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Sunday, July 21, 2024

Stacking the Shelves #32

 


Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Reality. It's a place to showcase any books I have purchased, borrowed, or been lucky enough to have been given an advance copy of. Hope you find something that looks interesting to you or that makes you remember a favorite book you need to finish. Enjoy your reading this week!





This book is part of a series called Mamur Zapt Mysteries. I plan to read book one soon but this one was on sale this week. The author, Michael Pearce was born in Egypt in 1933 and he uses Cairo as the setting for this series. I found the premise so interesting when I researched it. The Mamur Zapt was the name for the special investigator of the British government in pre-World War Egypt. The protagonist of the novels is a Welshman who investigates the political more than the procedural and so the books focus on both aspects. This series looks very original and I hope to learn a lot too reading some of these mysteries! Not sure if they qualify as cozy though. 





This is just a beautiful cover and it really caught my eye. It's book one in the Miss Dido Kent series. The story takes place in 1805 and seems like a mystery that might be solved by a Jane Austen character. It was on sale and I snapped it up for 99 cents. Dido Kent is described as a "spinster aunt" who is called in to solve the crime and that sounds a lot like Miss Marple from Agatha Christie mysteries. 




Is it ever too early for Christmas books? Yes, I am on a definite mystery kick this year and this is one of my favorite new cozy series. It was available for a steal on Kindle and I can't wait to read and review it this winter. I will probably wait until November as there are so many books ahead of it to get to. I've read the first two books in the series and the unusual setting of Ceylon (present day Sri Lanka) is fascinating. 

The author really knows the time and place. It's the 1930's and Inspector DeSilva and his English born wife Jane live in the quaint fictional town of Nuala and are an adorable couple. These books will make you smile but also have just the right touch of suspense to make them a bit dark at times. I like that combination if things work out in the end!



 


2 comments:

  1. I have read Bellfield Hall (which was published as A Moment of Silence here in the UK) and I remember enjoying it. Dido Kent is a great character. I wanted to continue with the series, but forgot about it!

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  2. I am glad you liked the Dido Kent one. I want to read it, it looks very original!

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