1. THE AMAZING MAURICE AND HIS EDUCATED RODENTS by Terry Pratchett. First in the Discworld Children's book series. Pratchett's take on the Pied Piper story. Every city has rats, especially in Discworld. But the city of Bad Blintz is special--they are so overrun with rats that they employ not one but two rat catchers and even at that are nearly starving because the rats are eating all the food. Enter Maurice--a talking tabby cat--and his thinking, talking rats with interesting names like Dangerous Beans, Peaches, Darktan and Nourishing. (They took their names from labels on tins and bottles in the trash, primarily.) With them is Keith, a rather nondescript lad who plays the pipe. Maurice's scam is to sneak his educated rodents into town, have them show themselves at inopportune moments, widdle on some foodstuffs, and then have Keith pipe them out of town. Voila--instant reward! They figure Bad Blintz is ripe for the picking with an already bad infestation. Problem is, Dangerous Beans and the others can find NO rats when they check out the town's sewers and dark places. Not a one! Turns out the rat catchers have a scheme of their own going, which Maurice, the rats, Keith and the Mayor's strange daughter Malicia set out to thwart. I really enjoyed this first Discworld book written more for young readers. The regular lot of characters aren't really mentioned, and the story could've taken place in any town, Discworld or otherwise. I would say this isn't for very young children as there is some violence and death...but then I guess, there is in pretty much every fairy tale, isn't there? Pratchett's usual wacky sense of humor is in evidence, albeit with less footnotes. It may be Discworld Lite, but it's not to be missed! B+
2. MOONLIGHT DOWNS by Adrian Hyland. Set in the outback of Australia, this is the first in a series featuring Emily Tempest, the 26-year-old daughter of a whitefeller miner and an Aboriginal woman. Emily returns to the outback after several years meandering around, trying various university courses, and still not sure what to do with her life. Since her mother died young, she spent much of her time growing up in Moonlight Downs, the blackfeller settlement in the outback, but she doesn't feel totally a part of either the white or the black community. Returning now, she almost feels like she's home, but the feeling is shattered when the elderly head of the settlement who was like a second father to her, is brutally murdered just a couple of days later. Emily is crushed as the community scatters, most back to the town of Bluebush, a scrubby settlement full of rough-living folks with no redeeming qualities. But there Emily ends up too, working in a menial job and living in a tiny, squalid apartment, as she has basically nowhere else to go. Lincoln's daughter Hazel, Emily's best friend, has gone off to do her grieving the aboriginal way. Emily puzzles over who could have killed Lincoln--was it Blakie, the wild, crazed witchdoctor who lived in the bush? Earl Marsh, a cattle baron set on buying up neighboring property? Or someone else? Emily feels like the police aren't too interested in finding the truth so begins poking her nose in and gets herself into some sticky situations along the way. All I can say is....WOW! What an awesome book! The author did such a great job with Emily's character, the cultural immersion, and the outback itself as a main character in the story. The racial tensions and societal norms were treated matter-of-factly and neither glossed over nor played up--they just WERE. I learned so much, and had no idea at the time that I was being educated--the book was a total pleasure read! I have to admit that I did spot the bad guy as soon as he was introduced, at least was pretty sure it was him, but that in no way diminished my enjoyment of the book. I am so glad I've got the second in the series on the way to me, as I know it won't be long before I get to it. If this isn't among my top ten of the year, I'll eat my shorts. :D A++
3. WHEN THE DEVIL HOLDS THE CANDLE by Karin Fossum. #3 Inspector Conrad Sejer series set in Norway. This book seems to be more about the lives of several people involved in various crimes than with the police procedures or crime detection. Andreas, an 18 year old, is reported missing by his frantic mother. Determined to convince the police that he is a 'good boy,' which seems to hold true on the surface--he had a steady job, never gave his mother trouble, had no police record--she refers them to her friend Irma as a character reference for Andreas. Unknown to his mother, Irma has been a victim of Andreas and his friend Zipp. We see a different story told from the point of view of Zipp, an indolent unemployed youth who is Andreas' best friend. He and Andreas would drive or wander around the town committing petty theft and burglary, looking for easy marks to steal a handbag from and get some beer money. It's also told from the point of view of Irma, an aging woman who seems virtually alone in the world and is definitely mentally ill in some way. I enjoy these series of mysteries, but they're always a little odd, skittering here and there from varying points of view such that it's sometimes hard to get a coherent picture of things. I also don't feel like I have a good grasp on who Sejer is, because there isn't all that much time spent on his police work or his personal life--bits and pieces here and there is all. It's an interesting book, and I will continue to read on in the series, but I came away from this one feeling somehow let down and dissatisfied--like I knew I was supposed to be more horrified than I was, or something. Hard to put a finger on it, but not as enjoyable to me as her previous books were. B.
4. MERCY FALLS by William Kent Krueger. (AUDIO) #5 Cork O'Connor mystery set in northern Minnesota (and partially in Chicago in this book.) Cork, sheriff of Tamarack County, has two investigations to divide his time between. First, a sniper shoots one of his deputies--and the bullet was most likely meant for him. Although Marcia Dodds will recover, Cork feels a certain amount of guilt and wants to find out the reason for the attempted hit and who's responsible. But he also has to investigate the brutal death of Eddie Jacoby, a man from Chicago who is in town on business. It turns out that Eddie is the half-brother of Ben Jacoby, an old flame of Jo's (Cork's wife) from college, part of a rich and powerful family who even fly in a 'security expert' to help. The threats against Cork continue, so he sends Jo and the kids to her sister Rose's in Chicago. Through a long and twisty tale, Cork, his team, Dina Willner (the security expert) chase clues and false trails in an attempt to find the bad guy. It has been several years since I read the previous book in this series. I've tried hard to like it because the author is local and I used to live in the area the books take place in. The books have interesting stories and I do love the local flavor. Cork and his secondary characters are likable and interesting. And yet some niggling thing about these books always annoys the heck out of me. I still can't figure out what exactly bugs me, but it wasn't any different this time--even listening to the book in audio instead of reading in print didn't change things. Part of it is the relationship between Cork and Jo, his wife. Something is just "off" there. Also, the plots seem kind of contrived. In this book--as with previous books in the series--the bad guy was very obvious to me from the time they entered the picture. A whole slew of red herrings didn't change my mind about that and I kept wanting to slap Cork upside the head for missing big clues. The plot seemed really stretched with way too many coincidences popping up. And I absolutely HATE it when an author doesn't wrap up the story in the book at hand. Yes, there has to be some continuity from one book to the next, perhaps leaving questions about what happens to some aspect of the main character's personal life--but to totally omit a resolution to the crimes committed during the book, even if the 'answer' was known to a couple of people is just deplorable, IMO. Here's the deal: this cliffhanger, more than wanting me to go out and read the next book, makes me realize that I don't really care one way or another what happens. And whatever the mysterious "it" is that bugs me about this series, I'm going to listen to it and just stop right here. C-
5. THE SAMARITAN'S SECRET by Matt Beynon Rees. #3 Omar Yussef Sirhan mystery set in Palestine, this one in the city of Nablus where Omar and his family have come for his friend Sami's wedding. Before that happens though, Sami, a police officer, gets tangled up in an investigation regarding a murdered Samaritan--a small religious sect related to Judaism with a temple on Mt. Gerishim above the city. When Sami is warned off the investigation by one of the powerful political sects, Omar takes up the slack and investigates with his friend Khamis Zeydan, Bethlehem's police chief (also in town for the wedding) and discover that Khamis has a personal tie to the investigation. Was the young man's death related to the recent theft of an ancient, sacred scroll or was it motivated by something personal or political. In Palenstine, it seems that politics figure heavily in every investigation and the police are often in the pay of various political sects who then direct how the investigation should go. Omar Yussef is outraged by this and wants to get at the truth--which often (and in this case also) leads to him putting himself in harm's way. Eventually they do get to the heart of the matter, with an interesting plot twist that I should have seen coming (one of those head-slapping moments, because the clues were there!) but didn't. Another stellar entry in this series, the author puts you right in the heart of the city of Nablus and without letting on that he's doing so, gives you an interesting education into the city's history, the mingling of various religions and political parties, and the current state of affairs. I always walk away from these books feeling saddened at the way things are in the Middle East, how people must be torn in many directions in their daily lives, to live with things hanging over their heads that we in the Western world can only begin to imagine. I like Omar Yussef a lot--he's an engaging, believable character with a striped past and his own flaws but with an inherent integrity that nevertheless leaves him open to temptation at times. Very much looking forward to the next in this wonderful series. A.
6. A BEAUTIFUL BLUE DEATH by Charles Finch. #1 Charles Lenox historical mystery set in 1865 London. Charles, a member of the nobility, has decided to spend his spare time being a private detective, although he accepts no money for his services. His good friend Lady Jane Grey has approached him to look into the death of a former lady's maid of hers, Prudence Smith, who was said to have committed suicide but was later found to have been murdered by a rare botanical poison. Charles has help from Lady Jane, his doctor friend Tom McConnell, his butler Graham and even his brother, Lord Edmund the baronet and eventually the mysteries--another body turns up later, one of Charles' prime suspects--do get solved. I wasn't sure I'd like this book as it's set in a time period that's one of my least favorite, and I've never been fond of books featuring a lot of the high nobility muckety-mucking about. But this one was quite pleasant, with lots of warm, blazing fires and pots of tea and toast--probably all the more pleasant because I read it primarily over a cool and rainy weekend. LOL The cast of characters were fairly lively and atypical for the nobility of the time, although some of the quirkiness was a bit cliched. I spotted a number of historical errors and anachronisms, but they didn't significantly interfere with the mystery, I didn't think. I did catch some of the clues as they came up but didn't realize their significance until the end when Charles pieced them altogether. A fairly light, quick read and while I wouldn't call it excellent it was a good, enjoyable book despite the historical inaccuracies. B
7. THE STOLEN BLUE by Judith Van Gieson. #1 Claire Reynier mystery. Claire is the collections librarian for a university in New Mexico, fairly recently divorced and loving her newfound freedom. She heads into the Blue, an isolated area a couple of hundred miles from Santa Fe to see an old mentor of hers who is in ill health and is donating his private collection to her university's library. While she is there to collect the books, Burke tells her he's made her the executor of his will, which he's just changed and has witnessed in front of her, talks about what he wants done--and the next morning he ends up dead. His newly discovered daughter Mariah says she followed his wishes and helped him commit suicide the way he wanted. No one thinks much of it, Claire included, because it sounds exactly as though it's how he would have wanted to go. But then his other children raise a stink because his isolated ranch is worth a lot of money. When a single carton of the rarest of Burke's donated books is stolen from Claire's truck before it can even be catalogued into the library, she seeks to find out who stole them and why--and then more questions are raised about Burke's death when the heirs are set to contest the will. Did he die of his own hand, or did someone else help him along in a way he did NOT want? This was an okay book, but I wasn't enthralled. While I thought some of Claire's antics were interesting, the author wrote about her almost dispassionately and I found it hard to feel much of anything about her, her situations, etc. It was just sort of blah. I did finish it, but I'm really not eager to get on with the series, at least not at this time. I just didn't much care one way or another who did what to whom. C.
8. THE HANGING HILL by Chris Grabenstein. #2 in the YA paranormal mystery series featuring Zack Jennings and his family. Eleven-year-old Zack and his stepmother Judy are off to Chatham, CT where Judy's book Curiosity Cat is being produced as a play by the rather famous director Reginald Grimes at the Hanging Hill Theatre. Theatres are notoriously full of ghosts as Zack and Judy, who can also see ghosts, find out quickly, much to their dismay. Some ghosts are benevolent, others seem neutral and still others downright evil. Zack is excited to learn that one of his favorite actresses, Meghan McKenna, will be playing the girl's role in the play and when they meet they get along famously--and Zack learns that Meghan can also see ghosts. Her co-star, Derek Stone, can't--and he's also got an annoying Hollywood mom and is allergic to Zack's beloved dog, Zipper. Strange things begin happening almost from the moment of their arrival and soon Zack and Meghan are off exploring and uncover a deadly plot headed by none other than the strange Grimes himself and which many of the theatre's ghosts are involved in, too. This was a wonderful book, plenty of scary moments and lots of great fun throughout, whether you're eleven years old or eleven plus forty! Highly recommended, and though it stands well on its own, I think it's best enjoyed if you read The Crossroads, the first book featuring Zack and Judy, first. A.
9. THREE MONKEYS by Marianne MacDonald. #7 in the Dido Hoare, antiquarian bookseller mystery series. When an old homeless man Dido has seen around discovers parts of a dismembered body in the trash near Dido's home and bookstore, she becomes involved in yet another strange mystery. The old man had a monkey which Dido eventually captures and which ends up staying with a friend of her father's. As per usual, there are many things Dido somehow "forgets" to report to the police (I'm beginning to call this 'amateur sleuth syndrome' so prevalent is it among these types of books! LOL) and keeps poking into things herself with the help of her sort-of boyfriend, Chris Kennedy, an investigative reporter. She's puzzled by a quite rare and valuable book the man once had shown Dido which isn't in his belongings when he's in hospital after being hit by a car. Of course before solving the crimes, Dido eventually ends up in danger herself, through a series of what I can only call bad choices. Maybe it was just my mood, but there seemed to be a lot of "filler" in this book with the making and drinking of endless cups of tea and coffee, picking Ben (Dido's four-year-old son) up from or taking him to nursery, etc. I like Dido and I LOVE Barnabas, but I would have liked more interesting tidbits about books and the bookselling business as filler instead of the other things. In the earlier books, I got a real sense of Dido's love for her shop and for what she does, but that's been missing for these past couple of books which takes a bit of the sparkle out of them. B-
10. TURN COAT by Jim Butcher. #11 in the Dresden Files paranormal mystery series in which wizard Harry Dresden is sought by Donald Morgan, one of the elite of the Wizard's White Council--and certainly no friend to Harry in the past--to protect him. He shows up on Harry's doorstep seriously wounded and bloodied with the story that the White Council is after him as he is believed to have killed another wizard, which he swears he didn't do, and he figures that seeking solace from Harry would be the last place the Council would expect him to go. Harry believes Morgan and sets out to solve the crime, as he also believes this ties in to his certainty that there is a "Black" Council with someone very high up on the inside feeding information to the Council's enemies. With fingers in multiple pies--protecting Morgan, gleaning information about the murder, and also trying to locate his brother Thomas who's been kidnapped by a skinwalker (whom Harry calls Shagnasty--ha ha ha!)--it's not easy for Wizard Dresden to get done what needs doing and as usual it means sacrificing sleep and pissing a few people off along the way. Another wild tale across Chicago, through the Never-Never, to Edinburgh (where the White Council's headquarters are currently located) and with unexpected alliances, strange creatures, and an impossibly entangled set of twisty circumstances that leaves you wondering what's going to happen right up til the end. Very skillfully narrated by James Marsters, who seems to capture instinctively the heart, soul and the essence of Harry, and who does quite a wide variety of accents and voices very well. I started out reading this series in print, but after listening to the last few in audio, I doubt I would go back now. Very enjoyable! A.
11. IN THE WOODS by Tana French. First in a series featuring characters from Dublin, Ireland police team. (Not truly a series--the second book features only one of the detectives this book does and the third, I understand, features someone totally different. I may be wrong about that, just going by book blurbs.) ANYway....Detective Rob Ryan and his partner Cassie Maddox of the Dublin Murder Squad are called out to the small town of Knocknaree to investigate the murder of a 12-year-old girl, found bludgeoned to death and then positioned on an altar stone at an archaeological dig nearby. This is a blow to the gut for Ryan, who lived in Knocknaree as a child and was part of a huge investigation twenty years previously when HE was twelve and his two best friends disappeared in "The Wood" near the village and were never seen again. Rob (who used to be called Adam and now goes by his middle name) was found in the wood with his shoes soaked with blood, clinging to a tree, and totally without memory of what happened. He can't even remember much of anything from before that time. His family moved away, he went to boarding school in England and acquired a bit of a posh accent, and he just blocked that part of his life out--until now. He doesn't tell his boss about his connection to the place, although Cassie knows, and this leads him down some dark paths later in the book. The murder is complicated in that it could be related to many things--the child's father was head of a local group set to preserve the archaelogical dig, which is set to close down and be bulldozed to make room for a motorway. Or could it be a serial pedophile? Or perhaps Katy just saw something she wasn't intended to. Is there a connection between Katy's death and the disappearance of Peter and Jamie, Rob's friends from years ago? There are many different veins to explore before the tale is told, although I did figure it out fairly well in advance. This book sucked me in right from the beginning with the story Rob tells about that summer day when he was twelve. It's a perfect blend of personal story and police investigation, richly written with a compelling style. It was a meaty book that took me a full week to read and digest--but definitely not a slog! If there was a downfall, it was the ending which was a bit anti-climactic. But I am eagerly looking forward to the next one which apparently features only Cassie Maddox in it. A
12. SHROUD FOR A NIGHTINGALE by P.D. James. #4 Adam Dalgliesh British mystery, in which the Scotland Yard detective and his team are off to a nursing school to investigate the untimely death of two nursing students--both dead by poison of different types a couple of weeks apart. One was administered during a demonstration of gastric feeding during an inspection by the General Nursing Council, when Nurse Pearce, playing the role of the patient has her stomach dissolved by a caustic substance added to the milk feed. The second death of Nurse Fallon was at first thought to be suicide as the poison was in her bedtime whisky and lemon. Dalgliesh and crew are called in after the second death and put in many long hours cataloguing who was where during each of the deaths and trying to come up with some background and possible connection between the two nurses, since the idea that the two deaths are unrelated seems almost impossible. Neither of the women were particularly well-liked, but murder? An interesting study on life in an English nursing school in the early70's--very different than my own American nursing education that started about ten years later. P.D. James is the master at weaving an intricate plot, dropping plenty of clues (and red herrings!) and then springing the result on you at the last moment. Very enjoyable classic mystery--I'm sure I read this one years ago, but didn't remember whodunit and look forward to moving ahead in the series. A
13. THE END OF MARKING TIME by C.J. West. Standalone thriller that I would classify as dystopian fiction, set in the near future in a time when all prisoners have been released from their physical prisons and forced to undergo "Re-learning" through a variety of programs. The story is told from the point of view of Michael O'Connor, a twenty-five year old professional burglar who was injured in a police chase and spent several years in a coma, waking up to find a very different place than when he went to sleep. Gone are the jury trials, plea bargaining and time off for good behavior. Instead, you're electronically monitored 24/7 and given lessons and tasks to complete and learn before you can move on--and the punishments for not completing them or for re-offending are...shall we say, severe. Michael, after strengthening his muscles so he can learn to walk and move again, is set up in his own apartment--which he thinks isn't going to be so bad. He's beaten the system before, after all. But the system has gotten a whole lot sneakier while he's been asleep, and the rules have changed. As he careens from one mistake to the next, he's not sure who his friends are (if he has any) nor is he even certain what the objective is that he's supposed to be aiming for. I'm a bit of a fan of dystopian fiction, so the idea of this book really appealed to me. The storyline is very creative and the world Michael now lives in just as uniquely horrific as many other books of this type, where there has been plagues, wars or social upheaval. However, the book had one major problem (at least, it was a problem to me!) which distracted me quite a lot from the story itself. Writing a book in first person singular is not an easy thing to do effectively. The key is to tell the story in an interesting way from the point of view of the main character without over-populating the prose with the word "I" in all its various forms. Unfortunately, this book was written in just that style, with the opening paragraph containing "I" thirteen times. While the story itself was interesting, I could only read a few short chapters at a time without having to put the book aside to read something else for awhile--which is just a personal thing, since the "I" overuse is something that drives me particularly crazy. I'm afraid I wanted to hit that red button rather early on, as the "I" thing makes the protagonist seem very self-centered and much less engaging than he could have been, and I would have graded it higher if not for that one thing. B-
14. BIG RED TEQUILA by Rick Riordan (audio) #1 Jackson "Tres" Navarre mystery set in San Antonio, TX. Tres has just arrived back home from San Francisco, having been gone for more than ten years. His old girlfriend Lillian has asked him to come back, and he does so with hopes of starting things off where they were before. In addition, he begins looking into the murder of his father, who had been Sheriff at the time and who had been gunned down in front of his house with Tres looking on. There are a lot of people who really wish Tres would have just stayed gone and would prefer to let sleeping dogs lie, but that's not going to happen. When Lillian disappears a few days later, the list of possible reasons begins to multiply the more Tres looks into things. Tres is a bit of an atypical Texas 'cowboy'--he has an English degree and is a Tai Chi master, and though there were things he loved about San Francisco--including a feisty Chinese lawyer named May Lee who actually comes to San Antonio to help him--he realizes that this really is his home. The book's name comes from Tres's favored beverage--tequila mixed with Big Red cream soda--which he becomes reacquainted with before too long. I enjoyed this quite a lot, which sort of surprised me, as generally I'm not crazy about books set in the South or full of rednecks. There were a lot of great characters in this book, and I do hope at least some of them are recurring folks in the series.The reader did an excellent job with the book, the different voices and the 'tone' of the book was just right, too. I hadn't figured out the bad guy for sure--there were lots of red herrings being tossed around--til right up to the end, which was a nice surprise, and I will definitely read on (or listen on, if I can!) to see what Tres gets up to next. A.
15. THE MAP OF TRUE PLACES by Brunonia Barry. Novel set in Salem, MA about Zee Finch, a woman in her 30's who comes to her hometown from Boston, where she'd been working as a psychologist. Her father has Parkinson's disease and at his request, his longtime boyfriend Melville had kept from her how seriously ill Finch was. But now Finch has kicked Melville out of the house over some old slight and Zee is left to try to figure out how to care for him. She also is mourning a patient of hers, a bi-polar woman named Lilly who committed suicide and reminds Zee so much of her own mother that lines become blurred. Zee's engagement crumbles as she stays away from Boston longer and realizes that she really didn't want to marry Michael anyway. I really enjoyed this story, although I did see the plot twist coming from a mile away. I like the author's writing style, blending a bit of the mystical with the practical and capturing the essence of Salem, lots of literary and historical references too. Some of the characters from her previous book, The Lace Reader are briefly mentioned also and I hope she writes more stories set here. Her characters, even the minor ones, are wonderfully drawn--I could clearly see them in my mind's eye and felt I knew them very well by the end of the book. In short, a great escape of a novel that leaves you with a little something to think about while you're enjoying the ride. A.
16. MAGICAL AROMATHERAPY by Scott Cunningham. A slim little reference book that takes traditional aromatherapy one step further and describes how to apply the power of scent magickally by empowering the energy within the plants (or parts of the plants being used) that provide the scent as well as the scents themselves. It's a handy reference with type of plant, parts used, magickal association, and techniques for use as well as the appropriate cautions and warnings. The appendices with where to get supplies and such are mostly outdated now, but all in all, a handy tool for a quick reference, though given a choice between the two, I think I prefer his Complete Book of Incense, Oils and Brews. B.
18. MURDER FOR CHRIST'S MASS by Maureen Ash. #4 Bascot de Marins "Templar Knight" mystery set in Lincoln, UK in 1201. Bascot, a Templar Knight recovering from several years of capture in the Middle East by serving as a household knight to Nicolaa de la Haye, castellan for the city of Lincoln, investigates a murder for her husband, Gerard Camville who is the Sheriff. A young apprentice who works at the mint is found stabbed in the heart on Christmas morning, although he has been dead a few days already. Bascot's observant young assistant Gianni spots a coin in the vicinity, and it turns out to be an old coin minted during the reign of King Stephen decades ago. Bascot and Camville both fear this means there is a treasure trove nearby and seek to find it lest King John accuse Camville of treachery and withholding monies from the crown--while Nicolaa de la Haye holds the king's favor, the Sheriff has been less than supportive in times past. One death leads to another as Bascot, Gianni and Camville strive to locate not only the murderer from among a whole smorgasbord of suspects, but to find the treasure trove before Twelfth Night, which signals the end of the Christmas holidays and the return of the county's coroner--who would be sure to put in a bad word for Gerard Camville with the King any time he can. I really enjoy this series as the author does a wonderful job of showing 'what things were like' back in that time period without making you realize she's taught you something. While some of the minor characters are a bit two-dimensional, and the dialogue sometimes seems a little flat, the sense of time and mood is truly outstanding. It will be interesting to see in the next book if Bascot truly does rejoin the Templar order and leaves Gianni training as a clerk in Lincoln, or if circumstances have him staying around. B+.
DNF: PLAGUE YEAR by Jeff Carlson--audio version. It started off very promising but after awhile the author wandered off on tangents into the past with numerous details of the main players' lives that distracted from the story. I gave up listening after about 2 hours of narration.
Currently Reading: THE WORLD IS FLAT: A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY by Thomas L. Friedman, which is quite the door-stopper and non-fiction to boot, so I'm sure I'll be at it for quite awhile. Listening to IN A STRANGE CITY by Laura Lippman, one of the Tess Monaghan series. I'm not reading anything else in print at the moment as I'm having a bit of a "weed out weekend" and trying to find a few books I can throw back...running out of shelf space yet again. *sigh*
Cheryl
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
APRIL 2010
1. LYE IN WAIT by Cricket McRae. #1 Sophie Mae Reynolds "Home Crafting" mystery, this one featuring soapmaking, which is what attracted me to the book, given that I'm a soapmaker myself. Sophie Mae enters her soapmaking workshop--in the basement of the home she shares with her housemate and friend Meghan and Meghan's daughter Erin--one morning to discover the body of the neighborhood handyman on the floor--and it's apparent that he died by drinking a lye solution. She knows that all her lye was locked up, and she hadn't made cold process soap (the type you need lye to make) for over a week, so where did the lye come from? Walter was going to be doing some work for her, so he had reason to be there, but none whatsoever to be in her soapmaking supplies. It's first thought that Walter committed suicide, but further investigation, mostly by Sophie Mae, make it obvious that he didn't. A whole parcel of suspects get entwined in her investigations, and while the plot does take an unexpected twist, I felt that whole coincidence was just too improbable to be really believable. I liked Sophie Mae, although her character wasn't really developed very well and I can't say I felt any special connection to her. There were no out and out errors in the soapmaking information and procedures discussed (which was a relief...I hate inaccuracies!) but I really found it hard to believe that with the amount of work Sophie Mae actually did with her business and the amount of product she produced, that she was able to make a living solely from her soap and bath and body products AND have money to pay a teenage assistant part time plus actually live and eat. Sophie Mae also had a bad case of "amateur sleuth syndrome" in which she kept a lot of information from the police and continually put herself in danger to do her investigating. Considering that she didn't know the murdered man very well, I just can't imagine her putting that much time and effort into attempting to prove that he didn't commit suicide, even if he did die in her workshop. In short, this was an okay book, above average even--as evidenced by the fact that I didn't throw it across the room as I have been tempted to do with many cozy series lately. I probably will read the next one, but I'm admittedly not in a huge hurry to do so. A quick, light, interesting read even though it wasn't altogether satisfying. B-
2. LITTLE HEATHENS: HARD TIMES AND HIGH SPIRITS ON AN IOWA FARM DURING THE GREAT DEPRESSION by Mildred Armstrong Kalish. A meandering tale told by a woman who grew up on a farm in Iowa in the 1930's. She tells stories about her childhood, the hard work done on the farm, with neatly divided chapters that address various aspects of life including the chores and farmwork, schooling, church life, various farm animals and gardening, holidays, etc. The entire book is suffused with the common way of thought during the Depression--doing without, substituting other things where possible, recycling and using things for many purposes. Sounds bleak, but it comes across as a mostly happy and hopeful story, with the author being grateful for her childhood rather than feeling deprived. The basic story sounded quite familiar, with many common elements from stories my own parents told about their childhoods, which took place mostly in Minnesota. A lot of the quaint sayings, the plants and animals mentioned, etc. were very familiar to me. Having grown up on a farm myself, some of the things described from her childhood was still valid for me decades later. The story was good, but a bit disjointed and scattered at times. There wasn't a whole lot of "point" to the story, just a pleasant ramble through the past that was enjoyable to read. B
3. THE SWEET GOLDEN PARACHUTE by David Handler. #5 in the Mitry and Berger series, featuring Desiree Mitry, the local Trooper for Dorset, Connecticut and Mitch Berger, film critic for a New York newspaper who now lives in Dorset. Rumor has it that Berger and Mitry have split up after she said "No" when he asked her to marry him, but that's not true. They're still very much together, although Des did put off Mitch's proposal for the time being. When the local "Can Man," a strange hobo-like character named Pete who rides around on a bike collecting recyclables is found dead just off the road near the stately home of blue blood Poochie Vickers not long after a pricey classic car is stolen from her garage, it's first believed that Pete witnessed the robbery and was permanently silenced. It's also believed that a pair of brothers just released from prison are the culprits, but when Des and Mitch combine the information they gather, it's obvious that there is more motives that may be at play rather than just that quick, easy answer. So dig they do--although Mitch does so often unwittingly--and come up with the answer eventually...an answer that was painfully obvious to me almost from the beginning, but there you go. LOL I do enjoy this series, more for the characters and the visit to Dorset than the mysteries themselves, although I've found as the series has gone on, it seems to be getting a bit frayed around the edges and the characters and situations a bit cliched. I only see one more book in the series listed, published in 2008, which I have, and which I'll definitely read, but to be honest, it might be good if the author retired these folks after that while the books are still commendable reads rather than run a series into the ground as some authors have done. B
4. CATCHING FIRE by Suzanne Collins. (AUDIO) #2 in the Hunger Games YA fantasy trilogy. Katniss Everdeen, co-victor of the Hunger Games, must now prepare for her victory tour with Peta, the other District 12 tribute who won with her. They travel by train around the whole country, stopping in the major city of each District. Before they can leave, Katniss receives a covert visit from President Snow himself, who basically tells her she (with her rocking the boat and defying the usual order of things by having two Victors in the last games) is causing uprisings in the Districts and she will heretofore toe the line or her family and everyone she loves will be in dire straits. She is to accomplish this by going through with her wedding plans to marry Peta, and she will be happy about it, even though she's come to realize she loves her "boy" friend Gale, who has been her hunting partner for many years. As they travel the Districts, Katniss and Peta do notice signs of rebellion--the mockingjay, the bird featured on Katniss' pin, has become a symbol of dissent against the Capitol's vicious practices, and she can but hope that they can find some way to actually help the rebels. President Snow quickly squelches that plan by invoking rule changes in the Quarter Quell, basically turning it into another Hunger Games that will feature all living Victors from past games--including Peta, their trainer Hamish, and Katniss herself. What kind of strategy can they possibly come up with that will keep all of them alive this time? I really am enjoying this series, especially this audio version read by Carolyn McCormick. This one wasn't quite as compelling as the last book, perhaps suffering a bit of that 'middle-of-trilogy' lethargy due to significant amount of verbiage spent setting things up for the last book in the series, but this was a good story in and of itself too. I am greatly looking forward to Mockingjay, and in addition to listening in audio, have also purchased these in hardcover for my Keeper shelf to read again later. Excellent! A.
5. A HARD TICKET HOME by David Housewright. #1 Rushmore "Mac" McKenzie mystery set in St. Paul, MN. Mac is an ex-cop who quit to take a huge reward from an embezzler he caught, so now is technically unemployed. While not a licensed investigator, he helps people who need helping, sometimes taking a small fee, sometimes accepting trade for his services. When Richard Carlson, a man who did some renovations on his lake cabin, contacts him asking him to find his daughter Jamie, Mac might've turned down the job but for one thing: Richard's other daughter Stacy is dying of leukemia and they need a match for a bone marrow transplant to save her life. Jamie disappeared several years previously after graduating from high school, and Richard and Molly don't even know if she's alive or dead. Mac agrees to help and soon is caught up in a complicated web of Twin Cities gangs, an ambitious businessman's club with some interesting secrets, and an ongoing serial killer investigation. Leaving a mess of dead bodies in his wake (some of them not even his own doing) Mac eventually works out the several mysteries that are entwined together in this interesting tale. I have to admit, this author and I didn't get off on the right foot when I found a misspelled brand name item right on the first few pages. (The boots are spelled Sorels (tm) NOT Sorrels! LOL) Nothing bugs me more than misspellings in final copies of published works so I feared that that faux pas would color my whole impression of the book. But the story soon sucked me in and we were off on a merry ride which I did mostly enjoy. I live in a Minneapolis suburb, and while I don't know St. Paul that well, I did recognize many of the places and the local flavor was accurately depicted. (I especially got a kick out of his descriptions of the traffic flow around here.) That said, I picked up on the so-called plot twist when the first clue for it was laid down right at the beginning of the book, and also figured out several of the other mysteries too. I thought that the amount of violence and killing associated with this one case was a little excessive and improbable, but I did like Mac and his circle of friends and plan on seeing what he gets up to in the next installment of the series. B.
6. A KILLER IN WINTER by Susanna Gregory. #9 Matthew Bartholomew medieval mystery set in 1354 during Christmas, which was a twelve-day event back then. When one of the Ovyng College students, Norbert, is found murdered in a snowdrift after a storm, Brother Michael, the senior proctor, asks Matthew, who is a physician and college professor of medicine, to help him investigate. Over the course of the Christmas holidays, several dead bodies turn up, including the husband and a servant of the former Philippa Abigny, whom Matthew was at one time betrothed to. While a series of severe blizzards and cold weather make life miserable for the city of Cambridge, one of Matt's students, Deynman, is elected Lord of Misrule for the duration of the Twelve Days of Christmas and seems determined to make everyone's life even worse by turning the tables on the scholars and priests who usually dictate policy and practice to them. Matt is disturbed by the change in Philippa's personality and character, and her brother Giles who was once a friend also seems different. Matt struggles with those changes while trying to help Michael uncover the truth about what happened to Norbert as well as the others who have died, and tries to balance Michael's stubborn insistence (despite a lack of evidence) that a visitor to Cambridge by the name of Harysone is behind the whole mess. Enjoyable visit to Cambridge as always, although I have admit that even spacing these books out quite a lot, I find much of a pattern with the series. There are an awful lot of characters to try to keep straight, and many of the clues are dropped very late in the story such that it's difficult to bring together all the little bits and pieces of the various mysteries until the end. I love this time period and the characters now seem like old friends, but sometimes these mysteries get just a little too complicated and involved and I find myself rather looking forward to the end and the resolution, too. B+.
7. FINDING NOUF by Zoe Ferraris (AUDIO) Mystery set in modern-day Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, featuring two unlikely sleuths in Nayir al-Sharqi, a desert guide for the wealthy Shrawi family, and Katya Hijazi, fiancee to Nayir's friend Othman abu-Shrawi, who works in the medical examiner's office as a forensic technician. They end up working together to solve the murder of Nouf ash-Shrawi, sixteen-year-old sister to Othman. Nayir is a conservative Muslim, somewhat out of place in Jeddah, being a native Palestinian. Othman asks him to look into first, Nouf's disappearance, and then her death after her body is found. There are many secrets and layers of polite Saudi Muslim society to cut through to get to the truth, the heart of the matter. All I can say is, WOW! I loved this book, steeped richly in the culture of the area and telling the story partly from Nayir's point of view and partly from Katya's--the difference in the men's and women's perspectives being rather profound. Nayir and Katya are both very human, with foibles and flaws and yet both being very likable, too. The author also put you right into the city of Jeddah, with rich descriptions of the sights, smells, the color and the mood of the city being pervasive throughout the whole book. I figured out part of the mystery, one of the major plot twists, but hadn't figured out the murderer until the end. The reader for this book (Pete Bradbury) was excellent and easy to listen to, and seemed to capture the soul of the story very well. Sometimes it was a bit difficult listening to the narration about the attitudes towards women and those attitudes being matter-of-factly accepted, but once you acknowledge that this is the environment Nouf and Katya live in, then you can get on with soaking up the story. Excellent! Looking forward to the next one. A+
8. PLOTS AND ERRORS by Jill McGown. #10 Lloyd & Hill British police procedural mystery, and CRAP! I just realized I've read this out of order! LOL In a complicated, multi-faceted plot, some member or members of the wealthy Esterbrook family have killed off the matriarch, the principle heir, a "rent boy" that one of them was seeing, and the private investigators hired by one of them to catch out the heir in an adulterous tryst. But who? Those with apparent motive don't seem to have had the opportunity, and vice versa. Following trails of false clues carefully laid down, Chief Inspector Lloyd, DI Hill and Sgt. Finch must figure out which clues are real and what errors the killers made in their planning. Not an easy task, with several red herrings and stinky sardines along the way. LOL I enjoyed this book a lot. McGown has an interesting way of laying things out by first going through the discovery of the various murders, then back-pedaling to a month before with tales told from the POV of the principals in the crimes, and then back to the investigation. Sometimes that ploy works and other times not, but in this case it was a gripping thriller that I was never sure about the solution to right til the very end. However, since I read this out of order (damn!) I am going to have to dig out the previous one and get it read fairly soon, too...which means only two left to finish the series after that. I am often amazed that this wonderful author has not received more attention and accolades. A
9. CONCOURSE by S.J. Rozan. #2 Bill Smith and Lydia Chin "private eye" mystery set in the Bronx. The author changes which PI tells the story from one book to another, and this is a "Bill" book. We met him rather briefly in the first book and I liked him well enough, but now we finally get to really know Bill. He is hired by Bobby, an old friend who runs a security business to investigate the killing of his nephew (one of his guards) which occurred at a high-end nursing home in a secluded compound right in the middle of the worst gang-land territory in the Bronx. The Cobras reign supreme here, and everyone thinks their leader Snake is the one who killed Mike. But Bill's friend is suspicious and gets Bill an inside job taking Mike's place as a guard so he can nose around. Bill gets the same hinky feeling and soon is discovering quite a few things that don't seem to add up. He also meets some lovely senior citizens at the Home, and the author's portrayal of them is just wonderful! Bill hires Lydia Chin to do some investigating as well, but she remains very much in the background in this book, except with regards to Bill's unrequited love for her--which always seems to hang in the air. I really enjoyed this book and think that this series is destined to become another of my favorites. The story is interesting, the characters are well-fleshed, the dialogue is believable and the easy-reading style of the book makes it a delight to read. Very much looking forward to the next in series. A.
10. THE REMAINS OF THE DAY by Kazuo Ishiguro. Set in post-war Britain, this is the story of Mr. Stevens, butler at Darlington Hall for some three decades, now serving the American businessman who bought the manor. When his boss suggests that he might want to take a little motoring trip away from the manor while he himself is away, Stevens at first dismisses the idea and then decides to kill two birds with one stone in his characteristically efficient way. He plans to motor off to Cornwall to visit Miss Kenton (he still thinks of her that way despite her being married for twenty years), former housekeeper at Darlington, to see if she would be interested in resuming her position there now that her marriage has failed and they are in need of 'good help.' Along the way he stops at various towns for the evening and ruminates on the past and his life-long endeavor to do nothing more than to serve the Lord of the manor with competence and dignity and abject loyalty in all things. As he ponders his life of service, cracks begin to appear in his extreme correctness and emotion begins to seep in and out. I found this book to be totally depressing, but on the other hand, it does come with a good message for all of us: Don't spend your life as Mr. Stevens did! I wanted to slap him upside the head SO many times during the course of the book! And just because it was depressing, doesn't mean it's not a great book! It's well-written although slow-moving, but with the author's adept descriptions, I found myself driving through the English countryside on a warm summer day and could almost smell the earth and the flowers, hear the birds and feel the sun on my face. Excellent book! This is my first Ishiguro, though I do have several others of his on my TBR--now I won't be afraid to pluck them from the shelves and dive in. A.
11. THE WEED THAT STRINGS THE HANGMAN'S BAG by Alan Bradley (audio) #2 Flavia de Luce mystery, featuring 11-year-old Flavia, who lives in 1950 England in Bishop's Lacey. Flavia comes upon a weeping young woman in the church graveyard and discovers that she's the assistant to puppeteer Rupert Porson, who is apparently quite famous because of a BBC TV show he does. Flavia, of course, has never heard of him as her father, an eccentric stamp collector, doesn't go in for the telly so they don't have one at Buckshore, the crumbling family estate where they live. The puppeteer's van has broken down and when the Vicar happens along, he suggests a barter--a puppet show in the parish hall in exchange for the services of the local mechanic to fix the van. Flavia gets enlisted to help set up, and to get Rupert and Nialla to the nearby farm where they are to set up camp. On the way, they pass by Gibbet Wood, where Flavia tells them the story of little 6-year-old Robin, son of the farmers who run the farm where they'll be staying, who was found hanged on the gallows there about five years ago. Much speculation still surrounds his death, and Flavia takes it into her head to try to solve it by sneaking around in her usual curious way. Before she gets too far, Rupert himself ends up dead--which isn't totally surprising, as he seemed to be an utterly despicable man, his talent with marionettes and the ability to delight children everywhere aside. Lots of suspects and red herrings are thrown in the mix, but as the pieces begin to fall into place in Flavia's mind, she tries to impart information to Inspector Hewitt, who isn't always disposed to listen to an 11-year-old. Of course, when that 11-year-old is Flavia, he's learning he really ought to pay attention. Absolutely brilliant second entry in the series. Flavia is a precocious dear, a chemistry genius (she likes mixing poisons in her laboratory in her spare time) whose "voice" is so well depicted by the reader, Jayne Entwistle that it's almost uncanny. Entwistle (who seems to be relatively new on the audio reader scene) does a variety of other voices and accents very well and very distinctly so that even if the dialogue doesn't say "Dogger said," or "...the Vicar remarked," you know who's talking. I very much look forward to listening to the next in series, and am only sorry it's probably at least a year away. A+
12. THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE by Stieg Larsson. #2 Millenium trilogy featuring Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist. Salander returns home from her year-long sabbatical away from Sweden, settles into a new home and tries to figure out what to do with her life. She hasn't seen or spoken to any of her acquaintances since returning, but when she hacks into Blomkvist's computer to see what he's up to, she's stunned to see that he and his colleagues are working on an exposé of the sex trade in Sweden, specifically in importing penniless young girls in from foreign countries to essentially become slaves. She gathers some information and goes to see the young couple who are working specifically on the issue and the couple ends up brutally murdered just after she's there. Blomkvist, who had called them to say he'd drop by some paperwork that was needed, discovers the bodies. When Salander's fingerprints are discovered on the weapon and her guardian is also found dead, she becomes the victim of a frantic witch hunt with painful details of her past splashed all over the papers--but for some reason, no one including the police, the prosecutor, or the newspapers has any information about the most important incident of all, the thing she calls "All The Evil" which occurred around her thirteenth birthday. Blomkvist and his team try to solve the murders of their co-workers independently of the police, as he does not believe Lisbeth is guilty. Ok. I'm going to say right now that it took me weeks to read this book. I give the author an A for the storyline and plot, but the execution of the idea was, in my opinion, rather poorly done. The book seriously needed editing--it was way too long with way too many insignificant tangents and details about minor characters that were totally unnecessary and irrelevant. The writing style itself was very uneven--sometimes I was captivated and sucked into the story, but then a few pages later I had trouble concentrating because the writing had changed to superficial claptrap--for example, when Salander was furnishing her new home, there were three pages of prose listing the furniture (including brand names from Ikea) and the decor, yet when I was done reading that passage, I had no sense at all of what the place really looked like. It was almost like there were two people writing. There was also the dichotomy with the characters--Salander was fascinating to me, but Blomkvist was dead boring. I also had to wonder why, with the supposedly wonderful medical care Sweden has, no one even whispered the term "Aspberger's Syndrome" in connection with Salander. I'm not a professional, and yet it was fairly clear to me (even in the last book!) that she likely had some form of that malady. I've decided I'm not going to torture myself and read the third one. I know a lot of people loved this book, and when I had such an opposing reaction, I really did take some time to figure out if this is just me being contrary (as I have been known to be on occasion!) or if I had some valid criticism. I think my criticism is valid. The whole premise of the book and the story was a superb idea, but in my mind it was just poorly brought to life. This was not a book I couldn't put down, this was a book I HAD to put down and read in small bits in order to finish it. I can't help but wonder if the author had lived if the editing done would have been better. I guess we'll never know. C-.
13. WHY MERMAIDS SING by C.S. Harris. #3 Sebastian St. Cyr historical mystery set in 1811 London. Sebastian, aka Viscount Devlin, is asked by his constable friend to help him investigate what may be a serial killer, since he has assisted in such enquiries in the past. There have been two bodies of young men found with certain mutilations and items stuffed into their mouths that leads Henry Lovejoy to believe they were done by the same person. When news comes to light of a third death with similar attributes that occurred a few months earlier in a village miles from London, Sebastian believes the killer is following the prose of a poem by John Donne, Go And Catch a Falling Star. The question is, why? What do the victims have in common? Once he sorts that out, the mystery of who committed the crimes isn't made clearer, but instead becomes more complicated as several suspects come to light and Sebastian must figure out the mystery before more deaths occur. On a personal note, Kat Boleyn, Sebastian's lover, is being blackmailed by the powerful Lord Jarvis into telling him information about who the new French spymaster in London is. Torn between love of country and love of Devlin, she is about to give up this information when Devlin himself learns of Jarvis's blackmail and tells Kat he is going to marry her and that's that--something he's been trying to persuade her to do for years and which she's been resisting because she knows it will ruin him. A peer of the realm marrying an actress and ex-whore just isn't done. The wedding ends up not taking place but for a very bizarre reason, and of course the author leaves the book with a nasty cliffhanger in place. Okay, this series has a very romancey tang to it, which is something that normally would make me chuck it down in about thirty seconds. But for whatever reason, that aspect doesn't bother me in this series, and I've thoroughly enjoyed each of these books so far. They are real page-turners for me, and I really enjoy the whole cast of characters, the setting and the mysteries. Very much looking forward to the next one in the series. A.
14. STALKING SUSAN by Julie Kramer. #1 Riley Spartz mystery. Riley is a television reporter in the Twin Cities, MN area--until recently, a top-notch investigative reporter. Her star has fallen considerably over the past year, however, as she struggled to put her life back together after the very public death of her husband Hugh Boyer, a former cop who had been working as chief security for the Governor of Minnesota when a firebomb intended for the Governor killed him while cameras were rolling. So Riley is intrigued when a long-time police source (now retired) throws her a lead about a couple of murders that happened exactly one year apart, both featuring women named Susan. There were other similarities that weren't revealed to the public, but no other connection besides the name could be found. Upon investigation, Riley finds several other Susans who died on November 19, some more than a decade ago and not in the Twin Cities area, and not all were classified as murder. Between that case--which was a hard sell to her manager--and the pet cremation fraud that her boss has her working on, Riley doesn't have much time to be mooning around any longer. The pet scandal actually turns into a real ratings booster, and when someone begins following her around and leaving dead flowers for her, Riley's not sure if it's someone associated with the vet's office or from her Susan investigation. As Nov. 19 approaches, Riley's anticipation rises, but her world collapses when her friend who was the source is arrested for the murder of another Susan on that night. I really enjoyed this book--I actually picked it up randomly from the community bookshelf in the break room at work when I finished my regular book and hadn't brought a backup with me. The bright yellow cover drew me to it and when I read the flyleaf and realized it was set locally and written by a local author I opened it up...and had a hard time putting it down. Although I've never been a fan of "the news" (which, IMO, is mostly NOT news and a load of horse puckey! LOL) the story was intriguing from the beginning and I learned a few things along the way. It's well-written with an easy-to-read style, the main character was interesting and appealing, the local flavor is excellent, and there's a good balance of action and introspection. Although I had one of those 'gut feelings' about the bad guy fairly early on, I wasn't sure of the motive or how the crimes were actually committed. It's been awhile since I read a real page-turner, but this was definitely one of those. Won't be long til I read the next in series. A.
15. KITTY'S HOUSE OF HORRORS by Carrie Vaughn (AUDIO) #7 Kitty Norville series, featuring werewolf Kitty who hosts a late-night talk show called The Midnight Hour. Kitty is approached by the producers of a bunch of cheesy reality shows who invite her to join the cast of a new reality show featuring all "Supernatural" guests--lycanthropes, vampires, psychics, magicians and other odd types. Kitty balks until they mention some folks she's met previously and liked who are already on board. The cast of the show will be whisked away to an isolated lodge in the mountains of Montana, alone but for the production crew who will be filming almost all of their interactions. Of course Kitty realizes they're hoping for something juicy, like an on-camera shapeshift to boost their ratings, so does whatever she can to keep the participants--some of whom aren't all that fond of one another--on an even keel. That is until all hell breaks loose one morning when Kitty finds one of the vampire Anastasia's human minions dead--an apparent accident involving a faulty deck railing until further investigation shows it was tampered with. The power is out, and there is no cell phone reception, so Kitty and Odysseus Grant head to the small plane that brought them in, only to find the radio smashed with three of the production crew brutally murdered and stuffed inside. Soon it's evident that someone is hunting them, but who? Does the powerful vampire Roman have his finger on the control button, or is it a band of paranormal bounty hunters determined to wipe the supernatural creatures off the face of the earth? I really enjoy this series, but this is my least favorite so far, for a couple of reasons. First, I like Kitty and the whole idea that she would have anything at all to do with a reality show really ticks me off. I guess I just can't quite imagine her doing such a thing. The story itself wasn't bad once it got going. But secondly, this is the first audio book I've listened to of this series and I really did not care for the reader. The whole tone of the storytelling just didn't seem "right" to me, and her voices were terrible--all the men sounded alike and all the women sounded alike, with minor variations. Just really, not very good at all--I will definitely stick to reading the print versions from here on out, and most of the lowered grade comes from the poor audio performance. C+
16. UNIFORM JUSTICE by Donna Leon. #12 Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery set in Venice, Italy. When a teenage boy at a military academy is found hanging in his bathroom at the school, it's first presumed a suicide. Brunetti, Vianello and the others investigate, but it's believed by everyone--including Brunetti's politically saavy boss, Vice-Questore Patta, that it will be a cursory investigation and everyone will go on their merry way. Brunetti smells a rat, however, and begins digging deeper into the boy's life and that of his family--his father being a retired member of Parliament, which means things have to be done discreetly. What he finds leads him to believe that most certainly Ernesto Moro's death was not a suicide but murder, and with his usual dogged determination and the help of Signora Elettra's computer skills, he finds the answers he needs. But then, things are never simple and there is the dilemma of what to do with the knowledge. I absolutely love Guido, his family, his co-workers and the author's portrayal of the city of Venice with the sights, smells, sounds, the food....but I have to admit I grow a little weary of this same plot replayed many times--always the murders in the these books seem to involve a person or persons in power or some powerful group or sub-group--either the government, the Mafia, or (in this case) the Military. Conspiracy theories abound! And often times even though we know who the killer is or what happened, there's no real resolution to the story. I will continue to read these because I love everything else about them aside from the predictable plots. Hopefully we'll have a straightforward case of jealousy here one of these times. :) B.
17. TROUBLE IN THE TOWN HALL by Jeanne M. Dams. #2 Dorothy Martin mystery, Dorothy being a retired American widow living in the cathedral town of Sherebury, England (which I believe is fictional.) Still trying to settle in to her life in a new country, and as a widow, Dorothy works part time at the Cathedral bookshop and has been contemplating whether to buy her rented home--which is listed on the historical register which means the much-needed renovations will be rather pricey. When visiting the old Town Hall, which is closed until a determination for its use can be made, she and the cleaning woman there discover the dead body of a young man in a closet, who was later determined to be murdered. They encounter Mr. Pettifer, the builder who hopes to develop the property into a mall shortly after the discovery and before they've even contacted the police. He went to look at the body and closed the victim's eyes, and that plus his supercilious attitude and a wife that seems totally cowed by him puts him at the top of Dorothy's suspect list--although he's by no means the only person there. Several people stand to benefit by any scandal affecting the Town Hall, some of them the city's most prominent citizens. Dorothy's sort-of beau, Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt is tied up preparing security for a royal visit from the Prince of Wales and is somewhat distant and unavailable when she wants to discuss the case--which, of course, she really has no business investigating anyway! Another dead body complicates things closer to the end of the book. Dorothy, who's a bit stuffy and old-fashioned and too worried about 'what people will think' for my taste--plus is given to wearing outlandish hats--isn't the most appealing sleuth out there, but these books tend to be rather calming and relaxing, quick and easy reads and once in awhile are just what's needed for a change of pace. I love the whole "English village" setting and I mostly liked this one, although I can't fathom why the police put up with Dorothy's constant interference and snooping in active investigations. I did figure out the plot twist, but not the actual mystery of whodunit til closer to the end of the book. B.
18. DANCE HALL OF THE DEAD by Tony Hillerman. (AUDIO) #2 in the Joe Leaphorn mystery series, this one was written back in the '70's and I've read it and most of these early ones years ago. I want to finish the series by reading the last half-dozen or so that I hadn't gotten to, but to refresh my memory, I'm going to listen to a few of these earlier ones first. They're narrated by George Guidall, my favorite reader, so that makes the listening that much more enjoyable. Lt. Joe Leaphorn, a Navajo tribal policeman in New Mexico, is asked to locate George Bowlegs, a fourteen-year-old Navajo boy who was a friend of a younger Zuni boy who has disappeared. When a pool of blood is discovered where the younger boy was seen, and then his body is discovered, the higher-ups suspect George, but Leaphorn believes there's something else going on, something fueled by an upcoming Zuni religious festival involving masked figures called cachinas. Thrown into the mix are a few characters at a hippy commune nearby and on an archaeological dig, and the presence of the FBI and drug enforcement who are watching the commune. I loved this series when I first started reading it back in the '70's and still enjoy it now. Hillerman is a master at setting the scene and at drawing realistic, interesting characters as well as mysteries with a twist. Very enjoyable listen! A.
19. THE CRACK IN THE LENS by Steve Hockensmith. #4 "Holmes on the Range" mystery set in the 1890's American West and featuring the Amlingmeyer brothers Gustav ("Old Red") and Otto ("Big Red.") Otto's publishing deal has come through so the boys take the advance and head to San Marcos, Texas where Gustav had lived and worked five years previously, and where the love of his life, a whore called Gertie, was brutally butchered. He finally feels that he's got his hero Sherlock Holmes' deducifyin' methods down pat so he can go back and find who killed her. But upon arrival, they discover that a lot of things have changed since Old Red used to stomp those parts and they immediately set to ticking off a whole boatload of people with their nosy questions, from the sheriff to the marshal to the owners of the whorehouse where the girl worked--and just about everyone in between. True to form, no one seems to want to tell them the truth either, and Old Red's faith in the logical detection methods of Holmes begins to waver as his emotions take over--'the crack in the lens' that Holmes talks about, love clouding ones vision of the truth. They get there eventually, but they've had a few scrapes with death and are rather bruised and bloodied by the time they figure things out. Enjoyable read, one of the very few "western" type series I do enjoy. Humorous and yet poignant in places, with well-fleshed and likable characters--even "Gloomy Gus" as the folks in San Marcos called Old Red, grows on you after awhile. I don't see another book in this series listed on the docket yet, but the author's been busy writing about zombies (of all things!)--hopefully the Amlingmeyer boys will be back before too long. A.
20. SNAPSHOT by Linda Barnes. #5 Carlotta Carlyle PI mystery set in Boston, MA. Each Friday for several weeks, Carlotta receives a photo of a young girl from birth upwards, and then the girl's mother arrives with her psychiatrist to bring her the last one--a photo of young Rebecca Woodrow just before she died. Her grief-stricken mother believes there was some error made in the treatment she was receiving for leukemia that caused Becca's death rather than the disease itself and asks Carlotta to look into it, with a handsome retainer check as an incentive. Meanwhile, Carlotta tries again to see her Little Sister (as in the Big Sister/Little Sister program) Paolina and finds the girl's mother and siblings in a terrible state due to her rheumatoid arthritis and lack of funds. Carlotta hasn't been allowed to see Paolina for nearly four months and Marta tells her she's been hanging out with some guy who's in his 20's. Since the girl is only 11, this gets Carlotta's hackles up and she begins to investigate that too. As she attempts to get inside the specialty hospital where young Becca Woodrow was treated and to keep tabs on Paolina and her 'friend,' Carlotta begins running into opposition on both fronts--and when a young nurse who worked with Rebecca and quit working for the hospital shortly after her death ends up dead herself (suicide? or perhaps not) Carlotta knows she's on to something, but doesn't even have enough information to pass along to her cop friend Mooney. Very interesting book with a rather strange premise, although I figured out the bad guy well in advance and some of the whys and hows--one of the times when it helped to be a nurse. Plenty of fast-paced, seat-of-your-pants action, just enough humor and a good dose of Carlotta's circle of most interesting supporting cast. A.
Current Reads: PLAGUE YEAR by Jeff Carlson in audio, and THE AMAZING MAURICE AND HIS EDUCATED RODENTS by Terry Pratchett.
Cheryl
2. LITTLE HEATHENS: HARD TIMES AND HIGH SPIRITS ON AN IOWA FARM DURING THE GREAT DEPRESSION by Mildred Armstrong Kalish. A meandering tale told by a woman who grew up on a farm in Iowa in the 1930's. She tells stories about her childhood, the hard work done on the farm, with neatly divided chapters that address various aspects of life including the chores and farmwork, schooling, church life, various farm animals and gardening, holidays, etc. The entire book is suffused with the common way of thought during the Depression--doing without, substituting other things where possible, recycling and using things for many purposes. Sounds bleak, but it comes across as a mostly happy and hopeful story, with the author being grateful for her childhood rather than feeling deprived. The basic story sounded quite familiar, with many common elements from stories my own parents told about their childhoods, which took place mostly in Minnesota. A lot of the quaint sayings, the plants and animals mentioned, etc. were very familiar to me. Having grown up on a farm myself, some of the things described from her childhood was still valid for me decades later. The story was good, but a bit disjointed and scattered at times. There wasn't a whole lot of "point" to the story, just a pleasant ramble through the past that was enjoyable to read. B
3. THE SWEET GOLDEN PARACHUTE by David Handler. #5 in the Mitry and Berger series, featuring Desiree Mitry, the local Trooper for Dorset, Connecticut and Mitch Berger, film critic for a New York newspaper who now lives in Dorset. Rumor has it that Berger and Mitry have split up after she said "No" when he asked her to marry him, but that's not true. They're still very much together, although Des did put off Mitch's proposal for the time being. When the local "Can Man," a strange hobo-like character named Pete who rides around on a bike collecting recyclables is found dead just off the road near the stately home of blue blood Poochie Vickers not long after a pricey classic car is stolen from her garage, it's first believed that Pete witnessed the robbery and was permanently silenced. It's also believed that a pair of brothers just released from prison are the culprits, but when Des and Mitch combine the information they gather, it's obvious that there is more motives that may be at play rather than just that quick, easy answer. So dig they do--although Mitch does so often unwittingly--and come up with the answer eventually...an answer that was painfully obvious to me almost from the beginning, but there you go. LOL I do enjoy this series, more for the characters and the visit to Dorset than the mysteries themselves, although I've found as the series has gone on, it seems to be getting a bit frayed around the edges and the characters and situations a bit cliched. I only see one more book in the series listed, published in 2008, which I have, and which I'll definitely read, but to be honest, it might be good if the author retired these folks after that while the books are still commendable reads rather than run a series into the ground as some authors have done. B
4. CATCHING FIRE by Suzanne Collins. (AUDIO) #2 in the Hunger Games YA fantasy trilogy. Katniss Everdeen, co-victor of the Hunger Games, must now prepare for her victory tour with Peta, the other District 12 tribute who won with her. They travel by train around the whole country, stopping in the major city of each District. Before they can leave, Katniss receives a covert visit from President Snow himself, who basically tells her she (with her rocking the boat and defying the usual order of things by having two Victors in the last games) is causing uprisings in the Districts and she will heretofore toe the line or her family and everyone she loves will be in dire straits. She is to accomplish this by going through with her wedding plans to marry Peta, and she will be happy about it, even though she's come to realize she loves her "boy" friend Gale, who has been her hunting partner for many years. As they travel the Districts, Katniss and Peta do notice signs of rebellion--the mockingjay, the bird featured on Katniss' pin, has become a symbol of dissent against the Capitol's vicious practices, and she can but hope that they can find some way to actually help the rebels. President Snow quickly squelches that plan by invoking rule changes in the Quarter Quell, basically turning it into another Hunger Games that will feature all living Victors from past games--including Peta, their trainer Hamish, and Katniss herself. What kind of strategy can they possibly come up with that will keep all of them alive this time? I really am enjoying this series, especially this audio version read by Carolyn McCormick. This one wasn't quite as compelling as the last book, perhaps suffering a bit of that 'middle-of-trilogy' lethargy due to significant amount of verbiage spent setting things up for the last book in the series, but this was a good story in and of itself too. I am greatly looking forward to Mockingjay, and in addition to listening in audio, have also purchased these in hardcover for my Keeper shelf to read again later. Excellent! A.
5. A HARD TICKET HOME by David Housewright. #1 Rushmore "Mac" McKenzie mystery set in St. Paul, MN. Mac is an ex-cop who quit to take a huge reward from an embezzler he caught, so now is technically unemployed. While not a licensed investigator, he helps people who need helping, sometimes taking a small fee, sometimes accepting trade for his services. When Richard Carlson, a man who did some renovations on his lake cabin, contacts him asking him to find his daughter Jamie, Mac might've turned down the job but for one thing: Richard's other daughter Stacy is dying of leukemia and they need a match for a bone marrow transplant to save her life. Jamie disappeared several years previously after graduating from high school, and Richard and Molly don't even know if she's alive or dead. Mac agrees to help and soon is caught up in a complicated web of Twin Cities gangs, an ambitious businessman's club with some interesting secrets, and an ongoing serial killer investigation. Leaving a mess of dead bodies in his wake (some of them not even his own doing) Mac eventually works out the several mysteries that are entwined together in this interesting tale. I have to admit, this author and I didn't get off on the right foot when I found a misspelled brand name item right on the first few pages. (The boots are spelled Sorels (tm) NOT Sorrels! LOL) Nothing bugs me more than misspellings in final copies of published works so I feared that that faux pas would color my whole impression of the book. But the story soon sucked me in and we were off on a merry ride which I did mostly enjoy. I live in a Minneapolis suburb, and while I don't know St. Paul that well, I did recognize many of the places and the local flavor was accurately depicted. (I especially got a kick out of his descriptions of the traffic flow around here.) That said, I picked up on the so-called plot twist when the first clue for it was laid down right at the beginning of the book, and also figured out several of the other mysteries too. I thought that the amount of violence and killing associated with this one case was a little excessive and improbable, but I did like Mac and his circle of friends and plan on seeing what he gets up to in the next installment of the series. B.
6. A KILLER IN WINTER by Susanna Gregory. #9 Matthew Bartholomew medieval mystery set in 1354 during Christmas, which was a twelve-day event back then. When one of the Ovyng College students, Norbert, is found murdered in a snowdrift after a storm, Brother Michael, the senior proctor, asks Matthew, who is a physician and college professor of medicine, to help him investigate. Over the course of the Christmas holidays, several dead bodies turn up, including the husband and a servant of the former Philippa Abigny, whom Matthew was at one time betrothed to. While a series of severe blizzards and cold weather make life miserable for the city of Cambridge, one of Matt's students, Deynman, is elected Lord of Misrule for the duration of the Twelve Days of Christmas and seems determined to make everyone's life even worse by turning the tables on the scholars and priests who usually dictate policy and practice to them. Matt is disturbed by the change in Philippa's personality and character, and her brother Giles who was once a friend also seems different. Matt struggles with those changes while trying to help Michael uncover the truth about what happened to Norbert as well as the others who have died, and tries to balance Michael's stubborn insistence (despite a lack of evidence) that a visitor to Cambridge by the name of Harysone is behind the whole mess. Enjoyable visit to Cambridge as always, although I have admit that even spacing these books out quite a lot, I find much of a pattern with the series. There are an awful lot of characters to try to keep straight, and many of the clues are dropped very late in the story such that it's difficult to bring together all the little bits and pieces of the various mysteries until the end. I love this time period and the characters now seem like old friends, but sometimes these mysteries get just a little too complicated and involved and I find myself rather looking forward to the end and the resolution, too. B+.
7. FINDING NOUF by Zoe Ferraris (AUDIO) Mystery set in modern-day Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, featuring two unlikely sleuths in Nayir al-Sharqi, a desert guide for the wealthy Shrawi family, and Katya Hijazi, fiancee to Nayir's friend Othman abu-Shrawi, who works in the medical examiner's office as a forensic technician. They end up working together to solve the murder of Nouf ash-Shrawi, sixteen-year-old sister to Othman. Nayir is a conservative Muslim, somewhat out of place in Jeddah, being a native Palestinian. Othman asks him to look into first, Nouf's disappearance, and then her death after her body is found. There are many secrets and layers of polite Saudi Muslim society to cut through to get to the truth, the heart of the matter. All I can say is, WOW! I loved this book, steeped richly in the culture of the area and telling the story partly from Nayir's point of view and partly from Katya's--the difference in the men's and women's perspectives being rather profound. Nayir and Katya are both very human, with foibles and flaws and yet both being very likable, too. The author also put you right into the city of Jeddah, with rich descriptions of the sights, smells, the color and the mood of the city being pervasive throughout the whole book. I figured out part of the mystery, one of the major plot twists, but hadn't figured out the murderer until the end. The reader for this book (Pete Bradbury) was excellent and easy to listen to, and seemed to capture the soul of the story very well. Sometimes it was a bit difficult listening to the narration about the attitudes towards women and those attitudes being matter-of-factly accepted, but once you acknowledge that this is the environment Nouf and Katya live in, then you can get on with soaking up the story. Excellent! Looking forward to the next one. A+
8. PLOTS AND ERRORS by Jill McGown. #10 Lloyd & Hill British police procedural mystery, and CRAP! I just realized I've read this out of order! LOL In a complicated, multi-faceted plot, some member or members of the wealthy Esterbrook family have killed off the matriarch, the principle heir, a "rent boy" that one of them was seeing, and the private investigators hired by one of them to catch out the heir in an adulterous tryst. But who? Those with apparent motive don't seem to have had the opportunity, and vice versa. Following trails of false clues carefully laid down, Chief Inspector Lloyd, DI Hill and Sgt. Finch must figure out which clues are real and what errors the killers made in their planning. Not an easy task, with several red herrings and stinky sardines along the way. LOL I enjoyed this book a lot. McGown has an interesting way of laying things out by first going through the discovery of the various murders, then back-pedaling to a month before with tales told from the POV of the principals in the crimes, and then back to the investigation. Sometimes that ploy works and other times not, but in this case it was a gripping thriller that I was never sure about the solution to right til the very end. However, since I read this out of order (damn!) I am going to have to dig out the previous one and get it read fairly soon, too...which means only two left to finish the series after that. I am often amazed that this wonderful author has not received more attention and accolades. A
9. CONCOURSE by S.J. Rozan. #2 Bill Smith and Lydia Chin "private eye" mystery set in the Bronx. The author changes which PI tells the story from one book to another, and this is a "Bill" book. We met him rather briefly in the first book and I liked him well enough, but now we finally get to really know Bill. He is hired by Bobby, an old friend who runs a security business to investigate the killing of his nephew (one of his guards) which occurred at a high-end nursing home in a secluded compound right in the middle of the worst gang-land territory in the Bronx. The Cobras reign supreme here, and everyone thinks their leader Snake is the one who killed Mike. But Bill's friend is suspicious and gets Bill an inside job taking Mike's place as a guard so he can nose around. Bill gets the same hinky feeling and soon is discovering quite a few things that don't seem to add up. He also meets some lovely senior citizens at the Home, and the author's portrayal of them is just wonderful! Bill hires Lydia Chin to do some investigating as well, but she remains very much in the background in this book, except with regards to Bill's unrequited love for her--which always seems to hang in the air. I really enjoyed this book and think that this series is destined to become another of my favorites. The story is interesting, the characters are well-fleshed, the dialogue is believable and the easy-reading style of the book makes it a delight to read. Very much looking forward to the next in series. A.
10. THE REMAINS OF THE DAY by Kazuo Ishiguro. Set in post-war Britain, this is the story of Mr. Stevens, butler at Darlington Hall for some three decades, now serving the American businessman who bought the manor. When his boss suggests that he might want to take a little motoring trip away from the manor while he himself is away, Stevens at first dismisses the idea and then decides to kill two birds with one stone in his characteristically efficient way. He plans to motor off to Cornwall to visit Miss Kenton (he still thinks of her that way despite her being married for twenty years), former housekeeper at Darlington, to see if she would be interested in resuming her position there now that her marriage has failed and they are in need of 'good help.' Along the way he stops at various towns for the evening and ruminates on the past and his life-long endeavor to do nothing more than to serve the Lord of the manor with competence and dignity and abject loyalty in all things. As he ponders his life of service, cracks begin to appear in his extreme correctness and emotion begins to seep in and out. I found this book to be totally depressing, but on the other hand, it does come with a good message for all of us: Don't spend your life as Mr. Stevens did! I wanted to slap him upside the head SO many times during the course of the book! And just because it was depressing, doesn't mean it's not a great book! It's well-written although slow-moving, but with the author's adept descriptions, I found myself driving through the English countryside on a warm summer day and could almost smell the earth and the flowers, hear the birds and feel the sun on my face. Excellent book! This is my first Ishiguro, though I do have several others of his on my TBR--now I won't be afraid to pluck them from the shelves and dive in. A.
11. THE WEED THAT STRINGS THE HANGMAN'S BAG by Alan Bradley (audio) #2 Flavia de Luce mystery, featuring 11-year-old Flavia, who lives in 1950 England in Bishop's Lacey. Flavia comes upon a weeping young woman in the church graveyard and discovers that she's the assistant to puppeteer Rupert Porson, who is apparently quite famous because of a BBC TV show he does. Flavia, of course, has never heard of him as her father, an eccentric stamp collector, doesn't go in for the telly so they don't have one at Buckshore, the crumbling family estate where they live. The puppeteer's van has broken down and when the Vicar happens along, he suggests a barter--a puppet show in the parish hall in exchange for the services of the local mechanic to fix the van. Flavia gets enlisted to help set up, and to get Rupert and Nialla to the nearby farm where they are to set up camp. On the way, they pass by Gibbet Wood, where Flavia tells them the story of little 6-year-old Robin, son of the farmers who run the farm where they'll be staying, who was found hanged on the gallows there about five years ago. Much speculation still surrounds his death, and Flavia takes it into her head to try to solve it by sneaking around in her usual curious way. Before she gets too far, Rupert himself ends up dead--which isn't totally surprising, as he seemed to be an utterly despicable man, his talent with marionettes and the ability to delight children everywhere aside. Lots of suspects and red herrings are thrown in the mix, but as the pieces begin to fall into place in Flavia's mind, she tries to impart information to Inspector Hewitt, who isn't always disposed to listen to an 11-year-old. Of course, when that 11-year-old is Flavia, he's learning he really ought to pay attention. Absolutely brilliant second entry in the series. Flavia is a precocious dear, a chemistry genius (she likes mixing poisons in her laboratory in her spare time) whose "voice" is so well depicted by the reader, Jayne Entwistle that it's almost uncanny. Entwistle (who seems to be relatively new on the audio reader scene) does a variety of other voices and accents very well and very distinctly so that even if the dialogue doesn't say "Dogger said," or "...the Vicar remarked," you know who's talking. I very much look forward to listening to the next in series, and am only sorry it's probably at least a year away. A+
12. THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE by Stieg Larsson. #2 Millenium trilogy featuring Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist. Salander returns home from her year-long sabbatical away from Sweden, settles into a new home and tries to figure out what to do with her life. She hasn't seen or spoken to any of her acquaintances since returning, but when she hacks into Blomkvist's computer to see what he's up to, she's stunned to see that he and his colleagues are working on an exposé of the sex trade in Sweden, specifically in importing penniless young girls in from foreign countries to essentially become slaves. She gathers some information and goes to see the young couple who are working specifically on the issue and the couple ends up brutally murdered just after she's there. Blomkvist, who had called them to say he'd drop by some paperwork that was needed, discovers the bodies. When Salander's fingerprints are discovered on the weapon and her guardian is also found dead, she becomes the victim of a frantic witch hunt with painful details of her past splashed all over the papers--but for some reason, no one including the police, the prosecutor, or the newspapers has any information about the most important incident of all, the thing she calls "All The Evil" which occurred around her thirteenth birthday. Blomkvist and his team try to solve the murders of their co-workers independently of the police, as he does not believe Lisbeth is guilty. Ok. I'm going to say right now that it took me weeks to read this book. I give the author an A for the storyline and plot, but the execution of the idea was, in my opinion, rather poorly done. The book seriously needed editing--it was way too long with way too many insignificant tangents and details about minor characters that were totally unnecessary and irrelevant. The writing style itself was very uneven--sometimes I was captivated and sucked into the story, but then a few pages later I had trouble concentrating because the writing had changed to superficial claptrap--for example, when Salander was furnishing her new home, there were three pages of prose listing the furniture (including brand names from Ikea) and the decor, yet when I was done reading that passage, I had no sense at all of what the place really looked like. It was almost like there were two people writing. There was also the dichotomy with the characters--Salander was fascinating to me, but Blomkvist was dead boring. I also had to wonder why, with the supposedly wonderful medical care Sweden has, no one even whispered the term "Aspberger's Syndrome" in connection with Salander. I'm not a professional, and yet it was fairly clear to me (even in the last book!) that she likely had some form of that malady. I've decided I'm not going to torture myself and read the third one. I know a lot of people loved this book, and when I had such an opposing reaction, I really did take some time to figure out if this is just me being contrary (as I have been known to be on occasion!) or if I had some valid criticism. I think my criticism is valid. The whole premise of the book and the story was a superb idea, but in my mind it was just poorly brought to life. This was not a book I couldn't put down, this was a book I HAD to put down and read in small bits in order to finish it. I can't help but wonder if the author had lived if the editing done would have been better. I guess we'll never know. C-.
13. WHY MERMAIDS SING by C.S. Harris. #3 Sebastian St. Cyr historical mystery set in 1811 London. Sebastian, aka Viscount Devlin, is asked by his constable friend to help him investigate what may be a serial killer, since he has assisted in such enquiries in the past. There have been two bodies of young men found with certain mutilations and items stuffed into their mouths that leads Henry Lovejoy to believe they were done by the same person. When news comes to light of a third death with similar attributes that occurred a few months earlier in a village miles from London, Sebastian believes the killer is following the prose of a poem by John Donne, Go And Catch a Falling Star. The question is, why? What do the victims have in common? Once he sorts that out, the mystery of who committed the crimes isn't made clearer, but instead becomes more complicated as several suspects come to light and Sebastian must figure out the mystery before more deaths occur. On a personal note, Kat Boleyn, Sebastian's lover, is being blackmailed by the powerful Lord Jarvis into telling him information about who the new French spymaster in London is. Torn between love of country and love of Devlin, she is about to give up this information when Devlin himself learns of Jarvis's blackmail and tells Kat he is going to marry her and that's that--something he's been trying to persuade her to do for years and which she's been resisting because she knows it will ruin him. A peer of the realm marrying an actress and ex-whore just isn't done. The wedding ends up not taking place but for a very bizarre reason, and of course the author leaves the book with a nasty cliffhanger in place. Okay, this series has a very romancey tang to it, which is something that normally would make me chuck it down in about thirty seconds. But for whatever reason, that aspect doesn't bother me in this series, and I've thoroughly enjoyed each of these books so far. They are real page-turners for me, and I really enjoy the whole cast of characters, the setting and the mysteries. Very much looking forward to the next one in the series. A.
14. STALKING SUSAN by Julie Kramer. #1 Riley Spartz mystery. Riley is a television reporter in the Twin Cities, MN area--until recently, a top-notch investigative reporter. Her star has fallen considerably over the past year, however, as she struggled to put her life back together after the very public death of her husband Hugh Boyer, a former cop who had been working as chief security for the Governor of Minnesota when a firebomb intended for the Governor killed him while cameras were rolling. So Riley is intrigued when a long-time police source (now retired) throws her a lead about a couple of murders that happened exactly one year apart, both featuring women named Susan. There were other similarities that weren't revealed to the public, but no other connection besides the name could be found. Upon investigation, Riley finds several other Susans who died on November 19, some more than a decade ago and not in the Twin Cities area, and not all were classified as murder. Between that case--which was a hard sell to her manager--and the pet cremation fraud that her boss has her working on, Riley doesn't have much time to be mooning around any longer. The pet scandal actually turns into a real ratings booster, and when someone begins following her around and leaving dead flowers for her, Riley's not sure if it's someone associated with the vet's office or from her Susan investigation. As Nov. 19 approaches, Riley's anticipation rises, but her world collapses when her friend who was the source is arrested for the murder of another Susan on that night. I really enjoyed this book--I actually picked it up randomly from the community bookshelf in the break room at work when I finished my regular book and hadn't brought a backup with me. The bright yellow cover drew me to it and when I read the flyleaf and realized it was set locally and written by a local author I opened it up...and had a hard time putting it down. Although I've never been a fan of "the news" (which, IMO, is mostly NOT news and a load of horse puckey! LOL) the story was intriguing from the beginning and I learned a few things along the way. It's well-written with an easy-to-read style, the main character was interesting and appealing, the local flavor is excellent, and there's a good balance of action and introspection. Although I had one of those 'gut feelings' about the bad guy fairly early on, I wasn't sure of the motive or how the crimes were actually committed. It's been awhile since I read a real page-turner, but this was definitely one of those. Won't be long til I read the next in series. A.
15. KITTY'S HOUSE OF HORRORS by Carrie Vaughn (AUDIO) #7 Kitty Norville series, featuring werewolf Kitty who hosts a late-night talk show called The Midnight Hour. Kitty is approached by the producers of a bunch of cheesy reality shows who invite her to join the cast of a new reality show featuring all "Supernatural" guests--lycanthropes, vampires, psychics, magicians and other odd types. Kitty balks until they mention some folks she's met previously and liked who are already on board. The cast of the show will be whisked away to an isolated lodge in the mountains of Montana, alone but for the production crew who will be filming almost all of their interactions. Of course Kitty realizes they're hoping for something juicy, like an on-camera shapeshift to boost their ratings, so does whatever she can to keep the participants--some of whom aren't all that fond of one another--on an even keel. That is until all hell breaks loose one morning when Kitty finds one of the vampire Anastasia's human minions dead--an apparent accident involving a faulty deck railing until further investigation shows it was tampered with. The power is out, and there is no cell phone reception, so Kitty and Odysseus Grant head to the small plane that brought them in, only to find the radio smashed with three of the production crew brutally murdered and stuffed inside. Soon it's evident that someone is hunting them, but who? Does the powerful vampire Roman have his finger on the control button, or is it a band of paranormal bounty hunters determined to wipe the supernatural creatures off the face of the earth? I really enjoy this series, but this is my least favorite so far, for a couple of reasons. First, I like Kitty and the whole idea that she would have anything at all to do with a reality show really ticks me off. I guess I just can't quite imagine her doing such a thing. The story itself wasn't bad once it got going. But secondly, this is the first audio book I've listened to of this series and I really did not care for the reader. The whole tone of the storytelling just didn't seem "right" to me, and her voices were terrible--all the men sounded alike and all the women sounded alike, with minor variations. Just really, not very good at all--I will definitely stick to reading the print versions from here on out, and most of the lowered grade comes from the poor audio performance. C+
16. UNIFORM JUSTICE by Donna Leon. #12 Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery set in Venice, Italy. When a teenage boy at a military academy is found hanging in his bathroom at the school, it's first presumed a suicide. Brunetti, Vianello and the others investigate, but it's believed by everyone--including Brunetti's politically saavy boss, Vice-Questore Patta, that it will be a cursory investigation and everyone will go on their merry way. Brunetti smells a rat, however, and begins digging deeper into the boy's life and that of his family--his father being a retired member of Parliament, which means things have to be done discreetly. What he finds leads him to believe that most certainly Ernesto Moro's death was not a suicide but murder, and with his usual dogged determination and the help of Signora Elettra's computer skills, he finds the answers he needs. But then, things are never simple and there is the dilemma of what to do with the knowledge. I absolutely love Guido, his family, his co-workers and the author's portrayal of the city of Venice with the sights, smells, sounds, the food....but I have to admit I grow a little weary of this same plot replayed many times--always the murders in the these books seem to involve a person or persons in power or some powerful group or sub-group--either the government, the Mafia, or (in this case) the Military. Conspiracy theories abound! And often times even though we know who the killer is or what happened, there's no real resolution to the story. I will continue to read these because I love everything else about them aside from the predictable plots. Hopefully we'll have a straightforward case of jealousy here one of these times. :) B.
17. TROUBLE IN THE TOWN HALL by Jeanne M. Dams. #2 Dorothy Martin mystery, Dorothy being a retired American widow living in the cathedral town of Sherebury, England (which I believe is fictional.) Still trying to settle in to her life in a new country, and as a widow, Dorothy works part time at the Cathedral bookshop and has been contemplating whether to buy her rented home--which is listed on the historical register which means the much-needed renovations will be rather pricey. When visiting the old Town Hall, which is closed until a determination for its use can be made, she and the cleaning woman there discover the dead body of a young man in a closet, who was later determined to be murdered. They encounter Mr. Pettifer, the builder who hopes to develop the property into a mall shortly after the discovery and before they've even contacted the police. He went to look at the body and closed the victim's eyes, and that plus his supercilious attitude and a wife that seems totally cowed by him puts him at the top of Dorothy's suspect list--although he's by no means the only person there. Several people stand to benefit by any scandal affecting the Town Hall, some of them the city's most prominent citizens. Dorothy's sort-of beau, Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt is tied up preparing security for a royal visit from the Prince of Wales and is somewhat distant and unavailable when she wants to discuss the case--which, of course, she really has no business investigating anyway! Another dead body complicates things closer to the end of the book. Dorothy, who's a bit stuffy and old-fashioned and too worried about 'what people will think' for my taste--plus is given to wearing outlandish hats--isn't the most appealing sleuth out there, but these books tend to be rather calming and relaxing, quick and easy reads and once in awhile are just what's needed for a change of pace. I love the whole "English village" setting and I mostly liked this one, although I can't fathom why the police put up with Dorothy's constant interference and snooping in active investigations. I did figure out the plot twist, but not the actual mystery of whodunit til closer to the end of the book. B.
18. DANCE HALL OF THE DEAD by Tony Hillerman. (AUDIO) #2 in the Joe Leaphorn mystery series, this one was written back in the '70's and I've read it and most of these early ones years ago. I want to finish the series by reading the last half-dozen or so that I hadn't gotten to, but to refresh my memory, I'm going to listen to a few of these earlier ones first. They're narrated by George Guidall, my favorite reader, so that makes the listening that much more enjoyable. Lt. Joe Leaphorn, a Navajo tribal policeman in New Mexico, is asked to locate George Bowlegs, a fourteen-year-old Navajo boy who was a friend of a younger Zuni boy who has disappeared. When a pool of blood is discovered where the younger boy was seen, and then his body is discovered, the higher-ups suspect George, but Leaphorn believes there's something else going on, something fueled by an upcoming Zuni religious festival involving masked figures called cachinas. Thrown into the mix are a few characters at a hippy commune nearby and on an archaeological dig, and the presence of the FBI and drug enforcement who are watching the commune. I loved this series when I first started reading it back in the '70's and still enjoy it now. Hillerman is a master at setting the scene and at drawing realistic, interesting characters as well as mysteries with a twist. Very enjoyable listen! A.
19. THE CRACK IN THE LENS by Steve Hockensmith. #4 "Holmes on the Range" mystery set in the 1890's American West and featuring the Amlingmeyer brothers Gustav ("Old Red") and Otto ("Big Red.") Otto's publishing deal has come through so the boys take the advance and head to San Marcos, Texas where Gustav had lived and worked five years previously, and where the love of his life, a whore called Gertie, was brutally butchered. He finally feels that he's got his hero Sherlock Holmes' deducifyin' methods down pat so he can go back and find who killed her. But upon arrival, they discover that a lot of things have changed since Old Red used to stomp those parts and they immediately set to ticking off a whole boatload of people with their nosy questions, from the sheriff to the marshal to the owners of the whorehouse where the girl worked--and just about everyone in between. True to form, no one seems to want to tell them the truth either, and Old Red's faith in the logical detection methods of Holmes begins to waver as his emotions take over--'the crack in the lens' that Holmes talks about, love clouding ones vision of the truth. They get there eventually, but they've had a few scrapes with death and are rather bruised and bloodied by the time they figure things out. Enjoyable read, one of the very few "western" type series I do enjoy. Humorous and yet poignant in places, with well-fleshed and likable characters--even "Gloomy Gus" as the folks in San Marcos called Old Red, grows on you after awhile. I don't see another book in this series listed on the docket yet, but the author's been busy writing about zombies (of all things!)--hopefully the Amlingmeyer boys will be back before too long. A.
20. SNAPSHOT by Linda Barnes. #5 Carlotta Carlyle PI mystery set in Boston, MA. Each Friday for several weeks, Carlotta receives a photo of a young girl from birth upwards, and then the girl's mother arrives with her psychiatrist to bring her the last one--a photo of young Rebecca Woodrow just before she died. Her grief-stricken mother believes there was some error made in the treatment she was receiving for leukemia that caused Becca's death rather than the disease itself and asks Carlotta to look into it, with a handsome retainer check as an incentive. Meanwhile, Carlotta tries again to see her Little Sister (as in the Big Sister/Little Sister program) Paolina and finds the girl's mother and siblings in a terrible state due to her rheumatoid arthritis and lack of funds. Carlotta hasn't been allowed to see Paolina for nearly four months and Marta tells her she's been hanging out with some guy who's in his 20's. Since the girl is only 11, this gets Carlotta's hackles up and she begins to investigate that too. As she attempts to get inside the specialty hospital where young Becca Woodrow was treated and to keep tabs on Paolina and her 'friend,' Carlotta begins running into opposition on both fronts--and when a young nurse who worked with Rebecca and quit working for the hospital shortly after her death ends up dead herself (suicide? or perhaps not) Carlotta knows she's on to something, but doesn't even have enough information to pass along to her cop friend Mooney. Very interesting book with a rather strange premise, although I figured out the bad guy well in advance and some of the whys and hows--one of the times when it helped to be a nurse. Plenty of fast-paced, seat-of-your-pants action, just enough humor and a good dose of Carlotta's circle of most interesting supporting cast. A.
Current Reads: PLAGUE YEAR by Jeff Carlson in audio, and THE AMAZING MAURICE AND HIS EDUCATED RODENTS by Terry Pratchett.
Cheryl
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
March 2010
1.RAVEN BLACK by Ann Cleeves #1 in the Shetland Island Quartet featuring Inspector Jimmy Perez in the Shetland Islands off the coast of Scotland. A teenage girl is dead, strangled with her scarf and left in the snow just a couple of days into the new year. On this remote island community where everyone knows everyone else and their business, it's a special challenge to slice through the prejudices, the 'known' facts (or are they?) and to peel away those layers to find the truth. Jimmy Perez, who grew up in the islands and who went to the same school as the dead girl, Catherine Ross, is hoping to solve his first major crime. The detective in charge, down from Inverness, like Jimmy, believes in keeping an open mind, whereas most of the rest of the police force and islanders have already got Magnus Tait down for the killing--they believe he killed and hid the body of another young girl ten years previously, but have never been able to prove it. As the story unfolds, told from the point of view of several of the characters, I vacillated between several different possible baddies, but wasn't 100% certain until the reveal. Excellently written with a good balance of police procedure and personal involvement of the main character, not to mention a fine sense of "place," I find I'm very much looking forward to the next in series. A+
2. MURDER IN CHINATOWN by Victoria Thompson (audio) #9 "Gaslight" historical mystery featuring midwife Sarah Brandt and Det. Sgt. Frank Molloy in turn of the century New York. Sarah has a patient in Chinatown, an Irish woman who's married a Chinese man, and becomes involved with their family when the daughter of one of her relatives disappears, believed to have run away to avoid an arranged marriage to an older Chinese man. When Angel turns up dead some time later, Sarah helps the Lees navigate the police investigation with Molloy and of course finds out some things that he could not. This is the first time I've listened to an audiobook of the series and I wasn't overly crazy about the reader. I'm also finding I'm getting a bit tired of the continual romantic tensions between Sarah and Frank and I really hope the author marries them off at some point soon, or I fear I shall lose interest before much longer. This was okay, but I found this entry in the series seemed to have a lot of repetition and the baddie was easy to spot with extremely obvious clues--it really made me think that Sarah and Malloy had been eating something to kill their brain cells between books. Not a horrible book, but definitely one of my least favorite so far. B-
3.THE PEARL DIVER by Sujata Massey. #7 in the Rei Shimura mysteries, with Rei now settling in Washington DC after being banned from returning to Japan. Rei is getting reacquainted with her cousin Kendall, a political fundraiser, and through her introductions, gets involved in doing the decor for a new Japanese restaurant to be opening soon. Rei is excited to be building her business, but when Kendall is kidnapped from outside the restaurant one night, she wonders what she's gotten into. One of the restaurant's hostesses also asks Rei to help her track down her Japanese mother who disappeared from her life when she was a child. Rei and her boyfriend Hugh also become formally engaged and begin planning their wedding, although Rei sounds less than enthusiastic and she is also balking somewhat at Hugh's insistence that they try to have a child. I have to admit that I was less than enthralled with this book compared to previous books in the series. I really wish Rei could have stayed in Japan as it was the whole Japanese culture thing that drew me into the series in the first place. While there's some of that here, it's not the same as being in Japan. I've also grown somewhat weary of Rei and Hugh's on again/off again relationship, and wish they would either move forward or forget it. I have the rest of the series books here and will finish it, but I'm not quite as enthusiastic as I was when Rei was in Japan. B-
4. THE GRAVE MAURICE by Martha Grimes. (AUDIO) #18 in the Richard Jury/Melrose Plant mystery series. In this book, we find Jury recuperating in his hospital bed after being shot nearly fatally in the last book. Sgt. Wiggins brings him a copy of Josephine Tey's classic The Daughter of Time wherein a policeman investigates an ages-old mystery from his bed. Melrose Plant brings Jury just such a mystery, one involving the disappearance of a teenage girl almost two years ago. Coincidentally, the girl is the daughter of Jury's surgeon, who also asks Jury (somewhat hesitantly) to look into things. Nell disappeared from her grandfather's stud farm (along with a champion horse!) but no ransom demands were ever made for either the girl or the horse. So while Jury recuperates, Plant is off playing his Earl card again, pretending to be interested in horse breeding and wanting to buy some 'horse flesh' from the family while he pokes his nose in and reports back to Jury. Like most of the later books in this series, the mystery itself becomes almost secondary to the visit with Jury, Plant, Sgt. Wiggins and the rest of the regular cast and crew--which is a great part of the attraction to the series for me, but which can sometimes get a bit long-winded and off-track. In listening to this audiobook, it did sometimes get confusing as the author changed point of view and there wasn't always enough pause or voice change to make that evident at first. I guessed the solution to the mystery fairly early on, and this wasn't one of my favorite entries in the series, since horseracing is one of the things I have absolutely no interest in, but still an enjoyable visit with some of my favorite characters in the mystery world. B.
5. DEXTER IN THE DARK by Jeff Lindsay. Third in the "Dexter" mystery series, featuring Miami forensic blood spatter expert Dexter Morgan, who has a side job as a serial killer. Trained by his foster father, Harry the Cop, Dexter targets only those "deserving" of death--such as child molesters and other serial killers. When the bodies of two young women are found burned and decapitated with ceramic bull's heads attached in place of their own heads, Dexter visits the crime scene with his sister, Sgt. Deborah Morgan, and feels as though he's being watched--and then is shocked to feel his "Dark Passenger" who has always been there silently assisting in his endeavors, leave his body. For most of the book, Dexter is floating adrift without his Passenger, and amidst this bizarre crime investigation during which he's also stalked by this evil Watcher, he's trying to prepare for his upcoming wedding to Rita, his girlfriend of two years and also begin 'mentoring' her two children, Cody and Astor. I really enjoy this series, bizarre as it is, and find Dexter's whole viewpoint and take on his whole sociopathic personality very interesting. There's also, of course, a bit of a debate about 'good and evil' or 'moral and amoral' and 'right and wrong,' but as odd as it seems to be rooting for a serial killer, that's what I inevitably find myself doing. I have not yet seen the TV show that this series has spawned, but it's hard to believe they could possibly be as good as the books! A.
6. STILL LOST IN TRANSLATION by Charlie Coker. A compilation of mistranslated, mangled signs, menu items, notices, ads, etc. found in foreign countries and sent to the author. It's not always mistranslated, sometimes it's just an especially awkward translation--it may be "literally" correct but sounds totally wrong in English! The menu items were my favorites, leaving me with tears literally streaming down my face I laughed so hard at some of those. Some of the longer notices from hotels and shops were quite funny too. While most of the items you could glean what it was saying, there were some that just totally left you scratching your head trying to decipher just what it was they were trying to say. A quick, easy read and always good for drawing stares if you read in a public place. A.
7. ST. MUNGO's ROBIN by Pat McIntosh. Fourth entry in the Gil Cunningham historical mystery series set in 1490's Glasgow, Scotland. Gil is a lawyer, now in the employ of the church and thus he is who is the Questore when the Deacon at St. Mungo's is found murdered. There are several suspects, as no one liked him much, and an inspection of the accounts reveals that he was skimming a lot of money and properties. He had only just announced his intention to marry--and not to marry his mistress, who essentially shared his home--which upset a number of people in the household, not least the mistress herself. And other dead bodies follow, which seem to be tied to the first murder but which only complicate things. On a personal note, Gil and his betrothed Alys are nearing their wedding day, and he is concerned because she grows more distant. He thinks at first that it's just all the preparations for out-of-town family and friends and the celebration itself wearing on her, but fears that she is regretting the decision to marry. Gil must also deal with his somewhat wild and unconventional younger sister, Tib, who was found in flagrante dilecto with her lover--with all the complications that entails in that place and time. I do enjoy this series, despite usually being able to figure out the mystery well in advance--as I did with this one. I will say again that the only reason I continue to mark these down somewhat is because of the copious use of the vernacular...if it were modern Scots slang used just occasionally, I wouldn't have such a problem with it, but the language of the time was quite different and the author uses it very pervasively. Sometimes you can figure out what's meant, other times not, and it does pull me out of the story momentarily. What might be helpful is a glossary of at least the most frequently used words, which I do find helpful in several other historical series. Still, I love the characterizations, the historical details and that's why I keep reading on in the series. B.
8. PRINCIPLES OF DRUIDRY by Emma Restall Orr. A basic tutorial on Druidry--what it is, what it is not, its history and current practice, which is of necessity quite brief as there are many different paths and schools of thought/belief under the Druid umbrella. I found the writing style easy to read, the history interesting and learned a few things I didn't know about Druids, as well as had a few thoughts I'd had about this group debunked as well. This is a good first place to start for those who are curious about Druidry or think they may want to walk this path. It will stay on my Keeper shelf as a reference--although by no means comprehensive, it does have a good bibliography of other more detailed works where further information can be sought. B+
9. HOOD by Stephen Lawhead. First of the King Raven trilogy, which is the author's take on the Robin Hood legend. He begins this series in the 1080's in Wales, totally blowing most of the legend as most of us know it out of the water. King Raven (aka Robin Hood) is better known as Bran ap Brychan, who ends up fleeing into the primeval forest when his father and his warriors are slain by a power-hungry Norman count. Welsh lands are being fought over and plotted after by various barons, counts, and bishops who see a rich land ready for plunder. Bran, near fatally wounded in his flight, is nursed to health by a wizened old crone named Angharad who sings in a beautiful voice and plays the harp, telling old tales about King Raven and his loyal band of followers. Bran resists thinking about this when he can, as he has been something of a ne'er-do-well spoiled playboy and doesn't see himself in the role of a leader of his people. But the magical quality of the forest and Angharad's tales seep into his bones and soon he does, indeed, meld into King Raven. What a wonderful story! Blending known history with myths and legends, the tale itself is imaginative and written in a style that makes it hard to put down. Told from the point of view of a variety of different characters, the various parts fit together seamlessly to build a delightfully rich tale. I greatly look forward to the next two books in the series and I think I may have discovered a new (well, new to me!) favorite author! A+
10. MIRACLE AT SPEEDY MOTORS by Alexander McCall Smith. (AUDIO) Ninth in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series set in Botswana, this book has Mma Ramotswe trying to locate a client's birth family--she was adopted as a child and since her adoptive parents have died, she wants to discover her roots. She and Mr. JLB Matekoni are also somewhat at odds over a possible new treatment for their foster-daughter, who is paralyzed and in a wheelchair. Precious believes the doctor is trying to fleece them, but the kind-hearted JLB wants to do anything possible to help Motoleli to walk again. Mma Kutsi, with her wedding day approaching, goes bed shopping with her fiance and the Agency also has the mystery of some threatening letters that they've been receiving. As much as I've come to not like cozy mysteries very much of late, I just continue to love this series, as it sits you down in the middle of a different culture. Mma Ramotswe is one of my favorite literary personalities as she has such a pragmatic outlook on life and yet occasionally manages to let her foibles and humanity spill out, too. The reader for this series is excellent and makes the cultural details all the more real. Highly recommended! A
11. DOG ON IT by Spencer Quinn. (AUDIO) First in the Chet & Bernie mystery series told from the point of view of Chet, the dog. His partner in Little Investigations, Bernie Little, is the be-all and end-all of Chet's world. He doesn't always quite 'get' what's going on in Bernie's life, and while he realizes that Bernie's a bit of a mess--he drinks too much and doesn't handle the finances very well--Chet just loves him unconditionally. Chet & Bernie are hired by a distraught mother to find her missing teenage daughter--only to have Madison turn up while Bernie is questioning her mother. A few days later, he gets another call from the mother, only this time the daughter has really gone. As Bernie tries to figure out if this is an abduction for ransom, a runaway situation or abduction for more nefarious purposes, we're taken through Chet's world of acute smells and sounds and easy distractions. The mystery itself wasn't too much of a mystery, but I actually enjoyed this story a lot more than I thought I would. I like that the dog is just telling things from his point of view--he doesn't know what other dogs are saying, and often doesn't even catch a lot of Bernie's dialogue--but he's great at reading body language, scents, etc. The reader does a good job of making you believe he's really a dog and seems to interpret the written story very well. I have the second in series on my audio download list at the library--I'm honestly not sure how many books the author will be able to carry this premise, but we'll see. This first entry I took at face value and really enjoyed. A
12. PLAY DEAD by David Rosenfelt. This is the sixth book in the Andy Carpenter series. Andy is a defense lawyer in Paterson, NJ who can afford to be picky about the cases he takes as he inherited several million dollars from his father. He only takes cases where he really believes the defendant is wrongly accused. In this book, Andy begins by defending a dog--a golden retriever who ends up in the shelter Andy runs awaiting euthanasia after he bit the person who owned him. The dog had been abused and it was clearly self-defense. It comes to pass that the dog actually had belonged to a man now in prison for murdering his fiance five years previously, and the dog had been believed dead also. The man's sister appeals to Andy to help her prove that he didn't kill the fiance, and after reviewing the case and evidence and meeting Richard, he agrees to do so. The plot line was actually fairly predictable and I figured out the twist well in advance. I'm not generally a fan of 'lawyer/courtroom drama' but these are well-done, easy to read and not filled with endless procedural details and supposed 'thrills.' I like Andy and his supporting cast of motley characters, including his own golden retriever, Tara. So even though the mystery wasn't a surprise, it didn't really detract from my visit to Paterson with the gang. Looking forward to the next in series. B+
13. BEAN THERE, DONE THAT by Sandra Balzo. #3 Maggy Thorsen coffee house mystery set in the Milwaukee suburb of Brookhills. Maggy is somewhat aghast when her ex-husband's new wife approaches her with allegations that Ted is cheating on her--and was even cheating on her when he was cheating on Maggy with Rachel! Although she knows she should hate the girl, for some reason she likes her and agrees to help her by checking her calendars from the years involved to see if Ted's whereabouts can be corroborated. However, when Rachel goes missing and then her body turns up in Lake Michigan a couple of days later, Ted goes to the top of the suspect list. Although Maggy could believe Rachel's story of him cheating on her, she doesn't see Ted as a killer, although her sort-of boyfriend Sheriff Jake Pavlik likes him for the deed. Thus, Maggy does some nosing around on her own to see if she can counter that theory, if only for the sake of their college-age son, Eric--and as usual, she ends up in a heap of trouble. For some reason, I keep being surprised that I like this series. I'm not a cozy fan, but this isn't really cozy...there's a bit more of an edge to it, a bit more of the dark comedy that appeals to me. I like the author's easy-to-read writing style, and in this book I totally didn't see the plot twist coming, although I had an inkling about the baddie. Aside from the usual 'amateur sleuth curse' of needing to work almost against the police while investigating (and thus putting oneself in some really stupid, dangerous situations) I found this to be a very enjoyable, top-notch book and highly recommend it to those who like a lighter mystery with a bit of a dark side. A.
14. MY LADY JUDGE by Cora Harrison. First of a new historical series set in early 16th century Ireland, featuring Mara, Brehon (judge and lawyer) of the Burren, a somewhat isolated area of western Ireland. When one of Mara's assistants at the law school she runs, Colman, is found stabbed to death the morning after the Beltaine celebration on the mountain, it is up to her to investigate. Before too long, she realizes that she was not the only person who didn't much like her unpleasant assistant--he was blackmailing numerous people, and thus the suspect list keeps growing longer the more Mara looks into things. It was interesting to read this book, given that one of my favorite historical series is Peter Tremayne's Sister Fidelma series, featuring another Brehon but taking place nine centuries earlier. Much of the same laws were retained, and many of the Gaelic words were familiar from reading that series. There are some similarities between Mara and Fidelma, but many differences as well. This author does a wonderful job of setting the scene, giving a real sense of place with wonderful descriptive writing. Mara's character becomes quite well drawn and defined by the end of the book, and she's a character that I definitely want to go back and visit, along with the secondary characters she's introduced us to. I quite enjoyed this, and subsequent books may even be better once I get over the comparison to Tremayne's books. B+
15. NIGHTLIFE by Rob Thurman. First in a paranormal series featuring brothers Caliban and Niko Leandros. Cal is half-demon and the two have been running from his heritage since they were small. Their mother, an alcoholic whorish woman who died some years previously, was ever letting Cal know he was a freak and not wanted, but thankfully the love and care of his older brother sustained him over the years. Now living in New York City, Nik brings bad news: he's spotted a "Grendel" which is their term for whatever the paranormal half of Cal's genealogy is. Nik is not only proficient in the martial arts, he's a well-read health-food nut, but although he's imparted a lot of wisdom to Cal over the years, try as he might he can't change his brother from his sleep-til-noon-pizza-and-beer swilling self. The brothers seek advice from a couple of other people who might be able to tell them more about just what the Grendels are, and how best to deal with them. They don't have any true friends and have learned over the years to trust no one, but there are those who can be cautiously approached, those who have more knowledge of Cal's world of 'freakdom.' But soon the choices they had are very narrowed and they're fighting for their lives against a whole host of things--not least of which is a Darkling that has inhabited Cal's body and is directing his demon side to do some pretty awful things. I really enjoyed this first entry in the series--it's written in somewhat the same tone as Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden series, albeit perhaps a bit raunchier...more adult themes and dialog. Which I didn't mind at all. Definitely more of the mystery than the romance, so YIPPPEEEEEEE for that! Glad I've already got the second one here waiting for me. An enjoyable, wild ride. A
16. THE UNQUIET BONES by Melvin R. Starr. First in a historical series set in and around Bampton, UK in the 1360's. The country is still feeling the effects of the devastation left by the Black Death that coursed its way through two decades previously. Surgeon Hugh de Singleton is trying to make ends meet in Oxford but finding the going difficult when he is offered a position in Bampton by the Lord of the castle there. Not long after his arrival, a set of bones are found when the serfs are cleaning out the privy pit, first believed to be pig bones, and then believed to be the bones of a nobleman who had visited Lord Gilbert a few months previously and vanished. It turns out to be neither, as Hugh determines from observing the bones that they had belonged to a young woman. Lord Gilbert soon has Hugh working not only as the town's surgeon, but asks him to be his bailiff at the castle, and wants to know who those bones belonged to--as well as to discover what happened to his guest who disappeared. Hugh is a bit dismayed at the request, but is grateful for his position so does his best to solve both mysteries. I really enjoyed this book a lot. This is about my favorite time period in history to read about, and this author is a historian and graces us with lots of wonderful detail that brings you right into the time period. That said, he's also a good writer--not dry and scholarly sounding like some attempts at fiction by historical experts can be--and tells an engaging tale featuring an interesting man in Hugh de Singleton. The mystery itself wasn't too hard to figure out, although I did follow a couple of wandering paths away from the solution briefly. A thoroughly enjoyable foray--and I especially appreciated the author's glossary of terms. I read a lot of books set in the time period so knew most of them, but did learn a few new ones. Awesome! A+
17. A RULE AGAINST MURDER by Louise Penny. #4 Armand Gamache "Three Pines" mystery set in Quebec. Gamache and his wife of thirty-five years are staying at a secluded, exclusive resort in the forest, where they've spent each of their wedding anniversaries. Normally it's a time of relaxation and luxury for them, but this time they end up sharing the resort with the wealthy and snooty Finney family, who are holding their yearly family reunion a bit early. Gamache and his wife are surprised to learn that the youngest son, who arrives a day or two late, is their friend Peter Morrow from Three Pines. Trouble is brewing within the strained confines of the family, and when Julia Martin, Peter's sister, is murdered--found crushed under a newly-erected statue of their father, Charlies Morrow--Gamache must consider his friend (and Peter's wife Clara as well) a suspect along with everyone else in the family. Gamache moves his crack homicide team in, and they begin digging into the lives of all the cruel and eccentric Finney/Morrows family members, as well as the resort staff. I love this series more with each book I read. The whole package--the author's writing style, the wonderful characterizations, the whole Quebecois culture, and the mystery itself, which I didn't figure out til the reveal. I did recognize important clues when they came up for the most part, but my brain just couldn't put them all together to solve it. Very clever! I much look forward to the next in series, which I have here and was relieved to see another forthcoming after that. This series ranks among my current top ten favorites. VERY near the top! A+
18. A NAIL THROUGH THE HEART by Timothy Hallinan. #1 Poke Rafferty mystery set in Bangkok, Thailand. Poke is a travel writer living in Bangkok with Miaow, a young urchin he rescued from the streets and (sometimes) Rose, his girlfriend--a former bar girl who is now trying to set up her own cleaning business. Poke hopes to adopt Miaow, which costs a lot of money, so he takes up some detective work on the side hoping to generate some cash. Miaow has brought home a stray of her own, a boy a couple of years older than herself that is known on the streets as Superman--a troubled youth that Miaow insists must stay with them. Poke looks into the disappearance of an Australian man for his niece who has traveled to Bangkok to track him down after not hearing from him for several months. One of the leads he follows in that case leads him to the home of Madame Wing, a reclusive, very rich woman who then hires him to locate the man who robbed a safe of some sensitive, personal documents that could destroy her. He doesn't like Madame Wing, and as he begins to discover more about the particularly cruel and gruesome tastes of Uncle Claus Ulrich, he almost hopes he doesn't find him, either. And someone definitely doesn't like him nosing around--is it a couple of crooked cops, some of Madame Wing's entourage or someone else? Poke knows he and his cobbled-together family won't be safe until he sees both cases through to some sort of resolution. Hard to say much more without giving away too much. But just....wow. Excellent first entry in series, rich in cultural detail, an easy-reading style that made it hard to put down, and yet captured in this fast-paced thriller were some very poignant moments that quickly endeared you to Poke and his friends and family. It's a hard book to read sometimes, with the horrors it exposes, but an excellent book all the same. Not for the faint of heart--graphic violence and abuse are depicted, but in my opinion, they are definitely not 'gratuitous' but essential to the plot and the story. What a way to end the month! A+
DNF: HOMICIDE IN HARDCOVER by Kate Carlisle. I seem to really be turning into Non-Cozy Girl lately...this one was just too much like a copycat of so many other cozy series with interchangeable cookie-cutter characters and storyline. I did give it 70 pages, given that it did have to do with books, but even that couldn't save it for me.
DNF: DEFENDING ANGELS by Mary Stanton. (Audio) I listened to over an hour of this and just could not get engaged in the story and found myself just not caring in the least about the main character.
Current reads: Listening to CATCHING FIRE by Suzanne Collins, second in the Hunger Games trilogy. In print, reading THE SWEET GOLDEN PARACHUTE by David Handler and LYE IN WAIT by Cricket McRae.
Cheryl
2. MURDER IN CHINATOWN by Victoria Thompson (audio) #9 "Gaslight" historical mystery featuring midwife Sarah Brandt and Det. Sgt. Frank Molloy in turn of the century New York. Sarah has a patient in Chinatown, an Irish woman who's married a Chinese man, and becomes involved with their family when the daughter of one of her relatives disappears, believed to have run away to avoid an arranged marriage to an older Chinese man. When Angel turns up dead some time later, Sarah helps the Lees navigate the police investigation with Molloy and of course finds out some things that he could not. This is the first time I've listened to an audiobook of the series and I wasn't overly crazy about the reader. I'm also finding I'm getting a bit tired of the continual romantic tensions between Sarah and Frank and I really hope the author marries them off at some point soon, or I fear I shall lose interest before much longer. This was okay, but I found this entry in the series seemed to have a lot of repetition and the baddie was easy to spot with extremely obvious clues--it really made me think that Sarah and Malloy had been eating something to kill their brain cells between books. Not a horrible book, but definitely one of my least favorite so far. B-
3.THE PEARL DIVER by Sujata Massey. #7 in the Rei Shimura mysteries, with Rei now settling in Washington DC after being banned from returning to Japan. Rei is getting reacquainted with her cousin Kendall, a political fundraiser, and through her introductions, gets involved in doing the decor for a new Japanese restaurant to be opening soon. Rei is excited to be building her business, but when Kendall is kidnapped from outside the restaurant one night, she wonders what she's gotten into. One of the restaurant's hostesses also asks Rei to help her track down her Japanese mother who disappeared from her life when she was a child. Rei and her boyfriend Hugh also become formally engaged and begin planning their wedding, although Rei sounds less than enthusiastic and she is also balking somewhat at Hugh's insistence that they try to have a child. I have to admit that I was less than enthralled with this book compared to previous books in the series. I really wish Rei could have stayed in Japan as it was the whole Japanese culture thing that drew me into the series in the first place. While there's some of that here, it's not the same as being in Japan. I've also grown somewhat weary of Rei and Hugh's on again/off again relationship, and wish they would either move forward or forget it. I have the rest of the series books here and will finish it, but I'm not quite as enthusiastic as I was when Rei was in Japan. B-
4. THE GRAVE MAURICE by Martha Grimes. (AUDIO) #18 in the Richard Jury/Melrose Plant mystery series. In this book, we find Jury recuperating in his hospital bed after being shot nearly fatally in the last book. Sgt. Wiggins brings him a copy of Josephine Tey's classic The Daughter of Time wherein a policeman investigates an ages-old mystery from his bed. Melrose Plant brings Jury just such a mystery, one involving the disappearance of a teenage girl almost two years ago. Coincidentally, the girl is the daughter of Jury's surgeon, who also asks Jury (somewhat hesitantly) to look into things. Nell disappeared from her grandfather's stud farm (along with a champion horse!) but no ransom demands were ever made for either the girl or the horse. So while Jury recuperates, Plant is off playing his Earl card again, pretending to be interested in horse breeding and wanting to buy some 'horse flesh' from the family while he pokes his nose in and reports back to Jury. Like most of the later books in this series, the mystery itself becomes almost secondary to the visit with Jury, Plant, Sgt. Wiggins and the rest of the regular cast and crew--which is a great part of the attraction to the series for me, but which can sometimes get a bit long-winded and off-track. In listening to this audiobook, it did sometimes get confusing as the author changed point of view and there wasn't always enough pause or voice change to make that evident at first. I guessed the solution to the mystery fairly early on, and this wasn't one of my favorite entries in the series, since horseracing is one of the things I have absolutely no interest in, but still an enjoyable visit with some of my favorite characters in the mystery world. B.
5. DEXTER IN THE DARK by Jeff Lindsay. Third in the "Dexter" mystery series, featuring Miami forensic blood spatter expert Dexter Morgan, who has a side job as a serial killer. Trained by his foster father, Harry the Cop, Dexter targets only those "deserving" of death--such as child molesters and other serial killers. When the bodies of two young women are found burned and decapitated with ceramic bull's heads attached in place of their own heads, Dexter visits the crime scene with his sister, Sgt. Deborah Morgan, and feels as though he's being watched--and then is shocked to feel his "Dark Passenger" who has always been there silently assisting in his endeavors, leave his body. For most of the book, Dexter is floating adrift without his Passenger, and amidst this bizarre crime investigation during which he's also stalked by this evil Watcher, he's trying to prepare for his upcoming wedding to Rita, his girlfriend of two years and also begin 'mentoring' her two children, Cody and Astor. I really enjoy this series, bizarre as it is, and find Dexter's whole viewpoint and take on his whole sociopathic personality very interesting. There's also, of course, a bit of a debate about 'good and evil' or 'moral and amoral' and 'right and wrong,' but as odd as it seems to be rooting for a serial killer, that's what I inevitably find myself doing. I have not yet seen the TV show that this series has spawned, but it's hard to believe they could possibly be as good as the books! A.
6. STILL LOST IN TRANSLATION by Charlie Coker. A compilation of mistranslated, mangled signs, menu items, notices, ads, etc. found in foreign countries and sent to the author. It's not always mistranslated, sometimes it's just an especially awkward translation--it may be "literally" correct but sounds totally wrong in English! The menu items were my favorites, leaving me with tears literally streaming down my face I laughed so hard at some of those. Some of the longer notices from hotels and shops were quite funny too. While most of the items you could glean what it was saying, there were some that just totally left you scratching your head trying to decipher just what it was they were trying to say. A quick, easy read and always good for drawing stares if you read in a public place. A.
7. ST. MUNGO's ROBIN by Pat McIntosh. Fourth entry in the Gil Cunningham historical mystery series set in 1490's Glasgow, Scotland. Gil is a lawyer, now in the employ of the church and thus he is who is the Questore when the Deacon at St. Mungo's is found murdered. There are several suspects, as no one liked him much, and an inspection of the accounts reveals that he was skimming a lot of money and properties. He had only just announced his intention to marry--and not to marry his mistress, who essentially shared his home--which upset a number of people in the household, not least the mistress herself. And other dead bodies follow, which seem to be tied to the first murder but which only complicate things. On a personal note, Gil and his betrothed Alys are nearing their wedding day, and he is concerned because she grows more distant. He thinks at first that it's just all the preparations for out-of-town family and friends and the celebration itself wearing on her, but fears that she is regretting the decision to marry. Gil must also deal with his somewhat wild and unconventional younger sister, Tib, who was found in flagrante dilecto with her lover--with all the complications that entails in that place and time. I do enjoy this series, despite usually being able to figure out the mystery well in advance--as I did with this one. I will say again that the only reason I continue to mark these down somewhat is because of the copious use of the vernacular...if it were modern Scots slang used just occasionally, I wouldn't have such a problem with it, but the language of the time was quite different and the author uses it very pervasively. Sometimes you can figure out what's meant, other times not, and it does pull me out of the story momentarily. What might be helpful is a glossary of at least the most frequently used words, which I do find helpful in several other historical series. Still, I love the characterizations, the historical details and that's why I keep reading on in the series. B.
8. PRINCIPLES OF DRUIDRY by Emma Restall Orr. A basic tutorial on Druidry--what it is, what it is not, its history and current practice, which is of necessity quite brief as there are many different paths and schools of thought/belief under the Druid umbrella. I found the writing style easy to read, the history interesting and learned a few things I didn't know about Druids, as well as had a few thoughts I'd had about this group debunked as well. This is a good first place to start for those who are curious about Druidry or think they may want to walk this path. It will stay on my Keeper shelf as a reference--although by no means comprehensive, it does have a good bibliography of other more detailed works where further information can be sought. B+
9. HOOD by Stephen Lawhead. First of the King Raven trilogy, which is the author's take on the Robin Hood legend. He begins this series in the 1080's in Wales, totally blowing most of the legend as most of us know it out of the water. King Raven (aka Robin Hood) is better known as Bran ap Brychan, who ends up fleeing into the primeval forest when his father and his warriors are slain by a power-hungry Norman count. Welsh lands are being fought over and plotted after by various barons, counts, and bishops who see a rich land ready for plunder. Bran, near fatally wounded in his flight, is nursed to health by a wizened old crone named Angharad who sings in a beautiful voice and plays the harp, telling old tales about King Raven and his loyal band of followers. Bran resists thinking about this when he can, as he has been something of a ne'er-do-well spoiled playboy and doesn't see himself in the role of a leader of his people. But the magical quality of the forest and Angharad's tales seep into his bones and soon he does, indeed, meld into King Raven. What a wonderful story! Blending known history with myths and legends, the tale itself is imaginative and written in a style that makes it hard to put down. Told from the point of view of a variety of different characters, the various parts fit together seamlessly to build a delightfully rich tale. I greatly look forward to the next two books in the series and I think I may have discovered a new (well, new to me!) favorite author! A+
10. MIRACLE AT SPEEDY MOTORS by Alexander McCall Smith. (AUDIO) Ninth in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series set in Botswana, this book has Mma Ramotswe trying to locate a client's birth family--she was adopted as a child and since her adoptive parents have died, she wants to discover her roots. She and Mr. JLB Matekoni are also somewhat at odds over a possible new treatment for their foster-daughter, who is paralyzed and in a wheelchair. Precious believes the doctor is trying to fleece them, but the kind-hearted JLB wants to do anything possible to help Motoleli to walk again. Mma Kutsi, with her wedding day approaching, goes bed shopping with her fiance and the Agency also has the mystery of some threatening letters that they've been receiving. As much as I've come to not like cozy mysteries very much of late, I just continue to love this series, as it sits you down in the middle of a different culture. Mma Ramotswe is one of my favorite literary personalities as she has such a pragmatic outlook on life and yet occasionally manages to let her foibles and humanity spill out, too. The reader for this series is excellent and makes the cultural details all the more real. Highly recommended! A
11. DOG ON IT by Spencer Quinn. (AUDIO) First in the Chet & Bernie mystery series told from the point of view of Chet, the dog. His partner in Little Investigations, Bernie Little, is the be-all and end-all of Chet's world. He doesn't always quite 'get' what's going on in Bernie's life, and while he realizes that Bernie's a bit of a mess--he drinks too much and doesn't handle the finances very well--Chet just loves him unconditionally. Chet & Bernie are hired by a distraught mother to find her missing teenage daughter--only to have Madison turn up while Bernie is questioning her mother. A few days later, he gets another call from the mother, only this time the daughter has really gone. As Bernie tries to figure out if this is an abduction for ransom, a runaway situation or abduction for more nefarious purposes, we're taken through Chet's world of acute smells and sounds and easy distractions. The mystery itself wasn't too much of a mystery, but I actually enjoyed this story a lot more than I thought I would. I like that the dog is just telling things from his point of view--he doesn't know what other dogs are saying, and often doesn't even catch a lot of Bernie's dialogue--but he's great at reading body language, scents, etc. The reader does a good job of making you believe he's really a dog and seems to interpret the written story very well. I have the second in series on my audio download list at the library--I'm honestly not sure how many books the author will be able to carry this premise, but we'll see. This first entry I took at face value and really enjoyed. A
12. PLAY DEAD by David Rosenfelt. This is the sixth book in the Andy Carpenter series. Andy is a defense lawyer in Paterson, NJ who can afford to be picky about the cases he takes as he inherited several million dollars from his father. He only takes cases where he really believes the defendant is wrongly accused. In this book, Andy begins by defending a dog--a golden retriever who ends up in the shelter Andy runs awaiting euthanasia after he bit the person who owned him. The dog had been abused and it was clearly self-defense. It comes to pass that the dog actually had belonged to a man now in prison for murdering his fiance five years previously, and the dog had been believed dead also. The man's sister appeals to Andy to help her prove that he didn't kill the fiance, and after reviewing the case and evidence and meeting Richard, he agrees to do so. The plot line was actually fairly predictable and I figured out the twist well in advance. I'm not generally a fan of 'lawyer/courtroom drama' but these are well-done, easy to read and not filled with endless procedural details and supposed 'thrills.' I like Andy and his supporting cast of motley characters, including his own golden retriever, Tara. So even though the mystery wasn't a surprise, it didn't really detract from my visit to Paterson with the gang. Looking forward to the next in series. B+
13. BEAN THERE, DONE THAT by Sandra Balzo. #3 Maggy Thorsen coffee house mystery set in the Milwaukee suburb of Brookhills. Maggy is somewhat aghast when her ex-husband's new wife approaches her with allegations that Ted is cheating on her--and was even cheating on her when he was cheating on Maggy with Rachel! Although she knows she should hate the girl, for some reason she likes her and agrees to help her by checking her calendars from the years involved to see if Ted's whereabouts can be corroborated. However, when Rachel goes missing and then her body turns up in Lake Michigan a couple of days later, Ted goes to the top of the suspect list. Although Maggy could believe Rachel's story of him cheating on her, she doesn't see Ted as a killer, although her sort-of boyfriend Sheriff Jake Pavlik likes him for the deed. Thus, Maggy does some nosing around on her own to see if she can counter that theory, if only for the sake of their college-age son, Eric--and as usual, she ends up in a heap of trouble. For some reason, I keep being surprised that I like this series. I'm not a cozy fan, but this isn't really cozy...there's a bit more of an edge to it, a bit more of the dark comedy that appeals to me. I like the author's easy-to-read writing style, and in this book I totally didn't see the plot twist coming, although I had an inkling about the baddie. Aside from the usual 'amateur sleuth curse' of needing to work almost against the police while investigating (and thus putting oneself in some really stupid, dangerous situations) I found this to be a very enjoyable, top-notch book and highly recommend it to those who like a lighter mystery with a bit of a dark side. A.
14. MY LADY JUDGE by Cora Harrison. First of a new historical series set in early 16th century Ireland, featuring Mara, Brehon (judge and lawyer) of the Burren, a somewhat isolated area of western Ireland. When one of Mara's assistants at the law school she runs, Colman, is found stabbed to death the morning after the Beltaine celebration on the mountain, it is up to her to investigate. Before too long, she realizes that she was not the only person who didn't much like her unpleasant assistant--he was blackmailing numerous people, and thus the suspect list keeps growing longer the more Mara looks into things. It was interesting to read this book, given that one of my favorite historical series is Peter Tremayne's Sister Fidelma series, featuring another Brehon but taking place nine centuries earlier. Much of the same laws were retained, and many of the Gaelic words were familiar from reading that series. There are some similarities between Mara and Fidelma, but many differences as well. This author does a wonderful job of setting the scene, giving a real sense of place with wonderful descriptive writing. Mara's character becomes quite well drawn and defined by the end of the book, and she's a character that I definitely want to go back and visit, along with the secondary characters she's introduced us to. I quite enjoyed this, and subsequent books may even be better once I get over the comparison to Tremayne's books. B+
15. NIGHTLIFE by Rob Thurman. First in a paranormal series featuring brothers Caliban and Niko Leandros. Cal is half-demon and the two have been running from his heritage since they were small. Their mother, an alcoholic whorish woman who died some years previously, was ever letting Cal know he was a freak and not wanted, but thankfully the love and care of his older brother sustained him over the years. Now living in New York City, Nik brings bad news: he's spotted a "Grendel" which is their term for whatever the paranormal half of Cal's genealogy is. Nik is not only proficient in the martial arts, he's a well-read health-food nut, but although he's imparted a lot of wisdom to Cal over the years, try as he might he can't change his brother from his sleep-til-noon-pizza-and-beer swilling self. The brothers seek advice from a couple of other people who might be able to tell them more about just what the Grendels are, and how best to deal with them. They don't have any true friends and have learned over the years to trust no one, but there are those who can be cautiously approached, those who have more knowledge of Cal's world of 'freakdom.' But soon the choices they had are very narrowed and they're fighting for their lives against a whole host of things--not least of which is a Darkling that has inhabited Cal's body and is directing his demon side to do some pretty awful things. I really enjoyed this first entry in the series--it's written in somewhat the same tone as Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden series, albeit perhaps a bit raunchier...more adult themes and dialog. Which I didn't mind at all. Definitely more of the mystery than the romance, so YIPPPEEEEEEE for that! Glad I've already got the second one here waiting for me. An enjoyable, wild ride. A
16. THE UNQUIET BONES by Melvin R. Starr. First in a historical series set in and around Bampton, UK in the 1360's. The country is still feeling the effects of the devastation left by the Black Death that coursed its way through two decades previously. Surgeon Hugh de Singleton is trying to make ends meet in Oxford but finding the going difficult when he is offered a position in Bampton by the Lord of the castle there. Not long after his arrival, a set of bones are found when the serfs are cleaning out the privy pit, first believed to be pig bones, and then believed to be the bones of a nobleman who had visited Lord Gilbert a few months previously and vanished. It turns out to be neither, as Hugh determines from observing the bones that they had belonged to a young woman. Lord Gilbert soon has Hugh working not only as the town's surgeon, but asks him to be his bailiff at the castle, and wants to know who those bones belonged to--as well as to discover what happened to his guest who disappeared. Hugh is a bit dismayed at the request, but is grateful for his position so does his best to solve both mysteries. I really enjoyed this book a lot. This is about my favorite time period in history to read about, and this author is a historian and graces us with lots of wonderful detail that brings you right into the time period. That said, he's also a good writer--not dry and scholarly sounding like some attempts at fiction by historical experts can be--and tells an engaging tale featuring an interesting man in Hugh de Singleton. The mystery itself wasn't too hard to figure out, although I did follow a couple of wandering paths away from the solution briefly. A thoroughly enjoyable foray--and I especially appreciated the author's glossary of terms. I read a lot of books set in the time period so knew most of them, but did learn a few new ones. Awesome! A+
17. A RULE AGAINST MURDER by Louise Penny. #4 Armand Gamache "Three Pines" mystery set in Quebec. Gamache and his wife of thirty-five years are staying at a secluded, exclusive resort in the forest, where they've spent each of their wedding anniversaries. Normally it's a time of relaxation and luxury for them, but this time they end up sharing the resort with the wealthy and snooty Finney family, who are holding their yearly family reunion a bit early. Gamache and his wife are surprised to learn that the youngest son, who arrives a day or two late, is their friend Peter Morrow from Three Pines. Trouble is brewing within the strained confines of the family, and when Julia Martin, Peter's sister, is murdered--found crushed under a newly-erected statue of their father, Charlies Morrow--Gamache must consider his friend (and Peter's wife Clara as well) a suspect along with everyone else in the family. Gamache moves his crack homicide team in, and they begin digging into the lives of all the cruel and eccentric Finney/Morrows family members, as well as the resort staff. I love this series more with each book I read. The whole package--the author's writing style, the wonderful characterizations, the whole Quebecois culture, and the mystery itself, which I didn't figure out til the reveal. I did recognize important clues when they came up for the most part, but my brain just couldn't put them all together to solve it. Very clever! I much look forward to the next in series, which I have here and was relieved to see another forthcoming after that. This series ranks among my current top ten favorites. VERY near the top! A+
18. A NAIL THROUGH THE HEART by Timothy Hallinan. #1 Poke Rafferty mystery set in Bangkok, Thailand. Poke is a travel writer living in Bangkok with Miaow, a young urchin he rescued from the streets and (sometimes) Rose, his girlfriend--a former bar girl who is now trying to set up her own cleaning business. Poke hopes to adopt Miaow, which costs a lot of money, so he takes up some detective work on the side hoping to generate some cash. Miaow has brought home a stray of her own, a boy a couple of years older than herself that is known on the streets as Superman--a troubled youth that Miaow insists must stay with them. Poke looks into the disappearance of an Australian man for his niece who has traveled to Bangkok to track him down after not hearing from him for several months. One of the leads he follows in that case leads him to the home of Madame Wing, a reclusive, very rich woman who then hires him to locate the man who robbed a safe of some sensitive, personal documents that could destroy her. He doesn't like Madame Wing, and as he begins to discover more about the particularly cruel and gruesome tastes of Uncle Claus Ulrich, he almost hopes he doesn't find him, either. And someone definitely doesn't like him nosing around--is it a couple of crooked cops, some of Madame Wing's entourage or someone else? Poke knows he and his cobbled-together family won't be safe until he sees both cases through to some sort of resolution. Hard to say much more without giving away too much. But just....wow. Excellent first entry in series, rich in cultural detail, an easy-reading style that made it hard to put down, and yet captured in this fast-paced thriller were some very poignant moments that quickly endeared you to Poke and his friends and family. It's a hard book to read sometimes, with the horrors it exposes, but an excellent book all the same. Not for the faint of heart--graphic violence and abuse are depicted, but in my opinion, they are definitely not 'gratuitous' but essential to the plot and the story. What a way to end the month! A+
DNF: HOMICIDE IN HARDCOVER by Kate Carlisle. I seem to really be turning into Non-Cozy Girl lately...this one was just too much like a copycat of so many other cozy series with interchangeable cookie-cutter characters and storyline. I did give it 70 pages, given that it did have to do with books, but even that couldn't save it for me.
DNF: DEFENDING ANGELS by Mary Stanton. (Audio) I listened to over an hour of this and just could not get engaged in the story and found myself just not caring in the least about the main character.
Current reads: Listening to CATCHING FIRE by Suzanne Collins, second in the Hunger Games trilogy. In print, reading THE SWEET GOLDEN PARACHUTE by David Handler and LYE IN WAIT by Cricket McRae.
Cheryl
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