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News horrible, let's talk books
Everything is terrible so I'll tell you about the book I read this morning.
I preordered The Missing Page by Cat Sebastian, #2 in her Page and Sommers mystery series. For reasons having to do with Evil Empire shenanigans, I was able to download the book on Thursday although its listed release date is this upcoming Tuesday.
Anyway, The Missing Page is a totally delightful queer subversion of the cozy mystery genre. In post-WWII Britain, country doctor James Sommers is called down to Cornwall for his estranged uncle's funeral. His variously terrible family members gather there, where they are asked to solve the mystery of a cousin lost two decades before. With the help of Leo Page, spy and also James's lover of two months, James sets out to discover what happened to cousin Rose.
So far, so standard. But Sebastian takes this pile of tropes and turns them all sideways. The romance and mystery plots come together in a story about how, when the family you start with is awful, the family you build can be there instead. Highly recommended. (And talk to me once you read it, because everything I really want to say here is a spoiler!)
Meanwhile, what should I read next?
I preordered The Missing Page by Cat Sebastian, #2 in her Page and Sommers mystery series. For reasons having to do with Evil Empire shenanigans, I was able to download the book on Thursday although its listed release date is this upcoming Tuesday.
Anyway, The Missing Page is a totally delightful queer subversion of the cozy mystery genre. In post-WWII Britain, country doctor James Sommers is called down to Cornwall for his estranged uncle's funeral. His variously terrible family members gather there, where they are asked to solve the mystery of a cousin lost two decades before. With the help of Leo Page, spy and also James's lover of two months, James sets out to discover what happened to cousin Rose.
So far, so standard. But Sebastian takes this pile of tropes and turns them all sideways. The romance and mystery plots come together in a story about how, when the family you start with is awful, the family you build can be there instead. Highly recommended. (And talk to me once you read it, because everything I really want to say here is a spoiler!)
Meanwhile, what should I read next?
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Have you read Sword Dance, by AJ Demas? It's the first in a trilogy - also a queer romance/intrigue/mystery, set in an alternate ancient Mediterranean world. It's got some wonderful found family later in the series and a sensitive treatment of trauma; and because it's a trilogy where the couple gets together at the end of the first book, it has a thoughtful exploration of what happens after the Happily Ever After when the couple actually has to work out how to fit their different lives together.
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