What makes this book especially satisfying is its sensory richness. The attention to detail is so precise you can practically smell the bread cooling on the racks, the sharpness of cheese, the damp stone after rain. It is comfort reading with substance: sunshine and laughter paired with the everyday complications life throws at us, and the quiet resilience required to meet them.
This is not a book about capital-H heroes. Instead, it centers on people who engage in small acts of service, kindness, and yes, heroism—not for recognition or glory, but because it was the right thing to do in the moment. These are stories of people showing up when it would have been easier not to.
The Locked Room is clever, cozy without being complacent, and deeply satisfying for puzzle-lovers. If you adore classic detective fiction but crave a fresh perspective, Harriet White deserves a place on your shelf—and very likely, in your reading rotation for a long while to come.
About the Book: A Treatise on Martian Chiropractic Manipulation and Other Satirical Tales Human beings are flawed creatures, and humor is the perfect means to exploit the endless fodder of our shortcomings. This multi-genre collection of twenty-one short satirical stories will leave you smirking, chuckling, scratching your head, and maybe even muttering to yourself […]
There is also something deeply comforting about the cultural shorthand Spencer-Fleming uses. References to PBS, public radio–adjacent sensibilities, and a certain late-20th-century, educated-Northeast worldview made me feel instantly at home. It is clear the author lives in or very near my cultural zeitgeist, and those small, knowing touches add a layer of authenticity that is easy to underestimate and hard to fake.There is also something deeply comforting about the cultural shorthand Spencer-Fleming uses. References to PBS, public radio–adjacent sensibilities, and a certain late-20th-century, educated-Northeast worldview made me feel instantly at home. It is clear the author lives in or very near my cultural zeitgeist, and those small, knowing touches add a layer of authenticity that is easy to underestimate and hard to fake.
Cool meme! I hadn’t seen that one before.
Michele sent me.
now all i can think about is “a dingo ate my baby.”
Tihs was fun. I copied it to post over at my place pretty soon. I couldn’t post my actual date of birth though; the only entry was civil unrest in malasia, I think it was. Anyway, more than a million people died that day. Who wants to put that as a neat event for your day?
That was fun! Here’s mine.
I figured I’d do it too. I could have not put down the WTC attacks, but I think that was one of the more interesting events (to me) that occurred on 9/11. As a result, I didn’t post any of the famous people’s deaths on that date & year since it would have been ‘double dipping’ and seemed callous considering how many other people died.
Although the person who had millions die on her birthday wins.
What you’re a formerly known as now, you mean I have to update my bookmarks??? zoiks.
:) good title. That is the name of our local coffee shop here.
You and Mae West, figures!
Awesome blog. Peace out until next time TabathaOster