We’re almost halfway through October. How long before they start playing Christmas songs? 🎄 Stay sleuthy 🕵🏻
Books to Curl Up With 📚
The Puzzle Box - Danielle Trussoni
A story about two sisters (descendants of an illustrious samurai clan) who will stop at nothing to claim a lost imperial treasure. Mike Brink has been invited to Tokyo, Japan, to open the legendary Dragon Box. Every twelve years, in the Year of the Dragon, the Imperial family holds a clandestine contest to open the box. It is devilishly difficult, filled with tricks, booby traps, poisons, and mind-bending twists. Every puzzle master who has attempted to open it has died in the process. Brink is the world’s greatest puzzle master and has twenty-four hours to solve the most dangerous mystery of his life . . . or die trying.
A Murder of Crows - Sarah Yarwood-Lovett
The start of an exciting new cozy crime series - perfect for fans of Richard Osman.
Dr Nell Ward is an ecologist, not a detective. But when she's the prime suspect in a murder, only her unique set of skills could help to clear her name.
New Book News 📰
Book 5 in Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club series to be published in September 2025
Viking Books UK have announced that Book 5 in Richard Osman’s beloved The Thursday Murder Club series will be published in September 2025.
Viking publishing director, Harriet Bourton, said: "Richard Osman has an inimitable talent for creating characters who immediately feel like friends and worlds you love to spend time in. Whether it’s We Solve Murders or The Thursday Murder Club, you are guaranteed to enjoy yourself—and we are so excited that his world-famous gang of sleuths will be back on the scene next autumn”.
A Caw-versation About Crows 🐦⬛
What's a Murder of Crows?
A group of crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) is colloquially known as a "murder."
What is a crowd of crows called?
A gathering of crows is called a flock or group. While it is called a murder of crows colloquially, this isn't the official scientific term.
Mating and Breeding
Crows mate for life so picking the right partner is of paramount importance
Socializing and Learning
Crows are highly intelligent and social animals.
They often form a flock of crows to communicate, learn from each other, and establish social hierarchies. A group of crows might gather to mob a predator, like an owl or hawk, to protect their territory and offspring, or to discuss the merits of the crab apples a few blocks over.
Why Do Crows Gather and Caw?
Crows gather and caw for a variety of reasons, including communication, territory defence, alerting others of danger, and social interaction.
WHAT’S ON TV? 📺
If you haven’t watched it yet - I highly recommend Moonflower Murders on PBS Masterpiece (you can stream on Amazon with a subscription to the PBS channel). Even my husband likes it!
It’s the follow-up to Magpie Murders, both based on the novels by Anthony Horowitz. Lesley Manville returns as a book editor and Tim McMullan as the fictional postwar sleuth whom she discusses the case with.
Susan Ryeland (Lesley Manville) has left publishing and is living in Crete with her long-time boyfriend, Andreas. But her idyll is disturbed by the shadow of a murder committed at a British country hotel eight years ago. Alan Conway visited the hotel and wrote a novel based on what happened there. Cecily Treherne, the young woman who helps run the hotel, read the book and believed the wrong man had been arrested. Now she has disappeared. Can Susan uncover the secret hidden in the book and find Cecily before it is too late?
It’s a masterful blend of a book-within-a-book storytelling, that makes for enjoyable viewing. Here’s the trailer to give you a little idea of what’s in store!
If you’d like to learn a little more check out PBS Masterpiece to dig a little deeper.
For a special treat, here’s an interview with Anthony Horowitz discussing the art of the murder mystery twist.
WHAT’S COOKING? 🧑🍳
Let’s stick with the Moonflower Murders theme a little and discover some traditional food from Crete. Here’s a recipe for Courgette Croquettes.
Courgette Croquettes (kolokythokeftedes)
These delicious little croquettes are very popular at the better Taverna’s in Crete and all over Greece.
Ingredients
5 courgettes (zucchini)
2 flowery potatoes (Russet potatoes)
1 onion
Mint and or basil leaves
Salt and pepper
5 egg yolks
Bread crumbs
100 g of grated parmesan or other hard sheep’s milk cheese
Preparation
Finely grate the courgettes and add the salt. After about 10 minutes squeeze out the excess water with a kitchen towel. Boil the potatoes and mash.
Grate the onion, finely chop the herbs and mix together with the egg yolks, mashed potato and the cheese.
With your hands make little palm sized patties and roll the mix in the bread crumbs.
Shallow fry in vegetable oil until golden brown and crisp.
Season with salt and pepper as required. Serve with a wedge of lemon.
Kali orexi!
Check out Pure Crete for more authentic Greek recipes.
MYSTERIOUS FUN 🤣
RIDDLE ME THIS:
100 people are standing in a circle. The person standing at number 1 has a sword. He kills the person next to him with the sword and then gives the sword to the third person. This process is carried out till there is just one person left. Which number survives at the last?
RIDDLE ANSWER:
Answer: 73rd person will survive at last. If the number of players is the power of 2, the last person to survive will be the one who started it. But since the number here is not the power of 2, we will take the greatest power of 2 that is less than the number of players (100) which is 64. So when starting with 100 players - we need to kill 36 of them to get down to a power of 2 (64). Since we kill every other person starting at player 2 the last person, we need to die is player 72, they will be killed by player 71 and the first person in the effective power of 2 game, who will win is player 73. It's worth noting that this process of reducing to a power of 2 will always be completed in the first round regardless of the number of players.
A final word from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - “I think there are certain crimes which the law cannot touch, and which therefore, to some extent, justify private revenge.”
Until next week mystery lovers!