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Had I realized when I picked it up that this was the 4th book in a series, I would have looked for the first book to start at the beginning. I didn’t feel like I was missing anything starting at this point in the story, however. The relationships between characters were either evident or explained well enough that you can easily read or listen to this book without having read the previous books, and not feel lost.

A lot of Swedish crime fiction has a particular melancholy feel to it, and The Hidden Child is no exception. The author did injected occasional brief moments of humor into the story that helped lighten the mood, however, and they kept it from feeling too dark.

The story is told in both in the present, and through flashbacks, in the time around WW2. It follows the police investigation into the murder of a local historian, as well as the family drama unfolding as Erica Faulk digs into her mother’s past. The two series of events turn out to be more intertwined than anyone could have imagined, and even though I could see where it was going, the story didn’t give everything away at once and I didn’t really know what had happened until the end.

If you are a fan of police procedural and / or historical mysteries, give this one a try!
  
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Frank Black recommended The Threepenny Opera by Kurt Weill in Music (curated)

 
The Threepenny Opera by Kurt Weill
The Threepenny Opera by Kurt Weill
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"Like a lot of people of my generation, the first time I heard a Kurt Weill song was The Doors. You go half a lifetime without realising it was written by Brecht and Weill. Recently I went on a journey. I write songs with a guy called Reid Paley. He’s a very less is more, economical songwriter and you know there’s something about him that’s very tin pan alley. He wears a black jacket and a white shirt and has no problem banging out a song. He is not going to use a word like ‘thalossocracy’ in one of his songs. I felt I needed to get into the feel of Threepenny Opera - how has it survived all these years and spawned all these cover versions which are part of the jazz songbook? I really needed to educate myself and listen to that record ten or twenty times to hear the melody and the meter and the drama, what they put together, those dudes back in pre-WW2 Berlin. They were working really hard and we’re still talking about those records today. I was just enjoying it in and my wife was listening along upstairs. She was doing laundry and I was doing pots and pans. And she said: “I could listen to this all day long, whatever it is.” I don’t speak German so I’m missing a lot outside the English part of the libretto but I still love it."

Source
  
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ClareR (5589 KP) rated Think of Me in Books

May 8, 2022  
Think of Me
Think of Me
Frances Liardet | 2022 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, Romance
10
10.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
I got very excited when I saw that this book was coming up. I’d read and loved We Must Be Brave, and I knew that I’d enjoy this too - I wasn’t disappointed.

It’s the story of James Acton and Yvette Haddad who meet during WW2 in Alexandria where Yvette lives. James is the best man for Yvette’s sisters husband-to-be, and they both fly Hurricanes in North Africa.

James is captured by the Germans when he is shot down, and spends the latter part of the war in a prison camp, and keeps in touch with Yvette throughout. After the war they marry, return to England, and James returns to his ministry as an Anglican priest.

They have a wonderful marriage, it seems to me, whilst James struggles with his memories of war, they both experience a personal loss - and their marriage changes.

This has a dual timeline, set during the war in Alexandria and in 1974. James lives as a widower whilst their son goes to University. It’s a big change for James, and so he decides to go one step further as he puts in for a transfer of parish. But this transfer brings a lot of memories back.

Frances Liardet writes a slow burning novel really well. She makes the ordinary extraordinary, and has written a novel that I became totally immersed in. I really didn’t want to put it down.
  
A Christmas in the Alps
A Christmas in the Alps
Melody Carlson | 2021 | Romance
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A Christmas in the Alps is a lovely and enjoyable story set for Christmas. You will find yourself wanting to find out more about the two main characters exploring France. This book is set during and takes place mainly in France around Christmas.

We meet Simone while she is cleaning out her great grandma's house. Her friend found a letter and read it to Simone. The letter starts Simone on her journey to discover her great-grandma's treasure and heritage. Will she find more than that? Will she overcome her flying fear? She meets Kyle during her flight from Seattle to France.

This story is doing a bit of genealogy and a bit of romance. So far, it is excellent. It looks like Simone has made at least two friends. There seems to be a mystery going on as well at this point. Is Leon's Aunt related to Simone's Great-grandma, or does she know anything about her Great Grandpa rescued during WW2?

Will Kyle and Simone find love with each other? Will Simone find the true treasure and family? There seems to be a family feud or a rift in a relationship. Can Simone find a solution and fix the relationship with her great aunt? To this end, you will want to read more from this author. Melody Carlson will bring you in to enjoy the culture of her lovely books and Christmas books. This one is no different.
  
1922 (2017)
1922 (2017)
2017 | Crime, Horror
Old Movie Revisited: 1922. Another sweet Netflix made Stephen King movie, within less than a month of Gerald's Game, another awesome sauce flick. This one brings back Thomas Jane into the King fold for at least the third time, a trend I hope he continues, seems to fit in well... a roll in the Dark Tower perhaps, well, isn't he already... In this one, taking place sometime before WW2 ;) we have farmer Wilfred James and his wife, Arlette, and son Henry. Now Arlette wants out of the midwest farm crap fest and move to the big city, sell the farm, get a divorce... Wilfred, well doesnt really seem to care about the divorce part, but losing the farm and Henry, cause of course the boy will go off with mommy, isnt going to happen. So what is a dad to do, duh, convince your 14 year old son to help murder your wife, invent a tale she ran off and expect everything to go well. You may have guessed, it doesn't... Hell, even little Henry becomes a outlaw. Good flick, bringing in some old Stephen King landmarks to tie in his universe a little tighter, takes place near Hemingford Home, where a few well known King characters hail from, big one being Abagail Freemantle, of The Stand... But more recently in theatres... IT, one little fat boy named Ben Hanscom also once roved it roads! Thomas Jane was awesome, if a Shining remake was ever in the works to be more true to the book, I'd love to see Mr. Jane as Jack, i think he'd be insane :) Filmbufftim on FB