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Ray Bradbury mysteries for some weekend reading…

Stopped by a Barnes & Noble and just wandered until something caught my eyes. Today‘s winners were the tagged book—I‘m not even sure I knew Bradbury wrote crime fiction—and a middle grade fantasy, the first couple of pages were very entertaining. Looking forward to the long weekend and some good reading.

#WhereAreYouMonday

This Monday finds me on the Planet Mars. It‘s only the second time I‘ve visited here in books, I think, having only previously read Andy Weir.

Every first Tuesday, our favorite local bookstore hosts Tunesday with a musician‘s circle. You can regularly hear the mountain dulcimer, banjo, tin whistle, guitar, mandolin, harmonica, limberjacks, violin, cello, Chinese erhu, & more!

My favorite part is the Celtic dance & clogging. And the books, of course. This month was also a Wassail celebration. And I drank a literary-themed Blood Meridian cocktail. Anyway, I‘m back now!

"Her hourglass is malfunctioning, someone has put funeral-urn ashes in it instead of sand. There are odd whispers in her icebox door. The ice falls inside the fridge at midnight and sounds like the wrong kind of laughter. The toilet across the hall gargles all night. The termites under her chair are going to gnaw through and drop her to hell. The spiders in the wall are mending her shroud."

"Only the projector and the films in the parlor. Time only works well in one direction. Back. I control the past. I'll be damned if I know what to do with the present, and to hell with the future. I'm not going to be there, don't want to go there, and would hate if you made me. It's a perfect life."

"(...) did strangers lie there, holding on their insides as if they were broken glass?"

"Cal, I thought. Snip away the darkness.
Short in front. So I can see.
Short on the sides. So I can hear.
Short in the back. So I can feel things creeping up on me.
Short!"

"The moon broke through a rift of darkness like a great eye watching me. I walked on mirrors which showed me the same moon and clouds. I walked on the sky beneath (...)"

Book #15 of 2024: “Death is a Lonely Business” by Ray Bradbury

I enjoyed this one. It‘s got a strong sense of melancholy with a whisper of hope. A good mystery that kept me engaged.