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Two books finished:
"The Painted Queen", by Elizabeth Peters and Joan Hess. The final book in the "Amelia Peabody" series left unfinished at the time of Elizabeth Peters' death in 2013, and completed by Joan Hess. Fixed feelings about this one: happy to read one final story about Amelia and her family, and it was a good story, but it didn't have the same "voice" to it (in parts at least) as the genuine article. There were also some mildly annoying "Americanisms" in what's supposed to be a British story (at one point Amelia looks out of her hotel window and sees "a man standing on the sidewalk". Sorry, but British people don't do "sidewalks") and small but annoying grammatical errors (eg "Do not panic if it takes me awhile to meet you" -> should be "a while", not "awhile"). Enjoyable, but perhaps only read if you're a fan of the series.
"Four Mums in a Boat": the story of four ordinary middle-aged Yorkshire women who decided to compete in a rowing race across the Atlantic. Well-written and enjoyable - I remember watching the news coverage of it at the time (early last year) and thinking "rather them than me", a view very much reinforced by reading the book! Highly recommended.
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