My final two Detection Club bingo squares are Playing Politics and Singletons.  (Yey!!  Almost done!) 

For the first of these squares, I will be re-reading Ngaio Marsh's Nursing Home Murder -- not my favorite book by Marsh, but I have it on hand, I'm in the process of reworking my way through Marsh's Inspector Alleyn mysteries anyway, and it is not merely one of the books mentioned in chapter 12 of Martin Edwards's Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books (which would be enough to qualify for this bingo square), but it is even one of the 100 books specifically presented.

For my final bingo square, I will be reading / listening to Ellen Wilkinson's Division Bell Mystery -- also one of Martin Edward's 100 presented books (this one, in chapter 21).  This one comes highly recommended by several friends in whose opinions I trust, most recently here on BookLikes by Tigus, and I am looking forward t it a lot.  It would be great if I could finish Detection Club Bingo on a high!

(Separate bingo wrap-up post to come once I'm well and truly done.)

Over the years I have read several Sophie Kinsella books, but this is the first one I have read under her real name Madeleine Wickham. I was curious to see how her older books compare to her more current releases and the tennis theme caught my interest as well.

What can I say about 40-Love? Keeping up with the Jones’s was definitely a theme here. From their expensive clothing, art and private schools, each character was more materialistic than the next. And their backstabbing snobbery became more infuriating as I read along.

Katherine Kellgren’s narration was spot on, when bringing a voice to the Chance’s and their guests. She did a great job expressing their selfish personalities and high brow accents. Wickham’s familiar contemporary style and the anticipation of confrontation kept me listening to this book.

Unfortunately I wouldn’t recommend 40-Love, but I would recommend Madeleine Wickham/Sophie Kinsella as an author to read.

Wow, this was really not good.  I started listening to it on audiobook, and meant to DNF it, but my phone doesn't unlock while I'm in the car and I kept forgetting to pick a new book before driving off again.  By the time I got home last night I was 90% finished and thought 'to hell with it', grabbed my print copy, and just finished it off.

What I didn't like:

Henry Fairhurst:  He's sort of the co-MC of the book, along with Inspector Shelly.  He's a damp, hen-pecked, Walter Middy sort of fellow; whingey too.

Henry's sister:  every horrible stereotype about single women, crammed into one book.  Truly a horrible character I would not be able to resist smacking in real life.

Inspector Shelly: the other MC of the book, the Scotland Yard Inspector that goes around not only theorising before the facts, but telling all involved in the case that they are the facts, never mind silly things like official coroner reports, or post-mortems, or blood analysis.  Shelly says the man died of cyanide poisoning, then by golly, that's what he died of.  And speaking of cause of death:

The cause of death:  A man does not fall asleep in the British Museum Reading Room and peacefully die from cyanide poisoning mid-snore.  The author was a contemporary of Agatha Christie; I hope she smacked him upside the head with his own book before setting him straight.  Cyanide is a nasty way to die and I'm certain his snoring would have been the least offensive thing everyone in the Reading Room that day would have had to witness.

The writing:  Rowland writes as though he imagines his reader to be an idiot, the result being his characters all sound like idiots.  There are some very Dick and Jane moments in this book.

The plot:  Let me put it this way:  I read cozies, and I thought it was preposterous.  

What I liked:

The cover.  The title.  The British Museum setting, which ended after page 24.  I gave each 1/2 star, but it was all downhill from there.

I gotta say, I'm not loving this so far.  Close to dnf'ing, in fact.  The MC has this weird Walter G. Middy vibe and he giggles.  His sister is a harridan.  The writing is simplistic and the police are completely unrealistic, with the investigator telling the victim's daughter the determination and method of death before any official ruling has been made (and this by his own admission).  

It got a little better just before I pulled up to the house, so I might give it one more day, or at least 1/2 of my daily commute.

I've had this book for more than fifteen years in my bookcase now; I bought this when I was a child, for English reading program at my school back then. However, sometimes I'd reread it again if I wanted some classic light reading. As an adult, reading the book makes you remember the thoughts and imaginations that you may have thought; toys that live during the night after we go to our bed, goblins in the ancient times, giants and pixies. Each stories weren't too long and yet memorable, and the fonts were large enough so the book would not look like 'too long and boring' to kids in 3rd grade and above that wanted to grow an interest in reading.