The Murder Game by Carrie Doyle

The Murder Game by Carrie Doyle was published by Sourcebooks Fire on April 6, 2021.  The book was previously published by Dunemere Books in 2018 as Sneaking Out under the pseudonym of Chuck Vance.

Publisher's summary:

Boarding school has never been more dangerous.

What if your roommate is a murderer? Or what if he's being framed and only you can save him?

Luke Chase made history as a child when he escaped a kidnapping. Now, all he wants is to be a normal teenager. So when he sneaks out to the woods one night to drink with friends and flirt with the new British girl at school, he's excited to feel some freedom.

Except the next morning, one of their teachers is found murdered—in the exact same spot where they had been partying. Soon, Luke's roommate and best friend Oscar is the #1 suspect.

As the evidence and list of suspects builds, Luke attempts to use his famous survival skills to find the killer and clear Oscar's name. But as Luke gets closer to the truth, the killer is getting closer to Luke.

The book is set up for a sequel, but since it was published over six years ago, I have my doubts as to whether a sequel will ever be released.  I wish that another book would be released, since I'd love to discover the solutions to the other two mysteries mentioned in this book.

I read through some of the reviews after I finished reading the book.  As usual, the one-star ratings were people complaining that they didn't know it was a young adult book and that they don't like the tropes of the genre.  If people would just avoid books with teenage protagonists, they'd avoid accidentally reading young adult books.  I am not sure how it can be an accident, since the teenage protagonist is a huge red flag.

This is a very good to excellent story.  I really enjoyed reading it.  The book has some flaws, but the story flows well and held my interest throughout.  I enjoyed Luke's investigation.  Several parts of the story were very suspenseful.  This is just a solidly good young adult murder mystery.

Nancy Drew #5 Secret at Shadow Ranch with 1st Printing DJ eBay Auction

I wrote a post in 2019 about the first printing of Shadow Ranch.

Nancy Drew Early First Printing Values and Avoiding Buyer Regret

In that post, I detailed how I purchased this first printing book and jacket of Shadow Ranch for $750.00.

Most people apparently weren't interested, since the jacket isn't perfect.  It was a significant upgrade for me, and I was happy with it.  

In the above linked post, I made this observation:

These days, few people are seeking the early first printing Nancy Drew books with dust jackets.  Actually, everyone would love to own them, but only a handful of collectors are willing to spend the serious cash necessary in order to acquire the jackets.  I have recently concluded that the handful of collectors who currently seek the early first printing jackets only want examples in very good or better condition.  This means that the dust jackets in great shape are still very expensive when they show up for sale.  The dust jackets in rough shape do not sell except at lower prices.  That's an interesting turn of events.  

The good news is that those collectors who are willing to settle for less-than-perfect first printing jackets can luck into copies at reasonable prices.  I also commented in my previous post that I have been criticized for being willing to purchase examples in rough shape.  That's nobody's business.  My collection is mine alone, and I decide what I want to put in it.

A first printing copy of Shadow Ranch in dust jacket sold recently on eBay.  The seller provided photographs, but did not photograph as thoroughly as they should have.  Not all of the dust jacket was shown.  The suboptimal photos likely held back the final bid price.

The seller did not provide enough information for us to know which printing the book is, but the jacket is definitely the first printing jacket.  Since the first few printings of Shadow Ranch have the same book, the book is most likely the first printing.  The auction closed at $1,375.08.

Click on the images in order to see them at a higher resolution.

This book and jacket might be in better shape than the one that I purchased for $750.00.  The front panel chipping is less, but the seller didn't show what the back panel looks like from the front side.  If it's fine, then the jacket that just sold is probably in better shape. 

I saw the listing soon after it was listed and decided that I wasn't interested.  After it sold for $1,375.08, I wondered if I should have at least considered trying to win the auction.  I then decided no, it wasn't worth it to me.  The jacket might be nicer than mine, but I would have to have outbid the person who won the auction.  That might have only taken only a bid increment or so.  I might also have had to pay a lot more than the winning bid.  

Based on the feedback number of the winning bidder, 23931, the winning bidder is a prolific eBay user.  Most people above 20,000 feedback tend to be high-volume buyers and sellers.  Not all, of course, but there's a pretty good chance.  I've been very active on eBay continually since 1997, and I'm still at under 8,300 feedback.

I'm fortunate because I've been so active on eBay.  When I'm curious, I use my own feedback to search for the feedback numbers of winning bidders so that I can figure out who won the auction.  This doesn't always work; but if I've had a transaction with the winning bidder, then I'll be able to figure it out. 

I set my feedback to 200 results per page and searched for 23931.  About halfway through my feedback, I found a hit.  Shadow Ranch was almost certainly purchased to resell, and it will likely show back up on eBay soon.  A prolific buyer and seller of first printing Nancy Drew books and Gibraltar hardcover Three Investigators books was the winner of the auction under a secondary ID.  This is a hint if you're familiar with eBay sellers. 

I didn't find a hit for the Lilac Inn second printing auction, so I believe that book was sold to someone who wanted it for their collection.  If so, they made a good purchase.

Book Reading Milestone for This Year

I feel like my book reading pace has been rather poor.  The problem is that my reading progress is very inconsistent.  I'll do great for a week or so, then I'll quit reading for weeks.  That said, I'm pleased that as of today I've matched the number of books that I read last year:  51 books.

These are my yearly reading totals since I began tracking the number of books that I've read.

2014:  262 books
2015:  231 books
2016:  355 books
2017:  403 books
2018:  315 books
2019:  185 books
2020:  106 books
2021:    60 books
2022:    47 books
2023:    51 books
2024:    51 books+

Since the pandemic, my reading has been sporadic and not what it was in previous years.  I don't know if that will ever change, since I'm under a lot of stress from different fronts.

I find that I cannot read old books at this time.  By "old" books, I mean anything written before 1940.  Those books have a different style, and I don't seem able to tolerate it currently.  This is due to stress, etc. 

Even books from the 1940s up through the 1990s are not to my liking at present.  I just want to read very modern books published since 2000.  I've read quite a few modern young adult books this year.

In fact, checking my list of 51 books, 45 of them have been published since 2000.  Early this year, I published a post that mentioned that each year's reading tells a story.  In 2024, I am focused on modern books, mainly young adult with a few middle grade fantasy books mixed in.

I'm guaranteed to match my total from 2021.  I still have to complete my fourth reading of the Keeper of the Lost Cities series, which I plan to do sometime between now and the release of book 9.5 in early December.  I've already reread books 1 and 2 this year, but I got sidetracked like what always happens when I read these days.  Once I read books 3 through 8, 8.5, 9, and 9.5, I will have read nine more books, equaling my 2021 total of 60 books.

While last year's total was 51 different books, the real total was 71 books.  I didn't count my second and third readings of the Keeper of the Lost Cities books in the total since they were duplicate readings of the same books.  It's possible that I might end up reading as many as 71 books this year, but it's unlikely.  My reading is too sporadic, and I'm likely to have some big gaps in reading in the next 3 1/2 months. 

I'm pleased that I will end up reading at least 60 books by the end of the year, at a minimum. 

Nancy Drew #4 Mystery at Lilac Inn with 2nd Printing DJ eBay Auction

Two auctions of very early Nancy Drew books in dust jacket closed recently.  The seller provided photographs, but did not photograph as thoroughly as they should have.  Parts of each dust jacket were never shown.  The suboptimal photos likely held back the final bid prices.

This post covers the auction for The Mystery at Lilac Inn.  The seller did not provide enough information for us to know which printing the book is, but the jacket is definitely the second printing jacket.  The auction closed at $999.00.

Click on images in order to see them at a higher resolution.

To most people, this jacket would appear to be the first printing since the front flap lists just to Lilac Inn.  However, the first two dust jacket printings of Lilac Inn list to Lilac Inn on the front flap.  The first printing has Grosset & Dunlap general fiction on the reverse side.  The second printing has series book lists on the reverse side.  This jacket has the series book lists, so it is the second printing.

Both the first and second printing dust jackets of Lilac Inn are about impossible to find.  And if you can't find the first printing, then the second printing is a mighty fine one to have.  

I personally believe that the 1930A-1 dust jacket for Lilac Inn is harder to find than the 1930A-1 dust jacket of Old Clock.  Yes, I'm serious.  The 1930A-1 Old Clock dust jacket is the most sought-after dust jacket because of its status as the first printing dust jacket of the very first book in the Nancy Drew series.  It will always be the most valuable dust jacket for that reason, but I contend that the 1930A-1 Lilac Inn dust jacket is harder to find and ought to be worth nearly as much as the 1930A-1 Old Clock dust jacket.

Let's look at past auctions. 

In 2015, a Lilac Inn book with the 1930A-1 dust jacket sold for $4,302.22 (view blog post here). 

In 2010, a Lilac Inn book with the 1930B-2 dust jacket sold for $2,330.00 (view blog post here). 

It's safe to say that this recent sale of the second printing Lilac Inn dust jacket at $999.00 was a very good deal.  Someone who was likely buying to resell was the second-highest bidder.  This means that the second-highest bidder considers the book to be worth more than the closing bid price, since they were likely going to sell it.

I own both the first and second printing Lilac Inn dust jackets.  I got very lucky in both cases through Buy It Now listings.  Both jackets were paired with the wrong books, which is common with early Lilac Inn jackets for some unknown reason.

This is the first printing dust jacket (general G&D fiction on the reverse side).  I paid around $300 for it.

The star seen on the spine in the above photo is not on the jacket itself.  I place stars on the mylar covers of my first printings.

This is the second printing dust jacket (series book lists on the reverse side).  I paid around $500 for it, and I acquired it before I acquired the first printing dust jacket.  

I can't part with it because it's in better shape than my first printing dust jacket, and I consider the second printing Lilac Inn dust jacket to be just about as desirable as the first printing dust jacket.  

Back to School Update

Last week wasn't the worst week ever, but it sure felt like it.  

In a recent post, I wrote about my six-week autoimmune flare, caused by a chipped tooth.  I improved immediately after the tooth was repaired.  It's been a roller coaster ride since then.  I had temporary deep fatigue from August 8 to 10.  On the afternoon of August 9 during a meeting, I became so tired that I nearly fell out of my chair. 

This fatigue was caused by the dental x-ray of August 5.  The assistant, who I previously stated had an odd attitude, zapped me without covering my thyroid.  My chart is flagged that my thyroid must be covered when I am x-rayed.  She ignored it.  Right as she hit the button, I realized that my neck was uncovered.  Ugh.  I paid for that, but at least it was only for a few days.

I improved again, but the school year didn't start well.  We have new textbooks, so the entire year will be highly stressful.  A few days after I returned to work, I realized that the summer update to my work computer messed up the Smart Board.  I use the Smart Board for all instruction, so this was a big problem.

I put in a work order.  It was fixed but still screwed up and even harder to use.  This was a disaster, since by this point, the school year had started.  I put in another work order.  They figured it out on the second attempt.  Finally, I was functional on the fourth day of school.  

This made the first full week of school very stressful.

Last week was the second full week of school.  The system for distributing IEPs for special education students has not been working in Oklahoma, and this is a state-level problem, not local.  My school finally managed to get us the information last Monday.  Since I was giving a test on Wednesday, I had to speak to every special education student that I have in class about their accommodations.  

On Tuesday and Wednesday of last week, all of this happened:

• Fire Drill
• spoke to 30 students about accommodations and their needs
  
• Open House (late night Tuesday)
• Lockdown Drill
• Picture Day
• gave a test
  

And to top it off, a neighbor's cat was killed by dogs on Tuesday morning.  I also found out about the death of a very friendly neighborhood cat on Tuesday, likely from poisoning.

Everything I just mentioned caused a hard flare.  I felt awful all week.  I had a three-day weekend for the Labor Day holiday.  It took me from Friday evening until late Sunday evening to get back to feeling okay, so I lost most of my weekend.

I've had a crummy start to the year.

At least my eBay and Etsy sales are greatly diminished as I planned, and I'm doing okay with keeping both stores open in a limited capacity so that I don't lose my search rankings.  I currently have 67 items on eBay.  My active Etsy listings continue to drop as more items deactivate, reaching the end of their four-month run.  I'm down to 154 listings on Etsy.  Around 20 more will deactivate in a few days.

In case you haven't read my posts from the last few years, I usually shut down both stores for the first two months of school due to the autoimmune flare that occurs during the early part of the school year.  I am definitely in an ongoing flare that underlies the hard flares that I'm also experiencing.  Overall, I'm not doing that bad.  I mean... it could be a lot worse.

By the way, the real reason I decided to leave both stores open is because I have some free listings on Etsy due to a glitch.  21 of my Etsy listings have been expired for months and yet are still active listings.  By keeping the listings active, they continue to stay active indefinitely.  

I reasoned that if I was keeping Etsy open, then I would keep eBay open as well, only I deactivated most of my eBay listings.

My reading has been very sporadic.  I'll read a few books, then I get too stressed or have a flare.  When that happens, I go days or weeks without reading.  I've managed to read a few books in the last few weeks, which is surprising considering everything that has happened.  I will publish a few reviews soon.

I always bottom out with my thyroid sometime during September.  That should happen in the next two to three weeks, and then I will steadily improve.  How I feel at any given time is directly tied to what happened two weeks before, due to the pituitary-thyroid feedback loop.  Since last week was particularly awful, I expect that I will bottom out sometime next week. 

Note: I continued to find appalling typos each time I proofread this post before publishing it.  I am making so many mistakes right now.  If some are still in the post, then you know why.

Popularity of My Blog Pages

I created some blog pages awhile back to make it easier for readers to view my reviews.  The drawback of the blog format is that posts are always listed in reverse chronological order.  On these pages, I have listed the posts in order of publication.

It's interesting to see which pages have been viewed the most.  The number of views does not truly represent popularity of one series over the others, for several reasons.  The pages are generally only viewed by people who land on my blog, and those people tend to be fans of girls' series.  This is why the Three Investigators page has such a low number of views, much lower than it should.

I have linked to some of the pages on Facebook, especially to the Nancy Drew Collecting Information page when people ask for information about Nancy Drew books.  I have one link placed in an eBay group, so a good many people are using it for information. 

Any pages linked on Facebook will have more views.

My Keeper page is linked from many of my Keeper posts, so that has inflated its number of views.

One obvious conclusion can be drawn. The most recent Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series are nowhere near as popular as the original sets.  It's not surprising that the Hardy Boys Undercovers Brothers and Adventures page is in last place in views.  The Undercover Brothers series is pretty awful.  It was a difficult set to slog through.

Nancy Drew Collecting Information - 511 views

Hidden Clues Informational Posts - 341 views

Middle-Grade Fantasy Reviews - 327 views

Nancy Drew #1-56 Book Reviews - 327 views

Keeper of the Lost Cities Summaries, Reviews, and Theories - 240 views

Dana Girls Reviews - 233 views

Nancy Drew #57-175 Reviews - 230 views

Hardy Boys #1-58 Book Reviews - 219 views

Vintage Teen Book Reviews - 207 views

Judy Bolton Reviews - 185 views

Glossy Internal Illustrations - 148 views

Hardy Boys #59-190 Book Reviews - 147 views

Nancy Drew Girl Detective and Diaries Reviews - 139 views

Kay Tracey Reviews - 132 views

Three Investigators Reviews - 121 views

Young Adult Book Reviews - 105 views

Hardy Boys Undercover Brothers and Adventures Reviews - 97 views

The Last Witness by Claire McFall

The Last Witness by Claire McFall was published by Sourcebooks Fire on January 7, 2020.  It was previously published under the title Black Cairn Point: Where Darkness Grows by Hot Key in 2015.

Publisher's summary:

From award-winning author Claire McFall comes a chilling psychological thriller about the sole survivor of a camping trip gone wrong and the truth behind that weekend, perfect for fans of Natasha Preston.

Heather agrees to go camping with Dougie and his friends because she's desperate to get closer to him, and a secluded beach sounds like the perfect place.  But the trip takes a sinister turn that brings Heather's plans to a violent end.

One by one, the group begins to vanish.

A year later, Heather knows she's just lucky to be alive.  And now, people are asking for answers, or else she will be the one to take the blame.  But the truth about what happened on that trip is far more terrifying than anyone knows…

A great pick for thriller readers looking for:

• paranormal suspense
• young adult horror
• mystery books best sellers

I had read the free sample on Amazon on a previous occasion and declined to read the book.  This time the sample seemed okay.  I still wasn't sure and looked at some reviews.  The reviews made the book sound really good, and the premise sounded interesting.  I decided to take a chance.

The book is much better once the young people arrive at their camping destination on the shore, which is shortly after the free sample ends.  The samples nowadays on Amazon are not long enough to make a decision.  They now strictly cut the samples at 10% due to the copyright law.  This is understandable, but with long books, I really need more than 10% to make a decision.  Many authors take forever to get the plot started.

The book switches between the present with Heather in a doctor's office being questioned and a retelling of what happened.  

I saw in reviews that only two teens came back from the outing and that three didn't.  I had no idea who came back aside from Heather.  The publisher's summary makes it sounds like something supernatural could be at play.  This vague information made me very curious.

The book is very suspenseful and interesting.  The story is creepy.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book up until the last chapter.  I'm not happy about how the story ended.  Even though the book is overall excellent, I finished the book feeling disappointed and displeased.  The ending ruined it for me.  

I have completely rewritten the end of this post several times, as I have struggled with how to convey information about how the book ended.

This is a spoiler and will likely cause most people who read this review not to want to read the book.  Honestly, I wish I hadn't read the book.  The book is fine until just the last few pages when the reader suddenly learns that the narrator was unreliable... that the entire book was not what actually happened. 

This was a waste of time.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book until the last few pages, when the author tears it apart.  Just, why?  I do not recommend this book unless you enjoy manipulation and deception.  

Let the Sky Fall Trilogy by Shannon Messenger

I tried to read the first book in the Sky Fall trilogy in May 2023.  I read around 80 pages and then lost interest.  I recently decided that I need to read the three books, even if I don't enjoy them much.  I love Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger, and I'd like to be able to read comments that are about the Sky Fall books.  

The Sky Fall trilogy consists of these books:

1.  Let the Sky Fall, 2013
2.  Let the Storm Break, 2014
3.  Let the Wind Rise, 2016

Publisher's summary of #1 Let the Sky Fall:

A broken past and a divided future can’t stop the electric connection of two teens in this epic series opener from the author of the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling Keeper of the Lost Cities series.

Seventeen-year-old Vane Weston has no idea how he survived the category five tornado that killed his parents.  And he has no idea if the beautiful, dark-haired girl who’s swept through his dreams every night since the storm is real.  But he hopes she is.

Seventeen-year-old Audra is a sylph, an air elemental.  She walks on the wind, can translate its alluring songs, and can even coax it into a weapon with a simple string of commands.  She’s also a guardian—Vane’s guardian—and has sworn an oath to protect Vane at all costs.  Even if it means sacrificing her own life.

When a hasty mistake reveals their location to the enemy who murdered both of their families, Audra’s forced to help Vane remember who he is.  He has a power to claim—the secret language of the West Wind, which only he can understand.  But unlocking his heritage will also unlock the memory Audra needs him to forget.  And as the storm bears down on them, she starts to realize the greatest danger might not be the warriors coming to destroy them—but the forbidden romance that’s grown between them. 

The first book has some very good scenes.  One in particular is hilarious, and I love it.  Unfortunately, the book is slow-paced and boring.  Still, I liked it enough to continue to the second book.  The second book is mostly boring.  I tried to read the third book, and I just couldn't do it, aside from reading around 70 pages.

I was much more entertained by the Sky Fall reviews than I was by reading (or rather, attempting to read) the books.  I've mentioned how people have a problem with young adult books because they inexplicably believe that young adult books are aimed at children.  I saw that in the Sky Fall reviews.

Reviewers complain about the language and hints at sexuality.  They say that the books aren't clean and are inappropriate for children. 

Right, because the books are aimed at young adults.  I knew before I started reading the first book that it was not going to be like KotLC, since it is young adult.  This concept of young adult books being for older youth is so hard for people to grasp.

This trilogy is what happens when a publisher gives the author of a popular series a three-book deal on a very thin plot idea.  KotLC is a smash hit; Sky Fall is dull and boring.  This trilogy should have been written as just one book.  If so, the story might have been pretty good.

Honestly, I couldn't help experiencing an unpleasant flashback to my memories of reading the Nancy Drew Girl Detective trilogies, especially #36-38 The Model Mystery Trilogy.  My review of the ND GD Model Mystery trilogy concludes with this statement:

The entire thing is a big convoluted mess and should have been written as a single-volume story, not three excruciatingly long books. 

While I wouldn't refer to the Sky Fall trilogy as a "convoluted mess," it does consist of "excruciatingly long" and boring books.

A Six-Week Autoimmune Flare of Mysterious Origin

The moral of this story is that a noticeable decline in physical well-being can be caused by something so ostensibly minor that you'd never suspect it of significantly impacting your health.

My summer break was not that great.  I had a lot of stress up until the end of June.  On June 23-25, I had to do a project outside in the summer heat.  The project was hard work, and I am very heat and sun sensitive.  I got up before daybreak each day and worked on this project from slightly before 6 AM up to 10 AM or so.  It was brutal.

Right before I did this project, I had thyroid labs done, and they were perfect.

Around July 1, I noticed that I was in an autoimmune flare.  Currently, my primary flare symptom is that my lips become unbearably dry.  My lips are dry all the time, but any flare increases the dryness to an unbearable level, resulting in my lips stinging for several days.  After a few days, the stinging subsides, and my lips return to my normal dryness, which is annoying but bearable.

Beginning around July 1, my lips began stinging.  I decided that my project of June 23-25 was the cause and figured that the stinging would subside within a few days.  It didn't.  

By July 8, I was really freaking out mentally.  My lips were stinging 24 hours a day.  They felt like they had been rubbed with commercial-grade paper towels.  It was very upsetting, and I spent hours online trying to figure out what was happening.  I was miserable.  

You need to understand that when my lips become inflamed that nothing helps.  All brands of lip balm irritate my lips.  Even brands for sensitive lips irritate my lips.  Aquaphor was my savior for a couple years until it badly burned my lips one night.  I looked like a clown the next morning.

I can only use Vaseline or petroleum-based hydrocortisone on my lips.  Everything else irritates them.  The Vaseline sometimes irritates my lips.  

During the last 4 1/2 years since my lips became unusually dry, I've tried drinking more fluid, drinking sports drinks, changing my toothpaste, and everything else you can possibly imagine.  So don't give me any advice.  I've read every piece of advice imaginable and acted on most of it, to no avail.  I just have to put up with it.

My bouts with stinging lips never last more than around three days.  This is why I was so upset by July 8.  I was past the one-week mark.

Around July 8, I realized that I had been bitten by something.  I worried that it could have been a tick.  I figured that I had been bitten when I did my outside project on June 23-25.

I was then really freaked out.  I am fearful of ticks and Lyme disease.  A former student of mine was bitten by a tick around 16 years ago and got Lyme disease.  It wasn't caught quickly, and she still has continuing very serious health problems.  

So... I worried about Lyme disease.  However, I talked myself down, reasoning that I probably didn't have Lyme disease.

I was distinctly more tired than was normal, which was odd for summer break.  I had an increase in muscle aches.  My thyroid was more swollen than normal for me.

I tested myself for Covid.  Nope.

I feared that I had Sjögren's syndrome, which causes excessive dryness.  I have suspected Sjögren's syndrome for years, but I tested negative in the past.  Most people with Sjögren's syndrome do test negative, so that doesn't rule it out.  I plan to be tested again later this year, just in case the test shows something.

But autoimmune thyroid disease causes dryness as well.  The problem was that I was on summer break, and nothing was going on.  Why were my lips stinging?  They continued stinging all of July and into August.

I was set to go back to work on August 8.

On August 7 as the day progressed, I noticed that the infernal stinging was easing.  By evening, it was gone.  Oh, the relief!  My lips had stung for approximately six weeks, and suddenly they weren't.  They were still dry, but the stinging had eased.

I was perplexed.  Something must have changed, but what? 

I thought back to recent events.  I purchased my new car on July 29, and it was a very tiring experience.  However, that would make me worse, not better.  I was feeling stressed about going back to work, but that would also make me worse, not better.  None of this made sense.  Why was I better?

I then realized.  I went to the dentist on August 5 to fix a broken filling. 

Bingo.

Let's back up to late June.

I went to the dentist on June 27 for my six-month cleaning.  That doesn't have anything to do with it, but I noticed either slightly before or after the cleaning (between June 24 and June 30) that the outside front corner of tooth #18 had become sharp.  It had chipped just a little.  It seemed fine, so I decided not to worry about it.  I don't think it could have been repaired at that time unless I wanted to be extreme and get a crown to fix a mild chip in a tooth.  That would have been illogical.  I figured the tooth was okay.  It didn't hurt.  I just had a sharp corner that had not been like that before.

On the late afternoon of August 2, after the dentist was closed for the weekend, the front wall and part of the filling on tooth #18 broke off, causing a hole.  It didn't hurt.  I did clean the hole by aiming a water pick into it.  That was a mistake, but even then, it was just a dull ache.  I tested the tooth by biting down on it and found that it was mildly pressure sensitive.  But at least I wasn't in pain aside from some cold and pressure sensitivity.

On the morning of August 5, I called the dentist, and they worked me in that afternoon.  The filling was repaired.

I have to comment about the dental assistant.  She didn't seem to understand my concern, simply because I was not in pain.  I'm sorry, but a hole in a tooth needs to be repaired ASAP.  It will break further, and I will do anything to avoid extreme tooth pain like what I experienced in 2021.  

Fortunately, the dentist was not dismissive like she was.  The assistant's attitude was odd.

It's now apparent to me that the minor chip in tooth #18 must have also caused a crack in the filling, just not enough for me to know.  The filling must have become leaky, causing bacteria to get inside and then enter my blood stream. 

I had a leaky filling for six weeks.  That's why my thyroid became more swollen and why I was so tired.  My lips burned all of July and into early August because of what appeared to be a mildly damaged tooth.  Who would think that such a minor chip would cause that much discomfort for six weeks?

In 2022 in my post "What Happened with My Teeth and Some Advice," I mentioned how my health improved after two bad teeth were removed.  Having good teeth is extremely important.  If you have any kind of problem with your teeth, get it fixed if at all possible.  I guarantee that any bad teeth are impacting your health in some fashion, even if you don't notice anything.

The Season of Silence by Mary Francis Shura

The Season of Silence was written by Mary Francis Shura.  It was published in 1976 in hardcover with dust jacket by Atheneum Press.  The cover and internal illustrations were drawn by Ruth Sanderson.

Publisher's summary:

Susie Spinner was so sick that spring that she was shut away in her room for several weeks.  When she finally got well, she was startled to find that a great many things had changed in her private world. 

It seemed as if some immense force had taken hold on the layers of her life and twisted them so that what had been high had become low and what had been firm and solid under her feet was suddenly spongy and terrifying.

A strange tension had developed between her parents and her sister Carrie; and Carrie seemed to have totally broken off with Martin, who had also been Susie's special friend.  If that wasn't enough, Susie's best friend, Lindy, was all involved with Trevor Howard, who had always seemed to be the worst bully around.

On a forced, wandering, lonely walk Susie chanced on a grove in the Clary meadow, a place so magical that she felt it must have a spirit of its own.  It was in the grove that Susie later encountered the strange, sullen boy named Derek Born, who trapped her in a silence and a lie she couldn't escape. 

By the time it was all over, so many things were woven in together—the scent of wild flowers, the pain of death, and a  deep sense of betrayal—that Susie found herself more changed than anyone else around her.

I read The Riddle of Raven Gulch by Mary Francis Shura and decided to sample a few of her other books.  I chose books where the title and summary made the book sound like one I would like.  The Season of Silence was one of the books I decided to purchase. 

I found one immediately on eBay.  It was the first printing in hardcover with dust jacket, and it was signed by Mary Francis Shura.  I liked the book's appearance, and the price was reasonable for a signed copy.  I purchased the book and read it as soon as it arrived.  

As I began writing this post, I checked to see how common this book is.  I found eight copies for sale online.  I have access to eBay sales from the last three years.  Only one copy of this book has sold on eBay in the last three years, and it is the book that I purchased.  This book is a bit scarce, which is a shame since it's an extremely good book.

The protagonist, Susie, is in the 7th grade.  This is an upper middle-grade book.  The subject content and tone bears some similarity to young adult books, but the age of the protagonist makes it a middle-grade book.  Some minor changes easily could have aged the book up into young adult.

It's interesting that the story in The Season of Silence bears some similarity to Don't Hurt Laurie! by Willo Davis Roberts.  Both books were published by Atheneum Press and were illustrated by Ruth Sanderson.  They are very similar in appearance, so it's interesting that the stories are similar in content and tone.  Both of my books are first printings and are signed by the author.  Click on images in order to see them more clearly.

The Season of Silence is an excellent book.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.

What Makes Selling More Difficult Part 2

This is a continuation of my post from yesterday.  In short, I am heading towards an immediate shutdown of both online stores, even though I'd prefer to stay open if possible.

What Makes Selling More Difficult 

I finally heard back from the international buyer who wanted me to find a cheaper option to ship four books via international mail.  The buyer thinks that I can ship the four books abroad for $3.95 media mail, and they say that Thriftbooks did it.  Thriftbooks couldn't have used media mail, but they may very well have a sweetheart deal with the postal service that allows them to mail books abroad for under $5.00.  I am not a large company, so I do not have access to sweetheart deals.

I decided to look at whether Thriftbooks has these books available and for how much.  They have three of the four books at a total cost of $46.07 before shipping.  The same three books in my store cost $17.97 before shipping.  Let's assume that Thriftbooks does ship internationally for $3.95, even though media mail actually starts at $4.63.

Those three books from Thriftbooks would cost $50.02 including shipping.  Those three books from me would cost $51.97. 

Thriftbooks doesn't have the fourth book on its site.  They do on eBay, but the orders wouldn't combine.  On eBay, the fourth book is $18.00.  The fourth book from me is $5.99.  All four books from me would cost $59.96.  If the buyer were to purchase three books from Thriftbook's site plus the one from eBay and were charged $3.95 shipping on both orders, the total cost of the books would be $71.97.

Whenever I am looking to buy certain books, I don't worry about what a seller charges for shipping.  I look at the overall cost and choose the seller who will deliver the books to me for less.  I also will choose to buy all of the books from one seller rather than several sellers if I see that one seller has all of them, so long as the cost isn't noticeable more.

I know what I would do in this case, if I were the prospective buyer. 

International buyers have a tendency to attempt to negotiate shipping costs.  It happens at least once per month.  They think they can bargain me down, like I have fake high shipping charges.  All I can do is check my charges up against what I will be charged and adjust for the specific buyer.  I cannot create magical discounts.

The situation might be better if I were to offer calculated shipping on Etsy.  I set up a shipping profile on Etsy for combined international shipping.  It returns an error message in the batch editor.  Apparently I would have to edit all 300+ listings individually to change them to calculated shipping.  I won't do it.

Therefore, I created a shipping profile on Etsy where I don't ship internationally.  I just changed all of my Etsy listings to that profile except for the four listings that this one buyer has in their shopping cart.

I know what will happen now.  International buyers will ask why I don't ship internationally.  I'd like to say it's because of how much time the shipping questions waste.  I won't do that.  More likely, I'll give them a rough estimate and overdo it by a bit.  If they are still interested, then I'll figure out the actual cost and edit just a few listings.  

If this doesn't reduce the time suck, then I will close my stores until October. 

What Makes Selling More Difficult

As I previously mentioned, I am attempting to avoid shutting down my eBay and Etsy stores completely this year as the school year begins.  My first work week was just two days, so I'm okay but rather tired.  It will be more difficult next week when I work five days.

Having a few packages to ship isn't what makes this hard.  It's the unexpected situations with buyers and prospective buyers that never seem to come at good times.  I had two such situations this week.  

One buyer asked if the international shipping for four books would really cost as much as Etsy quoted, which was about $86.00.  I took the time to figure the postage and found that it would be around $36.00.  I adjusted the shipping charge on the listings so that it would come out to that amount.  I was pleased that the shipping reduced by $50.00.  I let the buyer know, and I thought that they'd purchase the books.  They didn't.  Okay, alrighty then. 

That's usually what happens with international buyers who ask about shipping.  They almost never purchase.  Other international buyers just go ahead and pay whatever the shopping cart shows.  If the charge is too much, I refund the extra.  

That's what happened with another international buyer.  They purchased two books in separate transactions, which guaranteed that they were overcharged for shipping.  I combined the orders and refunded some of the shipping on the second book.  That was on August 2.  I shipped those books to Australia on August 3.  

The buyer reached out to me last night on August 8, just five days after the books were shipped.  The books haven't had time to arrive!  They asked for a refund because they didn't receive their books.  

The problem that worried the buyer was caused by Etsy's suboptimal handling of international orders that are shipped with their Global Shipping service.  Etsy has its own service like eBay does where international orders are shipped to a hub in the United States and then forwarded abroad.  eBay does better with this because the seller is given the tracking number that will be used for the entire journey.  Etsy only gives the seller a USPS tracking number to its hub, and then the tracking number changes to something else that the seller doesn't know.

Okay.  So, this is the explanation that I sent the buyer.

I figured out the situation. You made two separate orders, each book in a different order.  As a courtesy, I combined the orders so that you would save on shipping.  I partially refunded the [second book] order to give you the discount.

I generated the Etsy Global Shipping label from the [first book] order.  Global Shipping first goes to a United States address where it is then forwarded to the international destination.

I had to mark [second book] as shipped, and I had to use a tracking number.  Unfortunately, Etsy only gives me the United States tracking number for the global shipping center in Illinois and not what will be the final tracking number to you.  They only have that information internally.  That information is attached only to the [first book] order, since I used it for the shipping label.

The tracking number on [second book] shows as delivered, but that just means that it has arrived at the United States address where it will then be forwarded to Australia.  This means it isn't lost.  We know where it is.

Ignore the [second book] tracking from this point on. Use the tracking number on [first book] to track your package.  It is still on the way, and both books are in the package.  I have attached a screen capture of the most recent information on the [first book] tracking.  It says "Received by Global Postal Shipping partner" on August 6.  The package is on the way to you.

Please check the [first book] tracking only, and you should see its arrival in Australia within a few more days.  The package will likely arrive within one week, possibly slightly longer.

Rest assured that if the package should disappear and never arrive, then you will receive a full refund.  Since the tracking shows that the package is still on the way, we need to wait to give it time to arrive.  I appreciate your patience, and I hope that my explanation helps to put your mind at ease.

I understand why the buyer thought the package was lost.  The tracking on the second order shows first, and they probably only looked at it.  That tracking shows that the package was delivered in Illinois.  I'd be worried too if I were in Australia.

You see, this is why it's hard to sell books as school opens back up.  It's the unexpected extra customer service that does me in.  I probably spent over 20 minutes typing up the response about the package to Australia.  I had to make sure that I explained it as well as I could.

Next week will test me further on whether I can keep my stores open.  The good news is that I have sharply reduced my eBay listings, so I probably won't sell much of anything there.  Many of my Etsy listings will deactivate when they expire in five days, so that will help.  I'd like to keep the stores open in a minimal capacity just so that I don't completely lose my search position on both sites.

One Last eBay and Etsy Update

I reduced the prices of my most expensive books on both sites.  I also extended my 15% off sale to run through Sunday evening.

Jennifer's Series Books on eBay

Jennifer's Series Books on Etsy

My current plan (subject to change at any time) is to leave my Etsy store open since many listings will soon expire.  I will deactivate most of my eBay listings.  I plan to leave my eBay bulk lots up as well as any stagnant inventory that I would really like to see go away.

There was one other time in the last few years that I did try to leave my stores open.  As I recall, I closed them both within two weeks of the start of school.  So, even though my plan is to keep some listings active, I will change my mind abruptly if I'm too tired in a week or so.

I finally organized all of my books that are currently listed for sale.  Since it's such a novelty for them to be mostly in order, I photographed all of them.  (Click on images in order to see them better.)

eBay shelves:

Mixture of eBay and Etsy books:

Etsy shelves:

eBay and Etsy Stores to Wind Down for the Start of School

If you wish to purchase any books from me in the short term, it would be best to do so by Sunday.

Jennifer's Series Books on eBay

Jennifer's Series Books on Etsy

I go back to work in one week.  The usual plan is to shut down completely.  I am mulling over some other possible options.  

These are the possibilities from most to least restrictive.

1.  If I completely close, I will do so by Monday or Tuesday of next week.  If I take this option, then I will likely remain completely closed until October.

2.  I could keep both stores open in a limited capacity.  The benefit of doing this would be to keep me from losing my position in eBay and Etsy search.  Both sites penalize sellers who have inactive periods.  If I take this option, then I would deactivate most listings except for a limited quantity.  The listings that would remain active might be my most expensive listings on both sites, which would be less likely to sell.

3.  I could close eBay and leave Etsy open.  I am billed yearly by eBay for my store subscription, so it makes no difference what I do.  For Etsy, I pay $0.20 for each listing to be active for four months.  If I were to keep Etsy open, then I could let my listings naturally expire as each one reaches the end of its four months.  Half of my Etsy listings would expire by the end of August.

I will make a decision at the start of the week.  If I pull everything down, then I will do so without warning and probably on Monday.  I think it would be best for me mentally and physically to shut down completely, so that is most likely what I will do.

A Final Resolution to My Car Problems

Most of this post was written months ago.  I waited for the final resolution before editing and finishing the story.

Back in October, my car began acting up.  Here's the car in a 2022 photo.

Update on Autoimmunity, Selling, Reading, and Car Trouble

I had this issue in October where the check engine light kept coming on.  The check engine light was on because the battery wasn't receiving enough charge.  This resulted in a battery cable being replaced (in hindsight a battery cable that should not have been replaced).

I got the car back at the end of October, and the check engine light came back on intermittently.  In December, I finally took the car back in to be checked.  The check engine light was displaying for the same reason as previously.  They were stymied, since the battery cable had been replaced.  The battery was still good, and the alternator was in good working order.  They contacted General Motors, eventually sending my vehicle's diagnostics to the head engineer at General Motors. 

General Motors reported that a "handful" of Chevrolet Malibus display the check engine light erroneously due to an error regarding the battery's charge.  They hadn't figured out why.  Unfortunately, my vehicle was behaving differently than the rest of the handful of vehicles so they had even less of a clue regarding mine.

The service department spent a week running every diagnostic test possible on my vehicle while in communication with General Motors, ultimately telling me that my vehicle was in perfect running order and that nothing bad would happen.  I was told to keep driving it and that I should ignore the check engine light. 

It should be noted that the reason I took the vehicle in during both October and December was to avoid something bad happening.  You just never know what a check engine light could mean and how bad it might be.  I didn't want to experience something bad...

On the afternoon of February 1, the check engine light displayed briefly and for the first time since it was in for repairs in December.  Around 20 minutes later, the car turned itself off at a red light.  I was able to shift into park and get the car back on.  I drove home without anything else happening.

The car started as normal on the morning of February 2, and I didn't see the check engine light.  As I drove, the radio volume began fluctuating.  The power steering felt off at one point.  And then the car turned itself off at a stop sign. 

This time I had to try for several minutes to get the car started again.  I tried to get to my destination, which was just a few miles away.  The car turned off at a red light and would not restart.  I couldn't turn on the hazard lights, so this was a dangerous situation.  The car was completely unresponsive.  I had to call a tow truck.  

The car was towed to the dealership.  It started just fine for them, and they were not able to reproduce the problem.  Can you believe that?  They were in contact with General Motors again, and nobody knew what the problem was.  They all agreed that something was wrong, and they did find what they called "strange error codes" referring to problems with unidentified computer modules. 

For me, the car was toast.  I wanted nothing to do with it.  Even if the vehicle were fixed, I would never trust it again.  I could not risk driving a vehicle that could turn itself off at any intersection and render itself unresponsive to where the hazard lights couldn't be activated.  

I vowed never to drive the vehicle again, regardless of whether it was fixed.

Due to my autoimmunity, I like to stick with what I know, which is why I continue to purchase Chevrolet Malibus.  This has to do with the Spoon Theory.  Please read the link if you don't know what that is.  I need my life to be as easy as possible so that I can maintain a job and sell books online while dealing with a serious autoimmune disease (thyroid) that is only partially controlled.  That is why I continue to purchase the same make and model car. 

Note:  You might have heard that the Chevrolet Malibu will be discontinued in November.  I've already figured out what I will purchase in five or six years.  It will most likely be a Chevrolet Trax, which is a very similar vehicle.  So, back to the story...

While they worked on the vehicle, I decided that I was done with it.  I looked into getting a new Malibu.  The problem was that none of the Malibus in stock had a satellite radio.  Several solutions were presented, including a dongle for the satellite radio (nope, since I know how that would work), or getting a satellite radio from another vehicle and putting it in one of the Malibus on the lot.  They offered to pull one out of a 2022 Malibu and put it in a 2024 Malibu.  I declined.  I should get a new radio, right?

We ordered a car from the factory.  Meanwhile, my Malibu left the shop in March, and they claimed to have fixed it.  Maybe they did, but the check engine light was still coming on.  I refused to drive the car other than driving it home.  I had another vehicle to drive, so I waited patiently for the new car that I wanted.

I won't go into all the details of this saga, which includes failed dealer trades and two order attempts.  The upshot of it is that the car order fell through for various reasons.  In the intervening months my original salesperson left the dealership as did the sales manager who ordered the vehicle.  This resulted in a break in communication which is a large part in why this process has taken so long.

In late May I ended up with a second salesperson who should have kept an eye on the order for me.  He didn't seem too interested in the situation.  I'm going to skip the details.  He didn't value that I was a guaranteed sale, or perhaps it he took it for granted.

Fast forward to now.  I needed to get this resolved.  It was on July 28 that I searched the inventory of local dealerships, as I had been doing all these months.  Finally, I found the unicorn.  A dealership in a nearby city (25 miles away) had the exact Malibu that I wanted.  

I had decided in February that I would settle for nothing less than a red 2LT Malibu.  The nearby dealership had one.

The next day I went into my dealership to verify for certain that the car order was gone.  I will tell you that I was tempted to just drive to the nearby city and buy that car, but I like to do the right thing.  I wanted to make certain that there was no longer a car order.  Besides, I really hoped they'd negotiate a dealer trade for me.

I did mention the second salesperson's name to the third salesperson who greeted me at the door.  Fortunately, the inept second salesperson hadn't arrived for the day, so I didn't feel guilty at all to take up with the third salesperson.  He verified that the order was gone.  I mentioned my unicorn that I had found and that I had almost driven to that dealership to purchase it. 

The salesperson got the sales manager, and I said that I'd prefer to purchase the car from them but that I was prepared to drive to the other dealership to get it.  They knew I was going to purchase that car one way or the other.  Within 15 minutes, a dealer trade had been negotiated.  By late afternoon, I had my new car.

This car was assembled in June.  The other dealership had only had it for a few days.

And my silly black Malibu can annoy someone else with its intermittent check engine light.  That's why I don't purchase used cars.  I don't want someone else's problem.

Mystery of the Lobster Thieves by Elaine Macmann Willoughby

Mystery of the Lobster Thieves was written by Elaine Macmann Willoughby.  It was published by Weekly Reader in 1978.

Summary:

Annie and Wallace stay at Blue Shutters, a cottage off the coast of New Hampshire, with their mother and baby sister.  Their father goes back to the city to work.  The cottage is in a deserted area, which Annie finds unsettling.

The children hear about stolen lobsters, and Wallace decides that they will solve the mystery.  With their new friend, Dave, the children try to find out who is taking the lobsters.

On page 29, Wallace and Annie prepare breakfast for their mother's birthday.

On the counter was a used box of blueberry muffin mix and something was baking in the oven.  On the stove was some very crinkled black-brown bacon, which Wallace was trying to get onto a paper towel to drain, while with the other hand he was trying to stir some scrambled eggs.  

I helped him with the eggs, and we were going to cook some more bacon, but Mother said she liked black-brown bacon.  I'm not so sure about this, but it was a relief to us.  Then the timer rang and Wallace got the muffins out of the oven.

Mother is quite tactful!

This is a short book, just 56 pages. 

I purchased this book at the same time as The Riddle of Raven Gulch.  Both books were found together in a local store a couple years ago.  Unfortunately, this book isn't nearly as good as the other book.

I found the story just okay, and I never really cared.