Where Is Your Bookmark: My Bookish Mewsings on A Serial Killer's Guide to Marriage & Other Friday Fun

Along with this mini review, I am linking to both Book Beginnings, a meme in which readers share the first sentence of a book they are reading, hosted by Gillion of Rose City Reader and First Line Friday hosted by Carrie of Reading is My Super Power, as well as Friday 56 hosted by Anne of My Head is Full of Books, in which readers share a random sentence or two from page 56 or 56% of the book they are reading.  

Maybe we should have tried marriage counseling. [opening of The Serial Killer's Guide to Marriage]

               ★                    

I had so many questions I wasn't going to ask him. I wasn't going to show my hand.

And then it hit me. 

We weren't on the same team. We were on opposing sides, circling each other, waiting to see who was going to crack first. [56% of The Serial Killer's Guide to Marriage]

 

 

The Serial Killers Guide to Marriage by Asia MacKay

Bantam, 2025

Mystery/Suspense; 334 pgs

Source: Publisher via NetGalley for an honest review

I wasn't smashing the patriarchy; I was killing it. Literally.

Hazel and Fox are an ordinary married couple with a baby. Except for one small thing: they're murderers. Well, they used to be. They had it all. An enviable London lifestyle, five-star travels, and plenty of bad men to rid from the world. Then Hazel got pregnant.

Now, they’re just another mom-and-dad-and-baby. They gave up vigilante justice for life in the suburbs: arranged play dates instead of body disposals, diapers over daggers, mommy conversations instead of the sweet seduction right before a kill. Hazel finds her new life terribly dull. And the more she forces herself to play her monotonous, predictable role, the more she begins to feel that murderous itch again.

Meanwhile, Fox has really taken to being a father. Always the planner, he loves being five steps ahead of everyone and knowing exactly what’s coming around the bend. Plus, if anyone can understand Hazel needing one more kill, it’s Fox. But then Hazel kills someone without telling Fox. And when police show up at their door, Hazel realizes it will take everything she has to keep her family together. [from the publisher]

My thoughts: The Serial Killer's Guide to Marriage was an entertaining read, not to be taken too seriously. It was a touch dark and macabre, at times funny, and surprisingly somewhat relatable. Not the murdering part. That wasn't relatable. If you strip away the serial killer part, the issues our protagonists struggle with are not unusual in terms of adjusting to life and marriage with a baby. It is a life changing experience, and it completely upends the life they had been living. It's an adjustment Haze (as Fox calls her) is having a hard time making. She loves her daughter very much, but she also feels like she has lost a part of herself. At one point in the novel, Fox thinks Haze may be depressed, and, honestly, I wondered if she might have mild case of postpartum depression. 

I did not find Haze or Fox to be particularly likeable characters (I'm not sure I was supposed to--and that's okay), but I did find their story compelling. At times it felt like watching a train wreck. Mostly I just wanted to shake them and force them to sit down and talk to each other truthfully. Haze really hadn't meant to kill that man. Well, maybe she  had thought about it a little. She should have come out and told Fox about it right away. Fox's parents showing up on their doorstep was a complete surprise, and Fox keeping their ultimatum a secret from his wife didn't help. All their secrets kept adding up, snowballing from there.

My favorite character in the novel besides little Bibi who is the daughter of Haze and Fox, was Jenny, a mother who befriends Haze over the course of the novel. Jenny is not in the best of places mentally or financially when they first meet, but I think she ended up being really good for Haze. Matty was another favorite, and I appreciated the way the author incorporated his character throughout the novel.  In a way, I felt like his character grounded Haze.

It took a few chapters before The Serial Killer's Guide to Marriage took off for me, but when it finally did, I had a hard time putting it down. The tension increased, the stakes kept getting higher, and it was just a matter of time before Fox and Haze would have to confront one another. As others have said, the novel does have a Mr. and Mrs. Smith vibe (if you are familiar with the movie or television series). I came away from the novel wondering if it counted as a mystery/thriller or was it a dark and twisted rom com, but have decided it does not really matter. It was a fun read. Thank you to everyone who voted for this one in my February TBR List poll! (Be sure to stop by tomorrow to vote in March's poll!)

Does this sound like something you would enjoy? If you have read it, what did you think? 

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion post where bloggers discuss a wide range of topics from books and blogging to life in general. It is hosted by Linda Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell and Jen from That’s What I’m Talking About. Join in by answering this week's question in the comments or on your own blog.

Which books are you looking forward to reading this spring? (March-May)?

I am excited about many of the upcoming book club picks this spring for the clubs I am in. Those are about the only ones I can predict with near certainty I will read. I hope to fit in other books I am looking forward to as well, but today I thought I would focus on some of the spring book club selections. Unfortunately, the May list isn't available yet, so this list just covers March and April. 

• Murder by Degrees by Ritu Mukerji (March - Mystery Book Club)
• Ida, In Love or in Trouble by Veronica Chambers (March - Historical Fiction Book Club)
• Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott (March - Science Fiction/Fantasy Book Club - I thought I'd try the group out since I want to read the book.)
• The Five Stages of Courting Dalisay Ramos by Melissa De La Cruz (April - Diverse Romance Book Club)
• Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa (April - Cellar Door Book Club)
• All the Good People Here by Ashley Flowers (April - Mystery Book Club)

I am going to miss March's Cellar Door Book Club, so am deciding if I will follow through with reading the March selection, Tell the Wolves I'm Home Carol Rifka Brunt, or put it off and read it when the mood strikes. It does sound good though, so maybe it will be sooner than later. The Diverse Romance Book Club is reading a contemporary romance, The Truth According to Ember by Danica Nava, in March, which I read last summer and loved. Do I have time to re-read it? I may try but have not decided for sure. The rest are all books I definitely hope to read for my upcoming book clubs meetings.

I also plan to read Steel's Edge (The Edge #4) by Ilona Andrews for the COYER Ilona Andrews' Edge and Inn Keeper read-a-long in April (I am currently reading Fate's Edge which is March's book).

What are you looking forward to reading this spring? 

Every Friday Coffee Addicted Writer from Coffee Addicted Writer poses a question which participants respond on their own blogs within the week (Friday through Thursday). They then share their links at the main site and visit other participants blogs.

How much time does blogging take out of your life weekly?  (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer)

It feels like a lot sometimes, especially when you add in visiting other blogs. I follow quite a few blogs, and I also do my best to visit all the blogs of those who comment on my posts or those participating in the memes I participate in. I do not always succeed, but I make an effort. I have never really paid much attention to the actual amount of time I spend blogging per week. Some days I am able to get onto the computer to work on my blog and other days not at all. There are days I can fit in five minutes while other days an hour or two. I do a lot of the prep work on the weekends if I am able. Ideally, I would be way ahead in prepping, but I just don't have that kind of time to dedicate to doing so. Some days or weeks, I am lucky if a post goes up at all. Blogging is a hobby for me, something I do for fun, and so isn't always a priority as a result.

How much time do you spend blogging? Do you dedicate time each day or get to it when you can?

 

 I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Be sure and tell me what you are reading and are up to!

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© 2025, Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Bookish Mewsings: The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

Gallery/Saga Press; 2023 

Horror/Historical; 570 pgs 

Source: Own TBR

Gracetown, Florida, summer 1950.

Robert Stephen Jones Jr. is sent to Gracetown School for Boys for kicking a white boy’s leg. But the Gracetown School for Boys isn’t just any reform school. As Robert finds, it’s a segregated school that is haunted from the boys who have died there. The Reformatory is an eerie, frightening novel that explores the horrors of our history. [from the publisher]

One of the members of the Historical Fiction Book Club recommended this book to our group after having read it for her Philosophical Horror Book Club. It had been voted as their favorite book in 2023. I can see why. Tananarive Due's writing is beautiful and her ability to put the reader right into every scene of the novel is nothing but masterful. I could feel the emotions of her characters, the tension and fear, as well as the love Gloria and her brother, Robert, had for each other. The novel was both chilling and thought-provoking.

The Gracetown School for Boys, aka the Reformatory, was more than just a juvenile detention facility. It was an institution and business that was an integral part of the Gracetown community. It provided resources and financial support through the labor of the children imprisoned there. The entire town was dependent in some way on the Reformatory, and the people of Gracetown were complicit in the cruelties and abuses that took place there. Is it any wonder than that it is filled with ghosts of those wronged? Tananarive Due does not gloss over the harsh realities of the Jim Crow South during the 1950's. 

Robert is only twelve when he is sent to the Reformatory after trying to defend his sister from the white teenage son of a very influential local landowner. He is sentenced to six months and without a proper trial. His sister goes above and beyond to try and help her brother but to no avail. She is thwarted at every turn by a system that is designed to oppress and control anyone who does not have white skin. She is determined to get him out at all costs, even if it puts her own life in danger.

Sometimes it was easy to forget that Gloria is only a teenager herself, given the responsibilities on her shoulder. Gloria and Robert's mother passed away awhile ago and their father is on the run and living in Chicago, having been falsely accused of raping a white woman. Everyone knows he would never get a fair trial. Robert Sr. was respected in the Black community for being an activist and fighting for civil rights. You can imagine how that went over with the white community at the time. Gloria is raising her brother, having quit school and work to support them.

Young Robert had led a relatively sheltered life compared to some of the children at the Reformatory. What he may lack in so-called street smarts, he more than makes up for in courage and is very smart. He also has the unique ability of seeing haints, or ghosts. It doesn't take long for Robert to understand that the Reformatory is a place of death, where many kids have died, often in unnatural ways. His time at the Reformatory is anything but easy. He is taken under the wing of a couple of boys who become his friends, learning to navigate his new reality, even if unable to completely escape the abuse and neglect all the kids suffer through. Warden Haddock, the superintendent and person in charge, is the worst of the worst. He takes a cruel joy in the harm he causes. In the novel, Robert finds himself caught between the haints and Warden Haddock, both wanting to use him for their own purposes.

Although The Reformatory is fictionalized, with fictional characters and a fictional setting, a mention to a real historical figure here and there, a lot of research went into reflecting a true portrait of what life was like during that time period. Young Robert in the novel is named after a relative of the author's who had died at Florida's Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys. Robert in the book is not based on her relative, although his story did inspire the writing of the novel. A four year project lead by forensic anthropologist Erin Kimmerle in 2012 to uncover the graves of and identify those buried at Dozier led to Robert Stephens finally getting a proper resting place and his family being able to say goodbye.

Since I read this novel for my Historical Fiction Book Club, our focus was on the history in the novel--which plays a significant part in the overall story. The horror aspect of the novel was indeed terrifying, but the greatest threat was not necessarily that of the haints, but of the humans themselves. Not too different from reality, really. The fact that places like this existed, especially targeting children, Black or Indigenous, is deplorable. Unfortunately, even today, maltreatment of children in juvenile facilities is not unheard of, even if more socially frowned upon.

There was not a dull moment in the novel. Tension was high throughout. I felt the first half of the novel was a bit slower than the second, as the author built a strong and necessary foundation, weaving in the injustice and cruelties of racism during that time period. The haints, or ghosts, are very much an important part of this novel, with their own story to tell, and make The Reformatory all the more poignant. As chilling and terrifying as the events in this novel were, I want to point out that there were also some positives: the community rallying together to protect Gloria as the Klan threatened her and Miz Lottie, Miz Lottie and her boys in general for their support of Gloria and Robert, the attorney for confronting the white judge in an attempt to to help Robert, the kind music teacher, Miss Hamilton, and the special bond and love Gloria and her brother Robert share, among the most memorable.  

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© 2025, Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Can't Wait to Read Wednesday: Kills Well with Others / The Dream Hotel / Six Weeks in Reno

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings 

to spotlight upcoming release we are excited about that we have yet to read.

Here are three upcoming releases that caught my attention and immediately ended up on my wish list I am looking forward to reading all of them. 

Kills Well with Others (Killers of a Certain Age #2) by Deanna Raybourn
Release Date: March 11, 2025 by Berkley

“Much like fine wine, battle-hardened assassins grow better with age.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner

Four women assassins, senior in status—and in age—sharpen their knives for another bloody good adventure in this riotous follow-up to the New York Times bestselling sensation Killers of a Certain Age.

After more than a year of laying low, Billie, Helen, Mary Alice, and Natalie are called back into action. They have enjoyed their time off, but the lack of excitement is starting to a professional killer can only take so many watercolor classes and yoga sessions without itching to strangle someone...literally. When they receive a summons from the head of the elite assassin organization known as the Museum, they are ready tackle the greatest challenge of their careers.

Someone on the inside has compiled a list of important kills committed by Museum agents, connected to a single, shadowy figure, an Eastern European gangster with an iron fist, some serious criminal ambition, and a tendency to kill first and ask questions later. This new nemesis is murdering agents who got in the way of their power hungry plans and the aging quartet of killers is next.

Together the foursome embark on a wild ride across the globe on the double mission of rooting out the Museum’s mole and hunting down the gangster who seems to know their next move before they make it. Their enemy is unlike any they’ve faced before, and it will take all their killer experience to get out of this mission alive.  [From the Publisher]

The first book in this series was such fun! I look forward to reading the second installment. 

The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami
Release Date: March 4, 2025 by Pantheon

From Laila Lalami—the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist and a “maestra of literary fiction” (NPR)—comes a riveting and utterly original novel about one woman’s fight for freedom, set in a near future where even dreams are under surveillance.

Sara has just landed at LAX, returning home from a conference abroad, when agents from the Risk Assessment Administration pull her aside and inform her that she will soon commit a crime. Using data from her dreams, the RAA’s algorithm has determined that she is at imminent risk of harming the person she loves most, her husband. For his safety, she must be kept under observation for twenty-one days.

The agents transfer Sara to a retention center, where she is held with other dreamers, all of them women trying to prove their innocence from different crimes. With every deviation from the strict and ever-shifting rules of the facility, their stay is extended. Months pass and Sara seems no closer to release. Then one day, a new resident arrives, disrupting the order of the facility and leading Sara on a collision course with the very companies that have deprived her of her freedom.

Eerie, urgent, and ceaselessly clear-eyed, The Dream Hotel artfully explores the seductive nature of technology, which puts us in shackles even as it makes our lives easier. Lalami asks how much of ourselves must remain private if we are to remain free, and whether even the most invasive forms of surveillance can ever capture who we really are.  [From the Publisher]

This sounds both scary and intriguing.

Six Weeks in Reno by Lucy H. Hedrick
Release Date: March 4, 2025 by Lake Union Publishing

A woman at a “divorce ranch” in 1930s Reno strives to live life on her own terms in a powerful novel about heartbreak, hope, and the allure of the unknown.

September 27, 1931. Today my new life begins.

After twenty years in a loveless marriage, Evelyn Henderson will do anything to escape her stifling suburban life. She boards a train for Reno, Nevada, a former frontier town that’s booming thanks to “six-weekers”: women from all walks of life who take up residence there just long enough to secure an uncontested divorce—a right they don’t yet have in their home states.

Evelyn settles into the Flying N Ranch and soon bonds with her housemates, most of whom have never ventured this far from home—or from societal conventions. The Biggest Little City in the World offers a heady taste of freedom for the horseback riding in denim and fringe by day and being courted by dance-hall cowboys by night. But underneath the glamour are the grim realities of Depression-era America, as well as the devastating consequences of escape.

As Evelyn is drawn out of her shell by a Hollywood-handsome wrangler and challenged by her new friends to reengage with the world in all its heartbreaking complexity, one thing becomes six weeks will change her life forever.  [From the Publisher]

Yet one of the many things about history I know little about and find myself curious now that I know a little something. 

Do any of these books interest you? What upcoming releases are you looking forward to reading?

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© 2025, Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Top Ten Tuesday: My Top Fifteen Books Set in Another Time

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana at The Artsy Reader Girl.

This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic is My Top Ten Books Set in Another Time. Looking over my top rated books over the years, below are among my favorites set in a different time period. I tried to narrow the list down as best I could. Here are Fifteen of my favorite books set in different time periods. 

Death Below Stairs (#1) by Jennifer Ashley

1881 - London

Victorian class lines are crossed when cook Kat Holloway is drawn into a murder that reaches all the way to the throne. [from the publisher] 

Moloka'i by Alan Brennert

1891 - Hawaii

This richly imagined novel, set in Hawai'i more than a century ago, is an extraordinary epic of a little-known time and place---and a deeply moving testament to the resiliency of the human spirit. [from the publisher] 

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

Early 19th Century/1974 - Maryland/Los Angeles

The visionary author’s masterpiece pulls us—along with her Black female hero—through time to face the horrors of slavery and explore the impacts of racism, sexism, and white supremacy then and now. [from the publisher]

The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

1820's - Mexico

Mexican Gothic meets Rebecca in this debut supernatural suspense novel, set in the aftermath of the Mexican War of Independence, about a remote house, a sinister haunting, and the woman pulled into their clutches... [from the publisher]

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

1896 - England, Italy

In the year 1806, in the midst of the Napoleonic Wars, most people believe magic to have long since disappeared from England -- until the reclusive Mr. Norrell reveals his powers and becomes a celebrity overnight. Another practicing magician emerges: the young and daring Jonathan Strange. He becomes Norrell’s pupil and the two join forces in the war against France. But Strange is increasingly drawn to the wildest, most perilous forms of magic and soon he risks sacrificing not only his partnership with Norrell, but everything else he holds dear. [from the publisher]

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

1950 - Florida

A gripping, page-turning novel set in Jim Crow Florida that follows Robert Stephens Jr. as he’s sent to a segregated reform school that is a chamber of terrors where he sees the horrors of racism and injustice, for the living, and the dead. [from the publisher]

Jane Steele by Faye Lyndsay Faye

Mid 1800's - England

A Gothic reelling of Jane Eyre. Like the heroine of the novel she adores, Jane Steele suffers cruelly at the hands of her aunt and schoolmaster. And like Jane Eyre, they call her wicked - but in her case, she fears the accusation is true. When she flees, she leaves behind the corpses of her tormentors. [from the publisher]

Wolf Den Trilogy by Elodie Harper

1st Century CE - Pompeii

The gripping story of Amara, a woman sold into slavery in Pompeii’s notorious brothel. Once the daughter of an esteemed doctor, her life spirals downwards after her father’s death. Struggling for survival, Amara navigates a harsh reality while yearning for freedom.[from the publisher] 

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

1954 - San Francisco

America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father—despite his hard-won citizenship—Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day. [from the publisher]

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Future - Canada/United States

An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse—the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity. [from the publisher]

Circe by Madeline Miller

Ancient Greece

Woman. Witch. Myth. Mortal. Outcast. Lover. Destroyer. Survivor. CIRCE. [from the publisher]

The  Deep End (Country Club Murder #1) by Julie Mulhern

1974 - Kansas City

Swimming into the lifeless body of her husband’s mistress tends to ruin a woman’s day, but becoming a murder suspect can ruin her whole life. [from the publisher]

Lavender House (Evender Mills Mystery #1) by Lev A.C. Rosen

1952 - San Francisco 

When your existence is a crime, everything you do is criminal, and the gates of Lavender House can’t lock out the real world forever. Running a soap empire can be a dirty business. [from the publisher]

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

1930's to present day - Jeju Island

A classic Lisa See story—one of women’s friendships and the larger forces that shape them—The Island of Sea Women introduces readers to the fierce female divers of Jeju Island and the dramatic history that shaped their lives. [from the publisher]

All Systems Red (Murderbot Diaries #1) by Martha Wells

Future - Outer Space

A murderous android discovers itself in All Systems Red, a tense science fiction adventure by Martha Wells that interrogates the roots of consciousness through Artificial Intelligence. [from the publisher]

Have you read any of these novels? If so, what did you think? What are your favorite books set in another time? 

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© 2025, Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Weekly Mews: An Author Event, Recent Book Club Reads, & What My Family is Reading

I am linking up to the Sunday Post hosted by Kim of Caffeinated Book Reviewer and The Sunday Salon (TSS) hosted by Deb Nance of Readerbuzz  where participants recap our week, talk about what we are reading, share any new books that have come our way, and whatever else we want to talk about. I am also linking It's Monday! What Are you Reading? hosted by Kathryn of Book Date where readers talk about what they have been, are and will be reading.

Just a quick post to check in and say hello. We dropped my mom off at the airport this morning. She is on her way to check on my Great Aunt who is in the hospital with double pneumonia. She has a heart condition as well, and so the situation is extra precarious. My mom is going to help out her aunt and my aunt's partner, who has Alzheimer's. 

We have a busy week ahead, including Family Night for incoming freshman at the local high school Mouse will be attending. This past week, she met with the high school counselor to discuss class options for the upcoming school year, and she will turn in her choices the end of this week. I cannot believe she's going to be in high school soon. I am not ready to be the mom of a high schooler! 

What have you been up to? I hope you are well!

This week I  finished reading The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett (you can read my review here) and The Reformatory by Tananarive Due (review to come), both book club picks for this month, one for the Mystery Book Club and the other for the Historical Fiction Book Club. We had a great discussion in both groups--everyone had only good things to say about the books. 

I currently am about half way through The Serial Killer's Guide to Marriage by Asia MacKay. It had a bit of a slow start, but has picked up considerably. I am enjoying it so far! 

What are you reading right now? Is it something you would recommend?

Posts on the blog you may have missed:

Top Ten Tuesday: Twelve Nonfiction Books I Never Got Around to Reviewing 

Can't Wait Wednesday: The Love Simulation / The Sirens / Famous Last Words 

From the Archives: Colson Whitehead's The Nickel Boys & We Carry Their Bones by Erin Kimmerle 

Where Is Your Bookmark: Bookish Mewsings on The Tainted Cup & Other Friday Fun 

Where I share what everyone else in my family is reading

~ Mouse's Current Reads ~

Dark Moon, Shallow Sea by David R. Slayton

Horror Collectors: The Cursed Game of Tag, Vol. 2 by Midori Sato, Norio Tsuruta, and Yon

~ Anjin's Current Reads ~

Spy x Family, Vol. 13 by Tatsuya Endo

Godot Engine 4.3 documentation (a game development engine)

~ My Mom's Current Read ~

Ida, in Love and in Trouble by Veronica Chambers

Have you read any of these books? If so, what did you think?

Following in the footsteps of Deb of Readerbuzz - With all the worries and stressors in life, 

I want to highlight some of the good, even the seemingly small stuff. 

1. Mouse and I met author Sajni Patel at an author event this past Friday. She signed two of her books for us. She was super nice, and we enjoyed her visit. She talked about how surprised she was when Disney said they would publish her latest YA series despite how dark it is. The Venom series starts with the book A Drop of Venom, a Medusa retelling based on Greek and Indian lore. The second book in the series is A Touch of Blood, which is a Persephone re-telling. Sajni has written other books as well, mostly romance, both adult and YA.    

2. A crown fell out one day this past week (that's not the pawsitive part). I expected to be told I would have to wait a few days or longer to get in to see the dentist, but they were able to take me in the same day! Not only that, but the dentist was able to re-cement my crown in, and so I did not need to get a new one made. I saved money and got the problem taken care of right away!

3. Playing Mario Kart with Mouse. She almost always beats me, but we have fun playing together. 

I hope you have a great week! Let me know what you have been reading!

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© 2025, Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Where Is Your Bookmark: Bookish Mewsings on The Tainted Cup & Other Friday Fun

I 

Along with this mini review, I am linking to both Book Beginnings, a meme in which readers share the first sentence of a book they are reading, hosted by Gillion of Rose City Reader and First Line Friday hosted by Carrie of Reading is My Super Power, as well as Friday 56 hosted by Anne of My Head is Full of Books, in which readers share a random sentence or two from page 56 or 56% of the book they are reading.  

The walls of the estate emerged from the morning fog before me, long and dark and rounded like the skin of some beached sea creature. [opening of The Tainted Cup]

               ★                    

I stared at the sword, mere spans before my face. Its blade was not shining steel, I noticed, but a pale, sickly, whitish green. [page 146 of The Tainted Cup]

The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan #1) by Robert Jackson Bennett

Del Rey, 2024

Mystery/Suspense/Fantasy; 410 pgs

Source: Own TBR

In Daretana’s most opulent mansion, a high Imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a tree spontaneously erupted from his body. Even in this canton at the borders of the Empire, where contagions abound and the blood of the Leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death at once terrifying and impossible.

Featuring an unforgettable Holmes-and-Watson style pairing, a gloriously labyrinthine plot, and a haunting and wholly original fantasy world, The Tainted Cup brilliantly reinvents the classic mystery tale. [From the Publisher]

My thoughts: The bizarre murder of a high-ranking official of the Empire shocks the residents of Daretana. Legendary investigator, Ana Dolabra, sends her new assistant apprentice, Dinios Kol, to the scene of the crime to learn everything he can about the scene of the crime and interview the witnesses. 

Robert Jackson Bennett's novel, The Tainted Cup, was everything I hoped it would be and more. The mystery at the heart of the novel is multi-layered, well-plotted, and wrapped tightly in the fantasy world it is set in. As the mystery unfolds, the reader learns more about the Empire, particularly the border cantons and the surrounding area. The border towns are on constant guard against leviathans who may try to breach the outer walls and threaten the Empire. A recent breach of the wall near Talagray has everyone on edge as the engineers try to fix the wall before another leviathan comes along. Meanwhile, Ana and Din's investigation into the officer's death becomes more complicated by the second, leading them right to Talagray, as they follow the evidence. 

Din is not an ordinary human, having been magically augmented to have perfect recall. Similar to a photographic memory, but much more advanced. Anything he sees and hears he remembers. He is what they call an Engraver. Other humans throughout the empire have opted for other enhancements or augmentations, providing them with skills and talents that make them invaluable to the Empire. Din himself is very good at his craft. In addition, he is dedicated and curious as well as clever and resourceful.

The novel is told from Din's point of view, and it is through his eyes that we are introduced to the world he lives in, one of ecological wonders. Ana is as much an enigma to Din as she is to us in some respects. Her masterful deduction abilities and reputation proceed her wherever she goes, but there are many things about her Din does not yet know. Ana is rather eccentric, wearing a blindfold most of the time, she literally relies on Din to be her eyes and ears, but she is able to see so much that is going on around her and from what she learns just by using her other senses. She is confident beyond measure and will bend the truth if it gets her what she wants to know. The author likens Ana to Rex Strout's Nero Wolfe character, though I am less familiar with than Sherlock Holmes, who I have also heard her compared to (and Din as her Watson). In my brief internet search about Nero Wolfe, I can definitely see the similarities. (The author also jokes that she is also like Hannibal Lector--which I can see too, sort of). 

Din and Ana work very well together with their contrasting personalities and each with their own skillset. Ana may seem like the brilliant one of the two, but no one should underestimate Din. I thought the entire cast of characters in the novel were not only well developed but interesting. They each played an important part. Not one character was superfluous. In fact nothing about this novel was, from the workings of the fantasy world, the ecology, the politics, and hierarchy and classes of people to the simplest and most minor of details. 

With a dangerous killer on the loose and the threat of a leviathan attack, tension builds throughout the novel. The mystery is as intriguing as it is gripping, and the world building is incredible in its characters and setting. The mystery has a classic feel to it, but the fantasy elements make it something entirely unique. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and cannot wait to read the next in the series (and go back and read the author's backlist). 

Does this sound like something you would enjoy? If you have read it, what did you think? 

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion post where bloggers discuss a wide range of topics from books and blogging to life in general. It is hosted by Linda Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell and Jen from That’s What I’m Talking About. Join in by answering this week's question in the comments or on your own blog.

Do you like to cook or bake? What is your favorite thing to make?

I do not enjoy cooking or baking. Not in the least. I only do it when I have to. Thank goodness my husband doesn't mind doing either! 

Do you enjoy cooking or baking? 

Every Friday Coffee Addicted Writer from Coffee Addicted Writer poses a question which participants respond on their own blogs within the week (Friday through Thursday). They then share their links at the main site and visit other participants blogs.

Do you belong to a book club? If so, how many members do you have? Have long has it been going on? (submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver's Review)

I made the declaration at the beginning of the year that this is my Year of Book Clubs.  I belong to four currently, which is probably too many, but I enjoy each of them and would join at least one more if I thought I could juggle it (I'm looking at you, Science Fiction/Fantasy book club). 

Over the years, I have been in several online book clubs at one  time or another, mostly the kind you can read at your own pace and answer questions posted by the host if there's a group read--which not all had. I have long wanted to be a part of an in-person book club. I attempted to join a community one years ago, when my daughter was really young, but it did not work out. 

The local independent bookstore has a wide range of book clubs (20 at last count) for just about every genre or interest, and I have wanted to try one for some time now. Last fall, I finally took the plunge and joined the Historical Fiction Book Club. It's a small group, just three of us at the moment, but I have enjoyed our discussions. The other two members have been in the club for years together (others have come and gone), but they gave me a warm welcome. I also tried out the bookstore's main book club, featuring mostly literary and general fiction, which I also have enjoyed. 

Since then, I have taken part in the bookstore's Cellar Door Book Club, featuring mostly literary and general fiction books, the Diverse Romance Book Club, and the Mystery Book Club. I actually hadn't meant to join the Diverse Romance group, only planning to attend the January meeting because of that month's book selection, but I enjoyed being a part of the group so much, I decided to continue with it for the time being. I love reading mysteries, so the Mystery group seemed like it would be a good fit. 

Two of the clubs meet in-person at the bookstore and the other two via Zoom. Membership varies for each club, ranging in size from three to twelve, depending. All of the clubs have been going on much longer than I have been a member. I think there are more newer members in the Diverse Romance group right now than there are in the others (it's also a newer group). Each club is made up of members of all ages and from varying backgrounds. I love the variety of books read in the book clubs, and they all have their own vibe. 

Where do I get the time with a full-time job and a family? At least for the moment, I am at a place in my life where I can devote the time to the book clubs. It's a form of self-care, something I can do for myself that I enjoy. I am not a very social person, but I do like talking about books, and I'm finding it surprisingly easier than I expected given my reserved and introverted nature. I just had to get over my initial fear and anxieties. There is something rewarding about sitting around a table discussing a book we all read, not to mention being a part of a community that shares in a love for reading and books. Will I be able to be so involved in six months? I have my doubts given how much busier life will be getting when my daughter enters high school, but I will  enjoy my book clubs while I am able!

Do you belong to any book clubs?

 I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Be sure and tell me what you are reading and are up to!

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