Litsy

all_4_kb

Natural Selection: A Short Story | Elin Hilderbrand

Cozy reading when sick 🤧

AnnCrystal May you feel better soon 🙏📚💝. 6h

all_4_kb @AnnCrystal thank you so much 🙏🏽 5h

Read4life Hope you feel better soon! 5h

all_4_kb @Read4life thank you so much 3h

37 likes4 comments

DebinHawaii

Phantom Pond | Juneau Black

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#Read25 #JumpStart25 #SeriesLove25

My #SaturdayChatterday is the usual, running errands & coffeeshop time.

I finished this short story from the Shady Hollow series as part of my #ThematicCozies for January #Animal It‘s a bit out of season with it‘s October/Halloween setting but I missed it in October & wanted to check it off to be completely caught up with this series. A quick read with Vera & the down looking for a young squirrel possibly ⬇️

DieAReader, Lizpixie, Andrew65, TheSpineView, julieclair

DebinHawaii … taken by local witchy legend Creeping Juniper. A quick, easy read, set after the first four books. (edited) 2w

Andrew65 Excellent 👏🥳📚 2w

DieAReader 🥳🎉Fantastic! 2w

ChasingOm I just read the first one in the series for Thematic Cozies! 2w

julieclair I‘ll try to remember to read this one in October! 2w

60 likes1 stack add5 comments

Doppoetry

It's a Good Life: Short Story | Jerome Bixby

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This was an unsettling cosmic horror short story about a little boy with god-like powers, and like a god, he can be merciful or ruthless depending on how his neighbors or family treat him.

TieDyeDude I think I remember seeing that episode of the Twilight Zone 2w

Doppoetry @TieDyeDude yeah, this is what that's based on. Pretty neat conceptually. 2w

5 likes2 comments

Eyelit

Little Free Library: A Tor.com Original | Naomi Kritzer

I‘d been leaving bookmarks just lying loose in my community LFL and then my dad sent me a couple of bookmark holders as a belated Xmas gift… so I put one in the LFL and now all is organized and cute in the world. 😄
#littlefreelibrary #LFL

AmyG How nice! 2w

Susanita Great idea! 2w

62 likes2 comments

Cuilin

The Adventure of the Abbey Grange | Arthur Conan Doyle, Sir

#NoPlaceLikeHolmes

@pageshifter @AnneCecilie @indoordame @librarybelle @theAromaOfBooks @Aimeesue @kelli7990 @5feet.of.fury @Read4Life @AnnR @mom2bugnbee @pageturner1 @eeclayton @erzascarletbookgasm @aroyse @dabbe @cuilin @mollyanna @Tineke @Larkken @StayCurious @kimrenee @alldebooks @CogsOfEncouragement @catlass007 @CrystalE02 @curiouserandcurioser @Larkken @BeeCurious @Blackink_WhitePaper @Sace @Daisey @RayHallucinogen @Born.A.Reader

Cuilin @Chrissyreadit @Fr3NcHtOaSt @Anishalnkspill 3w

Librarybelle It really does point to the lack of confidence in the Justice system at the time (and dare I say this carries over into today). 3w

dabbe The jury (Watson) is not impartial; he's completely enamored with Lady Blackenstall: “Seldom have I seen so graceful a figure, so womanly a presence, and so beautiful a face.“ The judge (SH) thinks he's given Hopkins all he needs to solve the case, knowing he won't because as @Librarybelle eloquently pointed out, they always fail in solving any case. 3w

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CogsOfEncouragement There would be no justice or aide of any kind for an abused wife from the law. Still difficult to get any in 2025.

They were much more upset about his setting a dog on fire as that was hushed up with difficulty. If it had been a neighbor's dog, it would have been an even bigger issue, but it was Mary's. SH knew this abuse would only continue. He's dead now, what's done is done, if the police can't figure it out, that's fine. 3w

CatLass007 At that time a woman was practically the property of her father or other male relative, then her husband. It‘s still difficult for women in this day and time but it‘s not quite that bad. 3w

AnneCecilie Holmes will at the end of the day do what he thinks overall is the right thing. There were some talk about the difference between the police and him: “what I know is unofficial, what he knows is official. I have the right to private judgment, but he has none. He must disclose all, or he is a traitor to his service.” 3w

34 likes6 comments

Cuilin

The Adventure of the Abbey Grange | Arthur Conan Doyle, Sir

Cuilin @CogsOfEncouragement @catlass007 @CrystalE02 @curiouserandcurioser @Larkken @BeeCurious @Blackink_WhitePaper @Sace @Daisey @RayHallucinogen @Born.A.Reader @Chrissyreadit @Fr3NcHtOaSt @Anishalnkspill 3w

Librarybelle I hardly ever figure out anything, so I probably cannot answer this well! I would not have zeroed in on the wineglasses, so I‘m not sure that was fair play or not. The mystery of this was a lot lighter than other stories we‘ve read. 3w

dabbe I find it interesting that Holmes & Watson let Crocker, Elizabeth, and Theresa go free--even though they named the Randall gang as the murderers (who were conveniently in the US). They were willing to let the gang hang for a murder they did NOT commit. Doesn't that make them look bad in the eyes of the law? Is it okay for them to do that because the gang was bad already? Lots of morality issues in this one IMHO. 3w

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CogsOfEncouragement The ladies hoped to conveniently pin this on known baddies in the area. They are clear of it though, it will go unsolved now.

I don't know anything about wine, so those clues were no help to me, and I didn't think about the kind of knots used to link it to a seaman, I thought maybe it looked like they tied up the chair with no one actually in it and SH could tell that.

I was impressed/entertained that the mastermind was the devoted nursemaid. 3w

CatLass007 The nursemaid mentioned the Lady‘s brother so I thought he might have been the killer. That was the red herring. I thought when Holmes went to the shipping company he would discover the brother, not a man in love. Was Holmes showing his romantic side? 💘😂 3w

eeclayton @CatLass007 I suspected the brother, too. It made a lot of sense, with both women eagerly shielding him. 3w

AnneCecilie I never guess the solution to any mystery but I feel like the older mysteries are less fair than newer ones. We were left with the wine glasses. The wife being a foreigner seems to be a trope that Doyle uses. 3w

29 likes7 comments

Cuilin

The Adventure of the Abbey Grange | Arthur Conan Doyle, Sir

#NoPlaceLikeHolmes

The game is afoot!! General thoughts and impressions?

(I will be attending a class today so may not have much access to my phone but will check in with discussions later).

Cuilin @pageshifter @AnneCecilie @indoordame @librarybelle @theAromaOfBooks @Aimeesue @kelli7990 @5feet.of.fury @Read4Life @AnnR @mom2bugnbee @pageturner1 @eeclayton @erzascarletbookgasm @aroyse @dabbe @cuilin @mollyanna @Tineke @Larkken @StayCurious @kimrenee @alldebooks @CogsOfEncouragement @catlass007 @CrystalE02 @curiouserandcurioser @Larkken @BeeCurious @Blackink_WhitePaper @Sace 3w

Cuilin @Daisey @RayHallucinogen @Born.A.Reader @Chrissyreadit @Fr3NcHtOaSt @Anishalnkspill 3w

Librarybelle In some ways, he‘s the same Holmes, doggedly searching for a truth only he can puzzle out. Not accepting the almost flawless first explanation is in character with him. But, he also shows empathy—or his version of empathy— with the unmasking of the real scenario. We‘ve seen his version of justice before; the fact that he asks for Watson‘s opinion as the “jury” makes this unusual. I think I said “wow” aloud when I read that. 3w

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Read4life @Librarybelle I remember also being surprised when he asked Watson‘s opinion as jury. 3w

dabbe This one's a hard one for me re: the stories of what happened. Holmes does not believe the original story, but who's to say the final stories are true either? At one point he tells Watson that “we must construct our case for ourselves without any help from [Lady Blackenstall and Theresa]“--yet he totally believes Crocker's and their second stories verbatim without checking anything out because their stories fit his reasoning of what happened. (edited) 3w

CrystalE02 I found it odd that he asked Watson for his opinion on the matter. 3w

kelli7990 I enjoyed this story. 3w

CogsOfEncouragement A fun one that I did not figure out.

I much enjoyed:

“Your fatal habit of looking at everything from the point of view of a story instead of a scientific exercise...“

“Be frank with me and we may do some good. Play tricks with me, and I'll crush you.“

“Then it was my turn, and I went through him as if he had been a rotten pumpkin.“

3w

CatLass007 It seemed out of character for Holmes to play matchmaker. 3w

AnneCecilie I never figure out the solution and I‘m easy to fool, but I have also learned that Coyle is using some formulas in his stories. So when it said that the wife was a foreigner, I knew that the solution with have something to do with her. The “jury” at the end was a new one even if Holmes has let people off before 3w

28 likes10 comments

ReadingOver50

Veronica Ruiz Breaks the Bank: A Short Story | Elle Cosimano

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A cute novella detailing Vero's life before she meets Finlay. She comes across as extremely smart, more so that I got in the main series. She needs a better life than being Finlay's sidekick. The beginning of the book was very heavy on exposition. The pace picked up towards the second half as Vero tries to discover who is stealing money from the bank. Overall this was a sweet look into her life and provides some background to her story.

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LitsyEvents

The Adventure of the Abbey Grange | Arthur Conan Doyle

Repost for @dabbe

#NoPlaceLikeHolmes #TheAbbeyGrange

Hi, Sherlockians~
Interesting discussion this past Saturday! Our next SH read, “(TAo) The Abbey Grange“, is linked on the original post. Discussion won't be until JANUARY 11th due to the holidays and New Year's celebrations and will be led by @cuilin. Happiest of holidays. 💙❄️💙

See original post at https://www.litsy.com/web/post/2820535