Reading, Writing & Pondering

  Do you enjoy a good mystery? The Burning of Rosemont Abbey by Naomi Stephens is a British mystery. The Burning of Rosemont Abbey is set in England in the mid 1950s. As the book begins, Paul Everly is accused of burning down Rosemont Abbey. Paul's sister, Louisa, is certain he is innocent. However, she is equally certain that her twin brother has passed away. What happened to Paul? Who burned the Abbey? Louisa, and Paul's friend Malcolm Sinclair aim to figure it out. The Burning of Rosemont Abbey is my first book by this author. I did enjoy the mystery aspect of the book as I didn't figure it out for a long time. At the same time, I struggled to really like the characters. I didn't care for the way Malcolm treated Louisa at the start of the book. He wasn't very kind to her and treated her like she was just a dumb woman in his way, honestly. That got better as the book went along, but it still bothered me from the beginning. The Aunt is kind but the Uncle is not ...

If you like British mysteries on PBS like Father Brown or reading mysteries by Agathie Christie or Dorothy Sayers, I imagine you will like the Drew Fathering series by Julianna Deering. Death At Thorburn Hall is the sixth book in the series. In Death at Thorburn Hall, Drew Fathering is in Scotland for the 1935 British Open at Muirfield. He is looking for rest and holiday with his wife, but instead finds himself caught up in a mystery. When their host, Lord Rainsby, is killed in a suspicious riding accident, Drew digs to find out who had motives to kill Lord Rainsby. As with many mysteries, there were several guests with motives for killing him. Drew must sort through them all to figure out "whodunit." Of course, the killer, keeps one step ahead throughout much of the book to keep the reader guessing. I grew up reading Nancy Drew mysteries and enjoyed reading various other mysteries. I also grew up in a golfing family so with this book set at the British Open, I tho...