In short, I finished Wheel of Time (WOT) #3: The Dragon Reborn and took a break to listen to the third book in the Haunted Bookshop cozy mystery series by Cleo Coyle (or Alice Kimberly because some editions have that name ??).
About Haunted Bookshop series
I really, really enjoyed The Ghost and the Dead Man’s Library. I think she’s getting better. That’s not to say the first two weren’t good but the first, The Ghost and Mrs. McClure, was more involved with setting the scene and getting to know the characters. Those being that Penelope Thornton-McClure goes into the bookstore business with her aunt, Sadie, after Penelope’s husband commits suicide and then finds out the bookstore is haunted by a hard-boiled private detective from the 1940s named Jack Shepard. To say she gets the change of pace she wants for herself and her young son is an understatement. The second book, The Ghost and the Dead Deb, is more about her diving into being an amateur detective while learning “how” to be a detective from Jack. The third, though, starts to jell a true partnership between her and Jack and their relationship is an interesting one. Think of it as a slightly more serious, mystery solving version of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir TV series which was mostly comedy and fantasy.
I will say that it’s odd that this series works for me because I’ve always been kind of disinterested in ghost story romances but it does. I keep finding myself wanting to read the next one. Or in this case listen to the next one because I think one of the reasons I love the series is that they use a man who actually sounds like a 40s detective to read Jack’s chapters. Definitely a good choice for taking a break from WOT. I think there’s six books in the series so I still have some to read, er, listen to.
Now a short WOT update
I will admit upfront that part of me wanted to continue immediately to WOT book 4: The Shadow Rising because I wanted to get to the Aiel, AKA the desert people AKA the People of the Dragon. But I’d started dreaming in the WOT world so I decided I needed the break. Bad! 😋
Another reason I wanted to dive into book 4 right away is because it’s the last book I clearly remember. Of course I’m not sure I completely trust my memory on any of that because one of the other things I was talking to my son about was the fact that there’s one character in particular I don’t remember at all. Which is odd because while he’s not one of the main five he’s one of the ones that travel with them. A lot. Plus his description is kind of unforgettable. But apparently I had completely erased from my memory the character of Loial the Ogier. If I do remember him at all for some reason I thought he disappeared after the first book but he’s still there through the third book. And later my son says.
Seriously how could I manage to forget a ten foot tall character?
My son also indignantly says that’s like forgetting Chewbacca!
Fans. 🙄
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