“Murder, She Wrote…

         A Vote For Murder”

                                       A Jessica Fletcher Mystery

By  Donald Bain

2011 Book Review #102

Summary

Jessica's in Washington, D.C., to support a senator's new literacy initiative. The weeklong literacy event includes a visit to the White House to meet the president and a lavish party or two.

But during one affair at the senator's home in Virginia, Jessica discovers the dark side of politics.  At the foot of a rickety staircase, she finds the body of the senator's chief of staff...and she has taken a permanent recess.  Jessica's search for culprits leads her from the shady halls of the Library of Congress to the D.C. social scene, and even the FBI.

My Thoughts:  I would rather see  “Murder, She Wrote” reruns on TV, but, since I can find none of those, I will read the books.  Interesting plot.

“Ten Big Ones”  By Janet Evanovich

     A Stephanie Plum Mystery

 

2011 Book Review #101

BookList Review

Although, the strain of keeping her formula fresh and funny, shows a bit in this latest adventure of New Jersey's most unusual bond enforcement agent, Stephanie Plum, there's still enough to entertain readers hooked on the wacky, wildly popular series.

Plenty of familiar characters and running gags are here: Lula and Grandma Mazur are as comical as ever, and Stephanie still can't hang on to handcuffs and cars or decide between the two men in her life--sexy cop Joe Morelli and scary Ranger, who is hot, hot, hot.

This time, though, the tale starts quickly (Stephanie pegs a convenience-store robber as a member of a vicious Trenton gang, then becomes a target on a hit list) but, seems swamped by more than the usual absurdities.

Fortunately, a dynamite finish…unexpected and very funny…saves the day for both Stef and her fans. Also on the plus side this time are some extraordinary new, hope-to-see-again additions to the roster, particularly the cross-dressing rocker Sweet Sally. Not the high mark of an outstanding series, then, but still good fun for the legions of devotees.

My Thoughts:  Comic Relief!  I love the Stephanie Plum mysteries because of the characters!  They never fail to entertain!

“Cat of the Century”  By Rita Mae Brown

A Mary Minor “Harry” Harristeen Mystery

with Harry's pets…cats, Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, 

and corgi, Tee Tucker

 

2011 Book Review #101

 Publishers Weekly Review

Aunt Talley Urquhart is looking forward to celebrating her 100th birthday at her Fulton, Mo., alma mater, real-life William Woods University, but all is not well at WWU. 

As usual, Stockbroker Flo Langston, class of '74, is sure her hated classmate, Mariah D'Angelo, who heads the WWU Alumnae Association, has mishandled university funds. Mariah misses Aunt Talley's party and vanishes. Then someone shoots Flo dead at home in St. Louis after Flo reveals that Mariah has been selling fake high-end watches.

Taunting messages (e.g., "Catch me if you can") begin arriving in computer in-boxes of various WWU alumnae, including Inez Carpenter, Aunt Talley's 98-year-old best friend.

Faithful fans already familiar with the characters will enjoy the cozy antics, but others may struggle to pay attention until people start dying.

My Thoughts: Brown has always been one of my favorite authors.  Harry and her pets have always been fun mystery solvers for me in my need for lighter reading.  However, this one is far from the best of the series. I got bored about half way through it.

“Mr. Monk And The Blue Flu”                                               By Lee Goldberg

 (Based on the Television Series “Monk”                                   created by Andy Breckman)

2011 Book Review #100

Book Cover Summary

Monk is horrified when he learns there's going to be a blue flu in San Francisco…until Capt. Stottlemeyer explains that it just means the police plan to call in "sick" until they get a better contract.

The good news is the labor dispute will give Monk a chance to get back on the force.  The bad news is it means he'll be a "scab"…and he doesn't like the sound of that either. But before he knows it, Monk has his badge back, and his own squad to command.

Unfortunately, some of the squad members make Monk look like a paragon of mental health. But despite the challenges, they'll have to pull together to catch an astrologer's killer, solve a series of mysterious fatal assaults, and most importantly, clean up their desks.

My Thoughts:  Funny, Funny, Funny.  I love this series.  You feel sorry for anyone who has to work with phobia-ridden Monk, but you can’t help laughing at his antics!

"Haunted In Death"   By J.D Robb
A Lt. Eve Dallas and Roarke Novella

2011 Book Review #99

         Book Cover Summary

Number Twelve is an urban legend in 2060 New York City. The hot club in the 1960s, it is now reported to be haunted...and cursed. Lieutenant Eve Dallas is called there to investigate the apparent murder of Radcliff Hopkins, its new owner and the grandson of the man who made Number Twelve a cultural icon.

Several bullets from a banned gun end his dream of returning the building to its former glory. With everyone around her talking about the supernatural, pragmatic Eve won't let rumors of ghosts distract her from hard evidence.

The case becomes even more bizarre when it appears to be linked to the suspicious disappearance of a rock star…eighty-five years ago. As Eve searches for the connection, logic clashes with the unexplainable. She may be forced to face the threat of something more dangerous than a flesh-and-blood killer.

My Thoughts:   I love all the characters and plots of this series.  This is a short novella, but, the action remains the same!  Be warned that the language is harsh and there are explicit sex scene.  I tune them out because the mystery is worth reading.

"An Unmentionable Murder"
   By Kate Kingsbury
              A Manor House Mystery

2011 Book Review #97
 Summary on the Back Cover


In World War II England, the quiet village of Sitting Marsh is faced with food rations and fear for loved ones. But Elizabeth Hartleigh Compton, the house-rich, money-poor lady of the Manor House, stubbornly insists that life must go on.

 Sitting Marsh residents depend on Elizabeth to make sure things go smoothly which means everything from sorting out gossip to solving the occasional murder. In the thick of the Allied invasion, Elizabeth is sick with worry for Major Earl Monroe. To make matters worse, people and things keep going missing from the manor namely Martin, the elderly butler, and ladies knickers from the washing line.

Before Elizabeth can track either down, Clyde Morgan is found shot dead. Though few will miss bad-tempered Clyde, Elizabeth isn’t so sure when the police call it a suicide . . .

My Thoughts:  This is only the second book of Kingsbury’s that I have read.  I like the characters of this small village in England.  I like that the crime isn’t gory or spectacular!  It is a light mystery that lets the reader feel as though he or she is a part of this small town  and the people who live there during the war.  I found it hard to put down and read it all in one day!

"10th Anniversary"
By James Patterson & Maxine Paetro
                A Women's Murder Club Mystery
2011 Book Review #97

         BookList Review

The tenth entry in Patterson's Women's Murder Club series opens with the wedding of Sergeant Lindsay Boxer to her longtime love, Joe Molinari. Soon after exchanging vows with Joe, Lindsay is on the trail of a missing baby whose 15-year-old mother was found wandering the streets in the rain, dazed and disoriented. 
  

ADA Yuki Castellano is trying an important case that could make or break her career; it involves a wealthy doctor accused of fatally shooting her unfaithful husband in cold blood. Yuki is none too pleased when Lindsay looks into the case at the behest of the woman's attorney, but Yuki has a secret of her own: she's started dating Lindsay's boss.

Reporter Cindy Thomas is working on a story about several women who have been drugged and raped in the San Francisco area, but the big lead she uncovers threatens to make her a target. 

My Thoughts:  The Women's Murder Club series is my favorite of James Patterson’s books.  Some have been made into movies and I hope this one is too!  Loved it!

"Body of Evidence"  By Patricia Cornwell
A Forensic Dr. Kay Scarpetta Mystery

2011 Book Review #96

       Publishers Weekly Review

Dr. Kay Scarpetta, the spunky and thoughtful chief medical examiner introduced in Cornwell's first novel, Postmortem , makes her second commanding appearance here.

Beryl Madison, a writer of historical romances, is grotesquely slashed to death in her Richmond, Va., home after returning from Key West, where she had fled, terrified by threats to her life.

Why Madison let the killer into her home is Scarpetta's first question; pursuing its answer involves her in the murder of another writer, reclusive Cary Harper, who was Madison's jealous mentor; the suicide of Harper's sister; the FBI investigation of Madison's crooked lawyer; and, along with bewildering threats to her own life, plenty of complex, satisfying forensic sleuthing.

Finding clues under a microscope, in the records of a psychiatric hospital, at a Key West restaurant and in a terrorist skyjacking, Scarpetta follows a trail of evidence…clues that would lead nowhere without her intelligence, compassion and imagination…to a powerful conclusion.

Cornwell handles her heroine's interactions with the local police and a former lover with authority to equal her technological expertise.

My Thoughts:  I love Cornwell’s books.  I love the characters and the plots.  This one is her second in the Scarpetta Series and an excellent read.

"JUDGMENT IN DEATH"
         By J.D. Robb

2011 Book Review #95
       Publishers Weekly Review  

The story opens in the upscale nightclub Purgatory, where Dallas discovers the brutally slain body of a fellow officer; another cop is murdered soon thereafter. Both men, it appears, were on the take, and both were connected to elusive criminal, Max Ricker.

 Dallas's investigation, which exposes crime and police corruption, puts both her reputation and life in danger. To make matters worse, Purgatory is owned by her own millionaire husband, Roarke.  He was a business associate of Ricker's before turning legitimate and the overlap of professional and personal lives adds extra fireworks to an already tempestuous marriage.

Robb's plotting is precise and fast paced, creating a satisfying mystery full of lively, credible twists. Secondary characters, a troubled female police captain, an Internal Affairs cop with a leftover crush on Dallas are as well-drawn as Dallas herself, a tough but endearing 21st-century woman.

Sexy, surprising and often funny power struggles between Dallas and Roarke are the tasty icing on this extremely well-made fictional "cake," which is just the right confection for lazy late-summer reading. 

My Thoughts:  I love Robb’s books but, must warn you.  The language is raw and there are sexual scenes involved.  If you don’t care for either of these, as I don’t, you can skip over them and never miss any of the mystery action!

"I HEARD THAT SONG BEFORE"
 By Mary Higgins Clark

                                   2011 Book Review #94
Publishers Weekly Review

At the start of bestseller Clark's riveting new novel of suspense, Kay Lansing recalls her first visit as a six-year-old to the Carrington estate in Englewood, N.J., where her father worked as a landscaper. Twenty-two years later, she returns to ask the present owner, Peter Carrington, if she can use the mansion for a fund-raiser.

The two fall madly in love, and after a whirlwind courtship, they marry despite the shadow of suspicion that hangs over Peter regarding the death of a neighbor's daughter two decades earlier and the drowning of his first wife four years before.

After an idyllic honeymoon, the couple return to New Jersey, where a magazine article has caused the police to reopen the cases. The subsequent discovery of two bodies buried on the estate causes even Kay to doubt her husband's innocence.

Clark deftly keeps the finger of guilt pointed in many directions until the surprising conclusion. 

My Thoughts:  This review doesn’t mention that Kay’s father is also missing .  Interesting concept.  I like Clark’s books, including this one.

“Carry On, Jeeves”  by P.G. Wodehouse

    (8 Complete Stories with Jeeves' Solutions)

2011 Book Review #93

Eight stories, in which Jeeves protects his hapless master from a slew of scandals and steers his bumbling boss through a thicket of American eccentrics in 1920s New York.

Whenever a problem arises in his own relationships or in the lives of his friends, Bertie Wooster is certain to have an ingeniously complex solution.

Luckily for Bertie and his friends, he also has his gentleman's gentleman, Jeeves, to straighten out the resulting chaos! 

My Thought:  HILARIOUS!  I suggest getting the audiobook.  It’s even funnier when someone else reads it to you!  If you need a laugh or 8…get this book!  It's in the library!  

“KILLING FLOOR”  By Lee Child

      The First Jack Reacher Novel

2011 Book Review #92

          Publishers Weekly Review

Although the tale is built around a coincidence as big as the author's talent, beautifully detailed action scenes and fascinating story about currency and counterfeiting enliven this taut and tough-minded first novel by British TV writer Child.

Out of sheer restlessness and ruthlessness, 36-year-old ex-military policeman Jack Reacher persuades a Greyhound bus driver to make an unscheduled stop in Margrave, the small Georgia town where Reacher's brother, a U.S. Treasury official, just happens to have been murdered a few hours earlier. Reacher doesn't know about his brother's death or suspect his presence in the town.

Indeed, when he's arrested in a local diner for being a conspicuously mysterious stranger, Reacher tells the detective who interviews him that he dropped off the bus to investigate the death of Blind Blake, a guitar player murdered in Margrave 60 years ago.

Downsized out of the military, Reacher has cutting-edge investigative and killing skills that come in handy the moment he learns of his brother's murder. This combination of events is so unbelievably convenient that it almost overwhelms the book's solid writing. The reader expects the other shoe to drop…for Reacher to be revealed as an undercover agent, or some such; but it never does.

Otherwise, Child writes with a hand as strong and steady as steel. Margrave is a wonderful creation, a seemingly picture- perfect community under the care of a mysterious foundation where the streets are always swept and the people who run the tiny local businesses get grants of $1000 a week to stay open.

Two scenes of brutal violence in a nearby prison are rendered with exquisite precision, as is a stalking murder inside the baggage area of the Atlanta airport, and the vast counterfeiting conspiracy that Reacher's brother was probing is wholly credible.

My Thoughts:  I agree with the review.  A lot of coincidence here, but I love Reacher’s character and since this was the first of that series, I’ll go with it!

"Shrouds of Holly"  By Kate Kingsbury
A Pennyfoot Hotel Mystery set in pre-World War I rural England

2011 Book Review #89

                Publishers Weekly Review

In Kingsbury's charming third holiday-themed Pennyfoot Hotel mystery, hotel proprietor Cecily Sinclair Baxter is supervising the final details of the decorations in the ballroom while her husband and the stable master head into the woods to gather holly. All too quickly, the horse-and-carriage return driverless, bearing only the corpse of a stranger.

Frantic and dissatisfied with the Badger's End constabulary, Cecily takes it upon herself to find the missing men and identify a murderer.

The Edwardian England setting is emphasized by the romances and adventures of numerous stereotypical characters, from Colonel Fortescue with his brandy-soaked tales of exploits in the Boer War to the downstairs crew of stout housekeeper, high-strung French cook and several gossipy maids.

Bright, engaging Cecily doggedly seeks the truth in this fast-paced cozy that will provide warm holiday entertainment for Kingsbury's many fans.

My Thoughts:  This is a delightful book filled with real “characters”.  It is well written and keeps your interest throughout the adventure.  It is a light mystery without the blood and gore of the usual murder plot.  I loved it!

“Reunion in Death”  

       By J.D. Robb

An Eve Dallas Mystery  Set in the year 2059

 

2011 Book Review # 91

Book List Review

Shortly after wealthy older men with no known enemies start being poisoned, Detective Eve Dallas determines that Julianna Dunne, a wily ex-con, is the perpetrator. The beautiful but chameleonlike murderess is using the killings to get to Eve, who had put her behind bars nearly a decade earlier.

Eve's pursuit takes her back to her own traumatic roots, thus providing fans of the series with a more detailed description of her horrendous childhood.

In addition, Eve mentors her protege, Peabody, with gritty advice: "And when you step down there, you remember you're one bad b..ch cop, and you drink blood for breakfast."

Fourteenth in the futuristic romantic suspense series, this novel takes place as the lusty marriage of Eve and her husband, the fabulously wealthy Rourke, approaches the one-year mark.

My Thoughts:   J.D. Robb is one of my favorite authors.  Unfortunately, the language and sex scenes put me off some.  I still read them because the characters and the plots still appeal to me!  I try to ignore the rest!

Warning:  Bad Language and sexual scenes abound.

“A Midwinter’s Tale” 

            by Andrew M. Greeley

          A Fictional Memoir from the O'Malley Family Series

2011 Book Review #90

While pulling occupation duty with the First Constabulary Regiment in post-WWII Bamberg, Germany, brave, "dangerously smart" Sergeant Charles "Chuck" O'Malley is assigned to help an FBI agent locate a family of Nazis wanted by the Russians as war criminals. Told the Russians will shoot the father and rape the mother and two daughters to death, O'Malley determines to save them despite the fact that it will mean violating his oath of trust to his country.

In this deft addition to his shelf of novels (after White Smoke), Father Greeley once again shows his knack for combining solid characterization, folksy prose, a bantamweight sense of history and understated Catholic morality to make highly entertaining fiction.

The novel covers Chuck's youth in Depression-ravaged Chicago as part of a large, close-knit family, his love for his sister's best friend, his decision to join the Army in order to acquire money for college and the growth of his moral conscience, especially as he sees the defeated Germans suffering from official corruption, black marketeering and other postwar evils

My Thoughts: I was born a couple of months before WWII started.  Although this is a fictional account of the aftermath of war, I know some of the things told about in this book were real!  The action is not intense, but some of it is maddening!  Not my usual kind of book, but interesting.

"the mountains bow down"
      By Sibella Giorello
                     A Raleigh Harmon Novel
2011 Book Review #88
       Book List Review

When newly engaged forensic geologist and FBI Special Agent, Raleigh Harmon, joins her mother, Nadine, Aunt Charlotte, owner of a New Age boutique and Charlotte's bizarre friend, self-declared psychic Claire the Clairvoyant, for an Alaskan cruise, Raleigh knows it won't be smooth sailing, especially since her mother's mental illness seems to be getting worse.

But what Raleigh doesn't expect is to be involved in a murder investigation during her vacation, or that her old nemesis, FBI Special Agent Jack Stephanson, would be flown in to help her find out who killed Judy, wife of movie star Milo Carpenter, who's filming a movie onboard ship.

Against her will, Raleigh forms a bond with Jack as their investigation twists and turns through a maze of not-so-usual suspects.

Giorello has won the Christy Award and has received two Pulitzer Prize nominations.

My Thoughts:  This is the third book in this series that I have read.  I really like the characters!   I usually like books with less description and more action, but, in this book, the descriptions of Alaska really were wonderful!  Made me want to go there!   And… the action was at a believable pace.  Loved the book! 

"the clouds roll away"
     By Sibella Giorello
                        A Raleigh Harmon Novel

2011 Book Review #87
BookList Review


Someone in Richmond, Virginia's elite historical neighborhood wants rap star, RPM, to leave their little slice of paradise, and they let him know by burning a cross in his yard.

 FBI agent Raleigh Harmon, a forensic geologist transferred back home from the Pacific Northwest, is tapped to investigate what seems to be a hate crime, but soon discovers it's more than that. As Raleigh dedicates herself to solving this case, (going undercover for a dangerous sting), she finds her former boyfriend, DeMott Fielding, wants to rekindle their relationship.

Pulled in too many ways by ostracism at work, DeMott's renewed need for her (and her time), and her widowed mother's increasingly worse mental condition, Raleigh is on the edge.

Beautifully written with exquisite descriptions, Giorello's mystery also features well-developed characters, such as a rapper who plays classical music on a cello to relax. The themes of redemption and faith rediscovered are subtly integrated into the story. 

My Thought:  I liked this book!  The setting, the characters,  the premise and the action!   This is the third title in journalist Giorello's excellent Raleigh Harmon series and the second review I have posted here.

“Smokin’ Seventeen”

            By Janet Evanovich

  

2011 Book Review #86

               Book Cover Summary

Where there’s smoke there’s fire and no one knows this better than New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum.   Dead bodies are showing up in shallow graves on the empty construction lot of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds. No one is sure who the killer is or why the victims have been offed, but, what is clear is that Stephanie’s name is on the killer’s list.

Short on time to find evidence proving the killer’s identity, Stephanie faces further complications when her family and friends decide that it’s time for her to choose between her longtime off-again-on-again boyfriend, Trenton cop Joe Morelli, and the bad boy in her life, security expert Ranger.

 Stephanie’s mom is encouraging Stephanie to dump them both and choose a former high school football star who’s just returned to town. Stephanie’s sidekick, Lula, is encouraging Stephanie to have a red-hot boudoir bake-off.  And Grandma Bella, Morelli’s old-world grandmother, is encouraging Stephanie to move to a new state when she puts the eye on Stephanie.

With a cold-blooded killer after her, a handful of hot men, and a capture list that includes a dancing bear and a senior citizen vampire, Stephanie’s life looks like it’s about to go up in smoke.

My Thoughts:  Evanovish’s books are always fun!  This one is no different.  Loved it!

“LACED”      By Carol Higgins Clark

A Regan and Jack Reilly Mystery

2011 Book Review #84

   Publishers Weekly Review

Newlyweds Regan, a PI, and Jack Reilly, head of the Major Case Squad in New York City, are anticipating an idyllic honeymoon in western Ireland.  But their hopes of tranquility are soon dashed.

Early the first morning at their hotel, Hennessy Castle, Regan wakes up and thinks she sees a ghost out their window; the next moment a fire alarm sends her and Jack and the hotel's other guests to the lobby. Later, a rare lace tablecloth on display at the castle disappears. Legend says it was made by May Reilly in the early 19th century, but because May was never paid for her work, her ghost haunts the castle.

Jack's receiving a note signed by two thieves he's been trying to track down in New York complicates matters, as do the efforts of an American couple to cheat a talented local artist.

In an atmospheric mystery loaded with quaint characters, Clark gives the reader a unique tour of Ireland from narrow country roads to the city of Galway.

My Thoughts:  Another fun mystery with Regan and her new husband, Jack!

“THE OTHER SIDE”

     By Multiple Authors:

J. D. Robb…Mary Blayney…Patricia Gaffney…

Ruth Ryan Langan…Mary Kay McComas

 

2011 Book Review #84

        Library Journal Review

Once again J. D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts) heads up a list of top-notch writers in another exemplary anthology of romantic novellas-all with a paranormal slant and all providing intriguing views from the "other side."

No-nonsense Eve Dallas inadvertently takes in the spirit of a gypsy who wants her to find her missing granddaughter in Robb's macabre 

"Possession in Death";…..

.....a bickering pair of aristocrats get a reality check when they are zapped into each other's bodies as a magic coin grants their thoughtless wishes in Mary Blayney's Regency gem,

"The Other Side of the Coin";…..

.....a pragmatic woman who wants to stop the sale of her family home falls for the charlatan spirit investigator she hires to prove the house is haunted in Patricia Gaffney's artful 

"The Dancing Ghost";…..

.....a couple killed in a car crash refuse to head for Heaven until they save their daughter from a disastrous marriage (and find her another man) in Ruth Ryan Langan's satisfying 

"Almost Heaven".....

 .....and a woman estranged from her mother must help the ghosts of her mom and two aunts find what each has lost so they all can move on in Mary Kay McComas's touching 

"Never Too Late To Love."…..

 VERDICT Spine-tingling, funny, whimsical, or poignant, this superb anthology has something for everyone; a winner for paranormal/short story collections. 

My Thoughts:  When I ordered this book from the Library, I didn’t pay attention to what it was about…only that J.D. Robb had written one of the stories.   I love her characters and, although, it was a little different from her usual writings, I enjoyed this one too.  The book’s subject is not of particular interest to me, but for those of you who like light stories about the Paranormal…you’ll like all the stories in this one.

"Witness In Death"  By J.D. Robb
   An Eve Dallas Mystery

2011 Book Review #83
                                                                                                                            BookList Review
It is 2059, and New York City homicide lieutenant Eve Dallas's husband, Roarke, is producing a revival of Agatha Christie's thriller ‘Witness for the Prosecution’. On opening night, when the villainous character Leonard Vole gets his just desserts, someone substitutes a kitchen knife for the prop knife, and the actor, Richard Draco, is stabbed through the heart. 

Trouble is, in time-tested British mystery fashion, everyone in the cast had good reason to despise Richard, a misogynist who seduced and discarded beautiful young women, including one whom he knew to be his daughter. It's up to Eve to solve the case, an emotionally difficult task as she is no stranger to incest herself: she was beaten and raped by her father before she managed to escape him.

As Eve fights to keep her head above water, she tries to bond at a deeper level with Roarke, so that her future will heal the pain of her past. Robb (aka Nora Roberts) serves up a welcome mix of edgy, sexy lovers, new fangled gadgets, classic whodunit and noir.

My Thoughts:  Eve Dallas is one of my favorite characters…and…her husband Roarke who owns the world, practically, and just about everything ‘off planet’ too!  There is never a dull moment in J.D. Robb’s books! 

WARNING:  There is much bad language and some sex scenes in this book!

“O” Is For Outlaw”   By Sue Grafton

                           A P.I. Kinsey Millhone Mystery

 

2011 Book Review #82

            Library Journal Review

  

An unopened letter discovered in an abandoned storage locker is delivered, 15 years late, to P.I. Kinsey Millhone. It provides a possible alibi for Kinsey's first husband, Mickey Magruder, a cop who was accused of beating a man to death.

The accusation ended Kinsey's marriage, and now guilt pangs lead her to reexamine her judgment of Mickey. When Mickey is shot with Kinsey's gun, Kinsey is only one step ahead of the police as she tries to solve the shooting and the crime attributed to Mickey.

Kinsey's search for the killers takes her back to the 1960s and the Vietnam era as she unearths secrets that may exonerate Mickey but, cost her life. In Grafton's latest of the series (after N Is for Noose), Kinsey is sassier than ever, the supporting characters are amusingly eccentric, and the mysteries, both past and present, are intriguing. Grafton's fans will love this one.

My Thoughts:  I love this series of books by Sue Grafton.  In this one there is a special reference for me and anyone else from Louisville, KY.

Kinsey lives and works in California, but…in this book…clues cause her to travel to Louisville.  She contacts the Librarian at Louisville Male High School, (my alma mater), and asks to see a copy of the 1961 ‘Bulldog’.  (My copy is from 1960 and is the Senior Year Book!)  Loved it!

“TO DUST YOU SHALL RETURN”

       By Donna Fletcher Crow

                    A Lord Danvers Mystery        

2011 Book Review #81

BOOK COVER

It is January 1855.  Three years have passed since her marriage to Lord Charles Danvers, and still there is no heir to the earldom.  Antonia fears Charles will soon be asking a lot of questions…questions she’s afraid to answer.  For it seems the only heir she is raising is the oppressive, dreadful feeling growing within her.

With this secret weighing heavily on her mind, she and Charles stumble upon a mystery.  Frail, elderly Catherine Bacon has been murdered.  Though the slaying is blamed on traveling “dustmen”, Charles begins to track clues to the mysterious death through the streets of Victorian Scotland.

Meanwhile, Antonia, trying to shake the irrepressible helplessness within her, absorbs herself with a favorite hobby…antique shopping.  What she discovers in one of the shops stops her in her tracks!  There, in a window, is a figurine that belonged to the late Catherine Bacon.  This mystery suddenly has a new twist.

Antonia continues to track clues to the crime, clues that lead to a shocking discovery.  All the while hoping nobody discovers the truth she’s been hiding.

My Thoughts:  This is a new author for me and I liked the book very much.  It paints a portrait of Scotland in the mid-1800s which is vivid and honest.  If you like books reflecting historical periods, you will like this one.         

“Rebel Island”   By Rick Riordan

       A Tres Navarre  Mystery

 

2011 Book Review #80

From both 

the Publishers Weekly Review 

            and the Booklist Review.

  

San Antonio’s PI Tres Navarre has just retired and married his longtime girlfriend, Maia, who's eight-plus-months pregnant.  Tres' wheelchair-bound older brother, Garret, has persuaded the couple to honeymoon together with him and other old friends on the Texas Gulf's Rebel Island.  This is the same island where Tres and Garret spent vacations with their dysfunctional parents.

The fly in the ointment is when the hotel's owner, (Garrett's old chum and Tres' nemesis), Alex Huff, and the desk clerk go missing. Actually, there are two flies in the ointment. The second is a series of mysterious goings-on that Garrett thinks Tres may be able to unravel.  To complicate matters, as the bodies begin piling up, a lethal hurricane approaches. 

Fans will enjoy the update on Tres' life as he prowls through secret passageways hunting down the ghostlike killer while the roof of the island's old hotel begins to shred and the seas begin to rise.

My Thoughts:  I found it hard to put this book down!  This is only the second book of Riordan’s I have read and I am ordering more from the library!

“I Beat the Odds 

   From Homelessness to 

THE BLIND SIDE and Beyond”

 .....By Michael Oher, with Don Yaeger.....

2011 Book Review #79

      Book Cover

An offensive tackle for the Baltimore Ravens, Michael Oher is the young man at the center of the true story depicted in The Blind Side movie (and book) that swept up awards and accolades. Though the odds were heavily stacked against him, Michael had a burning desire deep within his soul to break out of the Memphis inner-city ghetto and into a world of opportunity.

While many people are now familiar with Oher's amazing journey, this is the first time he shares his account of his story in his own words, revealing his thoughts and feelings with details that only he knows, and offering his point of view on how anyone can achieve a better life.

Looking back on how he went from being a homeless child in Memphis to playing in the NFL, Michael talks about the goals he had for himself in order to break out of the cycle of poverty, addiction, and hopelessness that trapped his family for so long. He recounts poignant stories growing up in the projects and running from child services and foster care over and over again in search of some familiarity.

Eventually, he grasped onto football as his ticket out of the madness and worked hard to make his dream into a reality. But Oher also knew he would not be successful alone. With his adoptive family, the Touhys, and other influential people in mind, he describes the absolute necessity of seeking out positive role models and good friends who share the same values to achieve one's dreams.

My Thoughts:  It is the part of the story not told by the ‘The Blind Side’ movie and book.  Oher tries to inspire and give direction to those in need of assistance getting their lives on track.  He gives hope to those who have not had hope in the past!  There is a lot of repetition in the chapters of this book, but, I think it is because Oher wants, so earnestly, to get his point across.

Suggestion:  Get this book to anyone you know who might be inspired by it!   If you have not read the book, ‘The Blind Side’ or seen the movie…you might want to check it out!