Quality is much better than my last phone, the 13 Mini.
In fact, I find the 16 Pro better at both photos and video than my current action camera.
It’s my primary camera now.
5x optical zoom is almost enough for my purposes. 😀
my iPhone 16 Pro
Detective Aunty by Uzma Jalaluddin
Great title for a cozy mystery.
It kept me going right to the end. Never sure of which suspect was the real killer.
Uzma Jalaluddin is a Canadian writer and teacher. She also writes a column for the Toronto Star.
This one is an Agatha Christie set in the South Asian Muslim immigrant community.
When her grown daughter is suspected of murder, a charming and tenacious widow digs into the case to unmask the real killer in this twisty, page-turning whodunnit …
Sana, phones to say that she’s been arrested for killing the unpopular landlord of her clothing boutique.
Determined to help her child, Kausar heads to Toronto for the first time in nearly twenty years. …
With the help of some old friends and her plucky teenage granddaughter, Kausar digs into the investigation to uncover the truth.
Because who better to pry answers from unwilling suspects than a meddlesome aunty?
But even Kausar can’t predict the secrets, lies, and betrayals she finds along the way…
5-STAR REVIEW: DETECTIVE AUNTY by Uzma Jalaluddin
Themes included murder, affairs, fraud, pyramid schemes, theft, racism, gentrification.
Dim Sum of All Fears by Vivien Chien
I liked the 1st book in the series — Death by Dumpling — so carried on with Dim Sum of All Fears. A great title. 😀
Another short, easy read. A cozy mystery. Almost Young Adult.
Lana Lee is a dutiful daughter, waiting tables at her family’s Chinese restaurant even though she’d rather be doing just about anything else.
Then, just when she has a chance for a “real” job, her parents take off to Taiwan, leaving Lana in charge.
Surprising everyone―including herself―she turns out to be quite capable of running the place.
Unfortunately, the newlyweds who just opened the souvenir store next door to Ho-Lee have turned up dead. . .and soon Lana finds herself in the midst of an Asia Village mystery.
I’ll likely carry on to the 3rd book in the Noodle Shop mysteries series.
Lifebeat – the alternative friendship Newsletter 😀
Well kids … there was a time before the internet when friends used something called a telephone to keep in touch. Once in a while we’d write letters. It’s true.
Ron and Kate took the time to put together friendship newsletters called The Calgary Redeye. They collected contributions from friends and put it together on a photocopied, stapled publication.
Out in Saskatoon, I decided to launch a goofy competitor to the Redeye. I called it Lifebeat.
Here’s the Christmas 1991 edition. 😀 The goal was to make friends laugh.
A String of Beads by Thomas Perry
Still worth reading, but I found the 8th in the Jane Whitefield series weaker than the rest.
All these books are too slow for me. Unnecessary repetition of plot points.
This one was too slow and had a weaker storyline.
A String of Beads (2015)
… a year after getting shot on a job that took a dangerous turn for the worse, Jane McKinnon, née Whitefield, has settled into the quiet life of a suburban housewife in Amherst, New York — or so she thinks.
One morning as she comes back from a long run, Jane is met by an unusual sight: all eight clan mothers, the female leaders of the Seneca clans …
A childhood friend of Jane’s from the reservation, Jimmy, is wanted by the police for the murder of a local white man.
But instead of turning himself in, he’s fled, and no one knows where he is hiding out. …
Jane must find and hide him.
Actually, the end of the book was satisfying. A good wrap-up.
The Housemaid by Frieda McFadden
Freida McFadden (born May 1, 1980) is the pen name of an American thriller author and practicing physician specializing in brain injury.
Her 2022 book The Housemaid was an international bestseller.
In recent years I’ve begun to tire of the endless line-up of psychological thrillers. But this one is better than average.
Millie is a young woman with troubled past, having recently been fired from her job after an incident which nearly sent her back to prison.
She is unable to find work due to her criminal record and spends a month living in her car.
She jumps at an opportunity as a live-in maid for the Winchester wealthy family: Nina, her husband Andrew, and their daughter, Cecelia, who live in a luxurious estate on Long Island.
Their seemingly perfect life unravels when Millie discovers that the Winchester household hides dark secrets beneath the surface.
To me the twist was predictable.
The husband character one of the most absurdly unlikely I’ve ever read.
The ending of the book was satisfying. BUT I’m unlikely to read on in the series.
I will probably end up watching the upcoming film.
Here’s what I’m CARRYING to Indonesia
Arriving SURABAYA Aug. 19, 2025.
I got a great price on Cathay Pacific out of Vancouver ➙ CAD $512.77 (USD $370.97) including seat selection.
En route to the World Gymnastics Championships in Jakarta in October.
For Indonesia, and beyond — I’m taking less hiking gear. More electronics. 😀
That’s what I’ll be carrying on my back, plus food & liquids.
Two pairs of shoes: city and hiking.
Here’s the full list. Click and scroll if on a computer. Some phones and iPads won’t show embedded PDFs.
Apologies for the format and errors. It’s from my list on PackWizard.com. A great service — but very limited in how you can export your data.
Stick – season 1
You hate golf?
I’d still recommend this TV comedy.
Owen Wilson plays Owen Wilson, as always.
And, as always, he’s very good as Owen Wilson. 😀
A long-washed-up professional golfer turns towards a rising young star in the game to turn things around.
Cast and dialogue is quirky enough to keep me interested.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
The Butcher’s Boy by Thomas Perry
The Butcher’s Boy (1982) was the first novel from Thomas Perry, one of my favourite authors of late.
It’s remarkably mature and sophisticated.
Perry won the 1983 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best First Novel.
According to Stephen King, “there are probably only a half dozen suspense writers alive who can be depended upon to deliver high voltage shocks, vivid, sympathetic characters, and compelling narratives each time they publish. Thomas Perry is one of them.”
The Butcher’s Boy, features as its protagonist a professional hitman …
After dispatching an innocent union member and a U.S. Senator, he arrives in Las Vegas, Nevada to pick up his fee. Instead of a payoff he finds himself on the wrong end of a murder contract.
The Butcher’s Boy seeks to collect the debt by terrorizing the Mafia – the lifelong source of his freelance jobs and current nemesis – into backing off. …
A fascinating character.
The second story line follows Elizabeth Waring, a bright young, unmarried analyst in the Justice Department, who seems mostly incompetent in trying to catch up to the killer. Her role was unimportant to me — but she appears again in the sequel ➙ Sleeping Dogs.
Sleeping Dogs by Thomas Perry
Sleeping Dogs (1992) is a sequel to The Butcher’s Boy, set 10 years later.
The anti-hero contract killer has left the United States and is living in England, hopefully safe from America’s organized crime,which he decimated and alienated in the first book.
He is recognized quite by accident by a minor American crime figure while at the track in Brighton, and the mobster has the bad judgement to attempt to enhance his standing by counting coup. The results are predictable. …
The whole book is a tragicomedy of errors, with the Butcher’s Boy, the mob, and various law-enforcement agencies assuming motivations and intentions on the parts of the other players that are completely erroneous, and result in much quite unnecessary mayhem. …
A Review by Barry Gardner: THOMAS PERRY – Sleeping Dogs.
The characters aren’t unreliable. Rather they quite logically guess what is happening — and are dead wrong most of the time.
It’s an original book. But not quite as good as Butcher’s Boy, in my opinion.
I will go on to the last 2 books in the series:
- The Informant (2011)
- Eddie’s Boy (2020)
Rick McCharles 