Books of January 2026

How is it the last day of January already? This month has felt simultaneously short and also very long, as each day brings some new catastrophic event to my attention.

But I did do some reading this month. Seven books. I started out reading the book club book, and I did like it and I did finish it, but it was set aside as I read...

1. The Carpool Detectives: a true story of four moms, two bodies, and one mysterious cold case (2025) by Chuck Hogan. This was a good true crime book for me because it was a cold case, so we never saw any bodies in this book, which I appreciated. These moms, while feeling stir crazy during the COVID quarantine, developed an interest in a 15 year old double homicide and they ended up solving it. A New York Post (10 Aug 2025) quote from the author: “Their ability as women to get people to trust and confide in them — was their superpower in investigating and breaking this case,” writes Hogan. “Motherhood no longer defined them — it was one of many hats they wore.” A quote from the same article by one of the moms: “One of the things that we were super-focused on was to protect the identity of the victims’ family. We changed the location of the case in the book, and we asked the author to protect them,” Planko told The Post. “They wanted privacy, and they were so kind to us to let us write the story.” So, it is True Crime...but you won't be able to figure out what actual case it is. 

2. The unselected journals of Emma M. Lion vol.6 (2022) by Beth Brower. Of course I finished this before our assigned book of the month for book club! How could I not? This came to me through ILL (our copies are hopelessly long-listed!) so I had to read it, right? I really enjoy the characters in these books! And...there is a kiss at the end of book 6!! Maybe Emma is going to choose one of the many young men who flit around her like bees around a flower!

3. And then I really did finish our book club book. It was How to age disgracefully (2024) by Clare Pooley. And it was also really good, and full of likeable and dislikeable but evolving characters. These characters are from all over the place: Old folks, a baby, a teen dad, a retired jewel thief plus more. William, Art's friend, who is just the epitome of what a friend should be. Yarnsy, the old lady equivalent of Banksy. Just delightful characters.

4. Fatal impressions (2013) by Reba White Williams. Having read her Restrike, I wanted to read others of her books about the Greene cousins. Like her first book, this began with a set of dictionary definitions, this time for "impression." There are art impressions and people getting right impressions and wrong impressions as Dinah is falsely accused of murder, but the team figures it all out.

5. Debra Lape was just researching her genealogy when her grandmother told them they were descended from a madam. The research turned into a book, Looking for Lizzie: The True Story of an Ohio Madam, Her Sporting Life and Hidden Legacy (2014) which was a fascinating look at an earlier century and the decisions that were possible for women. I kind of want to email the author because in Family Search NOW there are even more husbands for Lizzie than Debra outlined in the book--but she had kept researching, and it has been over ten years ago since the book was published, so I am not surprised!

6. Bloody Royal Prints (2015) by -- you guessed it -- Reba White Williams. Our library only has Restrike so I have had to borrow Williams' other books through ILL. The definition that starts us off in this book is for "bloody" so not an art word. This book was--less together?--than the first two were. It took place in London (Fatal impressions had set that up--an opportunity for Dinah in London) and it was less focused on one art crime; there were the royal prints, and there was the art and antique thievery, and a lot of just touring around in England looking at hedgehogs and stuff. 

7. Angels (2014) by Reba White Williams. Sorry--I just ILL'd all of her fiction books, and they all came at once! This book is a prequel, telling the story of Dinah and Coleman as children. It was told from the point of view of Aunt Polly, who along with Miss Ida their grandmother raised the girls, alternating with Dinah's point of view. Except the voices of both just sounded the same to me, mostly. It was interesting, and Reba White Williams also is good at creating interesting characters.

And interesting characters--that is clearly what I look for the most in books. If I like the characters, or even if I like to hate the characters, I am in. Poor characterization = boring to me. I prefer to read boring nonfiction to boring fiction!

And speaking of characters, my nextdoor neighbor Jane is quite a character. She is a very spunky lady with an interesting back story. She was just a young wife and mother during the Vietnam war when her husband was killed in action. They had just the one baby boy, only a few months old, when Jane got the dreaded notice that nobody wants to get.

She has just been a widow all these years since, now with her son grown, and she has renters in part of her house. I am not sure if there are two apartments besides her living space, or just one. There are several cars around!

I do not know what Jane did to support herself all these years, but NOW what she does is hold garage sales. She keeps saying "this is my last one" but then she will have more. I think she just really enjoys talking to a variety of people, and garage sales give her a supply of new folks to chat with.

A few days ago, I got an email from Kari (her name is pronounced like car and then ee. Like the car you drive.) about an event to honor Jane today. Happens it is Jane's birthday, but the invitation did not specify BIRTHDAY party. Here is what it says:

"There will be a special, uplifting gathering this coming Saturday, January 31 at 1:30 p.m. in the Relief Society room of the Rock Canyon church building.

The program will focus on faith, music, and gratitude. It will be a quiet, reverent event featuring a short message and a beautiful musical piece composed by a longtime friend of the ward, Jane Haynie.

All are welcome to attend. We hope this will be a meaningful opportunity to pause, reflect, and feel uplifted together.

Please note: This is intended as a surprise for Jane, so kindly do not mention anything to her about the gathering.

Thank you,

Rick Cheney

(a friend of Jane’s)"

I did not know what to expect, but I thought I should attend, because Jane lives next door. My scheduling was tight--I had to pick up Josie from work at 12, stop at the store for Josie, get my clothes that had been in the washer into the dryer, go and pick Rachel up, get my clothes out of the dryer so that Rachel would not have to worry about my clothes after her load was washed, and get to the church by 1:30. 

I got there at 1:31. Late!! Jane was walking up the sidewalk with the Cannons, who live across the street from her.  When Jane saw me, she said, "Myrna, are you coming to help too?" Ardyth Cannon looked at me over Jane's head with a "Careful what you say!" look, but I didn't say anything and just let Jane decide that was why I was there. I usually do not say much, and Jane does all the talking, so that was okay!

I slipped in the back door of the Relief Society Room, and sat down, and there was the man called Rick Cheney ready to run the show. He was a big and tall man who has known Jane for years, and she still calls him "Ricky." 

He read a beautiful letter to Jane. I am talking a VERY well written, beautiful letter. And I am thinkging "Who is this guy?" because wow. It was so well done. Just surprisingly more than I would expect from a tribute letter. My eyes were leaking in places--it was very touching.

So apparently,  his mom (who was there, in a wheelchair) was struggling to raise her children (at least three sons, because he spoke of his brothers) and Jane--Jane bought the house next door to her (I don't know if that was here or elsewhere--if here, it was not our house because I know that the Turners lived in this house the full time after building it, so it would have to be Katrina's house) and then renovated it for Rick's mother and her children to live in. Jane gave them stability, with a permanent place to live, which they had lacked.

I am like--wow. (Another very generous friend that I have!!) And she took Ricky under her wing, because he loved music and so did she. She taught him piano lessons, and encouraged him to sing, and gave him cassette tapes that he played and played and played and played until they broke. The cassette tapes--he named the three favorites--were all Janice Kapp Perry tapes. And then he went through all of his favorite songs on these tapes and how they have shaped his life.

And though he was thanking Jane for sharing this music with him, and he was clearly focused on Jane, of course JKP was also in the audience he was speaking to. I was sitting by Tracie, who was sitting by Roger, who was sitting by Kari, who was sitting by Robbie, who was sitting by JKP. She was right there, and she was also clearly being deeply touched by Rick's words. 

And then, he wanted to play a song that he had written for Jane. And I was imagining it was going to be ordinary, just maybe he would sit and play the piano and sing. But no.

He played it on a blue tooth speaker, and it was fully professionally recorded. Like, it was superb quality. The song, to which Rick had written the lyrics but not the music (I need to find out who wrote the music) was amazing. The writing was so good, with all the nuances that really good lyrics have, and a great melding of the lyrics with the melody and the arrangement of the music, the instrumentation and everything. I was blown away.

The last chorus has "it could be Jane" in it, and also "it could be you." It was truly amazing. Such a good song. Beyond expectations.

And that was it. That was all he had planned. He had brought refreshments (lemon and cucumber water, veggies, fruit). We all took a group picture, but JKP had to leave, so Kari took a picture of Rick, JKP and Jane together, and Kari was kind enough to share it with me.

And then I came home! But I am so curious. I want to know more about this man--does he write lyrics a lot? And who wrote the music? I will have to ask Jane, and she does love to talk, so I am sure she can tell me everything I want to know, plus more!