I enjoyed Death in Paradise – season 1.
So … researched the BEST seasons of the 14, so far.
Season 2 was high on the list. And I would say it was even better than the first year.
Agatha Christie stories set in a tropical paradise.
Richard Poole is still trapped on the stunning Caribbean island as this light-hearted detective drama returns. The sun, sea and sand still continue to irritate him, just as he irritates his long-suffering colleagues.
Freida McFadden (born May 1, 1980) is the pen name of an American thriller author and practicing physician specializing in brain injury.
She began writing as a hobby, self-publishing starting 2013.
Her 2022 book The Housemaid was an international bestseller.
She’s known for the twists and turns in her plots. And unreliable narrators.
Tegan is eight months pregnant, alone, and desperately wants to put her crumbling life in the rearview mirror. So she hits the road, planning to stay with her brother until she can figure out her next move. But she doesn’t realize she’s heading straight into a blizzard.
She never arrives at her destination.
Stranded in rural Maine with a dead car and broken ankle, Tegan worries she’s made a terrible mistake. Then a miracle occurs: she is rescued by a couple who offers her a room in their warm cabin until the snow clears.
But something isn’t right …
I love my old iPhone 13 mini — BUT started to have problems with the charging cable.
THAT was an excuse to try one of the magnetic wireless charging batteries.
Click PLAY or watch a REVIEW on YouTube. It was this video that convinced me to go for the SLIM over other alternatives.
It works well — but not with my current Quadlock phone case.
At the beginning of this book series, Lucas Davenport — the good guy — wasn’t much better than the criminals he chased.
But over time he became increasingly likeable.
Night Prey (2024) is only 6th in the series. But Davenport is already showing signs of humanity.
State Investigator Meagan Connell believes that Minneapolis has a serial killer on its hands, a killer who has stepped up the frequency of his attacks. Connell is dying of cancer and is determined to catch the killer in the few weeks she has left.
Davenport is called in for his expertise in serial murder.
The BAD GUY this time is an elusive cat burglar obsessed with a woman.
It’s a gritty police procedural trying to find the villain.
Somehow I missed this 1982 children’s book and ALL the adaptations.
In fact, it’s my 1st Roald Dahl book.
Surprising, since he ranks amongst the world’s best-selling fiction authors with sales estimated at over 300 million.
The BFG (short for The Big Friendly Giant) … was ranked number 88 among all-time best children’s novels in a survey published by School Library Journal, a US monthly.
Sophie, an eight-year-old girl in an orphanage, befriends a mysterious Giant, the BFG.
The 24-foot-tall giant carries her away to the land of the Giants, a place not on any map.
The BFG is a vegetarian. But his 9 neighbours are much bigger and stronger giants, who all happily eat humans every night.
Sophie persuades the BFG to approach the Queen of England for help with the other giants. They plot to imprison the hungry man-eating giants in a deep pit.
I was most entertained by Dahl’s inventive, playful use of language. He invented over 500 new words by scribbling down his words before swapping letters around and adopting spoonerisms and malapropisms.
Horror stories for kids? Yep.
His obituary in The Times was titled “Death silences Pied Piper of the macabre“.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
An excellent book. An excellent movie.
I’m not a Catholic so have never known much about how Popes are elected. It’s fascinating.
Conclave is a 2016 book by the esteemed Robert Harris.
I was interested to read about the process, complicated by ancient history.
One strength of the Catholic Church is tradition.
The big weakness is tradition. It’s very difficult to reform / improve Catholicism, though I respect Pope Francis for trying.
The Pope is dead.
Behind the locked doors of the Sistine Chapel, one hundred and eighteen cardinals from all over the globe will cast their votes in the world’s most secretive election.
They are holy men. But they have ambition. And they have rivals.
Over the next seventy-two hours one of them will become the most powerful spiritual figure on earth.
In Conclave, the hero is Cardinal Lomeli, dean of the College of Cardinals and the man responsible for presiding over the conclave. Among the papabile there is Tedesco the traditionalist, Tremblay the ambitious North American and Adeyemi the African with strong views on the role of women and gay marriage. …
Into this gathering there arrives a cardinal no one has heard of – Vincent Benítez, a cardinal in pectore, created by the pope in secret in order to protect his identity. The stage is thus set for a showdown. …
Guardian Review – Conclave by Robert Harris review – a triumphant Vatican showdown
The 2024 film Conclave is great, perhaps even better than the book.
On Rotten Tomatoes, 93% of 296 critics’ reviews are positive.
It’s got a lot of star power, on only a $20 million production budget.
I’ve been a huge fan of Ralph Fiennes since The English Patient (1996)
I love the ending of this film. Carlos Diehz as Cardinal Vincent Benitez is excellent.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Note ➙ The Catholic Church does not approve of either book nor film.
Another intense murder mystery.
16th in the Lucas Davenport series.
Very good as are most of the Sandford novels.
The first body is of a young woman, found on a Minneapolis riverbank, her throat cut, her body scourged and put on display. Whoever did this, Lucas knows, is pushed by brain chemistry, there is something wrong with him. This isn’t a bad love affair.
The second body is found a week later, in a farmhouse six miles south. Same condition, same display — except this time it is a man. Nothing to link the two murders, nothing to indicate that the killings end here. …
A suspect emerges early: a man recently released from a prison hospital and who now seems to have cut himself free from his court-imposed ankle bracelet and disappeared. But the more Lucas investigates, the more he wonders: Is this really the man? Could he really have done this all by himself? And where has he gone to, anyway?
And meanwhile, a predator waits….
I finally got around to streaming this popular British TV series — now with 14 seasons!
It’s quite entertaining. Agatha Christie stories set in a tropical paradise.
I started at the beginning – season 1 (2011)
Death in Paradise is a crime comedy drama … filmed on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe …
Detective Inspector Richard Poole (Ben Miller) is sent from the Metropolitan Police in London to investigate the murder of a British police officer on the fictional Caribbean island of Saint Marie, a British Overseas Territory with a French colonial history.
After he finds the murderer, he is ordered by his supervisors to replace the victim and stay on as the Detective Inspector (DI) of the island, much to his dismay, solving new cases as they appear and being the object of many fish-out-of-water jokes.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
An easy read. Quite entertaining.
My Mom and I both read this book.
I did appreciate the naiveté and optimism of the lead character — in the face of multiple personal disasters.
The plot provides enough twists and turns to keep it interesting.
The Switch: A Novel (2017)
Michael Tanner is on his way home from a business trip when he accidentally picks up the wrong MacBook in an airport security line. He doesn’t notice the mix-up until he arrives home in Boston, but by then it’s too late. Tanner’s curiosity gets the better of him when he discovers that the owner is a US senator and that the laptop contains top secret files.
When Senator Susan Robbins realizes she’s come back with the wrong laptop, she calls her young chief of staff, Will Abbott, in a panic. …
Though I wasn’t impressed with his Nick Heller series of books, I’ll definitely be reading more Joseph Finder.
Rick McCharles 