“Maeve hurried to answer the door. Whoever was out there was getting impatient.”

Murder on St. Nicholas Avenue
By Victoria Thompson

The Malloys are away on their European honeymoon but that doesn’t mean that their assistance isn’t needed to help clear a young woman of murder. Maeve, the couple’s nanny who’s often gotten involved in investigations, decides that she can help Mrs. O’Neill clear her daughter of murder.

Una Pollock was found cradling her husband who bludgeoned to death. She can’t remember anything so the police take her into custody and it is assumed that she did it but as Maeve starts to dig into Una’s life by talking to the servants she thinks that Una may not be responsible for the murder.

Soon Gino Donnatelli, a policeman and friend of the family, is involved in the investigation as are Sarah’s parents, the high society Deckers. Between the four they uncover that the beautiful Una may actually have had a reason to kill her abusive husband and that her husband had his fair share of enemies.

I found Una to be a complex character. One minute she’s a demure widow who’s been through a lot and can only resort to her tears and beauty to garner sympathy but the next you realize she’s up to something. So I actually liked reading about her.

Unfortunately this book really missed the mark for me because of the lack of Sarah and Frank. Those two characters and their interactions are what keep me coming back so to have them absent from most of the book is a disappointment. I did like Gino and Maeve and like where their storyline is headed although not surprised by that development, but I’m looking forward to the next adventure to see how the Malloys will face their future now as a married couple and with crimes to solve.

Source: Library copy

I hope you’ve all been having a great weekend. If you have a three day weekend, lucky you! I wish I did but oh well, it’s back to work.

Anyway, I did have a very nice weekend although believe it or not I actually told my husband I couldn’t make it to the bookstore for our regular date night. What is wrong with me? Well, I was afraid to go to the bookstore and be distracted by all the shiny new books and I am a bit behind on my book for my reading group which I’m leading this month. So instead we went to a local coffee shop and had a great afternoon. Best thing is that I’m not so behind on my book now.

In other book news have you seen Serena’s 2016 Poetry Challenge? There are several levels of participation and I’m going to strive to meet the Sonnet level which means reading three poetry collections. I think I can do it.

I do have a small poetry collection among my shelves which includes books from Pablo Neruda, Emily Dickinson, Billy Collins, several collections and also several collections in Spanish. Or, I could also take a look at this list of the best poetry books of 2015 and see what sounds good to me. I can already tell you that Mary Oliver’s book is going on my list.

I’ll probably see if my library has any of these books. Speaking of the library, I had more books to pick up this weekend. Oh my, I think I better get back to reading now. Hope you have a wonderful start of the week!