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Review: A Collection of Lies, by Connie Berry

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Book cover: a stately English country home, drifting mist, and mossy rocks.

A Collection of Lies, by Connie Berry (Crooked Lane Books, 2024)

An antique dress, purportedly worn by a murderess in years past. Some simple historical research in wintry Devon. What could possibly go wrong?

American antiques expert Kate Hamilton and her new husband, English Detective Inspector Tom Mallory, chose to spend part of their honeymoon attempting to authenticate a bloodstained old dress for a village museum’s crime exhibit.

Their last mystery nearly killed them… and left them arriving bruised and late to their own wedding. Kate fervently hopes this assignment will be safe, academic, and successful—and that Tom will decide to leave the police force and its dangers to take on the role of a private investigator.

It took me a few chapters to get into this one, but the village, the characters, and the food drew me in. I’ve enjoyed the Kate Hamilton mystery series (well worth starting with book 1, A Dream of Death).

Kate is clever, brave, and kind. She’s knowledgeable about antiques and possesses an indefinable instinct that occasionally reacts to the presence of a significant artifact—in the case of the dress, with the impression of a kneeling woman and the phrase, “So much blood!” Not the sort of thing she can share with her facts-oriented police officer husband.

First there’s a near-miss shooting. And ongoing threats. Then there’s a murder. Can this possibly relate to an old dress, or is something else afoot? Clues are scarce, lies are abundant, and everyone seems to have something to hide.

All in all, another fun installment in the Kate Hamilton mystery series (A Collection of Lies is book 5). I hope there are more to come.

To learn about author Connie Berry and her work, visit connieberry.com.

[Review copy from the public library.]

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The Making of an Ordinary Saint, by Nathan Foster

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Book cover: a mountain behind the title, caution tape through the title, and the subtitle "My journey from frustration to joy with the spiritual disciplines" stretches along a road toward the mountaintop.

The Making of an Ordinary Saint, by Nathan Foster (Baker Books, 2014)

If you’re looking for an instructional book on practicing the spiritual disciplines, this isn’t it. But if you’re looking for a memoir of an ordinary layperson trying to get closer to his God and grow in his faith, The Making of an Ordinary Saint is a good choice.

It’s a candid look at one man’s search to follow the spiritual practices modelled by Jesus and in so doing to lose the frustration that seems to be taking over his life.

Each chapter shares his attempts to focus on a different discipline, introduced by a brief explanation of that discipline. He’s honest about the struggles, the failures, the benefits, and the costs. He also includes a few “interlude” chapters warning of potential hazards. (Hazards to spiritual disciplines? Oh, yes. For example, can you say “pride”?)

Subtitled “My journey from frustration to joy with the spiritual disciplines,” this book includes a foreword and reflections by Richard J. Foster, author of Celebration of Discipline (and father of Nathan Foster).

I found the original Celebration of Discipline inspiring. Truth told: Most of what I read remained head knowledge instead of moving into my daily walk with the Lord. That’s not the book’s fault, and now that the spiritual disciplines are again on my mind I hope to be more intentional about them.

I was slow to engage with this book because the author’s frustration came through so clearly that I started feeling it too. Negative emotions transfer too easily. But his story drew me in, and his journey reminded me of the hope the disciplines offer of closeness with God.

This is not a book that will leave “regular” readers feeling they’ll never measure up. But it gives glimpses of reward that make the cost well worth paying.

One of the things Nathan Foster learned, something I think so many of us need to internalize, is this:

“… a clear and deep knowing of God’s love for me has been the key remedy I needed to untangle many of the problems I faced. …I have come to believe that God’s love is the central message of Christianity, that living the kingdom life must be born out of an active response to a deep knowing of one’s place as a much-loved daughter or son of the Author of Life.” (p. 66)

I’m grateful for the chance to read The Making of an Ordinary Saint, and I highly recommend it to anyone desiring a closer relationship with God. We would do well to follow it up with Celebration of Discipline and with some of the resources at Practicing the Way, the ministry related to the book by John Mark Comer. (I’ve only listened to some of their material to date and haven’t yet read the book. What I’m hearing is resonating.)

Nathan Foster is an author, professor, and the host of Life With God: A Renovaré Podcast.

[Review copy from my household library.]

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Review: The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder, by C.L. Miller

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Book cover: basically it's the title and author's name. There's also a key, and in the letters of the word "to" there's the silhouette of a bird in the letter "o".

The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder, by C.L. Miller (Simon & Schuster, 2024)

Twenty years ago, tragedy and betrayal wrenched Freya Lockwood out of the career she loved: hunting stolen antiques and restoring them to their rightful owners. Now, when her estranged mentor dies and the police see nothing suspicious, Freya accepts her aunt’s plea to investigate. Not for the dead man’s sake but for Aunt Carole, who loved them both.

Returning to the English village where Aunt Carole raised her, Freya discovers that Arthur anticipated his death. He left enough clues to draw the two women into a hunt for truth—a truth his letter promises will reveal to Freya what really happened in the past.

As the title suggests, antiques (real and fake) abound. As Freya is drawn into the present mystery, she also finds closure for the past. She’s a 40-something empty-nester with a miserable ex who’s selling her home out from under her, so we can’t call this a coming-of-age story. I’ll call it a rebirth story, a second chance at the career she loved.

I like how each chapter begins with a quote from the dead man, Arthur. Even though he’s dead, his influence is everywhere. I’m not so much a fan of having Freya’s scenes in first person and the peeks into other people’s heads in third person. Some of those peeks felt a lot like overt explaining instead of organically revealing information. Back to the positives: Carole is a former actress who’s not above adding drama to a scene. And Bella is a character who takes on dimensions as the story progresses and who I suspect will return in the next book. There’s a potential love interest who may return as well.

Fans of Connie Berry’s Kate Hamilton mysteries will appreciate this book, which clearly sets up for a sequel. (The Antique Hunter’s Death on the Red Sea is expected to release in 2025.)

The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder is C.L. Miller’s first novel, drawing on her family history in the world of antiques. To learn about the author and her work, visit clmillerauthor.com.

[Review copy from the public library.]

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Review: Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools, by Tyler Staton

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Book cover. Hand-drawn illustration of hands clasped in prayer. Title: Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools, by Tyler Staton.

Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools: An Invitation to the Wonder and Mystery of Prayer, by Tyler Staton

Do you love to pray? Avoid it? Flat-out think it’s pointless? Wherever you are on the spectrum, this book’s for you.

I love this invitation in the introduction:

Most of us get about knee-deep in the Christian life, discover that the water feels fine, and stop there. We never swim in the depths of the divine intimacy Jesus won for us. This book is an invitation to swim. [Kobo version, introduction, page 5 of 7]

In an accessible, nonthreatening (and non-judging) manner, author and pastor Tyler Staton acknowledges the many questions we have about prayer and shares stories of both victory and disappointment.

Drawing from the Bible and from a wealth of diverse sources past and present and across denominations, chapters explore ten basic aspects of prayer, inviting readers to begin where we are and to grow from there. Each chapter closes with a simple and practical application exercise, making it clear that there’s no fast track to mature prayer. It’s very much a process and well worth working through the exercises.

Readers are encouraged to learn stillness before God, leading to adoration and worship and confession. We’re challenged to grow in intercession and petition, and to persist in what can seem like a long silence. (A note on stillness: Chapter 2 does an incisive job of unmasking the cost of the hurried lifestyle that has a hold on so many of us.)

Burned by past experiences that have left scars? Chapter 9 invites us to “Hold your deep question before God, inviting him to bring healing. …It is through this process that you will discover the faith to ask again…” [Kobo version, page 26 of 26]

Ultimately, the book invites us to make prayer a daily part of our lives, both our own spontaneous prayers and also the prayers of the psalms, the Lord’s Prayer, and more. The intent is to use the words and phrases to shape and direct our prayers rather than simple repetition. (See also my review of Praying the Bible, by Donald S. Whitney, which expands on this method. Note, I think Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools is the richer of these two resources, yet both are valuable.)

My only negative with this book comes in the epilogue with the description of King David entering Jerusalem as king, bringing the Ark of the Covenant in the procession on a cart. In 2 Samuel 5:6 – 6:19, we read a different story. The takeaway from the illustration still applies.

I highly recommend Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools for anyone with even a passing interest in prayer. If you can, get a print copy so you can mark it up. I have the ebook (highlighted in many places) and have also listened to the audiobook (read by the author himself, which is always a plus). Although it reads like a letter, it has the depth of a textbook and one pass wasn’t enough. I expect to read it again.

For more about author/pastor Tyler Staton and his ministry, visit tylerstaton.com. If you’re curious about the book, check out the Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools Podcast (introduction + 7 episodes). I see there’s also a short video series, Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools: One Year Later, and a video study guide.

[Review copy from my personal library.]

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Review: Abiding in Christ, by Andrew Murray

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Book cover: Grapevine, leaves, grapes. Abiding in Christ, a classic devotional for today's reader, by Andrew Murray.

Abiding in Christ, by Andrew Murray (Updated edition. Bethany House, 2003)

This year, when I sensed God’s nudge to focus on the word “abide,” I searched out resources on the topic. This straightforward devotional classic from Andrew Murray has been a liberating source of hope.

What can I say in a review without trying to summarize all of Andrew Murray’s teaching?

First: He takes the pressure off. Yes, believers need to do our part and keep turning to God and choosing to abide in Christ. Yet despite our limitations we can believe it’s possible—not through human strength but because it’s God’s invitation – instruction – command in the first place. It’s the Father who metaphorically “grafts us into the Vine” who is Jesus, with the Holy Spirit as our nourishment.

So, whether I feel it or not in a given moment doesn’t change the fact that on God’s end it’s a done deal. I can rest in that and keep turning back to Him.

The other key point I remember is the challenge to abide fully in Christ—which means not also abiding in self.

Beyond that, I recommend you go read the book! A digital version is available through the Hoopla app, if your public library has that service. But a print copy is inexpensive and a valuable resource for any Christian.

I like the updated language, although I’m surprised the revisions didn’t convert the original use of “he” for “the believer” to something more inclusive. The book was published in 1895, at which point “he” was the catch-all for male/female/unknown. I hope this won’t be a barrier for younger readers.

Andrew Murray (Wikipedia link) was a South African pastor, teacher, and writer. His books are considered classics by many Christians and are often quoted in more current works on Christian living.

[Review copy from my personal library.]

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Review: A Quiet Life in the Country, by T. E. Kinsey

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Book cover. A stately British manor house, silhouettes of Lady Hardcastle and her maid. Title: A Quiet Life in the Country, a Lady Hardcastle mystery, by T. E. Kinsey.

A Quiet Life in the Country, by T. E. Kinsey (Thomas & Mercer, 2016)

From the back cover:

Lady Emily Hardcastle is an eccentric widow with a secret past. Florence Armstrong, her maid and confidante, is an expert in martial arts. The year is 1908 and they’ve just moved from London to the country, hoping for a quiet life.

With the subtitle, “A Lady Hardcastle Mystery,” we know the quiet life won’t materialize as intended. Emily and Flo quickly find a body and insert themselves into the investigation.

They’re a fun pair of protagonists (the narration is from Flo’s point of view) with some definitely atypical behaviours and conventions. Although they try to maintain proper employer-employee conventions in public, in private they eat together and banter like the good, long-term friends they are. And this may have been intended as retirement, but we learn near the end of the book that Lady H is only around 40. Flo is likely a little younger.

This is a gently-paced, light-hearted look at historical British country life of the period, with the refreshing take that these two characters bring it.

It’s always a treat to discover a new series to follow, and I expect to read one of the Lady Hardcastle mysteries every so often until I catch up. I think they’re on book 11 now (plus there’s a bonus book 3.5).

T. E. Kinsey is the British author of two series of historical mysteries, the Lady Hardcastle Mysteries (1908) and the Dizzy Heights Mysteries (1925). For more about him and his work, visit tekinsey.uk. And if you visit this page on his site, tekinsey.uk/about.html, you’ll find brief bios not only of the author himself but of Lady Hardcastle and Flo. Well worth the read—then go pick up book 1 in the series 😊

[Review copy from the public library.]

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Review: The Bad Reputations, by Karen V. Robichaud

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Book cover: Three young women in 1920s clothing, a fishing village, and the title: The Bad Reputations, by Karen V. Robichaud.

The Bad Reputations, by Karen V. Robichaud (Word Alive Press, 2023)

In 1929, desperate to provide for themselves in a small town that’s turned against them, three young women choose to become rum-runners. They know it’s illegal and dangerous, and it doesn’t sit well with their faith, but they see no other way.

Local superstition blames Duska for the accidental death of her fisherman husband—because she’d been helping him on his boat and superstition marks a woman on board as bad luck. Larkin’s rum-running father has been killed by the mob, leaving her to care for her young brother. And Jolene is fleeing an abusive relationship when everyone tells her to stay and be a submissive wife.

The Bad Reputations is a compelling tale of courage, loyalty, and friendship in a fictional Nova Scotian town during Prohibition, when women’s options were limited. It takes an honest look at how people of integrity, including Christians, can find themselves making the wrong choices out of fear. The results we see are characters whose guilt makes them feel separated from God, avoiding Him instead of drawing close.

A different type of turmoil honestly addressed is Duska’s unexpected attraction to one of the police officers when she’s still grieving for her husband.

As well as strongly-defined characters, there’s some evocative description. Here’s one of my favourite samples:

The moon is hidden behind clouds in a charcoal sky. Darkness falls like a blanket over the ocean. Far out, green buoy lights flash, but nothing else. The vast blackness makes me uneasy. …I drive through the quiet streets of town. Yellowish-white fog slithers over the road like long, fat pythons. [paperback, pages 62-63]

The Bad Reputations is award-winning author Karen V. Robichaud’s seventh novel. Previous works include Tears in the Desert and The Unforgiving Sea. For more about the author and her books, visit her Author Page on Facebook.

[Review copy from my personal library.]

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Review: Praying the Bible, by Donald S. Whitney

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Praying the Bible, by Donald S. Whitney (Crossway, 2015 – Audiobook from christianaudio, 2015)

This book could revolutionize your prayer life—if you don’t just read it but actually take time to try the principles yourself at the end of chapter 7. Chapter 8 assumes you’ve done that, and you’ll miss some of the value if you haven’t.

I’m familiar with taking a portion of text and praying it for people or situations, usually one of Paul’s prayers in his letters or of course the Lord’s Prayer. The premise of Praying the Bible extends beyond that. Essentially, it’s reading one verse and responding to it in prayer, then reading the second verse, etc. It’s like a conversation where God leads and we respond.

Praying this way brings us to the “same old” requests with a fresh approach as we allow the text to shape our expression of need. It also focuses us more on God and less on ourselves, while opening us to hear from God as the Holy Spirit applies the text to our hearts.

My recommendation of this book comes with a couple of caveats: first, the author’s one-line dismissal of the idea of prayerfully hearing from God in our spirits. As one who is learning to discern God’s “voice” in my spirit, I respectfully disagree. Jesus did say His sheep would hear and recognize His voice. (John 10:27) I also sensed a dismissal of published prayers such as are found in prayer books. Obviously, any prayer offered without sincerity is empty. Yet faithful believers have found great value in repeating beloved prayers over the centuries.

Donald S. Whitney is a seminary professor who also teaches praying the Bible at seminars. As such, the tone is instructional with perhaps a little more authoritarian tone rather than a coaching approach. I also found the first chapter a bit repetitive. Nonetheless, this is a book well worth investing the time to read or to listen to.

It’s a brief read, packed with examples of how to apply the principles. The paperback is just over 100 pages. The audiobook is two hours long and narrated by the author, which I always think is a plus.

For more about the author, his books, and other aspects of his ministry, visit the Center for Biblical Spirituality. I know nothing more of his theology than this one book (with which I have the above-noted disagreements). This review speaks only to the book in question and is not meant to reflect positively or negatively on the broader ministry.

[Audiobook review copy from the public library via Hoopla Digital.]

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Review: The Scent of Water, by Elizabeth Goudge

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Book cover with a home's windows and door visible among pink flowers.

The Scent of Water, by Elizabeth Goudge (ebook version: Hendrickson Publishing Marketing, 2011; original print edition copyright 1963)

Why would practical, sensible Mary Lindsay leave a satisfying job in London and move to a country village to live in a house she inherited from a relative she’d met only once as a child? She doesn’t know, but it feels like the right decision.

The inheritance brings back memories: of that one meeting with her father’s cousin, also named Mary Lindsay. Of the instant connection with the house and then with the unusual Cousin Mary. Of the lady’s treasured collection of “little things” – miniatures that delighted them both.

The move triggers other memories: of her fiancé John who died before their wedding. In some unknown way, she hopes to understand him better now – and also to get to know Cousin Mary through the journals she finds in the house.

The characters, both living in the village and as found in the journals, are portrayed with an honest compassion, not glossing over their flaws or hiding their emotional struggles. Cousin Mary endured bouts of mental illness. A prayer, shared with her by a fellow sufferer, is the one thing that stuck with me through the probably 40 years since I first read the story:

“My dear,” he said, “love, your God, is a trinity. There are three necessary prayers and they have three words each. They are these, ‘Lord have mercy. Thee I adore. Into Thy hands.’ ” [chapter 5]

That covers most things, doesn’t it?

Two other favourite lines, one evocative and one amusing:

“…what I seek is the goodness of God that waters the dry places.” [chapter 5, Cousin Mary in her journal]

“He has a two-track mind, which is more than most of us have, but the tracks are narrow.” [chapter 10]

One caution: this book was originally published in the early 1960s and refers (positively) to North American First Nations and Romany peoples using terms that are now considered offensive.  

Causing offence would never be the author’s intent. This is a novel that embraces readers, drawing us in like the welcoming door that invited the child Mary into the house. It offers charming descriptions of settings both in nature and in the houses, gentle conversation, and people allowed to make the wrong choices in the hope they’ll find some good in themselves.

Elizabeth Goudge was a beloved British writer. I appreciated her books many years ago and am delighted to find some of them now in digital form when I’d assumed they’d be out of print and gone. The Scent of Water was the one I remembered most fondly by title, due to the prayer which strengthened me through some difficult days.

For more about the author, visit the Elizabeth Goudge Society website.

[Review copy from the public library via the Hoopla Digital app.]

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Review: The Camera Never Lies, by David Rawlings

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The Camera Never Lies, by David Rawlings (Thomas Nelson, 2019)

A successful marriage counselor whose own relationships are in turmoil—and who can’t write the sequel to his bestselling self-help book. His wife, trapped in a job selling questionable pharmaceuticals to help pay their hefty mortgage. Their 14-year-old daughter, withdrawing and exhibiting warning signs.

And an old camera that takes pictures of what’s unseen.

Inheriting his grandfather’s prized camera leads Daniel into experiences where truth becomes visible. He meets Simon, the unusual proprietor of the camera shop that suddenly opened near Daniel’s work. And he has to hide the photos Simon develops for him… because if anyone saw some of those images, his career—and his family—would be shattered.

The Camera Never Lies is a clean, heartwarming story with supernatural overtones, perfect for readers who love Davis Bunn’s Miramar Bay series (although without the new-romance plot thread). With its human drama and themes of trust and truth, I think it’d make an engaging movie.

Favourite lines:

…you’re thinking you had a good reason for doing what you did. At the time, you probably did, but the consequences of today don’t always respect the actions of yesterday. [hardcover pages 197-198, Simon speaking to Daniel]

Daniel held fate in his hands. It deserved to be tempted. [hardcover page 211]

This is Australian author David Rawlings’ second novel. Here’s a link to my review of his debut, The Baggage Handler. For more about the author and his work, visit davidrawlings.com.au.

[Review copy from the public library.]