The Power Went Out

We had a storm that blew for a day and a half.  We lost power for a day and night.  I loved it.  The only activity I could do was read.

I was making gingerbread cookies.  I had three cookie sheets ready to go in the oven.  I also had two loads of wash started.  When the power went out, I spent the time fussing over the decorating of the gingerbread boys.  But the power stayed out and I left the cookie sheets out on the kitchen counter.  There was nothing I could do about the laundry.

I could cook because the stove is gas.  So I made tea, sat in my favorite chair with my fleece blanket wrapped around me and read.  I am fortunate to have a little light that attaches to my book, so I had no trouble reading.  In fact, by the time the lights came back on, the next day, I had read two books--with the same name.

I could never afford to buy all the books I read.  I use the library.  I ordered The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny.  What came in was The Cruelest Month by Hazel Holt.  I kept it and re-ordered Louise Penny's.

Both are mysteries.  Both have a constant main sleuth.  Holt has Shiela Mallory and Penny has Chief Inspector Armand Gamache.  Both solve murders.

Holt's setting is England.  Penny's setting is Canada. Holt's time is the turn of the twentieth century, whereas Penny's is the present time.  

Holt's plot involves a woman murdered by a large book shelf falling on her. Investigating the woman's past reveals the murderer.

Penny's Chief Inspector Gamache has two problems.  One is the murder of a resident of his beloved village, Three Pines. The other is his job.  The surete of Canada has some thugs in it.  The bad cops hate Gamache.  The tension between Gamache and the bad cops continues in each novel. I don't know how Gamache can stand it.  He thinks of retiring and it sounds so nice, but he continues to fight the good fight.

All too soon the lights came on.  I kept reading until I finished.