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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