As a Brit I have occasionally heard the words 'Camp David' & viewed it as the US equivalent to Chequers, the grace-&-favour country residence of the UK Prime Minister. Which it is - sort of. Rather than a country house, this is a retreat in the Catoctin Mountains, comprising of 'rustic' cabins behind a guarded perimeter where the President can retreat to relax & unwind.

Last call for #SPNBookBingo2025

I will be drawing the giveaway winner on Weds 5th Nov so if you have any bingos (lines, 4 corners, or full card) please let me know asap.

Here's my monthly points total for #HauntedShelf #GrimReaders

Thank you to @CSeydel for being Team Leader, & many thanks to @Puddlejumper for hosting. It's been so much fun!

1 bingo line for #ISpy

Thanks for hosting @TheAromaOfBooks

#HauntedShelf #GrimReaders @CSeydel

Since their mother died & their father succumbed to addiction, Luna & Solina have mostly been on their own except for each other. Luna works back-to-back shifts at the local diner in order to pay for her twin sister's tuition at the prestigious Kingswood Academy. Then, the week before she was due to return to school for her final term, Solina says she wants to drop out. (continued)

My final board for #ErasGhostBingo - not quite managed a full board this time.

Thanks for hosting the challenge @CharityAnn

No bingos on #BodyCountBingo unfortunately, but managed 2 lines on #AfterDarkBingo

#HauntedShelf #GrimReaders @CSeydel
@puddlejumper

Short Review:

This turned out to be a very entertaining read mainly due to Miss Decima who was an absolute hoot. Yes there is a lot of swearing in this book but she's very funny & her tentative friendship with Steven is a highlight. The mystery itself was also well planned, although I had a feeling who it was from the start, & the inclusion of newspaper articles from the time period regarding the arrival of the comet was a nice touch. (continued)

Managed 3 lines on #SPNBookBingo2025.

#HauntedShelf #GrimReaders @CSeydel

Unfortunately I did not complete any for Oct 🙁 but hopefully 2 for Nov.

#ReadYourKindle @CBee

Wow, I can't believe today is the final day of #SPNBookBingo2025 The month has just flown by! I hope everyone has had fun & I've loved seeing your posts & prompt picks.

Can I ask that everyone posts their final cards by end of 3rd Nov pls so I can tally up your additional entries for lines/corners/cards? Also please ensure your 'To Read' list is up to date as 1 lucky winner will be receiving a book from their list & a few other goodies!

Following divorce, Matt Blake moves house into what he hopes will become somewhere warm & welcoming to build new memories with his daughter. What he gets is radios & showers turning on at random, noise of footsteps when no-one is there, strange smells, & an odd 'heavy' atmosphere that almost every visitor notices.

As a journalist, Blake knows how to investigate a backstory so he looks into the history of the house & (continued)

Following the death of her grandmother, Freya spent this Christmas alone for the first time in years. Freya & her brother were raised by their grandparents after their parents died in an accident & Freya in particular was very close to her grandmother - living in the same house & running a bakery company 'Past Time Treats' together. Now both grandparents are dead & her brother has his own family, (continued)

Day 30 #Broody

#HauntedShelf #ScavengerHunt #GrimReaders

Day 29 #Unputdownable

Never have I read a series (& especially this book) with such intense sexual chemistry between two characters. I'm not usually a shipper but for Maeve & Josh - yes!

#HauntedShelf #ScavengerHunt #GrimReaders

During a Halloween party, one of the children 13-year-old Joyce, declares that she saw a murder committed once. No-one believes her, but later that evening she is found drowned in a tub of apples. Author Ariadne Oliver calls in close friend, Hercule Poirot, to find the killer.

This one is a bit of a dog's dinner. For a start, I can't stand Ariadne Oliver, in fact she makes me think of Hastings quite fondly. (continued)

Day 28 #Cosy

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Kathryn has recently split from her husband, & on a night out with a friend, meets Todd who is an IT expert including carrying out work for the local police department. Their relationship never really gets off the ground, but when Kathryn wants to call it off, the charming, helpful, affable Todd shows the other side to his personality, & due to his IT expertise he has access to her phone, her security cameras, & even her car. (continued)

Day 27 #Cursive

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This is a really interesting historical fiction read incorporating true facts (the Zone Rouge is real & so was the Nazi fascination with the Occult). I think that the author did a great job of conveying the tense & suspicious atmosphere of an occupied country, where the inhabitants cannot be sure who is on their side & who is a traitor. In fact all the narrative concentrated on the war is done very well, but I found that (continued)

This was an OK read. It doesn't really have the sense of menace that some of the earlier books had, & you have to suspend your disbelief for something stuff, such as that a hospital would let a member of staff just give their kid a copy of a patient sign-in sheet. I suppose it was the 90s but even so! (continued)

Day 26 #Red

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Day 25 #Single

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This is an interesting & informative read on the subject of where the prevailing image of the archetypical witch came from. The author argues that the modern portrayal of witches owes more to the Greek & Roman eras than it does to the Medieval.

There is also a discussion of the lasting change in their representation from the Greek idea of witches as attractive & seductive (for example Hecate & Circe) to the Roman portrayals as (continued)

Day 24 #Yellow

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Short Review:

This was quite a good cosy mystery with a well-worked out plot. I found it difficult to warm to Midge as a main character at first, but then I pictured her as being played by a middle-aged Miriam Margolyes & that helped. I do think that she was a little bit too timid though, & her characterisation focused too much on her weight at times. I'd definitely read another 'Midge Mystery' though. 4🌟

Day 23 #Possessive

Pushing the envelope a bit here on meaning of possessive but this one sounds really intriguing. Basically 2 souls sharing 1 body, one during the day, the other at night, one experiencing grief, the other craving hedonism. What happens when one of them commits murder meaning that the other is also implicated?

#HauntedShelf #ScavengerHunt #GrimReaders

@CSeydel

Day 22 #Grey

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@CSeydel

Leslie shares her red hair, green eyes, & birthday with her beloved grandmother, but at their joint party when Leslie turns 13, one of her grandmother's friends predicts that both Leslie & her cousin Trish will experience 'grave trouble' before they turn 16.

Now, 3 years later, Leslie can't wait for her Sweet Sixteen party, but strange things start to happen. Her fancy invitations go missing, her party dress arrives slashed to ribbons (continued)

Sixteen-year-old Ray Garraty is about to start the Long Walk - an annual competition between 100 boys where the one to walk the longest distance wins his wildest dreams. The boys have to maintain a pace of 4 miles per hour, day & night, no stopping for toilet breaks, eating, or sleeping, & soldiers monitor them continuously. 3 warnings & you are out - permanently.

Day 21 #Tartan

#HauntedShelf #ScavengerHunt #GrimReaders

@CSeydel

Bramwell Finch has just lost his old business partner & friend, & now looks set to miss out on his last hope for a coveted film award. Everything he sacrificed for success has come to nothing & now he has nothing & no-one. On Christmas Eve, Finch receives an invitation to a private screening at his studio, at a screening room he knows does not exist. Yet there it is - Room 6, & Finch sits down to watch his misdeeds played out onscreen.

Day 20 #Embrace

#HauntedShelf #ScavengerHunt #GrimReaders

@CSeydel

Year 6 are on a coach bound for an activity trip to Crater Lake & are almost there when a strange, bloodstained man tries to stop the coach before collapsing. The teachers take the students the rest of the way on foot whilst the coach driver rings for an ambulance, but when they reach Crater Lake something is wrong at the activity centre.

My points total so far.

#HauntedShelf #GrimReaders

@CSeydel

Lylah & her friends Chace, Sonny, Isaac, Charlotte, & Sienna all share student accommodation at uni. Lylah has a major crush on Chace but doesn't know if he feels the same way. One evening on their way out to party, the doorbell rings - no-one is there but an anonymous note waiting on the doormat. The note is addressed to Sonny & is made up of cut-out & pasted letters like a ransom note & reads: (continued)

Day 19 #Paranormal

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@CSeydel

Day 18 #RealPeople

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@CSeydel

Day 17 #FakeSticker

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@CSeydel

Day 16 #Landscape

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@CSeydel

Day 15 #Boots

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@CSeydel

Very interesting book of obituaries for the era-defining stars of the Silver Screen. For a book about deaths, there were some amusing anecdotes, alongside information on their public & private lives but usually nothing too salacious.

Reading this has definitely made me want to make a list of classic films I'd like to watch in the future. I particularly liked the entry for Cary Grant who, for me, was the epitome of old Hollywood (continued)

For the past eight years, Brynn Donovan's father has been in prison convicted of killing her mother. Brynn & brother Max initially lived with their aunt but recently Brynn has been living her own life as a tattoo artist. On the way home from work one evening, Brynn's estranged father kidnaps her & says that what he said back then was true: there is something under the earth that is coming to get them & once he has secured Max too (continued)

Day 14 #Group

#HauntedShelf #ScavengerHunt #GrimReaders

@CSeydel

27 short stories & poetry which take the infamous Borden murders as their starting point. There's a mix of psychological horror, supernatural horror, & science fiction takes on what happened that day, including the theory of Jack the Ripper escaping to America, spirit possession, & time travel to name a few.

For me, the standout stories were:

14) 'Done to the Letter' by Allie Harrison (the aforementioned JtR link)

continued...

In a small town in Louisiana in the 1920s, Beatrice Corbin is trying to keep the family business afloat & keep an eye on her sister, Agnes who is married to a respectable man of the town. When a tarot reading predicts that Agnes will be murdered in two months, Beatrice knows she has to protect her. Salvation seems to arrive in the form of Frank Charbonneau, Lucifer himself, who falls for Beatrice & wants to marry her.

Day 13 #Eyes

#HauntedShelf #ScavengerHunt #GrimReaders

@CSeydel

Day 12 #Frightful

#HauntedShelf #ScavengerHunt #GrimReaders

@CSeydel

Day 11 #Tree

Not my usual genre but I like the autumn cover.

#HauntedShelf #ScavengerHunt #GrimReaders

@CSeydel

Halley is looking for a place to lay low from a political scandal that has put a target on her back. A job on the 'Elysian Fields', a spaceship where hundreds of bodies lies cryogenically frozen awaiting reanimation should the technology become available, seems like a godsend. Apart from the caretaker, Karl, there's not a soul aboard - well not one who is awake anyway.......