The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper; Phaedra Patrick

 

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper; Phaedra Patrick

Mira - 2016

In this delightful debut novel we meet Arthur Pepper, age 69. A widower for one year, Arthur and Miriam had been married for 40 years. Arthur's children think that it is time for him to get on with the rest of his life.  So on the one year anniversary of his wife's death his decides to clear away her things and , in the process he finds a "charm" bracelet that he has never seen before. He's curious to find out where it came from and why he never saw Miriam wear it.

When Arthur notices that the Indian elephant charm with gemstone has a telephone number engraved, Arthur decides to find out more about the person who may have given Miriam the charm.  This charm leads him to someone in India, a place he never knew his former wife had lived. What else didn't Arthur know about Miriam?

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper is a journey of discovery and, although the individual stories behind each charm were fun to read about, the real "charm" of this novel was Arthur's self-realization as he thinks about his own legacy.  I really enjoyed this sweet story with its many funny and endearing moments. In many ways remind me of the writing style of Fredrik Backman.

4/5 stars

(eGalley)

In a Dark Dark Wood; Ruth Ware

In a Dark Dark Wood; Ruth Ware

Gallery/Scout Press - 2015

I recently finished Ruth Ware's, The Girl in Cabin 10 and enjoyed it so, I decided to read her debut mystery as well which is also reminiscent of Agatha Christie's books.

In this story, Nora, A.K.A. Lee is a 26 year old reclusive writer living in London. One day she receives an unexpected email inviting her to a "hen party" weekend at a remote cabin.  She hasn't seen Clare, her former school mate in over 10 years and is surprised she is being invited.  The two used to be very good friends until some happened between them and they haven't seen each other since.

Even though Nora only knows one of the other guest besides Clare she decides to venture outside of her comfort zone to attend.  When all the guests arrive things go very bad very soon after arriving.

The novel begins with Nora waking up in a hospital trying to recall what happened at the party. The story held my interest and is very atmospheric, that glass house out in the middle of the woods and the snow has fallen. A good deal of tension fills the pages as I tried to piece together what had happened and why.  The story is told in flashbacks both past and more recent.  I found this to be a satisfying mystery overall.

4/5 stars

(library)