Mailbox Monday - March 5

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles, and humongous wish lists.

Hard to believe that Hawaii has come and gone. We had a great time. We did some exploring, shopping, walking on the beach, and horseback riding. We also ate at some neat local places.

Honolulu International Airport

Shopping in Wakiki

Pearl Harbor

Waimea Valley Falls

Walking the beach

Honolulu Zoo

Lava rock on beach in Oahu

Yummy chicken

Sunset cruise

Horseback riding at Kualoa Ranch

(Magnum P.I., Hawaii 5-0, Lost and Jurassic Park filmed here)

As for reading, I finished A Mother's Gift by Charlotte Hubbard.

I also finished Revision is a Process by Catherine E. McLean, which I reviewed here.

I started this book...

I'm currently reading...

As for items in my mailbox, I picked up this Kindle freebie while we were away...

What if the police suspect your best friend of murder?

There’s a body in the cathedral library, among the priceless books chained to the shelves, and it seems Libby Forest’s friend, Angela, could be the killer.

The last thing female sleuth Libby needs is another investigation into a mysterious sudden death. There’s enough on her plate already. The fast-growing cake and chocolate business takes all her time, her apprentice has problems, and even Bear, Libby’s beloved dog, is determined to create havoc.

She’d like to leave detection to the police, but when her friend becomes the prime suspect Libby once more takes on the role of amateur sleuth and finds herself entangled with the respectable ladies of the local Knitters' Guild, who plan to spring a surprise on the quiet cathedral city.

With a cast of indefatigable knitters, a lively Exham on Sea grapevine and a missing cat, the green fields, rolling hills, and sandy beaches of the West Country are a perfect setting for crime, intrigue and mystery, with a touch of mid-life romance.

If you love murder mysteries, cosy crime, dogs, craft and chocolate, you'll enjoy this instalment in the fun series of whodunnits set in a small English seaside town in Somerset, full of quirky charm and eccentric inhabitants, with a female protagonist torn between independence and a new, enticing career as a private investigator.

Download the story now to follow the trail and discover the killer.

When we arrived home, this book was waiting in my mailbox...

When Alice's dad moves out, leaving her with her troubled mother, she does the only thing that feels right: she retreats to her family's old Renaissance tent in the backyard, determined to live there until her dad comes home. In an attempt to keep at least one part of her summer from changing, Alice focuses on her quest to swim freestyle fast enough to get on her swim team's record board. But summers contain multitudes, and soon Alice meets an odd new friend, Harriet, whose obsession with the school's science fair is equal only to her conviction that Alice's best stroke is backstroke, not freestyle. Most unexpected of all is an unusual babysitting charge, Piper, who is mute—until Alice hears her speak. A funny and honest middle-grade novel, this sharply observed depiction of family, friendship, and Alice's determination to prove herself—as a babysitter, as a friend, as a daughter, as a person—rings loud and true.

That's it for me this week. How about you? What was in your mailbox?