"A Moveable Feast"   
     by Ernest Hemingway

2011 Book Review #22

Summary: 

Published posthumously in 1964, A Moveable Feast remains one of Ernest Hemingway's most beloved works. 

It is his classic memoir of Paris in the 1920s, filled with irreverent portraits of other expatriate luminaries such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein; tender memories of his first wife, Hadley; and insightful recollections of his own early experiments with his craft. 

It is a literary feast, brilliantly evoking the exuberant mood of Paris after World War I and the youthful spirit, unbridled creativity, and unquenchable enthusiasm that Hemingway himself epitomized.  

My Thought:  I found this book interesting in a quite and charming way.  Hemingway makes it easy to picture life during that period of time.

“Indulgence in Death”   by J.D. Robb

A Lieutenant Eve Dallas Novel

2011 Book Review #21

 Publishers Weekly Review

Lt. Eve Dallas of the New York Police and Security Department returns home from a long overdue Irish vacation to a string of bizarre murders in Robb's thrilling 32nd future cop novel.

The crossbow killing of chauffeur Jamal Houston in his limo in a La Guardia parking lot is followed by the death of high-rent prostitute Ava Crampton, found at Coney Island's House of Horrors stabbed with a bayonet. Other victims include Luc Delaflote, a celebrity chef who's harpooned, and Adrianne Jonas, "a facilitator for the rich" strangled with a handmade bullwhip.

Eve, assisted by her trustworthy sidekicks, Detective Delia Peabody and husband Roarke, uncovers a wicked game that grows increasingly macabre.

 Robb (the pseudonym of Nora Roberts) keeps the reader squirming as Eve and company try to avoid dying in weird ways themselves. 

My Thoughts:   I love all the Eve Dallas mysteries!

"The Midnight Show Murders"
           By Al Roker and Dick Lochte
                                     A Billy Blessing Novel


2011 Book Review #20

When celebrity chef Billy Blessing goes to L.A. to guest on a popular late-night show, hilarity and murder ensue.

 Publishers Weekly Review

Billy's network bosses have tapped him to be the first weekly guest announcer of a new show, O'Day at Night, hosted by Irish comedian Des O'Day. When a bomb explosion blows an important cast member to bits on the set of O'Day at Night, Billy once again turns sleuth. 

The case awakens unpleasant memories of the beginning of Billy's career as a cook in L.A. when he unsuccessfully tried to undermine the alibi of Roger Charbonnet, an arrogant but well-connected young chef suspected of killing Tiffany Arden, a failed starlet turned restaurant bookkeeper. 

A cop who remembers the Arden murder thinks Roger may have been responsible for the bombing. Wry humor lifts this above most celebrity-written fiction.

My Thoughts:    It is the first of Al Roker's books I have read and I enjoyed it.  It's a fun mystery!

"A Deadly Game"
      by Virginia Smith

2011 Book Review #19

Summary: 
"After discovering her boss's dead body, Susanna Trent receives an unusual package from him filled with strange metal tokens and odd clues. 


Then Susanna, who is the guardian of her three-year-old niece, (Lizzie), starts getting anonymous phone calls taunting her with thinly veiled threats. Worried for her life and that of her sister's child, Susanna struggles to trust the one man who can help: wealthy executive Jack Townsend. 


As they work together to solve the mysterious puzzle, Jack and Susanna are led into a dangerous game neither knows how to play. But they do know the stakes...life or death."         
...Publisher's description...   


My Thoughts....What the summary didn't tell you is that Lizzie is kidnapped and the ransom is all ten of the mysterious "tokens".  
I liked this book!  I liked the "treasure hunt" plot!  And...I liked the characters!
...So will you!  

"The Bodies Left Behind"  
         By Jeffery Deaver

2011 Book Review #18 
          
            Library Journal Review 

Responding to a suspicious 911 call, Deputy Kristen Brynn McKenzie stumbles on two hit men at the scene of a double murder. Surviving the attack is a young woman whom Brynn must get to safety. The women are tracked through the night as they try to make their way to a phone or to the nearest highway. Each new plan to reach help seems to be anticipated by the hit men, and at every turn Brynn must outwit the heavily armed pursuers.

My thoughts:
You should also know that Brynn loses her phone and gun  when her car goes into the lake.  So...she and the young woman are on foot in the wilderness with a couple of kitchen knives for weapons and no way to call for help!   Jeffery Deaver is one of my favorite authors and I liked this book!

An Amazing True Story:
"same kind of different as me"  
by Ron Hall and Denver Moore with Lynn Vincent

2011 Book Review # 17

This is a true story written by two men, one black, one white.  One a homeless, ex-sharecropper held under plantation-style slavery until he fled Alabama in the 1960s…the other, a self made, very wealthy, art dealer whose Christian Mission wife was responsible for their meeting.

It is not just the story of how they met, but, about the “forever” friendship they formed and how they each changed the life of the other.  The story begins in the 1950’s and continues thru present day.

A simply written story, it serves to remind us of how we have the ability to affect everyone we meet.

I have a hard time explaining why I liked this book so much, but, I did!  I couldn’t put it down!  I highly recommend it to everyone!

"Cold Dawn"  by Carla Neggers
A Black Falls Novel"

2011 Book Review #


Summary:
The small town of Black Falls, Vermont, finally feels safe again—until search-and-rescue expert Rose Cameron discovers a body, burnt almost beyond recognition. Almost. Rose is certain that she knows the victim's identity…and that his death was no accident.


Nick Martini also suspects an arsonist's deliberate hand. Another fire killed an arson investigator in California months ago. Now the rugged smoke jumper is determined to follow the killer's trail…even if it leads straight to Rose. Nick and Rose haven't seen each other since they shared a single night of blind passion, but they can't let memories and unhealed wounds get in the way of their common goal—stopping a merciless killer from taking aim straight at the heart of Black Falls.


My Thoughts:  I thought there were too many characters and things moved a little slow for me. Maybe if I had read the other books in the series first, I would have understood more about what was going on.  It's an okay book but, not the best I have read of Neggers' writing.  The other books in the series are "Cold Pursuit" and "Cold Ridge".

“One False Move”   by Harlan Coben

A Myron Bolitar Novel

 

2011 Book Review #15

Booklist Review

Brenda Slaughter may be the greatest female basketball player ever, and sports agent Myron Bolitar takes Brenda under his wing.  

Bolitar's ability to hone his basketball skills as a young man was made possible by Brenda's father, Horace, who acted as the white Bolitar's guardian angel on the very hostile inner-city playgrounds. Bolitar and Brenda forge a business relationship, and the first order of business is finding Horace.

The trail Horace left is troubling because it contains hints of a 20-year-old scandal that left the wife of current gubernatorial candidate Arthur Bradford dead.

The fifth Bolitar mystery--and the first in hardcover--continues the series' realistic portrayal of the contemporary sports world while dishing up a bit of murder and mayhem. Bolitar is a solid protagonist who is plenty tough but also smart enough to accept his shortcomings. If you haven't been including the Bolitar paperbacks in your mystery collection, this is a good place to start.

My Thoughts:  This is the first book in this series that I have read.  I liked it so much that I will read the rest of the series!