lost Things by John Connelly.
Little Miss and I are still reading…. Yes, you guessed it. Heidi. We have no been consistently reading it but will be this week. When we are done with that we will be reading Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright.
New arrivals to my bookshelf
No new arrivals this week.
What I/We’ve Been Watching
This past week I watched Enchanted with David Niven, Teresa Wright, Evelyn Keyes, and Farley Granger. It was …. Interesting. Not the best, not the worst. A film with a little lesson on love and life at the end, but a lot of holes and storylines that just…fizzled.
I also watched a short comedy movie from the 1940s called Niagara Falls. It was a ridiculous comedy about a man and a woman who have a bad interaction on the their way to Niagara Falls and everyone assumes they are a married couple just having a spat so they keep trying to get them back together. It was just over the top humor.
What I’ve Been Writing
This week on the blog I shared:
This past week I watched Enchanted with David Niven, Teresa Wright, Evelyn Keyes, and Farley Granger. It was …. Interesting. Not the best, not the worst. A film with a little lesson on love and life at the end, but a lot of holes and storylines that just…fizzled.
I also watched a short comedy movie from the 1940s called Niagara Falls. It was a ridiculous comedy about a man and a woman who have a bad interaction on the their way to Niagara Falls and everyone assumes they are a married couple just having a spat so they keep trying to get them back together. It was just over the top humor.
Some Housekeeping
Erin (Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs), Cat (Cat’s Wire) and I host a monthly bookish link party called A Good Book and A Cup of Tea. This link-up is for book and reading posts or anything related to books and reading (even movies based on books!). Each link party will be open for a month. You can find that link up for this month here.
Each week, I host the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot with some great hosts. It goes live Thursday night, but you can share any kind of blog posts (family-friendly) there until Tuesday of each week. You can check my recent posts on the sidebar to the right for the most recent link party.
Now It’s Your Turn
What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to, or writing?
If you would like to be the first to get news about my books or just have access to special posts for supporters, you can do so here for $2.99 a month https://lisahoweler.com/support-my-writing/
Did you know that there are actually four verses to The Star Spangled Banner, also known as the United States’ National Anthem?
Many of you probably do know that already, but it wasn’t until about five or six years ago that I learned Francis Scott Key actually wrote four verses, but we only sing the first. I mean, it would take a lot longer to get to the game if we had to sing four verses, right?
Many Americans know the history of the song, but for those who don’t, or for any who aren’t Americans, who want to know its history — here is the short version.
The Star Spangled Banner was written in 1814 during the war of 1812 (which in the end was not won by either side).
Francis Scott Key was an American lawyer and amateur poet. He was among many who were not happy with the U.S. attacking Great Britain. They felt that declaring war on the British war machine was a poor decision. Great Britain was the biggest trading partner of the U.S. at that time.
Source: The Kennedy Center
It wasn’t until 1814 when British forces raided Washington, D.C. and burned down the White House, the buildings that housed Congress, and several other government buildings, that Scott Key and others got behind the U.S. and started to get fired up about the war.
According to The Kennedy Center website: “On September 13, 1814, Key and a U.S. official rowed over to a British warship at the mouth of the Patapsco River outside of Baltimore, Maryland. Their mission was to seek the release of some American prisoners.
The meeting with the British officers went well, and they even dined together. But when it came time for Key and his companions to paddle home, their hosts said hold your rowboats. The Americans had seen too much. British ships were moving into position to blast the daylights out of Fort McHenry, about eight miles away. Once they captured the fort, British troops would then raid the city, like they had in Washington. The British could not let Key and the others report on what they had seen.”
Key and his friends were kept as prisoners and were made to watch the British forces send more than 1,500 canons at Fort McHenry.
When morning came, Key was sure he would look through the smoke and see the British flag, but instead the American flag was still there, waving proudly.
Photo by Lisa R. Howeler
Once released, he pulled out an envelope, or found one, and began to write a poem.
Source: The Kennedy Center
That poem was sent to the Baltimore Patriot and The American newspaper with a note to sing it to a certain tune.
What was that tune?
Ironically, the lyrics were set to the tune of a British drinking song, “To Anacreon in Heaven,” written by British composer John Stafford Smith, when it was first sung and the tune stuck.
It was Key’s brother-in-law, Joseph H. Nicholson, who recognized the lyrics would work with song. Hmmm…I wonder why he knew that. *wink*
Only a week after the battle the poem was printed under Key’s title, “Defence of Fort McHenry” in several newspapers all over the country. A music printer named Thomas Carr, of the Carr Music Store in Baltimore, put the music and lyrics together and rechristened it The Star-Spangled Banner.
The song did not become the national anthem until 1931 when Congressed passed the bill to make it the national anthem.
Since then there have been plenty of complaints about it — mainly that it is too hard for the average person to sing. Another complaint is that celebrates war and should only be sung at military ceremonies.
Some suggested replacements have been America the Beautiful, God Bless America, and This Land is Your Land.
Why do we play the first verse at sporting events? Thank, or blame, Major League Baseball, which started performing It before games during World War II.
And, finally, in case you are wondering, here are all four verses, as Key wrote them:
O say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there; O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave, O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep, Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes, What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep, As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam, In full glory reflected now shines on the stream: ‘Tis the star-spangled banner, O long may it wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion, A home and a country should leave us no more? Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution. No refuge could save the hireling and slave, From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave: And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave, O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand, Between their loved home and the war’s desolation, Blessed with vict’ry and peace, may the heav’n rescued land, Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.” And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave, O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
In 1861, poet Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. penned an unofficial fifth verse during the beginning of the American Civil War, looking hopefully at the emancipation of slaves.
When our land is illumed with Liberty’s smile, If a foe from within strikes a blow at her glory, Down, down with the traitor who dares to defile The flag of her stars and the page of her story! By the millions unchained when our birthright was gained, We will keep her bright blazon forever unstained! And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave While the land of the free is the home of the brave!
If you have time, you might enjoy this video — I can not find who is narrating it but it sounds like Paul Harvey. As noted on the video, there some historical inaccuracies but people like the message behind it:
You might also want to listen to one of the most amazing versions by singer Sandi Patty, which includes a special second verse composed by Claire Clonninger for the Statue of Liberty Centennial Celebration in 1986. A note: when you think she can’t get her voice any higher – she does. Brace yourself.
Here is another iconic performance by Whitney Houston:
And another by Natalie Grant (notable here is she did it acapella):
One last, unique, one by Chris Stapleton:
There is your American History lesson for today.
And happy 250th America!
Sources:
The Star-Spangled Banner: The story behind the song
I have been averaging about four books a month this entire year, except for March, when I somehow read seven, but I think that was because I finished up a book I’d been reading with my daughter and also finished (finally) Return of the King.
In June I read the following books:
The Ivory Dagger by Patricia Wentworth
Description: When Lila Dryden is discovered standing over her fiancé’s body with dagger in hand, Miss Silver is called in to investigate, only to discover Lila’s sleepwalking patterns, the return of her former lover, and the victim’s circle of acquaintances–all of whom occasionally wished him dead.
Brief thoughts: I enjoyed this one. It was my first by Wentworth, so it was also my first Miss Silver book. I think it was number 18 but I didn’t have any problems following the characters or figuring out their past interactions with each other. I loved Miss Silver and her interaction with the investigator in the case, who she had worked with before.
The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis
Description: Eustace and Jill escape from the bullies at school through a strange door in the wall, which, for once, is unlocked. It leads to the open moor…or does it? Once again Aslan has a task for the children, and Narnia needs them. Through dangers untold and caverns deep and dark, they pursue the quest that brings them face to face with the evil Witch. She must be defeated if Prince Rillian is to be saved.
Brief thoughts: I’ve been making my way through The Chronicles of Narnia this year and this was the next one. I was in a reading slump when I started it and it pulled me out because I couldn’t put it down. I was immediately caught up in the story. It wasn’t my favorite of the series, but I love how Lewis writes so I still really liked it. This is a children’s book but I truly believe even adults should read this series. It’s so magical and fun. And, yes, there are elements to the stories that are allegories for Christianity but even if a person isn’t a Christian, the stories are just so good.
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
Description: The peaceful English village of King’s Abbot is stunned. The widow Ferrars dies from an overdose of Veronal. Not twenty-four hours later, Roger Ackroyd—the man she had planned to marry—is murdered. It is a baffling case involving blackmail and death that taxes Hercule Poirot’s “little grey cells” before he reaches one of the most startling conclusions of his career.
Brief thoughts: I wrote a review for this one, but the bottom line is that I enjoyed it. I read this one as part of the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge.
Description: Pleasant Creek, Indiana, loves its history. Each summer the town sponsors Heritage Day, a festival commemorating the signing of the original town charter. Liz Eckardt couldn’t be happier to participate in the star-spangled celebration.
But someone else isn’t happy. Antique items related to the historic event are being stolen from Pleasant Creek’s people and businesses, including Liz herself. Does the culprit merely want to torch the celebration or is there more to his sinister plot?
Brief Thoughts. I also wrote a review on this one and posted it here on the blog. I enjoyed this one. It was a very light mystery, not dark, not overly depressing. I love the characters in this series (The Amish Inn Mysteries) so it felt like visiting old friends when I read it.
What did you read in June? Have you ever read any of these?
If you write book reviews or book-related blog posts, don’t forget that Erin, Cat, and I host the A Good Book and A Cup of Tea Monthly Bookish Blog Party. You can learn more about it here.
On Thursdays, I am part of the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot blog link party. You can find the latest one in the sidebar to the right under recent posts.
Notice: This post may contain affiiate links. If you purchase the product from these links I will receive a small compensation at no extra charge to you.
Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.
You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.
If you would like to be the first to get news about my books or just have access to special posts for supporters, you can do so here for $2.99 a month https://lisahoweler.com/support-my-writing/
Welcome to the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot, where we offer a place for bloggers to link up and get a fresh set of eyes on their posts. We also feature one blog a week, letting our readers know about the blog and providing a link so readers can learn more about it.Please feel free to post new blog posts or old ones you want to bring attention to again.
Look for the post to go live about 9:30 PM EST on Thursdays.
Happy belated Canada Day to our Canadian friends and an early 250th Anniversary to all the U.S. citizens! It’s going to be a hot one for a lot of us!
Now, let’s introduce our current hosts for the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot:
Marsha from Marsha in the Middle started blogging in 2021 as an exercise in increasing her neuroplasticity. Oh, who are we kidding? Marsha started blogging because she loves clothes, and she loves to talk or, in this case, write!
Melynda from Scratch Made Food! & DIY Homemade Household – The name says it all, we homestead in East Texas, with three generations sharing this land. I cook and bake from scratch, between gardening and running after the chickens, and knitting!
Lisa from Boondock Ramblingsshares about the fiction she writes and reads, her faith, homeschooling, photography and more.
Cat from Cat’s Wire is a bookworm, movie fan, crazy cat lady, armed with beads, cabs, wire and a very jumpy brain which loves to go down rabbit holes!
Rena from Fine, Whatever writes about style, midlife, and the “fine whatever” moments that make life both meaningful and fun. Since 2015, she’s been celebrating creativity, confidence, and finding joy in the everyday.
We would love to have additional Co-Hosts to share in the creativity and fun! If you think this would be a good fit for you and you like having fun (come on, who doesn’t!) while still being creative, drop one of us an email and someone will get back with you!
WTJR will be highlighting a different blogger each week this year! We invite you to stop by their blog, take a look around and say hello!
This link party is for blog posts only. All other links will be deleted.
Please link only blog posts you created yourself.
Please link directly to the URL of your post and not the main address of your blog.
Please do not add links to videos, sales ads, or social media links such as YouTube videos or Shorts, Instagram or Facebook Reels, TikTok videos, or any other “social media” based content.
But do visit other blogs and give the gift of a comment.
Notice: By linking with Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot, you assert that content and photos are your own property. And you give us permission to share said content if your post or blog is showcased.
We welcome unlimited, family friendly content! This can include opinion pieces, recipes, travel recaps, fashion ideas, crafts, thrifting, lifestyle, book reviews or discussions, photography, art, and so much more! Thank you for joining us!
Welcome to the A Good Book & A Cup of Tea (A Monthly Bookish Link Party)!! This link-up is for book and reading posts or anything related to books and reading (even movies based on books!).
1. For Bloggers, you can link unlimited posts related to books and reading. They can be older posts or newer posts. These can be posts about what you’re reading, book reviews, books you’ve added to your shelf, reading habits, what you’ve been reading, about trips to the bookstore, etc. You get the drift.
2. Link to a specific blog post (URL of a specific post, not just your website). Feel free to link up any older posts that may need some love and attention, too.
3. Please visit at least two other bloggers on this list and comment on their posts. Have fun! Interact! Get some book recommendations.
4. Readers can click the blue button below to visit blog posts.
5. If you add a link you are giving me permission to share and link back to your post(s).
In this installment, Nick Charles returns home to where he grew up and where his father thinks he’s a failure and roaring drink. He is a not a failure, but he has, many times throughout this series, been a roaring drunk.
His father, played by Harry Davenport (I love him in anything I see him in) has not been impressed by his son’s detective endeavors. He wanted his son to become a doctor. Nick is attempting to change at least his drinking ways, which is why on the train to see his parents he is drinking apple cider instead of whiskey, or whatever it is he usually has in his flask.
While home, Nick, of course, gets mixed up in a mystery, which puts his job on full display for his disapproving father.
Lucile Watson joined Davenport, portraying Nick’s mother.
TCM describes the Thin Man movies as being about a “sophisticated married couple with a knack for solving murders,” and I guess that works but they are so much more. There is witty banter between Nick and his heiress wife Nora, quirky characters, a cute and funny dog, slapstick comedy, and quick little quips that sometimes make you gasp from the audacity of the writers to slip that in there.
This was a fun movie, even though they wrote Nick Jr. out of it by saying he had to stay home to attend kindergarten.
I read a quote from Myrna Loy that the movies after the second weren’t very good, but I actually liked this movie more than the third. Adding Nick’s parents in was a good decision and added a new dynamic and new life to the franchise, in my opinion.
The jokes about Nick’s alcoholism were rich in this one, especially when he arrives home and tries to fix an old desk for his mother while his father is out. Part of the desk falls, hitting him on the head, and knocking him down on his face on the floor. Of course at that moment, his father and believes he’s been on yet another drunken binge.
There are always jokes in these movies about Nick drinking too much but this time around his family is appalled by the drinking, instead of encouraging it, which Nora tends to do.
We start the film on the train with Nick, Nora, and Asta on their way to New England to see Nick’s parents and celebrate his birthday.
The reunion is full of funny moments and the funny continues as people in town start to hear that Nick is home and circulate rumors that he’s there to solve a case.
Edgar Draque even tells his wife Helena that they must leave town immediately after she goes and acquires painting by local artist Peter Berton. It won’t be until much later that we find out why that painting is important and not until Nora buys the painting for Nick’s birthday before Helena can get there. Nora thinks the painting, which features a windmill outside of town, will remind Nick of good times he had at the windmill as a child.
The artist of the painting arrives at the Charles’s home that night, starts to confess something, but is shot in the back before he can finish his sentence.
Things roll on into total chaos from there and I found that chaos a lot of fun. It was a complex case with a solution that was actually very ahead of it’s time, in my humble opinion.
The woman who played Crazy Mary (Anne Revere) was amazing, by the way. There is a scene where she talks about something very emotional that happened to her and she blew me way. It was one of the few serious moments of the film and it had tears welling up in my eyes. She was the mother in National Velvet and was in a ton of other movies, in case you have never heard of her. She was an amazing actress.
This was the first of the series not to be directed by W.S. Van Dyke, since he died in 1943. Instead, Richard Thorpe directed it and was familiar with William and Myrna after directing them in Double Wedding in 1937.
I watched Double Wedding this past weekend and didn’t enjoy it as much as their other films, but that’s probably because I am so used to seeing them as Nick and Nora.
Myrna had been away from the screen for three years when the suggestion to make the film came up. She had been busy with the home-front war effort and a marriage to car-rental heir John Hertz in New York. Thin Man fans wanted another film and were horrified when studio executives let it slip they might replace Myrna with Irene Dunne.
“The fans wanted Myrna, and they didn’t want anyone else,” Powell later recalled. “And I wanted Myrna, too. Besides the favorable reception our pictures always received, I must say it was certainly a pleasure to work with her.”
The cast and crew was pleased to see her too, William said.
“I’ve never seen a girl so popular with so many people,” he said. “Everybody from wardrobe was over the set, everybody from makeup, everybody from property, everybody from miles around, it looked like.”
While the characters were based on Dashiell Hammet’s characters, the screenplay was written by Robert Riskin, Dwight Taylor, from story by Riskin and Harry Kurnitz.
The couple’s dog, Asta (real name Skippy), was back for the movie and provided his usual comedic relief.
Up next I will be watching the final movie in the series, The Song of the Thin Man.
It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, whatthe rest of the familyand I have been reading and watching, andwhat I’ve been writing.
I am loving all the celebrations for our country’s 250th anniversary! Last night our local Catholic Church put on an amazing display that our entire town was able to watch because the church is located on a hill.
Little Miss’s little friend was over and played the Star Spangled Banner as the show went on which made it even more patriotic. Zooma the Wonder Dog did freak out some but she was so excited that Little Miss’s friend was over that she was distracted from being afraid from the loud banging.
The shot my husband got as he headed back into our town from the movies with the kids.
I actually forgot about the fireworks display so when it went off I thought it was gunshots which is not unusual in this area since we have so many hunters, but still, we don’t usually hear that many at a time.
I’ll be looking forward to seeing fireworks displays around the country next week too. Our town has flags all over – it’s fun to see.
What I/We’ve Been Reading
Just Finished
This week I finished The Ivory Dagger by Patricia Wentworth. It was my first book by her and I enjoyed it. It reminded me of Agatha Christie with more descriptions. This was a book from the Miss Silver series. I’m going to go back to the beginning of the series and start there.
In Progress
I am slow reading Stillmeadow Daybrook by Gladys Taber. Since each chapter is a month, I plan to read a chapter a month. I’m still reading Miss Buncle’s Book by D.E. Stevenson but I put it aside to finish The Ivory Dagger. I’ll continue it this week because I am enjoying it.
Up Soon
Up soon I will be reading Mystery Mile by Margery Allingham.
What The Family is Reading
Little Miss and I are reading Heidi. My son is listening to a Warhammer book. I forgot to ask The Husband what he is reading.
New arrivals to my bookshelf
Last week I received a delivery of nine middle grade books for Little Miss and I to read together. They included: Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright, The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keattey Snyder, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle, Across the Lines by Carolyn Reeder, The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks, Moccasin Trail by Eloise Jarvis McGraw, Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac, Calico Girl by Jerdine Nolen, and Phoebe the Spy by Judith Berry Griffin.
What I/We’ve Been Watching
I was depressed this week to find that Murder, She Wrote was taken of Amazon Prime, where I was able to watch it without commercials. I hate commercials because it seems most of streaming commercials are for pharmaceutical companies and politics. Blah.
I’ve decided I am going to start ordering them on DVD like I am my movies. I’m tired of putting up with tech companies telling me when and how I can watch my shows! And I don’t care if I sound like an old lady. Ha.
I did watch some Murder, She Wrote on the On Demand feature on Amazon. I also watched a movie called Tell It To the Judge with Rosalind Russell and Robert Cummings, a Myrna Loy and William Powell movie called Double Wedding, and several episodes of As Time Goes By.
What I’ve Been Writing
I’m working on Gladwynn Grant Goes Back to School, book four in the Gladwynn Grant series.
I’ve been listening to The Essential Dean Martin Collection and a Murder, She Wrote book.
Photos From Last Week
Some Housekeeping
Erin (Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs), Cat (Cat’s Wire) and I host a monthly bookish link party called A Good Book and A Cup of Tea. This link-up is for book and reading posts or anything related to books and reading (even movies based on books!). Each link party will be open for a month. You can find that link up for this month here.
Each week, I host the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot with some great hosts. It goes live Thursday night, but you can share any kind of blog posts (family-friendly) there until Tuesday of each week. You can check my recent posts on the sidebar to the right for the most recent link party.
Now It’s Your Turn
What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to, or writing?
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