Snobbery with Violence, Marion Chesney (M.C. Beaton)

Still in search of that holy grail, the perfect blend of Downton Abbey meets Agatha Christie (or better, Dorothy Sayers).

I'd have to go with "brain candy" as the best description of this Edwardian period mystery. Chesney (Beaton) is a highly prolific mystery writer whose other series include Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth. The scenes are short, with a dashed-off-in-5-minutes quality to the writing; the plot starts with a series of small detective-in-action mini-mysteries, which I liked, but then devolves into the standard Clue "Manor House" mystery.

There is an odd mash up of period detail (step-by-step instructions for washing colored stockings) with characters so uninhibited they feel like banana trees in an apple orchard. Mostly, I think Chesney doesn't land on tone: whimsical, comedic piles of coincides weave throughout talk of veneral disease and brains leaking out on the rug. A fast read, and some reviewers on Good Reads do like her, but just too empty for my taste.

Downton Abbey

Binge watching "Downton Abbey." Like a lab rat hooked on crack cocaine that forgoes sleep and food. If anyone's looking for me, I'll be in the early 1900s.

A Quiet Life in the Country, T.E. Kinsey

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The first book in Kinsey's Edwardian-era mystery series featuring spunky Lady Hardcastle and her equally spunky lady's maid Flo. This is definitely a cozy, and my taste runs to thrillers, but as a cozy it hits all the right marks. Lady Hardcastle and Flo are both likeable, clever characters with interesting backstories. Kinsey, I think, is at his strongest in the dialogue, which is peppered with period phrases, and he captures class distinctions in speech.

Eleven Days, Donald Harstad

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Police procedural based on true events that took place in Iowa. Harstad is a retired cop, and the book definitely has a "day in the life" feel, so much so that it often reads more like a fictionalized memoir than a thriller: there is a surreal disconnect from the horror of the events and the banality of everyday life, which reminded me, oddly, of reading former Treasury Secretary Henry (Hank) Paulson's On the Brink blow-by-blow account of his and his teams response to the 2008 financial crisis.

The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde

I just finished reading "The Eyre Affair," the first book in Jasper Fforde's series about a "literary detective" named Thursday Next.

Thursday inhabits a wacky alternate reality 1985 Great Britain with her time traveling father, pet Dodo named Pickwick, her aunt Polly and eccentric inventor uncle Mycroft. Things get serious when arch-villain Acheron Hades murders a minor character out of the pages of Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit and then sets his sights on Jane Eyre.

I thought the concept was insane and fabulous. I was hoping something with more heart than dazzle, but it doesn't matter: I have to recommend it based on the sheer madcap creativity.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Alan Bradley

Book #1 of Bradley's 1950's England Flavia de Luce mystery series. The magic of Bradley's style is that his writing is full of perverse and delightful twists. 11-year-old Flavia is wise beyond her years and yet innocent in her thorough-going delight in the gruesome. The mystery was layered and enjoyable, but it is really Flavia who makes the whole book come alive through her personality. I am excited to read more by this author!

To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee

 I'm not sure how I missed reading this in school, but I did. I even missed the movie version or even the cliff notes, but there are only so many times as a writer you can read references to Atticus Finch and not get curious. 

I LOVED this book, and it was a complete, total, and utter joy to me that I didn't know anything about it before I read it, so I won't spoil it for anyone in that enviable position, but it was brilliant - one of those books that remind you why classics are classics, because they're so darn good! It was like Huck Finn and everything I've ever enjoyed about a John Grisham, rolled up into one great page-turning story. I stayed up late several nights because I couldn't put it down!