More Mysteries in May

Here are the rest of the mysteries I read/listened to last month:
Scales of Justice by Ngaio Marsh
One day I was feeling tired and generally icky from the usual spring/summer head congestion and pressure, so the two non-fiction books I had started, which require some attention and thought, were not going to work for me. I still felt like reading, though, and went to some comfort reading—a book by one of the Queens of Crime. This is book 18 in her Roderick Alleyn series and was perfect for the sort of day I was having. It was a typical English village sort of story—lots of secrets and simmering resentments bubble up to the surface when Alleyn comes to investigate the death of one of the gentry, whose body was found by the river next to the ‘Big ‘Un’ and old trout that was a prize catch.

Death of a Fool by Ngaio Marsh (also published as Off With His Head)
After I finished book 18, I moved right into book 19 of the Roderick Alleyn series, which also takes place in a village and involves folklore and ritual. Something goes quite wrong at the annual winter solstice ritual dance and Alleyn has to find out why someone took part of the ritual horribly literally and someone else did not make it to the end.

Passing Strange by Catherine Aird (audiobook read by Bruce Montague)
I’d finished an audiobook and had a few days before my next reserve could be downloaded, so I went to the library site and found this one available. There are a few of her books in the system that are duplicates, but read by different people. The first one I listened to was read by Robin Bailey and I really liked his delivery—he really brought out the humour in the books. So when I saw this one, I checked to see if he was the reader, as I always do. He was listed, so I borrowed it. When I started listening, I learned it was the other guy. I decided to listen anyway and see whether I liked him. He was fine, but not as good as Bailey. It’s possible that this book wasn’t as funny as the others, but I do think the reader’s delivery was a factor. This guy put a whole new spin on some things, like reading the head detective’s words in a Scottish accent. I’m fairly new to audiobooks and a bit picky about the readers, so this is the first time I have had a chance to listen to several works in a short period of time by the same author but read by different people.

This is one of the books in Aird’s Sloane and Crosby series. I’m not listening/reading them in any particular order, so not sure what number it is. It doesn’t seem to matter about the order as there doesn’t seem to be any evolution in the characters through time as there is in some series. So far, they’ve all worked as stand-alones.  In this one, things go terribly wrong at the annual village Horticultural Society show. First of all, there was no way that woman’s tomatoes should have gotten first prize and second of all, the district nurse is nowhere to be found—at least until they are taking down the tents. Does this have something to do with who will inherit the priory, is the newcomer really who she says she is, and was the nurse silenced because she would be able to answer those questions?

The next Catherine Aird e-audiobook I requested came in a few weeks early, but I have a short story collection to listen to first--or at least see if I like it. Or maybe I'll renew that one and listen to Aird first 😃I don't think there are many more of her e-audiobooks in the digital section, so I'll have to look her up in the library system once we can request physical books again. I do enjoy her books a lot.

Happy reading!

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