#28 In The Company of Cheerful Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith is# 6 in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. Something light, something funny, something fast, something perfect to read after reading all of the depressing stuff I have read lately. Precious Ramotswe is busy solving the mysteries brought to her agency including the thief of her favorite white van. Grace finds love at dancing class, Charlie finds a rich older woman, and Precious has to confront her ex-husband.

I really enjoy these cheerful books about life in Africa. I wonder how the new TV series is doing.

#27 Still Alice by Liza Genova. This is a serious, sad, and thoughtful story of Alzheimers. Alice, 50 years old, a highly successful professor in linguistics, begins a journey into dementia. This story has many facts and insights. It is from Alices's viewpoint and includes the conflict in her family. Nothing is sugar-coated. It was fast and full of emotion. It shows how quickly life can change and how little anyone can do about it.

#26 The Snake, The Crocodile, and The Dog by Elizabeth Peters. This was a really fun book about a real woman's liber, way back, who is helping her husband ( on equal terms) discover tombs in Egypt. The story is a witty mystery with a villain or a group of villains who are trying to get the both of them since they are very eminent explorers. It has romance, precocious kids, an extreme code of ethics and chivalry, and a great main character, Amelia Peabody.

The book refers back to other adventures the characters have had and I plan to read another book in the series. The biggest problem is that they are really long with very small print. ARGG!