December Monthly Blog
I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving
Oh my, this is the last month of 2024, and my book is yet to be published, I’m angst-ing over my second book’s direction, and I still haven’t learned to play chess. These were all goals for the year. Of course, it wasn’t a contest for me. Afterall, I’m retired. However, for some it is a contest. Apparently the international chess championship is taking place right now. “The match is currently taking place between 25 November and 13 December 2024, with Singapore chosen as the host country for the match. It will be played to a best of 14 games, with tiebreaks if required. The score is currently level at 2½–2½, with Ding and Gukesh each having won one game (Google).” I can’t imagine the nerves these two men must have, but I’d be a total wreck. As it is, I still haven’t learned to play backgammon, and I understand that the game is easy to catch onto. I did look at the sets on Mark and Graham since I get mail from them at least twice a day. They’re enormously expensive. “Oh no,” I said to myself. “This will never do.” I suspect that I could make my own board and use buttons for markers. We used to do that when I was a kid and one of the little girls had colored all over the board and lost some of the pieces. Moving a checker piece with a button on it proved to be quite effective as a king. I’ll put the backgammon on my list of things to do. It can go above chess since chess is harder.
Speaking of lists, I don’t know about you, but I have scraps of paper with lists all over the place. Some of the scraps are attractive stickies and others are simply the backs of envelopes. All of them are deemed important. There’s the list for greeting cards separated by holiday specific celebrations, then there’s the list for yearly greetings, the list for things to do in preparation for inviting people over, the list of people for the invitations, the list of people to call, a shopping list for aforementioned invites, and the shopping list for this week, much less the present list, the list of crafty stuff to finish off a couple of the presents, the list of books to read, and the calendar appointments. December is the month of lists.
Books I’m Reading
I finished reading Murder on “B” Deck by Vincent Starrett. It was published in 1929 and is the first of three Walter Ghost mysteries. Ghost is an amateur detective who is a retired intelligence officer. He’s friends with a younger man, a novelist, Dunsten Mollock. Mollock is aboard the ship Latakia accidentally. He was supposed to leave the ship when the last warning bell was rung but took too long trying to find his sister who was sailing on her honeymoon to Cherbourg from NYC. Mollock had intended to give her a book of his to read on the trip. Mollock is able to book a passage and is thus able to help Ghost solve the mystery of the countess who was murdered in her stateroom. There are apt descriptions of the people on board who form their own community of concerned travelers: gossiping, worrying, and being scared that each may be the focus of the murderer. Starrett does a wonderful job of capturing the different ship classes and how they’re kept apart. It’s a novel of its time, but a classic mystery and one that will be enjoyed. Try it.
Misty Simon has just published Diners, Drive-ins, and Lies. I have only recently started it and it’s a fun read so far. Jax Tapman is the main character and finds a body behind her Aunt Hildy’s diner. Jax naively figures that in a small town where everyone knows her she wouldn’t be considered the murderer – but she is. Who steps in to help her but her Aunt Hildy’s new cook who just happens to be a former police officer (go know!!). Misty has visited our group before, and I am now anxious to invite her back to do a second round. Her books always get high ratings and are delightful. I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the book.
Don’t forget, Kathy Manos Penn’s Manuscripts, Meows, and Murder is coming out in April 2025. Look for it on Kindle so far. She’s another author Tahlia and I are contacting to speak again. She has a lovely newsletter and writes about her animals with a great sense of humor. We loved her the first time; I hope she’s available for a second go round.
Reminders
We now have over 575 members of our club. Where are you folks? Come to a meeting! Sign up for our blog. Try your hand at one of our games and let us know if the fun items on our blogsite are actually fun!
Our next meeting is December 22nd at 2:00 Pacific on Zoom. You’ll find the Zoom link on your Meetup site if you RSVP. We’re reading Sophie Hannah’s Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night. After we discuss the book, we’re playing Scrabble. Get ready folks—the competition is keen! Please come.