Cloudy with rain - finally

Cloudy with rain. I am tired of the sun and heat. A perfect day to loll on the chaise lounge and read and pretend it is cool outside. (It isn't.)

I am truly enjoying Jonathan Yardley's book Second Reading. One minute I am visiting suburbia in the short stories of John Cheever, The Housebreaker of Shady Hill,  and a few pages later I am thrown into the world of baseball with Jim Brosnan's The Long Season.

What I really appreciate is that Mr. Yardley still owns the books he is rereading. Some are first editions bought at time of publication; others are well-worn finds he bought at used bookstores. Many he admits to rereading many times.

He also gives a brief bio of each author. Nothing ponderous; usually just a paragraph. Enough to place the author and the book in their time period. Much appreciated.

I am also finishing up another witty mystery by Georgette Heyer - The Unfinished Clue (1934) with Inspector Harding of Scotland Yard.

The gruff and bullying Sir Arthur is stabbed in the neck with a letter opener at the end of a weekend house party (that the British do so well). No one seems to miss him but a murderer must be found. Plenty of suspects; a terrific character, Lola, a dancer from Mexico, the fiancee of the dead man's son; and a perfectly named butler, Finch.

As always, Ms. Heyer perfectly captures the tone of the upper class manor and manners. Delicious.