Top Ten Tuesday, 2 August 2022

A Long Shadow is the first book in Helen Marsay’s Chief Inspector Shadow Mystery series.

Set in the historic city of York, the series follows the sleuthing adventures of Inspector John Shadow and his deputy Sergeant Jimmy Chang.

I would love to visit York, walk down the streets looking at the historic buildings and also try delicious food. John Shadow eats out every night and there are a handful of restaurants that he often visits. Maybe Shadow can give me recommendations on restaurants to try.

Since I am already in the UK (virtually, I am in York, remember?) why not visit another historic city? Bath sounds like a good place, what say? I can stay at Honey Driver’s Green River Hotel.

Honey and I have a lot in common so I am pretty sure we will get along well. She works as a liaison officer for the Bath Hotels Association and is called when there is a crime in the vicinity. I can help her with the investigations and stuff too. City tour + solving crimes. I call this B1G1 offer. 😉

Well, looks like I am going to do a Europe only tour. Tuscany sounds good. I don’t drink wine but it is not too late to start, innit?

A glass of wine, cheese and crackers, and sunset at the vineyard. Aww! Whoever is reading this post and is still single, please marry someone (not me, though. My prince charming is probably stuck on the tree and is waiting for me to rescue him) in Tuscany… and invite me for the wedding. Pretty please.

Yass! I am going to Take a Chance on Greece. Visit all the beaches, click lots of photographs in Athens, Santorini, Mykonos, Corfu… and of course, eat a lot of Mediterranean food.

I also know some Greek alphabets: alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon, phi, theta, lambda, sigma, omega and omicron. Perks of being an ex-engineer: these alphabets are much more than such names of covid19 variants.

Speaking of which, we still don’t have a theta variant, do we? If we do get one, then would the subvariants be called sin, cos and tan theta?

Traa dy Liooar

I am a huge fan of George Bellairs’ Chief Inspector Littlejohn series. Some of the books in this series are set in Isle of Man. Bellairs himself moved to Isle of Man post retirement and spent the rest of life there.

In an alternate universe, Bellairs would be my grandfather and so would Chief Inspector Littlejohn. But let’s not get into that fantasy world now.

But, I was to visit Isle of Man, I would need a TARDIS. I want to visit the place at the same time as Littlejohn. Meet him and Rev. Kinrade (and probably Mrs Letty Littlejohn too), discuss the case with them (whenever Littlejohn is in Isle of Man, there is a murder) and probably tag along as an accomplice… oops, I mean apprentice.

My first Christie novel was Murder on the Orient Express. I have read all and re-read some of Christie’s novels since then. I liked Poirot better than Miss Marple until I read Murder at the Vicarage sometime this year. Poirot seems a bit eccentric now while Miss Jane Marple is no longer the nosey neighbor. Opinions change, right?

I would love to live in St. Mary Mead and would love to have Miss Marple as my neighbor. I can help her find clues and in return she can knit me a sweater or scarf. What say, Miss Marple? Deal?

I have read the first six books and watched the TV series too. I would love to visit Shetland. I am not a fan of cold and damp weather but I suppose this would be worth a compromise.

Maybe I can meet Inspector Jimmy Perez and Sergeant Alison McIntosh… and Jimmy Perez will have a mystery to solve. The mystery of ‘who’s the real Sergeant McIntosh’.

Why, you ask? Let me tell you: I look very similar to the actress who plays Alison McIntosh -Alison O’Donnell. I suppose there are seven people in the world who look like me. I found one in Alison, yet to find the remaining six.