I was the one who fought for relationships over the years and one by one, as I realized I was the one calling or texting first, and stopped, they disappeared.
I have one close friend (who is online and lives several states away) and one friend who occasionally reaches out (maybe twice a year).
The rest have not spoken to me or asked how I was in close to a decade yet I held out hope for years they still cared about me. Oh man. Reading that makes me feel truly pathetic.
This week I let hope go and accepted they are people I used to know but never will again.
It hurt.
These were people I’d known since kindergarten in some cases. I didn’t release the hope I’d been holding on to that they’d realize all the hurt they caused me easily.
It was painful.
I cried a lot and when I thought I was done my stomach clenched and I cried again.
Sometimes my parents mention one or two of these people like they want me to be updated on them but I don’t know how to tell my parents in a nice way that I don’t care about these people anymore and haven’t for years.
They haven’t been part of my life and haven’t wanted to be so why do I care what is going on with them? I truly don’t.
It took me a long time to get to this point, which is so sad.
Most people would have been done after a year of ignored message or no contact but it took me almost five – five long years of crying and asking why and wondering why other friends got passes for not being perfect but I didn’t.
It even lingered for another four years. Still imagining that one day they’d reach out and say they were sorry it had been so long and how was I
I’m so naive and childish.
A few weeks ago, I finally started counting the years since they’d last spoke to me and it broke me.
Ten years in some cases. Eight in others.
All the same and to me for the same reasons.
I was too much.
I was too high maitenance.
I wasn’t worth their time.
I wasn’t worth fighting for.
I was a failure as a friend even when I tried to be there and reached out and cared way more than they ever did.
I’m not sure what they expected of me, but whatever it was I never met those expectations and never will.
Usually, when I write these type of posts, I end it on an upbeat note, and ramble on about how God loves me even though I am essentially friendless but…. I don’t feel that way right now.
Maybe it makes me a bad Christian but I just don’t feel that way these days.
I feel lonely and alone…and like God pulled everyone from me and doesn’t care one bit that I spend most days watching movies and reading books by myself while never knowing what physical symptoms I have from day to day.
I don’t really have an upbeat feeling about any of this right now.
Coupled with realizing people I used to count as close friends stopped caring about what happens to me is realizing that even writing this post doesn’t matter.
They’ll never read it and even if they did, they wouldn’t care.
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.
Bear with me on my thoughts this week…read to the end before getting offended! *wink*
I was going to make a comment this week about how I think it’s absolutely crazy when a Booktuber (someone who talks about books on YouTube) or book blogger comes out and says that they read 14 books in one month.
Sometimes I think that’s ridiculous (unless you’re retired) because that’s four books a week and I just can’t imagine fitting in four books a week with the rest of life.
But then I had to remind myself that books are all different sizes and some take less time than others. Then I had a fairly depressing end of my week and realized that disassociating by reading a lot of books is actually not the worst thing in the world and it’s a lot healthier than going out and committing crimes or drinking a bottle of whiskey to get through the hard time (neither of which I did, by the way. I drank herbal tea, ate some chocolate, cried, and read a book).
So it was a bit of a reality check for me that when I wanted to “criticize” somebody for saying they read a lot of books, I really should be telling myself to read more and disconnect from life more. I wasn’t really criticizing but questioning…originally that is.
Luckily, most of those who I watch who talk about how many books they read are not bragging or saying people have to read that many books. They’re simply sharing what they read and many times I like what they’ve read so I had them to my list of “need to read” books.
What I/We’ve Been Reading
Recently Finished
Murder, She Wrote: A Slaying in Savannah by Donald Bain and “Jessica B. Fletcher”. I wasn’t sure I was going to like this one when I started it but I ended up liking it quite a bit.
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 am also reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, and The Pink Motel by Carol Ryrie Brink, The Crime at Black Dudley by Margery Allingham. I’m reading whichever one I am in the mood for that day or night.
Up Soon
I will be starting Endless Night by Agatha Christie, The Two Mrs. Abbott’s by D.E. Stevenson, and Nancy Drew: The Mystery of the Moss Covered Mansion.
What The Family is Reading
Little Miss and I are reading Rascal by Sterling North and started The Pink Motel by Carol Ryrie Brink together.
New arrivals to my bookshelf
I added three more Tommy and Tuppence books to my shelves last week: Partners in Crime, N or M?, and the first book in their series, The Secret Adversary.
My husband also picked me up two newer Nancy Drew books at a local fair.
What I/We’ve Been Watching
This past week I watched a couple episodes of The Hardy Boys from the 1970s. This was after they dropped Nancy Drew from the show.
I also watched Son of Fury with George Sanders and Tyrone Power and started Cactus Flower with Walter Matthau, Ingrid Bergman, and Goldie Hawn but didn’t finish it before it went off Amazon Prime and now I’m not really sure I want to pay to rent it. It wasn’t really something I was enjoying that much.
I also enjoyed this short video that featured an interview with Miss Read (real name Dora Saint):
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/
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.
It’s finally here! My favorite season! Autumn! I am going to miss the fun summer activities but not the heat and humidity, which we had a lot of this week.
I am looking forward to cool Autumn days where I can huddle under a blanket and sip some hot cocoa or tea while reading a book.
And then there will be winter when I can decline to do anything because it is just too cold and snowy out.
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!
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: Books With Nationalities In The Title (e.g. The French Lieutenant’s Woman, Mexican Gothic, An American Marriage, etc.) (submitted by Cathy @WhatCathyReadNext)
I will not lie — I had to search online for some of these because I couldn’t actually find any on my shelves and couldn’t remember any books I had read with nationalities. I may have just not looked very well.
What I decided to do is share those I have already read or want to read. If the title has “haven’t read yet” next to it, it means I want to read it.
The Maltese Falcon by Dashielle Hammett (haven’t yet read)
2. The Cretan Bull (The Labours of Hercules Vol. 2) by Agatha Christie (haven’t read yet)
3. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West by Dee Brown (haven’t read yet but started it,)
4. The Egypt Game (1967) Zilpha Keatley Snyder (haven’t read it yet, but plan to read it with my daughter for school this year)
5. The Corsican Brothers by Alexandre Dumas (haven’t read yet)
6. The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern by Lilian Jackson Braun (read)
7. Murder in an Irish Village by Carlene O’Connor (read)
8. Vienna Prelude by Bodie Thoene (read a loong time ago)
9. The English Air by D.E. Stevenson (haven’t read yet)
10. Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie
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.
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 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!).
You can link up with any of us!
Some guidelines.
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).
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’m not someone who follows a ton of celebrities closely but this week was quite a week for deaths so it was hard not to pay attention.
Dolly Parton, Tim Curry, and Peter Cullen are the three deaths I am referring to.
I’m sure almost all of you knew who Dolly Parton was and even Tim Curry (you might not have realized you knew Tim until you saw a list of the various movies he was in and roles he played), but you may be asking yourself … who was Peter Cullen?
You may not think you know who he is, but I bet you have heard his voice. He was the voice of Optimus Prime from the animated Transformer series for 40 years as well as the voice of Eeyore on The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and many other animated or robot characters.
He was the voice of Kit, the car on Knight Rider, and Predator, the Red Skull…the list goes on.
So when it came to which death hit this family harder this week, it was probably Peter Cullen, even though we were also fans of Tim Curry and somewhat of Dolly. No shade on Dolly because — wow — she was an amazing person who never slowed down, but Peter was tied tightly to my and my husband’s childhood and our son’s.
I cried over Dolly videos all week (her nephew’s announcement .. ooof… so classy and respectful and heartbreaking), but I didn’t have as much time to process Peter’s death because I was a little busy the second half of the week. Friday night, though, I watched a video that used his voice talking about how his brother who was a Marine in Vietnam, inspired the voice of Optimus Prime, and then I was a bawling mess again.
I watched Transformers with some friends when we were kids back in the 1980s and then again with my son when he was a kid. Friday night we sat and watched a few old Transformer episodes in his honor. During them my son did have to point out how a new character was introduced every episode just so the toy company could release a new toy, but I put that out of my mind and focused on my and his childhood memories instead.
All of these celebrity deaths coupled with the death of my cat a couple of weeks ago and a friend cleaning out her mom’s apartment after her mom’s passing had me crying a lot BUT some of it felt good and necessary under the circumstances.
Please keep praying for my friend. If you are a regular on this blog I am sure you know who I am talking about. The grief doesn’t ever really go away and I pray for comfort for her in the days ahead.
What I/We’ve Been Reading
Recently Finished
I finished my Nancy Drew book last week and, well, it was not my favorite. I know they are kids books but The Mystery of The Brass Bound Trunk just was not very good.
It had so many plot holes and craziness in it. I wonder if the original (since this was a revised version) was better. I will have to look for it for my Nancy Drew November.
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 slow reading Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.
I jumped into a Murder, She Wrote book — A Slaying in Savannah — by Donald Bain even before I finished the Nancy Drew book and it’s okay but a little slow. The Murder, She Wrote books are usually a bit slow but this one seems even more drawn out, maybe because it is taking place in the south? I have no idea. It’s not bad, though, and I do like books that take a leisurely stroll at times so I would still recommend it.
I’m also reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, which is a lot of fun. I haven’t read it since I was about 12.
I started The Crime at Black Dudley by Margery Allingham as well, to see how I liked it, and I think it will be interesting. It’s the first book in the Albert Campion series.
Up Soon
I’ve already made my list of hopefuls for Autumn 2026 and after these books I think I will start with The Pink Motel by Carol Ryrie Brink for September. It is a children’s mystery book and I will probably read it with Little Miss.
I also hope to read The Two Mrs. Abbotts by D.E. Stevenson in September and I will be reading three Agatha Christie books for the Christie reading challenge — Endless Night, Sleeping Murder, and The Secret Adversary.
What The Family is Reading
Little Miss and I finally finished Heidi and are starting Rascal by Sterling North this week.
The boy is listening to a Warhammer book.
The Husband is reading The Bridges of Toko-Ri by James Michener.
What I/We’ve Been Watching
This past week we watched some Transformers episodes in honor of Peter Cullen.
I also watched The Maltese Falcon and I must have watched something else but I can’t remember right now! Ha! Gott a love thyroid brain fog.
I am listening to The Maine Mutiny (A Murder, She Wrote book) by Donald Baine.
My son came home with a record of Englebert Humperdink from the local thrift store and, for some reason, was very excited about it, so we listened to one of his songs and then I made my son listen to Tom Jones. We watched Tom performing “It’s Not Unsual” on Ed Sullivan too and I still wonder why they let that man have a seizure on live TV and didn’t help him.
But luckily he survived it because have you seen this man sing lately? He’s a judge on The Voice UK and even at 85, he’s still got it. This aired this week but is probably from a few months ago.
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/
Without Love (1945) was a fun, quirky movie starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, which I stumbled on to it a few weeks ago. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I enjoyed the witty and crisp dialogue.
This was one of 9 films made by the pair between 1942 and 1967.
Most of their movies were romantic comedies like this one.
Spencer plays a scientist named Patrick Jamison who is down on his luck and looking for a place to stay.
Katharine is a widow named Jamie who has a house she needs a caretaker for and hires Patrick to fill the position. They both learn they have a love for science and agree to marry to meet their “patriotic duty.” Both have been hurt in the past, though, and decide to keep the relationship platonic.
Lucille Ball plays Katharine’s friend, Kitty Tremble.
Jamie and Patrick are both very scientific, logical, and serious people who can’t let love get in the way. So, instead, they focus on working on experiments, including one involving velocity.
Parallel to their lack of romance is Lucille’s relationship with Keenan Wynn, where love is blooming even though Kitty isn’t sure she wants it to.
I will say the movie is a little awkward to watch if you read about Spencer and Katharine’s real life romance, which was a 27-year affair because Spencer was Catholic and wouldn’t divorce his wife. He and his wife lived separately for years but Katharine was apparently a frequent guest in his hotel bungalow or apartment. Their affair was an open secret that Kathrine spoke about after he and his wife were both dead.
So in this movie Katharine’s character asks Spencer’s character to marry him and I wonder if she did that in real life too. She seemed hopelessly devoted to a man who couldn’t commit to her and continued to break his wedding vows while saying he felt guilty but never stopping it. That’s pathetic of him to me.
Katharine and Spencer’s first movie together was Woman of the Year in 1942. The public loved it and another movie with them, Keeper of the Flame, was released the same year but flopped.
Philip Barry wrote the play version of The Philadelphia Story in 1939 and the movie was made with Katharine, Cary Grant, and Jimmy Stewart in 1940.
Barry wrote a play version of Without Love with Katharine in mind and she agreed to do the play in 1942. She wanted Spencer to do the play with her but even then his drinking was an issue and the producers cast Elliott Nugett.
Later, when MGM wanted one more try at a movie with them together, Katharine suggested a movie version of Without You.
The movie was directed by Harold S. Bucquet.
Donald Ogden Stewart wrote the screenplay from Barry’s play.
Critics liked the movie but some said Keenan and Lucille stole the show.
“It is good to see Lucille Ball doing so well with a kind of role new to her,” wrote James Agee in The Nation.
Lucille had moved to MGM from RKO and hadn’t had a lot to do since being in Stage Door with Katharine in 1937.
I was surprised to read on TCM.com that Lucy was married to Desi Arnaz at the time and suing him for divorce for infidelity. They reconciled and would, of course, go on to make the I Love Lucy Show that skyrocketed Lucy into stardom and made them both a household name.
They divorced for real in 1960 for the same reasons Lucy almost divorced him for in 1945.
I found this one on Amazon but you can also watch it for free on Tubi.
If you are interested in more reviews or blog posts about old movies, you can find a link to my past reviews at the top of the page and you can also visit The Classic Movie Blog Association.
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.
Oh my word….I totally forgot it was Thursday so this is going up late. I won’t have any highlights this week but I will catch you next week!
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!
I’m Suzy Turner—a British author, YouTuber and creative soul living in Portugal. Here you’ll find personal style, everyday magic, creativity, books, and the occasional brush with the supernatural.
After many years writing fiction, I recently published my first non-fiction book, The Enchanted Midlife, exploring how to embrace midlife with curiosity, creativity and a little everyday magic
Thank you so much for joining us for our link-up!
Important things to know about the link-up:
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!
By The Pricking of My Thumbs by Agatha Christie was a nail-biter with some fun humor and banter mixed in between a husband and wife sleuthing team.
This was my first time reading a Tommy and Tuppence book by Christie and wow, what an introduction. I am glad I started with this one, even though the husband and wife team are now older than they were in the first books.
There are five books in the series: The Secret Adversary (1922), Partners in Crime (1929), N or M? (1941), By The Pricking of My Thumbs (1968), and a collection of short stories Postern of Fate (1978).
Before I start talking about the book, I will share a description from the official Agatha Christie site.
Although now considered ‘old’ by fellow society, this novel opens with the couple considering the sad fate of Tommy’s elderly Aunt Ada… now residing in an equipped facility named Sunny Ridge. Neither Beresford is particularly looking forward to the trip, but duty bound, they arrive to find Ada in a disagreeable mood. Banished to the communal lounge, Tuppence meets a troubled Mrs Lancaster with a secret to tell. Just weeks later, Tommy’s aunt has died, and a mysterious pronouncement is still troubling Tuppence…
I truly loved both Tuppence and Tommy and their hilarious butler Arthur. They are such fun characters. I just had to laugh at times because after all their years of espionage, both Tommy and Tuppence seemed very laid back about situations that were clearly going to become dangerous.
Maybe it is because they are upper-class British or just British in genera. I’m kidding, of course. It’s just how their characters are written and I love it.
It’s very clear that Tuppence and Tommy love each other and since I didn’t look up this book before I read it or know the history of the series, I wasn’t really sure what was going to happen to Tuppence at one point.
What I really liked about this book was how we were taken on a journey with just Tuppence for most of the book while she tried to get to the bottom of whether or not any crime had really taken place.
I enjoyed learning about Tuppence and her tenacity because if I had been her, I would have stopped searching for answers long before she did.
I’ve read some reviews that this book was slow or had too many “boring and mundane” conversations, and while I can see that in some places, I also thought it added some charm to the book to have some everyday conversations.
When I read reviews that the plot was complicated I think….well, yeah, it’s a mystery and a Christie so it will be but I can also understand the complaint some. Complication and even some plot holes can be normal in her books, but, to me, the storytelling overall is still brilliant.
Personally, I enjoyed this book, even the parts that were more easy going or dragged just a bit. It was all worth it to read one of the creepier endings I have read in a Christie book.
If I was going to have one criticism, though, it would be the weird thing Agatha did through part of the book when she kept switching between the titles Mrs. Beresford and Tuppence or Mr. Beresford and Tommy. I needed her to pick one title for her main characters and then leave it.
The humor was well placed in this book. When Tommy and Tuppence go to visit Tommy’s aunt, that aunt decides she doesn’t like Tuppence.
“I seem to have a bad effect on her, don’t I?” said Tuppence. “Rather cheering in a way.”
“Why cheering?”
“Well, at my age,” said Tuppence. “and what with my neat and respectable and slightly boring appearance, it’s nice to think that you might be taken for a depraved woman of fatal sexual charm.”
“Idiot,” said Tommy, pinching her arm affectionately. “Who were you hobnobbing with? She looked a very nice fluffy old lady.”
“She was very nice,” said Tuppence. “A dear old think, I think. But unfortunately bats.”
The nursing home staff apologizes to Tuppence for the aunt’s rudeness.
“Well, it’s been very kind of you to come, I’m sure,” said Miss Packard. Turning to Tommy, she said, “And I know Miss Fanshawe has enjoyed your visit very much. I’m sorry she was rude to your wife.”
“I think that gave her a lot of pleasure too,” said Tuppence.
“Yes, you’re quite right. She does like being rude to people. She’s unfortunately rather good at it.”
A couple of other quotes I enjoyed:
“I hate mourning,” she said. “It always smells of moth balls because it’s been laid up somewhere.”
“You don’t need to go on wearing mourning. It’s only to go to the funeral in,” said Tommy.
“Oh no, I know that. In a minute or two I’m going to go up and put on a scarlet jersey just to cheer things up. You can make me another White Lady.”
“Really, Tuppence, I had no idea that funerals would bring out this party feeling.
***
“You don’t stop being in love with anyone because you get old. People like Derek and Deborah think you do. They can’t imagine anyone who isn’t young being in love.”
***
“They were in the time of life when they thought of themselves as old. And they had no idea that they and many others were automatically pronounced deadly dull solely on that account. Only by the young of course, but then, they would have thought indulgently, young people knew nothing about life. Poor dears, they were always worrying about examinations, or their sex life, or buying some extraordinary clothes, or doing extraordinary things to their hair to make them more noticeable. Mr. and Mrs. Beresford from their own point of view were just past the prime of life. They liked themselves and liked each other and day succeeded day in a quiet but enjoyable fashion.”
Have you read this one? What did you think of it?
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You can find my book reviews, movie reviews, and ramblings about the books I write on Instagram.
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.
