The Lost World (Professor Challenger #1), by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (author), Glen McReady (narrator)

Naxos AudioBooks, February 2008 (original publication 1912)

In London, in 1907, Irishman Edward Malone is a journalist, and also has a certain reputation as an athlete. What he doesn't have, in the eyes of his beloved Gladys, is fame and a reputation for daring, romantic adventure. On these grounds, she utterly rejects him.

Malone is not yet ready to give up, though, and appeals to his editor for an assignment that will give him the scope for adventure and fame that Gladys wants the man she marries to have.

His editor sends him off to interview Professor Challenger, a naturalist who returned from South America with a wild tale no one believes, about impossible prehistoric beasts still alive there. Oh, and Challenger has assaulted those who disbelieve him too directly.

Dead and Breakfast (A Merry Ghost Inn Mystery #1), by Kate Kingsbury (author), Tavia Gilbert (narrator)

Blackstone Audio, January 2017

Melanie West and her grandmother, Liza Harris, are renovating a big, old home in Sully's Landing, Oregon, to open a bed & breakfast inn, when they find a skeleton in a hidden room. It's quickly identified as Angela Morelli, wife of Vincent Morelli, the last couple to live there. Angela had vanished, believed to have deserted wheelchair-bound Vincent, and Vincent had gone to live with his son, Tony. Now that Vincent is dead, Tony had finally sold the empty house...

Melanie and Liza's renovation plans, and therefore their opening plans, are now on hold until the police release the second floor as no longer a crime scene. This wouldn't be a huge problem if this cold case didn't quickly get shoved to the side by more active cases. With potential financial ruin staring them in the face, it's no wonder Melanie and Liza decide to investigate on their own.

Creatures of Light (Creatures of Light #3), by Emily B. Martin

Harper Voyager, ISBN 9780062688835, January 2018

Queen Gemma of Alcoro is sitting in prison a the start of this book--a prison for the high-born, discreetly known as The Retreat, but a prison nonetheless. This trilogy has been a story of a clash of cultures and kingdoms, and Gemma's choices in the midst of larger conflicts in the previous  books have branded her a traitor. She's awaiting trial and sentencing. There's no chance of changing the verdict, she's concluded, but she hopes she can at least make her case to her husband, King Celeno, and a few councilors, that peace, not war with their neighbors, will be better for Alcoro. She's convinced that the Prophecy Alcoro uses to guide its policies is being used badly.

And then a stranger works her way into The Retreat, and smuggles Gemma out.

Except the woman isn't a stranger, not really, and she has stunning information that might be a means to change Alcoro's course, and prevent war. If she can make first Celeno, and then their neighbors, to accept what they've found and move in a new direction.

It's Even Worse Than You Think: What the Trump Administration is Doing to America, by David Cay Johnston (author), Danny Campbell (narrator)

Simon & Schuster Audio, ISBN 9781508254898, January 2018

David Cay Johnston is a working journalist who has covered Donald Trump for decades, and has written two previous books about him. In this book, he looks not at Trump's personal life and all the possible, ah, colorful details, which at this writing are much in the news, but strictly at his actions as President, and his business dealings that explain and illuminate those actions.

A Bachelor Establishment, by Jodi Taylor (writing as Isabella Barclay) (author), Anna Bentinck (narrator)

Audible Studios, May 2015

Elinor Bascombe, widowed and living on the impoverished estate that now belongs to her long-absent brother-in-law, George, has worked hard to restore it and make it at least somewhat profitable. She's out riding her horse, Rufus, when she accidentally nearly rides down Lord Ryde--returned to his neighboring estate after twenty years following a scandal.

Lord Ryde is there to strip his estate of all possible resources, and then leave for a new life in America. In addition to their unfortunate first meeting, it's another point of conflict between Mrs. Bascombe and Lord Ryde that he believes George Bascombe, who had saved Elinor's life, also caused the elder Lord Ryde's death while robbing the safe in which much of the Ryde wealth was stored.

Their determination to coolly ignore each other is thwarted when Elinor Bascombe is shot, and due to distance needs to be brought to Lord Ryde's Rushford estate rather than the Bascombe estate.

It all becomes much more alarming when it becomes clear that Mrs. Bascombe wasn't an accidental victim. What happened the night Elinor was nearly killed and George Bascombe left, and stopped at Rushford when the elder Lord Ryde died, becomes a mystery that has to be solved.

Elinor Bascombe, John Ryde, and their friends, neighbors, and servants are great characters, likable and interesting. It's a pleasure to listen to their story. If you like Regencies and like mature characters, go for it.

Recommended.

I bought this audiobook.

A Treacherous Curse, by Deanna Raybourn

Berkley Publishing Group, ISBN 9780451476173, January 2018

Veronica Speedwell and Revelstoke Templeton-Vane--Stoker--are working away at their respective restoration and cataloging duties in the Belvedere, the future museum on the grounds of the home of the Earl of Rosemorran. It's the Earl's family collection of animals, insects, devices, and other oddities that they are cataloging.

Then an expedition to Egypt returns, with treasures, a story of a curse killing members of the expedition, and the expedition photographer, John de Morgan, missing, along with a valuable diadem found in the tomb the Tivington expedition excavated on this trip.

De Morgan was once Stoker's best friend. He's now married to Stoker's former wife, Caroline, who left Stoker apparently dying in the Amazon. Caroline returned to Britain and divorced him, claiming cruelty, and in the process destroying his reputation.

De Morgan may be a thief, who has stolen the diadem to finance an escape from his tempestuous marriage. Or he may be dead, killed by the real thief. If de Morgan is dead, Stoker is the most likely suspect in his murder.

Wizzywig: Portrait of a Serial Hacker, by Ed Piskor

Top Shelf Productions, ISBN 9781603090971, July 2012

Kevin Phenicle is a budding young hacker in the early days of phone phreaking. He's smart, he's shy, he's not really social, not close to anyone except his grandma and his friend Winston. And he's just fascinated by computers and what you can do with them.

And all the information you can access with them, and a little ingenuity and social engineering.

Kevin in not a bad kid. He's a good kid. Even his first prison term doesn't change that.

He's in or near all the big developments in hacking over the next few decades. Except for a tendency to think stealing services from major corporations, like what is still Ma Bell for the early part of his career, he's honest, kind, respectful of others.

Under Investigation: U.S. Grant Short Mysteries, by Jeffrey Marks (author), Nick Mortise (narrator)

Jeffrey Marks, June 2014

This is a collection of short stories with U.S. Grant investigating murders. They're in no particular order, the first taking place after the Civil War, and the rest at various points during the war. In one, it's not Grant, but his horse, investigating the murder.

Honestly, I liked that one the best.

The characterization is mostly good. There's good attention to the mores and social assumptions of the time. The plots, sadly, are just a little too pat, and seem like a waste of a great character like Grant, and of course his horse.

Not bad, but, really, nothing special.

I bought this audiobook.

Brain Myths Exploded: Lessons From Neuroscience (The Great Courses), by Indre Viskontas (author, narrator)

The Great Courses, ISBN 9781501960154, February 2017

This is another take on advances in modern brain science. Viskontas' approach is to start each chapter with a popular myth about the brain, for instance the idea that we use only 10% of our brains, and then give us an overview of what current neuroscience tells us about this particular myth. This is Great Courses offering, so it's in the form of two dozen lectures, each under an hour. Viskontas is a lively lecturer, who tells stories, and weaves in personal background where it's enlightening, and altogether kept me completely engaged.

Highly recommended.

I bought this audiobook.

Super Spy, by Matt Kindt

Top Shelf Productions, ISBN 9781891830969, September 2007

This is a collection of short stories about spies in World War II, interconnected but in no particular order. In theory, they could be read sequentially by using the dossier numbers, but with the ebook version, I found this impractical.

It is, nevertheless, perfectly possible, after a few stories, to start to see the connections among them. Taking place in Spain, France, Germany, Britain, and Russia, we see the terror, price, loves, and mistakes of the spies. I won't say there's not room to be confused. However, keep reading, and it all hangs together, and we get to know and care about the spies.

The art is intentionally comic-strip art. Large parts are in sepia tones. Others are in full cartoon-color. It's simple and strong, not sophisticated, and reaching directly for the emotions.

In the end, I didn't care for the disjointed arrangement of the stories, but I certainly don't regret reading it.

I bought this books.