Dallas et al Nab an International Serial Killer

Betrayal in Death by J.D. Robb
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The In Death series never fails me-it is like a new episode in a favorite procedural TV program. There is the hard-nosed female detective, Dallas, her handsome IRISH billionaire husband, Rourke, Feeney, the old timer and mentor to Dallas, McNab the young, free-spirited internet expert, Peabody, Dallas' young uniformed cop. The romance between Dallas and Rourke is hot and the budding one between McNab and Peabody fraught with resistance to commitment. Happily, unlike most of the TV shows there is no really far out comic character, a la Abby or those two dimwits in NCIS:LA. There is, however, the dour butler, whom Rourke loves and cherishes and whom Dallas would love to see fired. The conflict between him and Dallas over Rourke is really funny to me, if not to them. Dallas always gets the bad guy but there is always a dangerous situation in which she or Rourke are threatened.
Looking forward to the next episode.

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Malloy, Sarah, Gino and Maeve Solve Two Murders in the Bowery

Murder in the Bowery by Victoria Thompson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Have loved this series and read them all except the new one on Union Square. Usually I give a four or five star review but this one was a bit disappointing. At the halfway mark I already knew who was the source of Estelle's problems and the relationship with her Aunt. From then on it was just too long before Malloy etal caught on and started to figure out who may have killed both Estelle and Freddie and why. Not a bad book, I enjoyed it and did finish it, because the murderer was a mystery almost to the end and I did want to know who did it--part of the solution was surprising so that was rewarding.

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Confederates in the Attic

Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War by Tony Horwitz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The writing was good, though the blurbs on the cover refer to humor and hilarious and I really didn't see much of that. The events took place well over 20 years ago and in my travels and stays in the South I cannot say that the almost fanatical attachment to the Civil War has not been evident to me. Is there remembrance and pride in the Confederacy? Yes. Is there commemoration of the actions of ancestors and heroes? Yes. But the family roots and connections are very different in the South than in the North. It is only in recent years that genetic testing and subscriptions to place like Ancestry. com have proliferated in other regions of the country. In the South those connections for the most part are already known and need not be searched for. BTW, I, too, like Horowitz as a kid considered myself a Johnny Reb and got my hat when we visited Gettysburg as a family when I was about 9. Even at that young age, looking down and across the field from Cemetery Ridge wondered what the Rebs had for brains when they tried Pickett's March. I also looking across the fields to see if the flag was flying at Dwight Eisenhower's place--if it was it meant Ike was there.
An interesting but very repetitive book and it took ages to get through it. I almost gave up several times but having visited so many of the battle sites and studied the War fairly often, I forced myself on the Wargasm, but there are other books I've read on the subject that were livelier.

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Guernsey Under German Occupation But OH, So Much More!

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

How did I miss this book when it first came out? So much info and humor and wonderful characters and history and books and authors in one 275 page book. Not only was the content engrossing but the format was so easy to read--letters between friends. So intimate that by the end of the book their authors seemed like my friends, too and I so desperately wanted to join their circle and become a pen pal to all of them. I truly miss the days of hand-written letters and the wait between missives that sometimes became unbearable. Think the friendships were deeper and more lasting because a real effort had to be made to maintain them. Just a wonderful book, if you haven't read it, put it on your TBR list.

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