ANOTHER COZY MYSTERY — MARCH 29

 

Lately I’ve been so busy with my other reading challenges:  TBR, Chunkster, and Eclectic….that I’ve almost neglected my Cozy Challenge.

So here’s another book I just downloaded to help me get back on track:  Mimosas, Mischief, & Murder fits right in with this blog, don’t you think?

Rosett’s winning sixth Ellie Avery mystery (after 2010′s Mint Juleps, Mayhem, and Murder) takes amateur sleuth Ellie, husband Mitch, and their two kids to Smarr, Ala., Mitch’s hometown, where they’re first slammed with the news of the sudden death of Mitch’s elderly grandfather, Grandpa Franklin. When someone breaks into the late gentleman’s home, the police are reluctant to confirm a burglary. Even after Grandpa and casket go missing, the authorities insist there’s nothing further to investigate. Complications arise after the stranger who attended Grandpa’s funeral turns out to be the corpse Ellie finds in Grandpa’s guest room. The strange behavior of Uncle Bud and Felicity, the wife of Mitch’s favorite cousin, has Ellie considering adding relatives to her list of suspicious characters. A rumor of hidden money, secret letters from a famous recluse, a fire, a threatening message, and a crazed gunman add to the cozy mischief….

I’m curious about how mimosas fit into this tale, but I guess I’ll find out!

What guilty pleasures are you enjoying today?  Is it something bookish, or something entirely different?

PLEASURABLE MOMENTS, NEAR MISSES, AND THE ABSENCE OF GUILT — MARCH 10

Guilty pleasures don’t have to be mimosas…or even chocolates.

They can be cozy interiors and curling up to read in them.  Especially on a Saturday. 

Do you think of Saturdays as a day for chores or errands?

I love being able to dismiss those chores and errands for a good book.  Or just to visit lots of blogs.

Today I’m reading a wonderful memoir by a favorite author. In Anna Quindlen’s Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake , we “hear” Quindlen’s unique voice as she reminisces about youth, aging, and the near misses of life.

Sometimes the road not taken is a near miss.  What disasters might have awaited us if we’d turned left instead of right?  What if we hadn’t gone to that particular party, or attended that college?

I know that I often ponder these things.  In 1970, a friend persuaded me to attend a party that I thought might not be such a good idea.  But I went, all dressed up in my “hippie” garb…and met my second husband.

Yes, I know that the marriage didn’t last.  But it did go on for almost ten years and produced two wonderful children.  And the grandchildren!  Bliss….

So I wouldn’t change a thing about that night.  Or even the subsequent years, but I do wish I’d shown a bit more dignity along the way…lol

The other thing that Quindlen talks about is the “illusion of control.”  We think that, if we do this or do that, we will have control.  But there is very little we can control.  I’ve learned, over the years, that I can really only control inanimate objects…or my attitude and reaction to things.

But lest we veer away from pleasures, I love visiting my stylist every four weeks to “invigorate” my hairstyle.

The other day, I was perusing old photo albums and looking at pictures of me back in the day.  Who did that woman’s hair?   That thought crossed my mind, and I had to share it with my stylist.  Who, incidentally, is my daughter.

Who knew that the little pre-teen girl on the left would grow up and take mercy on me and my locks?

She has the stylin’ thing goin’ on here:

Heather and a co-worker

Oh, and lest you think that I’ve been totally lazy today, I did go outdoors and clean off the patio.  But just so I can loll about there later, with a glass of wine and a good book.

Where do your guilty pleasures take you?  What special moments do you enjoy on a Saturday?