The Lady from Burma by Allison Montclair

December 29, 2023

The Lady from Burma by Allison Montclair

Iris Sparks and Gwen Bainbridge operate The Right Sort Marriage Bureau. While they have their share of unusual clients, their most recent client is one of the strangest. She is terminally ill, and she wants Sparks and Bainbridge to find a wife for her husband, so that he won't be alone after she dies. But then their client is found dead in a wooded area. Suicide or murder?

The fifth mystery in the Sparks & Bainbridge series. The mystery is clever, but I have to say, I find Gwen and her crying and her ongoing tribulations, to be rather boring, and I wish the author would write her out of the series. I tend to skim over the parts about Gwen and the lunacy court, her interactions with her nasty in-laws, her unethical lawyers, the greedy board members at her late husband's company, etc. Everybody is out to get Gwen. Iris Sparks is a lot more interesting. 3 stars because of Gwen's constant weeping.

Coleoptera (beetle), which plays a part in the story

Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce

November 2, 2020

Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce

(Yes, this is a title that I read in 2020.  I'm going to try to catch up the blog with the books that I've read in the past year and a half.  Before I had my hip done, it was too painful to sit at my laptop for any length of time, so the reviews didn't get done.  But I have the whole list of what I read - I'm obsessive/compulsive that way.)

In  post-World War II London, an unmarried middle-aged teacher decides to go search for a mythical beetle that has fascinated her since childhood.  She sets out for New Caledonia with a traveling companion who could not be more different from her, except that she too is at a crossroad in her life.  Although they have different reasons and goals, the two women must learn to trust and depend on each other, and an unlikely friendship develops.

This is a heartwarming historical novel in the same vein as the author's previous work The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry  It reminds the reader that the journey is often more important than the destination or the conclusion.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC.