Welcome to Litsy!

#manicmonday #LetterZ @CBee

📖 The Zig Zag Girl
🖋 Marcus Zusak
🎥 Zodiac
📺 🤷🏼‍♀️
🎤 ZZ Top
🎶 🤷🏼‍♀️

Thanks for the tag, Cydney. I‘ve loved doing these each week and look forward to more #manicmonday in the future.

#ManicMonday @CBee #LetterZ

📘 The Zig Zag Girl by Elly Griffiths
🖊 Gabrielle Zevin
🎬 Zoolander
🎤 ZZ Top
🎶 Ziggy Stardust by David Bowie

#manicmonday #letterZ
Thanks for organising manic Monday @CBee - it's been fun!
@The_Penniless_Author

📖 The Zig Zag Girl
✒ Carlos Ruiz Zafon
🎞 Zack and Miri make a porno
🎤 Zara Larsson
🎶 Zombie (The Cranberries)

From the cover, I was expecting a noir thriller, but the first Stephens & Mephisto mystery was as jovial and upbeat as a story about a serial killer can get.

I particularly enjoyed Edgar's cynical commentary. Griffiths writes in a very readable voice and although the underlying mystery (and its resolution) was just OK, the tone pace and dry, observational humour make it an easy pick from me.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

#roll100 picks for Jan:

- Fifty-fifty - another Steve Cavanagh courtroom thriller with a fascinating premise
- The Zig Zag girl - my first Elly Griffiths
- Infinite ground - this will be a surprise. I bought it because I liked the cover. I think it said something about suiting fans of Jeff Vandermeer

This'll be an interesting month!

I'm not sure if this choice for #LetterZ for the #alphabetgame is actually better than the only other contender I have or whether it is a recency effect and I just remember it better.

Many thanks to @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks for a fun challenge which has brought back to mind many books I would like to re-read

#AlphabetGame @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
#LetterZ

My choose for the letter "Z" is The Zig Zag Girl by Elly Griffiths. It also happens to be the only book I have read that starts with Z.

This was fun!

This was a fun book and the start of an interesting series. #alphabetgame #letterZ

Brighton 1950. DI Edgar Stephens teams up with magician Max Mephisto to solve murders which seem to be aimed at the special ops team they served in together in WWII.

I thought I was being so clever ignoring 1 red herring, not realising I was falling for another. I did feel that the author was being a bit heavy-handed with characters being dismissive of what we know with the benefit of hindsight are going to be great successes. Pick? So-So?

#coffeeandabook #mycover

I do love Griffith's descriptive prose. Even though I figured out who the murderer was there were still elements that surprised me. The characters were especially good. They fit the situation and were fully developed. 4⭐ And another book for the #SeriesRead2022 challenge.

Up next. I am hoping I like this series as much as the Ruth Galloway series.🌞📖💜📕

A fun read! I‘m so glad I stumbled upon Elly Griffiths, she‘s a fantastic storyteller 😁

The presents are all wrapped, the Fur Tree wallflower from Bath & Body Works is plugged in, and reindeer socks are ON! Time to unwind and enjoy a little relaxing reading time while soaking up some sunlight and Christmas lights 😚☺️
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOODNIGHT!!

Picked up my newest library holds today 🙌🏻 I can‘t pick which one to read first 😁

This is the first in the Stephens and Mephisto series. Set in Brighton in the 1950s, Stephens is a DI and Mephisto is a magician. It's a good crime series, kept me gripped and didn't have a clue who the killer was.

There was nothing wrong with this book exactly I just found it very meh

Once I put it down I forgot about it which is why it took me so bloody long to read it!

Day 5 of #20series20days is the Magic Men, which I was introduced to during the (original?) #whodunitbymail endeavor. I‘ve read through book 3 in which a #lovetriangle rears its ugly head. As long as it doesn‘t drag on and on (looking at you, Stephanie Plum), I can tolerate this development.
#Top20series
#tropesinAugust

A well-narrated audiobook. I did figure out whodunit, which I usually don't, so experienced mystery readers would probably find it very predictable.

#WeeklyForecast @Cinfhen

With about an hour left, I think I can probably manage to finish this audiobook. Other than that I'm not sure what my reading week will look like. I still have a slumpy mindset.

Simple #audioknitting for the Dewey's #readathon.

I impulsively checks this out from the library and thought I would give it a listen.

This was an enjoyable mystery by one of my favorite writers. Interesting characters and a very different premise. This is the first of a series, and I will definitely continue with it. Although I seem to be stuck in post-WWII Britain these days 😄 4/5⭐️

I wasn‘t sure what I wanted to read, so I started scrolling through my Kindle library. This caught my eye, but I realized I have more than enough books to weather whatever comes.

Book 1 of the Stephen's and Mephisto mystery series. This was a delightful murder mystery. Griffiths writing brings great life to her characters. The Magic Men were together during WW2 involved in undercover work. 5 years later they are together again when one of them is murdered. Max and Edgar need to find him before they're all killed
#24B4Monday @Andrew65 @jb72 @TheReadingMermaid
5 hrs 36 minutes today

Day 20 - #MagicalSetting #NewYearNewYou #StephensAndMephistoMystery #TheMagicManSeries #EllyGriffiths

A great magical series by Elly Griffiths!

This was a fun cozy little mystery. Light and easy to read. Some of the foreshadowing was a tad obvious, but overall, it was a good read. Would make a good palette cleanser, if you need one!

I have been very absent over the last year. I am settling in, and working through a cozy little mystery. I have just found a reading challenge, that I've altered to help me read through the mountain of TBR in my house. I hope to start getting back in at the beginning and end of each book I get through. :)

My #libraryhaul of this afternoon. The tagged book is by the author of the Ruth Galloway series, which I have heard great things about. But the premise of this series sounds like fun.

I forgot to post this last night - oops! 12 hours of reading done, and two books down. I started a third, DNF-ed it, and then got a few chapters into the tagged book. I'm pretty pleased with myself 🙌

#24B4Monday @TheReadingMermaid @Andrew65 @jb72

My #BFCr2 check in! I read three books last week 🙌 so I'm happy about that. And although I didn't exercise everyday, I went for a couple of walks and spent two days digging out my classroom which #LitnFit have decided totally counts as exercise! Also, I'm slowly melting in this heatwave... It's 32 C / 90 F already 😧

#BookFitnessChallenge @mcipher @BeckyB @krayoncolorz @DebbieGrillo @okthislooksbad @Books.Bottles.and.Babies @twohectobooks

How my wife gets ready for bed.

Enjoying this first in the #MagicMenMysteries series by the creator of the #RuthGallowayMysteries, but... I miss Ruth! #WinterStormReadathon Hour 15

Excuse the messy table but my #whodunitbymail peeps i have these books and will get to them asap

1950s mystery set in the world of magicians. My letter Z for the Litsy AtoZ challenge. This didn't blow me away as Detective Stephens was kind of "meh", but I did enjoy the sidekick-like fellow of Mephisto. This is the first in a series. Not sure if I'll go on to read the second but it's still a solid mystery and the magician (Earth bound not fantasy) angle is a new twist on the detective genre.

#LitsyAtoZ #LetterZ

I almost bailed on this before the halfway mark; but it started to get more fun. Glad I finished it.

Just finished this in the air conditioned comfort of my car. The thermometer on the dashboard says 98 degrees- ugh. I liked this one - who doesn‘t love a book where one of the MC‘s is named Max Mephisto?
#LitsyAtoZ #LetterZ

1. The craziest thing I can think of is that I have successfully managed to keep this fuchsia plant alive for 2 months! Usually it would be dead by now.
2. Overnight oats
3. Magician murder army
4. A ratty dish towel
5. 5‘ 8”
#humpdaypost

This was my #Z book for the #LitsyAtoZchallenge and it is the first book in the Magic Men mystery series. While I pretty easily figured out the culprit, I enjoyed the setting of 1950s Brighton and the world of the vaudeville/variety circuit. The main characters‘ backstory of their lives together during the war was intriguing as well. I won‘t rush out to pick up the next books in the series, but I could see myself reading them at some point.

I was a bit disappointed with this book. I think it had really interesting topic and characters but they could have been used better for the story. The story and especially some specific plot choices would have worked better if they were different. Also tension was missing from the book. It was a nice read anyway just not great.

My only experience with Ms. Griffiths is the Ruth Galloway series, which I love. Unsurprisingly, I am enjoying the first book of the Stephens and Mephisto series. Thanks to @mabell for sending me this book eons ago. #13books13weeks #mountTBRchallenge

This has been a pleasant suprise so far! It holds up nicely even for the nordic noir books I've read lately. This was one of those super sale finds that I wasn't too sure about but I'm glad I bought it. 😊

After visiting medieval Finland I felt like it was a good time for a basic murder mystery. I have not read Elly Griffiths before. I hope that it's good! This is my "Z" for #LitsyAtoZ ??

This is a fun murder mystery centered around a group of WWII veterans that specialized in building illusions to trick the Germans. One by one they are getting killed off and these Magic Men try to solve the crimes. I will be putting this in the mail very soon @Kangaj1
#whodunitbymail

My #MayTBR- 7 of these books are for readalongs or bookclubs. 😳
#reading-resolutions
#whodunitbymail
#mgbuddyread
#thornbirds
#lmpbc #groups
#olcwtaread

I haven't read many mystery novels, but this was enjoyable enough. A slow start, lots of character history and flashbacks, seemed a little bloated in the middle. Certain threads left hanging for very long times, though it all wrapped up in a decent conclusion.

A quick enjoyable mystery, number 1 in the magic men series. This one is on the Libby app and read by James Langton- excellent narration. Involves a group of men and their commanding officer who were active in WWII using illusions to trick the nazi‘s into believing the coast of Scotland was arming itself with boats, tanks etc. the past comes back into their lives and begins killing them off- starring the Great Max Mephisto. Fun and light.