Review: The Birthday Mystery

The Birthday Mystery by Joyce Cato
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Just okay--read all the Hillary Greene books but this protagonist does not appeal to me. The mystery was too convoluted and one of the murders was mostly neglected until the very end. The characters are one dimensional. All in all a disappointment after her other books and I will not continue this series.

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Review: Henri, le Chat Noir: The Existential Musings of an Angst-Filled Cat

Henri, le Chat Noir: The Existential Musings of an Angst-Filled Cat by William Braden
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Read while waiting in the dentist office with a mask on --one other person in the room--kept looking at me strangely EVERY TIME I burst out laughing. Several times the page and accompanying picture of Henri were so funny, it was almost impossible to stop--and the more I looked at him, the more I laughed. Oh, and his distain for his white fellow feline is INTENSE. Not sure if anyone who hasn't lived with a cat can fully appreciate this guy! I'm going to read it to Shadow and Fern because THEY know!

I heard Shadow tell Fern she is nothing but a DOG when she, my sweet little kitten, played fetch with me. She happily ignored him as she trotted back with the catnip sock monkey toy and dropped it at my feet--tail up and all!

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Review: After the Storm

After the Storm by Linda Castillo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

F5 Tornado hits Painters Mill and first responder Kate and her partner, Tomasetti rescue and woman and her 4-month-old baby girl from a mobile home. Amid the devastation of the area a Boy Scout Troop is cleaning up the area around an old barn when one boy turns over what he thinks is a rock but turns out to be a human skull.

It is interesting how many different types of scientists can become involved in determining the sex, age at death, age at discovery, race ect of the person to whom this partial skeleton belongs. DNA is only one substance used and simple visual observation of the bones gives minimal information. Interesting, too, are the various levels of Amish religious observation and the depths to which hatred among them exists. The difference between Mennonite and Amish is also interesting. How this bias plays out among families is chilling at times and, in this case, deadly.

On a personal level, Kate and Tomasetti find themselves in a situation that reveals hidden attitudes about their future together. Fiction, unlike life, however, allows the problem to be solved, even if the solution is too easy and not very satisfactory. For the characters, it is not an easy outcome.

In addition to these plot points there is also the revelation about hog raising that has forever changed my viewpoint on it and them. We've raised pigs, usually two at a time and am grateful they were never starving and I was never in the pen with them. But, if ever I want to hide a body I now know how to dispose of it.

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Review: Hillary's Back!

Hillary's Back! by Faith Martin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Spoiler alert in regards to Hillary's private life--in first paragraph. No spoilers about the mystery to be solved.

And we're glad she is. Wendy and Jimmy are gone, so Hillary has a new team, Claire, like Hillary a retired DI, and Gareth, a wounded warrior home from Afganistan. Rollo is her immediate boss, but heartbreakingly, Stephen is dead. That was the most surprising and most disappointing aspect of this outing. Hillary and Stephen had moved in together in the last book . I was so looking forward to seeing how their relationship developed and, instead, he is barely mentioned. Somehow, this lack of acknowledgement makes Hillary seem rather heartless. So much was made of her wracking her brains and nerves to decide to commit to him, even if she wouldn't marry him as he wanted, and now he doesn't even appear in her thoughts as she goes about the business of solving this latest mystery.

But, it is 18 months since his success in putting the big drug lord away caused his to have two massive heart attacks one after the other, leading to immediate death of a man in his 40's. Hillary has just returned to work after taking leave and is faced with a cold case in which a young 20 year old drug dealer/petty criminal was found stabbed to death in the woods behind his home. His enemies are many and the clues are few. Still, with dogged investigation and leaving no small bit of gossip unacknowledged, Hillary and team get their murderer. Convoluted as always, lots of dead ends and false leads to keep the reader on his toes and turning the pages. Only one loose end--did Jason have anything to do with the murder in Reading--not very clear on that one.

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Review: Hillary's Final Case

Hillary's Final Case by Faith Martin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Initially, when I saw the title of this installment, I worried that, once more, a favorite series was ending. In truth, there are times when the end, though sad, is appropriate--the story line is getting repetitive, the character's life is not undergoing much more change and it is time to move on. Here neither seemed to be true. Yes, Hillary is still trying to close cold cases and most involve murder but the situations and motives and suspects are all sufficiently different to make for interesting stories. And certainly, Hillary's choice to move in with Steven and off her beloved narrow boat, the Malvern, would involve a titanic change in her personal life.

In this, her Final Case, Hillary , Steve and Rolo , the new Super, Jimmy and Wendy try to locate women listed through the years as Missing Persons. So,the new case is the MisPers file. It is made clear that often the missing person returns home or is found living somewhere else and that just as often the police are not notified of these " solutions '. Yet there are many women who remain unaccounted for. Some are alive but are drug addicts or prostitutes who are not easily found, others are dead and some, not many, have just chosen to leave their old lives and families behind and are perfectly safe but successfully hidden.

This particular line of investigation was instigated by the actions of Jake, one of the interns, in the last book. Jake's stepsister, Jasmine, disappeared eight years ago and he took it upon himself to hack Hillary's case files and contact an underworld mobster with an offer of a million dollars for information on Jas' whereabouts. Having discovered his actions but appointing Jimmy as his shadow, Hillary finally brought the info to Steven and Rolo. It was decided that, since Steven was moving up to take over the investigation and hopefully the imprisonment of the hoodlum's boss, it would be wise to use Jake's improper behavior to launch the full-fledged missing persons' case as a cover to carry it out.

And so, the book carries on a dual plot--the work of Jimmy, Hillary and Wendy and their conversations with friends and family of a select group of women AND the continued interaction of Jake and his informant under the direction and supervision of Hilary, Steve and Rolo. At the end, Jimmy, Wendy and Jake all make life changing decisions, cases are solved and Hilary and Steven move into his big home with the Malvern tied up to dock at the foot of his garden.

Happily, the end also brings the news that the series will continue with a book appropriately called Hillary's Back!

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Review: Cold Case in Nuala

Cold Case in Nuala by Harriet Steel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Very fond of this series set in late 30s early 40s Ceylon. Although war is raging in most of the world, Ceylon seems far removed from it. The only possible bearing it will have on the island is the threat of military service to the young British government officers living there. Despite its peaceful tropical existence, all is not serene for Inspector de Silva and his two juniors,Nadar and Prasanna.

A dog has dug up the remains of a human body on a local tea plantation. The owner of the plantation had mysteriously disappeared 8 years earlier, having supposedly deserted his wife and home for another woman. Could this be his body? At the time of his disappearance, Archie Clutterbuck, assistant government agent for Nuala and in the service of the British Crown, carried out a rather superficial investigation into it. Neither the man's stepmother, Isobel Moncrieff, nor his wife, Mariana , seemed concerned for his welfare. In actuality, for different yet equally strong reasons, both believed the rumor of his infidelity and seemed relieved to be free of him.

Yet, when the examination of the bones reveal that the deceased is most likely Donald Moncrieff, the Inspector feels compelled to learn how he died and who, if anyone, played a part in his death .
Besides, there is the added mystery of an impressive luxury car, a Bugatti. To the lover of automobiles, this is ALMOST as compelling a case for Shanti as the one regarding a man's death and burial in a remote corner of his estate.

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Review: The Dead Will Tell

The Dead Will Tell by Linda Castillo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A city councillor is found hanging from a beam in his barn.Suicide? Well,no, he's been shot twice; once in the abdomen and once in the groin. And he has a peg doll jammed into his throat on the base of which is written Hochstetler. That's the name of an Amish family who suffered an unspeakable crime 35 years ago. Someone fatally shot the husband during an apparent robbery,the wife disappeared and four of the five children died in the basement of the farmhouse that burnt to the ground. What could the deceased possibly have to do with that cold case? Kate Burkholder, the Police Chief of Painter's Mills,Ohio and her force will not discover the connection in time to save two more members of the community. When they do,it will be a race to catch the killer. Before they do,another victim will die, a veteran policeman will be severely injured and Kate herself will come close to being another victim! What violence can do to the human mind!

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Review: The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder

The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder by Charles Graeber
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

At first it is almost impossible to believe this man was able to bounce from one medical facility to another, killing as he went. But as the story continued it became evident that the facilities themselves were complicit in his crimes--he was suspected, he was reprimanded, he was terminated and he was given good or neutral references each time. That aspect of the story is bad enough--but it is not unusual--it happens in education as well with child molesters--don't rock the boat, don't cause the public to take their business elsewhere, don't let the institution's reputation suffer and oh, God, avoid lawsuits at any cost.

But more than that, the lack of supervision and the poor method of accounting for drug access also played a big part in this tragedy. Add to this the fact that smaller hospitals are being swallowed up by larger ones or put out of business entirely and that huge sprawling medical centers where who knows who anyone is as long as there are name tags swinging from the neck and the whole enterprise is too large to monitor. Then, of course, there is the outsourcing of hiring personnel and traveling nurses--here today, gone thousands of miles away to another hospital tomorrow. How can anyone expect accountability or monitoring??

The wonder behind this story is that more of the same situation hasn't been found. It is enough to send someone's blood pressure through the ceiling anytime a visit to a medical center becomes necessary, either as a patient or the friend or relative of a patient! Bottom line, this little worm is right where he belongs--hopefully in solitary 23 3/4 hours a day with food shoved through a slot maybe without utensils so he can eat like the animal he is.

Make sure to watch the documentary on Netflix to see and hear the actual good nurse and the detectives and others who were instrumental in finally stopping him. But, do not for one
minute believe that he in any way wanted to stop human suffering. Half the time, he had no idea what patient would receive his doctored, no pun intended, IV bags.

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Review: Magpie Murders---The Book Read After Starting the PBS Adaptation

Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Having started the PBS Mystery series adaptation of the book for TV by the actual author, Horowitz, I wondered how he handled the intertwined murder mysteries on the page. It is every bit as satisfying as the TV version, but a bit less confusing. The first half of the book is the " fictional " book written by Alan Conroy and ends as submitted manuscript ends. That is to say, missing its final chapters. The second half of the book is dedicated to the editor's ( Susan Ryeland's ) unauthorized investigation into the suicide of Conroy which she believes is actually the murder of Alan Conroy.

All of the same characters appear in the book, although Horowitz has brought the TV version up to the 20's attitudes of political correctness. Far more minority characters, especially the one of Joy as a black woman whose intended mother-in-law opposes the marriage to her son based on the color of her skin. All well and good, I suppose, except that weakens the book's plot. The written objection is based, supposedly, in the possibility of her grandchildren being born with Down's Syndrome, an inherited disease. In today's view that is unreasonable and shows bias. Yet, when one finds the real objection, at the end of the book, it fits far more with the supposed case than a racial prejudice.I love the references to other authors and British whodunnits on BBC, all of which I've watched and loved,even Bergerac!!

Still, both book and adaptation are excellent and each of the mysteries are satisfyingly hard to resolve. Atticus is a wonderful sleuth and Susan is no smuck, though not as intuitive. Now, I'll have to wait and see how the TV series ties up the loose ends in both tales--there are a couple more installments to go.

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Review: A Steep Price

A Steep Price by Robert Dugoni
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Two of the best aspects of this series is that the characters at two dimensional and we are always introduced to situations that broaden our knowledge of what goes on in the world outside our own lives. We've watched Del develop trust enough to embark on a serious relationship; Faz and his wife, Vera are now facing a personal health challenge but their son has successfully opened his restaurant and proposed to his girlfriend; Kins' marriage and love for his two boys help in the climax of this current case; and Tracy and Dan have a new baby girl continuing Tracy's path away from the tragedy of her sister's disappearance into a life of happiness and peace.

As to new knowledge, this book introduces us to an Indian family and the culture that focuses on the arranged marriages of daughters so that they may take on the roles of wives, parents and caretakers of their husband's parents. This focus leaves no room for education or professional lives for these women. Also, we learn of a dating practice called sugar baby dating. Young women basically prostituting themselves to sugar daddies to gain the money necessary to advance themselves primarily as college students.

These last two practices produce the case that Kins and Tracy find themselves trying to solve--the apparent disappearance of an Indian-American young woman struggling to pay for medical school as well as housing. Needless to say, it is not long before her body is found and a missing person case becomes a homicide.

Meanwhile, Del and Faz are investigating the drive-by murder of a young mother who had become an activist in her community to rid it of the drugs and drug cartels that are making life nothing short of dangerous.

Between the aforementioned strengths of the book and the police procedurals and mystery they hold, this book has depth as well as interest.

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Review: Murder of a Lover

Murder of a Lover by Faith Martin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hilary is investigating her second cold case since returning as a civilian inspector in her old nick. This time, it is a ten year old unsolved murder of a cheeky, promiscuous, charmer who seems not to have an enemy --not among his fellow boarders at the house where he was found stabbed to death with a pair of scissors to the gut, nor among his various sexual conquests. Hilary and her team reinterview all who had any kind of relationship with Ronan no matter how tangential and nothing seems to pop up as new.

While that case keeps the team and the reader on their toes, Hilary's own life takes a couple of interesting twists as well.. she has acquired a stalker, whose gifts and messages get ever more threatening and stressful. And she and her superintendent embark on a sham relationship in an attempt to force the stalker to reveal himself. As this relationship continues, it becomes less sham and more real--but Hilary is not sure she wants to fall in love again. Nor is she sure what Steven, the handsome boss, sees as the outcome of their mutual attraction.

As always, Hilary solves the murder. As to the stalker--there is contact but not capture. As to the romance...well, that's still up in the air, too! Definitely, an ending that urges the reader to move on to DI Hilary Greene, #14!

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Review: Impossible to Forget

Impossible to Forget by Imogen Clark
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Angie has died and at the reading of the will, Maggie, Leon and Tiger find that she has asked each of them to serve as a guardian to her 18 year old daughter, Romany. Maggie is to guide her in legal affairs being a lawyer, Leon is to advise her and expose her to cultural issues being a musician and reader of books,and Tiger is to guide her in the ways of the world being a world traveler. These three now pushing 50 met each other as 19 year old newbies at Uni. Then there is Hope, she is a good 15 years younger than the others, they do not know her and wonder where she fits in the situation.. She has been asked to advise and guide in the realm of relationships. None of the friends are clear on the roles and not sure they want to accept her request. Romany, herself, does not feel the need for their guidance, especially the footloose Tiger who is charged to move in with her. Yet, out of love for Angie, all agree to try things out for a month and see how it goes.
Through flashbacks that feel absolutely normal, we meet Angie and her friends the first day of uni--she is uninhibited a bit overwhelming but still totally magnetic. The other three are so different from her and each other and yet through her they become life-long friends. Tiger is always somewhere other but comes back into their lives intermittently, Leon goes off to Leeds and has a family, Maggie and Angie stay in York and see each other most frequently. Still Angie is the glue and she reels them in together often, keeping the bonds intact. Now that she is dead their common charge, Romany, continues that glue. As she completes her last year of school before uni herself, we see the affect the friends have on her, but also the changes in them as a result of her presence. It is almost as though Angie is guiding them in death, much as she did in life.

Each of the characters are so well defined they seem real and identifiable to people we all know. I myself think the author channeled me when she created Maggie--lol

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Review: Murder Never Retires

Murder Never Retires by Faith Martin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hillary has returned to town after retiring and spending a year and a half on her narrow boat plying the canals of England. She is not in a relationship, is closer now to 50 and isn't sure what her next step should be. Donleavy, her old Supt always knew what she should do next and takes no time to get her back to the nick to check out a new team of retired officers and college students who are tasked with reviewing cold cases. She is reluctant to commit to this endeavor. She would not be an actual officer of the law, would be working out of the basement from a room which is more aptly described as a stationery closet. One of the students is dedicated to becoming a good officer eventually, the other, a young female is more interested in catching the attention of the sexy 40ish guy who heads the team. Hillary has noticed him, too, but is not letting herself react to his obvious attractiveness. He, too, is ignoring his awareness of Hillary--should be an interesting addition to the series--hmmm The other member of the team, is, like Hillary a retired policeman who is familiar with her work and very anxious to work with such a savvy and successful investigator. So, here she is, investigating without the clout of ID as a SIO or the backing of a whole squad of HQ underlings. Nevertheless, she jumps in with both feet and, though many of the witnesses and suspects attached to a murder that happened twenty years ago are dead or moved away, she gets the killer in time. Lots of dead ends and gaps in evidence but one little piece of evidence breaks the whole case wide open. Gave it four stars because I knew from the outset where the person would be found. Still, good plot to get there and tie it up.

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Review: Murder at Work

<Murder at Work by Faith Martin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hilary doesn't want to retire but her cover-up of Janine Mallow's murder of her husband's murderer hangs over both their heads. Supt Vane is due to move to Hull but he is bound and determined to get to the bottom of that murder and hang Janine and Hilary in the process. In Hilary's mind, it is only a matter of time so it is best for all concerned if she just fades away on her narrowboat to parts unknown.

To that end she is trying to clean up all her cases before retirement day. Her top boss, Donleavy doesn't want her to go so he tells her immediate boss, Danvers, himself soon to be reassigned to Yorkshire, to hand a new murder case to Hilary and her team. Her team now consisting of Gemma, soon to marry into a title and therefore also going to be reassigned, and a new DI,Mark Chang, a true eager beaver. Not happy that she is now trying to solve a convoluted case in too short time, she is even more distressed when she finds, Frank Ross, whom she forced into retirement a major player at the crime scene.

All ends well, in the knick of time and at the end, Hilary, home from Gemma's wedding and having delivered Puff the Tragic Wagon to a local teenager, heads the Mollern north in the canal to a new life.

Hopefully, she packed that A4 folder Donleavy handed her earlier in the week. Maybe she'll get bored out there on those quiet lazy canals.

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Review: The Bell in the Lake

The Bell in the Lake by Lars Mytting
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Received a copy of this book to discuss on BookBrowse. Although the human story revolves around three young people and their interactions, the true story is about tradition and modernity.

One of the characters is Kai Schweigaard, the newly arrived, young, unmarried priest. Kai has been sent to the isolated village of Buntagen, Norway. It is his first assignment and he is eager to make a good impression and rise in the ranks of the Church. He has a fiance back home and his success will allow him to marry and bring her to his side. The church in which he finds himself is too small for the congregation, is cold and drafty and totally dark and depressing. Indeed, at one of his first services, the snow falls through the roof onto the congregants and one of them, an elderly lady, literally freezes to death and is frozen to the wall upon which she had collapsed. Needless to say,one of Kai's plans involves building a new Church.

Astrid Henke, is a young unmarried member of the parish. She comes from an ancient, once wealthy farming family of the town. An ancestor, much to Astrid and her family's dismay took all of his money to purchase new bells for this Church in which Kai finds himself. That donation involved the melting of the ancestor's silver and its inclusion in the metal used to create what are known as the Schwesterglocken, or Sister Bells. These two bells are huge and loud and their sound is as much part of the town's life as the heartbeats of its individual residents. They hang in this ancient building, known as a stave church, which is built in an old and beloved style of the towns of Norway. There is no way that they would be able to fit into the design of a new modern Church.

Soon, Kai finds that his Stave church is considered to be unique and important to historians and architects from Germany, who offer to purchase it. Ecstatic at this influx of funds to help his build his new church, Kai readily enters into a contract and Gerhard Schnauer is sent to supervise the dismantling and marking of the pieces of the Stave church which will be razed and rebuilt in Germany. Gerhard, too, is young and unmarried.

Astrid does not want the bells to go from the village-- both men want to please her--but how? The conflict and resolution is interesting in itself but, in my opinion, the star of the story is the Stave Church and the symbols and forms found within it.

All in all, a multifaceted historical novel with interesting characters, environment and conflicts.

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Review: Divine Lola: A True Story of Scandal and Celebrity

Divine Lola: A True Story of Scandal and Celebrity by Cristina Morató
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A clever Irish girl leaves India and her British soldier behind,changes her name and passes herself off as a Spanish heiress of noble birth--a dancer by profession. Not a drop of Spanish blood, not a bit of talent as a dancer, volatile, at times violent, but beautiful, charming and seductive, Lola Montez forges a path in life that takes her throughout Europe, into Asia and across the ocean to the US. She has many lovers, most incredible of all the King of Bavaria and lives in palaces and small cabins in the wilds of mid 19th Century California. So famous,that though she died at least 40 years before the birth of my parents they knew of her story and told me of her career, though not the details of her personal life when I was a girl in the '50's! Her lifestyle caught up with her when she was only in her '40's and she died in NYC living in modest means since she'd given all the wealth she had away. Her last request? Let Ludvig of Bavaria know she'd died and always loved him. A fascinating story of a woman well before her time

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Review: The Puma Years

The Puma Years by Laura Coleman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book could have been shortened and, in my opinion, for the better if the endless description of filth, insects, heat, terrible food etc had been cut at least in half. While the rescue of animals too big and wild to have ever been considered for domestication as pets is a worth while endeavor, it would seem as though the place in which it happens could be more cleanly and the volunteers would not also have the pet/owner mind-set. Guess one can't help but become attached to these beautiful creatures but somehow I just kept feeling they lost one owner to become the pet of others. There can be no doubt that these kids cared for these confused creatures but I'm not sure they were particularly trained to be doing the work they were doing. Most seemed to have rather pampered backgrounds and connections back home to return to stable and fulfilling careers. Some, obviously, did not fit into the society from which they came and this sojourn as do-gooder in the Amazon rainforest gave them an escape from the real world--none more than the author who seems unable to make meaningful bonds with fellow humans on an emotional level. I actually felt she was quite shallow and lost patience with her early on. Were it not for the story of the cats, in particular, Wyrah, I probably would never have bothered to finish the book. I'm glad I did and am grateful for the photos and drawings of some of the animals with whom the book made me somewhat familiar.

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Review: Her Last Breath--It AlmostTurns Out to Be!

>Her Last Breath by Linda Castillo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Horrific hit and run accident leaves a man and two of his children dead and one child in serious condition. Who could have done such a thing--a DUI? The revelations Kate and her team uncover are as horrendous and the opening scene. As more and more is learned the more impossible it is to believe there are people so inhumane in this world. As the stress of solving what turns out to be deliberate murder of Kate's once best friend's family builds up, there is the more to cause Kate's anxiety. The body of the man she killed almost 20 years ago is unearthed and Tomasetti is getting tired of her fence-sitting when it comes to their relationship. As usual, Kate has her hands full and almost loses her life at the hands of the murderer in the climax. Keeps you guessing until almost the last page

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Review: Cutie Pies and Deadly Lies

Cutie Pies and Deadly Lies by Addison Moore
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Cute Story

Simple little Rom-com that doesn't require much thought; cheerful and fun. American sweet gum doesn't grow in Vermont, yellow birch is a junk tree and not very common; Pink lady and pippins are far less often grown than Macs but most of that wouldn't be known to non-Vermonters. Sort of like that old song Moonlight in Vermont which celebrates sycamores along the highway....nope we are too far North for Sycamores..lol..but who knows what global warming will bring..the area was once under a sea!

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Review: Death in a Strange Country

Death in a Strange Country by Donna Leon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The corruption on so many levels in this book is so demoralizing. Murders passed off as suicides or else brushed under the carpet as just another crime committed by a local not very smart young hoodlum. Insurance fraud, illegal dumping of toxic materials by complicit governments and governmental officials both high and low. Threats to those that would investigate and reveal the corruption in some cases, actual retribution to others. And in the end, a good man left in tears and wondering how his father-in-law is involved and yet, not wanting to know, since his wife will, at her father's death, take up running his business enterprises. Venice is a beautiful place and Brunetti loves it with all his heart, but under the surface so much darkness. I don't know if I could visit there without thinking about it, for though this is fiction, there is, I think, more than a little truth in the tale.

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Review: Murder By Fire--Just Okay

Murder By Fire by Faith Martin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Not sure if I'm so familiar with the series or if the plot was too simple,but I knew immediately who the murderer was. I also knew why ,as soon as the character made an appearance. Continued to the end only because I wanted to know what was happening in the lives of Hilary and the members of the team. Much of the changes were disappointing. Will continue with the next book to see if new characters will be as interesting.

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Review: The Professor

The Professor by Robert Bailey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A terrific story with an interesting and intelligent hero. McMurtrie is 68 years old, been teaching Evidence at the University of Alabama Law School for over 40 years. New dean is making a clean sweep of old wood and McMurtrie is forced to depart when he is more or less set up to either retire or work under stressful and unfair strictures. Happens all the time! He is widowed, has a dog on its last legs and finds out he has cancer. Down and out? Yeah, until several of his former students play very active roles, some for good, some not so good, in his life. After 40 years in academia he finds himself in the courtroom, assisting one of them, Rick Drake, in the prosecution of a big gas company. One of the drivers, doing 8o miles an hour in a 65 mile per hour zone on a quiet country road, is in a collision with a SUV carrying a young couple and their 2 year old daughter. All are killed. The grandmother of the little girl decides to sue the company for negligence. Better than Grisham, the 400 plus pages just speed along until the final explosive scene with a Hail Mary pass!

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Review: High Wire in Nuala

High Wire in Nuala by Harriet Steel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Started this series because the setting is Ceylon during the '30 when it still was a British holding and I enjoy exotic settings and British Raj. I have not been disappointed. Shandi is a delight and his British wife, Jane, a perfect match. The combination of the Indian culture with the British upper class atitude is interesting and gives any crime an added touch of interest. In this one, however, the biggest clue to at least part of the mystery is found within the first few pages. It is so tempting to reveal it, but I shan't ! Enjoy!!

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Review: Murder in the Garden

Murder in the Garden by Faith Martin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Weeding Onions Might Kill You!

Last book ended with the sniper killing of Mel Mal low in the HQ parking lot. Hillary was at his side as he fell. Several months later she is back on the job. A crew from the Met in partnership with another bunch from a neighboring nick are keeping tabs on the chief suspect and Hillary and her team are to stay clear of the investigation. Unfortunately,Mel's widow and Hillary's former Sgt, Janine, is frustrated with the inability to arrest the man.She is on maternity leave at five months pregnant and with time on her hands she turns to her former boss for help. This is not only awkward but also potentially professionally dangerous for them both. Meantime,Mel has been replaced by Spt Vane with whom Hillary has a history. It is definitely unfriendly,though not clear why. Whatever it is,it has DI Greene uneasy. Frank Ross continues to be a thorn in her side; Gemma also is a problem,Danvers continues to ogle her and Kevin is preoccupied with his lover's hot a!nd cold long distance pressure. But,life goes on and so does murder.So who hit the old guy, thinning his onions ,on the back of his head with his garden spade? Hillary must try to ignore her own grief at the loss of her long-time friend, and the entreaties of his widow to violate her orders and investigate Evan's findings, and rally her team to find out.

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Review: The Keeper of Happy Endings

The Keeper of Happy Endings by Barbara Davis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Love Echoes Through Time

Love found and lost when the entire world is at war; parents whose plans for their children do not include undesirable partners; mother- daughter conflict; missing love in a country far away.These are some threads woven together in this book. At the forefront is the story of three strong women and their relationship with each other. Each has lost their lover and been devastated to the point of paralysis. Yet, with time and the bonds between them, each carries on with their lives and succeeds in achieving personal goals. More than that, with a little magic, each finds a truly happy ending.

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Review: Breaking Silence

Breaking Silence by Linda Castillo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

One of my favorite series. The silence of the title is not broken until the very end, when the real murderer is revealed. Diabolical but what left me hanging was the why? The author speaks of the killer's determination to kill any and all who stand in the way of reaching the goal, but the goal is never explained.

What appears as a tragic farm accident in which three adults find themselves in a manure pit within a claustrophic barn is revealed to have been murder, at least in the case of one of the victims. Kate Burkholder the young former Amish sheriff of Painter's Mills, Ohio has been investigating what appear to be hate crimes against the Amish of her farming community. The seriousness of this " accident"leads to the deployment of John Tomasetti, a investigator for the State to her town to aid in the investigation. She and John have a personal relationship which they have kept from their co-workers. This leads to a bit of tension with the Sheriff of the County, Kate's immediate supervisor, Rasmussen. At any rate, the question arises --is this suspicious death part of the harassment of the Amish or is it an entirely different case. It takes the following many a lead and at the end the tearful revelation of a terrified little boy to solve the case.

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Review: What Happened to the Bennetts--Surprise Motive I Never Saw Coming!

What Happened to the Bennetts by Lisa Scottoline
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Part One of the book was kind of slow and I wasn't sure I would continue. A senseless car jacking results in the death of a young girl and her family is whisked away into Witness Protection that very night. The story, heavy with sadness and chaos and confusion seemed to bog down. As the family begins to emerge from the shock and depression of the situation the characters began to take shape. Mother and young son seem unable to function at all but the Father starts to come alive. Though the loss of his daughter is an ever present burden, he begins running with one of the FBI agents each day and to begin to question how the car jacking happened and why his family needs to be protected.
The Bennetts, Lucinda, the mother and Ethan, the young son are very real. She is outspoken and rebellious at having to tow the line. She wants to contact her best friend and needs to contact her mother, who is in a nursing home with early stage Altzheimers. Ethan is devastated at the loss of his sister and frightened. He, too, is having a hard time not being able to contact his friends and their families. He takes solace with his dog, Moonie but shows not interest in his surroundings or offers of game playing by one of the agents, Wiki. Jason, the father, feeling the need to protect his family and obey the rules of WitSec is at odds with Lucinda, though he is supported by the other Agent, Dom, with whom he is forming a bond. This small group in a house on the Delaware shore is very well defined and the reader feels a part of it.
Once Jason happens to read the lips of an arriving new agent, and understands, at least part of the reason the shooter who killed his daughter, Allison, is not in captivity, the book takes on a whole new tone and path. Jason, too, becomes a new, more focused and active character who takes off to determine just what the truth behind this situation is and who is in control. The twists and turns kept me up til the wee hours to finish the book. Totally, didn't see that coming!!

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Review: Cockroaches

Cockroaches by Jo Nesbø
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thailand certainly appears to be quite an exotic place with lots of diverse people from many backgrounds. It is probably beautiful in its own way, too. Still, the corruption, drugs and sexual depravity described in this book does not make me want to visit anytime soon. Harry Hole, however, finds himself sent from Norway to discreetly solve the murder of the Norwegian ambassador in one of the bedrooms of an American-style motel which is actually a brothel. Harry is not drinking and so is very much clear-headed in his investigation, though that does not make it an easier for him to unsnarl the many threads in this ball of intrigue. I'd pretty much figured out the culprit by part 5 but must admit could not sort the motives for the various murders. Not to worry,Jo Nesbo is smarter than I and spelled it all out by the tumultuous ending. Cannot wait for the next case!!

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The Hidden One--Goodreads Giveaway

The Hidden One by Linda Castillo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Having read the first two books in this series I was very excited to win this one for review. I was not disappointed. Even though out of sequence it was not dependent upon the earlier installments to understand the story--truly a stand-alone book. The Amish community is so clearly explained and shown in these books and it is interesting to read the Amish Dutch to see how closely my translation meets the immediate English the author provides. The mysteries Castillo presents are always intriguing and Kate, as a former Amish woman, is an interesting character who though no longer a member of the religious community is both understanding and respectful to its way of life. Though some view her as an outsider, her ability to speak their language and her professionalism as Police Chief often makes the less than trusting confide in her. In this book, as well as the earlier ones I've read, Kate's earlier life is revealed in small segments. Here, she is outside her area of authority doing a favor for a former childhood friend who has been arrested for the murder of his Bishop. Kate is not only an outsider to the local Amish but also to the local law enforcement agency. As her own investigation turns up some new information someone who seems to want her either silenced permanently or, at the very least, driven out of town threatened her life several times.

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Review: Gone Missing

Gone Missing by Linda Castillo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Mystery until the very last chapters with a bone chilling curve at the end! My favorite of the series so far.

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Review: Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



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Review: The Hidden One

The Hidden One by Linda Castillo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



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Review: Hamnet

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A BookBrowse copy sent for reading and discussion. A fictional imagining of Shakespeare's early life and marriage in Stratford-Upon-Avon. The focus, however, is not really upon him but rather the family in which he was raised and the young local woman who becomes his wife. Indeed, he is never mentioned by name and once married doesn't appear very often in the narrative. He is an absentee father, living, writing and acting in London as his wife and three children reside in a small home alongside his parent's home. The marriage is loving and warm despite the lengthy seperation between the spouses, until the plague hits them and their young son, Hamnet succumbs at a young age.
The impact of the loss on them and their families is devastating but seems to give rise to one of the most famous plays in English literature.

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Review: A Perilous Perspective

A Perilous Perspective by Anna Lee Huber
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My first Lady Darby Mystery but not my last. While in the Scottish Highlands to attend a cousin's wedding Mr and Mrs Gage find themselves in the awkward position of having to tell their host that part of his cherished collection of Masterpieces are forgeries. As if that is not enough close upon their revelation a lady's maid dies mysteriously of a poisoning while in the long gallery where the collection is on display--at the foot of one of the forgeries most important to the host and his former betrothed, who now is a spinster living on the estate adjoining his. Even more of a mystery is the fact that the maid is part of this woman's household and should not be anywhere within his home.

A complex case to be sure, filled with questions not easily answered, especially when the Lord of the manor is less than forthcoming when they are posed to him!

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Review: The Mystery of Mrs. Christie

The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Marie Benedict
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Much better than Her Hidden Genius, which I shelved as unfinished. The chapters alternate between the years of the Christie's marriage and the days that Agatha is missing. In actuality, the two main characters could have had any names, since the Christie name did not enhance nor detract from the story of a woman's conforming to her image of the perfect wife only to have her husband grow bored and ask for a divorce. At first, she is devastated at this turn of events and attempts to keep her marriage and family intact. When it becomes evident that she cannot win, she manages to end the marriage on her terms and not as the discarded older, frumpier woman subject to pity and loss of esteem. Clever planning on her part--worthy of an Agatha plot.

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Review: The Origins of Things

The Origins of Things by Jack Meinhardt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Was North always on the top of maps? Why are there 360 degrees in a circle or 60 minutes in an hour? How was pi originally calculated and how? When were pills developed and why were they coated in gold or silver? Just a few of the questions answered in this small, interesting book. Longitude? Latitude? Is that why Columbus went the wrong way to reach China--hmmmm--maybe!

We think the Greeks and Romans gave us all the answers--uh, nope--those Mesopotamians and Babylonians were no smucks, either!! Fun book filled with interesting facts such as the one about the competition that led an early ruler to ban exports of papyrus, resulting in the use of parchment for writings. How about interest charged for loans and universal clean slate rules to get the economy balance restored? Hammurabi's code had four of those debt forgiving rules. Games? Dice has been around a long time--chess is comparatively a modern game. Oh, could go on forever--but read it for yourself.

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All The Usual Motives

Murder at Home by Faith Martin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

All The Usual Motives

Flo Jenkins, a seventy something widow,living alone,is found sitting in her overheated parlor,with the lights and telly on. A bit unusual,this early on a cold wintry morning. A bit more unusual is the sharp bladed letter opener jutting out from her chest!
Hilary Greene and her team, including the soon to be married and soon to transfer,Janine; the ever lazy,gruff and negative,Frank; and a new Constable, transferred in from London ,after decking his last DS, Keith catch the case. Every clue and every suspect leads to a dead end, frustrating them all.
Only Frank seems to have no outside stresses. Hilary has started a relationship with Regis but isn't sure she wants one.In addition, her boss Danvers is making it hard to ignore his interest in her. Keith has the very natural stress of trying to figure out his place on the team in this rural backwater . And poor Janine has pre wedding jitters and a stalker who is sending her letters and vandalizing her car.

In other words, here is another complexing mystery being investigated by a group of very savvy and very human cops!

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Review: The Great Bardo Ride

The Great Bardo Ride by Lise St Amant
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A forty something oncologist's wife has died of cancer. Filled with grief and frustration at being unable to save her, he finds himself drinking too much and unable to function in his job. In this vulnerable state he learns from his father-in-law that his wife, Eva had borne a child before they met and gave it up for adoption. Now, he is given a letter written by Eva to her son and is asked to deliver it to the boy on her behalf. Having struggled throughout their marriage to have children he is further torn apart by this seemingly unreasonable request and by the unforgiveable keeping of this secret for years.

Still, something propels him to drive in a blizzard to the small Maine tourist village where the boy lives. He arrives through some miracle being as drunk as he becomes during the drive and is given a room in the local hotel--the home of the boy, David. His interaction with the family who owns the hotel, the secrets each of the members hold, the relationships they have with each other all lead to healing and a new path in his life.

Two things loom above the developing connections he makes with each of them and with himself--a seagull that seems very interested and a ferris wheel and its seemingly magical hold it has on anyone who rides it. The Ferris wheel is the Great Bardot--complete with a huge billboard boasting a painting of the voluptuous Brigitte but lacking the final T.

I shall never spend time on the beach at Ocean Park nor look at the wheel in Old Orchard Beach the same way again. But I will think about the book often.

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A Mixtape Has All the Feels!

The Mixtape by Brittainy C. Cherry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A heartbroken man, A down on her luck single mother, and an irrepressible 5 year old with an adorable lisp...what's not to love? This is a story about family formed by blood and formed by choice. Filled with ups and downs, good days and bad and imperfect as well as completely perfect. Be ready to laugh, but keep a tissue handy!

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Review: An Irish Country Cottage: An Irish Country Novel

An Irish Country Cottage: An Irish Country Novel by Patrick Taylor
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Life continues in Ballybucklebo with the accidental loss of Donal Donnelly and family's cottage to fire. Though the Green and Orange Troubles are beginning to rise once more and Ulster is seeing Catholic-Prod turmoil increasing, the folks here are, as always, united neighbors and friends who come to the family's aid in many ways. Jack Mills, a Protestant and Helen Hewitt, a Catholic are getting engaged. Jack is Dr Barry Laverty's best friend and Helen is a medical student almost finished her training. While both sets of parents had been accepting of the relationship, lately Helen's father especially has been quite vocal with his disapproval of the match.

Dr Emer is beginning to become more self-confident though she is wondering if medicine is her calling, since, in her opinion, she didn't make the right call in two cases early enough. Her handling of Donal's wee daughter, Tori, who appears to think herself a bad little girl since she was playing near the stove where the fire began before her bed-time. Tori is having nightmares and, though the cottage is coming along and will soon be habitable, she cries whenever Julie and Donal try to show her the new place.

Barry and Sue Laverty, in the meanwhile, are having problems conceiving. This brings in the strand dealing with woman's reproduction, the use of contraception in Ireland,and the development of the pill. The tests and findings and treatment of infertility is a major theme in the book.

All in all, as the time moves into the 1960's the town and its people and the doctors who live among them and serve them, so too the reader goes with them Delighted as always to be a visitor to an Irish Country town.

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Review: Better off Dead

Better off Dead by Lee Child
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Never read a Reacher novel before though have seen movies with the character. Interesting and, I guess, impressive that no matter the enemy, Reacher, though bruised always manages to demolish it. Educational, if one wants to understand bomb making or how the WPA created tunnels beneath the US/Mexican border that are now excellent passageways for nefarious smugglers of many things besides drugs. Now, I understand how my car key works without being inserted into the ignition! So, perhaps I shall try another Reacher after all.

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Review: A Very Nice Girl

This review is of an ARC provided by Goodreads for review. A Very Nice Girl by Imogen Crimp
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Young country girl living in London, studying at a Conservatory to become an opera singer, working as a singer in a small restaurant to make ends meet. She is 24, unattached, unsure of herself trying to make a go of it in a competitive field filled with pretentious 20ish somethings. Her name is Anna.

Max, 30 something, is a banker in the process of divorcing. He sits beside Anna at the bar after one of her sets--actually, he is sitting at the bar during her set and she sits beside him and while waiting for her drink asks him how he liked the set. He is honest--he really didn't pay much attention and guesses she was okay. Not in a mean way--just in the I'm tired after work, having a drink and didn't even realize there was music here.

Next thing you know, she is fascinated at his lack of apparent interest--he finds her needing praise kind of interesting and soon a relationship develops.

And then the book goes downhill into tediousness--Anna's immaturity and lack of confidence in one soon to be 25 is rather boring after awhile. Max is attentive, affectionate, supportive in his way but is non-commital in their affair. Considering his life situation and his forthright indication that he isn't looking for a new relationship since his old one is not yet terminated, Anna's dissatisfaction with his efforts and her obsessive seeking approval seemed, to me, pathetic.

Almost all of Part 2 is her mooning over him and ignoring her obligations as a Conservatory student. Her promiscuous best friend, Laurie, a self declared feminist who sees all men as oppresive, is less than flattering of Max or the relationship Anna has with him. Laurie barely knows him and paints him with a stereotypical brush of all men with a bit of money and position. Even though Anna knows Max to be better than Laurie's portrayal of him, she does not stand up for him. This causes her to be even more dissatisfied with him and weakens their relationship, which by the end of this portion of the story is over. Personally, I have no idea why he stayed around as long as he did--she is exhausting!

Parts 3 and 4 seem tacked on --they are short and feel hurried. The first 2 parts could have been shortened and edited better and the last two parts should have been elaborated more. Here is where Anna could have been shown to have developed more as a person and a singer--perhaps even have achieved more professionally. She certainly is more self-confident when she seeks Max out--though not sure the author wants to portray that. Anna is after all away from London, out in the country at his home, where she imagines his wife as having felt trapped. Yet, in the last sentence Max reaches for her.

So, what? She is going back to Max as center of her life, career ignored again, and the next installment will be Anna bemoaning what could have been?? No resolution. Max is not a manipulater or user. Anna is just immature and unfocused. She may be okay for him when she grows up.

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Review: A Plain Vanilla Murder

A Plain Vanilla Murder by Susan Wittig Albert
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Have read them all through the years; one of those authors whose books I wait for with anticipation. This is one of my favorites. There is more focus on characters other than China and her family and Ruby and hers, though they do appear and it is always nice to " catch up " with them. In this story there is more focus on Smart Cookie, six weeks away from the delivery of her and Blackie's baby, as she takes an active role in the solving of the murder of a professor at the local college. There is no lack of suspects, most with good motive, poor alibis , opportunites and, in several cases, means to commit the crime. Orchids are a big part of the scene, too, and as more than just a pretty exotic, one of which produces the only edible fruit of the species, the sweet smelling and tasting vanilla bean. A nicely convoluted and complicated who done it with a nice team of Pecan Springs cops to solve it.

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Review: Fires of Edo

Fires of Edo by Susan Spann
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Does not disappoint--Hiro and Father Mateo have arrived in Edo to warn their fellow spies to return to Kyoto since their lives are in danger. Upon arrival they discover there is a fire raging and the fire brigade moving full speed to the scene. Sending Ana and Gato on ahead to their Inn, the two men join the brigade in an effort to help prevent the spread of flames to the surrounding wooden shops and homes. The head of the brigade is none other that Daisuke, a childhood foe and bully whom Hiro distrusts and dislikes despite his being a member of Iga ryu as is Hiro. It would seem this fire is the third in recent time to bedevil the shops of booksellers, calligraphers and bookbinders of Edo. While seemingly all the result of accidental events, this particular burned out shop turns up the body of another samuri and thus Hiro and Father Mateo, at the behest of the local magistrate, find themselves once more delayed on their journey home.


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Review: The Last Line

The Last Line by Robert Dugoni
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Grrrrr- A short story that gives the backstory to Del's arrival in Seattle and his first case as lead detective on a homicide case. Loved it until it just ended and left me hanging--what happened to
Del? or Moss who set him up? Obviously, Del wasn't tainted as a crooked cop but how did that get resolved?? Is there a follow-up story I haven't located??? Help Mr Dugoni or others of his readers!

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Review: Right Behind Her

Right Behind Her by Melinda Leigh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My favorite of the series so far, though reading from the beginning is the best way to approach it. This one gave a far deeper revelation about Bree's background and developed the character of her father much more. A convoluted crime that kept me guessing exactly what happened and at the end made it clear why a young drug addict would choose to live in a deserted barn loft with a female skull instead of the elegant guest house his very rich brother provides for him. Looking forward to the next Crime Bree and Dan and company will face.

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Review: Close to Home

Close to Home by Robert Dugoni
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a heartbreaker--the drug crisis is such a human tragedy that has touched the lives of so many of every race, creed and economic status. No one is immune and we are so grateful our child has not succumbed to its allure though many of her peers and our former students have or have had relatives addicted. Just sitting here for a minute to think about it, I can recall the loss of at least two within the last six months and four who are battling to kick the habit. The fact that the cartels have plowed the marijuana fields and turned them into poppy fields is devastating. How are we ever going to get out of this situation? Del and his new lady friend debate the issue but even though they come to the conclusion that arresting and jailing addicts is not solving the problem, I don't see that they came up with a solid new approach.

Though this is the underlying theme of the book it runs through the story of tragic deaths of kids--the first a 12 year old boy killed in a hit and run on his way home from playing basketball, the second the overdose of Del's niece and eventually two of her friends. Del's friend, a lawyer is the mother of another boy who overdosed before she relocated to Seattle. The hit and run and Allie's overdose are handled as two cases until it turns out that the driver of the car has a connection to both cases. How they overlap is convoluted and hard to untangle.

I don't know if I'm reading too much Dugoni or if I'm just a great investigator but when a piece of evidence disappears I knew immediately who had taken it though I could not figure out why. That is until the very first appearance of the main culprit,who I fingered within seconds of its--don't want to give any hints--entry into the room. I managed both ID's at the halfway point of the story BUT wasn't sure how it was all managed or the connection between the two. One could say, I didn't have any hard evidence--lol --so needed to finish the book--not a hardship at all.

On to the next installment--looks like Tracy and Dan's life will be changing soon!!

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love this series

Her Final Breath by Robert Dugoni
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Terrific Series

Relatable characters, suspenseful plot, satisfying ending. Looking forward to more crime solving in Seattle with Tracey and Dan and the SPD.

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Crab Pots as Cement Shoes?

The Trapped Girl by Robert Dugoni
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Crab Pots As Cement Shoes?

I love that Dugoni calls them cheaters! Another good mystery for Tracy and her team to solve . Two of the end of tale revelations I'd figured out very early in the story. If you've ever had the birds and bees lesson one of them was totally obvious. Still,why the victims were murdered and by whom was a complete surprise. Liked Tracy and Dan's wedding celebration,too!

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Love Surprise Endings! Though I Missed a Clue!

Drown Her Sorrows by Melinda Leigh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Love Surprise Endings!

Bree and Matt are slowly building a relationship; Bree, the girls and her brother, are growing closer and recovering from her sister's death. Bree is more confident in her role as Sheriff and able to delegate more easily. Love the evolution and the character development in this series.These things are always woven around a crime both challenging and jarring. A good combination for several days' worth of reading!

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