Mysteries, Zombies, & More

Friday, January 9th, 2026 04:30 pm
[syndicated profile] smartbitches_feed

Posted by Amanda

Homemaker

RECOMMENDED: Homemaker by Ruthie Knox and Annie Mare is $2.49 at Amazon! Sarah reviewed this and gave it a B+:

Homemaker is extremely, vibrantly feminist, though Prairie is not so much angry all the time (she is sometimes) as she is fed up and unafraid to point out all of the ways that women’s perceptions, labor, and accomplishments are devalued – unless that women’s work makes the man in her life look good to other people.

When a former friend and devoted mother vanishes, a confident homemaker turned amateur sleuth follows an unexpected trail of scandals and secrets to find her.

Prairie Nightingale is both the midlife mother of two teenage girls and a canny entrepreneur who has turned homemaking into a salaried profession. She’s also fascinated with the gritty details of other people’s lives. So when seemingly perfect Lisa Radcliffe, a member of her former mom-friends circle, suddenly disappears, it’s in Prairie’s nature to find out why.

Given her innate talent for vital pattern recognition, Prairie is out to catch a few clues by taking a long, hard look at everyone in Lisa’s life—and uncovering their secrets. Including Lisa’s. Prairie’s dogged curiosity is especially irritating to FBI agent Foster Rosemare, the first interesting man Prairie has met since her divorce. His square jaw and sharp suits don’t hurt.

But even as the investigation begins to wreak havoc on Prairie’s carefully tended homelife, she’s resolved to use her multivalent homemaking skills to solve the mystery of a missing mom—and along the way discover the thrill of her new sleuthing ambitions.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

How to Solve Your Own Murder

How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin is $1.99! Sarah was curious about this one when it came out and mentioned it on Hide Your Wallet.

For fans of Knives Out and The Thursday Murder Club , an enormously fun mystery about a woman who spends her entire life trying to prevent her foretold murder only to be proven right sixty years later, when she is found dead in her sprawling country estate…. Now it’s up to her great-niece to catch the killer.

It’s 1965 and teenage Frances Adams is at an English country fair with her two best friends. But Frances’s night takes a hairpin turn when a fortune-teller makes a bone-chilling One day, Frances will be murdered. Frances spends a lifetime trying to solve a crime that hasn’t happened yet, compiling dirt on every person who crosses her path in an effort to prevent her own demise. For decades, no one takes Frances seriously, until nearly sixty years later, when Frances is found murdered, like she always said she would be.

In the present day, Annie Adams has been summoned to a meeting at the sprawling country estate of her wealthy and reclusive great-aunt Frances. But by the time Annie arrives in the quaint English village of Castle Knoll, Frances is already dead. Annie is determined to catch the killer, but thanks to Frances’s lifelong habit of digging up secrets and lies, it seems every endearing and eccentric villager might just have a motive for her murder. Can Annie safely unravel the dark mystery at the heart of Castle Knoll, or will dredging up the past throw her into the path of a killer?

As Annie gets closer to the truth, and closer to the danger, she starts to fear she might inherit her aunt’s fate instead of her fortune.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

Dating After the End of the World

Dating After the End of the World by Jeneva Rose is $2.49 at Amazon! I read this one last year and gave it a C. Did any of you also read this one? What did you think?

 

There’s nothing like the undead to bring the living together in an action-packed and apocalyptically romantic genre-shattering novel by a #1 New York Times bestselling author.

Casey Pearson grew up with a doomsday-prepping father. At eighteen, tired of living an unconventional life, she left home, vowing never to return.

More than a decade later, a mysterious viral outbreak changes everything, including the people it infects, turning them into zombielike creatures. It’s the end of the world, and no one saw it coming—well, except for Casey’s father. With no place left to run and danger lurking around every corner, Casey is forced to return home.

Upon arrival, she’s surprised to find that her dad has hunkered down with a group of survivors, including her archnemesis, Blake Morrison, the high school bully who made Casey’s teenage years a living hell.

While struggling to live on the compound, face outside threats, and survive alongside her handsome enemy, Casey will learn that although the world has ended, hers is just beginning.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

The Weaver Bride

The Weaver Bride by Lydia Gregovic is $2.99! I mentioned this on Hide Your wallet when it came out last September. I believe this one skews more YA.

A sweeping fantasy about a witch who must navigate a ruthless marriage competition—and try not to fall in love along the way. Part twisting mystery, part thrilling romance, The Weaver Bride is an unputdownable romantasy steeped in a lush magical world.

Lovett Tamerlane is a silkwitch. Like all girls of her kind, she holds a rare magic—a magic that can be harnessed only through marriage to a Weaver. But finding a Weaver husband requires status, refinement, and money, all of which Lovett sadly lacks. Her one secret ability, to open any door, is her saving grace. Hidden in plain sight, Lovett spends her days using her gift to steal from wealthy families and her nights avoiding the fate imposed on all unwed silkwitches: a life confined to the cloisters.

But opening doors can be dangerous, and when Lovett steals from the wrong person, she finds herself face to face with Eliot Lear, the notorious son of a prominent Weaver. It turns out Eliot’s been watching Lovett. He knows she’s a silkwitch, and he offers her a life-altering opportunity: entrance to the Vainglory, a competition with the ultimate prize—marriage to Noé Alaire, heir to generations of Weaver wealth. The catch? Last year, the Vainglory ended in tragedy. The winner died. And the winner was Eliot’s sister.

The arrangement is simple: If Lovett solves the mystery of Ophelia Lear’s death and unmasks her killer, Eliot will ensure she has her pick of Weaver suitors, regardless of who wins the competition. Yet unraveling Ophelia’s murder proves far more complicated than either of them anticipated. And Lovett should know better than to take a Weaver at his word.

After all . . . what is love without betrayal?

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

Old school cool.

Friday, January 9th, 2026 01:18 pm
soemand: (Default)
[personal profile] soemand

Retro livery and plane at lhr a few years ago.

A few things lately noted

Friday, January 9th, 2026 03:28 pm
oursin: Painting of Clio Muse of History by Artemisia Gentileschi (Clio)
[personal profile] oursin

Steps towards identifying new Black voters in 18th-century Westminster and Hertfordshire, way back in 1700s, when being able to vote meant having certain property qualifications e.g. being a householder.

***

What did the Romans ever do for us? Not so much of the benefits we're always told: Urban populations in southern Britain experienced a decline in health that lasted for generations after the Romans arrived.

***

The history of mutual aid organisations: Prior to the development of government and employer health insurance and financial services, friendly or ‘benevolent’ societies were an important part of many people’s lives.

***

There are no pure cultures: All of our religions, stories, languages and norms were muddled and mixed through mobility and exchange throughout history (and I don't seem to have saved the links about the numbers of immigrants in medieval England....)

***

This is an older link I don't think I ever posted: Vitriol to Corrosive Fluid: ‘Acid’ Assault in the Twentieth Century:

There seems to have been a spike in cases in the late 1960s, but the pattern established in the nineteenth century was clearly at an end. With fewer cases occurring, and fewer making headline news, the incidence of this unique offence continued to fall until its reappearance in a different guise in the twenty-first century. However, the ongoing digitization of late twentieth-century newspapers may yet reveal further cases.

(no subject)

Friday, January 9th, 2026 06:52 pm
abuela: (Default)
[personal profile] abuela
*****

сегодня до меня дошло (неделю спустя, Холмс!) что мой аккаунт оплачен только на месяц, а не на год. Потому что 2026 это текущий, а не следующий))) Ну и ладно, всё равно приятно))

*****

Гита стала ужасно вредной. Сухой корм, который я ей даю, с удовольствием пожирают все животные в окрестностях, причём в лежалом виде. Гита съедает только то, что насыпано в миску вот только что, при ней. Если не доест -- всё, можно убирать остатки, отдавать "дворовым". Будет игнорировать эти остатки, воротить нос, ходить за мной и заглядывать в глаза, жалобно мявчить, страдать, изображая умирающую от голода. Но есть не будет.
С другой стороны, когда я уехала на двое суток (планировались одни сутки, но вы помните, мне пришлось задержаться)), она прекрасно выжрала всё насыпанное дочиста. И ничего, что оно долго лежало.
А если я тут, есть не будет, будет страдать.
Вот же зараза какая.
И она не толстеет совсем, все те же кости сквозь шкуру прощупываются, глажу и рыдаю.

*****

у другой соседки живёт молодой рыжий кот. Она весной взяла полугодовалого котёнка, он подрос за лето, красавец невозможный. Масть рыжая-полосатая, слегка пушистый где надо, на шее шикарный белый воротник, носочки, подусники белые, глаза зелёные. Вот прямо ни в сказке сказать, ни пером описать. Одно портит -- хвост раненый -- видно, маленьким сильно поранился, и с тех пор посреди хвоста шрам/проплешина, шерсть не растёт, жалко. Но ему это не мешает. Игривый, активный, мышелов. Дружит с белым котом (ну они примерно ровесники), гоняют вместе по огородам друг за другом.
Моя Гита их обоих сторонится и шипит)) но забавно так три цвета собрались в одном большом дворе -- чёрный, белый и рыжий.

Ответ на кубрайку

Friday, January 9th, 2026 04:29 pm
natalia_il_1992: (Default)
[personal profile] natalia_il_1992
Почему не говорят " повар комаров", но говорят...?

ОТВЕТ: кокос

ПОЯСНЕНИЯ: повар — кок, комаров — ос.
james_davis_nicoll: (Default)
[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll


In which Hisako Ichiki meets her stalker and the shadowy cult Children of the Atom discovers the Peter Principle.

Children of the Atom (Ultimate X‑Men, volume 2) by Peach Momoko

Absolute Batman #15

Friday, January 9th, 2026 07:30 am
cyberghostface: (Joker)
[personal profile] cyberghostface posting in [community profile] scans_daily


“The Joker to me is always the opposite of Batman. So if Absolute Batman is this thing, Joker would become a billionaire with all the resources, who is telling Bruce, ‘Well, you’re not going to become anything,’ and then it becomes, who would he put in Batman’s way? Well, Joker plays both sides, so he creates crime and creates the means to stop crime. He’s always playing us, and the Joker issue explains what a clown is and why the Joker loves them… If Bruce is Joker now, and he is chaos and he is disruption, then Joker is the system and order. That means Joker would have a Batcave, he would have a mansion, he would be handsome, and be a socialite. Maybe he has Robins!” -- Scott Snyder

Scans under the cut... )

January 2026

S M T W T F S
     1 2 3
4 5 678 910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031

Most Popular Tags

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags