First is this glorious scene that I see every morning on the way to my morning ministry. It's right on East Lake Rd. One thing that makes them so special, of course, is their size--they literally form a whole hillside of flowering bushes. But the fact that you can only see them like this for 2 weeks a year is what makes the sight so special. The rest of the year they are just ordinary big green bushes!
Secondly: I just finished my latest Ian Rutledge mystery and remembered again why I just love this series. The setting is 1919 England and although Ian is a relatively young Scotland Yard detective in London, his chief is always sending him out to the small villages and countrysides of England--giving him second rate or difficult cases. Those settings of village life and the challenge of "jobs nobody else wants" are what I enjoy the most. Then there is Ian himself. He has returned from being an officer in WWI and was involved in some horrendous fighting in France. This experience colors everything and, in fact, I think you could call these books psychological mysteries--not for the presence of some crazy killers or bizarre murders, but rather the struggle Rutledge goes through with his memories and experiences of war and the "adjustments" to life again.
The first book was written in 1994 and the 18th is due out this year. You don't have to read them in order, I didn't, but I think it would help if you at least started with an early one, because you can appreciate the progression better. Read more on amazon or any other book review site. You might want to give them a try. Here are the first three: A Test of Wills, Wings of Fire, Search the Dark. Did I mention that the writing is very fine, too? It is.
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