I've proclaimed that May will be "Catch up or finish it off!" month, in which I tackle several ongoing series on my lists--so, there will be no new-to-me authors or series started. I hope to finish off or at least catch up to the end of several series I've got ongoing. I have a list, but...I'm not always the greatest at following lists. As long as I stick to the basic premise of "nothing new," I won't judge myself too harshly. :)
1. MONKEY WRENCH by Liza Cody. #2 Eva Wylie mystery. The street-smart, tough female wrestler Eva Wylie (aka The London Lassassin) is back, this time reluctantly helping another old street friend Crystal, when her sister Dawn, a local doxie. is beaten and killed. Crystal has Eva attempting to teach self-defense to a group of prostitutes who hung out with Dawn, as they're naturally scared silly. It doesn't take long before Eva wishes she'd never laid eyes on the group, as they get her involved in several dodgy schemes, in trouble with her gym's owner, and put her in situations where her memories and emotions get stirred up, and trust me, you don't want to stir up Eva's emotions! Eva's got her problems, but I like her--she tells it like it is, even if 'like it is' is anything but pleasant. She has a total blind spot about her own self, but given her past life, that's not surprising. More details about her childhood come out in this book and it's heartbreaking at the same time you admire this tough survivor, even as your mind boggles at some of the choices she makes. Looking forward to the next--and sadly, last--book in this powerful trilogy. A.
2. THE MAGICIAN by Michael Scott (AUDIO) #2 in the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel YA Fantasy series. Josh and Sophie Newman were working summer jobs in a book store and coffee shop two days ago--and now they're in Paris with Scathach, a centuries-old Amazonian vampire warrior, the mysterious and legendary St Germain who is a French rock star in his current incarnation, and the infamous alchemist, Nicholas Flamel. Oh yeah, and Joan of Arc--who is married to the rock star. And they have a couple of notorious criminals after them--the philosopher and magician Dr. John Dee (once an advisor of Queen Elizabeth I) and the political schemer Niccolo Machiavelli. Yes, they're immortal too, and like Flamel, believe Sophie and Josh to be the "twins of the prophecy" who will either save the world or destroy it. So naturally everyone wants them in their camp! Sophie's magical powers have been awakened, but Josh's haven't been yet, and he is feeling left out and estranged from his sister, but he hasn't much time to think about it as they dash from one disaster to the next, out-maneuvering one legendary creature or person after another. Meanwhile, Perenelle Flamel, Nicholas's wife, is being held prisoner on Alcatraz Island by some of Dee's magical creatures and strives to escape. An action-packed second entry in the series, although I am not as crazy about the reader for this series as I am for some others I've listened to. In this one, set in France and thus full of French phrases and place-names, his rendition of the French accent was accurate with its constant nasal twang and slurring of words together. It probably wasn't his fault; I admittedly find French accents annoying. B+
3. WATER LIKE A STONE by Deborah Crombie. #11 Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James British police procedural. It's Christmas, and Duncan and Gemma have both wangled time off so they can be off to visit Duncan's parents in Nantwich over Christmas week with their kids. It's a nerve-wracking time, as Gemma has only briefly met Duncan's mother (at his first wife's funeral!) and never his father, and is wondering how they will like her and how their odd, cobbled-together family will fit in. But there's no time to really worry about it much; Duncan's sister Juliet, who recently started her own company doing building renovations, while breaking some concrete in a dairy barn on Christmas Eve just before she's set to leave to meet the family for dinner, discovers the long-dead body of an infant walled up inside. Before long, there's another (freshly murdered!) corpse, also found by a member of the Kincaid family, not far from the barn where the baby was found. Is there a connection? Family tensions run high as Juliet and her husband Caspar initiate a very public split, and Kit begins to realize how troubled his cousin Lally (Juliet and Caspar's daughter) is, and has been for some time, apparently. Never mind that I spotted the bad guy early on--I love this series, and Crombie always seems to manage the right balance of police work with personal scenarios, and often a bit of social commentary or information about a given area or segment of the population as well. (In this book, the subculture of the boating community--people who live on boats and navigate up and down the rivers and canals--and how they live.) Very interesting, very well done, and I'm very much looking forward to her newest book. A+
4. THE STARGAZEY by Martha Grimes (AUDIO) #15 Supt. Richard Jury police procedural. This is the first in this series that I've listened to rather than read, and I must say I quite enjoyed Donata Peters rendition as she got a large variety of different voices and accents spot on. Jury gets involved in a case in Fulham, when he follows a woman who's behaving oddly (getting on and off the bus, going into Fulham Palace late at night) and later discovers that she was murdered shortly after he stopped following her. Or was she? He calls the local constabulary with his information and when viewing the body, realizes that the dead woman is NOT the woman he saw, but someone who looks remarkably like her. How can there be two rather distinct looking women in the same area, both wearing a long fur coat? Eventually Jury tracks the other woman down, and gets Melrose Plant involved to check up on the coat angle--the one the dead woman wore had been purchased by her at a consignment shop just that day, and had been set for consignment by a woman in a family who owns an art gallery. Melrose takes up his titles again, staying at his exclusive men's club in London and perusing the gallery in hopes of finding something hinky--and of course he does, more than one something, actually! Sometimes these stories get to be a little on the ludicrous side and you have to laugh at the amazing number of coincidences and plot twists. Some of them I picked up on quite early, some of them I didn't, but despite some of the far-fetched connections, I did enjoy this book quite a lot and plan on carrying on til the end. A.
5. ABHORSEN by Garth Nix. #3 in the Abhorsen YA fantasy trilogy. This book takes up where the second book in trilogy leaves off, with Lirael, now known to be Abhorsen-in-Waiting, and Prince Sammeth, now known to be a Wallmaker, rushing to attempt to stop Hedge, the evil necromancer who plans to ressurect the ultimate evil Destroyer. Along with their two companions, Mogget (a white cat) and The Disreputable Dog (I love that name! LOL) both also magical creatures, they try to formulate a plan while on the run towards The Wall separating the kingdom of Ancelstierre from The Old Kingdom where Hedge and Sam's friend Nick Sayre (whom Hedge is using as a host for the spirit of his evil Master until he can be resurrected) are animating thousands of dead to help them. Lirael and Sam both confront some of their worst fears along the way as the story heads toward its inevitable conclusion. Wonderful series, highly recommended for actual young adults and regular old adults as well. A.
6. THE DIAMOND OF DARKHOLD by Jeanne DuPrau (AUDIO) #4 and so far most recent in the "City of Ember" YA fantasy series. I didn't much care for the third book in this series as it was a prequel to events that happened in City of Ember, but this one gets back on the main storyline with Lina and Doon and their families and friends as they begin adjusting to life in the town of Sparks. A roamer comes to Sparks but has very little to trade, but Doon notices a ripped up book in the back of her wagon that he barters for, and finds some of the same writing as he and Lina discovered in the papers that helped them find their way out of Ember. Unfortunately, the roamer had been using the pages of the book as kindling (gasp!!) and there are only 8 pages remaining, and those are very old, crumbling and smudgy. However, there is enough to convince Doon and Lina that they should go back to Ember to look for something that was left by the Elders to help the city in its time of need. So they plan an excursion and do arrive back in Ember only to find that squatters have taken over the town, looting and pillaging and the Trogg family manages to capture Doon, with plans to make him a slave. Lina heads back to Sparks for help. I really enjoy this series as a whole, although each book has had a different reader so there hasn't been much consistency. I liked this reader, although not quite as much as the woman who read the first one. I hope the author writes more in the series, but typically she takes several years between books, and the way this book ended, it could either be the end or a bridge to a new book/series. A
7. THE DEMON AND THE CITY by Liz Williams. #2 in the Detective Inspector Chen paranormal mystery series set in Singapore Three, a futuristic version of Singapore. DI Chen is on vacation with his demon wife in Hawaii, so his partner Zhu Irzh, a demon temporarily assigned to the police force (due to his ticking off some of Hell's powerful people) ends up being the one to initiate investigation into the mauling death of a young woman from a prominent family. This leads him to Jhai Tserai, the beautiful head of a Singapore pharmaceutical company--and he also learns that she's not quite human--a little secret which could have her exiled to the farthest reaches of Hell if the powers that be knew. She takes powerful drugs that she made herself to keep her true self cloaked, but even through that cloaking, she has a physical effect on Zhu Irzh that he doesn't expect, and after a couple of steamy sessions in the sack with Jhai, is actually contemplating her offer to be part of her attempted coup. Being the most powerful woman on Earth isn't enough for her, she wants to rule in Heaven and Hell as well, and has undertaken some bizarre pharmaceutical experiments on Celestial beings to begin setting that plan in motion. Zhu Irzh is saved from his temptation by the return of DI Chen early from vacation, having been summoned by the worried Sgt. Ma and the badger, a magical creature belonging to Chen's wife--a badger who also doubles as a teakettle some of the time. LOL (He is still my favorite character in this series--I want one!) As Chen and his demon partner investigate further, the very world is rocked by impending war between the realms. I really enjoy this series--it's a strange blend of sci-fi, fantasy and mystery with a world premise that is very bizarre and sometimes so complex that it's hard to keep things straight. But it's so imaginitive that you read on eagerly. Well done! A.
8. SOUR PUSS by Rita Mae and Sneaky Pie Brown (AUDIO) #15 Mrs. Murphy mystery, set in Crozet, Virginia. Mary Minor "Harry" Harristeen and her ex, Fair, have remarried and the second chapter of their life together starts with a bang--a couple of murders, of course. Winemaking has come to Crozet and surrounding areas, and Harry herself is getting in on it with a small plot dedicated to the grape as well as a partnered business with her friend Susan, growing nursery plants. Competition between some of the more prominent vineyards has become fierce, and when a lecturing professor of biology specializing in vineyard toxins disappears and one of the local vineyard owners ends up shot dead just minutes before Fair arrives at his farm to check out one of his animals, tensions rise even further. Was one of the vineyard owners really sabotaging the vines of the others with a virulent disease as the dead man, Toby Pittmann, claimed? I've enjoyed most of the books in the series, some better than others. This was definitely low on the scale with too much technical information, characters jumping on various political bandwagons, not enough of the small-town sweetness and the characters we've come to know and love. Not even the stellar reading by Kate Forbes could totally save this book. I hope the author gets back on track with the next one! C.
9. THE TREATMENT by Mo Hayder. #2 DI Jack Caffrey mystery, set in London. Jack Caffrey is a mess. Still haunted by the disappearance of his brother Ewan when they were children, obsessed with nailing the (now elderly) pedophile next door whom Jack believes was responsible for stealing Ewan, Caffrey is in no condition to take on an investigation into the kidnapping of a nine-year-old boy (just Ewan's age when he went missing) by a likely sexual predator. Rory Peach's parents were drugged and tied up in their home along with Rory for three days before the abductor had to make a run for it with Rory when a shopkeeper looking for money came knocking. Where did they go? The hue and cry was raised quickly afterwards, and every inch of the park behind the Peachs' home has been searched. Caffrey goes into a very dark place as he hunts down clues about who could have done such a thing--and believes it is a serial criminal, so sets to searching old records for similar cases as well. Interviews with neighborhood folks turn up a few clues that lead to a shocking conclusion when they are all pieced together. Meanwhile, Caffrey's personal life is in a shambles as well, as his girlfriend Rebecca also confronts the ghosts haunting her and Ivan Penderecki, the object of Caffrey's obsession, dies, leaving him a package that may contain information about what happened to Ewan. Dark, gut-wrenching and utterly horrible in some places, this is not a book for those with a tendency towards queasiness. At times it almost feels like the author uses some of the more dark stuff purely for the shock value. That said, it's one of the few so-called "thrillers" that has actually thrilled me to any degree of late, that provided a true "edge of your seat, got-to-get-to-the-end-and-see-what-happens" experience, with plot twists that I didn't see coming and slammed me in the gut when they arrived. A+.
10. THE PRICE OF MURDER by Bruce Alexander. #10 Sir John Fielding historical mystery. Sir John and Jeremy have (as usual) two investigations going--one regarding the body of a young girl found in the river, very obviously sexually abused and the other the disappearance of a childhood friend of Clarissa's. The dead child is found to have been the same one reported missing by her mother a few weeks previously, and now the mother's gone missing as well. After Jeremy brings a neighbor woman in to speak with Sir John regarding the disappearance, they determine that the mother had actually 'sold' her child--or, she thought, adopted her out to a well-to-do family for a fee. When Jeremy goes back to question the neighbor further, he finds her brutally murdered also, and they fear the trail has gone cold. Of course it hasn't, and soon the theme of horseracing comes into play as well, when the brother of the missing woman (and uncle of the murdered child) who is also a jockey, helps in their investigation. Clarissa discovers that her childhood friend isn't who she thought she was, and the Fielding household changes yet again as Molly (the cook) and Dr. Donnelly (the Fieldings' friend and the medical examiner) plan to marry and Jeremy and Clarissa's relationship moves forward as well. This was definitely one of the more enjoyable (among many!) in the series although I'm not particularly fond of horseracing. Only one more to go before the end of the series, which I plan to finish off later in the month. A.
11. THE ORACLE'S QUEEN by Lynn Flewelling. Third and final entry in the Tamir Trilogy, in which Princess Tamir (once Prince Tobin, Tamir being revealed in the previous book when a mystical fire burns away her male body, a shell and illusion held in place by magic) takes her place as the leader of Skala from the prophesy--or she will as soon as she can thrust her cousin Korin and his evil wizard Niryn from the usurper's role. Gathering her army and supporters, Tamir begins without much confidence, but grows in assurance as the leader of her country each day. Her personal life is a shambles, of course, what with the big adjustment to her new gender ('there's an empty spot in my breeches!' LOL) and her feelings for Ki, her squire plus her worries over Korin, believing him to be a victim of Niryn's dark wizardry and manipulation . The ending to this was fairly predictable, but I really enjoy Flewelling's writing style and her characterizations, and this was certainly among the most unique series I've read in recent years with its strange premise and storyline. Will be checking out other series by this author for certain! A.
12. SHOT GIRL by Karen E. Olson. #4 (and last, to date) Annie Seymour mystery set in New Haven, CT. Annie is a crime reporter, but in this book she ends up in the middle of her story when her ex-husband Ralph ends up dead in the parking lot of a dance club where's she's attending a bachelorette party for one of her co-workers. Shells from her gun are scattered around the body, but oddly enough, he wasn't even shot--there's not a mark on his body. And several witnesses claim to have seen Annie kissing Ralph before he died, and going from the club to her car--where her gun was found. Someone is setting her up, big time--but who? And why? Where has Ralph's current girlfriend run off to--and why was Annie's mother representing Ralph in an upcoming grand jury investigation but neglected to even let Annie know he was back in town? Something smells rotten in Denmark and Annie's determined to find out why. I enjoyed this book, although it was a bit different in that Annie didn't share some things with the reader until much further along in the story--so we didn't really have all the clues we needed. I can understand her not sharing certain facts with Tom, the police detective handling the case (and Annie's ex-boyfriend) but with her readers? Please! LOL I still managed to figure out the major portion of the mystery anyway. I'm going to miss Annie--she's smart, irreverent, independent and very human; her town and friends are also a big part of these books and I do hope the author brings them all back at some point in time. Meanwhile, I'll be waitng to read the first of Olson's "Tattoo Shop" mysteries, due out in a couple of months. A.
13. MUSCLEBOUND by Liza Cody. Third and last Eva Wylie mystery in which Eva finds herself on the down and outs--her wrestling manager has barred her from the gym and won't speak to her, her Ma was all set to move away and not even tell her, and Anna Lee, the private investigator who sometimes throws her jobs has told her she must stop drinking or their working relationship is done. No money, it's raining, her new pup Milo disrespects her, so Eva is feeling particularly sorry for herself. When she 'borrows' a car that ends up having a sports bag full of money in it, she thinks her luck has changed, but it brings her nothing but trouble, as does the reappearance of her sister Simone in her life. Simone, having been adopted out by a foster family when she was a small girl, hasn't the patience to deal with Eva and her drinking and her bleak lifestyle. However, a pesky fellow-wrestler named Keif wants to be Eva's personal trainer and get her back into fighting shape and he seems to be the one bright spot in her life although she doesn't see it that way. I have to admit that reading these last two books in this series close together makes me rather glad there isn't another--I think I'd have taken a good long break from the series if there were, as Eva's almost-whiny "poor me, none of this is my fault" attitude really began to grate on my nerves and made me think of all my former mental health patients with Borderline Personality Disorder. Granted, she's had a tough life and survived a lot, but get on with it, already! She made so many poor decisions/choices in this book I can't even begin to count them, and most of them did indeed come back to bite her in the bum. Ah well. I did like the ending and would like to think that if Eva's story ever gets resurrected that there is hope for her. B-
14. WHERE MEMORIES LIE by Deborah Crombie (AUDIO) #12 and most recent in the Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James series. I really enjoyed the reader for the one previous Kincaid/James book I listened to, but this is a different one and I must say that at times, she really annoyed me with a couple of her voices. That said, the book itself was great, with Crombie once again tying in a past case (from the 1950's in post-war Britain) to present, when Gemma's elderly friend Erica Rosenthal asks her to look into the reappearance of a valuable brooch made by her father, a well-known jewellery crafter, which she had last seen before the war. Her father, who died in the concentration camps, had made the brooch for her as a special gift, and it turns up in the catalogue of a London auction house. The murder that happened in 1952 was the brutal stabbing of none other than Erica's own husband, David Rosenthal. When the sales girl that Gemma questions about the brooch as an unofficial favor for Erica ends up dead that very same night, something smells fishy and the Yard (with Duncan) is on the case. Is there a connection between the girl's death and David Rosenthal's those many years previous? Gemma also learns that her mother is gravely ill with leukemia and takes some personal time from work but then ends up spending most of it helping Duncan and Erica. Crombie once again leads us on a merry chase with several red herrings--some of which I fell for hook, line and sinker, but I did figure it out well before the final reveal. Now I'm one of those waiting not-so-patiently for the October release of her next book! A.
15. HELL HOLE by Chris Grabenstein. #4 John Ceepak mystery, in which Ceepak and Danny investigate the supposed suicide of a soldier in a wayside rest stop. They're doing this on the sly because the rest stop falls outside of their jurisdiction, but it's obvious to even Danny, a relative rookie, that Shareef Smith did not shoot himself and that some type of coverup is underway. The two Sea Haven cops take on some powerful enemies to bring down Smith's killer, but they get there in the end with some help from folks on both sides of the law. Although the bad guy was obvious to me from the start and I was pretty sure what the motive was (at least in general,) how the murder was achieved was a bit of a puzzle until Ceepak tells all at the end. I have enjoyed every one of these books in this series--they're light reads with just the right amount of humor, interesting characters and an easy-to-read style. Looking forward to Mind Scrambler! A.
16. RULES OF ENGAGEMENT by Bruce Alexander. This is the final Sir John Fielding historical mystery in which the subject of hypnotism and "Mesmerism" is investigated as a means to murder, when a member of Parliament jumps from Westminster Bridge into the Thames in front of a dozen witnesses, one of them being Annie Oakum, former cook of the Fielding household. It was obvious that the man jumped himself--no one pushed him--and it was known that he could not swim, but why would he jump? The mystery itself wasn't much of a mystery in this one, but many threads in the personal lives of the characters were tied together as Jeremy (who tells the stories) and Clarissa prepare for their nuptials. The ending was a bit anticlimactic, but due to the author's untimely death, the last few chapters were written by his wife with the help of another author. I shall greatly miss having more adventures of Jeremy and Sir John to read about, but at least I can always go back and visit them when the spirit moves me. A.
17. SUDDEN DEATH by David Rosenfelt. #4 Andy Carpenter mystery. Andy is a lawyer living in Paterson, NJ and became rather famous in the last book by getting a convicted death-row inmate's guilty verdict reversed. This time around another celebrity case comes his way in the form of Kenneth Schilling, a running back for the New York Giants who's just been charged with murdering a long-time friend who plays for a rival team. Kenny maintains his innocence despite mounting evidence against him, and Andy nearly packs the case in, as he doesn't believe in defending people he believes are guilty. But his gut tells him Kenny is telling the truth, so he sticks it out until evidence proves his case--as always, at the last minute in the middle of the trial. On a personal note, Andy's girlfriend Laurie, who is an investigator for his law office, is thinking of taking a job offer back in her hometown in Wisconsin that would likely lead to her being chief of police in just a few years. Andy is agonizing over this, as he really loves her, but he won't allow himself to try to influence her to stay. I figured the baddie out very early on and chuckled to myself as the tiny little clues were dropped into place, confirming my thoughts. I'm not really a big fan of lawyer mystery and courtroom drama leaves me cold, but I do like Andy and his crew so I'm continuing on with the series. I enjoyed this book despite the "lawyer stuff" in it. B+
18. YOU SUCK by Christopher Moore. (AUDIO) Another crazy romp through Chris Moore's twisted mind, this one a continuation of events that happened in his book Bloodsucking Fiends, with many of the same characters. This one opens with 19-year-old Tommy Flood waking up next to his older, more worldly girlfriend Jody (who just happens to be a vampire) only to find that he gets to stay 19 forever, because Jody's "turned" him, too. Neither one of them are very experienced vampires so they struggle along trying to figure out how to make it in the world, all the while trying to stay ahead of the evil vampire Elijah (who turned Jody) and his associates--who are much displeased to learn of their presence. Also, Tommy's friends from the overnight stock crew at the supermarket ("the Animals") learn he's a vampire and try to capture him for a Vegas hooker (named Blue, because she dyed herself that way) between rounds of turkey bowling at the Safeway. LOL! Yes, it sounds ridiculous, and it really is, but lots of fun, too. This is the first audio I'd listened to by this author and the reader was really good. She was sometimes really annoying to listen to, but only because she got the characters spot on, especially Abby Normal, whom Tommy recruits to be his and Jody's minion (to get stuff done, like, during the daytime, dude!) Is there anything more annoying than a sixteen-year-old Valley Girl Goth wannabe? I doubt it!! LOL Still, an enjoyable and appropriately crazy listen. A.
19. RITUAL by Mo Hayder. #3 Jack Caffrey mystery (and so far latest--at least in the US, as her next one SKIN hasn't been released here yet.) Jack has moved from London, having left girlfriend Rebecca when she kept pestering him to have a child together, something he has vowed he will never do, seeing what he's seen and living what he's been through with his brother Ewan. So he is now in Bristol, and gets a case working with a diving crew who finds a severed hand in the river. This is nothing unusual, but when the lead diver, Phoebe "Flea" Marley, tells Jack that she believes the hand was severed while the person was still alive and the coroner confirms this, Jack definitely knows he's going to be after another sick and twisted bastard of a villain. And of course, it is. The story is also in large part about Flea, about the tragic diving accident her parents were involved in two years previously along with her brother Thom, who has been so badly affected by it that he's unable to keep a job or settle to anything. Flea struggles to find out the truth of that accident while trying not to get involved more than she ought in Caffrey's case, but because her father was a professor, she knows a lot about African black magic rituals in which severed human body parts play a big role. Gritty, grisly and gripping, this was not a book for 'enjoying' per se but was an excellent story. Caffrey is a complex character, one I don't always like very much, but whose life certainly makes for interesting reading. A.
20. CHARLIE BONE AND THE CASTLE OF MIRRORS by Jenny Nimmo (AUDIO) #4 in the Children of the Red King YA fantasy series. Charlie and his friends at Bloor's Academy find that they still must deal with the evil Manfred Bloor, son of the headmaster. Even though he's graduated, he's now a teaching assistant. There are three new endowed children with magical talents and all of them seem to be on the side of the Bloors. The balance is tipping. Billy Raven is adopted, but Charlie has a bad feeling about it which is confirmed when he looks at a photo of the adoptive parents and hears their thoughts. More about Billy's ancestry is discovered and Charlie even thinks he's discovered where his father is being held captive. The story is furthered along nicely and ends on another cliffhanger. Can't wait to get to the next one, I really enjoy this series and the reader is great--Simon Russell Beale is his name. A.
21. TO WEAR THE WHITE CLOAK by Sharan Newman. #7 Catherine LeVendeur historical mystery series set in medieval France. Catherine, Edgar and their household return home to Paris after a year's absence in Germany, where they'd gone to assist Catherine's sister Agnes with a problem. Upon returning, they find a dead body in their counting room, a man apparently a Templar Knight, as he is wearing their distinctive white cloak and a brooch. He was obviously murdered, and Catherine and Edgar struggle to find out who he was and why he was left in their home. The Templars don't recognize him and they are now set to blame Catherine and Edgar as rumors of her father Hubert's association with the Jews fly wildly. Hubert, of course, IS a Jew and has gone back to the Jewish community at Troyes, not on pilgrimage as they've told everyone. I generally enjoy this series, but this one annoyed me on many levels. There were too many sub-plots, too many peripheral characters to keep straight, and too many changes of point of view. Even several of the peripheral characters had their say, with switches often occurring mid-chapter. Just too confusing. I love the main characters in the series, but some of the issues they are dealing with have gone on for multiple books and they are getting a bit tired now. I'm going to finish this series (3 books left, and I have them all) but I'm not as eager to jump on the next one as I was to get to this one. C+.
22. THE SILENT MAN by Alex Berenson. #3 John Wells spy thriller. Another solid entry in this modern-day spy thriller series. John Wells is settling into domestic bliss with Jennifer Exley, his co-worker and fellow spy. But their life is about to be shattered when one of the baddies that John previously wronged seeks revenge in a planned assassination as Wells and Exley make their way to work. They are well-guarded, but though the attack is partially blocked, Exley is severely injured. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, two nuclear bombs have gone missing from a Russian bomb storage facility, having been stolen by a small group of Muslim terrorists. As those people work to get the bombs over the sea to American soil where they will build their own nuclear device, the CIA learns of the missing bombs and must play games behind the scenes to find out what they can because the Russians are not very forthcoming. John Wells has a role in that too--in fact, the two cases eventually intersect. I enjoy this series quite a lot. I really loved the first book where John was more or less on his own--it was a more unique story and he had to rely on his own resourcefulness and wit. The subsequent books, including this one, with all the machinations of the FBI, CIA and the other "initial" agencies and their posturing and game-playing have been slightly less appealing to me. Anyone can accomplish things if you have the CIA providing you with false documentation and 'friends' to talk to to get you what you need or to introduce you to the people you need involved. It's just not as exciting to me as the 'lone wolf.' But still a good read, well-written and as it's addressing concerns of the present day, enough to scare the bejeezus out of you if you let it. B+
23. DEATH OF A DUSTMAN by M.C. Beaton. #17 Hamish MacBeth Scottish cozy police mystery. One of the councilwomen in Strathbane, eager for some attention, targets Lochdubh for her 'go green' campaign and enlists the local dustman, Fergus Macleod, to get the residents to separate their rubbish for recycling. Fergus, a nasty, wife-beating drunk who was on the verge of losing his job before Mrs. Fleming got him a new uniform and reason to be nasty, of course ends up dead. There's hardly a villager who hadn't been heard threatening him at one time or another, but when a second man, a crofter named Angus also dies, the suspect list narrows a bit. Hamish, now a Sergeant with yet another PC--Clarry, this one a great cook but not much in the grooming and cleanliness department--learns that Fergus was blackmailing several Lochdubh residents and wonders if Angus found out somehow and one of those people killed him? Hamish keeps this news to himself, wanting to protect his fellow villagers, and of course it ends up disastrously and by the end of the book, Hamish is once again a lowly PC and Blair gnashes his teeth as his red-haired menace once again escapes being sacked. An enjoyable, light read and this one had a solution that I didn't anticipate, at least for part of it. B+.
DNF: NO REST FOR THE WICCAN by Madelyn Alt. (After 50 pages, the book had gone nowhere and seeing that the main character is likely going to be caught in a Stephanie Plum-esque romantic limbo which began last book and is continuing (Oh! Which guy do I choose?) I decided to give up on the series. Also, the main character is pretty immature for someone who is supposedly an adult. Enough is enough.)
Currently reading: listening to Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey in audio.
Cheryl
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Saturday, April 4, 2009
APRIL '09 Reading
1. IN LIKE FLYNN by Rhys Bowen. #4 Molly Murphy historical mystery set in New York in the early 1900's. Molly, trying hard to be a private investigator and finding the going tough, accepts a timely case from none other than Daniel Sullivan, her policeman "friend." It's timely for a couple of reasons--she's just had a falling out with her current beau, and also there's a typhoid outbreak in the city and this assignment would take her to a manse in the country to investigate a couple of spiritualists that Sullivan believes are fake. He sets up credentials for Molly to assume the identity of one of Senator Barney Flynn's cousins visiting from Ireland in an attempt to cheer up his wife, who is still despondent from their young son's death five years previously in a botched kidnapping. The Sorenson sisters are hoping to help Theresa Flynn speak to the spirit of her son and are also guests of the Flynns. Molly ends up investigating the kidnapping moreso than the spiritualists and of course ends up in a world of trouble when she uncovers some clues that went unnoticed when the case was originally investigated and riles up those involved. A light and fluffy read that does tackle some tough social issues of the times, but there were a few things that happened that did tend to boggle my mind. (Can't say more lest I spoil things for those who've not read it yet. LOL) I did figure out the mystery (and the plot twist) ahead of time but still enjoyed this foray back in time and plan to keep on reading the series. B+
2. STRIPPED by Brian Freeman. #2 Jonathan Stride police procedural, this one moving from Duluth to Las Vegas. An old murder case, once considered solved, is brought to the fore as people related to those who were associated with Amira Luz, murdered exotic dancer, begin to die off. The killer is giving them clues, even deliberately leaving fingerprints at some of the crime scenes, and Jonathan is trying to figure out why as he delves into the past to try to solve the old crime which will almost certainly lead to the present-day killer. When a case Serena (his lover and the reason he moved to Vegas) is working on ties in with his own case, they get the chance to work together again. I liked this book; I love Freeman's writing style and his characters, but this one was a little weird. There seemed to be an inordinate number of G/L/T (gay/lesbian/transgendered) people in it, which I don't have a problem with in any way, it just seemed like the book was overrun with them for some reason, including Stride's new partner Amanda, a 'she-male' who is also a darned good cop. I also didn't like the Vegas setting as well as Duluth, which is a city I dearly love. And I did figure out part of the mystery, although not a couple of the plot twists. I didn't like it quite as well as the first one, but it was still very good and am looking forward to the next in series. A-
3. WHO CUT THE CHEESE? A CULTURAL HISTORY OF THE FART by Jim Dawson. Nonfiction humor with plenty of serious, factual information too, although the author usually did slant things to the humorous side. It's hard not to when you're talking about intestinal gas, I suppose! LOL I had this as my 'bathroom book' (with the appropriate bookmark of two squares of toilet tissue) for several weeks and quite enjoyed this foray into the world of farts, and tidbits about how farting has been viewed by various cultures throughout the world in various times, including literary references to the foul wind across the centuries--one of the aptly named chapters being "Lit Farts." You get the idea! LOL I did enjoy this--it was a light, fun read, and I did learn a few facts along the way, too. (Who knew that Whoopi Goldberg devoted a whole chapter of her autobiography to farts? Not me! LOL) Sometimes the humor was a bit forced (a bit like a crosswise fart in that respect I guess! HA!) but all in all an entertaining, worthwhile read. B+
4. HONOLULU by Alan Brennert. Historical fiction set first in Korea in the early 1900's to the 1910's-20's in Honolulu, HI. Tells the story of a Korean girl with the unfortunate name of Regret (female babies were often given these types of negative names) who flees the stifling control of her family's Confucian home in rural Korea to the promised paradise of Hawaii as a "picture bride." When the handsome man who has chosen Regret as his bride ends up not to be the wealthy, wonderful man he was portrayed to be, (he is instead a sugar-cane laborer and a drinking, gambling wife-beater) she also flees the rural plantation where they live to the big city of Honolulu. There she begins a new life pretending to be a widow, and Regret takes several different jobs and has many adventures as she seeks her place in the world. Full of pain, sorrow, and often portraying conditions that are brutal and hard to imagine people living in and through, this is also a hopeful story, and one I very much enjoyed. I learned quite a lot along the way too, having not read much about Korean--or Hawaiian--culture before. I haven't yet read Brennert's other book based in Hawaii, Molo'kai, but it won't be long before I get to it! Well done, very readable style, believable characters and descriptions that will put you right there. A.
5. HARD ROW by Margaret Maron. (AUDIO) #13 Judge Deborah Knott mystery set in Colleton County, NC. Judge Knott begins settling in with her new family, step-son Cal having moved in with she and Dwight after his mother's death in the previous book. It's an adjustment for all concerned, but Deborah is distracted when a case that Dwight is working on (body parts found along a roadside) intersects with a case in her court. It takes some time to identify who the hacked up parts belong to (and to find them all!) but once big-time farmer Buck Harris is identified, a few different suspects come to the fore: his ex-wife, his mistress, and a disgruntled employee or ten, among others. I like the way Maron weaves information and a story about some social issue in each of her books--in this one, it's the fate and the life of migrant workers. As always, the reader is excellent for this series, and the author's writing style and characterizations make for easy reading and listening--and in this case, a resolution to the crime that I didn't see coming, though the clues were there. Maron really makes you wish that these were real people that you could meet and talk to. Only one left to catch up to the end of the series, with the newest due in August. A.
6. THE FALLS by Ian Rankin. #13 DI Rebus Scottish police procedural set in Edinburgh. It's been ages since I read a Rebus--the last couple were rather disappointing to me--but Rankin is back in form with this book. The story, one of a young woman who had set off from her flat to meet some friends for drinks and never showed up, sucked me in right away. It's determined that Philippa Balfour ("Flip" to her friends) was playing a dungeons-and-dragons style game, with clues given by the Quizmaster via e-mail. But was this related to her death or not? Supposedly people who play in this way were anonymous to one another. While Rebus works a possible historical connection to other similar cases, Siobhan Clarke works the computer game angle, and both are trying to adapt to their boss "Farmer" Watson retiring and their former colleague Gill Templer taking his place. There's a new lady in Rebus's life too, which lifts his often dour spirit. Very enjoyable--I only figured out part of the mystery, so it was great to be led a merry chase and to be surprised at the end. Excellent entry in the series! A.
7. A NOBLE RADIANCE by Donna Leon. #7 Commissario Guido Brunetti Italian police mystery set in Venice. Another cold case mystery where an old unsolved case is brought to the forefront when skeletal remains are found in a shallow grave in a village north of Venice when the new owner of an estate begins renovating. A valuable gold ring with a family crest with the body leads authorities to believe that the body is that of twenty-one-year-old Roberto Ludovicio, wealthy heir who was kidnapped two years ago and never found. Dental records confirm this and a bullet hole in the back of the head confirms that he was murdered, but can Brunetti track down the perpetrators with so many of the clues gone dead? Of course--Brunetti finds that the clues are merely dormant, not dead at all, and they lead him on a merry chase, throwing red herrings all over the place. As usual, it's not always possible to obtain justice through the Italian penal and court system, but in Leon's Venice, usually the universe knows what its doing, and this was no exception. I love the author's intellectual mysteries, with much philosophy and excellent cooking as well as vibrant atmosphere included in the bargain. In fact I love it so much, I'm going to do something I've not done in many a moon--read a couple of series books back to back. A+
8. FATAL REMEDIES by Donna Leon. #8 Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery in which Guido's wife Paola becomes a lawbreaker. Convinced she must do what she can to stop travel agents from booking "sex tours" to places like Thailand where the tourists have very young girls procured for them in what essentially amounts to rape and pedophelia, Paola gets up in the middle of the night and throws a rock through the window of a local travel agency known to cater to these types of tours. She does this twice and causes a bit of scandal for Guido as the newspapers hound him, her and the Questura. Guido's boss, Patta, puts him on administrative leave until the owner of the travel agency ends up murdered in his apartment--visciously strangled, with a note referring to him being a pedophile. Further investigation of course reveals that Paola's timely rock-throwing just provided an easy excuse for someone else who had it in for the man to kill him. Another solid entry in the series, although I didn't enjoy this one as much as the last--which is my signal that "two in a row is enough." LOL I think it may just have been the subject matter and the emotional roller coaster that Guido was on in part, though. A-
9. REAPER MAN by Terry Pratchett #11 in publication order of the Discworld humorous fantasy series in which DEATH gets a vacation and an hourglass of his own! When DEATH stops coming around, what happens? People who are supposed to die, don't. Case in point, Windle Poons, venerable hundred and thirty year old Bursar at Unseen University. His time is up--he knows it and so does everyone else. So why is he still alive? Er...or rather, undead? Because DEATH is having a working vacation on a ranch under the assumed name of handyman Bill Door, using his scythe to harvest the hay and being decidedly squeamish about butchering chickens. LOL And when things stop dying, life force starts building up--which can only lead to dire (if hilarious!) consequences. As usual, Pratchett's wacky (and yet, still rather profound at times) world never fails to leave me smiling, laughing and chortling with glee--and as always, I often found myself reading only to have the real meaning of some goofy phrase or concept that I read about a few pages previous dawn on me, paging backwards to reread portions of it. Nothing to be said except that Terry Pratchett is a genius! A+
10. BUTCHER'S HILL by Laura Lippmann (AUDIO) #3 Tess Monaghan mystery series set in Baltimore. Tess, now an official private investigator, is hired by two people--the first, a woman who claims to be looking for her long lost sister and the second an elderly man who is just out of prison, having been put there because he shot a neighborhood boy to death when he was harassing the old man. Luther Beale, "The Butcher" of Butcher's Hill wants Tess to find the other children who were with Donny Moore when he died to attempt to compensate them in some way for their suffering, but since they were minors in the foster care system, they won't be easily tracked down. Of course both cases end up being more complicated than they first seem, although I figured out much of both of them fairly early, the main mystery was a bit of a surprise ending for me. I enjoyed this book but not as much as I did the previously book in the series. The reader is pretty good, just not a favorite, and while I mostly like Tess, many of her supporting characters are annoying as heck. Still, a solid entry in the series and I look forward to the next, whether I end up reading in print or listening to it. B+
11. CHARLIE BONE AND THE INVISIBLE BOY by Jenny Nimmo (AUDIO) #3 in the Children of the Red King YA fantasy series, in which Charlie once again seeks to help out someone that the Bloors have enslaved. This time it's Oliver, an invisible boy they're hiding in the attic. Oliver was made invisible by an ensorcelled blue Boa Constrictor. Who is on Charlie's side and who's on the Bloors' becomes more defined in this book, as a pretty new girl, Belle, arrives at Bloor Academy. There's a lot happening in this book! Charlie also has responsibility for his friend Benjamin's dog, Runner Bean, as Benjamin is off to Hong Kong with his private detective parents on a case. Of course this complicates matters a bit, too, as Charlie is worried about his Uncle Paton, who has come up very ill after a week-long absence in which he tries to find out what his nasty sisters are up to. Excellent story as always and I really look forward to listening to the next one! A.
12. HIGH PRIESTESS by David Skibbins. #2 Warren Ritter "Tarot" mystery, featuring the old hippie radical fugitive from the law, now a tarot reader on the street in San Francisco. Warren is also bipolar and heavily involved in therapy attempting to deal with his checkered past. Warren (aka Richard Green in his previous life) is visited by a ghost from his past--someone who knew him back in his days with the Weathermen, a radical anti-war group from the 60's. Edward Hightower (also an assumed name) is now the leader of a small church--an offshoot of the Church of Satan. Their members are dropping like flies and Edward (with his sister, Veronique--who also happens to be Warren's ex-girlfriend) wants Warren to find out who. Instant suspects include several hyper-religious folks who sent threatening e-mails to Edward and the group, tracked down by Warren's current girlfriend Sally--a paraplegic computer hacker. But those solutions seem almost too easy, and soon it's rather obvious that those people haven't committed the string of murders. But someone wants Warren to take the fall for that--so the next crime is brilliantly set up to make him look like the bad guy. Now he has no choice but to investigate and clear his borrowed name. I really like this series! Warren is a definitely flawed and fallible but very likable guy, and the author obviously has mental health experience (I believe he's a therapist of some sort) as he portrays the bipolar swings very accurately. The solution to the mystery was quite simple, but Skibbins manages to still eke out a dynamite twist at the end. Loved it! A+
13. THE SNAKE STONE by Jason Goodwin. #2 in the Yashim the Eunuch historical mystery series set in 1830's Istanbul. The sultan is dying, and the city is in a peculiar mood. Yashim, who works for the sultan, hasn't been summoned to the palace in months, so he's perfectly free to investigate the murder of a French archaelogist on his own behalf. Dr. Lefevre had been a guest in Yashim's home the day before he died and he had been asking a lot of nosy questions about valuable Greek artifacts. He sought a ship back to France which Yashim helped him procure and then his body was found, gutted stem to stern and half-eaten by dogs a couple of days later. With lack of any other suspects, the French ambassador can only conclude that Yashim had something to do with his death, so he sets out to remove the cloud of suspicion from his good name before the ambassador files his final report. Steeped in history, myth and legend, the tale leads Yashim to several different neighborhoods of the city and even below it, as other people that Dr. Lefevre talked to end up attacked or dead also. When his widow arrives, not yet knowing she is a widow, things get even more complicated. An excellent story, full of the culture, sights, sounds, smells and tastes of Istanbul (I want to hire Yashim as my personal chef!!), with lots of history and the added bonus of secrets well-kept and secret societies, this was a very enjoyable read. A.
14. THE WHITE DRAGON by Anne McCaffrey. (AUDIO) #3 in the DragonRiders of Pern fantasy series, which features primarily Jaxom, soon-to-be Lord holder and also dragonrider of the world's only white dragon. Jaxom, still a very young man of eighteen, does much maturing during this book as he finds his way through his confusing position in life--should he focus on being Lord of the hold, or on being a Dragonrider? How can he be both? Exciting new discoveries are made regarding the ancestors of Pern and the three stars known as The Dawn Sisters. It's discovered that they are fixed entities, not stars at all, and when mysterious traveling ships are found during an excavation, it's believed that they may be somehow tied to those ships. Excellent entry in this series and I look forward to the next, although I have noticed that despite its age, it seems to be rather difficult to find. A.
15. DEAD BEAT by Jim Butcher. #7 in the Harry Dresden paranormal mystery series. Something foul is afoot in Chicago, as usual. The evil vampire queen Mavra contacts Harry, basically blackmailing him into searching for a much-sought-after item called The Word of Kemmler. Kemmler was a necromancer--one who could animate the dead, essentially make zombies of them. The White Council had hunted and killed him years previously, but someone (several someones probably!) want his power. Under normal circumstances, Harry would tell Mavra to go fly a kite--in the sun!--but the trump card she's playing has Harry's friend Karrin Murphy, police detective in charge of the Special Investigations department, as the bait. If Harry doesn't cooperate, Mavra will see to it that Murphy's career is ruined. So Harry cooperates--or at least gives the appearance of doing so. This leads him down a twisty path to first of all find out what The Word of Kemmler might be and then locating it. As usual, this is never as easy as it seems as unplanned-for obstacles litter Harry's path. An enjoyable, quick read with a marvelous writing style and a lovely visit with Harry. I do enjoy this paranormal series because it's not chock full of romancey bullcrap like so many of them are. I wish we could visit the poor guy when things are quiet and he actually has time to eat and sleep, but I guess that would be kind of boring! Looking forward to the next. A.
16. GET OUT OR DIE by Jane Finnis. #1 in the Aurelia Marcella historical mystery series set in A.D. 91 in Roman Britannia. Aurelia runs the local mansio (inn) with her sister and with their brother Lucius' permission--he is technically the owner, but as an army spy, is away "on business" most of the time. When a series of local attacks occur, with Roman travelers being killed and left with a badge that says "Get Out or Die!" Aurelia feels threatened to her core, especially as one of the victims is left for dead in her courtyard! But Quintus is another spy, like her brother, although he is loathe to tell her much at first. They all decide that the best way to return their small village to safety is to catch "The Shadow of Death" who is organizing the attacks is to catch him. The list of suspects includes some of Aurelia's friends and the town leaders, and although I knew right away who it was, it took Aurelia and company ages to figure it out. I did quite enjoy the book--the settings and characters were very well drawn, the writing style was easy to read, and I learned plenty of new things about that era. However, I did find the book a bit draggy in the midsection especially and it seemed like they hashed over the suspects' motives, means and opportunities to commit the various crimes over and over again to the point where it became repetitive--which is the only reason I didn't give it top marks. I will definitely be on the lookout for the next book in series and hope that the editor had a bit more a judicious hand with the draggy bits. B+
Currently reading: WATER LIKE A STONE by Deborah Crombie (#11 Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James mystery.) In audio, I'm listening to The Magician: Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott, second in a YA fantasy series.
DNF: MAD SEASON by Nancy Means Wright. I slogged through about 50 pages and just found the writing style stilted and the whole storyline confusing. Couldn't get into it at all. WICKED WEAVES (Renaissance Faire mystery #1) by Jim and Joyce Lavene. Oh, boy, I'm sorry but that book was just BAD...I did read 50 pages but it almost killed me.
Cheryl
2. STRIPPED by Brian Freeman. #2 Jonathan Stride police procedural, this one moving from Duluth to Las Vegas. An old murder case, once considered solved, is brought to the fore as people related to those who were associated with Amira Luz, murdered exotic dancer, begin to die off. The killer is giving them clues, even deliberately leaving fingerprints at some of the crime scenes, and Jonathan is trying to figure out why as he delves into the past to try to solve the old crime which will almost certainly lead to the present-day killer. When a case Serena (his lover and the reason he moved to Vegas) is working on ties in with his own case, they get the chance to work together again. I liked this book; I love Freeman's writing style and his characters, but this one was a little weird. There seemed to be an inordinate number of G/L/T (gay/lesbian/transgendered) people in it, which I don't have a problem with in any way, it just seemed like the book was overrun with them for some reason, including Stride's new partner Amanda, a 'she-male' who is also a darned good cop. I also didn't like the Vegas setting as well as Duluth, which is a city I dearly love. And I did figure out part of the mystery, although not a couple of the plot twists. I didn't like it quite as well as the first one, but it was still very good and am looking forward to the next in series. A-
3. WHO CUT THE CHEESE? A CULTURAL HISTORY OF THE FART by Jim Dawson. Nonfiction humor with plenty of serious, factual information too, although the author usually did slant things to the humorous side. It's hard not to when you're talking about intestinal gas, I suppose! LOL I had this as my 'bathroom book' (with the appropriate bookmark of two squares of toilet tissue) for several weeks and quite enjoyed this foray into the world of farts, and tidbits about how farting has been viewed by various cultures throughout the world in various times, including literary references to the foul wind across the centuries--one of the aptly named chapters being "Lit Farts." You get the idea! LOL I did enjoy this--it was a light, fun read, and I did learn a few facts along the way, too. (Who knew that Whoopi Goldberg devoted a whole chapter of her autobiography to farts? Not me! LOL) Sometimes the humor was a bit forced (a bit like a crosswise fart in that respect I guess! HA!) but all in all an entertaining, worthwhile read. B+
4. HONOLULU by Alan Brennert. Historical fiction set first in Korea in the early 1900's to the 1910's-20's in Honolulu, HI. Tells the story of a Korean girl with the unfortunate name of Regret (female babies were often given these types of negative names) who flees the stifling control of her family's Confucian home in rural Korea to the promised paradise of Hawaii as a "picture bride." When the handsome man who has chosen Regret as his bride ends up not to be the wealthy, wonderful man he was portrayed to be, (he is instead a sugar-cane laborer and a drinking, gambling wife-beater) she also flees the rural plantation where they live to the big city of Honolulu. There she begins a new life pretending to be a widow, and Regret takes several different jobs and has many adventures as she seeks her place in the world. Full of pain, sorrow, and often portraying conditions that are brutal and hard to imagine people living in and through, this is also a hopeful story, and one I very much enjoyed. I learned quite a lot along the way too, having not read much about Korean--or Hawaiian--culture before. I haven't yet read Brennert's other book based in Hawaii, Molo'kai, but it won't be long before I get to it! Well done, very readable style, believable characters and descriptions that will put you right there. A.
5. HARD ROW by Margaret Maron. (AUDIO) #13 Judge Deborah Knott mystery set in Colleton County, NC. Judge Knott begins settling in with her new family, step-son Cal having moved in with she and Dwight after his mother's death in the previous book. It's an adjustment for all concerned, but Deborah is distracted when a case that Dwight is working on (body parts found along a roadside) intersects with a case in her court. It takes some time to identify who the hacked up parts belong to (and to find them all!) but once big-time farmer Buck Harris is identified, a few different suspects come to the fore: his ex-wife, his mistress, and a disgruntled employee or ten, among others. I like the way Maron weaves information and a story about some social issue in each of her books--in this one, it's the fate and the life of migrant workers. As always, the reader is excellent for this series, and the author's writing style and characterizations make for easy reading and listening--and in this case, a resolution to the crime that I didn't see coming, though the clues were there. Maron really makes you wish that these were real people that you could meet and talk to. Only one left to catch up to the end of the series, with the newest due in August. A.
6. THE FALLS by Ian Rankin. #13 DI Rebus Scottish police procedural set in Edinburgh. It's been ages since I read a Rebus--the last couple were rather disappointing to me--but Rankin is back in form with this book. The story, one of a young woman who had set off from her flat to meet some friends for drinks and never showed up, sucked me in right away. It's determined that Philippa Balfour ("Flip" to her friends) was playing a dungeons-and-dragons style game, with clues given by the Quizmaster via e-mail. But was this related to her death or not? Supposedly people who play in this way were anonymous to one another. While Rebus works a possible historical connection to other similar cases, Siobhan Clarke works the computer game angle, and both are trying to adapt to their boss "Farmer" Watson retiring and their former colleague Gill Templer taking his place. There's a new lady in Rebus's life too, which lifts his often dour spirit. Very enjoyable--I only figured out part of the mystery, so it was great to be led a merry chase and to be surprised at the end. Excellent entry in the series! A.
7. A NOBLE RADIANCE by Donna Leon. #7 Commissario Guido Brunetti Italian police mystery set in Venice. Another cold case mystery where an old unsolved case is brought to the forefront when skeletal remains are found in a shallow grave in a village north of Venice when the new owner of an estate begins renovating. A valuable gold ring with a family crest with the body leads authorities to believe that the body is that of twenty-one-year-old Roberto Ludovicio, wealthy heir who was kidnapped two years ago and never found. Dental records confirm this and a bullet hole in the back of the head confirms that he was murdered, but can Brunetti track down the perpetrators with so many of the clues gone dead? Of course--Brunetti finds that the clues are merely dormant, not dead at all, and they lead him on a merry chase, throwing red herrings all over the place. As usual, it's not always possible to obtain justice through the Italian penal and court system, but in Leon's Venice, usually the universe knows what its doing, and this was no exception. I love the author's intellectual mysteries, with much philosophy and excellent cooking as well as vibrant atmosphere included in the bargain. In fact I love it so much, I'm going to do something I've not done in many a moon--read a couple of series books back to back. A+
8. FATAL REMEDIES by Donna Leon. #8 Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery in which Guido's wife Paola becomes a lawbreaker. Convinced she must do what she can to stop travel agents from booking "sex tours" to places like Thailand where the tourists have very young girls procured for them in what essentially amounts to rape and pedophelia, Paola gets up in the middle of the night and throws a rock through the window of a local travel agency known to cater to these types of tours. She does this twice and causes a bit of scandal for Guido as the newspapers hound him, her and the Questura. Guido's boss, Patta, puts him on administrative leave until the owner of the travel agency ends up murdered in his apartment--visciously strangled, with a note referring to him being a pedophile. Further investigation of course reveals that Paola's timely rock-throwing just provided an easy excuse for someone else who had it in for the man to kill him. Another solid entry in the series, although I didn't enjoy this one as much as the last--which is my signal that "two in a row is enough." LOL I think it may just have been the subject matter and the emotional roller coaster that Guido was on in part, though. A-
9. REAPER MAN by Terry Pratchett #11 in publication order of the Discworld humorous fantasy series in which DEATH gets a vacation and an hourglass of his own! When DEATH stops coming around, what happens? People who are supposed to die, don't. Case in point, Windle Poons, venerable hundred and thirty year old Bursar at Unseen University. His time is up--he knows it and so does everyone else. So why is he still alive? Er...or rather, undead? Because DEATH is having a working vacation on a ranch under the assumed name of handyman Bill Door, using his scythe to harvest the hay and being decidedly squeamish about butchering chickens. LOL And when things stop dying, life force starts building up--which can only lead to dire (if hilarious!) consequences. As usual, Pratchett's wacky (and yet, still rather profound at times) world never fails to leave me smiling, laughing and chortling with glee--and as always, I often found myself reading only to have the real meaning of some goofy phrase or concept that I read about a few pages previous dawn on me, paging backwards to reread portions of it. Nothing to be said except that Terry Pratchett is a genius! A+
10. BUTCHER'S HILL by Laura Lippmann (AUDIO) #3 Tess Monaghan mystery series set in Baltimore. Tess, now an official private investigator, is hired by two people--the first, a woman who claims to be looking for her long lost sister and the second an elderly man who is just out of prison, having been put there because he shot a neighborhood boy to death when he was harassing the old man. Luther Beale, "The Butcher" of Butcher's Hill wants Tess to find the other children who were with Donny Moore when he died to attempt to compensate them in some way for their suffering, but since they were minors in the foster care system, they won't be easily tracked down. Of course both cases end up being more complicated than they first seem, although I figured out much of both of them fairly early, the main mystery was a bit of a surprise ending for me. I enjoyed this book but not as much as I did the previously book in the series. The reader is pretty good, just not a favorite, and while I mostly like Tess, many of her supporting characters are annoying as heck. Still, a solid entry in the series and I look forward to the next, whether I end up reading in print or listening to it. B+
11. CHARLIE BONE AND THE INVISIBLE BOY by Jenny Nimmo (AUDIO) #3 in the Children of the Red King YA fantasy series, in which Charlie once again seeks to help out someone that the Bloors have enslaved. This time it's Oliver, an invisible boy they're hiding in the attic. Oliver was made invisible by an ensorcelled blue Boa Constrictor. Who is on Charlie's side and who's on the Bloors' becomes more defined in this book, as a pretty new girl, Belle, arrives at Bloor Academy. There's a lot happening in this book! Charlie also has responsibility for his friend Benjamin's dog, Runner Bean, as Benjamin is off to Hong Kong with his private detective parents on a case. Of course this complicates matters a bit, too, as Charlie is worried about his Uncle Paton, who has come up very ill after a week-long absence in which he tries to find out what his nasty sisters are up to. Excellent story as always and I really look forward to listening to the next one! A.
12. HIGH PRIESTESS by David Skibbins. #2 Warren Ritter "Tarot" mystery, featuring the old hippie radical fugitive from the law, now a tarot reader on the street in San Francisco. Warren is also bipolar and heavily involved in therapy attempting to deal with his checkered past. Warren (aka Richard Green in his previous life) is visited by a ghost from his past--someone who knew him back in his days with the Weathermen, a radical anti-war group from the 60's. Edward Hightower (also an assumed name) is now the leader of a small church--an offshoot of the Church of Satan. Their members are dropping like flies and Edward (with his sister, Veronique--who also happens to be Warren's ex-girlfriend) wants Warren to find out who. Instant suspects include several hyper-religious folks who sent threatening e-mails to Edward and the group, tracked down by Warren's current girlfriend Sally--a paraplegic computer hacker. But those solutions seem almost too easy, and soon it's rather obvious that those people haven't committed the string of murders. But someone wants Warren to take the fall for that--so the next crime is brilliantly set up to make him look like the bad guy. Now he has no choice but to investigate and clear his borrowed name. I really like this series! Warren is a definitely flawed and fallible but very likable guy, and the author obviously has mental health experience (I believe he's a therapist of some sort) as he portrays the bipolar swings very accurately. The solution to the mystery was quite simple, but Skibbins manages to still eke out a dynamite twist at the end. Loved it! A+
13. THE SNAKE STONE by Jason Goodwin. #2 in the Yashim the Eunuch historical mystery series set in 1830's Istanbul. The sultan is dying, and the city is in a peculiar mood. Yashim, who works for the sultan, hasn't been summoned to the palace in months, so he's perfectly free to investigate the murder of a French archaelogist on his own behalf. Dr. Lefevre had been a guest in Yashim's home the day before he died and he had been asking a lot of nosy questions about valuable Greek artifacts. He sought a ship back to France which Yashim helped him procure and then his body was found, gutted stem to stern and half-eaten by dogs a couple of days later. With lack of any other suspects, the French ambassador can only conclude that Yashim had something to do with his death, so he sets out to remove the cloud of suspicion from his good name before the ambassador files his final report. Steeped in history, myth and legend, the tale leads Yashim to several different neighborhoods of the city and even below it, as other people that Dr. Lefevre talked to end up attacked or dead also. When his widow arrives, not yet knowing she is a widow, things get even more complicated. An excellent story, full of the culture, sights, sounds, smells and tastes of Istanbul (I want to hire Yashim as my personal chef!!), with lots of history and the added bonus of secrets well-kept and secret societies, this was a very enjoyable read. A.
14. THE WHITE DRAGON by Anne McCaffrey. (AUDIO) #3 in the DragonRiders of Pern fantasy series, which features primarily Jaxom, soon-to-be Lord holder and also dragonrider of the world's only white dragon. Jaxom, still a very young man of eighteen, does much maturing during this book as he finds his way through his confusing position in life--should he focus on being Lord of the hold, or on being a Dragonrider? How can he be both? Exciting new discoveries are made regarding the ancestors of Pern and the three stars known as The Dawn Sisters. It's discovered that they are fixed entities, not stars at all, and when mysterious traveling ships are found during an excavation, it's believed that they may be somehow tied to those ships. Excellent entry in this series and I look forward to the next, although I have noticed that despite its age, it seems to be rather difficult to find. A.
15. DEAD BEAT by Jim Butcher. #7 in the Harry Dresden paranormal mystery series. Something foul is afoot in Chicago, as usual. The evil vampire queen Mavra contacts Harry, basically blackmailing him into searching for a much-sought-after item called The Word of Kemmler. Kemmler was a necromancer--one who could animate the dead, essentially make zombies of them. The White Council had hunted and killed him years previously, but someone (several someones probably!) want his power. Under normal circumstances, Harry would tell Mavra to go fly a kite--in the sun!--but the trump card she's playing has Harry's friend Karrin Murphy, police detective in charge of the Special Investigations department, as the bait. If Harry doesn't cooperate, Mavra will see to it that Murphy's career is ruined. So Harry cooperates--or at least gives the appearance of doing so. This leads him down a twisty path to first of all find out what The Word of Kemmler might be and then locating it. As usual, this is never as easy as it seems as unplanned-for obstacles litter Harry's path. An enjoyable, quick read with a marvelous writing style and a lovely visit with Harry. I do enjoy this paranormal series because it's not chock full of romancey bullcrap like so many of them are. I wish we could visit the poor guy when things are quiet and he actually has time to eat and sleep, but I guess that would be kind of boring! Looking forward to the next. A.
16. GET OUT OR DIE by Jane Finnis. #1 in the Aurelia Marcella historical mystery series set in A.D. 91 in Roman Britannia. Aurelia runs the local mansio (inn) with her sister and with their brother Lucius' permission--he is technically the owner, but as an army spy, is away "on business" most of the time. When a series of local attacks occur, with Roman travelers being killed and left with a badge that says "Get Out or Die!" Aurelia feels threatened to her core, especially as one of the victims is left for dead in her courtyard! But Quintus is another spy, like her brother, although he is loathe to tell her much at first. They all decide that the best way to return their small village to safety is to catch "The Shadow of Death" who is organizing the attacks is to catch him. The list of suspects includes some of Aurelia's friends and the town leaders, and although I knew right away who it was, it took Aurelia and company ages to figure it out. I did quite enjoy the book--the settings and characters were very well drawn, the writing style was easy to read, and I learned plenty of new things about that era. However, I did find the book a bit draggy in the midsection especially and it seemed like they hashed over the suspects' motives, means and opportunities to commit the various crimes over and over again to the point where it became repetitive--which is the only reason I didn't give it top marks. I will definitely be on the lookout for the next book in series and hope that the editor had a bit more a judicious hand with the draggy bits. B+
Currently reading: WATER LIKE A STONE by Deborah Crombie (#11 Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James mystery.) In audio, I'm listening to The Magician: Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott, second in a YA fantasy series.
DNF: MAD SEASON by Nancy Means Wright. I slogged through about 50 pages and just found the writing style stilted and the whole storyline confusing. Couldn't get into it at all. WICKED WEAVES (Renaissance Faire mystery #1) by Jim and Joyce Lavene. Oh, boy, I'm sorry but that book was just BAD...I did read 50 pages but it almost killed me.
Cheryl
Thursday, March 5, 2009
MARCH 2009 Reading
1. DRAGONQUEST by Anne McCaffrey (AUDIO) #2 in the Dragonriders of Pern fantasy series, taking place some seven turns after events in the first book. This is a little longer than my usual audiobook listen, so I expected to take quite awhile to finish it, but it was a very engaging story that was hard to stop listening to, so it was devoured in just two days. The Dragonriders continue to fight the dreaded Thread, strands of some toxic element that falls regularly from the skies, but things go a bit topsy-turvy when Thread begins falling at irregular times and places. Desperate to figure out what these new chaotic attacks mean, F’lar of Benden Weyr travels far and wide, talking to not only other Weyr leaders, but craftholders, Oldtimers, harpers and the like, gathering information. His influence, garnered of necessity seven turns ago, begins to wane as Oldtimers plot against craftholders, who in turn are becoming resentful of the Weyrs. There’s much political jockeying taking place as well as plenty of Dragon action and several side stories featuring some of the main characters from the first book as well as some new characters stepping to the forefront. Very enjoyable, and I’d even found the reader more appealing in this book—his sometimes overly dramatic reading was the one downfall I found to the first book in this very long-lived series. Great book! A
2. THE MAGICIAN’S APPRENTICE by Trudi Canavan. Prequel to the Black Magician fantasy trilogy, taking place several hundred years before the first book in that series. This is the story of Tessia, a commoner in Kyralia who is a healer’s daughter and who wants nothing more than to follow in her father’s footsteps. But women in Kyralia are not allowed to be healers, so when an episode of attempted rape by a visiting Sachakan magician reveals that Tessia is a natural magician, she becomes a second apprentice to Lord Dakon, who holds the ley her family lives in. First learning control of her magic lest she cause serious damage to her surroundings, Tessia’s goal is to figure out a way to incorporate healing with her magic, which has to that point not been done. A few months after she is apprenticed, she heads off to Imardin, the capital city, with Lord Dakon and his first apprentice (who is of noble blood and doesn’t like Tessia much) to meet the king, beginning a series of political intrigues and growing experiences for Tessia, both as a magician and as a person. I really wanted to love this book as I did the previously-published trilogy, but it really fell flat. Canavan is a good writer, with an easy-to-read style, but the story in this book was just….well, rather ho-hum. None of the characters really stirred me to either liking or hating them much, and while the story did explain some of the events that occurred later in the trilogy, it wasn’t done with the panache I had expected. The best I can say about the book is that it was okay. I don’t think writing prequels is an easy thing, and I will be on the lookout for more work by this author, but I hope she’s planning something new. C+
3. INNOCENT GRAVES by Peter Robinson. #8 Chief Inspector Alan Banks British police procedural set in rural Yorkshire. A young schoolgirl from the local private girls’ school is found strangled in a graveyard on a foggy November night. Is there a serial killer on the loose? Her body was arranged like a sex crime, but she hadn’t been raped or sexually assaulted in any way. Or was this some personal crime against Deborah Harrison herself, she being the daughter of a wealthy computer company mogul? A likely suspect is found in a local college teacher who was seen in the area at the right time, and he even had some of Deborah’s blood and hair on his jacket. He maintains his innocence and said she did bump into him on a bridge in the fog, but the police, wanting a quick solution for the girl’s powerful father, latch onto Owen Pierce and are determined to make the evidence fit. A few months later, he’s acquitted and a short time after his release, another girl is killed in similar fashion—again with some of his hairs on her jacket and some fingerprints on a film canister found nearby. Inspector Banks takes awhile to come around but believes Pierce is being set up, but by whom? Well, duh. I sussed the bad guy out right away and even guessed accurately at the reason why, but the actual clues that would let you figure it out didn’t come til later. It was still a great read despite my instinctive ‘knowing’ who the bad guy was ahead of time. This book didn’t feature just Banks—much of the story was told from the viewpoint of Owen Pierce and also some from other characters, including one of Banks’ subordinates, an ambitious detective who put together the first case against Pierce. Looking forward to the next! A.
4. CHARLIE BONE AND THE TIME TWISTER by Jenny Nimmo (audio) #2 Children of the Red King children’s fantasy series in which Charlie meets a boy of about his age that he first saw in a photograph at home—and who is actually his great-great-uncle Henry, sent forward through time by his evil cousin Zeke using a Time Twister—a marble with magical powers. Of course, evil cousin Zeke is none other than Ezekiel Bloor, now head of the same Bloor family that runs Charlie’s school. When the Bloors find out that Henry Yewbeam has been spotted in the school, they do everything in their power to attempt to capture him as Charlie and his group of friends do their best to protect the poor, baffled Henry, who arrived from 1916 and would be totally sunk on his own. Another enjoyable entry in this interesting children’s fantasy series, and I look forward to the third one soon. A.
5. THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING by Joan Didion (audio) A memoir of this writer’s life in the year after her husband of nearly forty years, author John Gregory Dunne, died suddenly of a heart attack at the dinner table. At the time, their only child, Quintana, a newlywed, was hospitalized and on a ventilator, having developed a septic infection from pneumonia, and after her eventual release a month later, then developed blood clots which led her to be on anticoagulants, which then resulted in a cerebral hemorrhage and coma a few weeks later. As you can imagine, Joan’s life was thrown into utter turmoil, and while she maintained an outward calm, inside her body was compensating by failing to emotionally accept some things. For example, she refused to give away her husband’s last pair of shoes, because she felt he would be upset at not having any when he came back. She called her year of grief her year of magical thinking because she believed that many impossible things were utterly true. The reader for this book set the tone very well, I thought, and it was difficult to stop listening much as people gather to watch the after-effects of a horrible accident. I have to say that I am glad it was short, though (only about 5 hours) or I might have stopped eventually. The tone was quite detached, almost cold, and at times I was irritated at the author’s description of privilege—the best doctors, the best hospitals, the best hotels—and I wondered how she would have handled her grief if she had been a poor housewife from Brooklyn with no money who had to find a job after her husband’s death. Still, it was an interesting book and very far my usual fare, and I can say that I felt it a worthwhile listen, although “enjoy” would be the wrong word. B.
6. ACCOMODATING BROCOLLI IN THE CEMETARY: OR, WHY CAN’T ANYONE SPELL? By Vivian Cook. I’m not really sure what the purpose of the book is supposed to be. I thought it was somewhat of a rant against bad spellers, but it isn’t, really. It’s a mixed bag of things cobbled together into a hodge podge of semi-related things—tests that see how well you can spell, blurbs about the evolution of the English language and how some words evolved over time, a review of some of the rules and fallacies of spelling, including the “i before e except after c” rule (which doesn’t hold much water, by the way) and various and sundry other things. There were photos of stupid spelling mistakes in newspapers (but they weren’t very good ones) and lists of differences between English English and American English, quotations from various famous people about spelling, lists of ways our modern culture has bastardized the language further with things like internet acronyms, texting language, etc. It was very poorly organized without a clear mission that I could glean. I love words and bits about their origins and the evolution of the language, but these bits weren’t even that well-done. (Oh yes; there was a section about hyphenated words too. LOL) I think the author wrote it just because he was pissed off that people think he’s a woman because his name is Vivian. I dunno! I wouldn’t really recommend the book. It took me about an hour to read through it and I was decidedly unimpressed. D.
7. KILLER’S CHOICE by Ed McBain #5 in the 87th Precinct police procedural series set in fictional Isola (modeled after New York.) Published the year I was born, some people would call this book “dated,” which, admittedly it is. But it’s a wonderful time capsule too, and I have to wonder if McBain deliberately set out to accomplish that, if he had any idea how long-lasting his series would be. The opening paragraph lets you know you’ve gone back in time as it talks about “eight dollar Scotch and twenty-five-cent wine” bottles broken together on a liquor store floor. I’m not even sure you can buy a bottle of eight dollar Scotch these days, and that was the expensive stuff back then. LOL There are numerous other clues—twenty-one-cent-a-gallon gas, a policeman’s salary of $3,800 a year, and phone numbers with an exchange listed rather than just a number. All that aside, McBain writes an enjoyable detective story, and already at this point in the series, I’m a big fan of Steve Carella, Meyer Meyer, Bert Kling and the rest of the gang. A young woman employed in a liquor store is brutally shot to death four times, the stock in the store smashed to smithereens. They get several different pictures of who the young woman was—one from her mother, another from her ex-husband, and still another from friends. I had an inkling about who the killer was at the time they were introduced, but the clues as to how it was done weren’t really revealed until the end of the book—and I’d have missed them anyway, as a knowledge as to ‘how certain things were done’ would have been needed to figure it out. I still enjoyed this very much and look forward to the next one. B+
8. KITTY GOES TO WASHINGTON by Carrie Vaughn. #2 Kitty Norville paranormal series featuring the radio talk show hostess who is also a werewolf. Kitty, now traveling around the country doing her night time talk show from different cities, has been subpoenaed by a Congressional Committee to testify regarding an ongoing research project into the causes and potential cures of the ‘supernatural’ races like vampires, werewolves, and the like. She’s never been to the nation’s capital and hopes to combine some sightseeing with her testimony. That doesn’t happen, though, as she is waylaid by the city’s Vampire leader on the way to her hotel, commandeered to Alette’s townhouse and warned of rogue lycanthropes who may want to harm Kitty. She doesn’t know whether to trust Alette and her lackeys and does eventually hooks up with a sexy Brazilian were-jaguar named Luis (he purrs! LOL) whom she met at a party. Luis leads her to a bar that is a hangout for weres—there is no pack, no leader and the place exudes comfort and friendship. Was Alette lying, or are things not as they really seem? Kitty also finally meets the head of the research project she’s testifying about. She isn’t sure whether to trust Dr. Paul Flemming either—he’s been nothing but evasive when she’s tried to speak to him in the past and this is no exception. She knows she doesn’t trust Senator Duke, who is looking for a witch hunt (rather, a were-hunt) and wants Congress to declare open season on all ‘abominable creatures of the devil’ like weres and vampires. But who among those she’s met of the supernatural community has her best interests at heart? She finds out the hard way in a stunning climax that shocks not only Kitty but the whole world. Very enjoyable read—I really like Kitty, and I find the world that Vaughn has created to be believable and plausible, and I like that she is able to incorporate a bit of a sex for her heroine without making romance andsex so pervasive that it takes over the story. Glad to have the next couple in the series here waiting patiently for me. A.
9. THE GHOST WAR by Alex Berenson. #2 John Wells spy thriller in which two incidents, one in Afghanistan and the other involving China and North Korea, entwine to bring about potential disaster. John goes into Afghanistan on a mission to find out who is helping the Taliban. The usual ragtag bands of guerrillas are noticed to be more organized, well-equipped and prepared, and there’s rumor of ‘white’ soldiers helping them. Russians? Or a band of mercenaries? Satellite intelligence gleaned leads the Americans to believe that they need to find out. While John is in the Middle Eastern mountains fighting for his very life, Jennifer Exley, his girlfriend, is working with their boss on ferreting out a recently-discovered mole who betrayed a nuclear scientist in North Korea, leaving him and his American rescue team dead. A fairly typical spy novel, filled with political intrigue, deception, the very latest in spy vs. spy technology and even a modicum of diplomacy. There wasn’t a whole lot of character development since the last book, in fact, I felt like Wells stepped backwards somewhat into the grayness of the pages and became more of a ghost himself. This was a decent read, but a bit of a disappointment after the excellent first in series. If I were prone to spouting clichés, I would say this is probably the author suffering from the ‘sophomore slump.’ I like a good spy novel, but I can’t live on a steady diet of them, so while I have the third one in this series here, I think it’ll be awhile before I get to reading it. I hope things pick up somewhat, as this author has obvious talent. B.
10. THE TAINTED RELIC by “The Medieval Murderers” (audio) The Medieval Murderers is a combination of five historical mystery authors—Michael Jecks, Ian Morson, Susanna Gregory, Bernard Knight, Philip Gooden and Simon Beaufort—yes, that’s six, but Beaufort is actually the same person as Susanna Gregory who has a different series. Each write a short story about their sleuth as a cursed relic (a piece of the “true cross” of Christ) crosses their path leaving murder and mayhem in its’ wake. I wasn’t sure if I’d like this setup or not, but I actually really enjoyed it. A couple of the authors I’d never encountered before, and particularly liked the writing style of Ian Morson, enough to seek out the first in his Falconer series. I’m not particularly fond of Michael Jecks—at least, the one book of his I’ve read I wasn’t wild about, but I’m going to give him another try—but it came off okay in the audio version; it was my least favorite of the stories though. Two of my favorite sleuths were included—Bernard Knight’s Crowner John de Wolfe and Susanna Gregory’s Matthew Bartholomew. The reader for the book was excellent, using many different voices and accents over the course of the story. I have a couple of these combination books on my TBR pile in print—we’ll see if the stories are as appealing that way as this one was in the audio version. Some of the later ones cobble different authors into the mix. Well done and quite enjoyable, it didn’t seem like it was a 15-hour listen! A.
11. THE PESTHOUSE by Jim Crace. Not sure how to classify this—I guess it would be sort of speculative, post-apocalyptic fiction of sorts. It’s the story, mainly, of two people—Margaret and Franklin—and seems to be set in the future, a future in which America as we know it has disappeared. We’re back to wood and bone implements, handmade homespun clothing, horse-drawn transportation (if we’re lucky!), no electricity and a rather bleak landscape in which people are leaving the country in droves—by ship. However, human seem to have changed little, and our age-old cruelty to one another, greediness, hunger for power and self-preservation instinct seems to have survived whatever catastrophe took place. And as always, small pockets of goodness and unselfishness will be found, too, if you look hard enough. Franklin and his brother Jackson, young men in their twenties, set out eastward for the sea after their father’s death and the family farm fails, leaving their mother to hold down the fort and knowing they probably won’t see her again. Margaret, a single woman in her 30’s who developed a flux of some sort, is quarantined in a hut on the edge of town—Ferrytown—with her head and body hair shaved off, basically left to either die or survive by her family, in hopes that they aren’t already afflicted. Through a set of bizarre circumstances, Franklin and Margaret end up traveling together eastward, then become separated, and end up together again towards the end of the book. Initially I found the book mesmerizing and couldn’t put it down, but later wanted more information about what had happened to land America in such a state, and that information really wasn’t forthcoming—just a lot of ‘teaser’ kind of clues. Franklin and Margaret’s stories became a bit stale after awhile, though it was a good book overall and I did come away with some things to think about and ponder. The ending was quite satisfying if a little predictable, and had the book been a bit less bogged down in the middle, my overall opinion would have been higher. B+.
12. A FATAL GRACE by Louise Penny. #2 Three Pines mystery set in a small village outside Quebec, Ontario and featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. When a vile newcomer, CC de Poitiers, who moved into the old Hadley house, is deliberately electrocuted while in the middle of a frozen pond watching a curling match on Boxing Day, Chief Inspector Gamache is once again dispatched to Three Pines to work on the murder. No one liked CC—she was mean, viscious and cruel to virtually everyone she encountered, most noticeably to her own pubescent daughter. But who had means, motive and opportunity to do the wannabe Martha Stewart in in such a complicated and bizarre way? Gamache’s team ponders, puzzles and gets stuck in Three Pines in a snowstorm, and eventually they figure it out. There are a couple of red herrings, but I did have a gut feeling about the killer early on and I was right, though I did doubt myself for quite some time. Wonderful mystery, delightful characters, food descriptions that you can almost smell wafting off the pages, and a writing style that just keeps you wanting more. Humorous at times, yet poignant, rich in the Quebecois culture, there’s a bit of everything. I’m glad I have the third one here but I fear I won’t be able to keep my hands off it for long. Excellent! A+
13. THE BATTLE OF THE LABYRINTH by Rick Riordan. (audio) #4 Percy Jackson and the Olympians YA fantasy series. I really enjoy this series a lot! Percy, AnnaBeth, Grover and their friends are off again on another quest, this time to navigate the labyrinth made by Daedalus, who was also the infamous designer of the wings stuck on with wax that caused his son Icarus to fall when he flew too close to the sun and the wax melted. The half-bloods believe that Luke, their arch-nemesis who has an allegiance with the Titan Kronos, has found a way to easily get to Camp Half-Blood through the Labyrinth and seek to find that path and block it. Meanwhile, Grover sets out with them determined to find the god Pan, given one last chance to do so before his Seeker’s license is revoked by the Council. Percy, fast approaching fifteen, has his share of girl trouble in this episode too, with the usual adolescent confusions that go with it. Another action-packed adventure, with some humor and some very serious moments too. There’s one more installment, and Percy will be turning sixteen, when everyone finds out if his prophecy—whether he will save or destroy Mount Olympus—comes to pass. Excellent stuff, wonderful reader (Jesse Bernstein) who does a multitude of male and female, old and young, human and creature voices very well. A+
14. WHO COOKED THE LAST SUPPER? THE WOMEN’S HISTORY OF THE WORLD by Rosalind Miles. Nonfiction history, from ancient to modern times, as it relates to women’s place in history. Spans the gamut from religious to political history, and this book is difficult to read without getting quite angry at times, me being a woman and all, and a majority of the book being about how women have been second-class citizens since, as the author wryly puts it, ‘the rise of the phallus.’ Viewed as simply man’s property for much of recorded history, women have had to fight tooth and nail for basic human rights. This is a glimpse into how things were through time, from the beginning (when women were revered) and with specific views at different cultures and microcosms. Also points out notable exceptions to the rule of the day, wherever and whenever that might be, with information about various “famous women” but also about how things were for the ‘average Jane’ of the times. I learned a lot reading this book, but despite the author’s attempts at injecting some humor into it, I did read it in small bits rather than devour it in large chunks as it tended to get quite dry in places. A very worthwhile read, though. B+
15. CAT’S EYEWITNESS by Rita Mae and Sneaky Pie Brown. (audio) #13 in the Mrs. Murphy mysteries set in Crozet, Virginia and featuring not only the wise tabby cat but her friends Pewter the fat gray cat and Tucker, the Welsh Corgi. And let’s not forget their human, Mary Minor “Harry” Harristeen. Thanksgiving in Crozet should be a relaxed and happy time, and it is, until Harry’s friend Susan’s great-uncle Thomas, a monk at the local monastery dies, praying in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary that had begun crying tears of blood. Harry, ever the skeptic, wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t witnessed the phenomenon herself. Brother Thomas was over 80, so his death wasn’t investigated as suspicious, but when a reporter who had broken the story about the Virgin also ends up dead, very obviously murdered, Harry’s ‘something’s not right’ antennae start twitching and she starts asking pointed questions, much to the chagrin of her friends and family and Sheriff Rick Shaw. Personally, Harry is a bit at loose ends, having quit her job at the Post Office, and is investigating growing grapes and starting a vineyard. And Fair, her ex-husband, has put more pressure on her with regard to his oft repeated proposal of re-marriage, too. The mystery was fairly straightforward, but I’ve come to love these characters more and more as the series wears on, and I’ve also grown fond of this reader, Kate Forbes, too. I found it hard to stop listening to this one and had to find things to do to occupy me so I could finish it. And now my bathrooms are really, really clean. LOL I’m glad my library has all of these available for audio download—I’ve already got the next one on my list. A.
16. FLESH AND BONE by Jefferson Bass. #2 in the Body Farm mysteries featuring Dr. Bill Brockton, founder of the research institute dedicated to learning more about how we decompose. In the first book, I enjoyed the forensic parts but was not crazy about the main character, and that trend continued in this book. For all that Dr. Bill Brockton is the consummate “nice guy,” I just can’t get attached to him, nor do I really care much about him—even when he’s suspected of murder. He’s just boring milquetoast for me. But I *did* enjoy the forensic aspect of the book a lot—if not for that, it’s doubtful I would have continued reading it. Lots of gory details, so if you’re squeamish, I wouldn’t read this book. Bill gets embroiled in the creationism/intelligent design vs. evolution debate in this book as well as working on the murder of a guy dressed in women’s clothes that appears to be a hate crime. When a colleague of Bill’s—whom he just happens to have slept with also—ends up murdered and displayed in his own Body Farm on top of the body they’re using to research that hate crime murder, he is a strong suspect in the case. Can’t see why, when ‘whodunit’ was as plain as the nose on your face, at least to me. I’m debating whether to continue on in this series or not. The whole package just seems really uninspired, great forensic details or no. One of those, “It wasn’t really bad...it was okay, BUT”...kind of books. C+
17. THE BLADE ITSELF by Joe Abercrombie. #1 in The First Law fantasy trilogy. Set in a world beset by war and utterly devoid of magic, this book tells the story of several very different characters. Loren Ninefingers, an aptly named mercenary who has survived many wars, battles and skirmishes; Sand dan Glokta, a former fencing champion turned Inquisitor, a master of torture after his eight-year experience in an enemy prison leave him crippled and disfigured both physically and emotionally; Jezal dan Luthar, a young nobleman of privilege who has yet to see war and who is hoping to win the upcoming summer fencing Contest. Several other peripheral characters come into play as well, and the world is about to see Magic and all the myths and legends that were thought to be just children’s stories come back to life as Bayaz, the First of the Magi, makes himself known as the country is thrown into war from two directions. The king is a puppet, his heir a worthless fop, and his advisors plot and scheme to gain control of the government. A multi-layered tale, well-written and interesting to read. While this had many of the elements of your ‘classic’ fantasy tale, it was decidedly darker than some, but all the better for it, I thought—me not being a big fan of knights in shining armor and all that rot. I like a world where the lines between good and evil are more realistically drawn, blurred and gray in many places, much like our own world. The characters were well-fleshed, imperfect and varied, and it will be interesting to follow their stories into the next book, which I thankfully have here already. Well-done! A+.
18. COLD GRANITE by Stuart MacBride. #1 Logan MacRae Scottish police procedural series. DS MacRae, on his first day back to work after a year-long medical leave following a stabbing that left him near-dead, ends up as lead investigator on a child murder case—the months-dead body of a four-year-old boy found in a ditch who appears to have been tortured and sexually abused. Logan was supposed to be gently transitioned back into work, but this murder kicks off a couple of weeks from hell, in which several other childrens bodies are found, though not all of them are related to the first case. Logan is also recovering from a break-up with his girlfriend, who happens to be the medical examiner/pathologist. I had a really hard time putting this book down—stayed up later than usual to finish it, in fact. The writing was very compelling and the story was quite interesting. While mostly a bleak, dark book, MacBride does inject enough humor into it so that it doesn’t feel quite so grim. And I really do like Logan. However, after I finished it and thought back, there was much about the book and the procedures, etc. that I found to question. Perhaps police procedure works differently in Aberdeen, but it seemed to me that Logan, as a Detective Sergeant, had a whole lot more direct involvement, leadership responsibility and latitude with his activity than most other DS’s I’ve read about in other series, who seem to be assigned a lot of mundane detail work while the Detective Inspectors and higher do the actual investigation. He basically solves all the cases—obviously he’s brilliant, so why is he still a DS? As often happens I did figure out most of the cases well ahead of the police—these nice juicy obvious clues kept falling right in the reader’s lap! LOL Also, the interconnections of all the various cases just seemed a little too pat, too coincidental. While not a sprawling metropolitan area, Aberdeen does have over 200,000 people and it just doesn’t seem likely that these cases could all connect up like they did. There was also a lot of repetition with regard to descriptions—of the weather, especially. Yes, it was rainy and snowy. We get it. How many ways and times can that (or can wet and miserable policemen) be described without becoming tiresome? At any rate, despite those negatives, I am quite excited about this series and am looking forward to the next one but I’m hoping MacBride learns to tighten things up a bit and makes the plots more plausible in future works. B+
19. THE WOLVES OF SAVERNAKE by Edward Marston. #1 Domesday medieval mystery set about twenty years after William the Conqueror takes Britain by storm. Ralph Delchard and Gervase Bret are traveling around compiling The Domesday Book, in which a sort of census is taken along with recording what lands are owned by whom so that the appropriate taxes can be paid to the King. Summoned to the town of Bedwyn near Savernake Forest by the local miller regarding a dispute with the local Abbey over some tracts of land, Ralph and Gervase arrive only to discover that Alric the miller has died--the apparent victim of a brutal wolf attack--throat ripped out and bleeding in the stream. This seems a little too coincidental for our sleuths, and they set out to find who stood to lose by the knowledge the miller would have given to the King's men. I quite enjoyed this introduction to the characters of Ralph and Gervase, with a solution to the murders that I didn't see coming at all. Lots of period detail and atmosphere which was excellent, though the writing style on the whole is just a bit dry in places. I have a couple more of these and will definitely continue on reading, though. B+
20. FLUSH by Carl Hiaasen (audio) Another of Hiaasen's YA books, the theme for this one (like HOOT) is Florida and saving wildlife and the environment. Noah Underwood's father is in jail...again. He's not a bad guy, he just has "principles." He KNOWS that the scumbag owner of a gambling boat dumps raw sewage into the water (instead of the holding tanks they're supposed to use) so he...well, he sinks the boat. Determined to get the public aware and on his side, Mr. Underwood conducts a media campaign from his jail cell. Noah, determined to help his father get the proof he needs, contacts "Lice" (so-named for obvious reasons!) Peking, a former employee of the casino owner--who subsequently goes missing after agreeing to help them. But the Underwoods don't give up that easily, although MRS. Underwood wishes they would, and their marriage is hanging by a precarious thread, much to Noah's dismay. Chock full of Hiaasen's usual quirky characters (including Noah's sister Abby) and environmental themes, this book wasn't as good as Hoot but was still a great listen,with some laugh out loud moments as well as serious issues dealt with, and I have put more of Hiaasen's work on my library download list. B+
21. THREE CAN KEEP A SECRET by Judy Clemens. #2 in the Stella Crown mystery series featuring the amateur sleuth who also is a dairy farmer. Stella sets out to begin life anew after the events of the first book left her good friend and farmhand Howie dead, and herself recovering from a serious motorcycle accident. The first order of business is to hire a new hand. Enter Lucy, a young widowed woman with a little girl, who seems to know her way around a barn and whom Stella likes immediately. But when an anonymous caller warns her off Lucy and there's a visit from Child Protective Services--and then someone paints nasty graffiti directed at Lucy on Stella's barn, Stella begins to wonder if she made the right choice in hiring her. Added to that mystery is Stella's biker friend Lenny, a big teddy bear of a man who it seems has a checkered past which is now coming back to haunt him. Attempted break-ins at his store and home and a brutal attack on his business partner devastate Lenny as he works to confront his demons. I really enjoy this series; the writing style is great, it reads quickly and smoothly and I like the characterizations, too, and am learning a lot about the Mennonite culture--although Stella isn't Mennonite, many of the characters in her series are. The mystery wasn't too much of a mystery in this one, and I'm getting a little weary of Stella's apparently emotionally-stunted personality (for someone so strong and independent, she has a hard time facing personal things) but I still enjoyed it a lot and have put the next one on my library list as they are hard to come by at PBS. B+
22. ALONE AT NIGHT by KJ Erickson. #4 (and as far as I can tell, the last) in the Mars Bahr police procedural series set in Minneapolis. This book tells a case that Mars & Nettie are working on as part of the Cold Case Unit, this one investigating three unsolved convenience store abductions from years previously. The one that intrigues and haunts Mars is the one where a body was never found, having occurred 19 years previously when a seventeen-year-old student named Andrea Bergstad disappeared from the isolated, rural One Stop where she was about to finish her shift. There were precious few clues even back then, and Mars heads back to Redstone Township to talk with the then-sheriff, Sig Sampson, to get a better feel for the case. Of course digging in the past can often dredge up things that someone doesn't want brought to light, and it's not long before Mars believes there is a present-day tie to the case that might be dangerous for anyone looking to discover what really happened to Andrea. This was an excellent entry in the series, although I have mixed feelings about the ending. I wonder whether the author knew this would be the last book--though with several things not resolved, I can't help but think not. It always saddens me when a series that I started out being slightly ambivalent about begins to blossom and then just drops off the face of the earth just as I'm getting truly addicted to it. I keep hoping there will be more. A.
Currently reading: Haven't decided yet!
DNF: After listening for 3 hours, I finally decided to give up on 44 SCOTLAND STREET by Alexander McCall Smith. It’s not that the story is bad—although there isn’t much happening, it’s an interesting peek at the lives of a few wildly different people living in a building in Edinburgh, Scotland. The reason I’m quitting is the reader, who does a very poor job of differentiating between the characters’ voices and often seems to slur his words or try to read parts too fast. I do have the print copy of this and may eventually pick up where I left off in the audio, but no way could I look forward to another 9 hours of listening to (checks audio details) Robert Ian Mackenzie! Why couldn’t they get Sean Connery to read this? LOL
I also tried reading DEATH OF A RED HEROINE by Qiu Xiaolong, which I found to be dry and rather tedious and the main character didn't interest me much. As it was a very long book for a series mystery, I gave up after 50 pages or so, not wanting to slog through another 400+ of the same.
Cheryl
2. THE MAGICIAN’S APPRENTICE by Trudi Canavan. Prequel to the Black Magician fantasy trilogy, taking place several hundred years before the first book in that series. This is the story of Tessia, a commoner in Kyralia who is a healer’s daughter and who wants nothing more than to follow in her father’s footsteps. But women in Kyralia are not allowed to be healers, so when an episode of attempted rape by a visiting Sachakan magician reveals that Tessia is a natural magician, she becomes a second apprentice to Lord Dakon, who holds the ley her family lives in. First learning control of her magic lest she cause serious damage to her surroundings, Tessia’s goal is to figure out a way to incorporate healing with her magic, which has to that point not been done. A few months after she is apprenticed, she heads off to Imardin, the capital city, with Lord Dakon and his first apprentice (who is of noble blood and doesn’t like Tessia much) to meet the king, beginning a series of political intrigues and growing experiences for Tessia, both as a magician and as a person. I really wanted to love this book as I did the previously-published trilogy, but it really fell flat. Canavan is a good writer, with an easy-to-read style, but the story in this book was just….well, rather ho-hum. None of the characters really stirred me to either liking or hating them much, and while the story did explain some of the events that occurred later in the trilogy, it wasn’t done with the panache I had expected. The best I can say about the book is that it was okay. I don’t think writing prequels is an easy thing, and I will be on the lookout for more work by this author, but I hope she’s planning something new. C+
3. INNOCENT GRAVES by Peter Robinson. #8 Chief Inspector Alan Banks British police procedural set in rural Yorkshire. A young schoolgirl from the local private girls’ school is found strangled in a graveyard on a foggy November night. Is there a serial killer on the loose? Her body was arranged like a sex crime, but she hadn’t been raped or sexually assaulted in any way. Or was this some personal crime against Deborah Harrison herself, she being the daughter of a wealthy computer company mogul? A likely suspect is found in a local college teacher who was seen in the area at the right time, and he even had some of Deborah’s blood and hair on his jacket. He maintains his innocence and said she did bump into him on a bridge in the fog, but the police, wanting a quick solution for the girl’s powerful father, latch onto Owen Pierce and are determined to make the evidence fit. A few months later, he’s acquitted and a short time after his release, another girl is killed in similar fashion—again with some of his hairs on her jacket and some fingerprints on a film canister found nearby. Inspector Banks takes awhile to come around but believes Pierce is being set up, but by whom? Well, duh. I sussed the bad guy out right away and even guessed accurately at the reason why, but the actual clues that would let you figure it out didn’t come til later. It was still a great read despite my instinctive ‘knowing’ who the bad guy was ahead of time. This book didn’t feature just Banks—much of the story was told from the viewpoint of Owen Pierce and also some from other characters, including one of Banks’ subordinates, an ambitious detective who put together the first case against Pierce. Looking forward to the next! A.
4. CHARLIE BONE AND THE TIME TWISTER by Jenny Nimmo (audio) #2 Children of the Red King children’s fantasy series in which Charlie meets a boy of about his age that he first saw in a photograph at home—and who is actually his great-great-uncle Henry, sent forward through time by his evil cousin Zeke using a Time Twister—a marble with magical powers. Of course, evil cousin Zeke is none other than Ezekiel Bloor, now head of the same Bloor family that runs Charlie’s school. When the Bloors find out that Henry Yewbeam has been spotted in the school, they do everything in their power to attempt to capture him as Charlie and his group of friends do their best to protect the poor, baffled Henry, who arrived from 1916 and would be totally sunk on his own. Another enjoyable entry in this interesting children’s fantasy series, and I look forward to the third one soon. A.
5. THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING by Joan Didion (audio) A memoir of this writer’s life in the year after her husband of nearly forty years, author John Gregory Dunne, died suddenly of a heart attack at the dinner table. At the time, their only child, Quintana, a newlywed, was hospitalized and on a ventilator, having developed a septic infection from pneumonia, and after her eventual release a month later, then developed blood clots which led her to be on anticoagulants, which then resulted in a cerebral hemorrhage and coma a few weeks later. As you can imagine, Joan’s life was thrown into utter turmoil, and while she maintained an outward calm, inside her body was compensating by failing to emotionally accept some things. For example, she refused to give away her husband’s last pair of shoes, because she felt he would be upset at not having any when he came back. She called her year of grief her year of magical thinking because she believed that many impossible things were utterly true. The reader for this book set the tone very well, I thought, and it was difficult to stop listening much as people gather to watch the after-effects of a horrible accident. I have to say that I am glad it was short, though (only about 5 hours) or I might have stopped eventually. The tone was quite detached, almost cold, and at times I was irritated at the author’s description of privilege—the best doctors, the best hospitals, the best hotels—and I wondered how she would have handled her grief if she had been a poor housewife from Brooklyn with no money who had to find a job after her husband’s death. Still, it was an interesting book and very far my usual fare, and I can say that I felt it a worthwhile listen, although “enjoy” would be the wrong word. B.
6. ACCOMODATING BROCOLLI IN THE CEMETARY: OR, WHY CAN’T ANYONE SPELL? By Vivian Cook. I’m not really sure what the purpose of the book is supposed to be. I thought it was somewhat of a rant against bad spellers, but it isn’t, really. It’s a mixed bag of things cobbled together into a hodge podge of semi-related things—tests that see how well you can spell, blurbs about the evolution of the English language and how some words evolved over time, a review of some of the rules and fallacies of spelling, including the “i before e except after c” rule (which doesn’t hold much water, by the way) and various and sundry other things. There were photos of stupid spelling mistakes in newspapers (but they weren’t very good ones) and lists of differences between English English and American English, quotations from various famous people about spelling, lists of ways our modern culture has bastardized the language further with things like internet acronyms, texting language, etc. It was very poorly organized without a clear mission that I could glean. I love words and bits about their origins and the evolution of the language, but these bits weren’t even that well-done. (Oh yes; there was a section about hyphenated words too. LOL) I think the author wrote it just because he was pissed off that people think he’s a woman because his name is Vivian. I dunno! I wouldn’t really recommend the book. It took me about an hour to read through it and I was decidedly unimpressed. D.
7. KILLER’S CHOICE by Ed McBain #5 in the 87th Precinct police procedural series set in fictional Isola (modeled after New York.) Published the year I was born, some people would call this book “dated,” which, admittedly it is. But it’s a wonderful time capsule too, and I have to wonder if McBain deliberately set out to accomplish that, if he had any idea how long-lasting his series would be. The opening paragraph lets you know you’ve gone back in time as it talks about “eight dollar Scotch and twenty-five-cent wine” bottles broken together on a liquor store floor. I’m not even sure you can buy a bottle of eight dollar Scotch these days, and that was the expensive stuff back then. LOL There are numerous other clues—twenty-one-cent-a-gallon gas, a policeman’s salary of $3,800 a year, and phone numbers with an exchange listed rather than just a number. All that aside, McBain writes an enjoyable detective story, and already at this point in the series, I’m a big fan of Steve Carella, Meyer Meyer, Bert Kling and the rest of the gang. A young woman employed in a liquor store is brutally shot to death four times, the stock in the store smashed to smithereens. They get several different pictures of who the young woman was—one from her mother, another from her ex-husband, and still another from friends. I had an inkling about who the killer was at the time they were introduced, but the clues as to how it was done weren’t really revealed until the end of the book—and I’d have missed them anyway, as a knowledge as to ‘how certain things were done’ would have been needed to figure it out. I still enjoyed this very much and look forward to the next one. B+
8. KITTY GOES TO WASHINGTON by Carrie Vaughn. #2 Kitty Norville paranormal series featuring the radio talk show hostess who is also a werewolf. Kitty, now traveling around the country doing her night time talk show from different cities, has been subpoenaed by a Congressional Committee to testify regarding an ongoing research project into the causes and potential cures of the ‘supernatural’ races like vampires, werewolves, and the like. She’s never been to the nation’s capital and hopes to combine some sightseeing with her testimony. That doesn’t happen, though, as she is waylaid by the city’s Vampire leader on the way to her hotel, commandeered to Alette’s townhouse and warned of rogue lycanthropes who may want to harm Kitty. She doesn’t know whether to trust Alette and her lackeys and does eventually hooks up with a sexy Brazilian were-jaguar named Luis (he purrs! LOL) whom she met at a party. Luis leads her to a bar that is a hangout for weres—there is no pack, no leader and the place exudes comfort and friendship. Was Alette lying, or are things not as they really seem? Kitty also finally meets the head of the research project she’s testifying about. She isn’t sure whether to trust Dr. Paul Flemming either—he’s been nothing but evasive when she’s tried to speak to him in the past and this is no exception. She knows she doesn’t trust Senator Duke, who is looking for a witch hunt (rather, a were-hunt) and wants Congress to declare open season on all ‘abominable creatures of the devil’ like weres and vampires. But who among those she’s met of the supernatural community has her best interests at heart? She finds out the hard way in a stunning climax that shocks not only Kitty but the whole world. Very enjoyable read—I really like Kitty, and I find the world that Vaughn has created to be believable and plausible, and I like that she is able to incorporate a bit of a sex for her heroine without making romance andsex so pervasive that it takes over the story. Glad to have the next couple in the series here waiting patiently for me. A.
9. THE GHOST WAR by Alex Berenson. #2 John Wells spy thriller in which two incidents, one in Afghanistan and the other involving China and North Korea, entwine to bring about potential disaster. John goes into Afghanistan on a mission to find out who is helping the Taliban. The usual ragtag bands of guerrillas are noticed to be more organized, well-equipped and prepared, and there’s rumor of ‘white’ soldiers helping them. Russians? Or a band of mercenaries? Satellite intelligence gleaned leads the Americans to believe that they need to find out. While John is in the Middle Eastern mountains fighting for his very life, Jennifer Exley, his girlfriend, is working with their boss on ferreting out a recently-discovered mole who betrayed a nuclear scientist in North Korea, leaving him and his American rescue team dead. A fairly typical spy novel, filled with political intrigue, deception, the very latest in spy vs. spy technology and even a modicum of diplomacy. There wasn’t a whole lot of character development since the last book, in fact, I felt like Wells stepped backwards somewhat into the grayness of the pages and became more of a ghost himself. This was a decent read, but a bit of a disappointment after the excellent first in series. If I were prone to spouting clichés, I would say this is probably the author suffering from the ‘sophomore slump.’ I like a good spy novel, but I can’t live on a steady diet of them, so while I have the third one in this series here, I think it’ll be awhile before I get to reading it. I hope things pick up somewhat, as this author has obvious talent. B.
10. THE TAINTED RELIC by “The Medieval Murderers” (audio) The Medieval Murderers is a combination of five historical mystery authors—Michael Jecks, Ian Morson, Susanna Gregory, Bernard Knight, Philip Gooden and Simon Beaufort—yes, that’s six, but Beaufort is actually the same person as Susanna Gregory who has a different series. Each write a short story about their sleuth as a cursed relic (a piece of the “true cross” of Christ) crosses their path leaving murder and mayhem in its’ wake. I wasn’t sure if I’d like this setup or not, but I actually really enjoyed it. A couple of the authors I’d never encountered before, and particularly liked the writing style of Ian Morson, enough to seek out the first in his Falconer series. I’m not particularly fond of Michael Jecks—at least, the one book of his I’ve read I wasn’t wild about, but I’m going to give him another try—but it came off okay in the audio version; it was my least favorite of the stories though. Two of my favorite sleuths were included—Bernard Knight’s Crowner John de Wolfe and Susanna Gregory’s Matthew Bartholomew. The reader for the book was excellent, using many different voices and accents over the course of the story. I have a couple of these combination books on my TBR pile in print—we’ll see if the stories are as appealing that way as this one was in the audio version. Some of the later ones cobble different authors into the mix. Well done and quite enjoyable, it didn’t seem like it was a 15-hour listen! A.
11. THE PESTHOUSE by Jim Crace. Not sure how to classify this—I guess it would be sort of speculative, post-apocalyptic fiction of sorts. It’s the story, mainly, of two people—Margaret and Franklin—and seems to be set in the future, a future in which America as we know it has disappeared. We’re back to wood and bone implements, handmade homespun clothing, horse-drawn transportation (if we’re lucky!), no electricity and a rather bleak landscape in which people are leaving the country in droves—by ship. However, human seem to have changed little, and our age-old cruelty to one another, greediness, hunger for power and self-preservation instinct seems to have survived whatever catastrophe took place. And as always, small pockets of goodness and unselfishness will be found, too, if you look hard enough. Franklin and his brother Jackson, young men in their twenties, set out eastward for the sea after their father’s death and the family farm fails, leaving their mother to hold down the fort and knowing they probably won’t see her again. Margaret, a single woman in her 30’s who developed a flux of some sort, is quarantined in a hut on the edge of town—Ferrytown—with her head and body hair shaved off, basically left to either die or survive by her family, in hopes that they aren’t already afflicted. Through a set of bizarre circumstances, Franklin and Margaret end up traveling together eastward, then become separated, and end up together again towards the end of the book. Initially I found the book mesmerizing and couldn’t put it down, but later wanted more information about what had happened to land America in such a state, and that information really wasn’t forthcoming—just a lot of ‘teaser’ kind of clues. Franklin and Margaret’s stories became a bit stale after awhile, though it was a good book overall and I did come away with some things to think about and ponder. The ending was quite satisfying if a little predictable, and had the book been a bit less bogged down in the middle, my overall opinion would have been higher. B+.
12. A FATAL GRACE by Louise Penny. #2 Three Pines mystery set in a small village outside Quebec, Ontario and featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. When a vile newcomer, CC de Poitiers, who moved into the old Hadley house, is deliberately electrocuted while in the middle of a frozen pond watching a curling match on Boxing Day, Chief Inspector Gamache is once again dispatched to Three Pines to work on the murder. No one liked CC—she was mean, viscious and cruel to virtually everyone she encountered, most noticeably to her own pubescent daughter. But who had means, motive and opportunity to do the wannabe Martha Stewart in in such a complicated and bizarre way? Gamache’s team ponders, puzzles and gets stuck in Three Pines in a snowstorm, and eventually they figure it out. There are a couple of red herrings, but I did have a gut feeling about the killer early on and I was right, though I did doubt myself for quite some time. Wonderful mystery, delightful characters, food descriptions that you can almost smell wafting off the pages, and a writing style that just keeps you wanting more. Humorous at times, yet poignant, rich in the Quebecois culture, there’s a bit of everything. I’m glad I have the third one here but I fear I won’t be able to keep my hands off it for long. Excellent! A+
13. THE BATTLE OF THE LABYRINTH by Rick Riordan. (audio) #4 Percy Jackson and the Olympians YA fantasy series. I really enjoy this series a lot! Percy, AnnaBeth, Grover and their friends are off again on another quest, this time to navigate the labyrinth made by Daedalus, who was also the infamous designer of the wings stuck on with wax that caused his son Icarus to fall when he flew too close to the sun and the wax melted. The half-bloods believe that Luke, their arch-nemesis who has an allegiance with the Titan Kronos, has found a way to easily get to Camp Half-Blood through the Labyrinth and seek to find that path and block it. Meanwhile, Grover sets out with them determined to find the god Pan, given one last chance to do so before his Seeker’s license is revoked by the Council. Percy, fast approaching fifteen, has his share of girl trouble in this episode too, with the usual adolescent confusions that go with it. Another action-packed adventure, with some humor and some very serious moments too. There’s one more installment, and Percy will be turning sixteen, when everyone finds out if his prophecy—whether he will save or destroy Mount Olympus—comes to pass. Excellent stuff, wonderful reader (Jesse Bernstein) who does a multitude of male and female, old and young, human and creature voices very well. A+
14. WHO COOKED THE LAST SUPPER? THE WOMEN’S HISTORY OF THE WORLD by Rosalind Miles. Nonfiction history, from ancient to modern times, as it relates to women’s place in history. Spans the gamut from religious to political history, and this book is difficult to read without getting quite angry at times, me being a woman and all, and a majority of the book being about how women have been second-class citizens since, as the author wryly puts it, ‘the rise of the phallus.’ Viewed as simply man’s property for much of recorded history, women have had to fight tooth and nail for basic human rights. This is a glimpse into how things were through time, from the beginning (when women were revered) and with specific views at different cultures and microcosms. Also points out notable exceptions to the rule of the day, wherever and whenever that might be, with information about various “famous women” but also about how things were for the ‘average Jane’ of the times. I learned a lot reading this book, but despite the author’s attempts at injecting some humor into it, I did read it in small bits rather than devour it in large chunks as it tended to get quite dry in places. A very worthwhile read, though. B+
15. CAT’S EYEWITNESS by Rita Mae and Sneaky Pie Brown. (audio) #13 in the Mrs. Murphy mysteries set in Crozet, Virginia and featuring not only the wise tabby cat but her friends Pewter the fat gray cat and Tucker, the Welsh Corgi. And let’s not forget their human, Mary Minor “Harry” Harristeen. Thanksgiving in Crozet should be a relaxed and happy time, and it is, until Harry’s friend Susan’s great-uncle Thomas, a monk at the local monastery dies, praying in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary that had begun crying tears of blood. Harry, ever the skeptic, wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t witnessed the phenomenon herself. Brother Thomas was over 80, so his death wasn’t investigated as suspicious, but when a reporter who had broken the story about the Virgin also ends up dead, very obviously murdered, Harry’s ‘something’s not right’ antennae start twitching and she starts asking pointed questions, much to the chagrin of her friends and family and Sheriff Rick Shaw. Personally, Harry is a bit at loose ends, having quit her job at the Post Office, and is investigating growing grapes and starting a vineyard. And Fair, her ex-husband, has put more pressure on her with regard to his oft repeated proposal of re-marriage, too. The mystery was fairly straightforward, but I’ve come to love these characters more and more as the series wears on, and I’ve also grown fond of this reader, Kate Forbes, too. I found it hard to stop listening to this one and had to find things to do to occupy me so I could finish it. And now my bathrooms are really, really clean. LOL I’m glad my library has all of these available for audio download—I’ve already got the next one on my list. A.
16. FLESH AND BONE by Jefferson Bass. #2 in the Body Farm mysteries featuring Dr. Bill Brockton, founder of the research institute dedicated to learning more about how we decompose. In the first book, I enjoyed the forensic parts but was not crazy about the main character, and that trend continued in this book. For all that Dr. Bill Brockton is the consummate “nice guy,” I just can’t get attached to him, nor do I really care much about him—even when he’s suspected of murder. He’s just boring milquetoast for me. But I *did* enjoy the forensic aspect of the book a lot—if not for that, it’s doubtful I would have continued reading it. Lots of gory details, so if you’re squeamish, I wouldn’t read this book. Bill gets embroiled in the creationism/intelligent design vs. evolution debate in this book as well as working on the murder of a guy dressed in women’s clothes that appears to be a hate crime. When a colleague of Bill’s—whom he just happens to have slept with also—ends up murdered and displayed in his own Body Farm on top of the body they’re using to research that hate crime murder, he is a strong suspect in the case. Can’t see why, when ‘whodunit’ was as plain as the nose on your face, at least to me. I’m debating whether to continue on in this series or not. The whole package just seems really uninspired, great forensic details or no. One of those, “It wasn’t really bad...it was okay, BUT”...kind of books. C+
17. THE BLADE ITSELF by Joe Abercrombie. #1 in The First Law fantasy trilogy. Set in a world beset by war and utterly devoid of magic, this book tells the story of several very different characters. Loren Ninefingers, an aptly named mercenary who has survived many wars, battles and skirmishes; Sand dan Glokta, a former fencing champion turned Inquisitor, a master of torture after his eight-year experience in an enemy prison leave him crippled and disfigured both physically and emotionally; Jezal dan Luthar, a young nobleman of privilege who has yet to see war and who is hoping to win the upcoming summer fencing Contest. Several other peripheral characters come into play as well, and the world is about to see Magic and all the myths and legends that were thought to be just children’s stories come back to life as Bayaz, the First of the Magi, makes himself known as the country is thrown into war from two directions. The king is a puppet, his heir a worthless fop, and his advisors plot and scheme to gain control of the government. A multi-layered tale, well-written and interesting to read. While this had many of the elements of your ‘classic’ fantasy tale, it was decidedly darker than some, but all the better for it, I thought—me not being a big fan of knights in shining armor and all that rot. I like a world where the lines between good and evil are more realistically drawn, blurred and gray in many places, much like our own world. The characters were well-fleshed, imperfect and varied, and it will be interesting to follow their stories into the next book, which I thankfully have here already. Well-done! A+.
18. COLD GRANITE by Stuart MacBride. #1 Logan MacRae Scottish police procedural series. DS MacRae, on his first day back to work after a year-long medical leave following a stabbing that left him near-dead, ends up as lead investigator on a child murder case—the months-dead body of a four-year-old boy found in a ditch who appears to have been tortured and sexually abused. Logan was supposed to be gently transitioned back into work, but this murder kicks off a couple of weeks from hell, in which several other childrens bodies are found, though not all of them are related to the first case. Logan is also recovering from a break-up with his girlfriend, who happens to be the medical examiner/pathologist. I had a really hard time putting this book down—stayed up later than usual to finish it, in fact. The writing was very compelling and the story was quite interesting. While mostly a bleak, dark book, MacBride does inject enough humor into it so that it doesn’t feel quite so grim. And I really do like Logan. However, after I finished it and thought back, there was much about the book and the procedures, etc. that I found to question. Perhaps police procedure works differently in Aberdeen, but it seemed to me that Logan, as a Detective Sergeant, had a whole lot more direct involvement, leadership responsibility and latitude with his activity than most other DS’s I’ve read about in other series, who seem to be assigned a lot of mundane detail work while the Detective Inspectors and higher do the actual investigation. He basically solves all the cases—obviously he’s brilliant, so why is he still a DS? As often happens I did figure out most of the cases well ahead of the police—these nice juicy obvious clues kept falling right in the reader’s lap! LOL Also, the interconnections of all the various cases just seemed a little too pat, too coincidental. While not a sprawling metropolitan area, Aberdeen does have over 200,000 people and it just doesn’t seem likely that these cases could all connect up like they did. There was also a lot of repetition with regard to descriptions—of the weather, especially. Yes, it was rainy and snowy. We get it. How many ways and times can that (or can wet and miserable policemen) be described without becoming tiresome? At any rate, despite those negatives, I am quite excited about this series and am looking forward to the next one but I’m hoping MacBride learns to tighten things up a bit and makes the plots more plausible in future works. B+
19. THE WOLVES OF SAVERNAKE by Edward Marston. #1 Domesday medieval mystery set about twenty years after William the Conqueror takes Britain by storm. Ralph Delchard and Gervase Bret are traveling around compiling The Domesday Book, in which a sort of census is taken along with recording what lands are owned by whom so that the appropriate taxes can be paid to the King. Summoned to the town of Bedwyn near Savernake Forest by the local miller regarding a dispute with the local Abbey over some tracts of land, Ralph and Gervase arrive only to discover that Alric the miller has died--the apparent victim of a brutal wolf attack--throat ripped out and bleeding in the stream. This seems a little too coincidental for our sleuths, and they set out to find who stood to lose by the knowledge the miller would have given to the King's men. I quite enjoyed this introduction to the characters of Ralph and Gervase, with a solution to the murders that I didn't see coming at all. Lots of period detail and atmosphere which was excellent, though the writing style on the whole is just a bit dry in places. I have a couple more of these and will definitely continue on reading, though. B+
20. FLUSH by Carl Hiaasen (audio) Another of Hiaasen's YA books, the theme for this one (like HOOT) is Florida and saving wildlife and the environment. Noah Underwood's father is in jail...again. He's not a bad guy, he just has "principles." He KNOWS that the scumbag owner of a gambling boat dumps raw sewage into the water (instead of the holding tanks they're supposed to use) so he...well, he sinks the boat. Determined to get the public aware and on his side, Mr. Underwood conducts a media campaign from his jail cell. Noah, determined to help his father get the proof he needs, contacts "Lice" (so-named for obvious reasons!) Peking, a former employee of the casino owner--who subsequently goes missing after agreeing to help them. But the Underwoods don't give up that easily, although MRS. Underwood wishes they would, and their marriage is hanging by a precarious thread, much to Noah's dismay. Chock full of Hiaasen's usual quirky characters (including Noah's sister Abby) and environmental themes, this book wasn't as good as Hoot but was still a great listen,with some laugh out loud moments as well as serious issues dealt with, and I have put more of Hiaasen's work on my library download list. B+
21. THREE CAN KEEP A SECRET by Judy Clemens. #2 in the Stella Crown mystery series featuring the amateur sleuth who also is a dairy farmer. Stella sets out to begin life anew after the events of the first book left her good friend and farmhand Howie dead, and herself recovering from a serious motorcycle accident. The first order of business is to hire a new hand. Enter Lucy, a young widowed woman with a little girl, who seems to know her way around a barn and whom Stella likes immediately. But when an anonymous caller warns her off Lucy and there's a visit from Child Protective Services--and then someone paints nasty graffiti directed at Lucy on Stella's barn, Stella begins to wonder if she made the right choice in hiring her. Added to that mystery is Stella's biker friend Lenny, a big teddy bear of a man who it seems has a checkered past which is now coming back to haunt him. Attempted break-ins at his store and home and a brutal attack on his business partner devastate Lenny as he works to confront his demons. I really enjoy this series; the writing style is great, it reads quickly and smoothly and I like the characterizations, too, and am learning a lot about the Mennonite culture--although Stella isn't Mennonite, many of the characters in her series are. The mystery wasn't too much of a mystery in this one, and I'm getting a little weary of Stella's apparently emotionally-stunted personality (for someone so strong and independent, she has a hard time facing personal things) but I still enjoyed it a lot and have put the next one on my library list as they are hard to come by at PBS. B+
22. ALONE AT NIGHT by KJ Erickson. #4 (and as far as I can tell, the last) in the Mars Bahr police procedural series set in Minneapolis. This book tells a case that Mars & Nettie are working on as part of the Cold Case Unit, this one investigating three unsolved convenience store abductions from years previously. The one that intrigues and haunts Mars is the one where a body was never found, having occurred 19 years previously when a seventeen-year-old student named Andrea Bergstad disappeared from the isolated, rural One Stop where she was about to finish her shift. There were precious few clues even back then, and Mars heads back to Redstone Township to talk with the then-sheriff, Sig Sampson, to get a better feel for the case. Of course digging in the past can often dredge up things that someone doesn't want brought to light, and it's not long before Mars believes there is a present-day tie to the case that might be dangerous for anyone looking to discover what really happened to Andrea. This was an excellent entry in the series, although I have mixed feelings about the ending. I wonder whether the author knew this would be the last book--though with several things not resolved, I can't help but think not. It always saddens me when a series that I started out being slightly ambivalent about begins to blossom and then just drops off the face of the earth just as I'm getting truly addicted to it. I keep hoping there will be more. A.
Currently reading: Haven't decided yet!
DNF: After listening for 3 hours, I finally decided to give up on 44 SCOTLAND STREET by Alexander McCall Smith. It’s not that the story is bad—although there isn’t much happening, it’s an interesting peek at the lives of a few wildly different people living in a building in Edinburgh, Scotland. The reason I’m quitting is the reader, who does a very poor job of differentiating between the characters’ voices and often seems to slur his words or try to read parts too fast. I do have the print copy of this and may eventually pick up where I left off in the audio, but no way could I look forward to another 9 hours of listening to (checks audio details) Robert Ian Mackenzie! Why couldn’t they get Sean Connery to read this? LOL
I also tried reading DEATH OF A RED HEROINE by Qiu Xiaolong, which I found to be dry and rather tedious and the main character didn't interest me much. As it was a very long book for a series mystery, I gave up after 50 pages or so, not wanting to slog through another 400+ of the same.
Cheryl
Monday, February 9, 2009
FEBRUARY 2009 READING
1. THE LAST WITNESS by K.J. Erickson. #3 Marshall “Mars” Bahr police procedural series set in Minneapolis. Mars has two weeks left before he and Nettie jump ship from the Minneapolis police department to start working for the state’s expanding cold case squad. What he doesn’t need is a hugely high-profile case, but that’s exactly what he gets when one of the Minnesota Timberwolves’ basketball players’ wives is found murdered in her home and “T-Jack” is a prime suspect—but he has an air-tight alibi, having been in a conference with his wife’s parents present at the time of her murder. The new police chief, who is a media hound and not at all adept at handling this type of case, promises a quick resolution and Mars is doing his best to make that come true, if only so he can leave the department with a clean slate. Of course things are never that simple and there seems to be obstacles at every turn, but eventually Mars comes up with a solution—one that I totally didn’t see coming. On a personal level, Mars’ son Chris is growing up and his ex-wife has a new beau that Chris isn’t fond of. Mars has some hard choices to make both personally and professionally in this book and manages to rise to the occasion like a pro. This is by far my favorite in the series so far. Lots of seat-of-your pants action, a great visit with some characters that finally started to flesh out and grow on me in the last book, and a wonderful portrayal of the Twin Cities area by someone who obviously lives here. I am looking forward to the next—and unfortunately, I believe the last—book in this series. A+
2. THE BODY IN THE TRANSEPT by Jeanne M. Dams. #1 Dorothy Martin mystery. Dorothy is a widowed American whose husband had been a professor and guest lecturer, so when it came time to settle down on her own, she chose to relocate to a village in England, which she’d come to love on visits there over the years. It’s Dorothy’s first Christmas without Frank and her first in England, and it’s destined to be an eventful one, when she stumbles across the dead body of a canon in a darkened side transept after Christmas Eve services at the cathedral. Canon Billings was almost universally disliked so there’s no shortage of suspects, and Dorothy, a fan of British mysteries, feels compelled to look into things on her own since she has a connection to the case, finding the body and all. Doing so seems to help lift her out of the depression she’d been feeling, but it’s bound to get her in hot water with the local police force. This was an okay first effort—it won some kind of award the year it was written, but I didn’t think it was *that* good. I figured out the bad guy and the essential plot bits fairly early, which is not unusual. I couldn’t really get “into” Dorothy, either—she’s a little too “fussy” for me, I guess—she has an affinity for outlandish hats and a bit too concerned at keeping up appearances. Also, at least in this book, there was just a little too much of the ‘poor me’ thing, related to her recent widowhood, being an outsider, etc. I think that is likely to change as the series goes on, though, and I certainly intend to read on. B.
3. A WHISKER OF EVIL by Rita Mae and Sneaky Pie Brown. (Audio) #12 in the series featuring Mary Minor “Harry” Harristeen and her cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter and her Welsh Corgi, Tucker. This book opens with Harry finding Barry Monteith, a horse breeder and neighbor, dying, with his throat ripped out in what is assumed to be a wild animal attack. Later, it’s determined that it wasn’t—he was killed by human hands and a knife, but the odd thing is, the autopsy also reveals that he had rabies. Since Barry essentially dies in Harry’s arms, she’s quite shaken and her life goes topsy-turvy when the word of rabies gets out—first in Barry, and then in his business partner who ends up dying from it. The animal control officer, who begins to doggedly investigate the rabies also ends up dead—shot in the head—hours after telling Harry and the Postmaster that according to regulations she can no longer have her animals with her at the Post Office. I always enjoy these books, but this entry in the series was a little darker than some and slightly off-kilter, but that’s possibly due to Harry’s changing circumstances. I spotted the bad guy right away again, but wasn’t sure why the murders were committed until further along as the clues fell into place. Still, a mostly light, enjoyable listen, easy to concentrate on while unpacking and sorting and such. B+
4. CASE HISTORIES by Kate Atkinson. #1 Jackson Brodie mystery, featuring an ex-cop and ex-Army security officer now a private investigator. Mostly Jackson’s work life is boring—following people suspected of having affairs or stealing from their employers and the like. Suddenly though, several interesting cases fall into his lap at once. All deal with the past—two sisters want Jackson to find out what happened to their sister Olivia who disappeared thirty-four years ago when she was just three years old. A still-grieving father wants him to find the murderer of his beloved eighteen-year-old daughter Laura, murdered right in his own law office by a supposed madman in a fit of random violence. And the sister of an axe-murderer wants him to locate her niece, who was a baby at the time and sent to live with her paternal grandparents after her mother apparently murdered her father right in front of her. Tanya, the niece, ends up being a handful and runs away from home as a teenager and no one knows where she’d ended up. Various chapters of the book tell the stories from the point of view of the different people in the stories and I think at least some of them are meant to be Jackson’s supporting cast of characters in future installments, so if this is the case, they become very well fleshed. I loved this book, although I did figure out two of the three mysteries well in advance. The characters are very human, very engaging, a bit eccentric, and yet the author manages to make you cheer and root for them despite their sometimes annoying foibles. Jackson is a peach, and I do look forward to getting to know him better in upcoming series books. Excellent stuff! A+
5. FEAR IN THE FOREST by Bernard Knight. #7 Crowner John medieval mystery set in and around Exeter. Devon’s coroner is investigating doings in the King’s forest in the nearby countryside, spurred by a verderer found with an arrow in his back. There has long been conflict between forest officials and the people who live there, but this is something different. It seems the forest lawmen have taken up with outlaws, using them to enforce their new, stricter and very unreasonable rules. But why? John de Wolfe thinks there must be someone with money and power behind the whole scheme, and even begins to suspect his brother-in-law the sheriff. While I figured out part of the mystery ahead of time, I think a more comprehensive knowledge of medieval laws and political workings would have been needed to sort the whole thing out. On a personal note, John’s mistress Nesta is expecting a baby and when his wife finds out, she leaves in a huff for the nunnery. While Matilda had long known of John’s dalliances, the news that a baby is forthcoming sends her over the edge and she decides to enter the convent as she’s threatened to do for many years. Nesta, rather than being joyful, is despondent over her condition and John is totally perplexed. While I enjoyed the historical aspects of the book (relating to the King’s laws about ‘venison’ and ‘vert’ in the forest) I thought this book was a bit too long and convoluted. At least, there have certainly been better entries in the series. I’ve got several more of these in series waiting and certainly will read them, but I do hope the story itself is a little more tightly put together in upcoming books. B.
6. LIRAEL by Garth Nix. Second of the Abhorsen trilogy, YA fantasy series. This book moves forward in time by about 20 years from the previous book and deals with Sabriel’s son Prince Sameth and with Lirael, a Clayr who has not yet awakened to the Sight despite being fourteen years of age, long past time when most Clayr begin to See into the future. Finally given a job as a Third Assistant Librarian essentially to keep her out of trouble, Lirael meets the Disreputable Dog and begins reading some of the old texts and discovers ways of getting into some of the locked rooms in the Old section of the library. Sam, meanwhile, begins to realize that he does not want to be Abhorsen-in-Waiting and does anything he can to avoid his training and reading The Book of the Dead that his mother has given him to study so that he can begin to assist her in the troubled times ahead. As Sam and Lirael journey from opposite directions to their inevitable meeting, both are dreading what they are sure their future holds for them as they battle the Dead—but of course are in for some big surprises. Very well done second entry in series, left on a bit of a cliffhanger that definitely causes some anticipation of the finale. A.
7. MIDNIGHT FOR CHARLIE BONE by Jenny Nimmo (audio) First in the young adult “Children of the Red King” fantasy series set in England. Charlie Bone is ten years old and lives with his mum and both of his grandmas. Grandma Maisie, his mother’s mum, is kind and friendly. Grandma Bone, his father’s mother, is not. His father died when Charlie was very young, so of financial necessity, they live with Grandma Bone—a perpetually cross, rigid, mean old woman who lords it over Charlie and his mother. Also living in the big old house is Uncle Payton Yewbeam (I thought this was ‘Youbean’ as pronounced by the reader—had to look it up! LOL) who is an odd and slightly sinister fellow. When Charlie discovers he can ‘hear’ photographs—the thoughts of the people in them at the time they were taken—Grandma Bone calls in the three Yewbeam aunts to test Charlie—and since he turns out to be one of the ‘endowed,’ he is sent to Bloor’s Academy, a school where you must be either a genius or endowed with some odd power like Charlie’s. His power means he’s a descendant of the Red King. Charlie is sad to be leaving his best friend Benjamin Brown (and his dog, Runner Bean—that name gave me fits of giggles every time I heard it!) behind, but he does make some new and interesting friends (and enemies!) at the Academy, and his weird uncle turns out to be Charlie’s ally. While a bit predictable in places, I did enjoy this reading (the reader was excellent!) and look forward to listening to the next in series. A-.
8. THE TITAN’S CURSE by Rick Riordan (audio) #3 Percy Jackson and the Olympians YA fantasy. I normally wouldn’t have listened to another book from the same genre one after another by choice, but this one I was on a wait list for, so when it’s your turn to download it, you snap it up while you can. When Percy’s friend AnnaBeth is kidnapped, he naturally wants to be on the quest to rescue her. But her rescue coincides with another disaster—the kidnapping of the Goddess Artemis, and thus her Hunters have a say in who goes along, and Percy is NOT on the guest list! Does that stop him? It does not! He sets out on his own, but then ends up with the selected group. On a strict timetable—the quest must be accomplished and Artemis rescued before the Council of the Gods on the Winter Solstice—Percy, Grover, Thalia, and some of the Hunters are led across country from New York to New Mexico to San Francisco as various bad guys (led by Percy’s old nemesis Luke) and clues fall into place revealing who is behind Luke’s caper and why. Very well done with an excellent reader, loosely educational as information about mythology is imparted in an informal way, and entertaining too, with a just plain great story. A.
9. PARDONABLE LIES by Jacqueline Winspear. #3 Maisie Dobbs historical mystery. In this episode, Maisie is beginning to settle comfortably into her business as a private investigator, but gets pulled to France on two personal cases—one to confirm the death of the son of a friend of a friend, another she’s looking into informally for her good friend Priscilla, to locate where her brother Peter died. She also is working with a very young girl who is accused of murdering her pimp. During the course of her investigations, Maisie has several attempts made on her life, though she’s not sure which investigation has stirred up such a hornet’s nest. She also confronts many of her own demons and ghosts with regards to her service as a nurse during WWI in France. While I did like this book, I found some of the coincidences tying her cases together to be almost so fantastic as to be nearly unbelievable. I figured out some of the mysteries in advance but the final one was a surprise. I like Maisie and look forward to reading the other books in series but I didn’t like this one quite as much as the previous ones—it seemed a bit long and drawn out in places, too. B+
10. DEATH IN DISGUISE by Caroline Graham. #3 Inspector Barnaby English mystery. Set on a large estate that is run and occupied by a New Age religious group. Chief Inspector Barnaby and Sgt. Troy arrive when The Master, the head of the group, is murdered during a regression session. This book was very slow-moving for me, long and drawn out, with much detail about the lives of the members of the group, such that Inspector Barnaby doesn’t even make an entrance until page 133. I liked the other two books in the series, but really found this one tedious and slow-going. I don’t know if it was just that I couldn’t get interested in any of the characters or what, but to be honest by about page 200, I didn’t much care who killed whom and skimmed through to the end. I do intend to read on in the series—mostly because I’ve already got several of the next ones here, and based on the strength of the first couple of books. I guess every author is allowed to have one worm in the apple basket of their work. C-
11. HOOT by Carl Hiaasen. (Audio) Those of you who read this author’s adult humor books might be surprised to know that he also writes for young adults and is actually a Newbery Award winner for this book. I’ve read a couple of Hiassen’s adult books and while I thought they were okay, I just loved the audio version of this YA story. Set in Hiaasen’s beloved Florida, this is the story of Roy Eberhardt, the new kid at Trace Middle School in Coconut Grove, FL, and his shaky alliance of new friends. They band together to save some burrowing owls (a protected species) from greedy land developers and the bigwigs at Mother Paula’s All-American Pancake House. Determined not to let Mother Paula’s build their 469th restaurant where the owls are currently nesting, Roy, his friends Beatrice and her nameless stepbrother, a runaway living on the streets, plot to take on the town’s officials, the cops, and the foreman of the construction crew all the while Roy is trying to stay out of the clutches of the town bully. Excellent story, with some of Hiaasen’s typical humor, toned down somewhat for the younger set. Great reader, too. I also understand this book has been made into a movie, and I do plan to watch it soon! A+
12. FOOL by Christopher Moore. The wacky Moore goes all medieval in this spoof of Shakespeare’s King Lear story, this time told from the point of view of his jester, Pocket. With more plot twists and turns than a redundant colon, Moore’s ribald wit permeates the tale, poking fun at not only Shakespeare himself, but all his characters as well. The inept yet cruel King Lear, his grasping, whorish daughters and their power-hungry husbands, and Pocket’s own half-wit apprentice, Drool. It’s been years since I actually read King Lear itself, so (to be honest) I’m sure I missed a whole bunch of parallels and puns. It’s also been a couple of years since I read my last Chris Moore book, and this one seems to me to be much more decidedly raunchy than his previous work. I seem to recall that he used to rely more on actual wit than on adolescent sexual jokes.While I don’t mind irreverent humor at all, this book was so full of it that IMO it detracted somewhat from the story itself. Sort of like an X-rated Austin Powers meets Shakespeare, more or less. There were some definite laugh out loud moments, lots of witty repartee and some stellar prose and verse, and Moore’s portrayal of Pocket as the main character rather than Lear was an interesting take on things. But I have to say that this was definitely not my favorite of Moore’s works and when it was finished, I closed the book more with relief than satisfaction. C.
13. PAGAN EVERY DAY: FINDING THE EXTRAORDINARY IN OUR ORDINARY LIVES by Barbara Ardinger. I actually started reading this ‘page a day’ type book several months ago, periodically picking it up and reading a dozen days’ or so worth of ruminations. Each day of the year has some thoughts from the author—information about a particular God or Goddess, holiday, pantheon, or concept, often tying together ancient beliefs and myths with the modern world. Sometimes she suggested mini-rituals, other times it was just information, and sometimes she encouraged the reader to think about some particular thing that might tie in with that day of the year and explore our thoughts and feelings about things. There were even some challenges to help us to live a “greener” life (‘walk to work or take the bus today if you normally drive,’) or just to be a better person (volunteer for a few hours at a homeless shelter or do something kind for someone you really don’t like) and such. I very much enjoyed the book, although I didn’t always follow through with her suggestions since I was reading several days’ worth of things at a time. But I did learn a LOT—not only about various pagan beliefs, but about ties from pagan and mythological beliefs as the origin for some current modern-day practices. And oh yes, it definitely gave me things to think about! I am going to keep this book on my Keeper shelf and perhaps one year will choose to pick it up and actually go through the days one at a time. A+
14. MURDER ON LENOX HILL by Victoria Thompson. #7 “gaslight” historical mystery set in early 1900’s New York and featuring midwife Sarah Brandt and police detective Frank Malloy. Sarah is referred to speak discreetly with the Linton family to examine their seventeen year old daughter Grace, whom they are concerned might be pregnant. Grace is a ‘simpleton’ with the mind of a five-year-old and Sarah does indeed determine that she is several months along—everyone assumes that she was raped or taken advantage of, but most puzzlingly, Grace denies anyone hurting her. Living a very sheltered life, Grace is never alone with any men, but Sarah doesn’t believe in immaculate conception and is determined to find who fathered Grace’s child. Mr. Linton comes under immediate suspicion, being the only man to see her regularly, but he is ruled out fairly quickly and the trail next leads to the church the Lintons attend, which is where Grace and Mrs. Linton spend some time volunteering, and eventually a murder does occur there, though the main mystery seems to be Grace’s pregnancy. Meanwhile, Malloy is asked by Sarah’s father, socialite Peter Decker, to resume investigating Sarah’s husband’s murder, which took place four years previously—Decker believes Dr. Tom Brandt was a womanizer and wants Malloy to prove it so that Sarah will finally forget about carrying on Tom’s legacy of helping the poor and return to her rightful place in society. Frank Malloy, of course, has other motives for wanting the crime solved. A predictable, light historical read that I did enjoy despite the mystery (all of them, actually) being extremely transparent and easy to solve. B.
15. TRIGGER CITY by Sean Chercover. #2 Ray Dudgeon mystery set in the Windy City of Chicago. In the first book, Ray takes on the mob and in this one, he seems to be tackling the US Government and their covert military operations. Battered, bruised and barely holding things together (physically and psychologically) after his torture and near death some months previously, Ray is hired by a retired military man whose daughter was brutally murdered—shot to death by one of her employees who then turned the gun on himself. Her killer had apparently been suddenly psychotic and paranoid and believed Joan was ‘out to get him’ and thus he ended both their lives. Of course nothing is ever that simple—the fact that Joan was set to testify for a Congressional hearing on defense contract spending had *nothing* to do with her death, I’m sure, right!?—and the fact that that information was kept hushed up is even more telling. Ray ends up in a tangled web of deceit, trying to sort out the good guys from the bad while trying to keep himself alive and mend his broken relationship with ex-girlfriend Jill, and also trying to protect Steven Zhang’s widow and daughter—he being the man who killed Joan and then himself. I like Ray, despite his foibles, and the author’s writing style make the reading of his story easy and appealing. Ray lives in a world of realism where things are never perfect and exist in multiple shades of gray, not ever simplistically black and white or right and wrong—much like real life, I suppose. I hope he lives a long and prolific life and I will be eagerly awaiting the next in series to see which major player he goes up against next. A.
16. WINTER’S CHILD by Margaret Maron (audio) #12 Judge Deborah Knott mystery set in Colleton County, North Carolina. Newly married sheriff’s deputy Dwight Bryant is just settling in to his blissful home life with Judge Deborah but is pulled away from her AND from a murder investigation in which a much-disliked, abusive good ole boy is shot in the back of the head while driving home from work. The summons away from Colleton County is a strange phone call from his eight-year-old son Cal, who lives five hours away in Virginia with his mother. Dwight makes a trip north to see Cal, and then learns that Jonna, his ex-wife, is actually missing. When Cal goes missing, last seen being picked up in front of his house by a woman in a blue parka who was assumed to be Jonna, Dwight frantically tries to figure out what’s going on, as his relationship with Jonna has not, to this point, been antagonistic at all. Jonna’s body is discovered in her car a day later, murdered, and Cal is still missing, so Deborah takes emergency leave to be with her new husband in the search for his son. Back home, Detective Maylene Richards is now in charge of the murder investigation, which continues with too many suspects and not enough opportunities. As a twisted tale of family secrets and prideful deception unfolds, Deborah and Dwight begin to piece together the tale of Jonna’s death in hopes of finding Cal unharmed. Excellent entry in the series, which just seems to get better and better with each one, and as a reader, C.J. Critt is wonderful and never lets me down. A+
17. TAILED by Brian Wiprud. #3 Garth Carson mystery. Garth has turned his rental taxidermy business over to his Russian friend Otto to run and is now an insurance appraiser specializing in taxidermy collections. Traveling around the country to check out various big-game hunters’ collections is something he’s enjoying a lot—until he keeps an appointment for an appraisal and comes across the body of Sprunty Fulmore, Chicago Bears football player and the apparent victim of a big game hunt himself. After awhile, Garth is sent to Denver to do another appraisal but finds himself the object of an FBI investigation since Sprunty was the second of his clients to end up dead—not only dead, but with a white gecko placed in his hand, so the authorities believe there is a serial killer on the loose. When a collector in Denver ends up dead the same way while Garth is there, they’re convinced the killer is Garth himself. Garth learns more about his grandfather, “Kit” Carson, big-game hunter whom he inherited his own stuffed animal collection from, and about a secret society he formed with Native American implications. Now, as the last remaining descendant of the founding members of the Order of the White Gecko, the FBI don’t realize that Garth isn’t the killer but the next intended target. Off on a wild gecko—er, goose—chase across the country, Garth, Angie (his long-time live-in girlfriend) and some crazy people he meets along the way head for New Mexico to try to head off an alien evil spirit that will take over the earth if it manages to get hold of the ‘vuka’ (spirit) inhabiting Garth. Enjoyable, wacky, light read—it’s been quite awhile since I read any Wiprud, and I’m not sure why I was so long in getting back to this. So far this is the last in this series, but Wiprud has several non-series books out there, and I’m glad to say a couple of them are on my shelf. A.
DNF: I did end up giving up on SAVING FISH FROM DROWNING by Amy Tan in audio. I may still actually read the print version, but the audio version was read by the author and it didn't seem very professionally done--the sound volume varied frequently (as though she were moving away and towards the microphone) and just wasn't (IMO) very expressively read. I gave it a good two hours before moving on.
CR:
Cheryl
2. THE BODY IN THE TRANSEPT by Jeanne M. Dams. #1 Dorothy Martin mystery. Dorothy is a widowed American whose husband had been a professor and guest lecturer, so when it came time to settle down on her own, she chose to relocate to a village in England, which she’d come to love on visits there over the years. It’s Dorothy’s first Christmas without Frank and her first in England, and it’s destined to be an eventful one, when she stumbles across the dead body of a canon in a darkened side transept after Christmas Eve services at the cathedral. Canon Billings was almost universally disliked so there’s no shortage of suspects, and Dorothy, a fan of British mysteries, feels compelled to look into things on her own since she has a connection to the case, finding the body and all. Doing so seems to help lift her out of the depression she’d been feeling, but it’s bound to get her in hot water with the local police force. This was an okay first effort—it won some kind of award the year it was written, but I didn’t think it was *that* good. I figured out the bad guy and the essential plot bits fairly early, which is not unusual. I couldn’t really get “into” Dorothy, either—she’s a little too “fussy” for me, I guess—she has an affinity for outlandish hats and a bit too concerned at keeping up appearances. Also, at least in this book, there was just a little too much of the ‘poor me’ thing, related to her recent widowhood, being an outsider, etc. I think that is likely to change as the series goes on, though, and I certainly intend to read on. B.
3. A WHISKER OF EVIL by Rita Mae and Sneaky Pie Brown. (Audio) #12 in the series featuring Mary Minor “Harry” Harristeen and her cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter and her Welsh Corgi, Tucker. This book opens with Harry finding Barry Monteith, a horse breeder and neighbor, dying, with his throat ripped out in what is assumed to be a wild animal attack. Later, it’s determined that it wasn’t—he was killed by human hands and a knife, but the odd thing is, the autopsy also reveals that he had rabies. Since Barry essentially dies in Harry’s arms, she’s quite shaken and her life goes topsy-turvy when the word of rabies gets out—first in Barry, and then in his business partner who ends up dying from it. The animal control officer, who begins to doggedly investigate the rabies also ends up dead—shot in the head—hours after telling Harry and the Postmaster that according to regulations she can no longer have her animals with her at the Post Office. I always enjoy these books, but this entry in the series was a little darker than some and slightly off-kilter, but that’s possibly due to Harry’s changing circumstances. I spotted the bad guy right away again, but wasn’t sure why the murders were committed until further along as the clues fell into place. Still, a mostly light, enjoyable listen, easy to concentrate on while unpacking and sorting and such. B+
4. CASE HISTORIES by Kate Atkinson. #1 Jackson Brodie mystery, featuring an ex-cop and ex-Army security officer now a private investigator. Mostly Jackson’s work life is boring—following people suspected of having affairs or stealing from their employers and the like. Suddenly though, several interesting cases fall into his lap at once. All deal with the past—two sisters want Jackson to find out what happened to their sister Olivia who disappeared thirty-four years ago when she was just three years old. A still-grieving father wants him to find the murderer of his beloved eighteen-year-old daughter Laura, murdered right in his own law office by a supposed madman in a fit of random violence. And the sister of an axe-murderer wants him to locate her niece, who was a baby at the time and sent to live with her paternal grandparents after her mother apparently murdered her father right in front of her. Tanya, the niece, ends up being a handful and runs away from home as a teenager and no one knows where she’d ended up. Various chapters of the book tell the stories from the point of view of the different people in the stories and I think at least some of them are meant to be Jackson’s supporting cast of characters in future installments, so if this is the case, they become very well fleshed. I loved this book, although I did figure out two of the three mysteries well in advance. The characters are very human, very engaging, a bit eccentric, and yet the author manages to make you cheer and root for them despite their sometimes annoying foibles. Jackson is a peach, and I do look forward to getting to know him better in upcoming series books. Excellent stuff! A+
5. FEAR IN THE FOREST by Bernard Knight. #7 Crowner John medieval mystery set in and around Exeter. Devon’s coroner is investigating doings in the King’s forest in the nearby countryside, spurred by a verderer found with an arrow in his back. There has long been conflict between forest officials and the people who live there, but this is something different. It seems the forest lawmen have taken up with outlaws, using them to enforce their new, stricter and very unreasonable rules. But why? John de Wolfe thinks there must be someone with money and power behind the whole scheme, and even begins to suspect his brother-in-law the sheriff. While I figured out part of the mystery ahead of time, I think a more comprehensive knowledge of medieval laws and political workings would have been needed to sort the whole thing out. On a personal note, John’s mistress Nesta is expecting a baby and when his wife finds out, she leaves in a huff for the nunnery. While Matilda had long known of John’s dalliances, the news that a baby is forthcoming sends her over the edge and she decides to enter the convent as she’s threatened to do for many years. Nesta, rather than being joyful, is despondent over her condition and John is totally perplexed. While I enjoyed the historical aspects of the book (relating to the King’s laws about ‘venison’ and ‘vert’ in the forest) I thought this book was a bit too long and convoluted. At least, there have certainly been better entries in the series. I’ve got several more of these in series waiting and certainly will read them, but I do hope the story itself is a little more tightly put together in upcoming books. B.
6. LIRAEL by Garth Nix. Second of the Abhorsen trilogy, YA fantasy series. This book moves forward in time by about 20 years from the previous book and deals with Sabriel’s son Prince Sameth and with Lirael, a Clayr who has not yet awakened to the Sight despite being fourteen years of age, long past time when most Clayr begin to See into the future. Finally given a job as a Third Assistant Librarian essentially to keep her out of trouble, Lirael meets the Disreputable Dog and begins reading some of the old texts and discovers ways of getting into some of the locked rooms in the Old section of the library. Sam, meanwhile, begins to realize that he does not want to be Abhorsen-in-Waiting and does anything he can to avoid his training and reading The Book of the Dead that his mother has given him to study so that he can begin to assist her in the troubled times ahead. As Sam and Lirael journey from opposite directions to their inevitable meeting, both are dreading what they are sure their future holds for them as they battle the Dead—but of course are in for some big surprises. Very well done second entry in series, left on a bit of a cliffhanger that definitely causes some anticipation of the finale. A.
7. MIDNIGHT FOR CHARLIE BONE by Jenny Nimmo (audio) First in the young adult “Children of the Red King” fantasy series set in England. Charlie Bone is ten years old and lives with his mum and both of his grandmas. Grandma Maisie, his mother’s mum, is kind and friendly. Grandma Bone, his father’s mother, is not. His father died when Charlie was very young, so of financial necessity, they live with Grandma Bone—a perpetually cross, rigid, mean old woman who lords it over Charlie and his mother. Also living in the big old house is Uncle Payton Yewbeam (I thought this was ‘Youbean’ as pronounced by the reader—had to look it up! LOL) who is an odd and slightly sinister fellow. When Charlie discovers he can ‘hear’ photographs—the thoughts of the people in them at the time they were taken—Grandma Bone calls in the three Yewbeam aunts to test Charlie—and since he turns out to be one of the ‘endowed,’ he is sent to Bloor’s Academy, a school where you must be either a genius or endowed with some odd power like Charlie’s. His power means he’s a descendant of the Red King. Charlie is sad to be leaving his best friend Benjamin Brown (and his dog, Runner Bean—that name gave me fits of giggles every time I heard it!) behind, but he does make some new and interesting friends (and enemies!) at the Academy, and his weird uncle turns out to be Charlie’s ally. While a bit predictable in places, I did enjoy this reading (the reader was excellent!) and look forward to listening to the next in series. A-.
8. THE TITAN’S CURSE by Rick Riordan (audio) #3 Percy Jackson and the Olympians YA fantasy. I normally wouldn’t have listened to another book from the same genre one after another by choice, but this one I was on a wait list for, so when it’s your turn to download it, you snap it up while you can. When Percy’s friend AnnaBeth is kidnapped, he naturally wants to be on the quest to rescue her. But her rescue coincides with another disaster—the kidnapping of the Goddess Artemis, and thus her Hunters have a say in who goes along, and Percy is NOT on the guest list! Does that stop him? It does not! He sets out on his own, but then ends up with the selected group. On a strict timetable—the quest must be accomplished and Artemis rescued before the Council of the Gods on the Winter Solstice—Percy, Grover, Thalia, and some of the Hunters are led across country from New York to New Mexico to San Francisco as various bad guys (led by Percy’s old nemesis Luke) and clues fall into place revealing who is behind Luke’s caper and why. Very well done with an excellent reader, loosely educational as information about mythology is imparted in an informal way, and entertaining too, with a just plain great story. A.
9. PARDONABLE LIES by Jacqueline Winspear. #3 Maisie Dobbs historical mystery. In this episode, Maisie is beginning to settle comfortably into her business as a private investigator, but gets pulled to France on two personal cases—one to confirm the death of the son of a friend of a friend, another she’s looking into informally for her good friend Priscilla, to locate where her brother Peter died. She also is working with a very young girl who is accused of murdering her pimp. During the course of her investigations, Maisie has several attempts made on her life, though she’s not sure which investigation has stirred up such a hornet’s nest. She also confronts many of her own demons and ghosts with regards to her service as a nurse during WWI in France. While I did like this book, I found some of the coincidences tying her cases together to be almost so fantastic as to be nearly unbelievable. I figured out some of the mysteries in advance but the final one was a surprise. I like Maisie and look forward to reading the other books in series but I didn’t like this one quite as much as the previous ones—it seemed a bit long and drawn out in places, too. B+
10. DEATH IN DISGUISE by Caroline Graham. #3 Inspector Barnaby English mystery. Set on a large estate that is run and occupied by a New Age religious group. Chief Inspector Barnaby and Sgt. Troy arrive when The Master, the head of the group, is murdered during a regression session. This book was very slow-moving for me, long and drawn out, with much detail about the lives of the members of the group, such that Inspector Barnaby doesn’t even make an entrance until page 133. I liked the other two books in the series, but really found this one tedious and slow-going. I don’t know if it was just that I couldn’t get interested in any of the characters or what, but to be honest by about page 200, I didn’t much care who killed whom and skimmed through to the end. I do intend to read on in the series—mostly because I’ve already got several of the next ones here, and based on the strength of the first couple of books. I guess every author is allowed to have one worm in the apple basket of their work. C-
11. HOOT by Carl Hiaasen. (Audio) Those of you who read this author’s adult humor books might be surprised to know that he also writes for young adults and is actually a Newbery Award winner for this book. I’ve read a couple of Hiassen’s adult books and while I thought they were okay, I just loved the audio version of this YA story. Set in Hiaasen’s beloved Florida, this is the story of Roy Eberhardt, the new kid at Trace Middle School in Coconut Grove, FL, and his shaky alliance of new friends. They band together to save some burrowing owls (a protected species) from greedy land developers and the bigwigs at Mother Paula’s All-American Pancake House. Determined not to let Mother Paula’s build their 469th restaurant where the owls are currently nesting, Roy, his friends Beatrice and her nameless stepbrother, a runaway living on the streets, plot to take on the town’s officials, the cops, and the foreman of the construction crew all the while Roy is trying to stay out of the clutches of the town bully. Excellent story, with some of Hiaasen’s typical humor, toned down somewhat for the younger set. Great reader, too. I also understand this book has been made into a movie, and I do plan to watch it soon! A+
12. FOOL by Christopher Moore. The wacky Moore goes all medieval in this spoof of Shakespeare’s King Lear story, this time told from the point of view of his jester, Pocket. With more plot twists and turns than a redundant colon, Moore’s ribald wit permeates the tale, poking fun at not only Shakespeare himself, but all his characters as well. The inept yet cruel King Lear, his grasping, whorish daughters and their power-hungry husbands, and Pocket’s own half-wit apprentice, Drool. It’s been years since I actually read King Lear itself, so (to be honest) I’m sure I missed a whole bunch of parallels and puns. It’s also been a couple of years since I read my last Chris Moore book, and this one seems to me to be much more decidedly raunchy than his previous work. I seem to recall that he used to rely more on actual wit than on adolescent sexual jokes.While I don’t mind irreverent humor at all, this book was so full of it that IMO it detracted somewhat from the story itself. Sort of like an X-rated Austin Powers meets Shakespeare, more or less. There were some definite laugh out loud moments, lots of witty repartee and some stellar prose and verse, and Moore’s portrayal of Pocket as the main character rather than Lear was an interesting take on things. But I have to say that this was definitely not my favorite of Moore’s works and when it was finished, I closed the book more with relief than satisfaction. C.
13. PAGAN EVERY DAY: FINDING THE EXTRAORDINARY IN OUR ORDINARY LIVES by Barbara Ardinger. I actually started reading this ‘page a day’ type book several months ago, periodically picking it up and reading a dozen days’ or so worth of ruminations. Each day of the year has some thoughts from the author—information about a particular God or Goddess, holiday, pantheon, or concept, often tying together ancient beliefs and myths with the modern world. Sometimes she suggested mini-rituals, other times it was just information, and sometimes she encouraged the reader to think about some particular thing that might tie in with that day of the year and explore our thoughts and feelings about things. There were even some challenges to help us to live a “greener” life (‘walk to work or take the bus today if you normally drive,’) or just to be a better person (volunteer for a few hours at a homeless shelter or do something kind for someone you really don’t like) and such. I very much enjoyed the book, although I didn’t always follow through with her suggestions since I was reading several days’ worth of things at a time. But I did learn a LOT—not only about various pagan beliefs, but about ties from pagan and mythological beliefs as the origin for some current modern-day practices. And oh yes, it definitely gave me things to think about! I am going to keep this book on my Keeper shelf and perhaps one year will choose to pick it up and actually go through the days one at a time. A+
14. MURDER ON LENOX HILL by Victoria Thompson. #7 “gaslight” historical mystery set in early 1900’s New York and featuring midwife Sarah Brandt and police detective Frank Malloy. Sarah is referred to speak discreetly with the Linton family to examine their seventeen year old daughter Grace, whom they are concerned might be pregnant. Grace is a ‘simpleton’ with the mind of a five-year-old and Sarah does indeed determine that she is several months along—everyone assumes that she was raped or taken advantage of, but most puzzlingly, Grace denies anyone hurting her. Living a very sheltered life, Grace is never alone with any men, but Sarah doesn’t believe in immaculate conception and is determined to find who fathered Grace’s child. Mr. Linton comes under immediate suspicion, being the only man to see her regularly, but he is ruled out fairly quickly and the trail next leads to the church the Lintons attend, which is where Grace and Mrs. Linton spend some time volunteering, and eventually a murder does occur there, though the main mystery seems to be Grace’s pregnancy. Meanwhile, Malloy is asked by Sarah’s father, socialite Peter Decker, to resume investigating Sarah’s husband’s murder, which took place four years previously—Decker believes Dr. Tom Brandt was a womanizer and wants Malloy to prove it so that Sarah will finally forget about carrying on Tom’s legacy of helping the poor and return to her rightful place in society. Frank Malloy, of course, has other motives for wanting the crime solved. A predictable, light historical read that I did enjoy despite the mystery (all of them, actually) being extremely transparent and easy to solve. B.
15. TRIGGER CITY by Sean Chercover. #2 Ray Dudgeon mystery set in the Windy City of Chicago. In the first book, Ray takes on the mob and in this one, he seems to be tackling the US Government and their covert military operations. Battered, bruised and barely holding things together (physically and psychologically) after his torture and near death some months previously, Ray is hired by a retired military man whose daughter was brutally murdered—shot to death by one of her employees who then turned the gun on himself. Her killer had apparently been suddenly psychotic and paranoid and believed Joan was ‘out to get him’ and thus he ended both their lives. Of course nothing is ever that simple—the fact that Joan was set to testify for a Congressional hearing on defense contract spending had *nothing* to do with her death, I’m sure, right!?—and the fact that that information was kept hushed up is even more telling. Ray ends up in a tangled web of deceit, trying to sort out the good guys from the bad while trying to keep himself alive and mend his broken relationship with ex-girlfriend Jill, and also trying to protect Steven Zhang’s widow and daughter—he being the man who killed Joan and then himself. I like Ray, despite his foibles, and the author’s writing style make the reading of his story easy and appealing. Ray lives in a world of realism where things are never perfect and exist in multiple shades of gray, not ever simplistically black and white or right and wrong—much like real life, I suppose. I hope he lives a long and prolific life and I will be eagerly awaiting the next in series to see which major player he goes up against next. A.
16. WINTER’S CHILD by Margaret Maron (audio) #12 Judge Deborah Knott mystery set in Colleton County, North Carolina. Newly married sheriff’s deputy Dwight Bryant is just settling in to his blissful home life with Judge Deborah but is pulled away from her AND from a murder investigation in which a much-disliked, abusive good ole boy is shot in the back of the head while driving home from work. The summons away from Colleton County is a strange phone call from his eight-year-old son Cal, who lives five hours away in Virginia with his mother. Dwight makes a trip north to see Cal, and then learns that Jonna, his ex-wife, is actually missing. When Cal goes missing, last seen being picked up in front of his house by a woman in a blue parka who was assumed to be Jonna, Dwight frantically tries to figure out what’s going on, as his relationship with Jonna has not, to this point, been antagonistic at all. Jonna’s body is discovered in her car a day later, murdered, and Cal is still missing, so Deborah takes emergency leave to be with her new husband in the search for his son. Back home, Detective Maylene Richards is now in charge of the murder investigation, which continues with too many suspects and not enough opportunities. As a twisted tale of family secrets and prideful deception unfolds, Deborah and Dwight begin to piece together the tale of Jonna’s death in hopes of finding Cal unharmed. Excellent entry in the series, which just seems to get better and better with each one, and as a reader, C.J. Critt is wonderful and never lets me down. A+
17. TAILED by Brian Wiprud. #3 Garth Carson mystery. Garth has turned his rental taxidermy business over to his Russian friend Otto to run and is now an insurance appraiser specializing in taxidermy collections. Traveling around the country to check out various big-game hunters’ collections is something he’s enjoying a lot—until he keeps an appointment for an appraisal and comes across the body of Sprunty Fulmore, Chicago Bears football player and the apparent victim of a big game hunt himself. After awhile, Garth is sent to Denver to do another appraisal but finds himself the object of an FBI investigation since Sprunty was the second of his clients to end up dead—not only dead, but with a white gecko placed in his hand, so the authorities believe there is a serial killer on the loose. When a collector in Denver ends up dead the same way while Garth is there, they’re convinced the killer is Garth himself. Garth learns more about his grandfather, “Kit” Carson, big-game hunter whom he inherited his own stuffed animal collection from, and about a secret society he formed with Native American implications. Now, as the last remaining descendant of the founding members of the Order of the White Gecko, the FBI don’t realize that Garth isn’t the killer but the next intended target. Off on a wild gecko—er, goose—chase across the country, Garth, Angie (his long-time live-in girlfriend) and some crazy people he meets along the way head for New Mexico to try to head off an alien evil spirit that will take over the earth if it manages to get hold of the ‘vuka’ (spirit) inhabiting Garth. Enjoyable, wacky, light read—it’s been quite awhile since I read any Wiprud, and I’m not sure why I was so long in getting back to this. So far this is the last in this series, but Wiprud has several non-series books out there, and I’m glad to say a couple of them are on my shelf. A.
DNF: I did end up giving up on SAVING FISH FROM DROWNING by Amy Tan in audio. I may still actually read the print version, but the audio version was read by the author and it didn't seem very professionally done--the sound volume varied frequently (as though she were moving away and towards the microphone) and just wasn't (IMO) very expressively read. I gave it a good two hours before moving on.
CR:
Cheryl
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