#charlotte illes is not a detective

[mercerislandbooks]

Book Notes: Charlotte Illes Is Not a Teacher

I know we're still in August, but I’m starting to get that fall feeling. The few rainy days we had recently meant I wore shoes with SOCKS for Pete’s sake, all our high school bookstore friends are heading out to college, and the light is noticeably changing. The fall is also when I start thinking about all the mystery series I'm so woefully behind on.

Although contemporary mysteries aren't usually my thing, I will try one with low stakes, found family, and a Nancy Drew/Veronica Mars vibe -- a category Charlotte Illes is Not a Detective, plus the recent sequel, Charlotte Illes is Not a Teacher, fits nicely into.

Charlotte Illes was once a precocious child detective, but now, in her mid twenties, she’s living at home, unemployed, having no luck on the bisexual dating scene, and not sure what to do with her life. She is occasionally recognized as “Lottie Illes, child detective,” but after giving up her investigative side hustle in high school, she’s struggled to find direction. So when her brother’s girlfriend needs some help, Charlotte reluctantly makes an exception to her "retirement." She soon discovers that sleuthing as an adult is a little more complicated than the cases she used to take on in middle school, but all the same, her eye for detail and her determination (and her hilarious best friends, Lucy and Gabe) carry her through to uncovering the mystery.

After the series opener last year, Charlotte is back in Charlotte Illes is Not a Teacher. Still in need of employment, she takes work as a substitute teacher at the middle school she once attended and where her friend Lucy works as a 7th grade language arts teacher. But no sooner does Charlotte pick up the keys to her classroom than there’s a mystery waiting to be solved. Lucy's fellow teacher, Kim, has been receiving anonymous letters warning her to quit or else. When the correspondence elevates to threats to reveal the exotic dancing job Kim had in college, and extend to Kim’s aunt Jennifer, a member of the School Board up for re-election, Charlotte is persuaded to look into it. Between Charlotte, Lucy, and Gabe, clues are gathered, theories abound, and there might be a chase scene or two. All the while Charlotte tries to rein in her old (middle-school) instincts around detecting and figure out how a grown-up goes about solving cases. It’s a fun read with a low stakes mystery where no one dies. Plus the friendship between Charlotte, Lucy and Gabe is so endearing.

If you want to ease into the fall season, and take a nostalgic trip back to the days of lockers and classrooms and middle-school hijinks, pick up a copy of Charlotte Illes is Not a Teacher at Island Books!

-- Lori

[radedneko]

"Great. I'd love to talk to them all." Charlotte actually would've preferred to not talk to any of them, but an unfortunate requirement of detecting was talking to people, which was a truth she had come to terms with many years ago.

~Charlotte Illes is not a Detective by Katie Siegel

[bargainsleuthbooks]

#ARC #CharlotteIllesIsNotADetective by #KatieSiegel #NetGalley #CozyMystery #LGBT #Humor #Contemporary #BookReview #KensingtonBooks

Imagine being a teen sleuth like #NancyDrew but grow up and want to move past that? For #CharlotteIlles, it's not that easy. #KatieSiegel #NetGalley #BookReview #kensingtonbooks #cozymystery #teensleuth #teendetective #June2023Books #newbooks #ARCReview

As a kid, Charlotte Illes’ uncanny sleuthing abilities made her a minor celebrity. But in high school, she hung up her detective’s hat and stashed away the signature blue landline in her “office”—aka garage—convinced that finding her adult purpose would be as easy as tracking down missing pudding cups or locating stolen diamonds. Now twenty-five, Charlotte has a nagging fear that she hit her peak…

[makeusfly]

Charlotte Illes is not a Detective

It's not a mystery why I liked this one.

People always ask what kind of books I read, and it’s a lot faster to say what I don’t. I don’t read horror very often, and I almost never read mystery. I read a mystery this week. I found Katie Siegel on TikTok. She did some cute skits about Camp Half-Blood and a funny series about refusing to act like a main character. Then she started a series of skits where she played Lottie Charlotte…

[ckatwriter]

I hate Chapter nine

It's mostly a holdover from when I was adding scenes for NanoWriMo and it is just uiuuughghghghghhghgh

I'll try to make it better but I still think it's tedious. It's important for the most part just tedious.

AND even though the line edits are still going well, it might still be another month before we can release the physical copies since there are printer problems out of our control. And physical copies are pretty much what everyone wants who wants my book.

Still working on:

PurgaTerry: line edits

Cynth: Possible title change to Cynthetic

Currently Reading:

Delta (book 2 of the Apex Cycle) by MT Zimny

The Celestial Globe (book 2 of the Kronos Chronicles) by Marie Rutkoski

Charlotte Iiles is Not a Dectective by Katie Siegel

[anghraine]

Random thought before back to defense prep:

Something I find interesting and enjoyable about P&P is the way that Austen both foreshadows various revelations about Darcy and complicates them before they ever happen. This is typically done through subtle asides or quick interchanges that don't necessarily register as that significant at the time, but still gives the readers a chance to pick up on what's really going to happen.

Just a few examples:

1- Elizabeth and Charlotte briefly discuss how difficult it would be for an outsider, and perhaps Bingley himself, to detect Jane's true feelings:

It was generally evident, whenever they [Jane and Bingley] met, that he did admire her; and to her [Elizabeth] it was equally evident that Jane was yielding to the preference which she had begun to entertain for him from the first, and was in a way to be very much in love; but she [Elizabeth] considered with pleasure that it was not likely to be discovered by the world in general, since Jane united with great strength of feeling, a composure of temper and an uniform cheerfulness of manner, which would guard her from the suspicions of the impertinent. She mentioned this to her friend, Miss Lucas. “It may, perhaps, be pleasant,” replied Charlotte, “to be able to impose on the public in such a case; but it is sometimes a disadvantage to be so very guarded.”

2- Darcy tries to warn Elizabeth at the Netherfield Ball:

“I can readily believe,” answered he, gravely, “that reports may vary greatly with respect to me; and I could wish, Miss Bennet, that you were not to sketch my character at the present moment, as there is reason to fear that the performance would reflect no credit on either.”

3- Charlotte tries to "read" Darcy at Rosings:

He [Darcy] seldom appeared really animated. Mrs Collins knew not what to make of him. Colonel Fitzwilliam’s occasionally laughing at his stupidity proved that he was generally different, which her own knowledge of him could not have told her; and as she would have liked to believe this change the effect of love, and the object of that love her friend Eliza, she set herself seriously to work to find it out: she watched him whenever they were at Rosings, and whenever he came to Hunsford; but without much success.

4- literally the next chapter, one of the funnier miscommunications between Elizabeth and Darcy in Kent:

More than once did Elizabeth, in her ramble within the park, unexpectedly meet Mr Darcy. She felt all the perverseness of the mischance that should bring him where no one else was brought; and, to prevent its ever happening again, took care to inform him, at first, that it was a favourite haunt of hers. How it could occur a second time, therefore, was very odd! Yet it did, and even the third. It seemed like wilful ill-nature, or a voluntary penance; for on these occasions it was not merely a few formal inquiries and an awkward pause and then away, but he actually thought it necessary to turn back and walk with her. He never said a great deal, nor did she give herself the trouble of talking or of listening much; but it struck her in the course of their third rencontre that he was asking some odd unconnected questions—about her pleasure in being at Hunsford, her love of solitary walks, and her opinion of Mr and Mrs Collins’s happiness; and that in speaking of Rosings, and her not perfectly understanding the house, he seemed to expect that whenever she came into Kent again she would be staying there too. His words seemed to imply it.

Very mysterious!!!! Definitely none of their communications here could justifiably be misread!!

[simonisferal]

𝚂𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚍𝚢 𝙲𝚊𝚝 — Interactive Follower Event

chapter one: black cat, green eyes

notes: sorry for not posting since may 😭, i forgot it existed and i had to make a 4 page google doc for it 😋 do NOT stay with heizou / also i didnt know that my little dividers stopped??? like huh???

masterlist

1.4k words

…Yes. I’ll take it as an apology for the way he acted yesterday.

Ignoring the confident look he gave you after you took his coffee, you take it and have a small sip. It was lukewarm, like he decided to buy it and then contemplate whether or not to give it to you for a few minutes. A very specific taste you’ve learned to like. You locked the front door and went with him.

You two don’t talk as he opens the passenger door for you and he walks over to the driver seat. You sit down, setting the coffee cup in a cup-holder and closing the door. 

Some blood drips down from your nose and you realize you probably look like a mess. You look to the side-view mirror, catching a small glance at yourself before seeing that Scaramouche was looking at you.

He snorts, holding back a laugh you could assume would be about your appearance and leans in. He takes a band-aid out of it before quickly shutting it back up with force, getting a yelp from you.

”So dramatic. It’s not like I’m gonna kill you or something.”

He opens the bandaid and covers your nose with it. It doesn’t really help with the faint bleeding but it’s better than a swollen nose. You hesitate to touch it, long after his hand has already backed away and is on the steering wheel, scared that it’ll probably hurt.

You touched it and it did. It’ll make a bad bruise soon but nothing too bad.

The car ride was silent besides the occasional static on the low-volume radio he had. His car was nice, not expensive but still something much better than your small Toyota you got from your friend's neighbor. You would scroll through social media if you had your phone.

You noticed around five minutes in the ride that you weren’t going to the department. The turns became more narrow and the streets started looking unfamiliar. “Where are we going?”

”A new case popped up. Turns out another murderer is on the loose.” He doesn’t look at you as he continues driving but you can’t help but notice the way his eyebrows furrowed.

”Sounds scary.” You say. Scaramouche scoffs but you catch the small smile on his face. “Sure.”

”Hey! Glad you guys could make it.” Shinobu welcomes you to the scene. It was in a moldy alleyway with an ill stench reaching your nose. There was a tarp over the victim and only a few cops around holding the crowd back. There were a few guys from your station, some from another’s and a few reporters, like Charlotte, that you saw blocked by the ‘DO NOT CROSS’ tape. Your partner went under it, gaining small cheers from the reporters. “Yeah. Who are the other guys?”

“They’re 724’s guys,” Kuki explained. They were honestly an average group of detectives but there was a diamond in the mud.

Shikanion Heizou.

He doesn’t really need an introduction, almost everyone in the force knows who he is. He’s almost too good at his job—the only reason he hasn’t been promoted or fired was because of his off-the-book investigations.

”Those guys? Please, it’s probably not that serious.” Scaramouche crosses his arms like he was offended. He was probably right, Shinobu did enjoy extra precautions and calling another department was a hobby of hers. She only sighed and looked at you.

She opened her mouth and before she could speak, someone else spoke. Speak of the devil…

“Oh, hey (Y/N)! I’ve been looking for you.” Heizou had a smile on his face and he reached his hand out to shake. His hand was gloved, and soaked in blood from probably touching the victim (even though everyone tells him not to).

“Oh! Uh…” You sheepishly smile at him back while sweating profusely, eyeing his hand and Scaramouche’s coat pocket. Your partner sighs, as if knowing what you’re saying, and takes out a random napkin from his pocket. He hands you it and you use it to ‘shake’ Heizou’s hand. “Yeah, nice to meet you too…”

Heizou backs away his hand, taking off the blue glove alongside the napkin and tossing it somewhere on the crime scene. Kuki gives him a side-eye glare and he brushes it off. “Relax! Me and the guys already took pictures and sent things to forensics. There’s nothing of importance here.”

Both Scaramouche and Kuki grumbled at his backhanded compliments towards his work.

”Anyways,” Heizou clapped his hands together, trying to rewind. “It would be most appreciated if (Y/N) comes with me, back to my department. I got something for them there.” His moles moved as he smiled. He was trying to convince you to go with him, you figured.

Kuki held your shoulder, “Come on then. Let’s go.” You, without much thought, let your department manager drag you into a van without letting you inspect the scene properly.

It was dirty, as if someone lived there, but it smelled rather nicely. One seat didn't even have a seat belt—instead duct tape and a magnet that probably wouldn't give you any form of protection in a car accident…

You made Scaramouche sit in that seat.

Unlike the previous car ride, Heizou and Kuki made some small talk about personal matters. They seemed to be close. "Co-workers or cousins?" You mutter.

"Might be both."

"Welcome to our department, 827. We hope to cooperate nicely." A woman, taller than both you and Scaramouche spoke. She had raven hair and the eyes of a hawk. She stood proud until she saw Heizou. A scornful look covered her face and she crossed her arms. 'Was she Shikanion's manager..?’

Heizou steps past her, "That's the Captain. Kujou Sara, meet Shinobu, Scaramouche, and (Y/N). You three, Sara." Everyone exchanges vague greetings and a short handshake before the burgundy hair detective grabs your hand. "I got something for you. It's important, 'kay?" He gives out another smile.

You sweat again. "Uhh, sure." You could trust him, right..? Some other guy, a blue-haired fellow with a mole under his lip, dragged Kuki and your partner away for something else. Scaramouche gives you a glance before following the guy.

"What's it about?"

The smile that once held itself on Heizou's lips shrank. "Can't say it out here, you know. It's like you've never been told a secret." He jokes but something tells you it's probably bad.

Like once before, you let yourself get dragged into an office. You internally curse yourself as he locks the door. He checks the blinds on his door, closing them but ignoring the outdoor windows’. What was such a big deal?

He sits down once he makes sure everything is secure, his eyes closed and his hands clasped together over his desk. He takes a deep breath. His demeanor went from the care-free cop you thought he was to a serious detective as he locked eyes with you. "What I say can't leave this room, (Y/N)."

The room instantly became cold and you felt a shiver down your spine. "Uhmm…what is it?"

Heizou pauses. He eyes you up and down, watching for any shift in your body language. "I, unfortunately, have a reason to suspect that our soon-to-be-serial killer might be going after you."

You blink. "...What."

"The murderer from the alleywa—"

He tries to speak but gets interrupted by a loud knock on the door.

The blinds shake and you let out a small scream, surprised.

"(Y/N)!" It was a voice you knew—Scaramouche's. "We're going back to our department." You don't know whether or not to feel relieved or even more scared.

Heizou groans, standing up and walking over to his office door. He unlocks it and stares dormantly at your partner. "Must you go so soon? (Y/N) and I were having a pleasant conversation." He smiles as if teasing the indigo-haired man.

"Yeah. I don't wanna be in this dumb department, let alone with the Kamisatos over there, when we have work to do and a case to solve." He snarls and he looks at you. "Come on. Let's go."

You tense up and freeze. Why did God always give you two options?! Although you'd love to leave and forget what shocking news Heizou told you seconds ago, if it's real…you can't risk dying because of your cowardness. Or maybe Heizou was wrong, in the one and a billionth chance he is.

Kuki was behind Scaramouche, a frown on her face. You didn’t know if it was towards you or Shikanion. “Heizou, leave them alone. You know they scare easily.”

“Oh, come on! I’m just kidding!~” His smile didn’t falter but his voice did crack, though you doubt someone else heard it. He held out his hands in defense as if he were joking before sliding them around your waist.

His voice lowered as Heizou whispered in your ear. ”What do you wanna do?”

masterlist — prev — next

[whencyclopedia]

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was an American author and poet, often credited as the father of the short story, a pioneer of science fiction, the inventor of the detective story, and the master of the horror genre. He is best known for his poems The Raven, Annabel Lee, and Helen, the short stories The Fall of the House of Usher, The Cask of Amontillado, and The Masque of Red Death; and the detective story The Purloined Letter.

Poe was one of the most influential writers in his own time as well as generations later. Robert Mead in his Literature of the American Nation wrote that Poe's stories, poems and essays, "convey the conviction of intensity felt experience, the authority of extraordinary intelligence. That was Poe's genius" (71). One of his best themes is the difficulty of establishing a discrete limit between the living and the dead, the exploration of the border between things that one may wish to remain separate: life from death, the human from the animal, and the real from the imaginary.

Although Poe was a brilliant writer, his life was one of poverty and misery, and his short stories and poems reflect the deep sense of loss Poe experienced throughout his life. Charlotte Montagne in her book on Poe called him a giant of American literature "but his life was a disaster, a tale of unremitting misery, constant poverty and repented frustration and disappointment" (Intro). He was the first American writer to try to support his family through his writing. Unfortunately, he failed. While he may have lived in poverty, he changed American literature forever. Despite his tragic death at the age of 40, he left behind over 70 macabre stories, poems, and one novel "filled with suspense and brilliantly twisted plots." (Montagne, Intro)

Early Life

Edgar Allan Poe was born on 19 January 1809 in a boarding house near the Boston Commons in Boston, Massachusetts. Mead wrote that, from the beginning, his life seemed destined for destruction. Both of his parents were actors, not a respectable occupation at the time. His father, David Poe, Jr. (1784-1811) was a member of the Boston Thespian Group. He proved to be a major disappointment to his parents, who wanted him to become a lawyer. He and Elizabeth (Eliza) Arnold Hopkins, an expatriate English actress, met in Norfolk, Virginia, and were soon married. She was a widow. Her husband Charles Hopkins had died six months earlier. Poe's brother William Henry was born nine months later in 1807; he would die in 1831 of tuberculosis.

David and Eliza traveled the theater circuit up and down the East Coast leaving young Poe and his sister Rosalie (1810-1874) with David's parents David Sr. and Elizabeth in Baltimore. By 1811, David had abandoned his family. Never getting any respect for his acting ability, his stage career had stalled owing to his heavy drinking. He died in December of 1811 in Norfolk. Considered a talented actress by most reviewers, Eliza became ill with tuberculosis and died at the age of 24 on 8 December 1811. The young couple died within three days of each other.

Although he was only two years old, with little memory of his father, many believe Poe inherited his father's character and bad habits. Since his grandparents were financially unable to care for Poe and his little sister, Rosalie was adopted by the Richmond merchant William Mackenzie. Although never formally adopted, Poe was taken in by John Allan, a tobacco merchant and his wife Frances. Poe was given Allan as his middle name. John was said to be impulsive and quick-tempered, but Poe wanted for nothing. He was encouraged and given opportunities to indulge in his literary pursuits. He had the unique ability at a young age to memorize and recite long passages of poetry.

Continue reading...

[brokenhardies]

FOOLSUKE WIP

to make up for me dropping bitbo/foolsuke;

so basically the story starts the same as the canon persona 5 - instead of akiren being arrested its yusuke

yusuke moves to shibuya in with a family friend (ohya) and goes to shujin academy where he meets his teacher takuto maruki and principal shido

first day of school ends up meeting popular streamer futaba isshiki and burnout goro akechi - ends up in shido’s palace inspired by the roman empire and awakens to his persona nezumi (or goemon depending on the draft)

they meet magician sumire (who’s a bunny rabbit) in the dungeons and free her in exchange for her helping them find an exit - her persona is giselle from the ballet of the same name

once they get back to the real world yusuke discovers that his record has been leaked - later when meeting goro on the roof goro confirms its because shido leaked it due to him viewing yusuke as a threat to his perfect school

shido’s basically a control freak who wants shujin to be perfect and rules the school with an iron fist - he brings students for ‘private study sessions’ that mostly consist of berating and occasionally physically abusing them - his sin is wrath instead of lust for that reason

so they end up in the palace a second time thanks to goro wanting to get more information on shido’s victims so he can officially report him to the police

instead what happens is that yusuke finds out that goro is shido’s bastard son with goro trying desperately to punish him for leaving him (and failing miserably) - goro awakens to his persona black bart

two days pass and yusuke finds out that futaba was the one who leaked his record, with her doing it so shido would stop harassing her friend kana - kana attempts suicide the next day and yusuke, goro and hifumi (who replaces mishima) are threatened with expulsion by shido

futaba wants to join yusuke and goro in the palace and they reluctantly let her come along - she gets captured by shido and awakens to her persona charlotte

that’s basically the first half of the story down so ill give the next palace rulers;

we have envy kaneshiro who takes the role of madarame with emperor akira and ren as his students - akira is the one who ends up in the palace and awakens to shūang bian (based on huyan zhuo from water margin)

then greed okumura who tbh is basically just the same but he’s a mafia don and is trying to make haru take over his position - priestess haru awakens to la pucelle (joan of arc’s nickname) in his palace

hermit ryuji who’s palace is a shipwreck slowly overflowing with water, who’s an amputee who blames himself for his mother’s death and his father’s abuse and his father is the boss of his palace in the form of a giant sea monster that attacks the ship - his persona is orwell

empress ann who’s mother basically is selling her models into sex slavery - her palace takes the form of a ochaya and ann joins the team in order to save her friend shiho - her persona is adler

after ann’s mom dies, detective princess makoto joins wanting to change the heart of her sister sae - november 11th happens and we discover that makoto is the traitor after she attempts to murder yusuke

palace 8 is madarame - who is actually yusuke’s biological dad and the man who got yusuke arrested that fateful night - his palace takes the form of a train with the engine room fight instead happening in the coal room - makoto’s true persona is alecto

they defeat madarame but oops! god of control! i dont have much of a plot for this but yusuke’s second tier is mephistopheles bc that’s fun

then the third semester features antag councillor takemi and her ‘guinea pig’ satoru yoshizawa - actually masaru yoshizawa aka morgana - his persona is don quixote

and that’s it! i also had a plan for strikers with the jail monarch’s switching and zenkichi & akane switching places with ichinose & sophia as well as a brief tactica concept with eri and yoshiro switching places but that’s basically it lol

i also altered the plot at some point having emperor makoto, empress morgana and faith akiren but that was before i dropped it lol

[the-forest-library]

June 2023 Reads

Return of the Thief - Megan Whalen Turner

Moira’s Pen - Megan Whalen Turner

Once More With Feeling - Elissa Susan

Cassandra in Reverse - Holly Smale

Ciao for Now - Kate Bromley

The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley - Courtney Walsh

Same Time Next Summer - Annabel Monaghan

Meet You in the Middle - Devon Daniels

Not Here to Stay Friends - Kaitlyn Hill

What Happens After Midnight - K.L. Walther

The Wishing Game - Meg Shaffer

Some Shall Break - Ellie Marney

Bryony and Roses - T. Kingfisher

As Old As Time - Liz Braswell

Such Sharp Teeth - Rachel Harrison

Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win - Susan Azim Boyer

Yellowface - R.F. Kuang

Charlotte Illes is Not a Detective - Katie Siegel

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret - Judy Blume

The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich - Deya Muniz

She-Hulk, Vol 2: Jen of Hearts - Rainbow Rowell

Happily Ever After - Debbie Tung

Book Love - Debbie Tung

The Worrier’s Guide to Life - Gemma Correll

Cryptid Club - Sarah Andersen

Escargot - Dashiki Slater

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs - Judi Barrett & Ron Barrett

Hooked - Sutton Foster

Better Living Through Birding - Christian Cooper

Have More Fun - Mandy Arioto

Notes from a Public Typewriter - Michael Gustafson

These Precious Days - Ann Patchett

It Was An Ugly Couch Anyway - Elizabeth Passarella

Dear Girls - Ali Wong 

Where to Start - Mental Health America

The Vegan Week - Gena Hamshaw

Bold = Highly Recommend Italics = Worth It Crossed out = Nope

Thoughts:

I am now in a world with no more Queen’s Thief books to look forward to, but what a marvelous ride it was. This is now one of my favorite series, and I eagerly look forward to whatever Megan Whalen Turner does next. 

Also, I didn’t mean to read two beauty and the beast retellings back-to-back, but it was fun to compare them. The highlight was T. Kingfisher’s Bryony and Roses, which was absolutely lovely. 

Goodreads Goal: 210/400

2017 Reads | 2018 Reads | 2019 Reads | 2020 Reads | 2021 Reads|

2022 Reads | 2023 Reads

[your-absent-father]

WIP INTRODUCTION: The Vanishing act

Progress: doing the outline. This isn't very high on my priority list

genre: mystery horror

themes: violence against women and other minorities, mental illness, also more when it is more solid

Tropes: mysteriously brooding anti hero, characters frozen in time, time loops, murder mysteries trough generations

content warnings: racism, murder, gore, many types of abuse, disturbing imaginery, suicide

Plot:

Amanda Reimann was gaslighted ever since she was 5 years old. She was sure, so sure, that the car her mother had killed herself in 1995 had been empty when it burned down in flames. She was close to forgetting all of it through therapy and getting adopted by the parents of her close childhood friend the Reimann's.

All of her memories started flooding back in when the circus, one that always appeared once a year like magic, came again to Amanda's hometown the same night she heard her adopted sister had gone missing traveling with her sister's best friend. To Amanda's shock, that day's new performers were like copies of the missing girls, and their mentor was like a carbon copy to Amanda's mother the day she killed herself. When talking to, none of them seem to regonize Amanda.

Amanda sets out to figure out the mysterious Circus Moirai's fairground, with the help of Kenji Okura, her sister's best friend's father, who is a detective in the edge of getting fired, and Tobias Akerman, the only person that believed Amanda 20 years before.

The investigators:

Amanda Reimann - the main character, birth name Amanda Martinsson. Paranoid young woman who for 20 years was lead to believe that her memories were only formed as a trauma response. Maybe a bit intense, but loving to her family, was it biological or not.

Tobias Akerman - Selene Martinsson's close friend and confidant. Has tried for 20 years to prove that Selene wouldn't kill herself, with dimishing results. A former boss in an agency whose first hire was Selene Martinsson, Tobias has ruined his promising life to give justice to his former associate, with every means necessary

Kenji Okura - father of Rea Okura. Kenji has always been a sceptic relying on hard facts, which come in handy with his job of being a private eye. He doesn't believe in anything supernatural, but he does believe in an hiher power, which he believes more than anything after Amanda Reimann shows him his missing daughter flying trought the air as a trapeze artist.

Moirai's fairground performers:

M - The mysterious ringmaster. No one really knows his name, background, or even remember his face. They only remember his silky dark voice that you can almost hear everywhere in Moirai's fairground, and the piercing blue eyes that seem to be looking straight at you, even when you are in a crowd of thousands.

Selene - master of any animals. Selene's fantastical animals started in the 90s only with horses but has incorperated other animals to her number trough out the years. She has been the crowd favorite for ages because Selene's delicate beauty and the beautiful dancing she uses while performing. Many have described her dancing like "a flame in the cold night."

Sara - Sara is one of two first time performers in 2015 show. Agile young woman, she and her trapeze partner soar trough the sky like they have always done so, Sara being the more experienced one of the two.

Rea - Rea is one of two first time performers in 2015 show. Even tough Rea seems to slip on every show of her first night of the show, she is still a talented woman willing to grow and learn. And of course the skill is there, especially when you have your best friend helping you.

Charlotte - dance leader. In carge of any type of show other might say is "normal". She and her back up dancers do a dance number right in the middle of the show. Charlotte is the right hand woman of M, informing everything going on to M himself. She is blinded by her loyalty, which some might mistake as Charlotte loving M. Charlotte was just K's firt performer.

Vicki - the clown of the circus. Vicki is an interesting person with one of the oldest and loved performances of the circus. She is almost always wearing her clown outfit, but it always feels differently off every time you look at her. When you talk to her, you can feel the fun loving person inside, if you get pass the slightly crooked smile.

Bettie - The fiery personality fit for the person in charge of the fire performance show and the fireworks at the end of each performance. Snoopy personality, is most likely to come talk to you after the performance. She may seem fierce but her personality is a total sweetheart.

Claudia - the fortune teller, one of the few notable faces outside the tent, only occasionaly making performance in front of an audience. Quiet and stern person who seems to have power over K, as she is the only person whose small cart didn't have his precense around it.

Lucas - One of the few men performers, showing audiences the old school gun man performance magic. There doesn't seem to be a target Lucas couldn't miss, there are only those Lucas chooses not to. He has everything you want in a southern gentleman, a real southern gentleman.

WIP's tag: WIP: Circus Moirai

Probably the one which I will update on you the lead lol. Only because its darl subject matters and the mystery aspect.

The pinterest. Might include spoilers

[rockislandadultreads]

Read-Alike Friday: One Puzzling Afternoon by Emily Critchley

One Puzzling Afternoon by Emily Critchley

A mystery she can't remember. A friend she can't forget.

I kept your secret Lucy. I've kept it for more than sixty years . . .

It is 1951, and at number six Sycamore Street fifteen-year-old Edie Green is lonely. Living alone with her eccentric mother - who conducts seances for the local Ludthorpe community - she is desperate for something to shake her from her dull, isolated life.

When the popular, pretty Lucy Theddle befriends Edie, she thinks all her troubles are over. But Lucy has a secret, one Edie is not certain she should keep . . .

Then Lucy goes missing.

2018. Edie is eighty-four and still living in Ludthorpe. When one day she glimpses Lucy Theddle, still looking the same as she did at fifteen, her family write it off as one of her many mix ups. There's a lot Edie gets confused about these days. A lot she finds difficult to remember. But what she does know is this: she must find out what happened to Lucy, all those years ago . . .

Charlotte Illes is Not a Detective by Katie Siegel

The downside of being a famous child detective is that sooner or later, you have to grow up . . .

As a kid, Charlotte Illes’ uncanny sleuthing abilities made her a minor celebrity. But in high school, she hung up her detective’s hat and stashed away the signature blue landline in her “office”—aka garage—convinced that finding her adult purpose would be as easy as tracking down missing pudding cups or locating stolen diamonds.

Now twenty-five, Charlotte has a nagging fear that she hit her peak in middle school. She’s living with her mom, scrolling through job listings, and her love life consists mostly of first dates. When it comes to knowing what to do next, Charlotte hasn’t got a clue.

And then, her old blue phone rings...

Reluctantly, Charlotte is pulled back into the mystery-solving world she knew—just one more time. But that world is a whole lot more complicated for an adult. As a kid, she was able to crack the case and still get her homework done on time. Now she’s dealing with dead bodies, missing persons, and villains who actually see her as a viable threat. And the detective skills she was once so eager to never use again are the only things that can stop a killer ready to make sure her next retirement is permanent.

This is the first volume of the "Not a Detective Mysteries" series.

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton

A long lost letter arrives in the post and Edie Burchill finds herself on a journey to Milderhurst Castle, a great but moldering old house, where the Blythe spinsters live and where her mother was billeted 50 years before as a 13-year-old child during WWII. The elder Blythe sisters are twins and have spent most of their lives looking after the third and youngest sister, Juniper, who hasn’t been the same since her fiancé jilted her in 1941.

Inside the decaying castle, Edie begins to unravel her mother’s past. But there are other secrets hidden in the stones of Milderhurst, and Edie is about to learn more than she expected. The truth of what happened in ‘the distant hours’ of the past has been waiting a long time for someone to find it.

The Sweet Remnants of Summer by Alexander McCall Smith

Isabel Dalhousie accepts an invitation to serve on the advisory committee of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, but soon finds herself swept up in an all-too-familiar dilemma. David is the grandson of a Scottish clan chief and is supportive of Scottish nationalism. But his fervent beliefs are threatening family harmony, especially because his sister Catriona's socialist views put her at odds with her brother. When their mother, Laura, a fellow committee member, asks Isabel to intervene, she tries to demur. But always one for courteous resolutions to philosophical disagreements, Isabel can't help but intercede.

In the meantime, Jamie, having criticized Isabel for getting involved in the affairs of others, does precisely that himself. Jamie is helping to select a new cellist for his ensemble, but he suspects that the conductor may be focused on something other than his favored candidate's cello skills.

With so many factors complicating matters, Isabel and Jamie will have to muster all their tact and charm to ensure that comity is reached between all these fractious parties.

This is the 14th volume of the "Isabel Dalhousie" series.

[bargainsleuthbooks]

Book Reviews: The Faculty Lounge; After OZ; Charlotte Illes is Not a Teacher; Squanto: A Native Odyssey; Maria: A Novel of Maria von Trapp #NetGalley #ARCReviews #NewBooks

Time for another round-up of ARCs I've read lately. Most of these books have just been released! #NetGalley #ARCReview #Bookreview #Mariaanovelofmariavontrapp #charlotteilles #squanto #thefacultylounge #afteroz #gordonmcalpine

I’m cruising along and getting through all my Advanced Reader’s Copies from NetGalley and Edelweiss. In order to keep up with blogging about them all, I’ve decided to do more roundups like this. Most books can be found at the affiliate links below or try your local library when they are released! (Amazon US) (Amazon CA) (Amazon UK)  (AbeBooks) (Barnes & Noble) (Booksamillion)  (Audible.com)…

[everydaygremlin]

Tell me about computers

WELL ILL START WITT TALKING ABOUT MINE ANDSEE WHERE IT GETS ME

rn im typi ng on one of my laptops, a macbook from 2012 named Barnaby, who was much harder to repair than many of my other laptops, which all had issuese with being too slow (i just reset them), barnaby had a blinking question mark symbol on boot, whcih means that there was no system found, and that was because it wasnt detecting the hard drive, because the cable had decayed, which is a common issue for 2012 macbooks pro's. This was the sole reason my dad replaced barnaby with his new laptop, as he could not find a fixfor his issue, after hours of searching. During a power outage i looked it up and found a fix. I then found the model number of the broken part, and borrowed my dad's card to order a replacement. He then decided that i can have this laptop, becasue due to issues with the third party hard drive contained within, there was an issue with the system being unable to read the drive occaisonally after startup. It usually goes away after a couple minutes, but its vry inconvinient, espicially with how sensitive the drop sensor within is, but its a worthy compromise for a laptop with a good amount of processing power, a better battery life than my other mac, Grace (more on her later), and practically every port known to man, as well as a disc drive. Not to mention the fact that Barnaby has been to many, many countries. Okay, onto Grace now. Grace is also a 2012 Macbook, however this time a macbook air. My mum used to run her whole buisness from it, and due to that, when apple decided to stop updating those laptops, she immeadiatly bansihed grace to the cupboard, as a "spare" aka "i dont want my kid taking this laptop i think they have eniugh". Of couse i found her whilst trying to find a 20 dollar note, and cleaned her up, both internally and externally. Theres not really much more to say, i used her as a replacement chromebook for a while, becuase i got sick of chromebooks, and wanted to use spotify, but by the end of the schol year i was getting pretty tired of the broken K and L keys. I have a chromebook, and a microsoft surce which my brother took the charger for and never gave back. Finally, i have my pride and joy, my main computer, Charlotte. She has a top of the line CPU from 2015, a disk drive, 2,4 ghz internet support, a dedicated graphics unit, fans tgat can spn upward of 1000 RPM, and of course, a disk drive. Me and my dad built her together when i was 5, and then i started playing minecraft. My dad then tought me how to install minecraft mods, and i was off. I quickly caught onto hwo to use the windows file explorer, and am now better at using windows than my own dad! Charlotte and barnaby are my main two, one for bringing to school (even though its like 3 kilos) and one that stays at home.

I have reread none of what i just typed, and liely sound insane, This was fun tho!

[imatardyfreakngeek]

I always recommend A to Z to kids in the bookstore. My dad put me into Encyclopedia Brown, I always loved trying to figure out the “wrong” thing before turning to the end of the book for answers.

There’s this really funny author who mostly posts on tiktok, she’s published a series o believe now of books about what happens to child detectives once they grow up. Here’s the link if you’re interested. It’s also a series of skits!

Time for a new poll! I'm curious to see the spread of answers on this one (and hear any other series not on the list.) Tried to go for a range of older and newer series on here, more on the older end of the spectrum, but I can't cover everything with the limited poll options here, so I hope you'll share your answers! :)

Please reblog for a larger sample size, thank you!

[books-and-dachshunds]

Charlotte Illes is not a detective ~ Katie Siegel ☆ Book Review

Good morning! One more book off my Summer TBR- just one missing 👏🏼   4.5 / 5 stars Content warnings; Guns, non-brutal mugging, offscreen kidnapping, offscreen murder Storygraph   First thing first, I appreciate that there’s a content warning before the novel starts! We should definately normalize it, it’s so helpful and cost nothing to be mindful of others.   I love the relationships in this…