Queen Anne Is Dead

tags: historical fiction, politics, romance

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From Goodreads 

First reissue in over a century of a lost classic by Patricia Wentworth • From the author of the hugely successful and enduring MISS SILVER crime series, QUEEN ANNE IS DEAD is a historical novel set England and France in 1714.Kensington Palace 1714, Queen Anne is dying. Assorted courtiers, flatterers, rogues and favourites are frantically positioning themselves ready to reap bountiful patronages from the new king. 

The scheming Lady Henrietta Clavering is in her element. But the machinations between Lady Clavering, her estranged son Philip and her much younger beau Jack Murray are about to take a surprising turn. Meanwhile, Philip is dispatched on a fool’s errand to the village of Mercy in the Duchy of Lorraine deep in rural France and into the life of the beautiful Hélène, daughter of a Jacobite exile.

The novel set in 1714 is hardly about the death of Queen Anne but more of the suffering of Philip at the hands of his own mother, the despicable Lady Henrietta Clavering. Philip was thought to be dead for 2 years and suddenly came back, His mother tried to make him disappear for good a second time but did not succeed, making Philip learn the truth about his mother's deadly schemes and find true love in young Hélène. 

Highly recommended.

Escape: Sore wa Yukai no Hazudatta

 

tags: Japanese dorama, mystery, satori

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From YouTube 

Yagami Yui, the only daughter of a major pharmaceutical company president, is kidnapped on the night of her 20th birthday. The plan fails miserably. And when the hostage looks her kidnapper in the eyes and says "Run away with me" — a nationwide manhunt begins. What starts as the worst kidnapping in history unravels into a decades-long conspiracy about identity, power, and a secret she's been carrying her whole life. 

The title is Escape: Sore wa Yukai no Hazudatta (ESCAPE It Was Supposed to Be a Kidnapping). The 2025 Japanese series is not playing on Netflix nor Amazon. I watched it in one of the Asian drama websites. 10 Episodes.

The subject of this dorama is a family with satori ability. Yui sees colors when she touches a person, dark for dark aura and light colors for maybe a good person. Her aunt hears sounds, not sees colors. When they touch each other, there are no colors or sounds, neutral in other words. 

Yui takes advantage of being kidnapped to escape not from the kidnapper but from her own father who put a GPS monitoring anklet on her and employed a bodyguard for her. Yui suspects her father of something sinister and decides to cut the device and asks her kidnapper to drive her to where her former nanny lives. From there, she also escapes from the nanny taking the nanny's child with her. The kidnapped becomes a kidnapper in order to protect the child whom she thinks is being neglected by his mother. She and the kidnapper become friends and partners in escaping together. He is not a bad person although he spent sometime in juvie custody for petty theft. They call themselves Hachi (Yui) and Linda (Daisuke). They acquire friends who help them along the way. 

Note: The video is an hour long summary of the almost 10 hour series. I couldn't find a trailer for the series.

The Friend Of The Family

tags: historical fiction, mystery, thriller

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From Goodreads 

A girl liberated from a carnival sideshow discovers her mysterious purpose in a moving novel about family, sacrifice, and transcendent love by #1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz.

The human “oddities” in the Museum of the Strange are less wondrous than the gawking rubes had been promised. But Alida is something else. The real thing. Traveling Depression-era America from carnival midways to speakeasies, Alida is resigned to an exploited and lonely life on the road as the museum’s golden ticket.

Until she’s rescued by two compassionate strangers. Franklin and Loretta Fairchild see in Alida a gifted and uncannily well-read girl in need of a loving touch and a family. With the openhearted couple and their three precociously imaginative children, Alida finds it.

Yet despite everyone’s overwhelming generosity and acceptance, Alida knows she is still a very different kind of girl. Her dreams bear that out. They’re vivid, unsettling, and threatening. Alida fears that they’re also warnings. And that it’s the Fairchilds who may need rescue from a bad, bad world.

Alida will do anything to help those she now holds nearest and dearest. Empowered with a purpose to vanquish evil, she will not fail her family.

The Friend Of The Family is different from all the Dean Koontz books I have read. The first person narrative is a first for me from Koontz. It is written as a sort of journal by the main character, Alida/Adiel.  

Alida is physically deformed but her mind is excellent. She has certain uncommon skills such as remembering word for word the books she has read, and she has read tons of books. She also has a precognitive ability and what the Japanese call Satori. Her dreams are very vivid that foretell future events and although she cannot prevent them, the family can prepare for their coming. She also did something almost supernatural as though she was an angel sent from heaven to help her adopted family and their German shepherd, Rafael. Her deformity was revealed only at the very last few pages which I think is just proper for the readers to see her as she is seen by the Fairchild family, a normal person.

The story is set from 1930 to 1944 when the USA was still suffering from the effects of WWI and up to the tragic WWII. The Fairchild couple work in the movie industry and the novel has many Hollywood biggies such as  Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Groucho Marx, Laurel and Hardy and their wives. etc. These people sort of lighten the story amid the dark events during that time. 

Highly recommended.

Iranians Worldwide Celebrate

 

Iranians all over the world celebrate the death of their oppressor doing the Trump dance, thanking the president, USA, and Israel. 

The left and the democrats meanwhile are devastated and do nothing but whine and cry hard that their beloved terrorist is gone forever. 

Sudden Marriage (Ikinari Kon)

 

tags: Amazon streaming, Japanese dorama, romance

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From Amazon

"Sudden Marriage" follows plain office worker Mao Koshiba. After being cheated on and drinking herself numb, she wakes in a handsome stranger's bed: Hajime Ando, her new boss.

There are so many questionable things in this Japanese romance dramedy. The male lead, Shirota Yuu is 190 cm (6'3") tall and the lead female, Saito Kyoko is 155 cm (5"). Yuu is 40 years old and Kyoko is 28. 12 year difference in age and she looks very young. But I don't mind and I like the mystery-ish vibe. What's funny and strange is Shirota is shown as pure Japanese and that's how all the characters also see him. I think it is deliberate.

Shirota Yuu is half Japanese, half Spanish (mother). I first saw him in Hana Kimi when he was just 22 years old. I'm not sure if this his first lead role in a Japanese romance series. He has several supporting roles in many Japanese movies and TV shows.

 

Yuu is also a singer. Yuu's Mentirosa featuring his younger brother Jun

Headhunters

tags: crime, mystery, thriller

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From Goodreads

Roger Brown has it all: clever and wealthy, he's at the very top of his game. And if his job as a headhunter ever gets dull, he has his sideline as an art thief to keep him busy. At a gallery opening, his wife introduces him to Clas Greve. Not only is Greve the perfect candidate for a position that Brown is recruiting for; he is also in possession of one of the most sought-after paintings in modern art history. Roger sees his chance to become rich beyond his wildest dreams, and starts planning his biggest theft ever. But soon, he runs into trouble - and it's not long before the hunter becomes the hunted...

I read this book in December 2012 after watching the movie based on this book. I never heard of Jo Nesbø before that. I really liked the movie and I had to read the book. I became a fan and I have read almost all of his books since, except the children's books. 

I'm rereading it after 13 years although I've seen the movie 3 times already and it is still on my Hoopla watch list where it streams in its original Norwegian language. Other streaming sites are English dubbed.

Roger Brown is an arrogant unlikable character, acts as though he is the most clever person in the world, and has expensive taste in everything but does not have the means to sustain his luxurious lifestyle and his wife's art gallery. He bought an expensive house and the art gallery for his wife and to pay for them, he steals expensive artworks, replaces them with copies, then fences them with the help of a weird character.

The writing is fast paced, humorous, and full of [sometimes gross  but funny] surprises and twists.  

The Art Of Sarah

tags: con artist, crime, Korean drama, mystery, Netflix, psychological thriller

complete 12 episodes

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

Synopsis from Wikipedia

Sarah Kim, a woman who has created a false identity based on wealth and social status, whose life is thrown into confusion when a body believed to be hers is found in a sewer beneath Seoul's upscale district. Detective Park Mu-Gyeong investigates the case and discovers that Sarah has no clear personal records, leading him to uncover inconsistencies in her background and evidence that she has lived under multiple identities. As the investigation progresses, Sarah's constructed life begins to collapse, revealing the consequences of long-term deception and raising questions about identity, truth, and self-invention.

Wow. This new psychological thriller from Korea is mesmerizing. Sarah is a true fictional con artist like no other. She is played by one of the best actresses in Kdramaland, Shin Hae-sun., who is perfect for this role.

The series is a mash-up of murder mystery, police procedural, and a social commentary on people's obsession in having luxury name brand imported items that they are willing to line up for early in the morning or even the night before if a new item goes up for sale in an exclusive store.   

Contrails or Chemtrails?

what are these?

I woke up this morning with these trails all over the sky above our houses in Savannah GA. I have seen and heard of these but never saw a lot of them hovering above, maybe 2 or three at the most and far from us. Conspiracy theorists are saying these are chemtrails either to poison people or to cover the sun to fight "climate change". I am not a believer in these conspiracies but how do you to explain snow and temps in the 20s in Savannah GA for the last 2 Winters, 2025 and 2026? 

Maybe conspiracy theorists are right, even the Italian author Umberto Eco believed in conspiracies. He wrote about the subject in his fiction novels here and here but cautions conspiracies may turn out to be true. 

my poor ranunculus/anemone froze to death on January 31

 

Detective Hole

The wait is over! The teaser for Jo Nesbo’s Detective Hole - the first-ever series based on Nesbø’s bestselling novels - is here! Get ready to meet one of crime fiction’s most iconic detectives like never before. The series premieres worldwide on March 26.

Coming to Netflix on March 26. Actor playing Harry Hole looks accurate in height, although he has green eyes instead of blue. And he is American of Swedish descent. Aren't there Norwegian actors who will fit Harry's description and stats? I hope he will be better than the actor in The Snowman. I have read all 13 Harry Hole books and I expect an actor that will look like him. Is that too much to ask?  

Update: 

I was mistaken. The actor playing Harry is Norwegian actor Tobias Santelmann and he looks like the Harry I have in my mind. Joel Kinaman, the Swedish American is part of the supporting cast. I'll review the series when I'm done watching.

The Wrecking Crew

Tags: action, Amazon streaming, comedy, thriller

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Two half-brothers, a loose cannon cop and a disciplined Navy SEAL, must work together to unravel a conspiracy behind their father's murder in Hawaii.

The new movie streaming on Amazon Prime is an old fashioned revenge action thriller. I liked it and it is worthy of a second viewing. It is bloody violent and fights are over the top as expected. Momoa and Bautista are great in their roles. Morena Bacarrin has a very short but spectacular screen time.

Highly recommended for action flicks enthusiasts. Two 👍up.