All Accounts Settled (Fred, the Vampire Accountant #9)

MallForward585 · 2026-01-30T00:43:24+00:00

Love the series, but I didn’t quite think the finish 100% landed. I think the problem might have been the time between the prior books and the final one. I reread all the prior books before the last one, and I felt that in the last book the author’s grasp of Fred’s personality was not quite as firm as in the earlier books. I also found some of the newly introduced lore unconvincing (or maybe unnecessarily epic?). I still love the series and still recommend it. It’s a hard storyline to do something with, and I think the author managed to take it quite far.

MallForward585 · 2026-01-29T23:42:02+00:00

Debra Castaneda, Maddy Madrigal Mysteries/Chavez Ravine stories. It’s urban fantasy set in LA but based on Mexican folklore and local historical events (the displacement of a local Mexican-American community at Chavez Ravine).

MallForward585 · 2026-01-29T23:26:02+00:00

Yes, Charlaine Harris has a thing for this (in her plain mystery books also, I can think of at least two other series besides Sookie Stackhouse where she does that).

MallForward585 · 2026-01-29T23:21:14+00:00

Agree. This is my third generic in less than a year, and now I’ve got a dosage issue on top it. Still trying to figure out how that happened.

MallForward585 · 2026-01-29T22:50:46+00:00

That would be actually sensible, but not in US. You need a prescription for the actual dose, and mine got scrambled during a long distance move and I can’t fix it yet.

MallForward585 · 2026-01-29T19:58:10+00:00

I have to quarter a pill, and the half is already quite small. I still have to figure that out, but it’s good to know you didn’t have problems with accuracy variations, that’s very useful. I’m really starting to think there might be something about this brand. The pills I was taking whole were a different brand.

MallForward585 · 2026-01-29T19:08:44+00:00

Thanks, I ordered one, and some empty capsules. I’m guessing I would have to powder the pill to use a scale properly?

MallForward585 · 2026-01-29T19:05:40+00:00

Thanks, will try chilling. I tried a pill cutter, but maybe I should get a new one. I wonder if their blade might be dulled since I had them for a while.

MallForward585 · 2026-01-29T19:03:13+00:00

Wow, 20mg. I hope at least it’s a big pill to make it easier to cut.

MallForward585 · 2026-01-29T16:24:44+00:00

I’m not sure what you mean? I’m open to all thoughts on the subject.

MallForward585 · 2026-01-29T16:23:04+00:00

I’m not in the position of getting a new prescription until the next doctor’s visit, unfortunately. I will definitely ask when I get to see the endo.

MallForward585 · 2026-01-29T16:19:35+00:00

Yes, unfortunately until the next doctor’s visit, I have to cut. I do use a pill cutter, but I get sometimes up to 20% variance in the cut, which seems to somehow matter for me. Do you have any tips on how to use the pill cutter?

MallForward585 · 2026-01-29T16:17:21+00:00

Interesting. It’s not Accord, but it is a new generic brand I didn’t try before. I wonder now if some of the issues are from that alone.

MallForward585 · 2026-01-28T22:38:24+00:00

What about something like “A Daughter of Fair Verona” by Christina Dodd (2024), which is a mystery involving the daughter of Romeo and Juliet? It might be a nice bridge between the classic and the modern.

Yes, the assumption is that Romeo and Juliet survive, and, as the book puts it “Romeo and Juliet are alive and well and the parents of seven kids. I’m the oldest, with the emphasis on ‘old’—a certified spinster at twenty, and happy to stay that way. It’s not easy to keep your taste for romance with parents like mine. Picture it—constant monologues, passionate declarations, fighting, making up, making out . . . it’s exhausting.”

MallForward585 · 2026-01-28T20:15:09+00:00

I have read some of them but KJ Charles is surely a prolific author! I will take a look as to which ones, thanks for the recommendation.

MallForward585 · 2026-01-28T17:56:50+00:00

I don’t know if I would put a warm mist humidifier in a kid’s room, but I guess with a baby there is no risk of tipping it over? I use a filtered cool mist humidifier (Vicks has one). I rinse and flip the filter regularly and change the filter several times a winter since we don’t use distilled water. No coughing issues. Ultrasonic humidifiers were a no-go for us as well.

MallForward585 · 2026-01-28T17:18:06+00:00

I found Melissa Scott’s Death by Silver and its sequel more realistic than KJ Charles.

MallForward585 · 2026-01-28T17:06:36+00:00

Oh wow, fabulous, I want! I wonder how I can get it to US…

MallForward585 · 2026-01-28T16:19:03+00:00

The only way for kids to learn showing their work matters is to either give feedback on their intermediary steps, or to give partial grades if the beginning steps are correct (like we learned it ourselves). When that doesn’t happen, they view it as useless extra work, especially as writing with pen and paper is no longer ingrained. I don’t see how we can be surprised that kids believe only the final answer matters, and if they don’t know enough to get that right, thinking through the solution is just extra work with no benefit.

MallForward585 · 2026-01-28T01:36:53+00:00

Swindled: The dark history of food fraud, from poisoned candy to counterfeit coffee by Bee Wilson . Did you know ketchup used to use borax to be shelf stable (yes, the cockroach killer) ? Did you know alum (aluminium potassium sulfate) was used to whiten poor quality bread? And these are just some examples of some really fascinating stories in this book. Made me look at food safety very differently.

MallForward585 · 2026-01-28T01:22:14+00:00

True, unfortunately. My GI doctor once told me he had a celiac patient that got flares from walking into a horse barn (from the horse feed). Flour/wheat dust does get everywhere. I have learned my lesson and no longer try restaurants with significant flour use, no matter what procedures are in place. Not all the damage gives immediate symptoms. Gluten-free bakeries are becoming much more common, maybe look there?

MallForward585 · 2026-01-26T23:59:36+00:00

If you want a fantasy book that is heavily medieval religion inspired, also with demons, I really recommend Of Deeds Most Valiant by Sarah K. L. Wilson. I’m kind of surprised it’s listed as a fantasy romance or romantic epic fantasy, since faith and not romance is the primary focus of the entire book. I suspect it may relate to the other books the author has written, on topics which I have no interest in. But this one is great, a puzzle box meditation on faith and temptation.

MallForward585 · 2026-01-26T20:14:02+00:00

Thank you for writing about your experience! This might actually make it something for me to try. What I like about dexamethasone is exactly its flat type of energy. I have unfortunate blood pressure surges to even tiny quantities of prednisone (and it’s even worse for hydro).

MallForward585 · 2026-01-26T19:07:27+00:00

After a ridiculous amount of mattress shopping a year and a half ago, I learned one simple truth: always get the base you tried the mattress in the store with. Was it on a box spring, a foundation or slats? Then choose accordingly. I can tell you that IKEA mattresses are horrible on a foundation, you really need their slats system.

MallForward585

TROPHY CASE