Those Two Well-Known Reindeer, Dasher and Eker...

Are you a dasher or an eker out? When you discover a new author whose books you love, do you dash through them all at top speed because you're enjoying them too much to put the brakes on, or do you eke them out so as to make them last?

I'm a dasher. Always have been.

But at the end of last year, I made a decision to eke out some books - specifically, the sagas written by Carol Rivers. Last Christmas, I read A Wartime Christmas and loved it. It was a page-turning, can't-put-it-down, won't-waste-time-going-to-sleep book, the kind every reader hopes for. On the strength of that, I bought East End Angel, which was another terrific saga and, no, I didn't get much sleep while I was engrossed in it.

As you can see, I've got all the rest and by rights, I should have devoured the lot long since; but - for the first time ever - I have been eking them out. Why? Well, books this good don't come along every day and there is a certain pleasure in knowing that when the next reaches the top of the TBR pile, I'm guaranteed a superb read.

But I am still a dasher at heart and here is a series I have recently gulped down with enormous enjoyment. The Domestic Diva books by Krista Davis are an American cosy crime series. They are clever, funny, all-hands-on-deck mysteries and, oh my goodness, the food descriptions make your mouth water!