A Callie Parish Mystery series

A Callie Parrish Mystery series
by Fran Rizer

1. A Tisket, A Tasket, A Fancy Stolen Casket
2. Hey Diddle Diddle, the Corpse and the Fiddle
3. Casket Case

Phryne Fisher's a winner

The things Phryne does to catch Detective Inspector Jack Robinson's attention ;-P

Have just finished having a Miss Fisher marathon.  I love this TV series.  Phryne is a modern woman investigating murder and mayhem in 1920's Melbourne.  Ahead of her time, Phryne bulldozers her way through long standing social barriers and cultural divides with style.  Always at the ready with a flirty smile and a helping hand.  This show has a little bit of everything - minus the gratuitous sex, language and violence - and the costumes are divine!  One of my favourite episodes is 2x01 "Murder Most Scandalous".  This is the fan dance episode where Phryne goes undercover at a gentleman's club.  As you can see from the pics, the costume is just so beautiful.... {please excuse the poorer quality - I took these photos straight from the TV!}

My favourite shot.  The embellishment on the shoulder-spine jewellry is beautiful.

So far there has been no word about Season 3.  Aparently the ABC is procrastinating because it is so popular, but it doesn't appeal to the demographic range they're trying to get.  A poor excuse, but I'm hoping that public support will win through and we'll get a new season in 2015.  If you haven't seen the Miss Fisher Murder Mystery series, and you love Miss Marple and Poirot, then try Phryne.  It's truly divine ;-D

Cat's meow

Trying to take a photo of a cat that can't seem to stay still is a pain in the butt!  However, I did manage to snap this one a little while ago.  This is the first time I've seen it since I took it, and I just had to share it as I may never get her to sit still again ;-D

Review: Dead of the Day

Dead of the Day
An Annie Seymour Mystery, Book 3
Karen E. Olson

Published: 06 November, 2007

Signet, mass market paperback, 309p.
ISBN: 9780451222473

April has hit New Haven, Connecticut, bringing with it something less fragrant than May flowers; an unidentified body in the harbor.  The strange fact that there were bee stings on the floater gives New Haven Herald police reporter Annie Seymour an intriguing excuse to put her profile of the new police chief on hold – although the piece does become a lot more interesting when the subject is gunned down.

And this is only the beginning of a killer expose.  As she connects the dots between the John Doe, the police chief, and the city’s struggling immigrant population, Annie draws a line between herself and someone who doesn’t want her to learn the truth. . .or live to report it.

Annie Seymour is a 30 something workaholic journalist who is trying to get on with her journalism while trying to figure out the men in her life.  After trying to make things work with sometime squeeze Vinny DeLucia, Annie now finds herself up to her bangs in trouble as she tries to cope with both Vinny’s apparent desertion and the seedy world of crooked cops and by-line stealing co-workers. Unlike other tough-talking modern women, Annie seems to go from being a hardnosed journalist to behind the eight ball lover with amusing regularity.   In this third instalment, Annie is trying to get the scoop on the new police chief – until his sudden death.  It’s fun to watch Annie deal with Dicky, the journalist that seems to be always trying to one-up her.  Dicky seems to have eyes and ears in places Annie can’t access, and it just chaps her butt that he keeps getting the juicy details.

Fabulous find @ library sale

Found 3 books in a series I've had for years at my local library.  They have books for sale there all the time - unwanted donations or weeded out stock - and for a gold coin donation they can be yours.  During my last Book Club meeting, I was poking around the tables while I was waiting and came across said books (#2 - #4) in the Spellcrackers.com series by Suzanne McLeod.  They were in excellent condition, and although they aren't the same print as my book, I wasn't going to let them go home with anybody else!

It's been about 3 years since I've read the first book so I'm going to have to go back and read it again to familiarize myself with that world.  Not a chore really, but it will have to wait until I've motored through the last of the Chronicles of Elantra {2 books left and counting!}.  However, I can't wait to dive in as I have such high expectations from what I remember of this series.  The last book (?), The Hidden Rune of Iron, is due for release in December this year so it looks like I've found the others at a good time.

Happy reading, my lovelies!

New Mugs

Again, this is another great find that has taken me so long to post.  I found this set of mugs in my local ALDI store about 6 weeks ago and couldn't resist them.  They are great for when visitors come -  I had to keep a close eye on them when my mum was here as she loved them.  Perhaps I should search the internet to see if you can d.i.y. this project.  Would make a great handmade birthday gift ;-D

Couldn't resist it.

An unexpected visitor

I was cleaning up some of my photo files and came across this picture I took while visiting my family in early March this year.  Can't believe I forgot to show you some more of the wildlife around here ;-D

This huge snake skin was left on the ornamental Fountain Grass on the front porch.  Mum's neighbour, Mrs L, was not happy with our unexpected visitor (totally terrified actually), but I'm just sorry we missed seeing the large Carpet Snake in his shiney new skin.

Oh, and the skin was about 6ft when we stretched it out on the lawn ;-D

Sewing complete... well, almost

I finally finished sewing together all the rows for the jelly roll quilt top.  Actually I finished on Thursday, but a visit from family yesterday meant that I haven't been able to tell you until now ;-D  I was really surprised at the way the colours fell using this Jelly Roll Race method.  I don't think it would matter what you used, the end result would always look charming.

Back to the sewing machine

I finally found a jelly roll that I didn't have either a matching charm pack, or material off the bolt, from the same line.  So yesterday I unrolled my 'Wren & Friends' by Gina Martin for Moda.  All these beautiful fabrics that I then proceeded to wrinkle and knot by sewing them end on end on end on end.... you get the drift.  I spent nearly 3 hours at the sewing machine - and ironing board - yesterday, trying to get some semblance of order into this chaotic tangle of fabric that seemed to be multiplying every time I turned my back!

Chapters 1 & 2 have been posted!

 

  

Yeah!  Just  headed over to Michelle Sagara's blog and found that Chapters 1 & 2 of Cast in Flame have been posted!

Review: Top Secret Twenty-One

Top Secret Twenty-One
Stephanie Plum, Bk 21
Janet Evanovich

Published: 17 June, 2014

Headline Review, Trade, 352p.
ISBN: 9781472201614

Catch a professional assassin: top priority. Find a failure-to-appear and collect big bucks: top score. How she’ll pull it all off: top secret.

Top Secret Twenty-OneTrenton, New Jersey’s favorite used-car dealer, Jimmy Poletti, was caught selling a lot more than used cars out of his dealerships. Now he’s out on bail and has missed his date in court, and bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is looking to bring him in. Leads are quickly turning into dead ends, and all too frequently into dead bodies. Even Joe Morelli, the city’s hottest cop, is struggling to find a clue to the suspected killer’s whereabouts. These are desperate times, and they call for desperate measures. So Stephanie is going to have to do something she really doesn’t want to do: protect former hospital security guard and general pain in her behind Randy Briggs. Briggs was picking up quick cash as Poletti’s bookkeeper and knows all his boss’s dirty secrets. Now Briggs is next on Poletti’s list of people to put six feet under.

To top things off, Ranger—resident security expert and Stephanie’s greatest temptation—has been the target of an assassination plot. He’s dodged the bullet this time, but if Ranger wants to survive the next attempt on his life, he’ll have to enlist Stephanie’s help and reveal a bit more of his mysterious past.

Death threats, highly trained assassins, highly untrained assassins, and Stark Street being overrun by a pack of feral Chihuahuas are all in a day’s work for Stephanie Plum. The real challenge is dealing with her Grandma Mazur’s wild bucket list. A boob job and getting revenge on Joe Morelli’s Grandma Bella can barely hold a candle to what’s number one on the list—but that’s top secret.

As I mentioned in yesterday's quick post - I loved it!  We're back to a real topsy-turvey hide and seek style chase for Ranger and Stephanie.  It doesn't seem like I've been reading these books for more than 10 years (they've been going for nearly 20!) and I still enjoy following Stephanie on her wild and crazy captures. 

Top Secret 21

Picked up a copy of Top Secret Twenty-One this morning - noticed, and appreciated, the improved cover art - and as soon as I got home I settled down to find out what Stephanie Plum was up to.  After being slightly disappointed and let down by some books over the last few years, it was treat to get back into a real Plum mystery (one of Grandma Mazur's bucket list items is truly list worthy!)

Will review asap.  Can't wait for #22 ;-D

Update: Just finished reorganising this post as I originally sent it from my phone.  I really shouldn't as the app just posts a messy entry - and I hate not being able to decide where to put the images!  

Blogger should really look into making the app very user friendly!

On the mend - but freezing!

I'm finally getting over my headcold, but today I wish I'd stayed in bed.  It is so very cold here.  I'm so cold that I had to go and get my little peguin gloves {aren't they so cute!}, make a hot cup of tea and get a hot water bottle!  Just so I could poddle around online and update my blog.  I wish we had central heating in unit complexes in Australia.  It would make life so much more comfortable in winter.

I'm feeling blue

I was going to post a review of Fright Court by Mindy Klasky, but a massive head cold has changed my plans.  Even updating my blog is a struggle {sniffle, sniffle} and I've got tissue boxes spread strategically throughout the place for those unexpected sneezes.  So today, since it's cold and overcast - and I'm feeling under the weather - I think I'm going to curl up on the couch and have a DVD marathon.  Should I watch all 6 seasons of The Big Bang Theory?  No, well perhaps a Haven 1-3 fest? mmmm, still not tickling my fancy...  I know! I'll watch both seasons of Miss Fisher's Murder Mystery.  Yeah!  I have a plan.

BSOD freak out

Not a capture of my BSOD {Google Images}, but this is the exact message I got - well, the codes may be different

Had a really bad start to the morning.  I crawled out of bed {have sore throat and possibly the beginnings of a head cold} and thought I'd go online and check things out, do a bit of recreational Photoshop-ping for some Kate/Curran wallpapers I've been doodling, and what do I get - the dreaded Blue Screen of Death (BSOD)!  Talk about freaking out.  I've never been so panicked about any of my other computer crashes in the 14 years I've owned a PC/laptop.  All I could think of was "OMG... did it wipe out the external drive?!!?"

After trying to restart in Safe Mode 3 times I thought my laptop had gone to silicone heaven.  I jumped on my smart phone and did a quick search and after reading a few good guides I decided to try again - after pulling out the battery (giving it a quick wipe down just in case) and putting it back in again.  This seems to have done the trick and I could now get through the start up screens and onto the desktop.   So while my diagnosis program runs in the background I thought I'd post this just in case.  Not the best way to start a Sunday morning.

Oh, and the external drive was a-ok ;-D