The Twyford Code

Title: The Twyford Code
Author: Janice Hallett
Published: January 24, 2023
Format: Kindle, 333 pages
Genre: Fiction

First Sentence: I am investigating a mysterious case and suspect you may be able to help. Let me explain.

Blurb: Steven Smith has just been released from prison, and he is finally free to investigate a mystery that has haunted him since childhood. Forty years ago, he found a copy of a famous children's book, full of strange markings and annotations. He took it to his remedial English teacher, Miss Isles, who became convinced that it was the key to solving a puzzle. That a message in secret code ran through all Edith Twyford's novels. Then Miss Isles disappeared, and Steven's memory won't allow him to remember what happened. Did she sense her own imminent death? Was she right about the code? And is it still in use today? Desperate to recover his memories and find out what really happened to Miss Isles, Steven revisits the people and places of his childhood. But it soon becomes clear that Edith Twyford wasn't just a writer of forgotten children's stories. The Twyford Code has great power, and he isn't the only one trying to solve it.

My Opinion: This book is for the armchair treasure hunter and is one of the oddest formatted books I have read in a long while. The novel begins by telling the reader how to read the book since it is made up of notes and conversations recorded on a smartphone app.

The speaker, Steven Smith, an ex-con with a colorful past, is on a mission to remember a teacher who went missing on a school outing and what a series of books has to do with it. But then again -- is it?

Since little is presented at the outset, the reader is just as confused as Steve but knows there must be a part of the story that is being kept from them, either as a purposeful plot twist or memory lapses, which won’t be revealed until the end.

Told backward, sideways, generally all over the place, I would have stopped long ago if I wasn’t as caught up in the Twyford Code as Steve.

By the end, Janice Hallett tells the reader all the parts they missed but might have wondered about. Then as a last jab, there is one final code that I didn’t bother with since I was done with the whole thing.

A Death in the Family

Title: A Death in the Family
Author: Matthew Costello and Neil Richards
Published: February 8, 2016 by Bastei Entertainment
Format: Kindle, 116 pages
Genre: Amateur Sleuth
Series: Cherringham #24

First Sentence: Harry Platt woke suddenly, thinking for a second that he was under fire, looking for a muzzle-flash, reaching for his tine hat, heart racing, mouth open, gasping for air.

Blurb: When a doddering Harry Platt tumbles from the top of his stairs in a deadly fall, it looks like an unfortunate accident. But solicitor Tony Standish’s suspicions are aroused when he meets the beneficiaries and discovers the immense size of the estate. Jack and Sarah investigate and find that nothing is what it seems when it comes to families - not when money and secrets are involved. (GoodReads)

My Opinion: Jack and Sarah are best friends. They can complete each other’s sentences and reach the same conclusions, even if they aren’t in the same room. When it comes to a death in this particular family, they are content to let things lie. As far as they are concerned, it couldn’t have happened to a more deserving person, and there is no reason to bring more pain to the family.

As for the ending, there is a cliffhanger that I don’t remember happening in any of the previous novellas. The anxiety over the outcome will have devoted fans quickly downloading the twenty-fifth in the series.

The Swedish Art of Aging Exuberantly: Life Wisdom from Someone Who Will (Probably) Die Before You

Title: The Swedish Art of Aging Exuberantly: Life Wisdom from Someone Who Will (Probably) Die Before You
Author: Margareta Magnusson
Published: December 27th 2022 by Scribner
Format: Kindle, 154 Pages
Genre: Aging
Series: The Swedish Art of Living & Dying

First Sentence: The year I was born, the life expectancy for a Swedish woman was a little over sixty-six years and for a Swedish man a little over sixty-four years.

Blurb: Margareta Magnusson shared with the world her practical Swedish tradition of döstädning, or “death cleaning”—clearing out unnecessary belongings before others must do it for you—in her international bestseller The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning. Now, unburdened by baggage (emotional and actual) she is able to focus on what makes each day worth living, and reveals her discoveries about growing older—some difficult to accept, many rather wondrous. She reflects on her early days growing up in Sweden and raising her family around the world, offering tips and wisdom on how to age gracefully, such as: don’t be afraid to wear stripes, don’t resist new technology, let go of what doesn’t matter, and much more.

As with death-cleaning, it’s never too early to begin and The Swedish Art of Aging Well shows us how to prepare for and understand the aging process, and the joys and sorrows it can bring. While Margareta still recommends ongoing downsizing and decluttering (your loved ones will thank you!) her ultimate message is that we should all be less afraid of the idea of death.

Wise, funny, and practical, The Swedish Art of Aging Well is a gentle and welcome reminder that, no matter your age, there are always fresh discoveries ahead, and pleasures both new and familiar to be enjoyed every day.(GoodReads)

My Opinion: I am not sure what I was expecting when I first pick up this book. Possibly a how-to manual, but that is not what Margareta Magnusson gives her readers. She retells her life experiences, what she has learned in her 89 years, and how it is the small things, the small changes, that can make life joyful.

The chapters contain disjointed thoughts, but that is what is delightful when speaking with a person in their later years. They have stories, and each account segways into another, and soon, not only have you learned more about them, but you have also learned their life lessons along the way.

Not a book to rush. The Swedish Art of Living Exuberantly is a book to keep on the shelf, even after your Swedish Death Cleaning. As Magnusson says, “What the hell”. Aging is hard, and we have made it this far, so why not enjoy life instead of being the person waiving a fist and getting frustrated with people who lack life's experiences.

The Woman With the Cure

Title: The Woman With the Cure
Author: Lynn Cullen
Expected Publication: February 21, 2023
Format: Kindle, 400 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

First Sentence: Arlene would never get over the empty swimming pools.

Blurb: She gave up everything— and changed the world.

A riveting novel based on the true story of the woman who stopped a pandemic, from the bestselling author of Mrs. Poe.

In 1940s and ’50s America, polio is as dreaded as the atomic bomb. No one’s life is untouched by this disease that kills or paralyzes its victims, particularly children. Outbreaks of the virus across the country regularly put American cities in lockdown. Some of the world’s best minds are engaged in the race to find a vaccine. The man who succeeds will be a god.

But Dorothy Horstmann is not focused on beating her colleagues to the vaccine. She just wants the world to have a cure. Applying the same determination that lifted her from a humble background as the daughter of immigrants, to becoming a doctor –often the only woman in the room--she hunts down the monster where it lurks: in the blood.

This discovery of hers, and an error by a competitor, catapults her closest colleague to a lead in the race. When his chance to win comes on a worldwide scale, she is asked to sink or validate his vaccine—and to decide what is forgivable, and how much should be sacrificed, in pursuit of the cure. (GoodReads)

My Opinion: Knowing nothing about Dorothy Horstman, I had to begin with a quick Google search and background information. Found yet another female scientist, epidemiologist, virologist, clinician, pediatrician, and educator who somehow never made it to the forefront with a name on a plaque or recognition in a high school history book. Yet, that suited her just as fine. Dr. Horstman wanted a cure, not the accolades, though the Nobel Prize would have been nice since she did make the pivotal discovery regarding how the polio virus entered the body.

‘The Woman with the Cure’ is a fictionalized account of her life from the day she walked into Vanderbilt with determination to find a cure, or preventative, for polio. Coinciding with history, the reader begins to visualize the long trek through the 1940s, through trial and error, until the late 1950s, when the vaccine led the way for millions.

This book was too slow-paced for my liking. I understand how Lynn Cullen was trying to show how long the road to discovery was, but for every step forward in science, there were two steps back in the drama of Horstman’s “should I give it all up for a man” subplot. As shown through the interaction between Sabin and his wife Silvia, a man never has to make this decision, and I wished half the book could have been eliminated or rewritten; so it didn’t come across as “oh, poor me” when there was so much more to Dr. Dorothy Horstman.

Spirits and Sourdough

Title: Spirits and Sourdough
Author: Bailey Cates
Published: January 4th 2022 by Berkley
Format: Kindle, 284 pages
Genre: Paranormal Amateur Sleuth
Series: Magical Bakery Mystery #10

First Sentence: Using the tips of my fingers, I gently stripped, the thyme pungent leave of thyme from their woody stems.

Blurb: Baker Katie Lightfoot needs a sprinkle of magic to solve a haunting mystery in the newest book in this New York Times bestselling series.

Hedgewitch Katie Lightfoot works at the Honeybee Bakery in Savannah, and she's always up for investigating her adopted home's rich supernatural history. That's why she's taking a ghost tour for the very first time. But when the psychic tour guide tells Katie that she's being followed by the ghost of a recently murdered woman, Katie realizes she met the victim earlier that day, just before she died. She knows she must bring the killer to justice.

And this murder isn't the only mystery Katie needs to solve. Her new husband, Declan McCarthy, is missing the guardian spirit who always watched over him, and she's concerned that Deck's life could be at risk if they can't find him. Under pressure from the living and the dead, Katie will have to use all of her magical skills to start an investigation from scratch and avoid half-baked alibis, because this baker kneads to find a killer.

My Opinion: After feeling that the last couple of books in this series were on the mediocre side, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Spirits and Sourdough.

Maybe it was because Katie did not come across as whiney, or once Declan was on board with her being a witch, that part of the series could calm down and the murder du jour could take centerstage. Or maybe, the bright point in the book was Connell. Then again, it could have been the neighbor next door, who I am convinced is also a witch --but of a different variety.

I don’t see a book eleven on the forecast, but I will keep my eye out.