“Self-Defense” By Jonathan Kellerman

Review #141
An Alex Delaware tale of psychological suspense.

It's a good bet that all of us would like to have Alex Delaware as our shrink. He's kind, compassionate, and gentle, yet firm when that's what's needed. He's ethical and principled, and he lives a nice, normal life with a nice, normal wife and a nice, normal dog.

And…nice, normal Dr. Delaware is exactly what Lucy Lowell needs. Delaware's friend, Detective Milo Sturgis, has referred Lucy for counseling after her experience as a juror in the trial of a serial killer leaves her with terrifying nightmares…night after night. At first, Alex figures Lucy is just stressed out, but the more he hears, the more he wonders if her frightening dreams are rooted in reality.

Ever the full-service psychologist, Delaware delves into Lucy's background to find clues about what's causing the nightmares. What he discovers is that Lucy was the victim of a bizarre childhood: a father who was into poetry, hippies, drugs, and love fests; a mother who died when Lucy was a baby; and a brother who's become a drug addict. A series of puzzling coincidences connected to Lucy's past leads Alex to a hippie commune in the California foothills where plenty of nasty secrets are buried.

I love the Dr. Alex Delware books. They are always interesting!

“Glory in Death” By J.D. Robb

Review #143
A Lieutenant Eve Dallas Mystery

In the second of this futuristic mystery series, protagonist New York police Lieutenant Eve Dallas looks for a serial killer of prominent career women. Eve tenaciously follows the clues whether they imperil her romantic relationship with a billionaire or her beloved job.

When two beautiful, highly successful women are found murdered, Eve has a long list of suspects. The two glamorous women rubbed elbows with a number of wealthy, powerful men, including her own lover, Roarke.

Truth and justice are the goals she works resolutely toward and that leads her to solve the case, save the life of a friend, and command the respect of her tall, dark, handsome lover. If the supporting characters are somewhat stereotypical and the ending easy to predict, the humor and imaginative slice of mid-21st-century life provide scope for the reader's talents.

Warning: Strong Language and Sexual Situations

“Ceremony in Death” By J.D. Robb

Review #142
A Lieutenant Eve Dallas Mystery

Dallas is a hard-boiled cop with a soft side for her billionaire husband Roarke. It is New York City 50 years in the future and New York is still a major urban area with a lot of crime.

Conducting a top secret investigation into the death of a fellow police officer has homicide detective, Lieutenant Eve Dallas, treading on dangerous ground. She must put professional ethics before personal loyalties.

A respected and popular cop has died of natural causes despite the fact that he is only half as old as his life expectancy dictates. Then, his grand-daughter dies in an accident. Eve has been ordered to investigate his death, secretly, because there are questions the Internal Affairs Department wants answered. Her investigation soon has her immersed in the wiccan community and the occult society. She meets both white witches and black witches. After a body from a ritual murder is left outside their gate at home, Roarke also gets involved with the case. He wants to protect Eve from the danger he is afraid is ahead.

The danger is there. Eve’s partner, Peabody is right by her side. Roarke is helping with the electronic/computer searches for their information because Eve’s boss, Captain Feeney, who would normally do this, hasn’t been apprised of the investigation. They attend a wiccan initiation and they visit the night spots favored by the followers of the occult.

More people die.

The mystery takes its twists and turns, keeping Eve on her toes until the end.
I love Robb’s “in Death” series of mysteries and this is another one I can recommend.

Warning: Graphic violence, Strong language and Strong sexual content

“The First Patient” by Michael Palmer

Review #140

When President Andrew Stoddard‘s physician, Jim Ferendelli, vanishes, former naval academy roommate of the President, and Wyoming country doctor, Gabe Singleton, is asked to fill in the void. Almost immediately, things start to fall apart as Stoddard suffers from a random episode of incoherence, and Singleton is shot at while driving in late evening D.C. traffic.

Eventually, Gabe is faced with a crisis of conscience. As President Stoddard's physician, he has the power to invoke the Twenty-fifth Amendment to transfer presidential power to the Vice President and he may have to invoke this power as he uncovers increasing evidence that his friend's condition may not be due to natural causes. But...can the Vice President be trusted?

Who? Why? And how? The President's life is at stake. A small-town doctor suddenly finds himself in the most powerful position on earth, and the safety of the world is in jeopardy. Dr. Gabe Singleton must find the answers. He must figure out who's behind the president's mysterious illness and the only way he can do this is by investigating everyone from the Secret Service agents to the vice president, and...the clock is ticking.

Complicating matters is Alison Cromartie, a sexy nurse who captures Singleton's heart. Can SHE be trusted?

The roller-coaster ride of a plot builds to an undeniably shocking conclusion.

“Mr. Monk is Cleaned Out”

BY LEE GOLDBERG


Review #139

Budget cuts have become a problem at the San Francisco Police Department and, unfortunately, Monk is the victim, once again, when his services are no longer affordable. Although his assistant, Natalie, goes to work trying to find new jobs for both of them, Monk continues trying to solve a murder case for the SFPD without pay, thinking he can live on his savings for a while.

When Natalie’s paycheck bounces, and Monk is evicted from his apartment for non- payment of the rent, he discovers that all of his life savings are gone. Seems he had turned them over to Bob Sebes, a man now under house arrest for running a giant Ponzi scheme that has collapsed. Now, Monk has no job, no savings and no home!

When one of the key witnesses against Bob Sebes is murdered, Monk immediately decides that Sebes must be the killer despite the fact that Sebes is wearing a GPS device at all times and his house is surrounded by the media.

Is Monk right? Will he solve the case even though he is no longer a consultant? And can Natalie find the two of them a job that they can both keep?

I loved the TV Series and I loved this book.

“Devil’s Knot: the True Story of the West Memphis Three”

By MARA LEVERITT
Review #138

On the evening of May 5, 1993, in the small town of West Memphis, Arkansas, three eight-year-old boys disappeared. The next afternoon, all three of the boys’ bodies were found submerged in a nearby stream. The boys had been bound from ankle to wrist with their own shoelaces and severely beaten.

The crime scene and forensic evidence were mishandled, but a probation officer directed the police toward Damien Echols, a youth with a troubled home life, anti-authoritarian attitudes and admiration for the "Goth" and Wiccan subcultures. Amid rumors of satanic cult activity, investigators browbeat Jesse Misskelley, a mentally challenged 16-year-old acquaintance of Echols, into providing a wildly inconsistent confession that he'd helped Echols and a third teen, Jason Baldwin, assault the boys.

All three boys were convicted on the basis of Misskelley's dubious statements and such "evidence" as Echols's fondness for William Blake and Stephen King. The oldest boy, 18, was sentenced to death.

In this book, Arkansas Times investigative reporter, Mara Leveritt, explores the murder convictions, (the subject of two HBO documentaries). The book is arranged chronologically, from the crime through the trial, and dispassionately dissects the prosecution's case against the three teens. Leveritt interviewed the principals, reviewed the police file and trial transcripts, and leads the reader to conclude from her exhaustive research (430 footnotes) that the case was botched, improperly based on a single confession from a retarded youth and the defendants' alleged ties to satanic rituals.

All three ‘boys’ are still in prison. A group to “Free the West Memphis Three” has been actively trying to get them out of prison for years. The authorities continue to ignore them.

Well written in descriptive language, the book is an indictment of a culture and legal system that failed to protect children as defendants or victims. Leveritt, also suggests an alternative suspect: one victim's stepfather, who had a history of domestic violence, yet was seemingly shielded by authorities because he was a drug informant for local investigators.

“In the Best of Families” by Rex Stout

Review #137

A Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin Mystery

The story begins with a case that is no more or less unusual than most others that Wolfe tackles. Mrs. Rackam, an aging millionairess, hires the boys to find out where her playboy husband is getting his spending money. Shortly after taking the case, a letter bomb appears at the house as a warning from criminal mastermind, Arnold Zeck, to stop poking into the matter. This prompts Wolfe to do something truly extraordinary. He leaves his treasured home and disappears without a word to Goodwin about his intentions or location. This provides an interesting look into Archie's world as we see what he would do when left on his own.

The story is highly compelling and builds to a satisfying climax. The only potential negative is that Archie’s trademark humor is played down considerably in this book as it is much more intense than most Rex Stout novels. This is the third and last of the Zeck trilogy.

I enjoyed this novel immensely but those looking for lots of typical snappy patter from Archie should look elsewhere.

“The Christmas Train”    
          by David Baldacci

Review #136

(I know it's not Christmas time, but, I thought this might cool us off a little!)

Tom Langdon is a former war reporter who now writes feature articles for various magazines. His plan is to link up with his long-distance girlfriend, a Hollywood star, in L.A, for Christmas. Banned from flying for a year because of an air rage incident, he decides to take the train and to write about riding the rails over the Christmas holidays.

Aboard the Capitol Limited, running from D.C. to Chicago, Tom meets a host of unusual fellow travelers, including rambunctious train personnel, lonely wanderers and an eloping couple. He also runs into Eleanor, the former love of his life also on her way to LA. Sparks fly between them, bringing up old feelings along with unresolved issues from their former relationship. Tom realizes this might be his second chance with Eleanor, but a series of unexpected events may derail his plans…like Tom's Tinseltown girlfriend joining the train in Chicago and proposing marriage; a sneak thief nabbing valuables; and an avalanche trapping the train in the mountains in the midst of an historic blizzard.

The narrative is loaded with train lore. (Baldacci dedicates the book to "everyone who loves trains and holidays".)

This is the first non-mystery book of Baldacci’s I have read…loved it!
Made me want to get on a train and ride!

"The Cat Who Moved a Mountain”.................. by Lillian Jackson Braun

Review #135

A Jim Qwilleran, Koko and Yum Yum Mystery Adventure.

Having completed the five-year residency in Moose County required to validate, officially, his inheritance of the vast Klingenschoen fortune, retired newspaperman, Jim Qwilleran decides to spend a quiet summer vacation in the mountains with his two Siamese cats, KoKo and Yum Yum, rethinking his purpose in life. Unfortunately, Qwill chooses the Potato Mountains, where he soon finds himself not only drawn into a controversy between environmentalists (mountaineers locally called "Taters") and lowland developers, but also involved in freeing a man unjustly jailed for murder.

The sheriff tells Qwilleran that the deceased, J.J. Hawkinfield, a believer in unfettered development of the area, was killed by one of the more militant mountain people, who oppose land sales and want to protect their rural environment.

Under the pretext of researching Hawkinfield's biography, Qwilleran pries into everyone's business, aided by the garrulous residents, who raise gossip to a new art form. With the help of his unique cats, he uncovers new evidence and brings to a satisfying conclusion a lively, witty tale.

Readers familiar with the “The Cat Who” series, especially those who enjoy Braun's verbal humor, will find this a fun read.

“Lives of the Artists” by Kathleen Krull

Masterpieces, Messes and (What the Neighbors Thought)

Family reading for ages 10 and up.



Review #134

The 20 artists discussed are:

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519),
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564),
Peter Bruegel (1525?-1569),
Sofonisba Anguissola (1532-1625),
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669),
Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849),
Mary Cassatt (1845-1926),
Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890),
Kathe Kollwitz (1867-1945),
Henri Matisse (1869-1954),
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973),
Marc Chagall (1887-1985),
Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968),
Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986),
William H. Johnson (1901-1970),
Salvador Dali (1904-1989),
Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988),
Diego Rivera (1886-1957),
Frida Kahlo (1907-1954),
Andy Warhol (1928-1987).

This is a short book with mini-biographies that focus on the subjects' personal lives and eccentricities rather than chronologies of their masterpieces. A few notes on major artworks follow each biography.

Each chapter begins with one of Illustrator Kathryn Hewitt's distinctive portrait paintings, handsome caricatures of the artists and a few significant or distinctive objects indicating their interests and individual traits.

I’m way over 10 and still found this book to be very interesting!
Basically, I think the book will encourage younger persons to want to read more about the artists.

“Strange Tribe” by John Hemingway

A Hemingway Family Memoir



Review #133
This is the story of a famous family plagued by tragedy.

The author, grandson of Nobel Prize winner Ernest Hemingway, and son of his youngest child, Gregory, investigates the similarities between these two paternal figures and seeks to find his place in their "strange tribe with a famous last name".

The book does much to complicate Ernest's image as a macho man, cataloguing both his dependence on women and his gender-bending proclivities. However, the true heart of the book is in exploring the Hemingways’ failure as parents and how the familial disposition toward manic-depression created a genetic "Hemingway curse". The author, having escaped the disease, paints his father and grandfather in blunt strokes as loving and generous men who had little understanding of their psychological disorder.

The most endearing and comprehensive portrait is of his father's struggles as a transvestite son of a "pillar of American manhood." (Gregory surgically became a woman and died of heart failure in a Miami women's jail in 2001.) When describing his own parents' early neglect (his mother was schizophrenic) and, later, his partial reconciliation with his father, the book focuses on the author's generation of Hemingways. But, mostly, the book is intent upon setting the record straight about Ernest, his youngest son and their similarities.

In his twenties, John moved to Italy to find his way and now lives with his wife and two children in Spain working as a writer and translator.

A very interesting book!

“Private” by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

Review #132

Former Marine helicopter pilot Jack Morgan runs “Private”, a renowned private investigation company with branches around the globe. It is where you go when you need maximum force and maximum discretion. The secrets of the most influential men and women on the planet come to Jack daily…and...his staff of investigators uses the world's most advanced forensic tools to make and break their cases.

Jack is already deep into the investigation of a multi-million dollar NFL gambling scandal and the unsolved slayings of 18 schoolgirls when he learns of a horrific murder close to home. His best friend's wife and Jack's former lover, has been killed. It nearly pushes him over the edge. Instead, Jack pushes back and devotes all of Private's resources to tracking down her killer.

Jack doesn't have to play by the rules. As he closes in on the killer and chooses between revenge and justice, Morgan has to navigate a workplace love affair that threatens to blow the roof off his plans.

It’s no secret, I love James Patterson's novels and this one is no exception

“Bingo” by Rita Mae Brown

Review #131

The octogenarian Hunsenmeir sisters (introduced in Six of One) slug it out with repartee and second-childhood antics when both fall in love with visiting widower Ed Tutweiler Walters.

The town of Runnymede (a town divided by the Mason-Dixon Line) watches gleefully as the sisters battle it out, although Julia's daughter, Nicole Smith, wishes they'd picked another time.

Nicole has reached her 40s, is a respected journalist for the Clarion and a tacitly accepted (read discreet) lesbian. But Nicole's history comes unraveled when she falls into an affair with her best friend's husband, and the newspaper is sold to big-money interests. She needs all her energy to deal with two surprising new relationships and the possible loss of her job.

A rowdy bingo game, an unexpected pregnancy, and the cannon in the town square combine to produce an explosive climax.

Along with sketches of zany homegrown characters, Brown offers unpredictable plot resolutions that reinforce her reputation as a writer unafraid of new directions.

I favor Rita Mae Brown’s Sneaky Pie Brown adventures and her Fox Hunting books over this series, but this is an interesting addition to her family of books.

“A Long Shadow” by Charles Todd

The author, Charles Todd, is a mother-son writing team.

Review #130
An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery

It's New Year's Eve, 1919, and Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge has accompanied his sister to the home of mutual friends for dinner. However, he gets a call from the office and must leave early.

Rutledge travels to the remote and desolate English village of Dudlington after its Constable Hensley is shot in the back with an arrow and left for dead in gloomy Frith's Wood, a forest shunned by the locals. Inspector Rutledge becomes convinced that this strange attack is connected in some way to the disappearance of young Emma Mason several years earlier. Will he find Emma's body in the woods as well?

Compounding the Inspectors investigation is the fact that he keeps discovering spent cartridge casings carved with skulls and poppies. These sinister casings, left only where Rutledge will see them, make him worry that an old enemy from the war might be stalking him. His stalker follows him throughout his investigation in Dudlington, as does his imaginary sidekick, Hamish, who lives in Rutledge’s head and seems quite content to trundle along offering broguish quips from the inspector's mental sidecar.

And then…there is Psychic Meredith Channing who seems to have uncanny insights into both cases. Rutledge is reluctant to trust her since she was the scheduled entertainment at the dinner he missed with his sister!

The entire series of Inspector Ian Rutledge books are interesting, entertaining and twist filled…including this one!

“Seldom Disappointed” by Tony Hillerman

Review #129

A memoir of Tony Hillerman, who has brought the Southwest and Navajo Nation culture alive for millions of readers through his mysteries starring Navajo Tribal Police Officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee.

The most frequently asked question of Hillerman is this: How did an Anglo-Saxon man come to know so much about the Navajos? This compelling autobiography is Hillerman's answer to that question. It is also a testimony to a toughened optimism and resiliency. The title of this book comes from his mother's favorite saying: "Blessed are those who expect little. They are seldom disappointed."

As Hillerman looks over his years, from his growing up during the Great Depression/Great Dust Bowl in Oklahoma, through his tour in World War II, through wire-service journalism and academia and, finally, through his experiences as a novelist, he casts himself as a character whose many fiascoes have always contained hidden blessings. Perhaps the most terrifying moment in this whole memoir is when Hillerman's first agent tells him, in 1969, to "get rid of the Indian stuff" in his first novel.

This is an autobiography as clear-eyed and entertaining as any of the author's mysteries.

NOTE: I listened to the audio book read by the author himself. I love Tony Hillerman’s book writing…his book reading…not so much! I suggest YOU READ the book yourself.

“Sizzling Sixteen” by Janet Evanovich

Review #128

A Stephanie Plum Adventure

Stephanie Plum, half-Italian, half-Hungarian, a shrewd mixture of smarts and dumb luck, works for her cousin, Vinny , as a bail bondswoman in Trenton, New Jersey. Vinny has been kidnapped by some very scary guys to whom he owes money in the six-figures.

As Stephanie, sidekick file clerk Lula, and office manager Connie, soon realize, Vincent Plum Bail Bonds is seriously in the red due to Vinnie's gambling. Vinnie has also gotten caught up with local mobster Bobby Sunflower in a complicated scheme. Even though her sleazy cousin isn't her favorite person and chasing oddball felons isn't her ideal career, Stephanie knows family loyalty counts for something. So the three women set off to free Vinny.

Along the way, they facilitate a cow stampede and an alligator escape, are assisted by a bunch of Hobbit Con-goers, and find their office going up, literally, in flames. Stephanie wrecks the usual car and ping-pongs between the hot and dangerous Ranger and the hot and domestic Morelli.

In the first few pages, Evanovich both catches readers up on the hilarious and cockeyed history of the preceding 15 books and…brings back beloved stoner, Mooner.

However, the larger story simply recycles elements from previous installments.

“A Cold Treachery” by Charles Todd

“Todd” is the pseudonym of a mother-son writing team

Review #127

A Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery

Still haunted by the ghost of a corporal whose execution for insubordination he ordered during WWI, Inspector Ian Rutledge fights a constant battle to hang on to his sanity by devoting himself to his detective work.

Called out by Scotland Yard into the teeth of a violent blizzard, Inspector Rutledge finds himself confronted with one of the most savage murders he has ever encountered. In the Lake District town of Urskdale, five members of the Elcott family have been found murdered in their kitchen. Only ten-year-old Josh is missing from the blood-spattered scene. Did he witness the murders? Did he escape into the blizzard? Could he have survived the freezing temperatures out on the moor or will his body remain undiscovered until spring?

Rutledge pursues clues suggesting that the missing lad may be either a potential future victim or the killer himself. The Inspector organizes a massive search for the boy, while considering other possible suspects and motives for the murders. He rescues beautiful Janet Ashton from a carriage accident, which further complicates the plot. A cousin of one of the victims, Janet has a score to settle and motives that are none too innocent. Was it love, jealousy, greed, revenge–or was it some twisted combination of all of them?

Star Review: "Traditional mystery lovers who prefer their whodunits enriched with psychological insight will heartily embrace Todd's seventh Inspector Rutledge novel."

“Champagne for ONE” by Rex Stout

Review #126

A Nero Wolfe Novel

In this 1958 Nero Wolfe mystery, the rotund, beer-guzzling super sleuth and his sidekick, Archie Goodwin, endeavor to prove that a socialite's apparent suicide was actually a murder.

Everyone who knew Faith Usher knew she always carried a vial of poison around with her in her purse, (just in case she decided to commit suicide), so when she dies after drinking champagne, everyone from the police to her friends to the father of her child assumes she killed herself. Nero Wolfe's ace assistant, Archie Goodwin, is the only one who insists it was a murder because...he was there when it happened and was watching her AND her purse!

As the portly detective investigates, all the people he talks to seem to be trying to get him to stop investigating, which of course only makes Wolfe all the more stubborn. The devilish question he has to answer is…”How do you solve a murder when everyone connected to the victim swears it's a suicide?”

I always enjoy a Nero Wolfe story!

"Here’s the Deal…                                       Don’t Touch Me!” 
by HOWIE MANDEL

Review #125 
A Memoir

In this reflective autobiography, written with extraordinary honesty and passion. Actor, comedian and game show host, Howie Mandel, alternates between funny anecdotes and stories of intense personal problems. He opens with a description of his Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and the situations in his Toronto childhood that shaped his comedy career. On top of the OCD, Mandel also has Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and a severe germ phobia.

Early in his life, Mandel developed what he calls "Obsessive Prankster Disorder," a need to stage elaborate practical jokes, some amusing…some not so amusing…some would even say cruel at times! (Ex: He was expelled from high school for impersonating a member of the school board and signing a construction company to make an addition to his school.) Mandel also describes how mental disorders and medical crises have impacted his career, and balances his triumphs with lengthy surveys of failed performances.

In 1980, after appearing in local comedy clubs for a couple of years and, despite little other experience, Mandel left Canada for Los Angeles to pursue stand-up comedy, where he eventually moved from the clubs to cable specials, an album and numerous late-night talk show appearances, success he parlayed into film roles and a 6-year stint on NBC hospital drama, “St. Elsewhere”. He had several TV shows before being asked to host “Deal or No Deal” in 2005. He is also, a panelist judge on the "America Has Talent" TV program.

This is an interesting book even though there were times when I didn't like HIM very much!
Warning: This book contains language and a few references you may find offensive.

(The audio book is read by Howie Mandel…in 4 hours)

“The Sinister Pig” by Tony Hillerman

Review #124
A Sgt. Jim Chee and Lt. Joe Leaphorn Mystery

A "sinister pig" is boss of the sty: the pig who guards the trough and attacks any other animal trying to eat from it.

When the body of an undercover agent, who's been looking for clues to the whereabouts of billions of dollars missing from the Tribal Trust Funds, turns up on reservation property near Four Corners, Navajo cop Sgt. Jim Chee and Cowboy Dashee, a Hopi with the Federal Bureau of Land Management, join up to investigate. Retired Lt. Joe Leaphorn is checking into the same murder from another direction.

Officer Bernadette "Bernie" Manueslito, Chee's romantic interest, has left the Navajo Tribal Police Force and now works in the New Mexico boot heel for the U.S. Border Patrol. A routine patrol puts Bernie on the trail of an operation involving some old oil pipelines that connects to Four Corners and, possibly, the murder there.

The three lines converge on a conspiracy of drugs, greed and power. Those who most profit will stop at nothing to keep it a secret! The “sinister pig” must either fight or run.

With his usual up-front approach to issues concerning Native Americans, Hillerman delivers a masterful tale that both entertains and… once again… educates.

“Ice Cold” by Tess Gerritsen

Review #123
A Rizzoli and Isles Mystery Novel

While in Wyoming for a pathologists' conference, Boston medical examiner Maura Isles, agrees to join an old college acquaintance, his 13-year-old daughter, and two friends of his on a last-minute ski trip. Their journey goes awry when they are stranded during a snowstorm in a remote area and find their way to an apparently abandoned village called Kingdom Come.

During their search for food and other survival needs, the question becomes…what drove the residents from their 12 identical houses, leaving food on the table and pets behind to die? And…who is the man in the portrait they find prominently displayed in all the homes?

When one of the companions is severely injured during an attempt to escape the wilderness, another tries to ski out to get help. After two days of waiting for rescue, Isles decides she must make an attempt to get help before the injured man dies. On the trail, she becomes a target and a 16 year old boy becomes involved in trying to save her.

When the local police find what they believe to be Maura's charred body and those of her companions, Boston Detective Jane Rizzoli, her FBI agent husband, Gabriel Dean, and Father Daniel Brophy, travel to Wyoming to conduct their own investigation. Jane is determined to uncover what has happened to her friend!

These characters are on my favorites list and this book is too!

In July, TNT launched a new TV series, “Rizzoli and Isles”, based on the characters in this series of books.

“How Starbucks Saved My Life” by Michael Gates Gill

The inspiring story of a man who had it all, lost it all and found it again where he least expected to…at Starbucks!

Review #122
A Memoir

Michael Gates Gill, the son of New Yorker writer Brendan Gill, was born into privilege and grew up meeting the likes of Ezra Pound, Ernest Hemingway, Queen Elizabeth, T. S. Eliot, and Jackie Onassis, just to name a few. A Yale education led to a high-powered advertising career at prestigious J. Walter Thompson Advertising right out of college.

But, at age 53, Gill has become ‘too old’ for JWT’s ‘image’ and is downsized. On top of that, an ill-advised affair has resulted in a son (his 5th child) and a divorce. At age 63, his entire life has gone sour…he has been diagnosed with a slow growing brain tumor and his business is collapsing.

Despairing at the prospect of looming poverty, he stops at a Manhattan Starbucks to comfort himself with what he thinks may be his last latte. By chance he meets Crystal, a young African American woman recruiting new workers for the coffee giant. She jokingly asks him if he is looking for a job. Almost as an act of desperation, he says yes!

Several weeks later, he dons the uniform of a barista-in-training at an Upper West Side Starbucks. Gill, who is white, gets an education in race relations along with the life of a working class Joe. He starts at the bottom...cleaning the bathroom! Over the following months he learns to deeply respect Crystal, to appreciate the mutual support of his coworkers and to genuinely cherish the passing parade of customers, each unique. To his own astonishment, he realizes that he actually looks forward joyfully to every hectic, exhausting workday.

Throughout the book, Gill looks back at the life he lead before Starbucks and projects a number of lessons we could all stand to learn!

I found this book intensely interesting.

(Playaway audion book 7 hours)