The Madness of Crowds, The Clockmaker's Wife and wrap up!

 Happy Holidays.

Posting the last book I listened to and the most recent book I read. Then I will share favorites of the year from the Mystery Book Club.

I listened to The Madness of Crowds, book 17 in the Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny. If you are a fan, I bet you already read it. It seems to me this is a book you either hate or you love. 

About:

"You're a coward.

Time and again, as the New Year approaches, that charge is leveled against Armand Gamache.
It starts innocently enough.
While the residents of the Québec village of Three Pines take advantage of the deep snow to ski and toboggan, to drink hot chocolate in the bistro and share meals together, the Chief Inspector finds his holiday with his family interrupted by a simple request.
He's asked to provide security for what promises to be a non-event. A visiting professor of statistics will be giving a lecture at the nearby university.
While he is perplexed as to why the head of homicide for the Sûreté du Québec would be assigned this task, it sounds easy enough. That is, until Gamache starts looking into Professor Abigail Robinson and discovers an agenda so repulsive he begs the university to cancel the lecture.
They refuse, citing academic freedom, and accuse Gamache of censorship and intellectual cowardice. Before long, Professor Robinson's views start seeping into conversations. Spreading and infecting. So that truth and fact, reality and delusion, are so confused it's near impossible to tell them apart.
Discussions become debates, debates become arguments, which turn into fights. As sides are declared, a madness takes hold.
Abigail Robinson promises that if they follow her, ça va bien aller. All will be well. But not, Gamache and his team know, for everyone.
When a murder is committed, it falls to Armand Gamache, his second-in-command Jean-Guy Beauvoir, and their team to investigate the crime as well as this extraordinary popular delusion.
And the madness of crowds. "

Several people I know, did not like this book. Several others, said they liked it. This is a post Covid story and mentions all of the things people have gone through or are going through.

The message that Professor Abigail Robinson is sharing, is very controversial. She has come to Three Pines at the invitation of the chancellor of the university. She brings with her, her assistant Debbie.  Another strong and opinionated woman, up for the Nobel Peace Prize, is in town from the Sudan. She doesn't seem to like anyone and no one is sure what she is doing there. After chao ensues at the lecture Abigail is giving, it is New Year's Eve and Three Pines is celebrating. Debbie is found murdered near the woods.

Gamache and Jean Guy have to entangle the events leading up to finding Debbie, sorting through many personalities, secrets and lies..

There is actually quite a bit of humor in the first half of the book. I found the interactions between the usual village characters hysterical. More than usual. A new resident has been added to the village. I did find the ending a bit tedious- wondering when they were going to figure this out, for Pete's sake. lol 

You know you have to read it if you are a Louise Penny fan. 

I read The Clockmaker's Wife by Daisy Wood. I believe this is the first book by this author. It is historical fiction but there is a mystery to it.

About: "London, 1940. Britain is gripped by the terror of the Blitz, forcing Nell Spelman to flee the capital with her young daughter – leaving behind her husband, Arthur, the clockmaker who keeps Big Ben chiming. 

When Arthur disappears, Nell is desperate to find him. But her search will lead her into far darker places than she ever imagined… 

New York, Present Day. When Ellie discovers a beautiful watch that had once belonged to a grandmother she never knew, she becomes determined to find out what happened to her. But as she pieces together the fragments of her grandmother’s life, she begins to wonder if the past is better left forgotten… "

I really enjoyed this story. It does go back and forth between 1940 and present day. We get pieces of Nell's story and then her granddaughter Ellie's quest to find our more about her family history. Her mother, Alice, has broken her hip and had to go into a nursing home for a bit to recover. Her mother doesn't seem to have much information to share about the watch, Nell and her life. And doesn't seem to want to share. Ellie decides to go to London and visit her Aunt Gillian and get some info. But Gillian is kind of cranky about the whole thing and tells her to leave it all alone. As it any good story Ellie does not leave it alone.

We had the final meeting of our Mystery Book Club. What a crazy year. We went from virtual meetings, with our leader of 13 years, bowing out. (Yes I mean you Kay). We then had a promise of returning to the library meeting room each month. With that promise and a librarian to help pick our monthly reads, I volunteered to moderate our group, going forward. Of course then our hopes were dashed, as they say, as a month later, as Delta came to town.  The librarian that was going to help me, transferred to another branch. The next librarian assigned to our group, did give me a few ideas for planning our books for a few months. And then she went on leave. Sigh

But never underestimate the power of books! We persevered, and found a park to meet in for the fall. We had about 10 people that showed up each time. Then the weather turned and we went back to Standard Time. It was too dark and cold for the park. One of the newer members offered her large living room for December, and again people showed up. She has volunteered her home for January again as there is still no word on the meeting room at the library.  So on we go, like nomads.  Take that Covid!

Here are some of the favorites of our MBC of 2021.

I am going to take a break from posting for a month or two. We are experiencing The Great Resignation at work, and it has been challenging and energy sapping. I will see what 2022 brings in the work arena. I will be reading more! New Years Resolution and the MBC will keep on. 

Enjoy your holidays.