Benediction, An Echo In The Bone, and The Witch's Elm

The first book, Benediction by Kent Haruf, was chosen by both of my book 

It is getting very close to the end of the year!  I have read/finished three books this month. And I may get another finished before the end of the year!

groups!  I had read it before and reviewed it on March 5th, 2016.  Below is the link to my review:

https://alifeofbooks.blogspot.com/2016/03/benediction.html

Re-reading this book was a joy and I think that I enjoyed it even more than my first time reading it.  It was also wonderful to be able to discuss the story and the characters with book group (my other book group meets to discuss this book in a couple of weeks). It is the third book of a trilogy, but totally stands alone in that it is not necessary to read the first two books to follow and enjoy this one.
Great book!

I finished reading the seventh book of the Outlander series, An Echo In The Bone by Diana Gabaldon.  Another great book of hers.  The research into
the history for these books is phenomenal.  In this book, Jamie and Claire were still in America and the Revolutionary War had begun.  Meanwhile, their daughter and her family returned to Scotland in present time. She is able to learn of her parent's trials and joys through old letters that were archived.
Another great book!

Thirdly, I read the new book by Tana French, The Witch's Elm.  I have really enjoyed her earlier books, all mysteries that take place in Ireland.  This book also takes place in Ireland and was a mystery, abut quite different from her earlier books.  This is a long story that seemed way too long to me, but it did help me appreciate what a truly good writer Ms. French is.

The mystery involved is that a skeleton was found in a large tree in the family garden.  Three cousins, who were all adults now, learned that the body found was of someone from their high school that they had been friends with back then. The boy had disappeared while they were in high school, getting ready to leave for college and it was believed that he had killed himself. Of course, the police were called and the mystery was investigated.  

As I said, the book took way too long to solve the crime (just my opinion).  It was a good story, however.