Friday Memes: Secrets of the Lost Ledgers by C. J. Archer

 Happy Friday!

Book Beginnings is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader. She asks that the first sentence is posted along with the author and title of the book and the reader's initial thoughts on the sentence, the book, or anything else it inspires. 

Carrie at Reading Is My Superpower.org also provides a linky for sharing first lines and connecting with others. This meme asks that the chosen books be PG or marked as Mature if they are not. 

Beginning:

I'd spent a lifetime studying the faces of men I passed in the street, looking for any resemblance to my own. Although I had my mother's gray eyes and small stature, my fair coloring must have come from my father. 

Friday 56:

"I didn't keep my late husband's records or papers after he died. I am sorry."

This week I am spotlighting the fifth book in The Glass Library series. Secrets of the Lost Ledgers by C. J. Archer is historical fantasy. I've been enjoying this series from the beginning and am eager to read this episode. 

Here's the description from Amazon:

An invisible message from a dead man resurrects a decades-old mystery.

With her sharpened magical senses, Sylvia recognizes invisible writing while cataloging an obscure book for the library. She’s shocked to discover the message, written many years earlier, pleaded for help. She’s even more shocked to discover the author of the message was married to a paper magician. Could there be a connection to Sylvia’s father?

With a magical mystery on her hands, Sylvia engages the help of Gabe Glass, and together they follow the clues to the location of two hidden ledgers that implicate a very dangerous individual in an illegal bookmaking scheme. Although not named, Gabe is convinced he knows who the bookmaker is, and sets out to prove it.

The investigation draws them into the shady underbelly of the horseracing industry and uncovers a link to Gabe’s parents that takes everyone by surprise. As they unravel the mystery’s tangled threads, unexpected twists and turns lead them to the truth.

But the greatest twist of all is the danger no one saw coming.

Audiobook Review: Shattered by Dick Francis

Shattered
Author: Dick Francis
Narrator: Fiacre Douglas
Publication: Brilliance Audio (August 21. 2008)
Length: 6 hours and 23 minutes

Description: When jockey Martin Stukely dies after a fall at Cheltenham, he accidentally embroils his friend Gerard Logan in a perilous search for a stolen videotape. Logan is a glassblower on the verge of widespread acclaim. Long accustomed to the frightful dangers inherent in molten glass and in maintaining a glassmaking furnace at never less than 1800 degrees Fahrenheit, Logan is suddenly faced with terrifying threats to his business, his courage, and his life.

Believing that the missing video holds the key to a priceless treasure, and wrongly convinced that Logan knows where to find it, criminal forces set out to press him for information he doesn't have. To survive, he realizes that he himself must sort out the truth. The final race to the tape throws more hazards in Logan's way than his dead jockey friend could ever have imagined.

Glass shatters. Logan doesn't...but it's a close-run thing.

My Thoughts: Glassblower Gerard Logan finds himself in the middle of a mystery when his friend jockey Martin Stukely dies at Cheltenham. Martin had given his friend Gerard a videotape to take care of since he had a nosy wife and four curious children. 

Unfortunately, Gerard loses the tape when his shop is entered, and the tape and his day's take is stolen. What makes it even more unfortunate is that those who want the tape don't believe that Gerard doesn't know where it is. 

Gerard has two problems. The first is identifying who wants the tape enough to hurt him and search his home for it. Second, he needs to know what is on the tape. Finding it would be good too. He gathers friends as he searches including a new girlfriend in the form of the police officer who first appears to document the shop break-in and thefts. 

As he searches, he comes ever closer to answering all of his questions. But someone has to die before all the answers are found. 

This was another excellent mystery by Dick Francis. As in many, he builds a strong, smart hero. This one also had all sorts of interesting facts about glassmaking. 

I bought this Chirp audiobook October 3, 2025. You can buy your copy here.

Book Review: On Basilisk Station by David Weber

On Basilisk Station
Author: David Weber
Series: Honor Harrington (Book 1)
Publication: Baen Books (December 21, 2012)

Description: INTRODUCING HONOR HARRINGTON

Having made him look a fool, she's been exiled to Basilisk Station in disgrace and set up for ruin by a superior who hates her.

Her demoralized crew blames her for their ship's humiliating posting to an out-of-the-way picket station.

The aborigines of the system's only habitable planet are smoking homicide-inducing hallucinogens.

Parliament isn't sure it wants to keep the place; the major local industry is smuggling; the merchant cartels want her head; the star-conquering, so-called "Republic" of Haven is Up To Something; and Honor Harrington has a single, over-age light cruiser with an armament that doesn't work to police the entire star system.

But the people out to get her have made one mistake. They've made her mad.

My Thoughts: Honor Harrington finds herself captain to a ship recently "improved" by Horrible Hemphill and with an Executive Officer who resents her youth and that she jumped over him to captain the ship. Her tactical genius lets her win once in the war games designed to test the new weapon on her ship, but further games show the weaknesses of the weapon and her ship is killed again and again.

Having made Hemphill look bad, she is assigned to an out of the way outpost called Basilisk Station. Unknown to her, the People's Republic of Haven has designs on Basilisk Station and its very lucrative gate. But worse than that, Honor finds herself under the command of a man who tried to rape her when she was a midshipman at the naval academy and who was soundly beaten by her and forced to make a public apology. His powerful allies kept him in the Navy, but he has vowed revenge on Honor. 

Lord Pavel Young sees his opportunity for his revenge when Honor arrives. He declares that his ship is in need of vital repairs and leaves her in her single, oddly weaponed ship to protect the area. Basilisk Station is sort of a political football. A substantial percent of the government doesn't want to keep it at all. Its major industry seems to be smuggling. And the only habitable planet has aliens with a Bronze age culture. At least it did until outside influences introduced flintlocks and encouraged the production of a hallucinogen that ramps up aggression. 

Honor isn't going to fail at her command. She works closely with the governor of the planet and clamps down on the smuggling even though it angers the wealthiest man on Manticore. And she figures out Haven's plans for the area which leads to a pitched space battle. 

This was an excellent introduction to a series that has grown into more than 40 books if all the various subseries set in the same world are counted. It is the very definition of space opera filled with larger-than-life characters and fantastic weapons. It has lots and lots of space battles and political maneuvering. The stories are told from multiple viewpoints.

I bought this one before I began keeping track of purchases in 2008. More recently I purchased the Kindle book in 2011 and the audiobook in 2020.  You can buy your copy here or check get it at Baen Books Free Library.

Book Review: Challenges by David Weber

Challenges
Author: David Weber et al.
Series: Honor Harrington - Worlds of Honor (Book 8)
Publication: Baen Books (November 4, 2025)

Description: THE HOTTEST MILITARY SCIENCE FICTION SERIES OF ALL TIME CONTINUES WITH A COLLECTION OF TALES SET IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE STAR KINGDOM OF DAVID WEBER’S NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING HONORVERSE

In Honor Harrington’s day, the Star Kingdom of Manticore is the wealthiest star nation on a per capita basis in the entire galaxy. It is home to magnificent cities. Its planets’ oceans and seas—and skies—are open to its people, yet they have maintained the beauty and the magnificence of their natural habitats.

But that was not always true. Pioneers, especially interstellar pioneers, must be tough, smart, and self-reliant, and the people who built the Star Kingdom knew that. They prepared carefully for their enormous voyage, incorporated every measure they could think of, and even so, their new worlds did their best to kill them all. They very nearly succeeded, as the Plague Years pushed the human interlopers to the very brink of survival, forcing them to grow and change in ways they never could have anticipated.

In the process, they became the people who could one day produce Honor Harrington, Elizabeth Winton, and the remarkable people willing to stand in the path of the People’s Republic of Haven’s insatiable advance . . . and then to ally with the Republic, when both of them learned who their true enemy was. In many ways, that fortitude was the inevitable result of a star nation that learned early on that what truly matters is the way one faces the challenges the universe throws at one.These are the stories of people who learned that lesson, and met—and triumphed—over every challenge of their new homes.

All original stories by: David Weber, Marisa Wolf, Jacob Holo, Dan Butler, Thomas Pope, and Jane Lindskold.

My Thoughts: This eighth collection in the Worlds of Honor series includes five stories by a variety of authors who play around in the world created by David Weber including Weber himself.

One Controllable Step by Marisa Wolf -- In the very earliest years of settlement on Manticore a plague nearly wipes out the population. This is the story of some of the doctors sent from the planet of Beowulf who need to find a cure.

Deadly Delusions by Jane Lindskold -- This story also occurs early in Manticore's history. Stephanie Harrington has bonded with her treecat and another young woman is jealous of her and wants a treecat of her own. She and her sister play dangerous pranks at a nearby research station with different goals. The older sister is angry that they fired her after getting the plant set up; the younger believes the station is interfering with her beloved treecats. 

The Great Condiment Caper by Jacob Holo and Thomas Pope -- Even the greatest heroes of Manticore's history are ensigns at one time. This is the story of Ensign Edward Saganami on his first tour. He's assigned to Stores and needs to track down a missing case of barbecue sauce before Chicken Finger Friday is ruined. 

XO by Daniel Allen Butler -- This is another story about the younger days of a character seen later in the series. Lieutenant Commander D'Orville assumes command of a ship when her captain is disabled by a medical emergency. The mission is to keep track of bad actors in nearby systems. When she spots pirates attacking a slaver, she has to decide which orders to follow - the ones she swore an oath to when she was commissioned, or the ones given her by the politically driven command. 

Crystal Singer's Song by David Weber - This is also a story from the earliest years. In the early days of the Forest Service, a young woman is tasked with bringing emergency supplies to a remote homestead during a storm. Her ship goes off course and crashes into a remote island. There she discovers treecats and calls them treefoxes. She is marooned but not alone since the treecats befriend her. She spends the rest of her life there teaching the treecats to make effective tools, plant gardens, net fish and fire pottery. She would be lost to history if one of treecats' memory singers didn't recover that deeply buried memory and share it with Lady Dame Honor Alexander-Harrington, Duchess and Steadholder Harrington.

All of the stories were excellent. Crystal Singer's Song brought me to tears.

I bought this one November 4. You can buy your copy here.

Audiobook Review: Big Jack by Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb

Big Jack
Author: J. D. Robb
Narrator: Susan Ericksen
Series: In Death
Publication: Brilliance Audio (February 23, 2010)
Length: 8 hours and 20 minutes

Description: In New York City in 2059, someone is pursuing missing gems from a decades-old heist…someone who’s willing to kill for them. Sharp-witted and sexy, NYPSD Lieutenant Eve Dallas is used to traveling in the shadowy corners outside the law. And in a future where crime meets cutting-edge technology, she will attempt to track down the diamonds once and for all—and stop the danger and death that have surrounded the jewels for years.

My Thoughts: A jewel theft more than 50 years earlier and the novel that is written about it are the keys to this Eve Dallas futuristic mystery. 

Sam Gannon has written a best-selling novel about the jewel theft that brought her grandparents together more than fifty years earlier. The kicker is that one quarter of the diamonds were never recovered which excites modern day treasure hunters. 

When Sam returns from a whirlwind book tour, she discovers the body of her friend and house sitter who was brutally murdered. Eve Dallas gets the case and soon has to look into who killed the house sitter and why. 

The diamonds quickly become the motive requiring Eve, Roarke, Feeney and the rest of Eve's team to investigate a crime that occurred before any of them were born. A second murder, that of the woman who was Sam's housecleaner, adds to the mystery. 

This was another excellent adventure in the In Death series. Roberts has also written HOT ROCKS which tells the story of the jewel theft and investigation into it which also details the romance of the couple who will become Sam's grandparents. 

I bought this one June 5, 2025. You can buy your copy here.

Book Review: The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House by Kate Andersen Brower

The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House
Author: Kate Andersen Brower
Publication: Harper Paperbacks (March 8, 2016)

Description: A remarkable history with elements of both In the President’s Secret Service and The Butler, The Residence offers an intimate account of the service staff of the White House, from the Kennedys to the Obamas.

America’s First Families are unknowable in many ways. No one has insight into their true character like the people who serve their meals and make their beds every day. In her runaway bestseller, former White House correspondent Kate Andersen Brower pulls back the curtain on the world’s most famous address. Full of stories and details by turns dramatic, humorous, and heartwarming, The Residence reveals daily life in the White House as it is really lived through the voices of the maids, butlers, cooks, florists, doormen, engineers, and others who tend to the needs of the President and First Family.

These dedicated professionals maintain the six-floor mansion’s 132 rooms, 35 bathrooms, 28 fireplaces, three elevators, and eight staircases, and prepare everything from hors d’oeuvres for intimate gatherings to meals served at elaborate state dinners. Over the course of the day, they gather in the lower level’s basement kitchen to share stories, trade secrets, forge lifelong friendships, and sometimes even fall in love.

Combining incredible first-person anecdotes from extensive interviews with scores of White House staff members—many speaking for the first time—with archival research, Kate Andersen Brower tells their story. She reveals the intimacy between the First Family and the people who serve them, as well as tension that has shaken the staff over the decades. From the housekeeper and engineer who fell in love while serving President Reagan to Jackie Kennedy’s private moment of grief with a beloved staffer after her husband’s assassination to the tumultuous days surrounding President Nixon’s resignation and President Clinton’s impeachment battle, The Residence is full of surprising and moving details that illuminate day-to-day life at the White House.

My Thoughts: Kate Andersen Brower interviewed many White House staff members to write this story about what it is like to work in the White House and interact with the First Family. She interviews people who worked in the White House from the days of the Kennedys to the Obamas. 

I was astonished to learn that the White House has 132 room, 35 bathrooms, three elevators, and eight staircases. There are six floors including a couple of mezzanines. There is a large staff of butlers, maids, cooks, florists, electricians, painters and many more people who try to keep life smooth for the First Families who live in the house. 

The staff are the ones who stay on. The First Families are renters with four or eight year leases or sometimes less. I was surprised to learn that staff positions were often held by members of the same family. I think there were five generations of Ficklins who all served at the White House. I liked the close relationships and friendships developed among those who worked at the White House. I liked reading about their dedication and pride in their jobs. 

I was amazed at the way the staff transitioned on inauguration days to make the changeover in families so smooth. I found it hard to believe that the staff could pack up one family's belongings and unpack and set up for the new family in just a matter of hours. I enjoyed the stories about how the various presidents and first ladies were as employers. 

I liked the insights into the private lives of some of the presidents, first ladies, and children who lived in the White House. 

This was a fascinating insight into the behind the scenes at a very public place. 

I bought this one March 19, 2017. You can buy your copy here.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (December 8, 2025)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date.

It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week.  It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

Want to See What I Added to My Stack? links to Stacking the Shelves hosted by Marlene at Reading Reality.

Other Than Reading...

Happy December! We are looking nice and wintery. We added another inch of snow over the past week to add to the 14 inches we got around Thanksgiving. Our high temperature of the week was 21F and our low was -12F. I didn't leave the house at all this week. 

I had a goal of not buying anything new this week but then Audible had a really, really good sale and my goal was abandoned. I really enjoy books by Jayne Ann Krentz (131 books) whether she's writing as herself or Amanda Quick (64 books) or Jayne Castle (71 books) or Stephanie James (28 books). I have almost all of her books on my Keeper shelves. I might be missing a couple of the ones she wrote as Jayne Bentley in the late 1970s. I discovered her in 1981 when she wrote one of the first books in the Silhouette Desire imprint and have been reading and collecting her ever since. When I saw a whole bunch offered for less than $5 each, I couldn't pass up adding a few. 

I'm also trying to read the earlier Meg Langslow humorous mysteries since I just began reading them with a review copy in 2021. That was the 29th in the series. I added the next two on my reading stack (books 23 and 25) as audiobooks since they were on sale. Maybe I'll finally catch up in 2026. Of course, then I'll have to work on catching up on David Rosenfelt's Andy Carpenter series, but I'm farther behind on that series.

This week should be like last week. I'll stay home and read or listen. 

November Reading

I read 42 books in November. Thirty-three were mine including 17 audiobooks. Twenty-two of the books came from my TBR stack. Eleven of the audiobooks were rereads. I read nine review copies in November. 

I added 35 books to my LibraryThing account including six audiobooks and 9 review copies. I used three Audible credits and used three Kindle Rewards discounts. I took advantage of 10 BookBub offers and 2 Kindle Daily Deals. Fourteen of the books are still marked TBR.

Eight of my new additions are marked as rereads including both the Kindle and Audiobook copies of Anne Bishop's Turns of Fate. Another reread is Laurie King's latest Knave of Diamonds. I also bought the Kindle and Audible copies of that one. The other rereads are Kindle copies of books I either own or remember reading years ago and want to read again.

I have 8233 books in my LibraryThing account. Of course, this does include 829 books in my Read but Unowned collection. These are review books. I make a point of deleting the ebook files for books I've reviewed from NetGalley after I have read and reviewed them. I still keep track of them in my LibraryThing account because I often need to refresh my memory if I'm offered a sequel or something else by the same author. 

I currently have 2701 books in my To Read collection. 

Read Last Week

• Wreck Your Heart by Lori Rader-Day (Review, January 6) -- Contemporary mystery told in the first person by a character with a unique voice. My review will be posted on January 3.
• Axe and Grind by Taylor Hutton (Review, January 6) -- Dual narrative romantic suspense. Very complex characters. My review will be posted on January 1.
• The Shop on Hidden Lane by Jayne Ann Krentz (Review, January 6) -- Paranormal romantic suspense. My review will be posted on December 30.

• Wildwood by Amy Pease (Review, January 6) -- Second mystery set in rural Wisconsin. Complex, engaging characters. My review will be posted on December 31.
• The Storm by Rachel Hawkins (Review, January 6) -- Couldn't-put-it-down Contemporary Gothic thriller. My review will be posted on January 1.

• Ceremony in Death by J. D. Robb (Audiobook Reread) -- Book 5 in the In Death series
• Vengeance in Death by J. D. Robb (Audiobook Reread) -- Book 6 in the In Death series
• Holiday in Death by J. D. Robb (Audiobook Reread) -- Book 7 in the In Death series

• Conspiracy in Death by J. D. Robb (Audiobook Reread) -- Book 8 in the In Death series
• Loyalty in Death by J. D. Robb (Audiobook Reread) -- Book 9 in the In Death series
• Witness in Death by J. D. Robb (Audiobook Reread) -- Book 10 in the In Death series

Currently

• A Deadly Clue by Victoria Gilbert (Review, January 13)
• Judgment in Death by J. D. Robb (Audiobook Reread) -- Book 11 in the In Death series

Next Week

• The Lust Crusade by Jo Segura (Review, January 13)
• The Bookbinder's Secret by A. D. Bell (Review, January 13)
• Detour by Jeff Rake & Rob Hart (Review, January 13)

• Inside Man by John McMahon (Review, January 13)
• Toucan Keep a Secret by Donna Andrews (Audiobook, Mine since December 5)
• The River Knows by Amanda Quick (Audiobook, Mine since October 3)

Reviews Posted

• A Grave Deception by Connie Berry (Review copy)
• The Elusive Bride by Stephanie Laurens (Mine)
• Bleeding Heart Yard by Ellie Griffiths (Mine)

• Lark! The Herald Angels Sing by Donna Andrews (Audiobook)
• Second Sight by Amada Quick (Audiobook)
• Killer Instinct by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (Audiobook)

Want to See What I Added to My Stack Last Week?

Review:

• The Whisking Hour by Ellie Alexander (Review, February 24)
• The Escape Game by Marissa Meyer & Tamara Moss (Review, April 7)

• The Cupid Dilemma by April Asher (Review, May 12)
• Ode to the Bones by Carolyn Haines (Review, May 26)

Bought:

• Sisters in the Wind by Angeline Boulle (Kindle, Kindle Rewards, $11.99)
• Secret Sisters by Jayne Ann Krentz (Audible Sale, $2.41)
• Falling Awake by Jayne Ann Krentz (Audible Sale, $3.13)

• Smoke in Mirrors by Jayne Ann Krentz (Audible Sale, $3.01)
• Lost & Found by Jayne Ann Krentz (Audible Sale, $2.80)
• Eclipse Bay by Jayne Ann Krentz (Audible Sale, $2.45)

• Dawn in Eclipse Bay by Jayne Ann Krentz (Audible Sale, $2.45)
• Summer in Eclipse Bay by Jayne Ann Krentz (Audible Sale, $2.41)
• Trust No One by Jayne Ann Krentz (Audible Sale, $2.41)

• When All the Girls Have Gone by Jayne Ann Krentz (Audible Sale, $3.13)
• Toucan Keep a Secret by Donna Andrews (Audible Sale, $6.10)
• Terns of Endearment by Donna Andrews (Audible Sale, $6.10)

What was your week like?