Tuesday Book Review on Wednesday

Four-star Review for Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

The every-day activities of a family at a cherry orchard in Michigan during the pandemic forms the basis for the mother to share the story of her life as an actress with her three grown daughters who are isolating with her and her husband. Her signature role was as Emily in “Our Town”, which led to a summer with an acting troupe at Tom Lake in Michigan and a romance with a young actor who became famous. She met her husband there, too, and his aunt and uncle who owned the cherry orchard. The writing style keeps the story interesting. The references to the stories of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town as well as Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard fit the story well. Meryl Streep’s reading of the story added to my enjoyment of the audible version. 

Tuesday Book Review

 

Four-star Review for Death at Paradise Palms (The Retired Detectives Club book 2) by Steph Broadribb

When former British detectives living in a retirement community in Florida team up with an American former cop there are bound to be murders and crimes to be investigated, in this case the missing husband of a former actress, and they’re bound to do what the local cops can’t. But there’s a lot more to this than that premise. The growing attraction between Rick, the American, and Moira, one of the Brits, and the cracks in the marriage of the other two English, Lizzie and Philip, are well written side plots as is the character of the actress who enlists their help. Good characters and an interesting take on a now familiar scenario.