J. R. is waiting for someone to play with, but mom is putting his baby brother to bed or changing him or feeding him. What is J. R. to do?

I liked this story. J. R. knows it is not fun to play by himself, but he also knows that mom has to take care of his baby brother first. I liked how his mom acknowledged her inability to be with him when he wants her to be with him. I liked how she praised him. This is a good read for your toddlers who may be in the same situation today.

How nice to find a Mrs Bradley book that I enjoyed, and a Christmas one too.

My first two experiences of Gladys Mitchell's Mrs Bradley books were not positive. I read a fairly poor all cast production of her first book, "Speedy Death" and tried again with the third book in the series "The Longer Bodies" which, while it worked as a curiosity that showed how early crime fiction flopped about like a recently landed fish on a dock before the modern genre emerged, wasn't a satisfying read.

I decided to try one last time, with a much later book, the twenty-third in the series, originally published as "Groaning Spinney" but cleverly re-titled as "Murder In The Snow - a Cotswold Christmas Mystery", which points it firmly at the Christmas cosy mystery market.

I had fun with this book. Published in 1950, it nicely captures a sense of an England in transition, where the role of the gentry is changing and men of all classes have returned from the war with different expectations of themselves and each other. Mrs Bradley goes to stay with her nephew, who has just bought a portion of a country estate sold off by a Peer of the Realm. He owns the manor house and a few farms and woods. The rest is owned by the State and is being used a (new at the time) Teacher Training College. I was fascinated by the wealth and privilege that Mrs Bradley's nephew took for granted, while at the same time trying to get the locals NOT to refer to him as "Your Lordship" - a title he doesn't hold.

In the beginning, the book does a splendid job of giving a Landlord's view of life in a small Cotswold village at Christmas time. The local characters are clearly drawn, from the carter through the farmer to the land agent. The principle of the Teacher Training college is also shown to advantage although she and her staff and students are seen as earnest, enthusiastic curiosities.

The murder and the plot that spins from it was quite interesting, with lots of unexpected but plausible connections that held my interest while making it impossible for me to solve the whodunnit riddle.

Mrs Bradley is presented as an energetic, almost manic woman, with preternatural powers of observation, an appetite for the hunt and deep insight into people without the impediment of empathy.

There were points where I found the exposition a little clumsy and a little over-worked. There was a sequence of "Mrs Bradley Explains It All" scenes which were differentiated only by Mrs Bradley picking a new person to expound to. OF course, Mrs Bradley plays her cards too close to her chest to explain it all. She teases the reader by using her audience as sounding boards without telling them why she is testing her point of view.

But this was minor. The plot was interesting and the pace was adequate. There was a substantial amount of local colour, from archaeology through to joining the local hunt, and enough action to keep my attention.

This was a solid, Christmas cosy mystery and a big improvement on my previous encounters with Mrs Bradley. I shall be back for more from this period.

I listened to the audiobook version, which was released in March this year and was narrated with brio by Patience Tomlinson (shame about the cover).

Click on the Soundcloud link below to hear a sample.

https://soundcloud.com/ulverscroft/murder-in-the-snow-by-gladys-mitchell

“Someday, Dougal wanted her to look at him the way she regarded that last half crumpet.”

It’s December and that means I crave holiday/winter wonderland reads and this delivered on those feels I wanted :) A 4 star read that had snowflakes falling, sexual tension, and mistletoe lurking!

Full review can be read at Historical Romance Magazine

I enjoyed this story with some Easy Turtle Cheesecake Fudge

"Mystery In White" is a 1930's version of a Christmas Special drama,

It's set on Christmas Eve, a fierce snowstorm, strangers on a stranded train grouping together to look for a way out of moving on with the plans for Christmas, an empty but unlocked Country House in the depths of the English Countryside, with fires lit and food laid but with no one inside.

What follows is a series of "TA DAH!" moments as murders and mysteries are uncovered and we learn more about the group of strangers and, eventually, the occupants of the house.

The strangers are all from central casting: the bright, young charismatic upper-class but friendly brother and sister, the heart-of-gold showgirl, the blustering old bore, the tongue-tied socially awkward clerk, the East End ruffian and the de facto leader of the expedition, a fierce, unconventional old man who claims the ability to see the dead and who assumes the role of detective, magistrate and ghost hunter.

This is a book that is bursting at the seams with ideas and people but often doesn't seem to be sure what to do with them. This was a time when genre boundaries had not yet been set and this perhaps explains why sometimes this reads as a Christmas Ghost Story and sometimes as a "The Rivals Of Poirot Christmas Special".

What the book lacks in discipline and character development it makes up for in sheer brio and a Saturday Matinee fascination with adding yet another plot twist.

Brief Review:

Waiting is not easy is about an elephant who is talking to a pig. The pig tells the elephant that they have to wait for the surprise but throughout the book the elephant struggles with his patience of waiting for the surprise.

Idea of how it can be used in a classroom:

Waiting is not easy could be used to show the students that waiting is not an easy task at all and to help children learn patience. The teacher could have the students write about a time where they could not wait for something and then tell why it was or was not worth waiting for in the end. 

Reading Level & Leveling System:

Accelerated Reader

0.9

Lower Grades K-3

Book Rating:

I would rate this book a 4 because it does teach young children patience and its not a easy task to comprehend but the way the book is written it shows the elephants reactions and comments about waiting. This isn’t something young children are used to, so I think it’s a good thing for them to learn.