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Dumb Witness: a Hercule Poirot Novel by Agatha Christie
Yes, it does sometimes seem like every second book I read is a Poirot novel. In this one, a letter arrives for Poirot, pleading for his help. It is postmarked two months after it was written. And the writer, an older woman, is now dead. Was she murdered? Who sent the letter? Will Captain Hastings adopt the dead woman's dog? These and other questions . . . recommended.
The Keys to the Kingdom book One: Mister Monday by Garth Nix
Nix starts a new kids' series here. Arthur Penhaligon (watch that last name; Arthur obviously has a destiny) has just transfered to a new school. During a group run in gym class, Arthur nearly dies of an asthma attack. What saves him is the appearance out of nowhere of the somnambulant Mr. Monday and his butler, who give him an object of great power, a key shaped like the hand of a clock. This is part of a scam intended to defraud . . . someone or something. Arthur is supposed to die, and Mr. Monday will then reclaim the key. But that doesn't happen, and the bizarre world Monday inhabits begins intruding into Arthur's world, including a massive house that only he can see and a disease that quickly puts hundreds of people to sleep, unable to awaken. Arthur must venture into the great house, and learn to use the key to save his world . . . and perhaps all worlds.
This is a great urban fantasy. And there are six more books in the series to go. Highly recommended.
Yes, it does sometimes seem like every second book I read is a Poirot novel. In this one, a letter arrives for Poirot, pleading for his help. It is postmarked two months after it was written. And the writer, an older woman, is now dead. Was she murdered? Who sent the letter? Will Captain Hastings adopt the dead woman's dog? These and other questions . . . recommended.
The Keys to the Kingdom book One: Mister Monday by Garth Nix
Nix starts a new kids' series here. Arthur Penhaligon (watch that last name; Arthur obviously has a destiny) has just transfered to a new school. During a group run in gym class, Arthur nearly dies of an asthma attack. What saves him is the appearance out of nowhere of the somnambulant Mr. Monday and his butler, who give him an object of great power, a key shaped like the hand of a clock. This is part of a scam intended to defraud . . . someone or something. Arthur is supposed to die, and Mr. Monday will then reclaim the key. But that doesn't happen, and the bizarre world Monday inhabits begins intruding into Arthur's world, including a massive house that only he can see and a disease that quickly puts hundreds of people to sleep, unable to awaken. Arthur must venture into the great house, and learn to use the key to save his world . . . and perhaps all worlds.
This is a great urban fantasy. And there are six more books in the series to go. Highly recommended.