Well, I made it through January with my New Years Resolution intact...no books were purchased for money this month...now, on to February!
1.WILD INDIGO by Sandi Ault. #1 Jamaica Wild mystery. Jamaica Wild is a resource protection agent for the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) in northern New Mexico. She's also sort of adopted a Pueblo Indian woman whom she calls Momma Anna as her surrogate mother, learning something of the Pueblo ways, which doesn't sit well with all the clan, as maintaining the secrets of the tribe is a big part of the tradition. Jamaica lives in a cabin in the middle of nowhere without a phone and with her wolf pup, Mountain. When she witnesses what looks like a suicide--a young Pueblo man standing in the middle of a buffalo stampede--she feels traumatized as the young man was Jerome Santana, Momma Anna's son. It only gets worse when the leaders of the local Pueblo government make it known that they believe Jamaica was the one who started the stampede that killed Jerome. Her boss wants her to play down her involvement and stay quiet, but every bone in Jamaica's body won't let her stay out of it and leads her to find out the truth about Jerome's death. Steeped in the culture and lore and mysticism of the Pueblo Indians, this was quite an interesting story, easy to read (if occasionally a little...I don't know....clumsy or awkward, maybe) with a somewhat unique and engaging lead character. I picked this book up to fulfill a requirement in a mystery reading challenge (something with the word Indigo in the title) and am very glad I did so. I'd not heard of this author until this title popped up in a search--coincidentally, the next day I noticed when the Left Coast Crime awards were announced that the latest book in the series is nominated for a Watson (best sidekick) and a Hillerman Sky Award for a book that captures the landscape of the Southwest. This book certainly did a great job with that, too. Looking forward to more! B+
2.THE DARK WIND by Tony Hillerman. (AUDIO) #5 in the Navajo mysteries, this one featuring only Sgt. Jim Chee, who works for the Navajo Tribal Police. Chee is out on a stakeout, watching a new windmill that has twice been vandalized to try to catch the culprit in the act, when he witnesses a small plane crash not far away. It's a small plane, and very shortly after he arrives on the scene, the pilot dies. While he's briefly inspecting the site, he hears a gunshot not far off, and then a car driving away. The plane ends up being part of a smuggling ring, carting loads of drugs into the country under cover of darkness, and an arrogant, annoying DEA officer gets involved, as well as the FBI. Chee is supposed to just drop that case and concentrate on finding the windmill vandals, and then a body appears on the scene, obviously dead for quite some time. Of course the cases all eventually tie together as Chee bends and twists the rules and follows the clues while disobeying orders to find the solution. Atmospheric and educational, mystical and steeped in Navajo and Hopi tradition, this series is wonderfully read by George Guidall, whom I would happily listen to reciting the phone book. LOL Anyway, this was another enjoyable entry in the series, although I do like the books that have both Leaphorn and Chee in them a little better. A
3.MAMA RIDES SHOTGUN by Deborah Sharp. #2 Mace Bauer mystery, set in central Florida. Mace and her Mama are trying to do a little bonding by camping and riding the 120-mile Cracker Trail--the week-long ride an educational trek celebrating the ways of the old-time Florida cattlemen. On the first day of the ride, Lawton Bramble, one of the ranchers who was allowing them to camp on his land and providing vats of his famous Cow Hunter Chili, dies. His much-younger wife comes upon him as he was presumably stirring up his chili and had a heart attack. (He was well-known to have a bad heart.) But Mace is suspicious--especially when she notices Lawton's gun which appeared to have dropped out of his hand when he died. Why would he have it so close to hand? But old Doc, who treated Lawton, declares it a heart attack and that's that--until Lawton's kids start pointing fingers at their new stepmother and making noises that his death wasn't natural. Lawton, being a rich cattleman, has plenty of enemies. Mace's questioning Doc's diagnosis gets around of course and causes the expected attacks and attempted attacks on her person, but she's persistent (like many amateur sleuths, almost stupidly so) and eventually she solves the (very predictable) case. In between, there was a lot of romancey hogwash--Mace's love interest from the last book who had moved back to Miami some time ago "just happens" to be on trail as well, and of course there's Lawton's son Trey, who was a big high school football star at Mace's high school, whom she ends up smooching with as well. It was just...silly. Lots of eye rolling on my part. Mace is supposedly thirty-something years old, but she sure didn't act like she was much out of her teens. The first book was kind of cute despite all the Southern talk and Mace's annoying, nosy, preachy, interfering Mama. This time it was just over the top. I actually liked Mace in the first book, but she seemed almost like a different person in this book. I skimmed the last hundred pages or so, but I won't be continuing on with the series. The dialogue, as with the first in series, doesn't sound very natural and the plot was scattered all over the place with just too many unbelievable coincidences needed to make it come together. C.
4. THE BURGUNDIAN'S TALE by Kate Sedley. #14 Roger the Chapman medieval mystery. Roger is once again off from Bristol as his cobbled-together family begins to wear on his nerves and after more than a year, he decides to hit the open road selling his wares. Before he can leave, Master Timothy Plummer, agent and spy for Duke Richard of Gloucester comes to Bristol and finds Roger with a summons from Richard himself. It seems the son of one of his sister's (Margaret of York, now the Dowager Duchess of Burgundy) favorite ladies has been murdered and he wishes the crime to be solved before Margaret must go back to Burgundy. Fulk Quantrell was just eighteen but much wiser than his years, having learned to charm the ladies, including his aunt who changed her will for him, leaving him not only her home, but the embroidery shop she'd inherited from her husband. Supposedly coshed on the head by a footpad and robbed, Roger discovers that death scenario for Fulk unlikely as the killer left his purse and jewels on him--they were taken, but by two beggars who moved his body from in front of their patch after they found him dead. Despite all the women Fulk came into contact with singing his praises, Roger soon discovers that he wasn't such a charming young man underneath it all, and that there are plenty of people who were not sorry he was dead. Roger's astute powers of observation and refusal to give up eventually have him solving the crime. I really enjoyed this installment in the series--the easy-reading style of writing, the historical detail and sense of place, and the interesting characters, including plenty of real historical people as well. A.
5. MURDER IN BELLEVILLE by Cara Black. #2 Aimee Leduc mystery set in Paris. Aimee, a private investigator who apparently usually deals in computer investigations, once again gets caught up in more physical pursuits when she attempts to help a friend of hers whose husband is a diplomat dealing with some touchy foreign negotiations with Algeria. Anais leaves Aimee a cryptic message telling her where to meet, and when she arrives, she sees Anais talking with a woman whose car blows up right in front of them as the woman gets in it to leave--and then some thugs begin chasing them as they make a harried getaway on Aimee's moped down the subway tunnel. Shaken to the core, Aimee learns that the woman was Anais' husband's mistress, who has some possible connection to arms dealing and also possibly to the negotiations that Philippe is involved in. As she careens from one improbable situation to another, the story seems to get more and more out of control. That said--if it weren't for some of these silly situations--I like Aimee for the most part, and her circle of friends, including her business partner, her dog named Miles Davis, and the haunting clues about her past. I do get a bit tired of all the designer clothes and accessories mentioned (not my thing) but there are enough strong points about this book to keep me wanting to read on and to just take some parts with a grain of salt. B.
6. STRANGE AFFAIR by Peter Robinson. #15 DCI Alan Banks police procedural set in Yorkshire, UK. Banks, still recovering from the devastating fire at his cottage that almost cost him his life, is on holiday and wondering what to do with his time when he receives a couple of cryptic voicemails from his brother Roy, a wheeling-and-dealing financier in London. Alan and his younger brother are not close and never have been, and they rarely speak on the phone unless there's a problem, so the message--which sounds almost desperate though gives no details--intrigues him. When he tries to reach Roy in response, he's nowhere to be found, so Alan is off to London, where he discovers that Roy has all but disappeared. Knowing that his brother sometimes skated close to the edge of the law in his dealings, Banks decides to try to locate him first through "unofficial" channels lest he get little brother in trouble with the law by opening a missing persons case. Meanwhile, back in Eastvale, DI Annie Cabbot is dealing with a murder--a young woman shot execution style in the head, left in her car in a ditch along a deserted roadway--and surprise of surprises, she has Alan Banks' name and address scribbled on a piece of paper in her back jeans pocket--but even more intriguingly, it's the address to his burned-out cottage where he hasn't lived for several months. As Annie and Supt. Gristhorpe try to track Banks down (he's left his mobile on the kitchen table at his temporary apartment) and find the connection, Banks investigates Roy's life and begins to finally get to know his little brother. Robinson's series seems to just get better and better with each entry! I thoroughly enjoyed this one, found it hard to put down with a twisty plot (and even some surprises!), great characters and just the right balance between visceral and cerebral moments. Can't wait to read the next one! A.
7. LADY KILLER by Ed McBain. #8 in publication order of the 87th Precinct mysteries, this one features a case without a killer--at least to begin with. A young boy is sent into the precinct house with an envelope which contains a letter pieced together with cut out letters from the newspaper threatening to kill The Lady if they police can't stop him by 8 pm. First they must figure out if it's a crank letter, and then determine who 'The Lady' is. It's quite a hoot reading these old mysteries that are very dated because they mention the cost of items and salaries of policemen and where the only forensic evidence are fingerprints, which take a very long time to process. Of course, this means the detectives actually have to detect, and not just push a few buttons on a computer or phone to get the answers they need. Usually these books mention all the detectives at least in passing, and then tend to feature a couple of them as primary protagonists. In this one we get to know Cotton Hawes a little better, and it was an enjoyable quick read looking at police work back in the years when I was born. B.
8. MURDER AT EBBETS FIELD BY Troy Soos. (AUDIO) #2 in the Mickey Rawlings historical mystery series featuring the utility infielder who currently plays for the New York Giants. Mickey is told by his manager, the cranky, no-nonsense John McGraw, that he will have to go to a movie studio on his time off. He's had a request from a local movie producer making a baseball movie to provide a player for a bit part, and since he can't spare any of his more well-known starting players, Mickey it is. As he gets involved in the production and attends a party that evening, he meets Marguerite Turner, an actress he knows from seeing in "jungle movies." She has a bit part in this movie, taking a back seat to her friend, the much more famous and classically beautiful Florence Hampton. Mickey tries champagne for the first time and of course overindulges so ends up booking a room at the hotel where the party is held. Imagine his surprise when he finds the naked body of Miss Hampton under the boardwalk near the hotel early the next morning! There's no outward evidence of foul play, but Mickey is asked by his reporter friend Carl and then by Miss Turner to look into Florence's death--which Mickey does, all while trying not to aggravate the movie people, a vindictive newspaper reporter for a scandal rag, or the Brooklyn Dodgers players, several of whom seemed to have been involved with her. I have come to really enjoy this series, although the mystery was easy to figure out. I particularly like listening to the audio version with the story being well-told and with just the right mix of humor and seriousness. Looking forward to listening to the next one. A
9. HEART OF ICE by Alys Clare. #9 in the Hawkenlye Abbey historical mystery series set in 1194 England. A young man seeks care at the healing waters of Hawkenlye Abbey, but before he reaches them, he is struck on the head and killed by an unknown assailant and shoved into a pond that freezes over. A couple of days later, his body is discovered and at first he's believed to be the victim of some type of wasting disease--until the knot on his head is discovered. Soon, more sick people arrive at Hawkenlye and Abbess Helewise and the sisters and brothers have a full-fledged plague on their hands. Sir Josse d'Acquin is off to Tonbridge and even further afield trying to find out the young man's identity and where he had traveled to try to locate the source of the illness or at least the path so it can be contained and stopped. Meanwhile, Abbess Helewise is troubled and as she watches people die and even some of her beloved sisters and brothers fall ill, considers making a journey into the forest to find the Pagan healer Joanna, one-time lover of Sir Josse. The story then swtiches to Joanna's story, telling of the last few months and how she is brought to an island to learn the healing ways and learn the true identity of her mother and other mysteries. I enjoy this series, although the continued romantic tension between Josse and Helewise does get old after awhile. The author does a good job of incorporating historical events and people into the plots of the books and this one was no exception, although I'm not sure how well the overly-long section about Joanna worked here. Don't get me wrong--as a Pagan myself, I found it quite interesting and a good story in and of itself, but I think an abbreviated version of it would have worked better for the purpose of this book. All in all, a satisfying read and I look forward to continuing on in the series. B+
10. DRIVEN TO INK by Karen E. Olson. #3 in the Tattoo shop mysteries featuring Brett Kavanaugh, owner of the Painted Lady tattoo salon in Las Vegas. Brett kindly loans her red Mustang convertible to an elderly friend who is getting married--they are using one of the drive-through wedding chapels in Vegas and wanted something more classy than Sylvia's battered Gremlin. The morning after, Brett returns from a trip to Red Rocks where she does some hiking--only to discover a body in the trunk--dead as a doornail, with a dead rat underneath it. The body looks, at first glance, like Dean Martin, but ends up being one of the impersonators who worked at the wedding chapel. When she tries to reach Sylvia and Bernie, they can't be found either by herself, Sylvia's son or the police--Brett calls her brother Tim, a detective with LVPD, but because of her involvement in the case, it must be handled by another detective. Brett and Jeff Coleman, rival tattoo shop owner, sort-of friend and son of Sylvia, put their heads together to try to locate the newlyweds and find out who the body in her trunk is and who put him there, and of course this gets them in trouble (several times) with the law as well as with the killer. While the storyline here sounds good, I have to say that this book and I got off on the wrong foot on page 3, when the wrong form of a word was used--'incidence' being used instead of simply the plural of 'incident.' Argh! It's one of those mistakes you need a human proofreader for and the kind I find more annoying than a simple typo. I enjoy the information about tattoos and the real sense of place that Olson gives to the Vegas venue. Brett's character is likable enough in general, it just seems that she continues to become dumb and dumber as she goes off on her own pursuing leads, withholding valuable information from the police, and doing otherwise unbelievable things. I like a story where the protagonist might be defiant and high-spirited, yet I like to be able to insert myself into the story, thinking "I might do the same thing if I were in her shoes." But I rarely feel that way with Brett. And again, it's another case where almost every eligible man she comes across, she 'checks out' and is ready to follow with puppy eyes after just a few minutes. It gets old, and my eye muscles get a good workout from all the eye-rolling I do. I have to admit I really miss the author's much-feistier, less cozy character from her previous series--as much as I like the author's writing style, this series is fast drifting back into the pack of cookie-cutter cozy series. Not bad, just not worth crowing about. C+
11. THE LAST KING OF TEXAS by Rick Riordan. (AUDIO) #3 Tres Navarre series set in San Antonio TX. A few months ago, Tres Navarre--private investigator and PhD in English lit--turned down a professorship at a local university to pursue the necessary training for his official PI license. Now that the guy who took the job has been shot--after the university receives multiple threatening letters regarding racist statements made by another former professor--he's offered the job again in a dual role: he'll also get to keep his PI hat on. The first day on the job, a package with a homemade bomb explodes as it's delivered to Dr. Aaron Brandon's (or rather, Tres's) office, which clinches the deal: he's interested now! Soon after beginning his investigation--at the protestation of the local police, including the very attractive Det. Anna DeLeon--Tres discovers a dark history about Dr. Brandon and his family that may signal other motives for his death other than just his role as an Anglo professor. Connected to a powerful local family known for their oppression and mistreatment of their Hispanic employees, there are dozens of people who may have wanted revenge. When it's known that Zeta Sanchez, the drug-running gang boss suspected of killing Dr. Brandon's father several years ago is back in the area, he becomes the obvious suspect and the target of the police investigation. Tres, however, isn't so sure and pursues other avenues, only to end up in a heap of trouble several times, with other murders and attacks along the way before he figures out who's behind all the killings. I do enjoy this series, and especially enjoy the reading by Tom Stechshulte who does a great job with the voices and the whole tone of the book. I like Tres a lot, and the author is able to provide a real sense of place which serves to make the city itself one of the characters in the book. There is a lot of violence in these books, as with many mysteries, a rather inordinate amount such that in real life, one would, I think, hesitate to be friends with someone like Tres who has dead bodies falling everywhere around him. I did figure out the mystery ahead of time, but not too early, just picking up on a couple of deftly-placed clues that made me sure I was right. Very much looking forward to the next book in the series. A.
12.THE BEEKEEPER'S APPRENTICE by Laurie R. King. #1 Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes mystery. Set during WWI, Mary Russell is a young woman who is neighbor to Sherlock Holmes in the countryside, he having retired to live a quiet life. She stumbles upon him watching his bees and after a brief conversation, figures out who he is--and he recognizes that he's met a superior mind as well. That chance meeting begins a friendship and Miss Russell spends much time with Holmes, learning his methods of deduction, conducting scientific experiments and the like. Her 'home' life with an aunt who seeks only to criticize--her guardian since her parents died, but essentially dependent on Mary as she has the trust fund--Mary spends as much time away from there as she can. Soon she's enrolled at Oxford, coming home to visit Holmes on breaks, and they embark on several cases using his technique of disguise and employing various forensic techniques that were way ahead of their time. When Holmes is sought indirectly by an American Senator whose daughter has been kidnapped, he takes Mary along and they work their magic to get the six-year-old Jessica Simpson (ha ha!) back--and only then realize that they are working against a foe who has targeted Holmes specifically--someone who is as brilliant as Holmes himself with far-reaching plans. I enjoyed this take on the whole Holmes character and I liked Mary Russell too, but at times the book was just...I don't know...too wordy, too explanatory, too long-winded, too detailed and I wished she'd just get on with it already. Lots and lots of prose and not a whole lot of dialogue--sometimes it just got sloggy, as interesting as the story was. I also figured quite far in advance who the baddie was, which surprised me. I do intend to read on in the series but probably will space these out quite a lot. B
13. MURDER IN A COLD CLIMATE by Scott Young. #1 of a series set in the Northwest Territories of Canada, featuring Matthew "Matteesie" Kitologitak, an Inuk (singular of Inuit) Inspector for the RCMP. Actually, he's been primarily working for Northern Affairs, not doing much police work but attending conferences living mostly in Toronto. We know from the get-go that Matteesie is not your everyday hero--the opening pages see him with his long-time mistress in the northern town of Inuvik, waiting to fly out to Leningrad for a conference. (His wife, a white woman, is back in Toronto.) He's also not your typical burly-brawny tough guy--at 5'6" with a brown, round face, he doesn't exactly scare many folks, even bundled up in his parka. His RCMP boss, Buster, calls and asks him to look into something for him as a favor (it's been several years since he did any police work)--the disappearance of a small plane that had a well-known government official's son as the pilot. Meanwhile though, a murder happens right in front of Matteesie and he feels his inspector's instincts kick into gear as he puts that incident first--and of course after digging a bit, figures the two incidents are actually connected. Off he goes across the wild northern wilderness trying to track down a killer and find the connection to the missing plane. This book provided a great sense of place and a immersion into a culture that I didn't know all that much about. The author brought home in a very real way just how isolated things are up near the Arctic Circle, and how things most of us 'down here' (and even in southern Canada) take for granted--including the usual police procedures--which just aren't the same there. I liked Matteesie but the story itself was kind of all over the place, especially at first; it was hard to keep people and places straight in part because of the strange names, and it wasn't until the middle third of the book that I finally started 'getting' it enough so that the storyline made more sense. All in all, though, an enjoyable book and I will at some point continue reading on if I can lay hands on the second in the series. B.
14. CAT OF THE CENTURY by Rita Mae Brown (AUDIO) #18 Mrs. Murphy mystery also featuring Mary Minor "Harry" Harristeen in Crozet, Virginia. Harry is off on a road trip with her pets to help Aunt Tally celebrate her 100th birthday at her college alma mater back in Missouri. One of the organizers disappears, and another lets "slip" that the missing woman has probably done a runner since she knows of some shady business practices that have gone on. Once back in Virginia, the accuser ends up dead, believed killed by the missing woman. Harry, who of course has her nose in the middle of it, isn't so sure. I'm not sure why I chose this book, except I needed something very quick and light, since I have two other audio books I'm #1 in line for at the library and I didn't want to get stuck in the midst of something more meaty. It's part of a series I really used to enjoy. I'm not a fan of cozy mysteries as a rule, but have always liked listening to this series, even though some of the main characters are animals. The reader does them well and they aren't too sappy. However, the last few have been not much more than soapboxes for the author to spout various political and social opinions and this one was no different. I did finish it, as the reader does a good job and I do like to visit with Harry and the gang now and then, but even that aspect was minimal this time as the story was told from the point of view of so many different characters that we hardly even spent any time with Harry and the pets. No more. D.
15. THE WEE FREE MEN by Terry Pratchett. (AUDIO) #30 in publication order of the Discworld fantasy novels but #1 in the Tiffany Aching 'mini series' and the second DW novel aimed at younger readers. Tiffany is interested in becoming a witch--and she has a visit from Miss Tick--a witch who's surprised to have detected Tiffany's natural talent on 'the Chalk' which is 'much too soft to grow a proper witch.' Tiffany explains about some strange things she's seen and Miss Tick recognizes trouble and goes off to find more witches to help fight it. Tiffany conveniently forgets to mention the little bluish men with red hair she's seen as well, but when her annoying and perpetually sticky little brother Wentworth goes missing, these creatures come to her aid. The Nac Mac Feegle, she learns later. Not Pixies, but Pictsies...the Wee Free Men, known as thieves, drinkers and fighters and rarely a help to anyone. They're certain that the wee lad has been stolen and taken to a magical land by 'the Quin' who loves wee bairns, they lead Tiffany--who now wishes she'd gotten to know her grandmother, Granny Aching, better as she is learning that she was probably a witch herself. Once I started listening to this, I simply couldn't stop--it was hilarious and yet somewhat profound at the same time if that makes any sense. (Pretty much like most of the Discworld books, actually.) The reader was excellent and did a great job with the Scottish burr of the Nac Mac Feegle, such that I laughed out loud many times. Can't wait to see what interesting things Tiffany gets up to next. A+
DNF: GREAT HOUSE by Nicole Krauss (audio) I listened to a couple hours of this before finally deciding it was a load of whiny, pretentious twaddle. The premise sounded interesting--the story of a writing desk and the people who owned it over time--but it was just...bleh.
Currently reading:
1. LAST ARGUMENT OF KINGS by Joe Abercrombie (#3 of the First Law fantasy trilogy)
2. THE VICTORIA VANISHES by Christopher Fowler (#6 Bryant & May mystery)
3. DUST by Martha Grimes (AUDIO)
Cheryl
Friday, February 4, 2011
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
JANUARY 2011
It's a brand new year! My New Year's Resolution this year is not to purchase (with money) ANY books this year! PBS trading is okay and library borrowing will be a must, but no money-for-books exchanges. It's not going to be easy, but I know I can do it. :)
1. A TRACE OF SMOKE by Rebecca Cantrell. #1 Hannah Vogel mystery set in 1931 Germany. Hannah, a thirty-something independent woman who has resigned herself to life alone after her fiance died in the Great War, is now working as a newspaper reporter (but writing under a man's name.) She is at the police station to get some information for a story from her friend Fritz, but is instead horrified to see a photograph of her younger brother Ernst on the "Hall of the Unnamed Dead," a series of images put up on the wall so that citizens can help the police identify unnamed corpses that are found. Ernst led a reckless life as a cross-dressing homosexual, singing burlesque in one of Berlin's 'queer clubs' in the days before the Nazis took complete power and shut such things down. Hannah, who cared for the decade-younger Ernst after her parents had both died, is devastated and sets out to find out who killed him and why. Using her guise as a reporter, she numbly goes through several days asking questions of his known friends, co-workers at his club, even following some of them into rather seedy places and even uses her police friend, never letting on to anyone that Ernst is dead. While she had reconciled herself to Ernst's lifestyle and loved him fiercely, what she discovers shocks her to the core, as it involves some very senior level people in the up-and-coming Nazi party. What an excellent way to start the new year! This is definitely not my favorite time in history, but the author does a great job of putting you in the time and place and describing life from the point of view of an average non-Nazi citizen as they watch the Party slowly take over the country. The story and the mystery were also intriguing, and I found myself really liking Hannah a lot. She seems to be, to me, the 'opposite woman' to Maisie Dobbs, whose story takes place in about the same time over in England. Interesting looking at things from the German viewpoint. Very difficult to put down and definitely looking forward to the next one! A+
2. THE LAST PLACE by Laura Lippman. (AUDIO) #7 Tess Monaghan mystery set in Baltimore. Whitney, Tess's good friend, sends some work her way from a consortium of non-profits that she is on the board of. They're researching police techniques in the rural areas around the city in hopes of finding some fuel for their fire: more funding for domestic violence prevention. If they can prove that the rural police messed up and need more education, they hope to lobby the legislature for the funding. They hand Tess five unrelated, unsolved homicides from the outlying areas and ask her to see how they were investigated. What ends up happening is that the cases aren't quite as unrelated as they thought. Tess hooks up with a former cop out on disability who had obsessed over one of the cases, and they are allowed to assist the state police peripherally when they bring the evidence of the serial killer to them. I have to admit that the mystery itself was rather easy to figure out--the clues were just dangled in front of you and I kept wanting to smack Tess because she didn't see certain things. Then again, she was a bit distracted--having had to go into court-ordered anger-management therapy after she (and Whitney, although Tess never implicated her friend) tracked down a guy who seduced Whitney's teenage niece in an internet chat room. (Apparently the use of Nair on the entire body warrants assault. LOL) Still a very enjoyable visit with Tess and Crow, the dogs and her friends, even though I was at least two steps ahead of them all the way. And I think I'm finally getting used to the narrator's (Barbara Rosenblatt) voice, which I found annoying as hell at first. A
3. FART PROUDLY: WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN YOU NEVER READ IN SCHOOL by Carl Japiske. A collection of stories, newspaper articles and letters written by the esteemed Mr. Franklin, which, as the subtitle indicates, are not likely to be included in school curriculums. The book opens with the quote, "He who lives on hope dies farting" which was published in Poor Richard's almanac in 1736. The other pieces run in a similar vein, with Franklin leaving his guise as diplomat, statesman, inventor and wise, respected philosopher behind--he gets downright bawdy at times, other times inciting rebellion and scandal. Which is probably why I enjoyed it so much--it made an excellent 'bathroom book' for the past few weeks. LOL A.
4. LORDS AND LADIES by Terry Pratchett. #14 in publication order in the humorous fantasy Discworld series. We're once again back in Lancre with Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and...well, Magrat Garlick used to be the third member of their witches' coven until King Verence proposed. Now she's Queen-in-waiting, planning her wedding and bored silly, so not able to help much when Granny and Nanny make their plans to take on the Lords and Ladies--the elves--who are trying to get through to this dimension through a stone circle in the Ramtops. They know how truly nasty elves are--nothing like the sweet, beautiful creatures they project themselves to be. As the Bursar, Archchancellor and Librarian of Unseen University make their way to Lancre for the wedding (picking up the dwarf Casanunda--an old friend of Nanny Ogg's--on the way) and the rest of the town prepare, a series of events unfolds--in at least one dimension--that makes the whole town want to crawl under their beds. Very enjoyable--I had forgotten how much I love this book (read it years ago) and had totally forgotten Casanunda--he's now emerged again as one of my favorite Discworld characters. A+
5. THE TRACK OF SAND by Andrea Camilleri. #12 Inspector Montalbano mystery set in Sicily. What are the odds that you would look out your window one morning and see a dead horse lying on the beach? This is how Salvo Montalbano's day begins, and things continue to stay weird for several days. By the time he follows the horse's tracks and locates where he was killed--a victim of a brutal beating--the corpse has disappeared. When a beautiful woman comes into the police station to report her horse missing, things get even weirder, and as usual the case intersects with another and gets all muddled up before the lightbulb goes off over Montalbano's head. Meanwhile, he deals with people breaking into his home, women trouble, consumes much yummy food, has his share of grumpy and melancholy thoughts, buffaloes his superiors and baffles his staff, but eventually gets to where he's going in the end, solving both cases--once he starts following the right track. Enjoyable visit to Montelusa and surrounding area with my favorite Italian curmudgeon, as usual and expected. Keep them coming, Mr. Camilleri! A.
6. SARAH'S KEY by Tatiana de Rosnay. (AUDIO) This book is part historical fiction, set in 1942 Paris, and part modern. The first part tells the story of Sarah Starcyzinski, a young French Jewish girl born of Polish parents. The events take place during July of that year, when the "Vel Dhiv" roundup took place--with thousands of Jewish families arrested (by French police, not the Gestapo) and initially held in a cycling velodrome, then moved first to interment camps within France and eventually on to Auschwitz. Sarah has her own particular horror to live through that involves her young brother Michel, who gets left behind when the family is arrested. Meanwhile, in modern-day Paris, Julia Jarmond, a middle-aged American now living in Paris (and married to a Frenchman) is set to move into the apartment where Sarah's family lived in 1942. Julia discovers this connection when she begins researching the "Vel Dhiv" roundup for a newspaper article she's writing and then, when she learns that her hsuband's family took the apartment when a Jewish family was arrested, becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to that family, which eventually leads her to Sarah's trail. The two stories intersect, of course. This book sounded a lot better than it was. I didn't like the main character in the modern part very much, and there was a point in the last third of the book where Sarah's voice goes away and her story is left dangling--and that's when I really lost interest, not really wanting to put up with the whiny Julia's ramblings. I enjoyed the story overall, and learning about an event in history that I really had no knowledge of, but it could have done with a lot less of the minutiae of Julia's life. C+
7. THE CORPSE IN THE KORYO by James Church. #1 Inspector O mystery, set in modern day North Korea, mostly in the capital Pyongyang, but O also travels out to several outlying areas. The story begins with him on a stakeout to take a picture of a car going by on a road in a rural area outside the city. Those are his orders, but of course the camera fails due to dead batteries and the story moves along to a tale of intrigue and espionage between one Ministry and another, sort of a Spy vs. Spy kind of thing with a friend of O's boss named Kang directing much of the action as he tries to evade the Military Security branch run by Colonel Kim. Many deaths occurred along the way, and O is never quite sure who to trust, so mostly he doesn't trust anyone. It was confusing at first, since I had virtually no knowledge of how things are in North Korea, or what life is like. But I quickly came to like Inspector O, and once I stopped trying to figure everything out and sat back to enjoy the story, it was fine, the details fell into place and I really enjoyed getting to know the country and the main character. The writing style is hard to describe--somewhat of a literary, lyrical side to it, and a definite dry sense of humor there in the background too. I have to read the next book just to find out if O ever gets his cup of tea! A.
8.FINAL NOTICE by Jo Dereske. #6 Miss Zukas mystery set in fictional Bellehaven, WA. Helma has her elderly, somewhat eccentric Aunt Emily come to stay with her after she has a 'brain incident' and isn't able to stay alone just yet. Shortly after her arrival, a man is killed outside Helma's apartment, and Aunt Em is shocked to recognize him as the man who tried to steal her purse in the airport--she had poked him good with her hatpin, and he fled, but she's sure it's the same man. Further investigation and Helma's looking into her aunt's checkered past leads her to believe that her aunt may well be in danger because of things that happened years ago. Enlisting the help of her 'friend,' police chief Wayne Gallant, Helma narrows down the search--although she's uneasy asking for Chief Gallant's help, as rumor has it that he is seeing his ex-wife again. I really like Helma and do enjoy this series very much, and got a kick out of Aunt Em, who is about as polar opposite of Helma as you can get. And yet they 'work well' together. Interesting story, although the mystery wasn't too mysterious, and looking forward to the next one. A.
9. THE LIONS OF THE NORTH by Edward Marston. #4 in the Domesday historical mystery series, this time the Royal Commissioners are off to York, once again settling land disputes at the behest of the King. Ralph Delchard, Gervase Bret, Canon Hubert and Brother Simon the scribe are joined by a northern noble, Tanchelm of Ghent, who is joining their group at King William's order. There are many disputes to investigate, and it's complicated by the rovings of outlaw bands, including the notorious Olaf Evil Child, who actually has the temerity to steal the group's sumpter horses at an overnight stop along the way. Insulted to the core, Ralph Delchard makes his displeasure known to his old friend, Aubrey Maminot, with whom the party will be lodging at York Castle. Aubrey allows that Olaf is already a thorn in his side, and if caught, he'll be fed to his pets--two ferocious African lions that prowl the ditches around the castle at night, and whom their trainer Ludovico and Aubrey are the only two allowed to handle. Another wonderful story full of history and a sense of time and place that is unrivaled by other writers of historical fiction and mystery. The characters are also wonderful and varied and after only four books have almost become old friends. This has fast become one of my favorite historical series--it's too bad the books are out of print and are so difficult to come by. But I eagerly look forward to the next. A+
10. BIGGIE AND THE POISONED POLITICIAN by Nancy Bell. (AUDIO) #1 in the Biggie Weatherford cozy mystery series set in fictional small-town Texas. The story is told through the eyes of Biggie's 12-year-old grandson J.R., and is a light, humorous mystery mostly focusing on small-town Texas life. Biggie is a wealthy widow and one of the movers and shakers in tiny Job's Crossing, and she pretty much does as she pleases and usually gets her way. So when a new landfill is built next to her family's cemetery, she doesn't have a hissyfit--she gets moving, marshalling her supporters to get rid of it. When the mayor--an overweight, blustery man with a heart conditions--keels over in his whipped cream at a table in the local diner, with Biggie and J.R. looking on, it's first thought he just had the inevitable heart attack. But Biggie thinks he was poisoned and sets out to prove it, although she's not sure why just yet. It must have something to do with her lodger's car blowing up though, don'tchathinkhoney? Two such bizarre events would just have to be linked, since nothing much exciting happens in Job's Crossing. I downloaded this from the library because I needed something quick and light (and of course, the first in a series) and distracting, and it was a rather fun listen. However, not sure I will continue on--there is way too much sticky-sweet southern humor for my usual taste, and if I do listen further (I believe the library has most of the series available as audio download) it will be with plenty of space between the books. B.
11. THE FABULOUS RIVERBOAT by Philip Jose Farmer. #2 in the Riverworld Saga. This book, the second in a series that features a sort of repository for the dead--basically, everyone ever born on earth is resurrected in the Riverworld--focuses on Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain. His big dream on Earth was to build and captain a Riverboat, and now that he's basically got all eternity, he's determined to do it. This life-after-death place isn't exactly what you'd call heaven, though--the same cliques, clans and territorial battles still break out, and as some resources are in short supply, Sam knows he will have to do battle or barter to get the materials he needs. As with the previous book, a host of different characters from history--ancient and recent--show up, often in unlikely roles. Quite entertaining and an interesting concept of what 'life after death' could be like. B+
12. THE TAKEN by Inger Ash Wolfe #2 Hazel Micallef mystery set in rural Ontario in fictional Port Dundas, although Hazel and her second, James Wingate, do spend time ruffling feathers in Toronto on his old stomping grounds when a case takes them there. A supposed body dredged up from the bottom of a local lake ends up being nothing but a mannequin--but one that someone wants the police to find--it's been weighted to stay in place and an IP address on the back of the mannequin leads them to a website showing a live feed with the merest of hints that someone is being held captive. Oddly, the case is unfolding like the serial story appearing in the local newspaper, and Micallef must butt heads with the press as she attempts to find the writer of the story. Hazel, recovering from major back surgery and dependent on the care of her ex-husband and his new wife as well as powerful painkillers, shouldn't even be back to work yet, but something about this case has yanked her chain and she is determined to find out who is manipulating the police--and her in particular--for their nefarious purposes. A very strange story, and a very interesting one, although I have to admit at first I was really tired of Hazel's pity party. It did get better and by the time I hit the halfway point had a heck of a time putting it down. I really do like Hazel--she's very human, very flawed and vulnerable for all her blustering. Eagerly awaiting the next. A.
13. IGNORANCE IS BLITZ by Anders Henrikssen. A collection of bloopers from college term papers, specifically dealing with history, from ancient times to near-modern history. Spelling errors, grammatical errors, misuse of words, punctuation and especially concepts--all things that drive me right up a tree. So a whole book of them? Made me laugh my butt off. I learned rather quickly that I could not read it while eating lunch. LOL I like the "Anguished English' books as those are examples taken from high school and the world at large. The people writing these papers actually made it into college. Though heaven only knows how! A couple of my favorites: "Judyism was the first monolithic religion. It had one big god named Yahoo." "The wholey Roman Empire amazed many when it was found in Germany." "The invention of the sex tent helped to determine place and orientation at sea." It's best read in small bits, otherwise it can tend to get overwhelming. Plus, you'll strain something laughing too much for too long if you read it all at once. :o) A.
14. AN UNACCEPTABLE DEATH by Barbara Seranella. #8 and final Munch Mancini mystery. Munch, now clean and sober for nine years and living a stable life with her adopted daughter Asia, is enjoying planning her wedding to police detective Rico Chacon, when he is shot to death by other cops in a drug bust gone wrong. Among allegations that Rico was a dirty cop, Munch stuffs her grief and despair to the back of her soul while she lets her practical side take over and sets out to prove that he wasn't. She believes Rico was killed because of her--she had just learned that there is a bounty on her head, put there by the former head of an outlaw biker gang that she all but dismantled when she went straight. Now the gang is re-forming and their first order of business is to take Munch down, and she wonders if he somehow got in the middle of that. She makes deals as a confidential informant with a couple of groups of cops and then essentially does what she needs to do anyway to figure out why Rico was killed. An excellent ending to this series, very sad and poignant, yet hopeful too. I am going to miss Munch a lot. A.
15. PLAYING WITH BONES by Kate Ellis. #2 DI Joe Plantagenet mystery set in fictional Eborby, UK--modeled after the city of York. A young girl is found dead in a dark close, strangled and then with a strange mutilation--her big toe of her left foot is severed, and an old porcelain doll is laid next to her with its toe also removed. When one of the constables brings to Joe and his boss DCI Emily Thwaite's attention a book he's reading about historical murders that contains an excerpt about the Doll Strangler of Singmass Close, they realize the strong similarity to the strangulation of four women back in the 1950's. The toe mutilation was never reported anywhere, so whoever is doing this now must have some connection to the first killer. Another case involving a missing girl intersects with the murder case. I enjoyed this second entry in this series although there seemed to be way too many red herrings and a lot of huge coincidences happening in order for things to fall into place as they do. Still, I am looking forward to the next in series and also to trying the author's other long-standing mystery series. A-
16. CASTLE IN THE AIR by Diana Wynne Jones. (AUDIO) Second in the "Castle" YA fantasy series (the first was Howl's Moving Castle) although we don't actually run into characters from the first book until about the last third of the story. Not really a series, they're just sort of loosely connected. Most of it is about Abdullah, a young carpet-seller in the desert country called Zanzib who daydreams about a life much unlike his own--with himself a prince stolen by evil men and who ends up married to a beautiful princess, and not a seller of carpets besieged by his late father's first wife's nosy family. Meanwhile, Abdullah is sold a magic carpet by a mysterious stranger, and he finds that when he sleeps on it, many of his daydreams seem to come true as he travels to far-off places--and he ends up in Ingary (the country in the first book) with a magic genie in a bottle and a disenfranchised Strangian soldier and a couple of cats, trying to chase down the Princess Flower-in-the-Night, who was stolen by an evil djinn. Full of good humor, a good story and some great characters, and very well-read also by Jenny Sterlin. Going to look for the next one in this sort-of series. B+
17. BREATHING WATER by Timothy Hallinan. #3 Poke Rafferty mystery set in Bangkok, Thailand. Poke gets into big trouble when he wins a poker game and the 'prize' is writing the autobiography of the loser--a rich, important man in Thailand, somewhat of a folk hero from the poor northwest of the country who rudely thumbs his nose at the rich, 'noble' class who have ruled the country for centuries. However, powerful people don't want the book written--and others want it written, but only the version they want to be told. Poke and his family are threatened, followed, menaced, attacked--and they don't even know by whom. Probably several parties, all with very powerful friends. Poke tries to figure out how to maintain his status quo without tipping off any of the warring parties what he's doing. Meanwhile, Poke's best friend Arthit, a policeman, is going through hell as he discovers that his beloved wife Noi is probably planning her own suicide as her progressive muscular degenerative disease leaves her with increasing pain that no one can help. And Miaow, Poke's adopted daughter, is having growing pains of her own, trying to figure out where she fits into the world. Another excellent, complex story of Bangkok, from the mean streets to the mansions of the powerful. I absolutely love Poke and his family and friends and was glad to see Boo back in the picture. I've just received the latest in the series, The Queen of Patpong, and it's not very likely that it will gather much dust on my TBR pile! A+
18. A CORPSE AT ST. ANDREW'S CHAPEL by Mel Starr. #2 Hugh de Singleton medieval mystery set in 1360's in the town of Bampton, UK. Still recovering from the plague two decades previously, a spate of lawlessness seems to have taken over the countryside as Hugh, a surgeon, settles into his double role as Bailiff of Bampton Castle for Lord Gilbert Talbot. When Alan the beadle is found dead--first presumed attacked by a wolf, later noted to have been shot with an arrow--Hugh must investigate the death and is attacked several times himself for his trouble. As he follows several twisty, tenuous threads trying to solve several small mysteries that come together in a somewhat pedestrian, obvious conclusion. That isn't to say that I didn't enjoy the book--I did, very much. The sense of time and place provided by the author is outstanding and indeed is the strong point of this series so far. I do like Hugh, but he seems to be just developing as a character. The writing style is at times a bit off-putting and doesn't always flow smoothly, and also with several repetitive phrases that seemed to stand out sometimes. But the entire package was quite enjoyable and I look forward to getting to know Hugh better in the next book. B+
19. A CAST-OFF COVEN by Juliet Blackwell. #2 in the so-called "Witchcraft" series featuring Lily Ivory, a witch and vintage clothing shop owner in San Francisco. Lily is asked by her employee Maya, who is also a student at the San Francisco School of Fine Arts, to come to the school and look around on behalf of the woman who runs the school. She's offered a chest full of vintage clothing they found in an old trunk in a closet, but hopes Lily can use her powers to find out about a visitation by a suspected ghost in the bell tower of the school and perhaps do something about it. The noises and ghostly presence has ramped up recently and become disruptive. While at the school, a man falls--or is pushed--down the bell tower steps on the exact site of a suicide several decades earlier. The natural conclusion drawn by many is that the ghost killed Jerry Becker--a rich big-wig with lots of money invested in the school, as well as a daughter, Andromeda, who attends there. Lily is pretty sure that Becker's killer was human, and since he wasn't well-liked and had lots of money, there are plenty of people with motive. Further investigation leads her to believe there is indeed an evil presence at the school, but not from a ghost--rather, from a demon that someone has summoned. Along the way, Lily has to deal once again with Aidan Rhodes, a powerful witch who makes her uncomfortable on several levels, and Max Carmichael, a journalist whom she went out with once and who definitely interests her (and vice versa) but who is a bit of an enigma and who finds her whole witchiness very discomfiting. She also encounters several other men who briefly caught Lily's attention as the story progressed. I enjoyed the book for the most part, although at times I'm not sure if the author is trying to pass Lily off as a witch...I mean, a real witch, or if she's got her living in some type of a paranormal world. I suppose given that she has a goblin familiar who disguises himself as her pet potbellied pig, I really shouldn't take any of it too seriously, right? This should probably be classified as light urban fantasy rather than mystery. There are things that were semi-accurate, though--and some of it just accurate enough to perhaps confuse people who aren't familiar with *actual* witch/Pagan practice and belief. The one other gripe I have is that the author's propensity to make every man Lily met or came across a potential love interest, however briefly, was really annoying. And of course there are at least a couple of permanent romantic interests to keep Lily pulled in two directions, which is one thing that has put me off many so-called mystery series that started with promise and then devolve into romantic baloney, with the mysteries taking a back seat--no, more like being hogtied in the trunk while the romance and sexual tension steer the series. (The whodunit in this one was sort of a no-brainer.) That said, I like the writing style, I like Lily and her shop and her circle of friends for the most part, and Blackwell really is able to provide a wonderful sense of place, making the city of San Francisco one of the main characters in the book. I also love Oscar to pieces! LOL I'll give the series one more read, and if the next book is obviously continuing down the romance road, as much as I like the other parts of the book, I'll probably stop there. B
CURRENT READS: THE DARK WIND by Tony Hillerman in audio, MAMA RIDES SHOTGUN by Deborah Sharp and Wild Indigo by Sandi Ault in print.
Cheryl
1. A TRACE OF SMOKE by Rebecca Cantrell. #1 Hannah Vogel mystery set in 1931 Germany. Hannah, a thirty-something independent woman who has resigned herself to life alone after her fiance died in the Great War, is now working as a newspaper reporter (but writing under a man's name.) She is at the police station to get some information for a story from her friend Fritz, but is instead horrified to see a photograph of her younger brother Ernst on the "Hall of the Unnamed Dead," a series of images put up on the wall so that citizens can help the police identify unnamed corpses that are found. Ernst led a reckless life as a cross-dressing homosexual, singing burlesque in one of Berlin's 'queer clubs' in the days before the Nazis took complete power and shut such things down. Hannah, who cared for the decade-younger Ernst after her parents had both died, is devastated and sets out to find out who killed him and why. Using her guise as a reporter, she numbly goes through several days asking questions of his known friends, co-workers at his club, even following some of them into rather seedy places and even uses her police friend, never letting on to anyone that Ernst is dead. While she had reconciled herself to Ernst's lifestyle and loved him fiercely, what she discovers shocks her to the core, as it involves some very senior level people in the up-and-coming Nazi party. What an excellent way to start the new year! This is definitely not my favorite time in history, but the author does a great job of putting you in the time and place and describing life from the point of view of an average non-Nazi citizen as they watch the Party slowly take over the country. The story and the mystery were also intriguing, and I found myself really liking Hannah a lot. She seems to be, to me, the 'opposite woman' to Maisie Dobbs, whose story takes place in about the same time over in England. Interesting looking at things from the German viewpoint. Very difficult to put down and definitely looking forward to the next one! A+
2. THE LAST PLACE by Laura Lippman. (AUDIO) #7 Tess Monaghan mystery set in Baltimore. Whitney, Tess's good friend, sends some work her way from a consortium of non-profits that she is on the board of. They're researching police techniques in the rural areas around the city in hopes of finding some fuel for their fire: more funding for domestic violence prevention. If they can prove that the rural police messed up and need more education, they hope to lobby the legislature for the funding. They hand Tess five unrelated, unsolved homicides from the outlying areas and ask her to see how they were investigated. What ends up happening is that the cases aren't quite as unrelated as they thought. Tess hooks up with a former cop out on disability who had obsessed over one of the cases, and they are allowed to assist the state police peripherally when they bring the evidence of the serial killer to them. I have to admit that the mystery itself was rather easy to figure out--the clues were just dangled in front of you and I kept wanting to smack Tess because she didn't see certain things. Then again, she was a bit distracted--having had to go into court-ordered anger-management therapy after she (and Whitney, although Tess never implicated her friend) tracked down a guy who seduced Whitney's teenage niece in an internet chat room. (Apparently the use of Nair on the entire body warrants assault. LOL) Still a very enjoyable visit with Tess and Crow, the dogs and her friends, even though I was at least two steps ahead of them all the way. And I think I'm finally getting used to the narrator's (Barbara Rosenblatt) voice, which I found annoying as hell at first. A
3. FART PROUDLY: WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN YOU NEVER READ IN SCHOOL by Carl Japiske. A collection of stories, newspaper articles and letters written by the esteemed Mr. Franklin, which, as the subtitle indicates, are not likely to be included in school curriculums. The book opens with the quote, "He who lives on hope dies farting" which was published in Poor Richard's almanac in 1736. The other pieces run in a similar vein, with Franklin leaving his guise as diplomat, statesman, inventor and wise, respected philosopher behind--he gets downright bawdy at times, other times inciting rebellion and scandal. Which is probably why I enjoyed it so much--it made an excellent 'bathroom book' for the past few weeks. LOL A.
4. LORDS AND LADIES by Terry Pratchett. #14 in publication order in the humorous fantasy Discworld series. We're once again back in Lancre with Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and...well, Magrat Garlick used to be the third member of their witches' coven until King Verence proposed. Now she's Queen-in-waiting, planning her wedding and bored silly, so not able to help much when Granny and Nanny make their plans to take on the Lords and Ladies--the elves--who are trying to get through to this dimension through a stone circle in the Ramtops. They know how truly nasty elves are--nothing like the sweet, beautiful creatures they project themselves to be. As the Bursar, Archchancellor and Librarian of Unseen University make their way to Lancre for the wedding (picking up the dwarf Casanunda--an old friend of Nanny Ogg's--on the way) and the rest of the town prepare, a series of events unfolds--in at least one dimension--that makes the whole town want to crawl under their beds. Very enjoyable--I had forgotten how much I love this book (read it years ago) and had totally forgotten Casanunda--he's now emerged again as one of my favorite Discworld characters. A+
5. THE TRACK OF SAND by Andrea Camilleri. #12 Inspector Montalbano mystery set in Sicily. What are the odds that you would look out your window one morning and see a dead horse lying on the beach? This is how Salvo Montalbano's day begins, and things continue to stay weird for several days. By the time he follows the horse's tracks and locates where he was killed--a victim of a brutal beating--the corpse has disappeared. When a beautiful woman comes into the police station to report her horse missing, things get even weirder, and as usual the case intersects with another and gets all muddled up before the lightbulb goes off over Montalbano's head. Meanwhile, he deals with people breaking into his home, women trouble, consumes much yummy food, has his share of grumpy and melancholy thoughts, buffaloes his superiors and baffles his staff, but eventually gets to where he's going in the end, solving both cases--once he starts following the right track. Enjoyable visit to Montelusa and surrounding area with my favorite Italian curmudgeon, as usual and expected. Keep them coming, Mr. Camilleri! A.
6. SARAH'S KEY by Tatiana de Rosnay. (AUDIO) This book is part historical fiction, set in 1942 Paris, and part modern. The first part tells the story of Sarah Starcyzinski, a young French Jewish girl born of Polish parents. The events take place during July of that year, when the "Vel Dhiv" roundup took place--with thousands of Jewish families arrested (by French police, not the Gestapo) and initially held in a cycling velodrome, then moved first to interment camps within France and eventually on to Auschwitz. Sarah has her own particular horror to live through that involves her young brother Michel, who gets left behind when the family is arrested. Meanwhile, in modern-day Paris, Julia Jarmond, a middle-aged American now living in Paris (and married to a Frenchman) is set to move into the apartment where Sarah's family lived in 1942. Julia discovers this connection when she begins researching the "Vel Dhiv" roundup for a newspaper article she's writing and then, when she learns that her hsuband's family took the apartment when a Jewish family was arrested, becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to that family, which eventually leads her to Sarah's trail. The two stories intersect, of course. This book sounded a lot better than it was. I didn't like the main character in the modern part very much, and there was a point in the last third of the book where Sarah's voice goes away and her story is left dangling--and that's when I really lost interest, not really wanting to put up with the whiny Julia's ramblings. I enjoyed the story overall, and learning about an event in history that I really had no knowledge of, but it could have done with a lot less of the minutiae of Julia's life. C+
7. THE CORPSE IN THE KORYO by James Church. #1 Inspector O mystery, set in modern day North Korea, mostly in the capital Pyongyang, but O also travels out to several outlying areas. The story begins with him on a stakeout to take a picture of a car going by on a road in a rural area outside the city. Those are his orders, but of course the camera fails due to dead batteries and the story moves along to a tale of intrigue and espionage between one Ministry and another, sort of a Spy vs. Spy kind of thing with a friend of O's boss named Kang directing much of the action as he tries to evade the Military Security branch run by Colonel Kim. Many deaths occurred along the way, and O is never quite sure who to trust, so mostly he doesn't trust anyone. It was confusing at first, since I had virtually no knowledge of how things are in North Korea, or what life is like. But I quickly came to like Inspector O, and once I stopped trying to figure everything out and sat back to enjoy the story, it was fine, the details fell into place and I really enjoyed getting to know the country and the main character. The writing style is hard to describe--somewhat of a literary, lyrical side to it, and a definite dry sense of humor there in the background too. I have to read the next book just to find out if O ever gets his cup of tea! A.
8.FINAL NOTICE by Jo Dereske. #6 Miss Zukas mystery set in fictional Bellehaven, WA. Helma has her elderly, somewhat eccentric Aunt Emily come to stay with her after she has a 'brain incident' and isn't able to stay alone just yet. Shortly after her arrival, a man is killed outside Helma's apartment, and Aunt Em is shocked to recognize him as the man who tried to steal her purse in the airport--she had poked him good with her hatpin, and he fled, but she's sure it's the same man. Further investigation and Helma's looking into her aunt's checkered past leads her to believe that her aunt may well be in danger because of things that happened years ago. Enlisting the help of her 'friend,' police chief Wayne Gallant, Helma narrows down the search--although she's uneasy asking for Chief Gallant's help, as rumor has it that he is seeing his ex-wife again. I really like Helma and do enjoy this series very much, and got a kick out of Aunt Em, who is about as polar opposite of Helma as you can get. And yet they 'work well' together. Interesting story, although the mystery wasn't too mysterious, and looking forward to the next one. A.
9. THE LIONS OF THE NORTH by Edward Marston. #4 in the Domesday historical mystery series, this time the Royal Commissioners are off to York, once again settling land disputes at the behest of the King. Ralph Delchard, Gervase Bret, Canon Hubert and Brother Simon the scribe are joined by a northern noble, Tanchelm of Ghent, who is joining their group at King William's order. There are many disputes to investigate, and it's complicated by the rovings of outlaw bands, including the notorious Olaf Evil Child, who actually has the temerity to steal the group's sumpter horses at an overnight stop along the way. Insulted to the core, Ralph Delchard makes his displeasure known to his old friend, Aubrey Maminot, with whom the party will be lodging at York Castle. Aubrey allows that Olaf is already a thorn in his side, and if caught, he'll be fed to his pets--two ferocious African lions that prowl the ditches around the castle at night, and whom their trainer Ludovico and Aubrey are the only two allowed to handle. Another wonderful story full of history and a sense of time and place that is unrivaled by other writers of historical fiction and mystery. The characters are also wonderful and varied and after only four books have almost become old friends. This has fast become one of my favorite historical series--it's too bad the books are out of print and are so difficult to come by. But I eagerly look forward to the next. A+
10. BIGGIE AND THE POISONED POLITICIAN by Nancy Bell. (AUDIO) #1 in the Biggie Weatherford cozy mystery series set in fictional small-town Texas. The story is told through the eyes of Biggie's 12-year-old grandson J.R., and is a light, humorous mystery mostly focusing on small-town Texas life. Biggie is a wealthy widow and one of the movers and shakers in tiny Job's Crossing, and she pretty much does as she pleases and usually gets her way. So when a new landfill is built next to her family's cemetery, she doesn't have a hissyfit--she gets moving, marshalling her supporters to get rid of it. When the mayor--an overweight, blustery man with a heart conditions--keels over in his whipped cream at a table in the local diner, with Biggie and J.R. looking on, it's first thought he just had the inevitable heart attack. But Biggie thinks he was poisoned and sets out to prove it, although she's not sure why just yet. It must have something to do with her lodger's car blowing up though, don'tchathinkhoney? Two such bizarre events would just have to be linked, since nothing much exciting happens in Job's Crossing. I downloaded this from the library because I needed something quick and light (and of course, the first in a series) and distracting, and it was a rather fun listen. However, not sure I will continue on--there is way too much sticky-sweet southern humor for my usual taste, and if I do listen further (I believe the library has most of the series available as audio download) it will be with plenty of space between the books. B.
11. THE FABULOUS RIVERBOAT by Philip Jose Farmer. #2 in the Riverworld Saga. This book, the second in a series that features a sort of repository for the dead--basically, everyone ever born on earth is resurrected in the Riverworld--focuses on Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain. His big dream on Earth was to build and captain a Riverboat, and now that he's basically got all eternity, he's determined to do it. This life-after-death place isn't exactly what you'd call heaven, though--the same cliques, clans and territorial battles still break out, and as some resources are in short supply, Sam knows he will have to do battle or barter to get the materials he needs. As with the previous book, a host of different characters from history--ancient and recent--show up, often in unlikely roles. Quite entertaining and an interesting concept of what 'life after death' could be like. B+
12. THE TAKEN by Inger Ash Wolfe #2 Hazel Micallef mystery set in rural Ontario in fictional Port Dundas, although Hazel and her second, James Wingate, do spend time ruffling feathers in Toronto on his old stomping grounds when a case takes them there. A supposed body dredged up from the bottom of a local lake ends up being nothing but a mannequin--but one that someone wants the police to find--it's been weighted to stay in place and an IP address on the back of the mannequin leads them to a website showing a live feed with the merest of hints that someone is being held captive. Oddly, the case is unfolding like the serial story appearing in the local newspaper, and Micallef must butt heads with the press as she attempts to find the writer of the story. Hazel, recovering from major back surgery and dependent on the care of her ex-husband and his new wife as well as powerful painkillers, shouldn't even be back to work yet, but something about this case has yanked her chain and she is determined to find out who is manipulating the police--and her in particular--for their nefarious purposes. A very strange story, and a very interesting one, although I have to admit at first I was really tired of Hazel's pity party. It did get better and by the time I hit the halfway point had a heck of a time putting it down. I really do like Hazel--she's very human, very flawed and vulnerable for all her blustering. Eagerly awaiting the next. A.
13. IGNORANCE IS BLITZ by Anders Henrikssen. A collection of bloopers from college term papers, specifically dealing with history, from ancient times to near-modern history. Spelling errors, grammatical errors, misuse of words, punctuation and especially concepts--all things that drive me right up a tree. So a whole book of them? Made me laugh my butt off. I learned rather quickly that I could not read it while eating lunch. LOL I like the "Anguished English' books as those are examples taken from high school and the world at large. The people writing these papers actually made it into college. Though heaven only knows how! A couple of my favorites: "Judyism was the first monolithic religion. It had one big god named Yahoo." "The wholey Roman Empire amazed many when it was found in Germany." "The invention of the sex tent helped to determine place and orientation at sea." It's best read in small bits, otherwise it can tend to get overwhelming. Plus, you'll strain something laughing too much for too long if you read it all at once. :o) A.
14. AN UNACCEPTABLE DEATH by Barbara Seranella. #8 and final Munch Mancini mystery. Munch, now clean and sober for nine years and living a stable life with her adopted daughter Asia, is enjoying planning her wedding to police detective Rico Chacon, when he is shot to death by other cops in a drug bust gone wrong. Among allegations that Rico was a dirty cop, Munch stuffs her grief and despair to the back of her soul while she lets her practical side take over and sets out to prove that he wasn't. She believes Rico was killed because of her--she had just learned that there is a bounty on her head, put there by the former head of an outlaw biker gang that she all but dismantled when she went straight. Now the gang is re-forming and their first order of business is to take Munch down, and she wonders if he somehow got in the middle of that. She makes deals as a confidential informant with a couple of groups of cops and then essentially does what she needs to do anyway to figure out why Rico was killed. An excellent ending to this series, very sad and poignant, yet hopeful too. I am going to miss Munch a lot. A.
15. PLAYING WITH BONES by Kate Ellis. #2 DI Joe Plantagenet mystery set in fictional Eborby, UK--modeled after the city of York. A young girl is found dead in a dark close, strangled and then with a strange mutilation--her big toe of her left foot is severed, and an old porcelain doll is laid next to her with its toe also removed. When one of the constables brings to Joe and his boss DCI Emily Thwaite's attention a book he's reading about historical murders that contains an excerpt about the Doll Strangler of Singmass Close, they realize the strong similarity to the strangulation of four women back in the 1950's. The toe mutilation was never reported anywhere, so whoever is doing this now must have some connection to the first killer. Another case involving a missing girl intersects with the murder case. I enjoyed this second entry in this series although there seemed to be way too many red herrings and a lot of huge coincidences happening in order for things to fall into place as they do. Still, I am looking forward to the next in series and also to trying the author's other long-standing mystery series. A-
16. CASTLE IN THE AIR by Diana Wynne Jones. (AUDIO) Second in the "Castle" YA fantasy series (the first was Howl's Moving Castle) although we don't actually run into characters from the first book until about the last third of the story. Not really a series, they're just sort of loosely connected. Most of it is about Abdullah, a young carpet-seller in the desert country called Zanzib who daydreams about a life much unlike his own--with himself a prince stolen by evil men and who ends up married to a beautiful princess, and not a seller of carpets besieged by his late father's first wife's nosy family. Meanwhile, Abdullah is sold a magic carpet by a mysterious stranger, and he finds that when he sleeps on it, many of his daydreams seem to come true as he travels to far-off places--and he ends up in Ingary (the country in the first book) with a magic genie in a bottle and a disenfranchised Strangian soldier and a couple of cats, trying to chase down the Princess Flower-in-the-Night, who was stolen by an evil djinn. Full of good humor, a good story and some great characters, and very well-read also by Jenny Sterlin. Going to look for the next one in this sort-of series. B+
17. BREATHING WATER by Timothy Hallinan. #3 Poke Rafferty mystery set in Bangkok, Thailand. Poke gets into big trouble when he wins a poker game and the 'prize' is writing the autobiography of the loser--a rich, important man in Thailand, somewhat of a folk hero from the poor northwest of the country who rudely thumbs his nose at the rich, 'noble' class who have ruled the country for centuries. However, powerful people don't want the book written--and others want it written, but only the version they want to be told. Poke and his family are threatened, followed, menaced, attacked--and they don't even know by whom. Probably several parties, all with very powerful friends. Poke tries to figure out how to maintain his status quo without tipping off any of the warring parties what he's doing. Meanwhile, Poke's best friend Arthit, a policeman, is going through hell as he discovers that his beloved wife Noi is probably planning her own suicide as her progressive muscular degenerative disease leaves her with increasing pain that no one can help. And Miaow, Poke's adopted daughter, is having growing pains of her own, trying to figure out where she fits into the world. Another excellent, complex story of Bangkok, from the mean streets to the mansions of the powerful. I absolutely love Poke and his family and friends and was glad to see Boo back in the picture. I've just received the latest in the series, The Queen of Patpong, and it's not very likely that it will gather much dust on my TBR pile! A+
18. A CORPSE AT ST. ANDREW'S CHAPEL by Mel Starr. #2 Hugh de Singleton medieval mystery set in 1360's in the town of Bampton, UK. Still recovering from the plague two decades previously, a spate of lawlessness seems to have taken over the countryside as Hugh, a surgeon, settles into his double role as Bailiff of Bampton Castle for Lord Gilbert Talbot. When Alan the beadle is found dead--first presumed attacked by a wolf, later noted to have been shot with an arrow--Hugh must investigate the death and is attacked several times himself for his trouble. As he follows several twisty, tenuous threads trying to solve several small mysteries that come together in a somewhat pedestrian, obvious conclusion. That isn't to say that I didn't enjoy the book--I did, very much. The sense of time and place provided by the author is outstanding and indeed is the strong point of this series so far. I do like Hugh, but he seems to be just developing as a character. The writing style is at times a bit off-putting and doesn't always flow smoothly, and also with several repetitive phrases that seemed to stand out sometimes. But the entire package was quite enjoyable and I look forward to getting to know Hugh better in the next book. B+
19. A CAST-OFF COVEN by Juliet Blackwell. #2 in the so-called "Witchcraft" series featuring Lily Ivory, a witch and vintage clothing shop owner in San Francisco. Lily is asked by her employee Maya, who is also a student at the San Francisco School of Fine Arts, to come to the school and look around on behalf of the woman who runs the school. She's offered a chest full of vintage clothing they found in an old trunk in a closet, but hopes Lily can use her powers to find out about a visitation by a suspected ghost in the bell tower of the school and perhaps do something about it. The noises and ghostly presence has ramped up recently and become disruptive. While at the school, a man falls--or is pushed--down the bell tower steps on the exact site of a suicide several decades earlier. The natural conclusion drawn by many is that the ghost killed Jerry Becker--a rich big-wig with lots of money invested in the school, as well as a daughter, Andromeda, who attends there. Lily is pretty sure that Becker's killer was human, and since he wasn't well-liked and had lots of money, there are plenty of people with motive. Further investigation leads her to believe there is indeed an evil presence at the school, but not from a ghost--rather, from a demon that someone has summoned. Along the way, Lily has to deal once again with Aidan Rhodes, a powerful witch who makes her uncomfortable on several levels, and Max Carmichael, a journalist whom she went out with once and who definitely interests her (and vice versa) but who is a bit of an enigma and who finds her whole witchiness very discomfiting. She also encounters several other men who briefly caught Lily's attention as the story progressed. I enjoyed the book for the most part, although at times I'm not sure if the author is trying to pass Lily off as a witch...I mean, a real witch, or if she's got her living in some type of a paranormal world. I suppose given that she has a goblin familiar who disguises himself as her pet potbellied pig, I really shouldn't take any of it too seriously, right? This should probably be classified as light urban fantasy rather than mystery. There are things that were semi-accurate, though--and some of it just accurate enough to perhaps confuse people who aren't familiar with *actual* witch/Pagan practice and belief. The one other gripe I have is that the author's propensity to make every man Lily met or came across a potential love interest, however briefly, was really annoying. And of course there are at least a couple of permanent romantic interests to keep Lily pulled in two directions, which is one thing that has put me off many so-called mystery series that started with promise and then devolve into romantic baloney, with the mysteries taking a back seat--no, more like being hogtied in the trunk while the romance and sexual tension steer the series. (The whodunit in this one was sort of a no-brainer.) That said, I like the writing style, I like Lily and her shop and her circle of friends for the most part, and Blackwell really is able to provide a wonderful sense of place, making the city of San Francisco one of the main characters in the book. I also love Oscar to pieces! LOL I'll give the series one more read, and if the next book is obviously continuing down the romance road, as much as I like the other parts of the book, I'll probably stop there. B
CURRENT READS: THE DARK WIND by Tony Hillerman in audio, MAMA RIDES SHOTGUN by Deborah Sharp and Wild Indigo by Sandi Ault in print.
Cheryl
Friday, December 31, 2010
2010 YEAR END SUMMARY
It's time once again for that year-end summary. It's been another great reading year with many excellent reads and fewer DNFs than even last year. I finished off quite a few "dead" series and caught up to the current release on many others. I also have discovered some interesting new-to-me authors.
Here's the vital statistics:
Total books read: 198. (Down from last year's 234.)
DNFs (Did Not Finish): Only 5 this year, down from 11 last year. I like to think this means I'm getting better at knowing my reading tastes. It might just be pure luck, though. :)
TOPS and BOTTOMS of the year. I have a separate category for mysteries since that's the genre I read most. This was very difficult!! Lots of excellent books didn't make it into the top ten.
There aren't many bottoms, because if I'm not enjoying a book, I simply stop reading it, and I don't review books I don't finish. So it's not necessarily that the bottoms are horrible--just my least favorite of those I did finish. And these are not necessarily books *released* during this year, just books I've read during this year; I'm often several years behind on 'what's hot' currently.
TOP TEN MYSTERIES: (in no particular order)
1. Moonlight Downs by Adrian Hyland
2. Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris
3. Raven Black by Ann Cleeves
4. The Unquiet Bones by Melvin R. Starr
5. A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny
6. A Nail Through the Heart by Timothy Hallinan
7. Junkyard Dogs by Craig Johnson
8. Let the Dead Lie by Malla Nunn
9. The Calling by Inger Ash Wolfe
10.Medicus by Ruth Downie
11.Blacklands by Belinda Bauer
12.An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear
13.Missing Mark by Julie Kramer
14.Dog On It by Spencer Quinn
15.Christmas Mourning by Margaret Maron
Yes...I know. Math was never my strong suit. :)
TOP TEN "OTHER" (anything not a mystery):
1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
2. Hood by Stephen R. Lawhead
3. Kushiel's Avatar by Jacqueline Carey
4. The Map of True Places by Brunonia Barry
5. Changes by Jim Butcher
6. Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
7. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
8. Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie
9. Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin
10.Sleepless by Charlie Huston
Bottoms:
Our Lady of Immaculate Deception by Nancy Martin
The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson
Mercy Falls by William Kent Krueger
The Stolen Blue by Judith Van Gieson
A Fountain Filled With Blood by Julia Spencer-Fleming
Death of an Englishman by Magdalen Nabb
Stalked by Brian Freeman
And for once, I do have an actual New Year's Resolution, and it's one that involves books: I pledge not to purchase any books this year. (I am still going to trade books at Paperbackswap.com, but will not spend actual money for books in 2011.) I'm not sure what kind of odds the bookmakers are giving, but I am DETERMINED.
Roll on 2011! Happy Reading in the New Year, everyone!
Cheryl
Here's the vital statistics:
Total books read: 198. (Down from last year's 234.)
DNFs (Did Not Finish): Only 5 this year, down from 11 last year. I like to think this means I'm getting better at knowing my reading tastes. It might just be pure luck, though. :)
TOPS and BOTTOMS of the year. I have a separate category for mysteries since that's the genre I read most. This was very difficult!! Lots of excellent books didn't make it into the top ten.
There aren't many bottoms, because if I'm not enjoying a book, I simply stop reading it, and I don't review books I don't finish. So it's not necessarily that the bottoms are horrible--just my least favorite of those I did finish. And these are not necessarily books *released* during this year, just books I've read during this year; I'm often several years behind on 'what's hot' currently.
TOP TEN MYSTERIES: (in no particular order)
1. Moonlight Downs by Adrian Hyland
2. Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris
3. Raven Black by Ann Cleeves
4. The Unquiet Bones by Melvin R. Starr
5. A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny
6. A Nail Through the Heart by Timothy Hallinan
7. Junkyard Dogs by Craig Johnson
8. Let the Dead Lie by Malla Nunn
9. The Calling by Inger Ash Wolfe
10.Medicus by Ruth Downie
11.Blacklands by Belinda Bauer
12.An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear
13.Missing Mark by Julie Kramer
14.Dog On It by Spencer Quinn
15.Christmas Mourning by Margaret Maron
Yes...I know. Math was never my strong suit. :)
TOP TEN "OTHER" (anything not a mystery):
1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
2. Hood by Stephen R. Lawhead
3. Kushiel's Avatar by Jacqueline Carey
4. The Map of True Places by Brunonia Barry
5. Changes by Jim Butcher
6. Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
7. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
8. Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie
9. Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin
10.Sleepless by Charlie Huston
Bottoms:
Our Lady of Immaculate Deception by Nancy Martin
The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson
Mercy Falls by William Kent Krueger
The Stolen Blue by Judith Van Gieson
A Fountain Filled With Blood by Julia Spencer-Fleming
Death of an Englishman by Magdalen Nabb
Stalked by Brian Freeman
And for once, I do have an actual New Year's Resolution, and it's one that involves books: I pledge not to purchase any books this year. (I am still going to trade books at Paperbackswap.com, but will not spend actual money for books in 2011.) I'm not sure what kind of odds the bookmakers are giving, but I am DETERMINED.
Roll on 2011! Happy Reading in the New Year, everyone!
Cheryl
Monday, December 6, 2010
December 2010
1. ROSEMARY AND RUE by Seanan McGuire. #1 October "Toby" Daye paranormal. October is half-human, half fae changeling, who has just come out of the pond--having been cursed, she spent 14 years as a fish in a koi pond in a public park in San Francisco. During that time, she lost everything--her boyfriend, her daughter--who was four when she 'disappeared' and now wants nothing to do with her--her private eye business, and she remembers very little of her time underwater. Only the fae world, which time affects differently, still know who she is, although she is trying to make it in the human world. Working nights in a supermarket and living hand-to-mouth in a crummy apartment, October's life suddenly changes forever--again--when she is charged by a dying fae sometime friend to find her killer--and it's a request that Toby can neither refuse nor ignore--it is tied to a curse that will see her dead if she doesn't fulfill the directive. Trying to navigate fae politics and current feuds and alliances, she finds that much has changed even in the short (by fae standards) time she was gone. I enjoyed this quite a lot, although there were a lot of different characters and 'types' of fae to try to keep straight, and the subplots were perhaps a bit complicated for an introductory book. The few main characters were very interesting and well-fleshed though--Toby especially--and I'm definitely planning to read on. B+
2. THE OLD WINE SHADES by Martha Grimes. #20 Chief Supt. Richard Jury mystery set in the UK. This story sucked me in right from the beginning, with a man in a pub telling Jury a story about his friend whose wife, autistic son and dog disappeared into thin air about nine months previously. They had made a trip to a small town in Surrey that had a good private school for autistic children, and where they hoped to move if things checked out well. While she looked at one cottage she was scheduled to view, the estate agent stated she'd never come back to return the key for the second one, which was an unoccupied estate with a spooky history. "But the dog came back," Harry Johnson says, and produces a shaggy mutt called Mungo. Jury, on administrative leave from Scotland Yard, spends several pleasant evenings talking with Harry explaining about his friend Hugh, who became so distraught at his wife's disappearance that he is now in a private psychiatric facility attempting to gain his equilibrium back. Jury quietly (and unofficially) investigates, and of course brings his friend Melrose Plant into things as well. All went relatively well until the ending, which I found to be anticlimactic and rather lame--and I did see the plot twist coming. But still, I enjoy these visits with this set of characters that I have come to know and love over the years. B.
3. AN IMPARTIAL WITNESS by Charles Todd. (AUDIO) #2 Bess Crawford historical mystery set during WWI in England. Bess, a nurse, is escorting several patients back to a care facility in England from the battles in France. While she is at the train station making her own way back to London for a quick twenty-four hour leave, she recognizes a woman on the platform as Mrs. Evenson--the wife of one of the severely burned men she has just deposited. He carried her picture with him all the time, so Bess would be hard-pressed NOT to recognize her. But troublingly, the woman was crying and talking to another man--an officer in the Wiltshire Division. The scene disturbed her, but not as much as reading a newspaper article about her murder several weeks later when back in France--the newspaper was already old, being in a care package for one of her co-workers from home. Police are asking anyone who saw the woman on the day of her disappearance to help with enquiries, and Bess writes Scotland Yard to share her experience. They summon her back to England to speak with them and through other coincidences gets involved in helping solve the case with her amateur sleuthing. I rather liked the first book of this series, but this one I just could not get interested in. Bess seems rather devolved as a character, and it's hard for me to say that I know her very well--she's all over the place with regards to her thoughts, actions, emotions, etc. The mystery was rather obvious and I couldn't say that I felt particularly immersed in the time and place either--some parts felt kind of superficial where it seemed things should have been explored in depth, and other things that I felt were side issues were dwelt upon overly much. The book was competently read, although the reader had a couple of annoying habits--but honestly, I don't think it made a difference to my opinion about the book itself. I finished this, but honestly I think I will just stop here in this series. C.
4. THE WITCH IN THE WELL by Sharan Newman. #10 Catherine LeVendeur historical mystery set in 12th-century France. Catherine is at the home of her brother Guillaume and family when they are summoned to the home of their grandfather near Boisvert--the well is running dry, and there is apparently an old pagan folk story that everyone (but Catherine) in the family knows--all the family is in grave danger unless they can figure out why the well is going dry and stop it. Catherine, an ex-novice and very religious, heartily disbelieves in pagan tales, but feels a strange compulsion and they should be going to her grandfather's, and so she and husband Edgar and their children pack up and hit the road only to be met by several surprises once they arrive. I started out absolutely loving this series, but I have to admit I've grown a bit weary of it for these last few books. It's almost like a love-hate relationship with the books. One minute I'm loving the historical detail and sense of place, the next I want to throw it across the room because the characters and storyline has become so predictable, rehashed and recycled. Tedious. I dunno. It's kind of hard to explain. This is the last book in the series, and while I have mostly enjoyed the ride over these past several years, I was glad to close this final book and call it done. C+
5. THIEF IN RETREAT by Aimee and David Thurlo. #2 Sister Agatha mystery set in New Mexico. Sister Agatha is asked by the Archbishop to go out to a resort and retreat center to catalogue crates of stuff that were stored there (it was formerly a monastery) so that some renovations can occur. There is a secondary purpose to her trek also--the owners of the resort believe that certain religious art works have been stolen and replaced with fakes, but they have no real proof--and the appraiser they've hired has disappeared into thin air. Sister Agatha, who is an extern at the monastery she's a member of--meaning she can interact with the public--has a bit of a rep with the Archbishop and he wants her to help solve that crime while doing her cataloguing. Of course there is a ghost story to go with it, and Sister Agatha herself sees Juanita, the so-called lilac-smelling ghost, one night. Does the ghost have anything to do with the missing (or replaced) art work, though--or is she just an interesting side story? Sheriff Tom Green is also there, attending a workshop for cops, and he is helping Sister keep an eye out--but of course doesn't prevent her from finding the dead body of the appraiser. Part of me likes this quiet, cozy series, but part of me finds it a little too quiet, kind of repetitive in places, and somewhat unimaginative with a cliched set of characters. I've got one more book in the series here, and that one will be my decision-maker as to whether to continue reading the series or not. I'm teetering on the fence at the moment. B-
6. THE DOUBLE COMFORT SAFARI CLUB by Alexander McCall Smith. (AUDIO) #11 in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency cozy mystery series set in Botswana. We're off on another journey to Gabarone, Botswana to visit Mma Ramotswe, Mma Makutsi, Mr. JLB Matekoni and the rest of the circle of friends. Mma Ramotswe is commissioned by a wife--and then by her husband--to find out if the other is having an affair. The second case comes via letter from America, a lawyer asking her to track down a guide--name unknown--at a safari camp--name also unknown--in the Okavango Delta in the north of the country. A woman has died and left some money to that guide who was very kind to her on her safari trip a few years past. Mma Kutsi's fiance is seriously injured in an accident involving a delivery truck and she must battle his old auntie, who doesn't like Mma Kutsi and attempts to keep her from seeing Phuti. As always, a lovely visit with lots of wise words and warm fuzzies and not a whole lot of "mystery" per se. Very skillfully read by Lisette Lecat. A
7. SKIN by Mo Hayder. #4 DI Jack Caffrey mystery. Jack, still working in Bristol and still reeling from events in the last book, feels he is being watched by the Tokoloshe, an African mystical creature. He's supposed to have moved on to the next case--the disappearance of a popular footballer's wife from a local drug rehab facility--but he can't help but feel that they missed something on the case before, and he continues to pursue leads. Meanwhile, DS Phoebe "Flea" Marley, leader of the dive team--who also recover particularly messy, decomposing bodies--continues to deal with her mentally unstable brother Thom, and feels spooked by a diving incident in one of the old quarries--searching for the body of a young woman presumed dead. The cases merge toward one another and become thoroughly enmeshed when Flea makes a horrible discovery about Thom. I enjoy this series although I've felt these last couple of books haven't been as cohesive as the first couple. There seems to have to be a lot of suspension of disbelief to get on with the story--not necessarily the mystical element, more like the outrageous actions of these two police persons and the totally strange situations they find themselves in. Very violent and gory, which doesn't bother me, except that it does seem to me that much of it is meant simply to shock rather than to further the story along. The serial killer was not very well developed, and there seemed to be a lot of attention paid to some of the minor side characters, yet both of the main characters seem totally adrift and I hope the author will resolve some of this and settle them a bit next time out. B.
8. BLOOD FROM A STONE by Donna Leon. #14 Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery set in Venice. When a black immigrant (probably illegal) is shot to death in a crowded marketplace where he was selling knock-off designer handbags, Guido begins an investigation--which is made doubly difficult by the fact that, since the man and his friends are in the country illegally, no one knows who he is, where he lives, or what the motive for murder could possibly be. Guido calls in a few favors to slightly underground friends around town and locates the man's home, but of course the friends refuse to give any information, being afraid of any police authority based on experience in their home country of Senegal. But Guido finds a stash of diamonds hidden in a box of salt in the man's meager apartment, and thus believes he's found something of a motive--and then his boss, Vice-Questore Patta calls him off the investigation without explanation except, "We're letting this go." Of course that means he's gotten direction from higher up, but why? On a personal note, it's just days to Christmas and Guido is having problems choosing gifts for his family, and Paola and Chiara (his wife and daughter) are on the outs because of a disparaging comment Chiara made about the man whose death Guido is investigating. Excellent as always--I can't believe this is already #14 in the series and that by next year I'll probably be caught up. Love, love, LOVE Guido, his family and Venice! A+
9. THE BLACK TOWER by P.D. James. #5 Commander Adam Dalgliesh mystery. Dalgliesh is recovering from a bout of mononucleosis (at first thought to be leukemia) when he receives a letter from Father Baddeley, an old friend of his father's who asks to see him on a 'professional' matter. He lives at Hope Cottage near the sea and near a privately run care facility for young disabled people called Toynton Grange, and when Adam arrives, he finds that Fr. Baddeley died ten days previously. Of course he's suspicious at first about the death--although the priest had only just returned from hospital after having a heart attack--and he sets out to find what it was that he'd been summoned about. While there, he learns of the presumed suicide of a patient a few days previous to the priest's death and meets a whole cast of strange characters--patients, medical professionals, caretakers and other hangers-on. Something just doesn't set right and more deaths ensue before Dalgliesh can figure out how they all tie together, as of course they must do. I enjoyed the atmospheric setting of this mystery, but it had altogether too many peripheral characters to try to keep straight, and sometimes things happened that just seemed bizarre until I remember that the book was written in the '70's and it's most likely accurate for the place and time. As usual, the plot is the strong suit in James' novels, but her characterizations have definitely improved from the first book in this series. A.
10. CHRISTMAS MOURNING by Margaret Maron. (AUDIO) In this latest Judge Deborah Knott and clan mystery, it's Christmas time once again and Deborah and Dwight are celebrating their first anniversary as well. A series of fatal car crashes involving young folks has set a bit of a pall over Colleton County's festivities, though, especially the most recent, involving Mallory Johnson, head cheerleader at West Colleton High. By everyone's account, she's practically perfect, so when a small amount of alcohol is found in her blood, everyone is shocked, and her father insists that someone must have spiked her soda pop. Otherwise why would she have crashed on a straight stretch of road in good driving weather? And who would do such a thing? As the town mourns her loss, deeper investigation of course reveals that Mallory wasn't without her flaws, but it takes two more deaths for Dwight to connect the dots. A very enjoyable visit to Colleton County, laced with big doses of family lore and Christmas tradition and history. Great story, and as always, the author tackles social issues along the way and gives you something to think about, although the mystery wasn't too much of a puzzle to figure out fairly well in advance. Wonderfully read by CJ Critt, as always. A+
11. SERVER DOWN by J.M. Hayes. #5 (and so far, the last) Mad Dog & Englishman mystery. Usually the series is set in fictional small-town Kansas, but in this book, part of the story takes place in Tuscon, AZ where Englishman's daughter Heather is attending law school, and where her uncle Mad Dog has driven off to in order to observe a sacred Native American rite. Unfortunately, MD doesn't get to see much of the rite as he is almost immediately attacked and accused of murdering a tribal officer and ends up on the run with his half-wolf Hailey. Meanwhile, back in Kansas, Mad Dog's house is blown to smithereens. He subsequently learns that a character from the online video game he plays called War of Worldcraft--an evil Vampire Wizard named Fig Zit--is the one behind his frame-up and destruction of his home. Mad Dog has no idea how Fig Zit found out who he was in real life or why he would want to cause him harm, but he's certain that's what's happening. Everyone else, of course, thinks he's nuts--not that they hadn't already suspected as much before. It takes the adept play of Mrs. Krause (Sheriff English's office manager), a fairly good WoW player herself, to make the connection. Meanwhile, it's a madcap chase across Tuscon and the Internet with Mad Dog and Heather running into one scrape after another along the way. I really enjoyed this entry in the series, since I myself play World of Warcraft, the game that the author based his spoofy game on. It's obvious he also played the game because so much of his characterization and game play was spot on--and very funny, too. This book was published in 2008, so not sure if there are going to be any more books in the series or not--I do hope so! It would be interesting to continue it on with Heather in the lead role, I think, since Sheriff English played a somewhat diminished role in this book anyway. Wacky, goofy, crazy, much under-recognized and utterly delightful series. A.
12. EXILE by Denise Mina. #2 of the Garnethill trilogy featuring Maureen O'Donnell, a troubled young Glaswegian woman. Still struggling to overcome her past, filled with abuse, drugs and alcohol, Maureen is up in arms trying to deal with the fact that her abusive father is once again back in town. Looking for something to take her mind off her nightmares, she once again gets involved in a murder case when a woman who had been staying at the women's shelter where she works turns up beaten to death in London, stuffed in a mattress and chucked in the river. The natural suspect is the woman's husband, but Maureen has met Jimmy, who is now trying to raise their four children by himself--her friend Leslie asked her to check him out as he is actually her cousin--and doesn't believe he's guilty. So she begins poking her nose in, takes the bus to London to try to retrace Ann's steps to see who she was hooked up with down there, and of course meets plenty of violent and other sundry unsavory characters along the way as well. Bleak and at times painful to read, I nevertheless love this character and the author's writing style. Looking forward to the conclusion of the series in the third book, aptly titled Resolution. I like to think that despite her problems, Maureen is going to be all right. We shall see! A.
13. MOCKINGJAY by Suzanne Collins. (AUDIO) The final book in the Hunger Games trilogy finds Katniss Everdeen working with the rebel forces as the Mockingjay, symbol of rebellion against the Capitol forces. She finds herself being scripted, made up and costumed for video spots much like she was during her time as a Hunger Games participant, and continues to struggle with her sanity as nightmares make sleep nearly impossible. Foremost in her list of goals is to rescue Peta from President Snow in the Capitol, where he has been for weeks being tortured. She knows that no one will be safe until Snow is dead, and she makes it her personal goal to be the one to do the deed. This book was rather slow in the middle section with much repetitive action, and I felt the ending was rather predictable. I can't say too much without giving a lot away, but I will say that ultimately I was pleased with the ending to the book and I think when I've had more time to digest the whole thing I'll like it even more. It gives much food for thought all throughout the series. At any rate, it was a fit ending to a great series. A.
14. THE HANGED MAN by David Skibbins. In this fifth (and so far, last) Warren Ritter mystery, Warren gets involved with helping a friend of his girlfriend Sally. The friend has been accused of murdering one of her clients--she's a dominatrix. So Warren takes up training so that he can get into the BDSM scene and ferret out who might have wanted to frame Therese. Meanwhile, Warren is also trying to protect a set of ancient tarot cards willed to him by his mentor, and there are several people who want to get their hands on them who are after Warren. Warren's bipolar disorder seems relatively in control at this point, and he continues on his journey of self-discovery. I do like this series, but I've tended to notice with these last couple of books that the dialogue and conversations are somewhat stilted and don't sound very natural. Aside from that, I love Warren and his quirky "family" and am hoping for more entries in this series at some point. B+
15. RED HOOD'S REVENGE by Jim C. Hines. Third book in the Princess fantasy series--which I had thought was going to be a trilogy but now I see another coming out next year. Featuring several fairy tale legends as the main cast of the book--Sleeping Beauty (Talia), Snow White (er...Snow) and Cinderella (Danielle), the women on this trip encounter Roudette (aka Little Red Riding Hood) who has spent her life seeking revenge against The Wild Hunt that killed her family. The fairy tales don't get it quite right...the woodsman was the bad guy, and Roudette has 'bonded' with the Big Bad Wolf in such a way that she's a bit other-than-human. Roudette is working now as a paid assassin, and the Princesses must first of all figure out just who has hired her wolfiness, and which of them she's specifically targeted. Eventually they realize it's Talia, and they are off to Talia's homeland of Arathea, where she's sought for killing the son of the current queen who also happens to be the father of her twin boys, who are now under the care of said queen. Can Snow overcome fairy magic in order for Talia to get at the evil fairy who hired Roudette? Not by herself, of course--as always, it's a team effort, with Roudette even helping along the way. I am still surprised by how much I enjoy this series, not being one for girly-girl stories. But these three are anything but your typical girly girls. Great story, easy-to-read writing style and enjoyable fusion of fairy tale, myth and fantasy. Very much looking forward to the next one! A.
Cheryl
2. THE OLD WINE SHADES by Martha Grimes. #20 Chief Supt. Richard Jury mystery set in the UK. This story sucked me in right from the beginning, with a man in a pub telling Jury a story about his friend whose wife, autistic son and dog disappeared into thin air about nine months previously. They had made a trip to a small town in Surrey that had a good private school for autistic children, and where they hoped to move if things checked out well. While she looked at one cottage she was scheduled to view, the estate agent stated she'd never come back to return the key for the second one, which was an unoccupied estate with a spooky history. "But the dog came back," Harry Johnson says, and produces a shaggy mutt called Mungo. Jury, on administrative leave from Scotland Yard, spends several pleasant evenings talking with Harry explaining about his friend Hugh, who became so distraught at his wife's disappearance that he is now in a private psychiatric facility attempting to gain his equilibrium back. Jury quietly (and unofficially) investigates, and of course brings his friend Melrose Plant into things as well. All went relatively well until the ending, which I found to be anticlimactic and rather lame--and I did see the plot twist coming. But still, I enjoy these visits with this set of characters that I have come to know and love over the years. B.
3. AN IMPARTIAL WITNESS by Charles Todd. (AUDIO) #2 Bess Crawford historical mystery set during WWI in England. Bess, a nurse, is escorting several patients back to a care facility in England from the battles in France. While she is at the train station making her own way back to London for a quick twenty-four hour leave, she recognizes a woman on the platform as Mrs. Evenson--the wife of one of the severely burned men she has just deposited. He carried her picture with him all the time, so Bess would be hard-pressed NOT to recognize her. But troublingly, the woman was crying and talking to another man--an officer in the Wiltshire Division. The scene disturbed her, but not as much as reading a newspaper article about her murder several weeks later when back in France--the newspaper was already old, being in a care package for one of her co-workers from home. Police are asking anyone who saw the woman on the day of her disappearance to help with enquiries, and Bess writes Scotland Yard to share her experience. They summon her back to England to speak with them and through other coincidences gets involved in helping solve the case with her amateur sleuthing. I rather liked the first book of this series, but this one I just could not get interested in. Bess seems rather devolved as a character, and it's hard for me to say that I know her very well--she's all over the place with regards to her thoughts, actions, emotions, etc. The mystery was rather obvious and I couldn't say that I felt particularly immersed in the time and place either--some parts felt kind of superficial where it seemed things should have been explored in depth, and other things that I felt were side issues were dwelt upon overly much. The book was competently read, although the reader had a couple of annoying habits--but honestly, I don't think it made a difference to my opinion about the book itself. I finished this, but honestly I think I will just stop here in this series. C.
4. THE WITCH IN THE WELL by Sharan Newman. #10 Catherine LeVendeur historical mystery set in 12th-century France. Catherine is at the home of her brother Guillaume and family when they are summoned to the home of their grandfather near Boisvert--the well is running dry, and there is apparently an old pagan folk story that everyone (but Catherine) in the family knows--all the family is in grave danger unless they can figure out why the well is going dry and stop it. Catherine, an ex-novice and very religious, heartily disbelieves in pagan tales, but feels a strange compulsion and they should be going to her grandfather's, and so she and husband Edgar and their children pack up and hit the road only to be met by several surprises once they arrive. I started out absolutely loving this series, but I have to admit I've grown a bit weary of it for these last few books. It's almost like a love-hate relationship with the books. One minute I'm loving the historical detail and sense of place, the next I want to throw it across the room because the characters and storyline has become so predictable, rehashed and recycled. Tedious. I dunno. It's kind of hard to explain. This is the last book in the series, and while I have mostly enjoyed the ride over these past several years, I was glad to close this final book and call it done. C+
5. THIEF IN RETREAT by Aimee and David Thurlo. #2 Sister Agatha mystery set in New Mexico. Sister Agatha is asked by the Archbishop to go out to a resort and retreat center to catalogue crates of stuff that were stored there (it was formerly a monastery) so that some renovations can occur. There is a secondary purpose to her trek also--the owners of the resort believe that certain religious art works have been stolen and replaced with fakes, but they have no real proof--and the appraiser they've hired has disappeared into thin air. Sister Agatha, who is an extern at the monastery she's a member of--meaning she can interact with the public--has a bit of a rep with the Archbishop and he wants her to help solve that crime while doing her cataloguing. Of course there is a ghost story to go with it, and Sister Agatha herself sees Juanita, the so-called lilac-smelling ghost, one night. Does the ghost have anything to do with the missing (or replaced) art work, though--or is she just an interesting side story? Sheriff Tom Green is also there, attending a workshop for cops, and he is helping Sister keep an eye out--but of course doesn't prevent her from finding the dead body of the appraiser. Part of me likes this quiet, cozy series, but part of me finds it a little too quiet, kind of repetitive in places, and somewhat unimaginative with a cliched set of characters. I've got one more book in the series here, and that one will be my decision-maker as to whether to continue reading the series or not. I'm teetering on the fence at the moment. B-
6. THE DOUBLE COMFORT SAFARI CLUB by Alexander McCall Smith. (AUDIO) #11 in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency cozy mystery series set in Botswana. We're off on another journey to Gabarone, Botswana to visit Mma Ramotswe, Mma Makutsi, Mr. JLB Matekoni and the rest of the circle of friends. Mma Ramotswe is commissioned by a wife--and then by her husband--to find out if the other is having an affair. The second case comes via letter from America, a lawyer asking her to track down a guide--name unknown--at a safari camp--name also unknown--in the Okavango Delta in the north of the country. A woman has died and left some money to that guide who was very kind to her on her safari trip a few years past. Mma Kutsi's fiance is seriously injured in an accident involving a delivery truck and she must battle his old auntie, who doesn't like Mma Kutsi and attempts to keep her from seeing Phuti. As always, a lovely visit with lots of wise words and warm fuzzies and not a whole lot of "mystery" per se. Very skillfully read by Lisette Lecat. A
7. SKIN by Mo Hayder. #4 DI Jack Caffrey mystery. Jack, still working in Bristol and still reeling from events in the last book, feels he is being watched by the Tokoloshe, an African mystical creature. He's supposed to have moved on to the next case--the disappearance of a popular footballer's wife from a local drug rehab facility--but he can't help but feel that they missed something on the case before, and he continues to pursue leads. Meanwhile, DS Phoebe "Flea" Marley, leader of the dive team--who also recover particularly messy, decomposing bodies--continues to deal with her mentally unstable brother Thom, and feels spooked by a diving incident in one of the old quarries--searching for the body of a young woman presumed dead. The cases merge toward one another and become thoroughly enmeshed when Flea makes a horrible discovery about Thom. I enjoy this series although I've felt these last couple of books haven't been as cohesive as the first couple. There seems to have to be a lot of suspension of disbelief to get on with the story--not necessarily the mystical element, more like the outrageous actions of these two police persons and the totally strange situations they find themselves in. Very violent and gory, which doesn't bother me, except that it does seem to me that much of it is meant simply to shock rather than to further the story along. The serial killer was not very well developed, and there seemed to be a lot of attention paid to some of the minor side characters, yet both of the main characters seem totally adrift and I hope the author will resolve some of this and settle them a bit next time out. B.
8. BLOOD FROM A STONE by Donna Leon. #14 Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery set in Venice. When a black immigrant (probably illegal) is shot to death in a crowded marketplace where he was selling knock-off designer handbags, Guido begins an investigation--which is made doubly difficult by the fact that, since the man and his friends are in the country illegally, no one knows who he is, where he lives, or what the motive for murder could possibly be. Guido calls in a few favors to slightly underground friends around town and locates the man's home, but of course the friends refuse to give any information, being afraid of any police authority based on experience in their home country of Senegal. But Guido finds a stash of diamonds hidden in a box of salt in the man's meager apartment, and thus believes he's found something of a motive--and then his boss, Vice-Questore Patta calls him off the investigation without explanation except, "We're letting this go." Of course that means he's gotten direction from higher up, but why? On a personal note, it's just days to Christmas and Guido is having problems choosing gifts for his family, and Paola and Chiara (his wife and daughter) are on the outs because of a disparaging comment Chiara made about the man whose death Guido is investigating. Excellent as always--I can't believe this is already #14 in the series and that by next year I'll probably be caught up. Love, love, LOVE Guido, his family and Venice! A+
9. THE BLACK TOWER by P.D. James. #5 Commander Adam Dalgliesh mystery. Dalgliesh is recovering from a bout of mononucleosis (at first thought to be leukemia) when he receives a letter from Father Baddeley, an old friend of his father's who asks to see him on a 'professional' matter. He lives at Hope Cottage near the sea and near a privately run care facility for young disabled people called Toynton Grange, and when Adam arrives, he finds that Fr. Baddeley died ten days previously. Of course he's suspicious at first about the death--although the priest had only just returned from hospital after having a heart attack--and he sets out to find what it was that he'd been summoned about. While there, he learns of the presumed suicide of a patient a few days previous to the priest's death and meets a whole cast of strange characters--patients, medical professionals, caretakers and other hangers-on. Something just doesn't set right and more deaths ensue before Dalgliesh can figure out how they all tie together, as of course they must do. I enjoyed the atmospheric setting of this mystery, but it had altogether too many peripheral characters to try to keep straight, and sometimes things happened that just seemed bizarre until I remember that the book was written in the '70's and it's most likely accurate for the place and time. As usual, the plot is the strong suit in James' novels, but her characterizations have definitely improved from the first book in this series. A.
10. CHRISTMAS MOURNING by Margaret Maron. (AUDIO) In this latest Judge Deborah Knott and clan mystery, it's Christmas time once again and Deborah and Dwight are celebrating their first anniversary as well. A series of fatal car crashes involving young folks has set a bit of a pall over Colleton County's festivities, though, especially the most recent, involving Mallory Johnson, head cheerleader at West Colleton High. By everyone's account, she's practically perfect, so when a small amount of alcohol is found in her blood, everyone is shocked, and her father insists that someone must have spiked her soda pop. Otherwise why would she have crashed on a straight stretch of road in good driving weather? And who would do such a thing? As the town mourns her loss, deeper investigation of course reveals that Mallory wasn't without her flaws, but it takes two more deaths for Dwight to connect the dots. A very enjoyable visit to Colleton County, laced with big doses of family lore and Christmas tradition and history. Great story, and as always, the author tackles social issues along the way and gives you something to think about, although the mystery wasn't too much of a puzzle to figure out fairly well in advance. Wonderfully read by CJ Critt, as always. A+
11. SERVER DOWN by J.M. Hayes. #5 (and so far, the last) Mad Dog & Englishman mystery. Usually the series is set in fictional small-town Kansas, but in this book, part of the story takes place in Tuscon, AZ where Englishman's daughter Heather is attending law school, and where her uncle Mad Dog has driven off to in order to observe a sacred Native American rite. Unfortunately, MD doesn't get to see much of the rite as he is almost immediately attacked and accused of murdering a tribal officer and ends up on the run with his half-wolf Hailey. Meanwhile, back in Kansas, Mad Dog's house is blown to smithereens. He subsequently learns that a character from the online video game he plays called War of Worldcraft--an evil Vampire Wizard named Fig Zit--is the one behind his frame-up and destruction of his home. Mad Dog has no idea how Fig Zit found out who he was in real life or why he would want to cause him harm, but he's certain that's what's happening. Everyone else, of course, thinks he's nuts--not that they hadn't already suspected as much before. It takes the adept play of Mrs. Krause (Sheriff English's office manager), a fairly good WoW player herself, to make the connection. Meanwhile, it's a madcap chase across Tuscon and the Internet with Mad Dog and Heather running into one scrape after another along the way. I really enjoyed this entry in the series, since I myself play World of Warcraft, the game that the author based his spoofy game on. It's obvious he also played the game because so much of his characterization and game play was spot on--and very funny, too. This book was published in 2008, so not sure if there are going to be any more books in the series or not--I do hope so! It would be interesting to continue it on with Heather in the lead role, I think, since Sheriff English played a somewhat diminished role in this book anyway. Wacky, goofy, crazy, much under-recognized and utterly delightful series. A.
12. EXILE by Denise Mina. #2 of the Garnethill trilogy featuring Maureen O'Donnell, a troubled young Glaswegian woman. Still struggling to overcome her past, filled with abuse, drugs and alcohol, Maureen is up in arms trying to deal with the fact that her abusive father is once again back in town. Looking for something to take her mind off her nightmares, she once again gets involved in a murder case when a woman who had been staying at the women's shelter where she works turns up beaten to death in London, stuffed in a mattress and chucked in the river. The natural suspect is the woman's husband, but Maureen has met Jimmy, who is now trying to raise their four children by himself--her friend Leslie asked her to check him out as he is actually her cousin--and doesn't believe he's guilty. So she begins poking her nose in, takes the bus to London to try to retrace Ann's steps to see who she was hooked up with down there, and of course meets plenty of violent and other sundry unsavory characters along the way as well. Bleak and at times painful to read, I nevertheless love this character and the author's writing style. Looking forward to the conclusion of the series in the third book, aptly titled Resolution. I like to think that despite her problems, Maureen is going to be all right. We shall see! A.
13. MOCKINGJAY by Suzanne Collins. (AUDIO) The final book in the Hunger Games trilogy finds Katniss Everdeen working with the rebel forces as the Mockingjay, symbol of rebellion against the Capitol forces. She finds herself being scripted, made up and costumed for video spots much like she was during her time as a Hunger Games participant, and continues to struggle with her sanity as nightmares make sleep nearly impossible. Foremost in her list of goals is to rescue Peta from President Snow in the Capitol, where he has been for weeks being tortured. She knows that no one will be safe until Snow is dead, and she makes it her personal goal to be the one to do the deed. This book was rather slow in the middle section with much repetitive action, and I felt the ending was rather predictable. I can't say too much without giving a lot away, but I will say that ultimately I was pleased with the ending to the book and I think when I've had more time to digest the whole thing I'll like it even more. It gives much food for thought all throughout the series. At any rate, it was a fit ending to a great series. A.
14. THE HANGED MAN by David Skibbins. In this fifth (and so far, last) Warren Ritter mystery, Warren gets involved with helping a friend of his girlfriend Sally. The friend has been accused of murdering one of her clients--she's a dominatrix. So Warren takes up training so that he can get into the BDSM scene and ferret out who might have wanted to frame Therese. Meanwhile, Warren is also trying to protect a set of ancient tarot cards willed to him by his mentor, and there are several people who want to get their hands on them who are after Warren. Warren's bipolar disorder seems relatively in control at this point, and he continues on his journey of self-discovery. I do like this series, but I've tended to notice with these last couple of books that the dialogue and conversations are somewhat stilted and don't sound very natural. Aside from that, I love Warren and his quirky "family" and am hoping for more entries in this series at some point. B+
15. RED HOOD'S REVENGE by Jim C. Hines. Third book in the Princess fantasy series--which I had thought was going to be a trilogy but now I see another coming out next year. Featuring several fairy tale legends as the main cast of the book--Sleeping Beauty (Talia), Snow White (er...Snow) and Cinderella (Danielle), the women on this trip encounter Roudette (aka Little Red Riding Hood) who has spent her life seeking revenge against The Wild Hunt that killed her family. The fairy tales don't get it quite right...the woodsman was the bad guy, and Roudette has 'bonded' with the Big Bad Wolf in such a way that she's a bit other-than-human. Roudette is working now as a paid assassin, and the Princesses must first of all figure out just who has hired her wolfiness, and which of them she's specifically targeted. Eventually they realize it's Talia, and they are off to Talia's homeland of Arathea, where she's sought for killing the son of the current queen who also happens to be the father of her twin boys, who are now under the care of said queen. Can Snow overcome fairy magic in order for Talia to get at the evil fairy who hired Roudette? Not by herself, of course--as always, it's a team effort, with Roudette even helping along the way. I am still surprised by how much I enjoy this series, not being one for girly-girl stories. But these three are anything but your typical girly girls. Great story, easy-to-read writing style and enjoyable fusion of fairy tale, myth and fantasy. Very much looking forward to the next one! A.
Cheryl
Saturday, November 13, 2010
November 2010
1. TO SHIELD THE QUEEN by Fiona Buckley. #1 Ursula Blanchard Elizabethan historical mystery. Ursula, recently widowed and left nearly penniless, is given a place at Queen Elizabeth's court and ends up involved in political plots and intrigue when she is sent to attend to Lady Amy Dudley, wife of Sir Robert Dudley--widely known as a favorite of the Queen. Lady Amy is dying of breast cancer--essentially untreatable in that time--and Dudley wants someone there to witness the fact that he does not wish her ill nor is he plotting to kill her so he can be free to wed the Queen. While Ursula is there, Amy Dudley does die in suspicious circumstances, having fallen down the stairs and broken her neck while the entire household was at the village fair--at Amy's insistence. Then Ursula's servant John Wilton is murdered, and she seeks to follow a lead given her by John with his last breath, and THAT leads her to a possible plot against the Queen herself. This was a pretty good read, although I am not overly fond of the Elizabethan period having O.D.'d on it a few years back. I read one of the later books in this series a few years ago, and liked it enough to get this first one, intending to read through the series, but it ended up sitting on my shelf for over five years. I am not going to actively seek to continue the series for now, but at some point I probably will do so. B.
2. THE NOBLE OUTLAW by Bernard Knight (AUDIO) #11 Crowner John historical mystery set in Devon, UK in the 1195. A desiccated corpse is found in an old forge being renovated into a school, and due to the length of time he's been dead, the only thing clear is that the man was murdered--a nail protrudes from his neck. Eventually the Coroner and his assistants track down his identity, but shortly thereafter, two other--fresher--bodies killed and displayed in gruesome ways, are found. The men were all prominent tradesmen, leaders of their respective guilds. And then John's wife Matilda is brutally attacked on her way home from Christmas Mass, the attacker whispering to her that the killings were revenge killings against her brother, former Sheriff Richard de Revelle, and that he'll be getting his soon enough. The finger points most strongly to a man who was declared outlaw at the behest of Richard, who then seized his lands and property, but Crowner wonders if someone is deliberately pointing him in that direction--and then he learns that the outlaw "Nick of the Moor" has a wife who's been staying with family in Exeter and that she is Matilda's new friend from church. Once the Crowner gets to meet the outlaw and hear his story, he is determined to bring his case before the King, or at least the Lord Justiciar. This is the first of this series that I've listened to in audio format, and have quite enjoyed it. The reader is very good, skillfully telling the story and doing an excellent job with a myriad of different voices and accents. The series itself I always find enjoyable, and the author manages to impart a lot of historical detail and information such that I'm learning things without realizing it as the story goes on. Will listen to more of these if the library has them available for sure! A.
3. SMALL GODS by Terry Pratchett. Terry Pratchett tackles organized religion on the Discworld. Need I say more? Hilarious, but also very poignant, too. A.
4. WHITE CORRIDOR by Christopher Fowler. #5 in the Bryant & May "Peculiar Crimes Unit" mystery series set in London. In this episode, acting director Raymond Land closes the unit for a week while the computers and electronics are updated, so Bryant convinces May to accompany him to a spiritualist convention out in the rural west country. The two elderly detectives set off and run into a horrendous snowstorm that leaves them stuck in a ditch and stranded along with dozens of other travelers--one of whom is a murderer, as they discover when they find the body of a truck driver with his throat slashed. Meanwhile, back in London, the unit's pathologist Oswald Finch dies while beginning an autopsy on a young girl, a drug addict who is more than what she seems. His death comes just days before his impending retirement, and the remaining staff must figure out if it was murder (only they have keys and the door was locked!), suicide or a bizarre accident. Communicating with their senior colleagues by mobile phone, DS Janice Longbright must finally begin to put all the teachings of her mentors to work to solve the crime--before a royal visit scheduled last minute by their nemesis, Oscar Kasavian, could derail the unit once and for all. Enjoyable read as always with crazy characters, well-plotted mysteries, red herrings galore, and plenty of laughs. Though I was sad at the death of crotchety old Finch, his demise was an interesting puzzle for the Unit to solve. A
5. THE SECOND DEATH OF GOODLUCK TINUBU by Michael Stanley. #2 in the Detective David "Kubu" Bengu series set in Botswana. This book has Kubu venturing far from home in Gaborone to the north of Botswana to a tourist camp in the jungle where two brutal murders beg to be solved. One of the men killed turns out to be a South African policeman. The other, Goodluck Tinubu, appears to be not what he seems--which was a quiet, well-loved teacher from a school in Mochudi. According to his fingerprints, he had already died once in the Rhodesian war thirty years previously. Since his body was mutilated after death in a way that indicates it was a gang killing related to the political upheavals in Zimbabwe, and since another man staying at the camp left sooner than planned and has now disappeared, it is assumed that he is the killer they're looking for. But as Kubu and Tatwa, the local detective in charge, begin investigating, they discover that some of the camp's other guests are not exactly who they seem to be either, and some have dark secrets of their own. A twisty tale of political unrest, smuggling, and old festering wounds, this book reads much more quickly than its 480 pages would have you think. Great characters, a lot of information--not all of it pleasant, with the history of these African countries--and immersion into the culture without being 'teachy or preachy.' Good mystery too, although I had a gut feeling about the killer. Hope there will be more in the series! A.
6. PLAYING WITH FIRE (audio) by Peter Robinson. #14 Chief Inspector Alan Banks series set in Yorkshire. Two derelict boats on the canal burn, with two dead--one body on each boat. It's determined that accelerant was used and thus it becomes a murder AND arson investigation. Both boats were occupied by essentially squatters--one, a down-on-his-luck artist and the other a young drug user and her boyfriend, who was away from the boat that evening. Suspects are many in the early days as Banks and his team, including DI Annie Cabot, sift through the myriad of evidence, interview principals and the like. When another suspicious fire in an abandoned caravan kills another man--someone the artist on the boat knew--they begin to suspect a serial arsonist/murderer. Personally, I thought the bad guy was very obvious, although Robinson does throw out plenty of appealing red herrings. But even so, this was one of the best of this series in my opinion, and I enjoyed the story, the history, and the whole package very much. Skillfully read as usual by Ron Keith. Looking forward to the next and hoping my library has it available in one audio format or another! A.
7. UNWILLING ACCOMPLICE by Barbara Seranella. #7 Munch Mancini mystery set in 1980's Los Angeles, and featuring our favorite female mechanic and ex-junkie. Things are going along well for Munch and her adopted daughter Asia when a blast from the past--Asia's aunt Lisa and her two girls--call and ask to get together. Munch, clean and sober for many years now, is always reluctant to let her past leak into her new, stable life, but Lisa is Asia's blood kin and Asia wants to meet her cousins, so she agrees. When the elder daughter Charlotte goes missing a couple of days later, a distraught Lisa calls Munch as the police don't seem very interested in a Goth-looking fifteen-year-old whom they think ran away. Charlotte was friends with a boy who was killed a few days previously as part of a robbery, and Munch wonders if this had something to do with her disappearance--Lisa is convinced she was abducted, and some threatening phone calls later bear this out. Meanwhile, Munch learns some interesting information about Rico, her former boyfriend who had broken their relationship off when his ex-girlfriend turned up pregnant, as he planned to 'do the right thing' and marry her. I always enjoy a visit with Munch and Asia and Munch's unique perspective on life and this book was no exception. Only one left in the series. :( A.
8. DEXTER BY DESIGN by Jeff Lindsay. (Audio) #4 Dexter series book. Dexter Morgan--the blood spatter forensics expert who works with the Miami police department and also happens to be a cold-blooded killer--is on his honeymoon with Rita in Paris. Of course he's bored silly while Rita is in seventh heaven--until they come upon a strange art exhibit featuring self-amputation as art. 'Jennifer's Leg' depicts Jennifer slowly removing parts of her leg and she appears at the end of the display in the flesh--on crutches, of course. Dexter is enthralled! Upon arriving back in Miami, it doesn't take long for the honeymoon to be literally over as someone is displaying their own 'body art'--corpses with their insides removed, posed and stuffed with various items advertising 'The New Miami.' Dex's sister Sgt. Deborah is in charge of the case and looking to her brother--whom she now knows about--to help with clues. But before they get very far, Deborah is stabbed nearly fatally by one of the suspects and Dexter is on his own--under the too-watchful eye of her partner, Lt. Coulter and the ever present Sgt Doakes. This is the first of the series that I have listened to in audio format and I really enjoyed it--the reader did a great job capturing Dexter's "spirit." Despite the dark subject matter, there were several laugh out loud moments and it was interesting seeing how Dexter would get out of yet another scrape. One of the funnier parts was Dexter's step-kids telling him he was in trouble with Rita, because he was going to be in the "poop van." In actuality, she was fixing a special French dinner, and her atrocious pronunciation had the kids thinking she had said "caca-van" instead of "coq au vin." LOL A.
9. OUT OF CIRCULATION by Jo Dereske. #5 Helma Zukas, librarian, mystery set in fictional Bellehaven, WA. Helma and her good friend Ruth set off on a 3-day camping trip/hike up in the mountains near the Canadian border when they are trapped by a snowstorm in an emergency cabin with several other hikers. Helma is as prepared as she can be with plenty of dried foods and a backpack full of useful things--unlike Ruth, who insisted on hiking in a skirt, of all things. Of course there are dead bodies, guns, suspicious behavior and at least one murderer--but who? And how will Helma keep the killer from suspecting that she may have figured out the mystery long enough for the storm to abate and the group to be rescued? I enjoy this series a lot. Helma is an odd duck for sure--she "seems" a lot older than she is, rather prim and proper and yet she definitely has sense of humor too. It's not often I find a cozy-ish series that I enjoy these days, but this is definitely one of them. A.
10. BLOOD LAKE by K.j.a. Wishnia. This is the sixth (and last) Filomena Buscarsela mystery--at least, there has not been a new one since 2002, which I think is really a shame as this is a great series, with an interesting setting and a unique protagonist. Fil is back in her native Ecuador, taking her daughter Antonia to meet her extended family--although she must be careful as her "real" self is a former dissident, wanted by the police. Back once again to the heat and humidity, the poverty with basic essentials we take for granted in short supply, she still feels the love of her family and friends surround her and wants Antonia to know 'this' part of her homeland. Of course she becomes embroiled in the local and national political scene, and her detective's instincts lead her down some dark paths to confront ghosts from her past that may not spell good things for her future. Although I really like this series, and I love Fil to bits, I found the actual mystery in this one rather predictable--I knew who would be dead before they died, and had a good idea whodunit, too. It was perhaps a bit too long with a few too many side trips, and even a bit too much of the socio-economic inequity angst laid on, but I still enjoyed it much, and was sorry that Filomena's declaration at the end, "The mess I get into when we get back there is a whole other story." is a story that will apparently never be told. :( B+
11. SAVAGE RUN by C.J. Box. #2 Joe Pickett mystery. Joe, a game warden in the Bighorn mountains in Wyoming, is on scene when an exploding cow kills famed eco-terrorist Stewie Woods. It's assumed by the Sheriff that Woods was rigging the explosive himself in one of his infamous protests against ranchers, and died in a case of instant karma, but why is the owner of the ranch, a powerful man with friends in high places, not surprised or even curious about the incident? Joe aims to nail him for poaching a trophy bull elk out of season, but ends up getting sucked back into investigating Stewie Woods' death (and NOT at the invitation of the Sheriff!) when several other noted eco-terrorists end up dead in other freakish accidents. Things get even more complicated when someone proclaiming that he's Stewie Woods keeps calling Joe's house and talking to his wife Marybeth--and he learns that Marybeth and Stewie were high school sweethearts. Enjoyable enough read, but there is just something missing. Not sure what it is--I am not fully engaged with the main character I don't think, there didn't seem to be much in the way of character development since book one, and there also seemed to be a whole string of really improbable things happening and weird coincidences such that it was just outside the realm of being believable. I like the author's writing style and the sense of place is awesome too. I just hope Joe becomes more "real" to me as the series goes on. Hopefully this was just the old 'sophomore slump.' B.
12. HANGMAN BLIND by Cassandra Clark. #1 Abbess of Meaux historical mystery set in early 1380's York. Sister Hildegard, a Cistercian nun and a widow with an inheritance to spend, hopes to procure property from a local lord, Roger de Hutton. She grew up in the area and knew Roger and his family before taking the veil, and being out of the cloister for the first time in seven years and back on familiar ground leaves her with mixed emotions. Things are tense, with many disputes between the serfs, mostly Saxons, and their Norman manor lords, and hints of a new uprising being planned. When there is an attempted murder against Roger during a feast celebrating the birth of his heir, his new nephew, and other deaths follow, Hildegard and Ulf, an old friend of hers and Roger's steward, must seek to solve the crimes to prevent a full-blown riot. Definitely not your typical cozy historical, this book is steeped in realistic detail of life in those trying medieval times, not sparing the reader's sensibilities as the poverty, disparity between rich and poor, and the often violent death awaiting many people is met head on. Plenty of mud, blood and guts and yet it's also got some very interesting characters along with a heroine that I already feel attached to. Glad I have the next one in series waiting. A.
13. A VIGIL OF SPIES by Candace Robb. #10 Owen Archer medieval mystery set in 1370's York--just a few years previous to the above book, in fact! Owen is attending to his employer, Archbishop John Thoresby as he nears his death. The Princess of Wales in bringing her entourage to visit the Archbishop, much to Owen's chagrin, as it's his job as Captain of the Archbishop's guards to keep them all safe. When a young servant of a messenger accompanying Her Grace's party from William Wykeham--ever a thorn in Owen's side--dies on the way, a brief investigation leads Owen to believe it was murder, possibly aimed at the messenger. When inspection of the documents he was carrying prove to be blank parchments, obviously substituted at some point, Owen and the few people he trusts--including, grudgingly, Geoffrey Chaucer--must not only find who took them, but what they contained, and do so discreetly. It more than likely relates to who will be chosen as Thoresby's successor when he dies. More deaths follow and Owen is pitched into despair when he discovers that one of his most trusted men has betrayed him and he begins to question everything. I love this series and really hope the author continues on with it--she says in the afterward that she's got more adventures planned, but it's been almost 3 years now since this was published. Owen and his wife Lucie and their growing family are among my favorites, and I liked this book much better than the last one. Not sure why, but I found this very enjoyable and an interesting take on the author's view of things. It's not always easy to deal with a lot of characters who were real people but she does so very plausibly I think. A+
14. CITY OF VEILS by Zoe Ferraris. #2 Nayir Sharqui and Katya Hijazi mystery set in modern day Saudi Arabia. Nayir and Katya have both spent several miserable months not speaking to one another and are thrown together again when Nayir's uncle asks him to find something out from the coroner's office (where Katya works) about a friend who died. Katya ends up assisting a police detective with the death of a young woman who was beaten to death and apparently tortured beforehand. Because of the Muslim religious laws, they must have a woman policeman question the women, and the detective's only available female officer was recently fired for lying about being married. (Unmarried women are not allowed to be policewomen.) The secondary case, part of the story told from the point of view of Miriam Walker, an American woman whose husband works for a Saudi company there, who is thrown into a state of turmoil when her husband disappears. Katya's case intersects with Miriam's dilemma and a whole tangled web ensues. Despite this sounding complicated, it was a very enjoyable book, read skillfully and with an interesting mystery. The only detrimental thing is that it was told from the POV of several different people, and while I understand why the author did it--to help the reader gain perspective of the strict laws and the whole Muslim way of life there through the eyes of many different sub-groups--it was, at times, distracting and didn't really allow for more full development of any one character. That was the only thing that kept me from giving this an A-plus. I do hope there will be more in this series! A.
15. BLOODSHOT by Stuart MacBride. #3 Logan MacRae mystery set in Aberdeen, Scotland. Det. Sgt. Logan MacRae is once again subject to frequently-discussed lousy Aberdeen weather as he is pulled from one investigation to another, caught in a tug-of-war between warring DI's Steel and Insch as he sleeps little, manages to get himself in trouble several times, but eventually solves the crimes. Three equally odd cases--an eight-year-old murderer keeps eluding Logan and his counterparts, a prominent footballer is suspected of rape but keeps slipping away due to lack of forensic evidence, and a man dropped off by an unknown person near dead at the hospital eventually dies and it appears to be the result of some bizarre BDSM practices. I really like Logan and this series but I do find that these books are somewhat repetitive on many levels--the constant reference to the bad weather, the frequent negative descriptions of his superior officers, and reviewing over and over Logan's lack of sleep, state of being hung over, etc etc gets rather old after awhile. Seems like there's a lot of stuff that is "filler" material that doesn't really advance the story. Still--I liked this book and enjoy the series and will continue to read on. A-
CURRENT READS: ROSEMARY AND RUE by Seanan McGuire and THE OLD WINE SHADES by Martha Grimes.
I'm working on finishing off a few 'dead' mystery series these last couple months of the year and early next year, so I don't feel so guilty starting some new stuff. Got WAY too many series going...this is a chronic condition of mine though. LOL
Cheryl
2. THE NOBLE OUTLAW by Bernard Knight (AUDIO) #11 Crowner John historical mystery set in Devon, UK in the 1195. A desiccated corpse is found in an old forge being renovated into a school, and due to the length of time he's been dead, the only thing clear is that the man was murdered--a nail protrudes from his neck. Eventually the Coroner and his assistants track down his identity, but shortly thereafter, two other--fresher--bodies killed and displayed in gruesome ways, are found. The men were all prominent tradesmen, leaders of their respective guilds. And then John's wife Matilda is brutally attacked on her way home from Christmas Mass, the attacker whispering to her that the killings were revenge killings against her brother, former Sheriff Richard de Revelle, and that he'll be getting his soon enough. The finger points most strongly to a man who was declared outlaw at the behest of Richard, who then seized his lands and property, but Crowner wonders if someone is deliberately pointing him in that direction--and then he learns that the outlaw "Nick of the Moor" has a wife who's been staying with family in Exeter and that she is Matilda's new friend from church. Once the Crowner gets to meet the outlaw and hear his story, he is determined to bring his case before the King, or at least the Lord Justiciar. This is the first of this series that I've listened to in audio format, and have quite enjoyed it. The reader is very good, skillfully telling the story and doing an excellent job with a myriad of different voices and accents. The series itself I always find enjoyable, and the author manages to impart a lot of historical detail and information such that I'm learning things without realizing it as the story goes on. Will listen to more of these if the library has them available for sure! A.
3. SMALL GODS by Terry Pratchett. Terry Pratchett tackles organized religion on the Discworld. Need I say more? Hilarious, but also very poignant, too. A.
4. WHITE CORRIDOR by Christopher Fowler. #5 in the Bryant & May "Peculiar Crimes Unit" mystery series set in London. In this episode, acting director Raymond Land closes the unit for a week while the computers and electronics are updated, so Bryant convinces May to accompany him to a spiritualist convention out in the rural west country. The two elderly detectives set off and run into a horrendous snowstorm that leaves them stuck in a ditch and stranded along with dozens of other travelers--one of whom is a murderer, as they discover when they find the body of a truck driver with his throat slashed. Meanwhile, back in London, the unit's pathologist Oswald Finch dies while beginning an autopsy on a young girl, a drug addict who is more than what she seems. His death comes just days before his impending retirement, and the remaining staff must figure out if it was murder (only they have keys and the door was locked!), suicide or a bizarre accident. Communicating with their senior colleagues by mobile phone, DS Janice Longbright must finally begin to put all the teachings of her mentors to work to solve the crime--before a royal visit scheduled last minute by their nemesis, Oscar Kasavian, could derail the unit once and for all. Enjoyable read as always with crazy characters, well-plotted mysteries, red herrings galore, and plenty of laughs. Though I was sad at the death of crotchety old Finch, his demise was an interesting puzzle for the Unit to solve. A
5. THE SECOND DEATH OF GOODLUCK TINUBU by Michael Stanley. #2 in the Detective David "Kubu" Bengu series set in Botswana. This book has Kubu venturing far from home in Gaborone to the north of Botswana to a tourist camp in the jungle where two brutal murders beg to be solved. One of the men killed turns out to be a South African policeman. The other, Goodluck Tinubu, appears to be not what he seems--which was a quiet, well-loved teacher from a school in Mochudi. According to his fingerprints, he had already died once in the Rhodesian war thirty years previously. Since his body was mutilated after death in a way that indicates it was a gang killing related to the political upheavals in Zimbabwe, and since another man staying at the camp left sooner than planned and has now disappeared, it is assumed that he is the killer they're looking for. But as Kubu and Tatwa, the local detective in charge, begin investigating, they discover that some of the camp's other guests are not exactly who they seem to be either, and some have dark secrets of their own. A twisty tale of political unrest, smuggling, and old festering wounds, this book reads much more quickly than its 480 pages would have you think. Great characters, a lot of information--not all of it pleasant, with the history of these African countries--and immersion into the culture without being 'teachy or preachy.' Good mystery too, although I had a gut feeling about the killer. Hope there will be more in the series! A.
6. PLAYING WITH FIRE (audio) by Peter Robinson. #14 Chief Inspector Alan Banks series set in Yorkshire. Two derelict boats on the canal burn, with two dead--one body on each boat. It's determined that accelerant was used and thus it becomes a murder AND arson investigation. Both boats were occupied by essentially squatters--one, a down-on-his-luck artist and the other a young drug user and her boyfriend, who was away from the boat that evening. Suspects are many in the early days as Banks and his team, including DI Annie Cabot, sift through the myriad of evidence, interview principals and the like. When another suspicious fire in an abandoned caravan kills another man--someone the artist on the boat knew--they begin to suspect a serial arsonist/murderer. Personally, I thought the bad guy was very obvious, although Robinson does throw out plenty of appealing red herrings. But even so, this was one of the best of this series in my opinion, and I enjoyed the story, the history, and the whole package very much. Skillfully read as usual by Ron Keith. Looking forward to the next and hoping my library has it available in one audio format or another! A.
7. UNWILLING ACCOMPLICE by Barbara Seranella. #7 Munch Mancini mystery set in 1980's Los Angeles, and featuring our favorite female mechanic and ex-junkie. Things are going along well for Munch and her adopted daughter Asia when a blast from the past--Asia's aunt Lisa and her two girls--call and ask to get together. Munch, clean and sober for many years now, is always reluctant to let her past leak into her new, stable life, but Lisa is Asia's blood kin and Asia wants to meet her cousins, so she agrees. When the elder daughter Charlotte goes missing a couple of days later, a distraught Lisa calls Munch as the police don't seem very interested in a Goth-looking fifteen-year-old whom they think ran away. Charlotte was friends with a boy who was killed a few days previously as part of a robbery, and Munch wonders if this had something to do with her disappearance--Lisa is convinced she was abducted, and some threatening phone calls later bear this out. Meanwhile, Munch learns some interesting information about Rico, her former boyfriend who had broken their relationship off when his ex-girlfriend turned up pregnant, as he planned to 'do the right thing' and marry her. I always enjoy a visit with Munch and Asia and Munch's unique perspective on life and this book was no exception. Only one left in the series. :( A.
8. DEXTER BY DESIGN by Jeff Lindsay. (Audio) #4 Dexter series book. Dexter Morgan--the blood spatter forensics expert who works with the Miami police department and also happens to be a cold-blooded killer--is on his honeymoon with Rita in Paris. Of course he's bored silly while Rita is in seventh heaven--until they come upon a strange art exhibit featuring self-amputation as art. 'Jennifer's Leg' depicts Jennifer slowly removing parts of her leg and she appears at the end of the display in the flesh--on crutches, of course. Dexter is enthralled! Upon arriving back in Miami, it doesn't take long for the honeymoon to be literally over as someone is displaying their own 'body art'--corpses with their insides removed, posed and stuffed with various items advertising 'The New Miami.' Dex's sister Sgt. Deborah is in charge of the case and looking to her brother--whom she now knows about--to help with clues. But before they get very far, Deborah is stabbed nearly fatally by one of the suspects and Dexter is on his own--under the too-watchful eye of her partner, Lt. Coulter and the ever present Sgt Doakes. This is the first of the series that I have listened to in audio format and I really enjoyed it--the reader did a great job capturing Dexter's "spirit." Despite the dark subject matter, there were several laugh out loud moments and it was interesting seeing how Dexter would get out of yet another scrape. One of the funnier parts was Dexter's step-kids telling him he was in trouble with Rita, because he was going to be in the "poop van." In actuality, she was fixing a special French dinner, and her atrocious pronunciation had the kids thinking she had said "caca-van" instead of "coq au vin." LOL A.
9. OUT OF CIRCULATION by Jo Dereske. #5 Helma Zukas, librarian, mystery set in fictional Bellehaven, WA. Helma and her good friend Ruth set off on a 3-day camping trip/hike up in the mountains near the Canadian border when they are trapped by a snowstorm in an emergency cabin with several other hikers. Helma is as prepared as she can be with plenty of dried foods and a backpack full of useful things--unlike Ruth, who insisted on hiking in a skirt, of all things. Of course there are dead bodies, guns, suspicious behavior and at least one murderer--but who? And how will Helma keep the killer from suspecting that she may have figured out the mystery long enough for the storm to abate and the group to be rescued? I enjoy this series a lot. Helma is an odd duck for sure--she "seems" a lot older than she is, rather prim and proper and yet she definitely has sense of humor too. It's not often I find a cozy-ish series that I enjoy these days, but this is definitely one of them. A.
10. BLOOD LAKE by K.j.a. Wishnia. This is the sixth (and last) Filomena Buscarsela mystery--at least, there has not been a new one since 2002, which I think is really a shame as this is a great series, with an interesting setting and a unique protagonist. Fil is back in her native Ecuador, taking her daughter Antonia to meet her extended family--although she must be careful as her "real" self is a former dissident, wanted by the police. Back once again to the heat and humidity, the poverty with basic essentials we take for granted in short supply, she still feels the love of her family and friends surround her and wants Antonia to know 'this' part of her homeland. Of course she becomes embroiled in the local and national political scene, and her detective's instincts lead her down some dark paths to confront ghosts from her past that may not spell good things for her future. Although I really like this series, and I love Fil to bits, I found the actual mystery in this one rather predictable--I knew who would be dead before they died, and had a good idea whodunit, too. It was perhaps a bit too long with a few too many side trips, and even a bit too much of the socio-economic inequity angst laid on, but I still enjoyed it much, and was sorry that Filomena's declaration at the end, "The mess I get into when we get back there is a whole other story." is a story that will apparently never be told. :( B+
11. SAVAGE RUN by C.J. Box. #2 Joe Pickett mystery. Joe, a game warden in the Bighorn mountains in Wyoming, is on scene when an exploding cow kills famed eco-terrorist Stewie Woods. It's assumed by the Sheriff that Woods was rigging the explosive himself in one of his infamous protests against ranchers, and died in a case of instant karma, but why is the owner of the ranch, a powerful man with friends in high places, not surprised or even curious about the incident? Joe aims to nail him for poaching a trophy bull elk out of season, but ends up getting sucked back into investigating Stewie Woods' death (and NOT at the invitation of the Sheriff!) when several other noted eco-terrorists end up dead in other freakish accidents. Things get even more complicated when someone proclaiming that he's Stewie Woods keeps calling Joe's house and talking to his wife Marybeth--and he learns that Marybeth and Stewie were high school sweethearts. Enjoyable enough read, but there is just something missing. Not sure what it is--I am not fully engaged with the main character I don't think, there didn't seem to be much in the way of character development since book one, and there also seemed to be a whole string of really improbable things happening and weird coincidences such that it was just outside the realm of being believable. I like the author's writing style and the sense of place is awesome too. I just hope Joe becomes more "real" to me as the series goes on. Hopefully this was just the old 'sophomore slump.' B.
12. HANGMAN BLIND by Cassandra Clark. #1 Abbess of Meaux historical mystery set in early 1380's York. Sister Hildegard, a Cistercian nun and a widow with an inheritance to spend, hopes to procure property from a local lord, Roger de Hutton. She grew up in the area and knew Roger and his family before taking the veil, and being out of the cloister for the first time in seven years and back on familiar ground leaves her with mixed emotions. Things are tense, with many disputes between the serfs, mostly Saxons, and their Norman manor lords, and hints of a new uprising being planned. When there is an attempted murder against Roger during a feast celebrating the birth of his heir, his new nephew, and other deaths follow, Hildegard and Ulf, an old friend of hers and Roger's steward, must seek to solve the crimes to prevent a full-blown riot. Definitely not your typical cozy historical, this book is steeped in realistic detail of life in those trying medieval times, not sparing the reader's sensibilities as the poverty, disparity between rich and poor, and the often violent death awaiting many people is met head on. Plenty of mud, blood and guts and yet it's also got some very interesting characters along with a heroine that I already feel attached to. Glad I have the next one in series waiting. A.
13. A VIGIL OF SPIES by Candace Robb. #10 Owen Archer medieval mystery set in 1370's York--just a few years previous to the above book, in fact! Owen is attending to his employer, Archbishop John Thoresby as he nears his death. The Princess of Wales in bringing her entourage to visit the Archbishop, much to Owen's chagrin, as it's his job as Captain of the Archbishop's guards to keep them all safe. When a young servant of a messenger accompanying Her Grace's party from William Wykeham--ever a thorn in Owen's side--dies on the way, a brief investigation leads Owen to believe it was murder, possibly aimed at the messenger. When inspection of the documents he was carrying prove to be blank parchments, obviously substituted at some point, Owen and the few people he trusts--including, grudgingly, Geoffrey Chaucer--must not only find who took them, but what they contained, and do so discreetly. It more than likely relates to who will be chosen as Thoresby's successor when he dies. More deaths follow and Owen is pitched into despair when he discovers that one of his most trusted men has betrayed him and he begins to question everything. I love this series and really hope the author continues on with it--she says in the afterward that she's got more adventures planned, but it's been almost 3 years now since this was published. Owen and his wife Lucie and their growing family are among my favorites, and I liked this book much better than the last one. Not sure why, but I found this very enjoyable and an interesting take on the author's view of things. It's not always easy to deal with a lot of characters who were real people but she does so very plausibly I think. A+
14. CITY OF VEILS by Zoe Ferraris. #2 Nayir Sharqui and Katya Hijazi mystery set in modern day Saudi Arabia. Nayir and Katya have both spent several miserable months not speaking to one another and are thrown together again when Nayir's uncle asks him to find something out from the coroner's office (where Katya works) about a friend who died. Katya ends up assisting a police detective with the death of a young woman who was beaten to death and apparently tortured beforehand. Because of the Muslim religious laws, they must have a woman policeman question the women, and the detective's only available female officer was recently fired for lying about being married. (Unmarried women are not allowed to be policewomen.) The secondary case, part of the story told from the point of view of Miriam Walker, an American woman whose husband works for a Saudi company there, who is thrown into a state of turmoil when her husband disappears. Katya's case intersects with Miriam's dilemma and a whole tangled web ensues. Despite this sounding complicated, it was a very enjoyable book, read skillfully and with an interesting mystery. The only detrimental thing is that it was told from the POV of several different people, and while I understand why the author did it--to help the reader gain perspective of the strict laws and the whole Muslim way of life there through the eyes of many different sub-groups--it was, at times, distracting and didn't really allow for more full development of any one character. That was the only thing that kept me from giving this an A-plus. I do hope there will be more in this series! A.
15. BLOODSHOT by Stuart MacBride. #3 Logan MacRae mystery set in Aberdeen, Scotland. Det. Sgt. Logan MacRae is once again subject to frequently-discussed lousy Aberdeen weather as he is pulled from one investigation to another, caught in a tug-of-war between warring DI's Steel and Insch as he sleeps little, manages to get himself in trouble several times, but eventually solves the crimes. Three equally odd cases--an eight-year-old murderer keeps eluding Logan and his counterparts, a prominent footballer is suspected of rape but keeps slipping away due to lack of forensic evidence, and a man dropped off by an unknown person near dead at the hospital eventually dies and it appears to be the result of some bizarre BDSM practices. I really like Logan and this series but I do find that these books are somewhat repetitive on many levels--the constant reference to the bad weather, the frequent negative descriptions of his superior officers, and reviewing over and over Logan's lack of sleep, state of being hung over, etc etc gets rather old after awhile. Seems like there's a lot of stuff that is "filler" material that doesn't really advance the story. Still--I liked this book and enjoy the series and will continue to read on. A-
CURRENT READS: ROSEMARY AND RUE by Seanan McGuire and THE OLD WINE SHADES by Martha Grimes.
I'm working on finishing off a few 'dead' mystery series these last couple months of the year and early next year, so I don't feel so guilty starting some new stuff. Got WAY too many series going...this is a chronic condition of mine though. LOL
Cheryl
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