Gathering moss: a natural and cultural history of mosses, by Robin Wall Kimmerer

 

I really enjoyed this collection of 19 essays about moss. Subjects include much of the author's research into mosses' reproduction, how they spread, how they've been used in the past (such as in diapers), and how they establish themselves on rocks. The essays are thoughtful and very well written, including a lot of scientific detail but also very personal stories about the author's adventures on field trips or consulting for mysterious landowners who want to create a moss garden instantaneously. I enjoyed the many line drawings of mosses throughout the book but would have loved to see some color photographs included as well. 

London rules, by Mick Herron

This series of novels about MI5's set of outcasts known as "Slow Horses" just gets better and better. In this fifth book in the series, a series of seemingly random terrorist attacks has shocked the nation, and one of the slow horses, Roderick Ho, has been connected somehow to the perpetrators. Slough House has been put on lockdown and during their gripe session, they figure out that the terrorists are following a template created by the government itself to destabilize a small developing nation, although the draft plan was never implemented. They have to stop the next attack before their bosses at MI5 figure it out, but their efforts only confuse the situation further. Sent home, they split up to try to stop the fifth and final terrorist act before the plan is made public. As in the earlier books, there is a lot of humor in the dialog, character descriptions, and plot. But it's still a suspenseful and fraught book that kept me on the edge of my seat all the way through. 
 

Cards on the table, by Agatha Christie

 

Agatha Christie pokes fun at herself in this first novel featuring the mystery writer Ariadne Oliver. Ms. Oliver is one of eight guests at a party hosted by Mr. Shaitana. The party includes four people that Shaitana suspects of murder and four people who could solve a crime, including Ms. Oliver, Hercule Poirot, and recurring characters Inspector Battle and Colonel Race. After dinner Shaitana splits the group in two with one group in the main room with him and the four crime-solvers in an adjoining room, each group playing bridge. Shaitana himself sits before the fire enjoying his secrets. After a few hours of playing, however, the groups come together and find that Shaitana has been stabbed. The crime-solving quartet never left their room, so they are above suspicion, and they work with the police to investigate the other four who are considered suspects. This requires looking into their backgrounds to see why Shaitana suspected them of murder in the past, then trying to figure out which one was spooked enough to murder Shaitana to prevent it coming to light. This was a good read and kept me guessing to the end.

Again, there are some gratuitous slurs, such as referring to Mr. Shaitana, of unspecified Middle Eastern or Asian origins, as a Dago.  

Standing by the wall, by Mick Herron

Standing by the wall is a collection of five novellas in the Slow Horses series published between 2015 and 2022. They introduce some new characters to the overall Slow Horses universe, and provides some backstory to some of the established characters. The stakes are not huge in these stories; there are no terrorist plots or geopolitical ramifications to most of the happenings in them, but they provide some glimpses into other workings of MI5 and its spies. The writing is very good, and most of the stories have a satisfying twist at the end. The exception is the title story which left me with many more questions than answers; I was left wondering if this was just a tease for a future book. Since the novellas were interspersed with the published novels, and I've only read the first four novels, I've seen a few glimpses into some of the next four novels, although they are hopefully not too much of a spoiler!
 

The chariots of Calyx, by Rosemary Rowe

 

Libertus, a former slave and current mosaic artist, has developed a reputation for solving murders, and in this fourth installment of Rosemary Rowe's series about Roman-era Britain, Libertus is asked by the Roman governor of Britain, Pertinax, to solve the murder of the corn officer. Caius Monnius has been strangled in his bed, and everyone is a suspect, including his young second wife, his mother, and his first wife, who all live together. There are also missing documents and money, and as Libertus follows the clues, he unearths crimes and intrigues that complicate the murder investigation including rigged betting on horse races and fraudulent sales of poor quality corn. As in the earlier books, Libertus and his slave Junio get people to open up to them as they develop their theories about who is responsible for the murder, resulting in a final surprise reveal in the last pages.

Spook Street, by Mick Herron

 

In the 4th novel in the Slow Horses series by Mick Herron, one of the main characters disappears after his grandfather, who has dementia, kills an intruder. River is trying to figure out who's trying to kill his grandfather, and Jackson Lamb and the other slow horses are trying to do the same and also find out where River is. This book raises an interesting question about what happens to people who know a lot of secrets get dementia. How does the government keep the secrets safe along with the people who hold them? This series just keeps getting better and better. The writing is so good that it just propels the narrative along. The characters are funny and quirky, and the dialog hilarious. 

The Ministry of Time, by Kaliane Bradley

I liked this book a lot. The main character is hired to be the companion of a man who was rescued from the 19th century just before he was known to die of exposure in the arctic north during an exploration to find the Northwest Passage. There are others who have similarly been rescued from other centuries in the past, and the government is trying to determine if they can not only survive in a different timeline but also if they can be used for clandestine purposes. The main character falls in love with her charge, but tries to hide her feelings, all the while hiding key details about his circumstances from him (including the fact that he has a tracker embedded under the skin of his back so the government can see everywhere he goes). Like all time travel books, there are lots of things that don't make sense when logic is applied, but if you can ignore that, this makes for a really fun and interesting book.