Whenever I'm asked about comfort food, I can come up with an entire list of goodies that automatically make me relax, feel better about life, and mellow out. There's macaroni and cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup, pasta with grilled veggies, strawberry yogurt, cappuchino, anisette toast, hob-nobs, Lady Grey tea, etc.But food isn't the only comfort goodie in my life. I can mellow out quite easily with a good fire in the fireplace, a cat in my lap, a comfy chair and a good mystery. I'm especially fond of mystery series where we get to meet the detective, private eye, civilian snoop, hero/heroine in the first book, and watch their character, motivation and interpersonal relationships develop as they solve an ever more exciting series of crimes (mostly, but not always murders). This year I resolved to give up doing lots of "hot off the presses" reviews for publishers, pulling back to spend my reading time catching up on some well-loved series and some other personal reading (e.g. the President's Biography challenge), so I haven't been blogging quite as much, but I certainly have been reading and enjoying it.
Mysteries have certainly been taking up the majority of my time, especially Elizabeth George's Inspector Lynley/Barbara Havers series. I had read the first three years ago, and a few sporadically here and there since then. Last year I had such a wonderful experience re-reading Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache series (capped off by a trip to Quebec to take the Bury Your Dead tour). Then I followed up last fall by reading Deborah Crombie's Duncan KinKaid/Gemma James series set in London.
So now I'm following Lynley/Havers around merry olde England. I started at the beginning, and just finished #7 Playing for the Ashes. Each of these books gives the reader not just a good mystery, and delightful, sometimes quirky characters, but they also manage to portray scenery, history, food, and ambiance. The juxtaposition of aristocratic Thomas (Earl of Asherton) Lynley and the street smart, hightop wearing, disheveled Sergeant Barbara Havers is the meat of the series. I really can't wait to see what happens in their lives next. But then I'm also really getting excited to visit my daughter in London later this year to see some of these venues up close.
In addition to these, I'm sprinkling the European settings with mysteries of the American Southwest, both Ann and Tony Hillerman stories, and the Wind River Reservation series by Margaret Coel {Shadow Dancing and Killing Raven).
And finally, I went back to a mystery I read back in August 2009, the Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Our bookclub is reading this one for this week's meeting. Back in 09 I decided that while it was a "cute" book, I wasn't sure I could stand an entire series. My re-read this past week has convinced me to go look up the second one. I think Flavia is a character who is going to grow on me.
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