100 books like Dogcatcher in the Rye

I admit it: I underestimated Flavia de Luce.

She is 11 years old, self-schooled, and lives outside a small English town in the 1950s. She is overlooked and underestimated by everyone. Deep inside, I’m still 11 years old, underestimated, and overlooked. I had an insatiable desire to learn about my environment, and I often saw things others didn’t. Flavia also reminds me of my childhood living in the country in the 1980s. I ran unchecked, safe, and constantly delighted in discovering new things about my corner of the world. I wince at the de Luce family politics. I cheer Flavia’s investigations and her fearlessness. I want nothing more than to stay in Flavia’s 11-year-old world forever. She is the kick-ass kid I wanted to be. 

I want to retire in Cooper’s Chase to join this wild bunch of retirees. Elderly Elizabeth leads an unruly and underestimated pack of pensioners who investigate murders. Elizabeth’s husband is losing the battle against dementia, so she treasures every second of time with him. She’s also the one person the others believe has killed as part of her previous work in MI-5.

Largely ignored by family, they band together, bickering all the way, to solve murders rather than face the boredom of waiting to die. They keep the local police on their toes, bend the rules, and play the ‘old person’ card in a heartbeat. Funny, poignant, and unexpected.

I’ve never been to Louisiana, but this mystery made me feel I’d been transported to the bayou.

I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t survive in Sinful, Louisiana, and CIA assassin, Fortune Redding, felt the same way. I couldn’t stop laughing as she stumbled her way through the book, attempting to remain undercover, even as a dead man’s bones washed up in her backyard.

And of course this story wouldn’t be the same without the elderly sidekicks, Ida Belle and Gertie, pushing their way into her life, and into her heart.

With a lively group of headstrong southern women as the support for the amateur sleuth, Mae West, Tonya Kappes kept me laughing throughout the first book of the Camper and Criminals mystery series.

There are certainly parts where she tugged on my heartstrings, but Kappes didn’t allow me to stay sad for too long, instead focusing on the beauty of this rundown camping ground, and the people in it.

Knowing what we drink and how it’s made can be as interesting as knowing what to do with it once it’s on your table (or bar). Among the many whiskey books out there, The Complete Whiskey Course does a great job at covering a lot of ground in an unpretentious and welcoming manner. From the distilling process to label identification (a very handy chapter for newbies and pros alike), origin stories, and unique tasting notes, this book makes for a fun gateway platform for deeper educational dives as the drinker’s interest and experience grows.

Ah, Miss Marple! She’s probably the most iconic amateur female sleuth and spawned an entire mystery genre (I love a good cozy!).

I chose this novel because the plotting is excellent, and I appreciate Agatha Christie’s subtleties. She respected her readers’ intelligence…and enjoyed playing with our observation skills. We get a slew of culprits, all with the motivation to murder the Fortescue patriarch.

So when Inspector Neele, whose perspective overtakes much of the book, needs help to understand why the bickering family is more interested in Mr. Fortescue’s fortune than his untimely death and pocketful of rye that seem to follow a nursery rhyme, of all things, well, only Miss Marple can solve this tangled web.

This no-frills cocktail handbook has been hailed the “Most-read cocktail expert around” for a good reason.

Regan engagingly romanticizes cocktail and drinking culture. He details the history of specific cocktails, includes theories of how certain drinks came about and adds quotes about drinking from notable figures.

He makes you want to try drinks you have yet to try. He also muses about the philosophy of being a bartender and what it takes to be a good bartender.

Although the author makes it a humorous and fun read, the book is much more. It is a thoughtfully laid-out handbook for creating classic cocktails. Of course, one can search for a recipe by cocktail name.

But the book includes a great glossary, and charts by the family of cocktail, making it easy to be like; it’s been a long day, and we have some leftover rye and lemons in the fridge. What… show more.

I received this book as a present from someone with whom I shared my life’s journey. By the end of the first chapter, I understood the point of the gift. Both Katz and I left the security of a big city job to pursue our passion by moving to the country alongside our beloved Border Collies. We were both transformed through our experiences which we share in our books. We both credit our loyal dogs for most of the lessons we learned along the way. Katz narrates his successes and shortcomings in stories that are entertaining, honest, and heartfelt. That is why this book belongs on my list of ‘best books about dogs as our teachers.’ 

Enlightening and touching, whimsical and wise, this story of one man's transition to country living is populated by a menagerie of farm animals and a challenging border collie named Orson. It's said that there are no bad dogs, only bad dog trainers. This books reminds us that the dogs who share our lives serve as mirrors, reflecting our best and worst qualities, gently teaching us we can be better humans if we're willing to be more like dogs.

This amazing book looks at what makes our dogs who they are. It details all the elements that go into making up an individual dog, including how the breed groups that exist in the dog species affect their behaviour. As someone who loves Border Collies, I am very aware they don’t suit every home, and this book explains the reasons why herding breeds (and the other groups) won’t suit every home perfectly. After reading this book, the differing needs of dog breeds are much clearer. Understanding the needs of dogs that come from their very genetics makes understanding the whole dog so much easier, and leads to a much happier life together.