Books Completed in October 2025

 In These Hallowed Halls, edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane
A dozen stories of dark academia, from the thievery of research papers and the seduction of graduate students, to the one really chilling, uncomfortable-ending tale called "The Department of Ontography," in which a student's curiosity about the mysterious department leads to a horrifying future. (The story of the new teacher at the isolated girls' school was pretty creepy, too!) This was a perfect book to read before Hallowe'en!

  Written in Bone, Sue Black
Who knew a book about the human skeletal system could be so absorbing?

Black, a forensic anthropologist, has another hit after All That Remains, in which she surveys the human skeleton top to bottom, and how evidence from each of the parts of the skeleton has solved crimes ranging from the heartbreaking death of an abused pre-schooler to the murders of adults. Along the way, you learn fascinating facts about our bones and skeletal structure, all told in Black's lively narrative style. Great for crime buffs and science nerds.

  Spells, Strings, and Forgotten Things, Breanne Randall
Thalia, Eurydice, and Calliope Petridi are three sisters, all witches, who live in the charming town of Gold Springs, California. They own a combination bookstore/bakeshop (this sounds familiar...), but are struggling emotionally since their mother disappeared, leaving them in charge of the Dark Oak, a tree in which evil magic has been trapped. The Petridis are members of a group of magic users called Lightcrafters, who use the loss of happy memories to fuel their power; their rivals are the Shadowcrafters, who draw their power from the earth. And the latter—especially their leader Lucien Deniz--wish to draw power from the Dark Oak.

Then Calliope realizes, from a grimoire which communicates with her, that she must release the power from the Dark Oak to keep disaster from happening. Her ally? Deniz, who is abruptly and inexplicably emotionally tied to her.

This has a lot of positives to it, especially the sisters' support of each other, but the plot about the hidden secret of the Dark Oak and the feud between the Lightcrafters and Shadowcrafters seems drawn out. The text has some beautiful imagery, and Calliope's solution at the end is heartbreaking, yet optimistic.

  The Life and Crimes of Agatha Christie: A Biographical Companion of the Works of Agatha Christie, Charles Osborne
A history of Agatha Christie's works (not just her mysteries, but her Mary Westmacott books and other writings) against the story of her life, a combined biography and detailed bibliography (down to how many times she reused plot points in different stories!). Presents a nice overview of her life and work.

  If I Stopped Haunting You, Colby Wilkens
This book sounded so promising. Two young writers, Penelope Skinner and Neil Storm, accompany two other writer friends to a haunted Scottish castle. There, they encounter what they believe is an actual ghost. It was billed as a romance/haunted house mystery. I was additionally charmed when I discovered the two protagonists were Native American.

Alas, the execution was...disappointing. Turns out Penelope and Neil are feuding because Penelope wrote an honest book about Native people that no one bought, and Neil sold out his Native lead to his publisher's suggestions, but the book has made him a sensation. After an angry encounter with Neil at a conference, Penelope imagines herself persona non grata in the publishing field. Naturally, once they're together at the haunted castle, they start being attracted to each other—pages and pages of sexual yearning. And that's the way the book goes, Neil and Penelope resisting attraction while investigating the ghostly happenings, with their two friends being continually annoying.

And the kicker at the end is that the ghost story turns out to be a totally ho-hum historical romance cliché. This one goes into the trade-in bin.

  Built on Chocolate: The Story of the Hershey Chocolate Company, James D. McMahon Jr.
Oversize hardback full of color historical photographs chronicling the history of Milton Hershey and the chocolate empire he founded. Hershey was a fascinating man who emulated Cadbury and Rowntree, the two British chocolate magnates, in building affordable, clean housing for his workers, and trying different types of products over the history of the company.

I remember taking the trolley tour of Hershey back in 2009. This book covers all the territory of the tour—and more.

  Mate, Ali Hazelwood
The sequel and companion book to Hazelwood's fantasy romance Bride, about the future of Misery Lark Moreland's childhood companion, Serena Paris, who, the world has learned, is a werewolf/human hybrid. Unfortunately, this means the humans want to exploit her, and the werewolves want to destroy her. Luckily, she's under the protection of Misery's mate/husband's brother Koen—unfortunately, he seems to hate her guts, even though, to protect her, he's claimed her as his mate, which means whoever threatens her risks the wrath of the werewolves.

There are many more twists to the story, including a cult and a promise to the pack. If you're in the mood for a suspenseful romantasy, this will fill the bill.

  Jolene, Mercedes Lackey
Anna May Jones, growing up in a smoky mining town, has always been sickly. Her parents, coal miner Lew Jones and his wife, abruptly send Anna May to live with her mother's sister, a "witchy woman" in a secluded area two-days wagon journey from her home. Her health immediately improves, because Anna May is an Earth Master and the pollution of her hometown made her ill. Anna May spends a happy summer learning to make herbal concoctions, and becoming attracted to a talented young stonecutter, Josh. She also discovers that she, like Aunt Jinny, can see and maneuver "the Glory," elemental Earth power.

This is mostly the story of Anna May's emergence as an elemental Magician and her slow control of "the Glory," her growing attraction to Josh, the discovery of a hidden Cherokee settlement, and the appearance of another "witchy woman," the beautiful—and super-powerful—Jolene. Very late, the book introduces a villain who lusts after Anna May's power, and the climax finds Anna May confronting Jolene for the soul of Josh. Kept my attention, but like the Annie Oakley book, much is world-building before the quick climax.

  What the Owl Knows, Jennifer Ackerman
Another brilliant book about birds from Ackerman. She writes in an engaging style about how humans view owls, and about the owl lifestyle itself, from courtship and parenthood to migration (yes, owls do migrate!). They are fascinating birds, not as "stupid" as has been indicated in many avian texts, yet not as "magical" as the Harry Potter books have made them out to be. The chapters about owls' extraordinary hearing are fascinating: how they can pinpoint prey from the tiniest move of a muscle of a small animal.

Books Completed in April 2025

  Re-read: The Call of the Wild, Jack London
I read this first as a Whitman classic, back at a single-digit age. It's not a children's book, but I loved it: it was about a dog, a dog who survives the worst humans and nature can throw at him, and emerges triumphant.

I hadn't read it in a while, but found a lovely, illustrated copy at Barnes & Noble the other day. It's terrible and savage, but beautiful and wonderful, and I had forgotten so many brilliant passages. The story of Buck is timeless.

 The Science of Sherlock Holmes, E.J. Wagner
Sherlock Holmes was one of the first popular detectives to use what we now know as forensics, the science behind the evidence in crimes, from the Great Detective's study of bruising on bodies to his knowledge of tobacco ash. This book discusses real-life Victorian crimes that parallel crimes in the Holmes canon, from poisons to blood evidence, disguises on both sides of the law (the Crippen case is featured, of course) and the examination of crime scenes, ballistics and footprints, and more. For fans of the canon or of the history of forensics.

  Re-read: The Rock That is Higher: Story as Truth, Madeleine L'Engle
This was my Good Friday reading for this year; I usually just read until three o'clock comes, but this year, with the loss of my husband, I had to finish. L'Engle has been my soul-ease in bad times for years.

  Damn Glad to Meet You, Tim Matheson
Matheson, who started his acting career under his real name, Tim Matthieson, is probably best known for being (1) the voice of Jonny Quest and (2) "Otter" in Animal House. This is a jaunty (but occasionally serious) recollection of his career, including his sojourn in the Marines while in the middle of finishing the film Yours, Mine, and Ours.

Matheson, a familiar television face from when he first appeared as one of Beaver's friends on Leave It to Beaver, gives us a bird's-eye-view of the television and movie industry, including behind-the-scenes peeks at how acting, directing, and producing works. It's a lively narrative with lots of name-dropping, and never a bore.

  Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus
I was waiting for this book to come out in paperback.

I needn't have wasted my money. Elizabeth Zott is a brilliant scientist, but it's the early 1950s, and the misogynist scientists at the institute where she works want her to go back to the kitchen, get married, and have babies. Luckily, there's one scientist who appreciates her mind, brilliant but absent-minded Calvin Evans. They begin living together without benefit of clergy and Elizabeth is pregnant. A co-worker steals her work plus she's an unwed mother, so for many years she and her child struggle. However, a later, chance encounter at her daughter's school leads a harassed television producer to create a local cooking show for her, Supper at Six, where she not only teaches cooking, but the science behind cooking (kind of a female Alton Brown in the 1960s). It becomes a hit.

So basically it's Elizabeth Zott against the patriarchy of the 1950s at its worst. The absurd plot includes a dog named Six-Thirty who thinks and comments on events in the story, like Cleo the basset hound in The People's Choice, an old 50s television series. This is supposed to be an indictment against the prejudice against women in the workplace in the 1950s. Instead, it's just silly. The only interesting part is about Calvin and his past.

  Last Chance Books, Kelsey Rodkey
I enjoyed this new adult romance about Madeline Moore, who's off to university in the fall, but who looks forward to coming home after her education to run the family bookstore, Books & Moore, owned by her aunt Astrid, who brought up both Maddy and her half-brother Benny. Throwing a wrench in her summer plans: her peripatetic mother, Dahlia, who never stays around very long, is planning to return to town.

And then Prologue, a chain bookstore owned by the Hamada family, opens across the street, and Jasper, the youngest son, starts trying to steal Books & Moore's business. Next thing you know, it's a spite war between Maddy and Jasper, while secretly the two are attracted to each other.

The story not only touches on the romantic rivalry, but touches on the more serious themes of how parental neglect affects children and unlikely expectations.