Friday Finds (on Saturday)

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This book blurb isn't very descriptive but I really enjoyed the one book that I have read by Marmell and I'm always drawn to books about thieves (for reasons that are probably best left unexplored), so when I heard about this book I immediately added it to my list. Plus I really like the cover.

Thief's Covenant by Ari Marmell

She is Widdershins, a thief making her way through Davillon's underbelly looking to find answers, and justice with a sharp blade, a sharper wit, and the mystical aid of Olgun, a foreign god with no other worshipers but Widdershins herself.

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I always come across really interesting books over at At Home with Books, which is where I found this memoir, which I now desperately want to read.

Nothing Daunted by Dorothy Wickenden

In the summer of 1916, Dorothy Woodruff and Rosamond Underwood, close friends from childhood and graduates of Smith College, left home in Auburn, New York, for the wilds of northwestern Colorado. Bored by their soci-ety luncheons, charity work, and the effete young men who courted them, they learned that two teach-ing jobs were available in a remote mountaintop schoolhouse and applied—shocking their families and friends. “No young lady in our town,” Dorothy later commented, “had ever been hired by anybody.”

They took the new railroad over the Continental Divide and made their way by spring wagon to the tiny settlement of Elkhead, where they lived with a family of homesteaders. They rode several miles to school each day on horseback, sometimes in blinding blizzards. Their students walked or skied on barrel staves, in tattered clothes and shoes tied together with string. The man who had lured them out west was Ferry Carpenter, a witty, idealistic, and occasionally outrageous young lawyer and cattle rancher. He had promised them the adventure of a lifetime and the most modern schoolhouse in Routt County; he hadn’t let on that the teachers would be considered dazzling prospective brides for the locals.

That year transformed the children, their families, and the undaunted teachers themselves. Dorothy and Rosamond learned how to handle unruly children who had never heard the Pledge of Allegiance and thought Ferry Carpenter was the president of the United States; they adeptly deflected the amorous advances of hopeful cowboys; and they saw one of their closest friends violently kidnapped by two coal miners. Carpenter’s marital scheme turned out to be more successful than even he had hoped and had a surprising twist some forty years later.

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I've really been enjoying Y.S Lee's The Agency series (which includes A Spy in the House and The Body at the Tower) and was delighted to discover that the third book has just come out.

The Traitor and the Tunnel by Y.S Lee

Queen Victoria has a little problem: a series of petty thefts from Buckingham Palace. She calls the Agency for help, and they put Mary Quinn - on her first case as a full-fledged agent - on the case. Going undercover as a domestic servant, Mary's assignment seems simple enough. But before long, a scandal threatens to tear apart the Royal Family. One of the Prince of Wales' irresponsible young friends is murdered in scandalous circumstances and the story, if it became public, would disgrace the young prince. Should the Queen hush things up or permit justice to take its course?

Mary's interest in this private matter soon becomes deeply personal: the killer, a drug-addicted Chinese sailor, shares a name with her long-lost father. Meanwhile, James Easton's engineering firm wins a contract to repair some sewers beneath Buckingham Palace. Trouble is, there's a tunnel that's not on the plans. Its purpose is unclear. But it seems to be very much in use - it's just not clear by whom. These overlapping puzzles offer a perfect opportunity for James and Mary to work together again. If they can still trust one another. If they can suppress the emotions that still torture them. If Mary can forget the sight of that exquisite blonde she sees in James' drawing-room...In this, Mary's most personal case yet, she faces struggles at every level - legal, political, personal. And she has everything to lose.

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And another funny customer service anecdote from one of my favorite websites, Not Always Right:

Of Empty Threats And Even Emptier Stores

(I work at a large bookstore which is in the process of liquidation sales. One of the rules of this sale is that we don’t take any returns. There are huge signs all over the store that say, “Going out of business.”)

Customer: “I want to return this book, but I don’t have the receipt.”
Me: “I’m very sorry, ma’am, but we are no longer accepting returns since the store is closing.”

Customer: “What? You’ve always let me return books.”

Me: “I know, but we are closing now, so there are no returns.”

Customer: “This is ridiculous! I’m taking my business elsewhere.”

Me: “That’s fine. We’re closing.”

Customer: “I mean it. I’ll never shop here again.”

Me: “Yes, I know. We’ll be closed.”

Customer: “I spend a lot of money here, and now I’m going to go buy my books online or something.”

Me: “Yes, you probably should. This store will be gone.”

Customer: “I’m leaving here and I’m never coming back. Do you hear me? Never!” *storms out*