Read in 2026: 20, 21

Next Door

Blake Pierce

 

Sisters Chloe and Danielle are only ten when they witness their mother’s deadly fall down the stairs in their home – presumably at the hands of their father, who goes to jail for it.

Almost 20 years later, Chloe returns to live in their hometown, looking forward to getting married and her career with the FBI off the ground.

Meeting Danielle is part of that return, but unlike Chloe, her sister has been leading a troubled life, never settling with a job or partner for long, mental health problems and past drug abuse.

 

A body is found and the circumstances of the case bring up the old mystery of the death of the sisters’ mother.

Chloe practically works on the new and the old case at the same time while trying to hold things together with her fiancé and planning the wedding.

It doesn’t help that Danielle becomes the main suspect and does not trust her sister enough to reveal what has been happening, making Chloe find the vital clues almost too late…

 

But of course, it being the first book in a series with Chloe Fine at the centre, the reader can be certain to see the heroine solve both the current case and the mystery of who was responsible for their mother’s death, and why.

 

The story was gripping enough, and the characters were well portrayed. I just couldn’t really relate to either of the sisters to the point of caring about them, but I liked Chloe’s boss and his dealing with her and the circumstances.

This first book sets the stage for more, opening threads in both Chloe’s personal and professional lives. But while I found it an entertaining read, I am not going to buy the next books in the series.

 

The author was unknown to me, or so I thought. Turns out I have read one previous book by her, back in 2021. More about her and her work is here.

The Honeymoon Homicide

J. R. & Susan Mathis

Unlike most other free ebooks from Amazon’s Kindle store, this one wasn’t the 1^st in a series. Instead, it is well into a series about a Catholic priest (Tom) and his wife (yes, wife! – Helen) who solve crimes together.

A mutlitude of references to earlier books is made throughout this one, but I didn’t find it hard to follow the storyline without having read any of them.

 

The case: A well-loved deacon at a local church is found stabbed in the snow close to the church where he served. Nobody can think of any personal motive, so the first conclusion is a mugging gone wrong.

But then blood stains and a female hair are found in the sacristy, and it becomes clear that the victim wasn’t stabbed where he was found, and definitely not mugged, but sedated to the point of inability to defend himself…

 

Helen is the local Police Chief, and Tom the local priest. Through exceptional circumstances, it is possible for them to be a legally married couple in spite of his vocation. She has a no-nonsense approach to police work while he often provides a different, more personal angle and can reach suspects on a level that is closed to her.

Combining their efforts they set about solving this mystery, and while at first it seems that each clue leads to a dead end and each question answered opens up many more puzzles, of course in the end they find out what happened, and justice is served.

 

For a change – compared to other detective stories – the couple never are in danger of becoming the next victims of the murderer. We meet their families, colleagues and other local characters, which nicely fills in the background.

Their relationship with each other is vital to solving the mystery, and although they are very much in love, there are also situations where they have to work to overcome differences.

 

It made for a different read from most other crime mystery series I have been reading (or at least started), but sometimes the religious angle is just a bit too prominent for my personal liking. Still, it is part of the story, of the main characters and their lives.

I guessed at part of the solution relatively early on, but there were still a few twists and turns to surprise me.

 

The authors – completely unknown to me until now – are husband and wife in real life (but the husband is not and has never been a priest, and the wife not in Law Enforcement). Their website is here.

I imagine that the series about Father Tom and Chief Helen appeals to many readers, mostly in the US.

Best of Summer Week

Last week was mostly pleasantly warm without being too hot; only from Friday onwards the rising temperatures meant exhausting long days and short nights. Still, some of the best things about summer were happening for me that week.

On Monday (6 July), my usual morning trains home from Offenburg to Stuttgart brought me back from the weekend with my husband. The morning was a refreshing 16C/60F, and it didn't get above 28C/82F during the day.

My cousin from Nice/Nizza (France) had arrived on the Friday before, and the four of us - Mum, my sister, our cousin and myself - met after work at the Italian restaurant close enough to my Mum's place for her to get there and back on foot.

I managed half my pizza and took the other half home to fry up the next day for lunch.

We shared a pleasant and delicious meal at a table in the garden and then went back to my Mum's for cold drinks and more chatting. This cousin is from our Dad's side, and the three of us are very close in age; we spent a lot of time together when we were children, and the old thread is still there, even though I have visited her in Nice only once and she had not been in Ludwigsburg for 8 years.

I was working from home on Tuesday (7 July) and walked to Benningen after work in spite of it being 31C/88F; it was hot and I did sweat, but it IS summer after all, and a strong breeze kept blowing so that the heat didn't feel oppressive.

It was a bit cooler on Wednesday (8 July) at a max of 26C/78F, and the afternoon brought more wind and interesting cloud formations to observe on my walk home from Zuffenhausen after I had spent the day at the office as usual.

Thursday (9 July) was an exact repeat of Monday in terms of temperature. After work, I walked to my sister's to pick up my cousin; we walked to the American Diner (Kullman's Diner) near the train station where we had arranged to meet my Mum for a meal. Again, we had a pleasant chat and reasonably good food at an outdoor table in the shade.

For dessert, we went to a nearby icecream place where unfortunately it was VERY noisy from the busy road (many of our town's bus lines go through there) and people naturally talking at the top of their voices to override the road noise. We didn't last there longer than it took us to finish our icecreams/drinks. My cousin and I accompanied my Mum to the bus stop and, once she was savely on her way home, I walked my cousin back to my sister's and then went home.

It had been a very nice evening, and my cousin and I welcomed the opportunity for some more catching up.

Friday (10 July) was a very busy day for me, but pleasantly so. 

I played host to a meeting with colleagues from my professional association at the office in Weilimdorf. My boss, who had planned to attend and hold a presentation, was on sick leave all week which meant I had to do it all on my own. No problem... but until everything was set up AND my guests (about 20 of them) were all greeted and settled, it was a bit rushed for me - especially once I found out that my order for coffee, mineral water and snacks had not gone through with our in-house caterer! Fortunately, the caterer's employees are all professionals and were able to whip up the requested catering at the last minute. I was truly grateful to them and said so.

The meeting itself went very well with various presentations/talks, lively discussions and good conversations during our lunch break.

I had to make sure to leave on time and arrived home mid-afternoon with about 40 minutes to freshen up and get changed before I was off to the station again, where I met my sister and our cousin.

We accompanied our cousin to Stuttgart's main station and then got on another local train with her, making sure she was on the right one to the airport; she was flying back to Nizza that evening.

My sister and I got off after one stop and walked back down to Stuttgart's Schlossplatz (Palace Square) where we waited for a friend of my sister's. The three of us had tickets for the Jazz Open, an annual open-air music festival that draws big names every year, with tickets very much sought after and often sold out quickly. Our tickets were for Lenny Kravitz, mine was last year's Christmas gift from my sister.

Lenny Kravitz caught my attention in the 1990s, and I have been losely following his musical journey ever since. This was the first time we were going to see him live. And what a concert it was!!! Two hours straight of song after song, during most of which he accompanied himself on the guitar. He changed guitars about 10 times, and his brilliant band were a force on their own. I could go on and on about how great it all was; his voice, the music, the stage presence of a true artist and exceptional musician.

Our tickets were for the standing space, and as the concert was sold out, we were standing among a crowd of people - all of us sweating away in 34C/93F on a paved square in the middle of a big dusty city. I don't need to describe the... erm... scents wafting around, and that part of it wasn't exactly pleasant, but believe me - at some stage I managed to block most of it out, and only what was happening on stage mattered.

Neues Schloss (New Palace), Stuttgart.

Schlossplatz, Stuttgart

A young woman was translating into sign language the songs' lyrics and whatever Lenny said to the audience. She was positioned at the side of the stage, and he made a point of going over and personally thanking her for making his songs come alive for those hard of hearing or deaf. My sister told me that in an online article she read about this year's Jazz Open, apparently he was the only artist who acknowledged the presence of a sign language interpreter, let along thank them (there was one at every performance). That, in my opinion, says a lot about Lenny as a person.

You can read more about the festival (in English) here.

The three of us managed to catch a local train after only a very short wait, and I was home at about 11:25 pm.

On Saturday (11 July) morning, I did only part of my usual cleaning round, packed my little red suitcase and took three different trains to Offenburg, where O.K. picked me up at lunch time.

We had a quick light lunch at his place and in the afternoon went to see one of his uncles and his wife a short drive away. They had invited us after O.K. had told them of our wedding in May. I'd met the uncle before but not his wife, but once we got talking over cold drinks in their garden, it was as if we'd known each other for a long time. She was very pleasant to talk to, and I am glad we went to see them.

Back at the cottage, we chose to have our evening meal indoors; it was still too hot out on the balcony. Once the sun was behind the houses, we spent the rest of the evening out there, sipping well-chilled rosé and observing the stars emerge in the darkening summer night sky.

Sunday (12 July) allowed us to sleep in, but of course with the hot weather and all windows open, nobody stays in bed very long, and we were sitting on the balcony with our coffee mugs early enough to still catch a bit of the morning's freshness. 

I ironed before it became too warm while O.K. prepared our breakfast of fresh fruit and yoghurt. Early afternoon, we drove to a nearby village where the village band were booked at a small but very nice village fête. It was held underneath large old lime trees on the village school's playground - very welcome on what was another hot day of about 36C/97F.

We had a drink and a chat with some fellow band members afterwards and then drove home where we enjoyed a light evening meal of rucola salad and a platter of tomato and mozzarella.

Dining al fresco, open-air concerts, spending time with friends and family, never worrying about what to wear against cold or wet weather - it really was a week that brought some of the "Best of Summer"!

A Week of Respite

Last week was a very welcome respite of the previous week's record heat. In the early hours of Wednesday a thunderstorm brought some rain, and for the first time in about two weeks the thermometer reached below 20C/68F during the night.

The lowest we had was around 11-13C/52-55F before sunrise on Saturday morning - so chilly that I actually had to wear a long-sleeved zip-up over my nightdress for our morning coffee on the balcony!

Monday (29 June) already was and felt much cooler than the weekend had been, at a max of 29C/84F during the day. There were about ten drops of rain in the morning and some wind, which added to the relief. For the first time since the last heatwave had begun, I felt like walking to Benningen after work, and although it was still warm enough for me to break out a sweat, that was fine - it IS summer after all, and it's perfectly legitimate to sweat on a warm, sunny day.

A slightly apocalyptic scene

On the way to Benningen

Sunset from my Third Room

The moon, as seen from my bedroom. In reality, it was much larger and golden, almost like the sun.

The moon, as seen from my sister#s flat.

The thermometer was hovering around the 30C/86F mark again on Tuesday (30 June), but it was bearable in my north-facing Third Room, where I sit when I work from home.

I went to my Mum's after work, and she had prepared a delicious fresh salad for us.

The above mentioned thunderstorm arrived at 2:00 am on Wednesday (1st of July), bringing rain & relief. We still need a lot more rain, but it was at least a bit of a freshener for a couple of hours or so.

I worked at the office in Weilimdorf and enjoyed my walk home from Zuffenhausen.

Thursday (2 July) was wonderfully fresh in the morning at 16C/60F. Of course, each and every window in my flat had been wide open all night, and for the first time I used the thin summer duvet for the night and not just bed sheets.

It was sunny and warm again during the day but remained below 30C/86F. My sister and I met after work for an ice cream, a brief visit at the city museum and a leisurely stroll in the palace grounds before relaxing over a Limoncello Spritz at the open-air bar in the abandoned industrial complex by the train station.

Temperature-wise, Friday (3 July) was the "best" day of the week, with a low of 15C/59F and high of 25C/77F - a perfect summer day; lovely but not too hot.

I worked from home, did my usual cleaning etc., and late afternoon/early evening made the usual train trip to Offenburg where O.K. picked me up and drove us to the village.

On Saturday (4 July), O.K. spent most of the day gardening around his Mum's house while I made sure to do the ironing early, as long as it was not hot yet, and then made our late breakfast of fresh fruit and cold joghurt which we had on the balcony.

A man from our wider circle of friends/acquaintances is moving to a different part of Germany and had invited everyone to a good-bye garden party, and we went there briefly to hand over a little something and wish him all the best for the next chapter in his life.

We were back in time for my sister-in-law and her husband to pick us up for the short drive to the next village, where they had booked a table at a pizzeria for a family meal. We had a table in the shady garden and enjoyed our food, drinks and conversation.

O.K. and I had to be up early on Sunday (5 July). The three villages forming an administrative unit were holding a "Wandertag" (hiking day), with a designated route of about 12 km taking in all three villages and the beautiful countryside in between. 

Along the route, various clubs and associations from the three villages had set up stalls where they offered snacks and drinks to the walkers and hikers, and some (like us, the village band) also had live music playing.

The event officially started at 10:00 am, and we arrived at our spot at 8:00 am to set up everything. Most important were our pavilions so that people could sit in the shade - it was going to be another mostly sunny day at around 30C/86F.

We who worked at the stall were also glad of the shade!

Around 7:45 on Sunday morning, walking from the village to where our stall was to be.

Setting up finished, with not much time to spare before the official start.

The view from our spot along the route

After our not too busy shift ended at noon, O.K. and I walked most of the official route, stopping for something to eat at one place and for drinks at three different places. It was all rather nice and low-key, and of course we "ran" into several friends and acquaintances.

Storks in their nests on top of buildings are a common sight in the villages here.

Along the route

A particularly picturesque place is this old winery and mansion.

I love this tiny attic window - I imagine a fairytale character living up there!

By mid-afternoon, very dark clouds were gathering, and it was hard to tell where the rain they carried was going to come down. Luckily for us and everyone else who was still out and about on the hike or working along the route, the rain did not hit us - on the other hand, O.K.'s area needs rain just as much as where I live.

Anyway, we made it home dusty and exhausted and rested for about an hour before we could muster enough energy to cross the street to see my mother-in-law and tell her what the day had been like.

O.K. and I ended the day - and the week - enjoying refreshing drinks and a plate of light cold snacks on the balcony in the calm evening light.