Book Recommendation: Murder Your Employer – Rupert Holmes

This was a book that kept popping up in my Goodreads feed as well as in blogs that I follow. Almost all of the reviews I read praised it for being clever, witty, a bit dark and creative. Now that I have finished it, I can say that those reviews were accurate.

I wasn’t sure what to make of it at first. Is it a murder mystery? Not really. It is far from a Whodunit, but it was very entertaining. The premise itself is unlike anything I’ve ever read. Here is the synopsis from Goodreads:

A devilish thriller with a killer concept: The McMasters Conservatory for the Applied Arts, a luxurious, clandestine college dedicated to the fine art of murder where earnest students study how best to “delete” their most deserving victim.

Who hasn’t wondered for a split second what the world would be like if a person who is the object of your affliction ceased to exist? But then you’ve probably never heard of The McMasters Conservatory, dedicated to the consummate execution of the homicidal arts. To gain admission, a student must have an ethical reason for erasing someone who deeply deserves a fate no worse (nor better) than death. The campus of this “Poison Ivy League” college—its location unknown to even those who study there—is where you might find yourself the practice target of a classmate…and where one’s mandatory graduation thesis is getting away with the perfect murder of someone whose death will make the world a much better place to live.

Prepare for an education you’ll never forget. A delightful mix of witty wordplay, breathtaking twists and genuine intrigue, Murder Your Employer will gain you admission into a wholly original world, cocooned within the most entertaining book about well-intentioned would-be murderers you’ll ever read.

I put the book on hold at my library and when I picked it up, I noticed the author’s name – Rupert Holmes. The only Rupert Holmes I knew was the guy who sang “Escape,” otherwise known as “The Pina Colada Song!” You know it, of course:

“If you like pina coladas and getting caught in the rain. If you’re not into yoga. If you have half a brain….”

My first thought was, “This cannot be the same guy!” Well, I was wrong. It is the same guy!

He is quite a successful author and has won two Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America. Who knew?

Overall, I really enjoyed the book and enjoyed the way it all came together at the end. Check it out and let me know what you think….

Book Recommendation: The Museum of Ordinary People

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book. I’m a mystery guy and this is not a mystery. It is a wonderful novel that I connected to on so many levels. Let me give you the Goodreads synopsis first and then I will explain.

From Goodreads

Still reeling from the sudden death of her mother, Jess is about to do the hardest thing she’s ever done: empty her childhood home so that it can be sold. As she sorts through a lifetime of memories, everything comes to a halt when she comes across something she just can’t part with: an old set of encyclopedias. To the world, the books are outdated and ready to be recycled. To Jess, they represent love and the future that her mother always wanted her to have.

In the process of finding the books a new home, Jess discovers an unusual archive of letters, photographs, and curious housed in a warehouse and known as the Museum of Ordinary People. Irresistibly drawn, she becomes the museum’s unofficial custodian, along with the warehouse’s mysterious owner. As they delve into the history of objects in their care, they not only unravel heart-stirring stories that span generations and continents, but also unearth long-buried secrets that lie closer to home.

Inspired by an abandoned box of mementos, The Museum of Ordinary People is a poignant novel about memory and loss, the things we leave behind, and the future we create for ourselves.

I could totally relate to the grief felt by the main character in losing her mother. As she was cleaning out her mother’s house and shares her thoughts about things to keep and things to discard, you can tell just how difficult a task it is for her. The memories that each of the various items invoke are similar to what I feel with many things I have at my home from loved ones who have passed away.

While I don’t consider myself a hoarder like the ones you see on TV, I do tend to keep a lot of things. They are probably things that mean nothing to anyone but me. Physical reminders of a special day, special memory or a special person. As I read this book, there were so many instances where I felt exactly like the main character about an item. I have things at home that are absurd to others: a nickel plated railroad spike, a chipped ceramic baseball glove, a never used Zippo lighter, and many other small things. Each item holds some special connection for me.

In the book, the “museum” is filled with things an old wedding dress, a worn out work bench, a tin filled with letters, a suitcase filled with letters and old birthday cards, and other items that were brought there by people hoping that the items would be cared for. I have to admit that I found myself wondering what “item” of mine I’d want to have placed in this “museum.” I’m still thinking about that. What would represent you?

I found myself really wrapped up in the story. I connected with the characters and there were plenty of surprises along the way. Toward the end, one of those surprises made me say, “No way!” out loud. I enjoyed it a lot, maybe you will, too.

Book Recommendation – Eight Perfect Murders By Peter Swanson

I recently finished another book that was on my “To Read” list. It was one that I actually listened to the audiobook while driving to and from work. To be honest, I hoped for a bit more, but it was still a very good book.

Here is the Goodreads synopsis:

A chilling tale of psychological suspense and an homage to the thriller genre tailor-made for fans: the story of a bookseller who finds himself at the center of an FBI investigation because a very clever killer has started using his list of fiction’s most ingenious murders.

Years ago, bookseller and mystery aficionado Malcolm Kershaw compiled a list of the genre’s most unsolvable murders, those that are almost impossible to crack—which he titled “Eight Perfect Murders”—chosen from among the best of the best including Agatha Christie’s A. B. C. Murders, Patricia Highsmith’s Strangers on a Train, Ira Levin’s Death Trap, A. A. Milne’s Red House Mystery, Anthony Berkeley Cox’s Malice Aforethought, James M. Cain’s Double Indemnity, John D. Macdonald’s The Drowner, and Donna Tartt’s A Secret History.

But no one is more surprised than Mal, now the owner of the Old Devils Bookstore in Boston, when an FBI agent comes knocking on his door one snowy day in February. She’s looking for information about a series of unsolved murders that look eerily similar to the killings on Mal’s old list. And the FBI agent isn’t the only one interested in this bookseller who spends almost every night at home reading. The killer is out there, watching his every move—a diabolical threat who knows way too much about Mal’s personal history, especially the secrets he’s never told anyone, even his recently deceased wife.

To protect himself, Mal begins looking into possible suspects . . . and sees a killer in everyone around him. But Mal doesn’t count on the investigation leaving a trail of death in its wake. Suddenly, a series of shocking twists leaves more victims dead—and the noose around Mal’s neck grows so tight he might never escape.

My Thoughts

I love a good mystery and the books on Malcom’s list are classics. I will warn you that if you are unfamiliar with any of them, there are spoilers referenced in regard to each book. If you are planning on reading them, do it before reading Eight Perfect Murders.

The story is told from Malcom’s perspective – his narrative. There are times where you wonder what, if any, involvement he has in any of the murders and just what secrets he is hiding. He has a sense of mystery about him, at least that is how I felt about him.

I loved the whole idea that someone could find this list on a blog and then begin copying the plots from these books. I should have seen the ending coming, but didn’t. It was a satisfying read.

Book Recommendation: The Sherlockian – Graham Moore

I just finished Graham Moore’s The Sherlockian. I don’t recall if I stumbled on it because of other Sherlock Holmes themed books I have read or if it was something I saw on Goodreads. I picked it up Friday at the library and found it hard to put down.

Here is a synopsis from Goodreads:

In December 1893, Sherlock Holmes-adoring Londoners eagerly opened their Strand magazines, anticipating the detective’s next adventure, only to find the unthinkable: his creator, Arthur Conan Doyle, had killed their hero off. London spiraled into mourning — crowds sported black armbands in grief — and railed against Conan Doyle as his assassin.

Then in 1901, just as abruptly as Conan Doyle had “murdered” Holmes in “The Final Problem,” he resurrected him. Though the writer kept detailed diaries of his days and work, Conan Doyle never explained this sudden change of heart. After his death, one of his journals from the interim period was discovered to be missing, and in the decades since, has never been found.

Or has it?

When literary researcher Harold White is inducted into the preeminent Sherlock Holmes enthusiast society, The Baker Street Irregulars, he never imagines he’s about to be thrust onto the hunt for the holy grail of Holmes-ophiles: the missing diary. But when the world’s leading Doylean scholar is found murdered in his hotel room, it is Harold – using wisdom and methods gleaned from countless detective stories – who takes up the search, both for the diary and for the killer.

In the acknowledgements of the book, the author states that the book is loosely based on real events. Many characters in the story are real (Arthur Conan Doyle, Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde) while others are compilations, in a sense of many people.

What I really enjoyed about the story is the back and forth from present day to Doyle’s England. The intertwining of the past and present really made the book a fun read.

I had no idea that Bram Stoker (who wrote Dracula) and Arthur Conan Doyle were friends in real life! I did know that Doyle hated his Sherlock Holmes character so much that he killed him off.

Whether you are a Sherlock Holmes fan or just love a good mystery, I think you’ll enjoy The Sherlockian.

Book Recommendation: The Wager – David Grann

I came across this book while scrolling through a Good Reads list. When I saw the subtitle of I assumed this was fiction book, but it is actually a true story. I had never heard of The Wager before and by the time I read the synopsis, I added it to my “Want To Read” list.

From Good Reads:

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a page-turning story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth. The powerful narrative reveals the deeper meaning of the events on The Wager, showing that it was not only the captain and crew who ended up on trial, but the very idea of empire.

On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty’s Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as “the prize of all the oceans,” it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing nearly 3,000 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes.

But then … six months later, another, even more decrepit craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways, and they told a very different story. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes – they were mutineers. The first group responded with countercharges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous senior officer and his henchmen. It became clear that while stranded on the island the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the barren wilderness. As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the Admiralty convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death–for whomever the court found guilty could hang.

The Wager is a grand tale of human behavior at the extremes told by one of our greatest nonfiction writers. Grann’s recreation of the hidden world on a British warship rivals the work of Patrick O’Brian, his portrayal of the castaways’ desperate straits stands up to the classics of survival writing such as The Endurance, and his account of the court martial has the savvy of a Scott Turow thriller. As always with Grann’s work, the incredible twists of the narrative hold the reader spellbound.

I recently finished listening to the audio version of this book, and I really enjoyed it. I understand that the book might be for everyone. As a lover of history and true stories of survival, I couldn’t wait to read it.

It was the perfect audio book for the drive to and from work. There were times that I was amazed that they survived as long as they had. It was no Gilligan’s Island, that’s for sure. It was a unique and eye opening read.

Another Good Read: This Time Tomorrow

If it seems like my blog has become a lot of book recommendations, I’m sorry. I’m doing more reading than I have ever done. I suppose my desire to read comes and goes, but every book I have read lately has had something in the plot summary that peaked my interest. It’s been fun to read stuff from new authors, too.

I literally just finished This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub. She is not a “new” author in that she has written many other books. I did find it interesting to know that her and her husband own their own book store in Brooklyn, New York.

If you have followed my blog for any length of time, I have mentioned my love for time travel stories. The thought of being able to go back in time and visit some famous event or to the future is intriguing. The Back to the Future movies, The Twilight Zone, Time Tunnel, and even the short lived series Timeless will always be fun to watch.

This book has a bit of time travel in it (and coincidentally, so does my next read). Here is the Goodreads synopsis:

“What if you could take a vacation to your past?

With her celebrated humor, insight, and heart, beloved New York Times bestseller Emma Straub offers her own twist on traditional time travel tropes, and a different kind of love story.

On the eve of her 40th birthday, Alice’s life isn’t terrible. She likes her job, even if it isn’t exactly the one she expected. She’s happy with her apartment, her romantic status, her independence, and she adores her lifelong best friend. But her father is ailing, and it feels to her as if something is missing. When she wakes up the next morning she finds herself back in 1996, reliving her 16th birthday. But it isn’t just her adolescent body that shocks her, or seeing her high school crush, it’s her dad: the vital, charming, 40-something version of her father with whom she is reunited. Now armed with a new perspective on her own life and his, some past events take on new meaning. Is there anything that she would change if she could?“

What I love about the premise of the story is that even though she wakes up on her 16th birthday, she is very aware that she just turned 40. This is an important part of the story. It is kind of the “If I knew then what I know now” sort of thing. Tiny Spoiler Alert: There is a “Groundhog Day” feel to the story as she repeats the same day more than once. Knowing that won’t spoil too much for you.

The love story eluded to in the synopsis is not the ordinary love story. It is the love between a daughter and her father. That love is really what drives the story.

It really wound up being a thought provoking story. I could easily see this being something that would be a good Book Club read or even something that would make a great movie.

Book Recommendation: Moonflower Murders

I just finished another of Anthony Horowitz’ books and I have come to really enjoy them. This is a follow up to The Magpie Murders, which has a similar premise. It’s a book – with a book inside. Does that make sense? It’s two murder mysteries for the price of one.

Here is the Amazon/Goodreads synopsis:

Retired publisher Susan Ryeland is living the good life. She is running a small hotel on a Greek island with her long-term boyfriend Andreas. It should be everything she’s always wanted. But is it? She’s exhausted with the responsibilities of making everything work on an island where nothing ever does, and truth be told she’s beginning to miss London.

And then the Trehearnes come to stay. The strange and mysterious story they tell, about an unfortunate murder that took place on the same day and in the same hotel in which their daughter was married—a picturesque inn on the Suffolk coast named Farlingaye Hall—fascinates Susan and piques her editor’s instincts.

One of her former writers, the late Alan Conway, author of the fictional Magpie Murders, knew the murder victim—an advertising executive named Frank Parris—and once visited Farlingaye Hall. Conway based the third book in his detective series, Atticus Pund Takes the Case, on that very crime.

The Trehearne’s, daughter, Cecily, read Conway’s mystery and believed the book proves that the man convicted of Parris’s murder—a Romanian immigrant who was the hotel’s handyman—is innocent. When the Trehearnes reveal that Cecily is now missing, Susan knows that she must return to England and find out what really happened.

Brilliantly clever, relentlessly suspenseful, full of twists that will keep readers guessing with each revelation and clue, Moonflower Murders is a deviously dark take on vintage English crime fiction from one of its greatest masterminds, Anthony Horowitz.

When I read Magpie Murders the concept of the book within a book threw me. The way it all wrapped up was surprising and satisfying. With Moonflower Murders, it is very similar and it worked just as well. If there is a third book in this series, I will certainly be reading it.

Book Recommendation: How To Stop Time

Less than two weeks ago, I posted a blog about a book I read called The Midnight Library. I really enjoyed it. You can read that blog here:

Another Good Read – The Midnight Library

That was the first book I read by author Matt Haig, and it made me want to find other books by him that I might find just as good. So I went to the library website and found one. I’ve always been a big fan of time travel stuff, so the name of one book stuck out – “How to Stop Time.” While this isn’t a true time travel story in the sense of going back in time or forward in time, I found the premise interesting and ordered it.

Amazon and Good Reads both have this synopsis:

Tom Hazard has just moved back to London, his old home, to settle down and become a high school history teacher. And on his first day at school, he meets a captivating French teacher at his school who seems fascinated by him. But Tom has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he’s been alive for centuries. Tom has lived history–performing with Shakespeare, exploring the high seas with Captain Cook, and sharing cocktails with F. Scott Fitzgerald. Now, he just wants an ordinary life.

Unfortunately for Tom, the Albatross Society, the secretive group which protects people like Tom, has one rule: Never fall in love. As painful memories of his past and the erratic behavior of the Society’s watchful leader threaten to derail his new life and romance, the one thing he can’t have just happens to be the one thing that might save him. Tom will have to decide once and for all whether to remain stuck in the past, or finally begin living in the present.

How to Stop Time tells a love story across the ages—and for the ages—about a man lost in time, the woman who could save him, and the lifetimes it can take to learn how to live. It is a bighearted, wildly original novel about losing and finding yourself, the inevitability of change, and how with enough time to learn, we just might find happiness.

One review I read said, “How To Stop Time plays like a meditation on the tick and tock of time and mortality. On the preciousness of every moment and the nightmare of having both too few and too many.” I thought this really hit the nail on the head.

Is it a love story? To a degree, yes, but it is more than that. It was another Haig book that I couldn’t put down and finished in two days. There were some slow parts, but all in all, it was a good read. There is talk that Benedict Cumberbatch is going to make a film based on this book.

People always are talking about living forever, but is that really something you’d want to do? Following Tom’s story and the highs and lows of being alive for so long will make you really think about how you want to answer that question.

Another Good Read – The Midnight Library

I literally finished this book in a day and half. I really found it to be thought provoking, and at the same time it was based on something I have always believed.

I have said on here before that I am who I am today because of all I have been through. Every decision I have ever made has brought me to this point. I found a chart that illustrates what I mean. Pay no attention to the words on it, but look at the various “flow”.

You face a decision. You make a decision and that sets you off on one path (or chain). If you had made a different decision, you would set off on a different path (or chain). Perhaps those paths would cross or intersect occasionally. It is also possible that you might wind up in the same place at the end, who knows? The point is that in our life time, we make millions of decisions and each decision will lead to millions or billions of outcomes. That is sort of the premise of the book.

Synopsis from goodreads:

Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices . . . Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets? A novel about all the choices that go into a life well lived.

Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.

Barnes and Noble says this:

If you were presented with the opportunity to go back in time and change your life, would you? Matt Haig ponders this question in The Midnight Library, a story that follows Nora Seed as she is given a chance to redo her life. Hopeful and thought-provoking, this novel will change your perspective on your own life.

fourminutebooks.com says:

The Midnight Library is a beautiful book with a clever concept, masterfully executed by Matt Haig. It is easy to read, full of great quotes, smart references, and even some poems and lyrics Nora wrote in her other lives. The book draws from many genres and will make you think deeply, not just about the lives you could lead, but also about the one you do. A magnificent thought experiment with a wonderful conclusion.

My Thoughts

When I saw this book on a “recommendation list,” I read the above descriptions. I felt that I could relate to the basic premise, especially because of my thoughts on who I am today and how the various decisions I made in life got me here. From the moment I began the book, I was hooked.

The story follows Nora Seed, a British woman in her mid-30s, who is deeply depressed. One night, she decides to commit suicide, but the overdose of sleeping pills sends her into a library between life and death. As time stands still, Nora gets to sample countless lives she could have lived.

This also hit home to me as I was once at the same point as Nora. Granted, I never got the point of actually attempting suicide, but my thoughts were certainly there. I remember thinking how no one would miss me if I was gone. I recall believing that I was more of a burden to people than anything. I was feeling so much depression and unhappiness, I didn’t think I would ever get out of that.

Spoiler Alert (sort of)

One review of the book offered these three lessons learned from the book:

You could live a million lives and still not be satisfied.
Your “best” life may still not be the right one for you to go through.
Life won’t always give you an explanation, so just go on living.

Final Thoughts

The book was an easy read, yet at the same time made me think. This is the first book by Matt Haig I have ever read, but I think I may have to check out what else he has to offer. I think you will enjoy it if you give it a read.

Book Recommendation: The Nazi Conspiracy

I recently finished The Nazi Conspiracy by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch. It is the third “conspiracy” book that they have written together. The first was The First Conspiracy (about a plot to kill George Washington) and the second was The Lincoln Conspiracy (about a plot to kill Abraham Lincoln – long before he was assassinated).

The book is a must read for anyone who is into history, especially World War 2. Did you know there was a plot to kill FDR, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin when they all met together for their well known conference? I didn’t. It is a fascinating read.

Meltzer and Mensch do a great job in presenting the events that led up to the “Big Three” getting together. I’ve read a lot about WWII, but there was a lot I was unaware of. I had no idea just how many casualties that Russia suffered. I didn’t realize just how much we helped them with weapons and tanks.

You really get a fantastic pictures of Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. You sense the tensions and the urgencies. You also feel the frustration and caution each men felt toward one another.

You will read about many of the familiar names associated with the war, but there are plenty of names and people you don’t know. Their roles and their work were key to bother the Allies and the enemy.

Can you imagine what could have happened if the Germans were able to assassinate one or all three of the Ally leaders? I’d rather not think of it.

I really enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone who enjoys historic non-fiction. Have you read it? If so, I’d love your thoughts.