What Are We Reading And Reviewing in June 2019?

What are we going to read this month? Make your lists here....and don't step on the starfish!

📌- ★
Carol's Beach Reads

Group Reads
📌The Dark Angel by Elly Griffiths - 4★
An Unhallowed Grave by Kate Ellis - ★

Pick A Winner...Make A Friend
📌All Things Cease To Appear by Elizabeth Brundage - 5★

Others
📌The Folcroft Ghosts by Darcy Coates - 4.5★
📌The Silence of Ghosts by Jonathan Aycliffe - 4★
📌The Ghosts of Idlewood by M.L. Bullock - 4.5★
📌The Night Sister by Jennifer McMahon - 4.5★
📌The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager - 3.5★
📌Miracle Workers by Simon Rich - 3★
📌Almost Home by Valerie F. Luesse - 5★
📌Redemption by David Baldacci - 5★
📌The Scent of Murder by Kylie Logan - 4★
📌The Occupied by Craig Prshall - 3★
📌Envy The Night by Michael Koryta - 5★
📌The Cannibal by Nelson DeMille - 4★
📌Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire - 4★
📌Wicked Game by Lisa Jackson - 4.5★
📌The Dinner by Herman Koch - 3★
📌Murder In Thin Air by Richard Baldwin - 3★
📌The Summoning by Heather Graham -5 ★
📌Songs For The Missing by Stewart O'Nan - 4★
📌Think Twice by Lisa Scottoline - 3★
📌Just After Sunset by Stephen King - 5★
📌Ararat by Christopher Golden -5★
📌The Deep by Nick Cutter - 3★
📌What Happened by Hilary Rodham Clinton- 4★

Lynda and Oliver's June Reading List

Mystery/Suspense

🌹 Bitter Truth - Charles Todd - 4 Stars - 6/8/19
🌹 Classified as Murder - Miranda James - 4 Stars - 6/9/19
🌹 Cold Mourning - Brenda Chapman - 4 Stars - 6/10/19
🌹 Dark Angel - Elly Griffiths - 4 Stars - 6/12/19
🌹 Dead Man in Trieste - Michael Pearce - 3 Stars - 6/19/19
🌹 Down to the Woods - M. J. Arlidge - 4 Stars - 6/4/19
🌹 Excursion Train - Edward Marston - 4 Stars - 6/16/19
🌹 Immortal in Death - J. D. Robb - 5 Stars - 6/7/19
🌹 Murder Simply Stitched - 3.5 Stars - Isabella Alan - 6/22/19
🌹 Outsider in Amsterdam - Jan van de Wetering - 3 Stars - 6/5/19
🌹 Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides - 2 Stars - 6/18/19
🌹 Strange Files of Fremont Jones - Dianne Day - 3.5 Stars - 6/20/19
🌹 Tournament - Matthew Reilly - 4.5 Stars
🌹 Widows of Malabar Hill - Sujata Massey - 4.5 Stars - 6/3/19

Other Than Mystery

🌹 Along the Broken Bay - Flora J. Solomon - 4.5 Stars - 6/24/19
🌹 Beneath a Scarlet Sky - Mark Sullivan - 3 Stars - 6/15/19
🌹 Cosy Canal Boat Dream - Christie Barlow - 3 Stars - 6/17/19
🌹 Court of Thorn and Roses - Sarah J. Maas - 3.5 Stars - 6/21/19
🌹 Dutch Wife - Ellen Keith - 1 Star - 6/6/19
🌹 Fields of Corn - Sarah Price - 2 Stars - 6/23/19
🌹 Night to Remember - Walter Lord - 4.5 Stars - 6/26/19
🌹 The Raft - S. . Bodeen - 3 Stars - 6/25/19
🌹 Silence of the Girls - Pat Barker - 4.5 Stars - 6/13/19
🌹 Something Blue - Emily Giffen - 3.5 Stars - 6/11/19
🌹 Third Angel - Alice Hoffman - 3.5 Stars - 6/14/19
🌹 Unseen - Rachel Caine - 3 Stars - 6/2/19

Dusty's TBR for June
SF/F
James S A Corey - Caliban's War ✔
Edgar Rice Burroughs - Master Mind of Mars ✔
Vernor Vinge - Rainbows End ✔
Abraham Merritt - The Moon Pool ✔
Amanda Stevens - The Awakening ✔
Nathan Lowell - Quarter Share ✔
H P Lovecraft - Selected Stories ✔

from other genres
Jerry Spinelli - Maniac Magee ✔
Betty Smith - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn ✔
E B White - Stuart Little ✔
Nora Roberts - Shelter in Place ✔
Lindsey Davis - A Capitol Murder ✔
Rachel Field : Hitty:her first 100 years ✔
Georgette Heyer - The Reluctant Widow ✔
Beatrix Potter - Tale of Little Pig Robinson ✔
Kay Thompson - Eloise ✔

Group Reads
The Dark Angel by Elly Griffiths
An Unhallowed Grave by Kate Ellis

Other Reads
Heresy by S J Parris
Prophecy by S J Parris 🎧
The Last Girl by Jane Casey
The Stranger You Know by Jane Casey
Skin by Mo Hayder
A Place Called Freedom by Ken Follett (1995)
Evening Class by Maeve Binchy (1996)
The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo 🎧
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides 🎧
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J K Rowling 🎧 (2005)
A Nest of Vipers by Andrea Camilleri
Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov (1952)
The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov (1972)
The Sanctuary Sparrow by Ellis Peters (1983) 🎧
The Sword of the Templars by Paul Christopher
The Frost Fair by Edward Marston (2003)
The Pyramid of Mud by Andrea Camilleri
Red Rising by Pierce Brown 🎧
Golden Son by Pierce Brown🎧
Morning Star by Pierce Brown🎧
I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella 🎧

The Folcroft Ghosts by Darcy Coates
4.5 ★

Tara and her brother Kyle are sent to stay with their estranged grandparents. May and Peter Folcroft seem warm and loving at first, and the house, hidden in the base of the mountains, is idyllic. But strange things keep happening. Figures watch them through the fog…objects move on their own. Tara begins to believe the unbelievable... that the house could be haunted. When a storm cuts the phone line and May shifts from doting to obsessive. Tara and her brother Kyle are sent to stay with their estranged grandparents. May and Peter Folcroft seem warm and loving at first, and the house, hidden in the base of the mountains, is idyllic. But strange things keep happening. Figures watch them through the fog. Objects move on their own. Tara begins to believe the unbelievable... that the house could be haunted. When a storm cuts the phone line May shifts from doting to obsessive. Tara and Kyle try to keep up the pretext of a happy family, but a forgotten journal and a locked room provide clues to the desperate lies and secrets entwined with the Folcrofts' legacy. Something is horribly wrong with this family.

I love Darcy Coates books. She tells a well formed ghost story that is scary and creepy but never gory or terrifying. They are almost believable which makes them even scarier. There are many twists before the finale one. If you love a good ghost story you should consider giving this author a try. The only complaint that I have is her books are just too darn short!

The Ghosts Of Idlewood by M.L. Bullock
4.5★

When a team of historians takes on the task of restoring the Idlewood plantation to its former glory, they discover there's more to the moldering old home than meets the eye. The long-dead Ferguson children don't seem to know they're dead. A mysterious clock, a devilish fog and the Shadow Man add to the supernatural tension that begins to build in the house. Lead historian Carrie Jo Stuart and her assistant Rachel must use their special abilities to get to the bottom of the many mysteries that the house holds.

The only thing that stopped this from getting 5 stars was that it was very distracting since this is written in the first-person, and each chapter is told from the viewpoint of a different character. The reader often looses the train of thought and I found that I did a lot of back reading to remember who was speaking now. Other that that it was a first rate story with really good characters. I’m not sure but I got the idea that there may be a second book to continue this story. If not this one stands well by itself.

Decaffeinated Corpse – Cleo Coyle
Digital audio read by Rebecca Gibel.
3***

Book five in the Coffeehouse Mystery series, featuring Clare Cosi, the co-owner / manager of a Greenwich Village coffee shop, and an amateur sleuth. This time the plot focuses on a new discovery in the realm of decaffeinated coffee – a plant that is naturally decaffeinated.

Of course, try as she might to steer clear of trouble, Clare finds that she cannot help but investigate on her own. With the help of Madame (her mother-in-law), and Matteo (her ex-husband), along with the baristas at The Village Blend, Clare is bound to get to the bottom of the mystery. Of course, there is the added tension with her daughter Joy, and with local detective Mike to further complicate the plot.

I really like this series. I read this one out of order because it arrived before book 4 from the library; but I recommend reading the series in order to keep the relationships straight. I enjoy learning more about the coffee business, though Coyle can be a little too detailed at times. Still, it’s a fast, enjoyable read and satisfies my yearning for a comforting cozy mystery.

Rebecca Gibel does a fine job narrating the audiobook. She sets a good pace and has sufficient skill to give each character a unique voice.

Redemption by David Baldacci
Amos Decker - Memory Man series Book #5
5★

Amos Decker and his FBI partner Alex Jamison are visiting his hometown of Burlington, Ohio, when he's approached by an unfamiliar man. But he instantly recognizes the man's name: Meryl Hawkins. He's the first person Decker ever arrested for murder back when he was a young detective. Though a dozen years in prison have left Hawkins unrecognizably aged and terminally ill, one thing hasn't changed: He maintains he never committed the murders. Could it be possible that Decker made a mistake all those years ago? As he starts digging into the old case, Decker finds a startling connection to a new crime that he may be able to prevent, if only he can put the pieces together quickly enough.

There are few series or authors that I can use the superlative "spectacular' to describe...but David Baldacci and his Amos Decker character are certainly deserving of that distinction . Each book has brought Amos to the forefront more and more and made him someone you would like to know. Once he met you he would never forget you as that is his blessing or his curse, depending on how you look at it. Baldacci incorporates these wonderful characters into baffling conspiracies....He takes small-town America and captures both the good and the bad elements and blends them into a story that the reader will want to read again and again.

The Keepers of the House
Shirley Ann Grau
5/5 stars
This 1965 Pulitzer Prize winning novel revolves around the slave owning Howlands, who have lived in the South for generations. When events that happened in the past have come to a head in the future, Abigail, the latest Howland has to deal with the repercussions. This is one of the best books I have read this year.

I finished The Savior by J.R. Ward last night and have reviewed:

"Book 17 of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series (whew!!! that is a lot of books). I'm still enjoying the series and like that she has been going back and re-visiting some of her original characters as opposed to constantly bringing in new ones, even as sub-plots.

As far as this particular story, we have two main stories running throughout. First is the story of Murhder (I actually cringed the first time I read his name when it was originally presented) and bio-chemist, Sarah. The secondary story had to do with John Matthew who is injured while fighting a new foe and has to face his own mortality. Both story lines held my attention sufficiently, but not urgently. I was content to pick up the book and put it back down again without feeling compelled to continue. The main characters were likeable. The new villain that was introduced seems like it will be an interesting one.

I liked the book and felt it was a good addition to the series."

(original review on works page)

The Silence of Ghosts by Jonathan Aycliffe
4★

Those who live in silence hear them best

I found the ghosts were nearly "too silent". Those of us that want a ghost story that is filled with spine-chilling tension may be disappointed. In spite of that it is a beautiful, well written story told from the diaries of the present day character's descendant. You can’t help but like the character of Dominic...injured early in World War II...sent to Hallinhag by his rather overbearing father to recuperate with only the company of his young, deaf sister and Rose, his nurse. The author expresses in graphic terms the toll of war, not only upon the characters but the villages as well as all of London. It is a tale of malevolence that outlasts death...but also tells a story of a wealthy man’s love for an "unsuitable" woman in a time of horror and incredible change.

Wicked Game by Lisa Jackson & Nancy Bush
Wicked Lies Trilogy Book #1
4.5★

Twenty years ago, wild child Jessie Brentwood vanished from St. Elizabeth's high school. Most in Jessie's tight circle of friends believed she simply ran away. Few suspected that Jessie was hiding a shocking secret-one that brought her into the crosshairs of a vicious killer. Two decades pass before a body is unearthed on school grounds and Jessie's old friends reunite to talk. Most are sure that the body is Jessie's, that the mystery of what happened to her has finally been solved. But soon, Jessie's friends each begin to die in horrible, freak accidents that defy explanation. Her mother, has been haunted for years by unsettling visions of Jessie, certain her friend met with a grisly end. Now the latest deaths have her rattled. Becca can sense that an evil force is shadowing her too, waiting for just the right moment to strike. She feels like she's going crazy. Is it all a coincidence-or has Jessie's killer finally returned to finish what was started all those years ago?

It's a paranormal thriller as well as a romance...heavier on the paranormal. It's also a very long book and it was sometimes made even longer by the author...for some unknown reason... repeating lines verbatim in several different chapters. In spite of that small flaw...the characters are well developed and, even with its length, you just have to find out what was going to happen. There were lots of twists and turns and lots and lots of red herrings to keep the reader in suspense. Many times I I thought I knew who did it, but I didn't actually figure that out until nearly the end. I always have felt that If a writer can keep the mystery going until the very end then they have done their best job. Any mystery and suspense or thriller fan will love this trilogy...and this is only book 1.

Love, Ellen: A Mother/Daughter Journey
Betty DeGeneres
4/5 stars
This book covers the life of Betty DeGeneres up to 1999 when it was first published. Betty and her kids had a tumultuous life. Betty was divorced, remarried and divorced again. She talks about her marriages and life after marriage, her children and their lives and struggles and especially the events surrounding her daughter Ellen and her coming out. Well written and very interesting.

Almost Home by Valerie Fraser Luesse
5★

With America's entrance into the Second World War, the town of Blackberry Springs, Alabama, has exploded virtually overnight. Workers from all over are coming south for jobs in Uncle Sam's munitions plants--and they're bringing their pasts with them, right into Dolly Chandler's grand but fading family home turned boardinghouse. An estranged young couple from the Midwest, unemployed professors from Chicago, a widower from Mississippi, a shattered young veteran struggling to heal from the war--they're all hoping Dolly's house will help them find their way back to the lives they left behind. But the house has a past of its own. When tragedy strikes, Dolly's only hope will be the circle of friends under her roof and their ability to discover the truth about what happened to a young bride who lived there a century before.

I usually stick to Mystery & Suspense novels but something about this one drew me to take it home from the library. From the very first page I found the story captivating and the authors writing style so very easy to read. She told Anna and Jesse story in such a way that you immediately loved them and hoped that their lives were going to have a change for the better. I will admit that I never expected the type of change that their lives took or that of any of the other characters...but it was a relaxing and enjoyable read. If you want a change of pace or if you are already a fan of this type of novel...give this one a chance. I'm going to look for Valerie Luesse's other books.

The Night Sister by Jennifer McMahon
4.5★

The Tower Motel was once a thriving attraction of rural Vermont. Today it lies in disrepair, alive only in the memories of the three women—Amy, Piper, and Piper’s kid sister, Margot—who played there as children. They loved exploring the abandoned rooms … until the day their innocent games uncovered something dark and twisted that ruined their friendship forever. Now, Amy stands accused of committing a horrific crime, and the only hint to her motives is a hasty message that forces Piper and Margot to revisit the motel’s past, and the fate of two sisters who lived there in its heyday. Sylvie Slater had dreams of running off to Hollywood and becoming Alfred Hitchcock’s leading lady, while her little sister, Rose, was content with their simple life. Each believed the other to be something truly monstrous, but only one knows the secret that will haunt the generations to come.

It's the story of two sisters that takes place in the present and in the past and covers three different time periods. My favorite of Jennifer McMahon's books remains The Winter People, but this one ran it a close second. Her books all seem to have a creepy personality that hides just under the surface...ready to jump out at any given moment. Ms. McMahon really knows how to work the supernatural elements into a well told tale. If you listen closely you may hear something go bump in the night.

D Is For Deadbeat – Sue Grafton
Digital audio read by Mary Peiffer.
3.5***

Book four in the series. PI Kinsey Millhone gets a new client whose story seems a bit fishy. He wants her to deliver a certified check to a teen-aged boy. Her suspicions are aroused, especially when he refuses to explain why he can’t (or won’t) deliver it himself. But it’s the end of the month, rent is due, and she accepts his retainer. Then his check bounces and she quickly discovers that he isn’t who he claimed to be. When he turns up dead the police call it accidental drowning, but Kinsey thinks he was murdered. They question is why and by whom?

I really like this series. I had started it years ago and probably got to about book 8 or 9 before I stopped reading. Now I’ve started over from the beginning and am enjoying the retro feel. There are no cell phones or computers; Kinsey has to rely on her intellect, her network of connections and good old-fashioned leg work. She’s smart, determined, self-sufficient and never has to rely on a man to get her out of a tight spot.

Mary Peiffer does a fine job reading the audio version. She sets a good pace and I really like how she interprets Kinsey’s personality.

Miracle Workers by Simon Rich
3★

Welcome to Heaven, Inc., the grossly mismanaged corporation in the sky. For as long as anyone can remember, the founder and CEO (known in some circles as "God") has been phoning it in. Lately, he's been spending most of his time on the golf course. And when he does show up at work, it's not to resolve wars or end famines, but to Google himself and read what humans have been blogging about him. When God decides to retire (to pursue his lifelong dream of opening an Asian Fusion restaurant), he also decides to destroy Earth. His employees take the news in stride, except for Craig and Eliza, two underpaid angels in the lowly Department of Miracles. Unlike their boss, Craig and Eliza love their jobs - uncapping city fire hydrants on hot days, revealing lost keys in snow banks - and they refuse to accept that earth is going under. The angels manage to strike a deal with their boss. He'll call off his Armageddon, if they can solve their toughest miracle yet: getting the two most socially awkward humans on the planet to fall in love. With doomsday fast approaching, and the humans ignoring every chance for happiness thrown their way, Craig and Eliza must move heaven and earth to rescue them... and the rest of us, too.

Not as funny as I thought it would be, but passable. Simon Rich managed to pull off most of the jokes and created a almost believable idea of Heaven. It's an easy book to read and I don't think it will offend anyone no matter what religion you do, or so not, embrace. I understand this is a mini-series on TV so will be checking to see if it's on DVD. Seeing it played out might be funnier than reading it.

Inferno / Dan Brown
4 stars

When Robert Langdon wakes up in a hospital, he doesn’t realize he’s in Italy and when he finds that out, he has no recollection of why he’s there or how he got there. He quickly finds out someone has shot him in the head, and whoever it is is still coming after him! He and a doctor helping him escape together and try to find out why he is there and why someone is trying to kill him.

I quite liked this. It did slow down for me in the middle, but it picked up again at the end. I almost never say this, but I was, in this instance, cheering for the bad guy!

The Stars are Fire / Anita Shreve
4 stars

Grace and Gene are in an unhappy marriage. They live in Maine and have two young kids. When a wildfire threatens their town and they are forced to evacuate, Grace is waiting at home for Gene to return from helping fight the fire, so they can get out, but it’s too late and she much leave with her kids. She and her best friend/neighbour, Rosie, take their kids and run to the beach. After they are saved from the beach, neither knows where their husbands are, and both of their homes were destroyed.

Apparently, the fire really happened; unfortunately, there was no author’s note to tell me that. It took me quite a while to figure out when the book was set (it was the 1940s). The fire itself was fairly quick in the book, so the bulk of the book was picking up the pieces afterward. It did slow down a bit in the middle for me, but I thought the fire itself was written well, near the start of the book, and it picked up again at the end of the book. Pretty scary, the fire.

I listened to the audio and it kept my attention (this is a good thing, as many don’t!). As I started listening to the book, there were wildfires north of me, and towns were evacuated. The smoke made it to my city. I’m lucky I’ve never had to worry about such a thing, but it is a very real possibility for many people.

All Things Cease To Appear by Elizabeth Bundage
5★

Late one winter afternoon in the small town of Chosen, New York, professor George Clare knocks on his neighbor’s door with terrible news: he returned from work to find his wife, Catherine, murdered in their bed. Someone took an ax to her head while their three-year-old daughter, Franny, played alone in her room across the hall. Recent transplants to Chosen, the Clares have not received the warmest welcome; once a thriving dairy farm, their home is haunted by the tragedy that left the former owner’s three sons orphaned and adrift. As one dark secret peels away to reveal others—and as the Clare marriage reveals itself to have a sinister darkness that rivals the farm’s history.

It's part murder mystery and part ghost story. It is also a close look at how guilt from the past affects the present and the future...and how what we often want is not what we sometimes get. We learn early on in the story that it’s not only houses that can be haunted...but people also. The novel asks so many questions that can't always be answered without lots of thought such as how well can we really know anyone? Is there even such a thing as evil? Does the spirit or energy last and thrive after death? And maybe the most important...how do we ever heal from violence and loss? It's a read that can only be described as riveting and absorbing.

Love Saves the Day / Gwen Cooper
4 stars

Sarah took in Prudence, a brown tabby kitten, when she found her. Sarah’s daughter, Laura, doesn’t visit often, and things seem strained when she does. Prudence knows Sarah’s best friend, Anise, better. But one day (after Prudence has been on her own for a number of days), Laura and Josh come to pack everything up and Prudence has to go with them. Prudence can only hope that Sarah will come back to take her back home again soon.

This was mostly told from Prudence’s point of view, with a few chapters from Laura’s and a couple from Sarah’s. I really enjoyed Prudence’s chapters, in particular. The author knows cats well! I had to laugh at parts of it! I was horrified to find out about an event that really took place in New York City in 1998 that is part of the background in this story – it shows how Sarah and Laura’s relationship became strained. I just don’t want to give it away as a bit of a spoiler. Overall, I really enjoyed this one!

Stardust / Neil Gaiman
3 stars

Tristran is in love with Victoria, and when they see a falling star, Tristran vows to go get it and bring it back for her. Unfortunately, this means Tristran has to somehow get to the other side of the Wall. No one goes on the other side, except for a flea market that is held only every nine years.

I listened to the audio, read by Gaiman himself (of course!). He does have a wonderful storytelling voice, but for some reason, it still doesn’t always hold my attention. The other books I’ve listened to him read were short stories, so I had hoped a novel would be better for me. Unfortunately, it was about the same. It was ok. There were plenty of things that I missed, though being an entire novel, I was usually able to catch the gist of where we were in the story, as I listened (which isn’t necessarily the case with short stories, because they end so quickly). I think it was a cute story, at least what I paid attention to!

Lab Girl
Hope Jahren
4/5 stars
This is the true story of the life of Hope Jahren and her career as a geobiologist. Her cohort and assistant Bill is by her side for most of the book and he is an quite a character! Alternating chapters discuss her life with her work. Sometime the science bogs down the flow of the narrative but overall I found it interesting and I learned a lot about the science of trees, flowers and soil.

Circus: A Story from Circus / Clair Battershill
3 stars

This is just one story from a book of short stories. I don’t think I realized that when I picked it up. Or, if I did, I’d forgotten by the time I picked it up to read (now)! Anyway, I can’t really do a summary because it was so short and it seemed a bit all over the place. It moved too quickly to really have any kind of plot or story. It seemed like it might have made for a nice outline of an actual novel, maybe. That’s what gave it the 3 stars (ok) from me. A nice outline for a novel. But, really, it was too short, nothing much happened (until the very end, but then it ended, so we didn’t really get to find out what that was all about!).

Fables, Vol. 20. Camelot / Bill Willingham
3.75 stars

As usual, there were smaller storylines going on at the same time, but the main storyline in this volume is Rose Red trying to recreate the Knights of the Round Table. She has a table built in a field, then spreads the word that she is looking for knights to populate her round table. Many Fables gather to see who she will choose.

I really enjoyed this main storyline, as well as the next biggest storyline in this one, involving Snow White and her children. I so love the illustrations in this, and like the others in the series, the borders are a nice “extra” that also helps you figure out which characters/storyline is happening on that page. It ended on a slow note for me, which is mostly whatbrought down my rating by that ¼ star. Overall, though, I quite liked this volume.

The Scent of Murder by Kylie Logan
Jazz Ramsey series Book #1
4★

The way Jazz Ramsey figures it, life is pretty good. She owns her own home in one of Cleveland’s most diverse, artsy, and interesting neighborhoods. She has a job she likes as an administrative assistant at an all-girls school, and a volunteer interest she’s passionate about―Jazz is a cadaver dog handler. Jazz is working with Luther, a cadaver dog in training. Luther is still learning cadaver work, so Jazz is putting him through his paces at an abandoned building that will soon be turned into pricey condos. When Luther signals a find, Jazz is stunned to see the body of a young woman who is dressed in black and wearing the kind of make-up and jewelry Jazz used to see on the Goth kids back in high school. She’s even more shocked when she realizes that beneath the tattoos and the piercings and all that pale make up is a familiar face. The lead detective on the case is an old lover, and the murdered woman is a former student. Jazz finds herself sucked into the case, obsessed with learning the truth.

If there is one thing that I'm more of a sucker for than a ghost story it's a story with a an animal. Dog, cat, horse, elephant...makes no difference as long as it has 4-legs. Luther is a very special dog...he's a cadaver dog. He's in training but he's going to make this a wonderful series. There are some unexpected twists as well as some very clever red herrings. I really liked that the author kept us guessing about the the murderer’s identity and the reasons for the crime until the very end. Good first start here.

Enjoying this fascinating library audiobook ~

The Quintland Sisters by Shelley Wood

(Canada, 1930s/historical fiction featuring the famous Dionne Quintuplets/diary entries of a midwife-in-training turned nurse-in-training teen who helped care for them)

JUNE IS AUDIOBOOK MONTH

The Dark Angel by Elly Griffiths
Ruth Galloway series Book #10

It’s not every day that you’re summoned to the Italian countryside on business, so when archaeologist Angelo Morelli asks for Ruth Galloway’s help identifying bones found in the tiny hilltop town of Fontana Liri, she jumps at the chance to go, bringing her daughter along with her for a working vacation. Upon arriving, she begins to hear murmurs of Fontana Liri’s strong resistance movement during World War II and senses the townspeople are dancing around a deeply buried secret. But how could that be connected to the ancient remains she’s been studying? Ruth is just beginning to get her footing in the dig when she’s thrown off-guard by the appearance of DCI Nelson. And when Ruth’s findings lead them to a modern-day murder, their holidays are both turned upside down, and they race to find out what darkness is lurking in this seemingly picturesque town.

I really like the Ruth Galloway character and the people who surround her. Ruth has come a long way in the 10 books of this series...but she still has some flaws, some of her own making and others not so much. This venture of Ruth and Shona and the children's to Italy seemed to be starting off on the right track but after arriving, the story line began to take non-essential turns. It didn't seem that Ruth was being allowed to do the job she went to Italy for to begin with and we suddenly were presented with a lot of side issues...both in Italy and back in England. It was good that we found out about Harry & Michelle's baby...but we are still up in the air about Harry and Ruth's future. I guess in a nutshell, I felt it was too much atmosphere and not enough action. I will certainly continue the series but I hope that the future books feature more of the "old crew" of characters that made these books so great to begin with.

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Logan
3★

Two Truths and a Lie. The girls played it all the time in their cabin at Camp Nightingale. Vivian, Natalie, Allison, and first-time camper Emma Davis, the youngest of the group. But the games ended the night Emma sleepily watched the others sneak out of the cabin into the darkness. The last she--or anyone--saw of them was Vivian closing the cabin door behind her, hushing Emma with a finger pressed to her lips.

A really good story idea but I found that it was slow moving and the switching back and forth from the present to 15 years ago was frustrating. I will have to say that it was very cleverly written but it was just way to long and descriptive. 3 stars for the great idea and a very good ending. If you read his first book, Final Girls, you will see the difference.

I have read and reviewed A Question of Holmes by Brittany Cavallaro which is the last book of a YA series involving the great, great, etc. granddaughter of Sherlock Homes and great, great, etc. grandson of Dr. Watson. The review is on the works page and copied here:

"As this is the last book of the series and I whipped through them so fast I didn't have an opportunity to review each of them individually, I wanted to do a little overview review on the series as a whole. Overall, this was quite an enjoyable series and the characters evolved quite a bit over the course. As the books moved on we moved from a mostly strictly Jamie point of view, to a shared POV, and onto a primarily Charlotte POV, which was also an interesting evolution. Charlotte started off a very damaged young lady, and did slowly heal with help from Jamie, who unfortunately, became a bit more damaged through his ordeals with Charlotte through the course of the books. I found Jamie's evolution a little sad because of this. However, as a whole, I really, really enjoyed this series and would highly recommend.

This particular book finds Charlotte recovering from her ordeals with both her own family and the Moriartys. She is not sure exactly what her next step is, but when she is approached by an Oxford professor to assist with a mystery that ended with the disappearance of one of her drama students, Charlotte decides to take on the case, with the assistance of her Watson. This is kind of a coming of age story for Charlotte who continues to work through her quite serious PTSD from an incident that took place just prior to the beginning of "A Study in Charlotte". She is pretty confident that she wants to be with Jamie, but cannot quite be there entirely. This plays a big role in her decisions once the mystery at hand gets resolved. I found the end, as a whole, to be kind of bittersweet. Also, I would have liked to have seen what happened to Mouse?"

The Cannibal by Nelson DeMille (Jack Cannon)
Joe Ryker series Book #4
4★

Nothing surprises Sgt. Joe Ryker. Not corpses, crimes, nor sin of any kind. But when a beautiful New York call girl personally persuades him to investigate a missing persons report and a severed arm comes bobbing up in the East River, Ryker is in for a surprise.

Nelson DeMille wrote this series under the pen name of Jack Cannon in the mid 1970's...(1974 & 1975). As DeMille has continued to do throughout the years with all his novels, he is very graphic in describing everything that is going on, as well as doing an amazing job of keeping us in suspense. There are 6 books in this series, and since I don't mind reading out of order, I will be on the lookout for the rest of this series.

The Occupied by Craig Parshall
3★

As a youth, Trevor Black unleashed spiritual forces he couldn’t comprehend. Years later, Trevor is a high-flying criminal defense lawyer in New York City, with a six-figure Aston Martin and a trophy wife. But in an extraordinary turn of events, he receives a burdensome gift: the ability to perceive the invisible. And the dark forces he now sees are all gunning for him. When one of Trevor’s hometown friends is murdered, the MO is eerily similar to a shocking trail of murders that have already crossed the lawyer’s path. So Trevor must return home to find the killer. . . and face not only his own personal demons, but supernatural ones as well.

The first part of the book was very interesting...A childhood warning about an evil lurking just outside the human range of vision...a strange old man...a house that everyone avoided...a young man given a task that he didn't want to begin with but quickly became intrigued with... perhaps TOO intrigued. You knew something really nasty was there but it was shadowed in the background waiting for just the right moment. The right moment came 15 years later when Trevor...a trial lawyer with a big law firm, saw IT for the first time in a client accused of the gruesome murder of a young girl. From then on the took on a really religious tone that spoiled the premise of the starting story. 3 stars for the great beginning.

Murder In Thin Air by Richard L. Baldwin
3★

Dr. Janet Reid, a chemistry professor at Alma College and a champion hot air balloon pilot is murdered when her balloon, the Bagpiper, explodes over Battle Creek, Michigan. Lou Searing and Jack Kelly, with help from Maggie McMillan and Heather Moore, investigate the murder, involving a cast of suspects at Alma Collage.

I believe that you would really need to have some tie to the places mentioned to fully enjoy it even to the extent that I did, as I found the story to be just a little on the weak side. I had already figured out who had killed Dr. Reid...and I couldn't imagine that there wouldn't have been a plethora of suspects considering how unlikable she was... by the fourth chapter. I picked it up at my library because I saw that it was written featuring places that I visit often and was set partly in my adopted city of Battle Creek, Michigan. If you are a cozy reader it will absolutely appeal to you... but probably not so much if you like a bit more blood and gore in your murder mysteries.

Unmentionable: The Victorian Lady's Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners
by Therese Oneill
Oneill, in a humorously satirical style, details the awfulness of being a woman in the Victorian Age. You will be glad you live in today’s modern era after reading what women had to do to keep up appearances and take care of their family and home. Interesting and a fast read!

The Dinner by Herman Koch
3★

A highly controversial tale of two families struggling to make the hardest decision of their lives—all over the course of one meal. It's a summer's evening in Amsterdam, and two couples meet at a fashionable restaurant for dinner. Between mouthfuls of food and over the scrapings of cutlery, the conversation remains a gentle hum of polite discourse. But behind the empty words, terrible things need to be said, and with every forced smile and every new course, the knives are being sharpened. Each couple has a fifteen-year-old son. The two boys are united by their accountability for a single horrific act; an act that has triggered a police investigation and shattered the comfortable, insulated worlds of their families. As the dinner reaches its culinary climax, the conversation finally touches on their children. As civility and friendship disintegrate, each couple show just how far they are prepared to go to protect those they love. Skewering everything from parenting values to pretentious menus to political convictions, this novel reveals the dark side of genteel society and asks what each of us would do in the face of unimaginable tragedy.

The description asks what each of us would do in the face of tragedy? I sure don't believe that I would do what these stupid people did. To start with all of the characters were so loathsome that it actually made the story rather unpalatable...to continue on the dinner theme. I can't believe these adults actually reacted the way they did to what these kids did. These little 15 year old "angels" saw nothing wrong...and had no remorse what so ever...except they got caught on camera...with setting fire to a homeless woman for the "fun" of it just to see what would happen. I don' see how these parents could possibly eat dinner after viewing this. The one interesting "twist" that got this 3 stars instead of 2...was that one of the fathers turned out to show some common sense. He actually wanted to take some sort of action to the situation...while the other one was actually a psychopath whose "little apple" didn't fall far from the tree. I will say I don't believe I've ever read anything quiet like it... and I have read some gruesome ones.

One Little Secret / Cate Holahan
4 stars

Susan and Nadal have recently moved to the neighbourhood. Their kids and those of their neighbours are around the same age. Susan decides she wants to get to know the neighbours better (Ben and Rachel, and Louis and Jenny), so they plan a trip together while the kids are away at camp. On the first morning, one of them is found dead on the beach.

I really enjoyed this. I thought it was paced well, and I definitely wanted to keep reading. It’s told by way of “The day before”, “The day of”, and “The day after”, referring to the murder, but I thought it was pretty easy to keep track of where I was. In opposition to the title, there were actually quite a few secrets going on in this book! Of course, this is one with all the twists and turns.

I Shall Wear Midnight / Terry Pratchett
3.5 stars

Tiffany Aching is now 15 years old. She is a good witch and helps people when they need help. Unfortunately, an older man, the Baron (also the father of Tiffany’s friend, Roland) passes away under her care. Also a girl, Amber, has been abused by her father and she is found with the Nac Mac Feegles (the tough Scottish fairies) and their “kelda” (female leader). Somehow an evil force has awakened and is coming after Tiffany.

Hard to write a summary, as there were a few different things going on. Overall, I liked the book, though some parts were better than others. I found Amber’s storyline interesting, as well as when Roland’s fiancee, Letitia, appears – I liked her, too. There were parts that I didn’t find quite as interesting, but overall, it was enjoyable.

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire
4★

We have all heard the story of Cinderella, the beautiful child cast out to slave among the ashes. But what of her stepsisters, the homely pair exiled into ignominy by the fame of their lovely sibling? What fate befell those untouched by beauty ... and what curses accompanied Cinderella's looks? Set against the backdrop of seventeenth-century Holland, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister tells the story of Iris, an unlikely heroine who finds herself swept from the lowly streets of Haarlem to a strange world of wealth, artifice, and ambition. Iris's path quickly becomes intertwined with that of Clara, the mysterious and unnaturally beautiful girl destined to become her sister. While Clara retreats to the cinders of the family hearth, Iris seeks out the shadowy secrets of her new household -- and the treacherous truth of her former life.

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister is not Fantasy as I had thought it would be. After all, it sounds like the classic Cinderella story. You could think of it that way because of the fairy tale aspect... but it's more Historical Fiction. The book takes place in Renaissance Holland during the time of the Dutch Master Painters. The character Iris, the lead... is both sympathetic and likable. She's not evil or devious, though she does have her moments. She's also not the demure would be princess waiting for Prince Charming. She's a little bratty and petulant and we see her responding to her situation in a completely realistic way. It was an entertaining read. Although it was not my usual choice in a book...I have to say that it was good.

A Death of No Importance / Mariah Fredericks
4****

New York City, 1910. Invisible until she's needed, Jane Prescott has perfected the art of serving as a lady's maid to the city's upper echelons. When she takes up a position with the Benchley family, dismissed by the city's elite as "new money," Jane realizes that while she may not have financial privilege, she has a power they do not--she understands the rules of high society. The Benchleys cause further outrage when their daughter Charlotte becomes engaged to notorious playboy Norrie, the sone of the eminent Newsome family.

A really, really good book from an author of YA novels who has gone into the adult genre instead. It's told with superb style and detail about early 20th Century New York (Empire though still with the Victorian influence) with its class distinctions, new money, servants, and who will marry whom.

The attractive and flighty Charlotte desperately wants to marry Norrie Newsome; she is innocent (stubborn?) enough that she ignores the danger signs of dislike and contempt. Jane is on hand when a Christmas party/engagement party becomes a murder scene and through her wits and knowledge of her "place" is able to put together the pieces. And they are surprising! Fredericks also forms a tableau of homes, the streets of New York, dress, parties, elite schools, and the class unrest during that era.

I highly recommend it to my LT mystery-loving friends!

The Summoning by Heather Graham
Krewe of Hunters series Book #27
5★

When Kristi Stewart inherits a property in the old part of Savannah, she knows it comes with stories of hauntings. But she doesn’t believe in ghosts, even while she runs seances for the guests of McLane House Bed-and-Breakfast. Until the inexplicable midnight appearance of one of her infamous ancestors. Terrified, she flees into the night—and right into the arms of Dallas Wicker. Dallas is trying to uncover the truth about a colleague who died under suspicious circumstances. As strange happenings continue to plague Kristi’s home, it is soon clear that there’s a very living threat in the neighborhood—several people have disappeared without a trace. Dallas can’t find any connection between the victims, but someone wanted them gone, and it might be linked to the history of McLane House. And that means Kristi should be very afraid.

This is an easy read series for those that like a ghost story but don't want to be scared out their wits. Each book nearly always features an investigation by a different member of the Krewe of Hunters... sometimes along with the 3 or 4 major characters that have become the Krewe leaders. There is also lots of history in each book about the area where the stories take place... in this case the Civil War and how it effected the city of Savannah. The characters in this one were all mostly likable....so much so that you really couldn't make a decision who was responsible for the murders. You might call this entire series "cozy with a shiver."

Envy The Night by Michael Koryta
5★

It has been seven years since Frank Temple III joined the rest of the world in learning his father's bloody secret: The U.S. marshal maintained a covert career as a contract killer, a double-life that ended in suicide to avoid prosecution and prison. The shocking revelation triggered years of anonymous drifting for Frank, time spent running from his legacy and struggling to believe that the father he’d loved so dearly was entirely in the wrong. After all, the victims hadn't been innocents. And Devin Matteson, the man who’d lured his father into the killing game only to later give him up to the FBI, is probably the darkest of the lot. Those are troubling thoughts, and Frank tries to stay away from them. But when an old family friend calls to say that Matteson is returning to the isolated Wisconsin lake that was once sacred ground for their families, it’s a homecoming Frank knows he can’t allow.

I have read almost all of Michael Koyrta's books but I understand that this was his first standalone. One thing that I really like about this author is that he keeps the descriptions short but understandable. I hate reading about the color of the drapes, the rugs, and the walls in every room of the house that some writers seem to think is essential to the story. I really liked the main character and how he handled having to come to grips with the realization that what he had always thought about his father was far from the truth. As The story unfolds with this situation and comes to a suspenseful conclusion about Frank, his family, and his father's legacy of death. A really good story by a really excellent author.

Songs For The Missing by Stewart O'Nan
4★

Returning again to the theme of working-class people and their wrenching concerns, Songs for the Missing begins with the suspenseful pace of a thriller, following an Ohio community?s efforts to locate a young woman who has gone missing. It soon deepens into an affecting portrait of a family trying desperately to hold onto itself and the memory of a daughter whose return becomes increasingly unlikely. Stark and honest, this is an intimate account of what happens behind the headlines of a very American tragedy.

I spent a long time deciding what rating to give this book. Some review that I read, the people said it was slow...it was. They said it was boring...indeed, sometimes it was. They said that Stewart O' Nan portrayed the characters like real people facing the disappearance of an 18 year old daughter...he certainly did. He made the family and the entire small Ohio town "real"...sometimes almost too real as he allowed the reader to feel what Kim's parents, her 15 year old sister, her friends that lied to the police to begin with...and even Cooper, the family dog...felt as they struggled fr 18 long months to hold their family together and endlessly...tirelessly, search for Kim...the missing part of their hearts....and how in spite of everything, life simply must go on.

Think Twice by Lisa Scottoline
Rosato & Associates series Book #11
3★

Bennie Rosato looks exactly like her identical twin, Alice Connelly, but the darkness in Alice's soul makes them two very different women. Or at least that's what Bennie believes―until she finds herself buried alive at the hands of her twin. Meanwhile, Alice takes over Bennie's life, impersonating her at work and even seducing her boyfriend in order to escape the deadly mess she has made of her own life. But Alice underestimates Bennie and the evil she has unleashed in her twin's psyche. Soon Bennie, in her determination to stay alive long enough to exact revenge, must face the twisted truth that she is more like Alice than she could have ever imagined.

The story took a little too long to get started. Some of it was just "too good to be believed". I really wish that the twin sister hadn't even shown up, but hey...who am I to tell someone that has written as may good books as Lisa Scottoline. what to do? I find that I don't have much patience with authors that go off track with their books and it seemed to take forever to get past the first 3 chapters. I gave it 3 stars because it did eventually present a good story with a satisfactory conclusion.

Fingersmith
Sarah Waters
4.5/5 stars
In 1862, Sue Tinder, a young woman comes to an estate in England to work for a wealthy gentleman and his daughter. But Sue is not all she seems. She is actually there to set up a scheme to make her family of cons very wealthy. But of course there is a twist to this plot that Sue is not in on and things go from bad to worse for everyone involved. Sarah Waters doesn’t disappoint her fans in this wonderful written novel of suspense.

The Circle / Dave Eggers
4 stars

When Mae manages to get a lucrative job (well, the job itself isn’t lucrative, just the chance to work there) with The Circle, she is thrilled! The Circle is a huge tech company and, to her surprise, there is so much more going on at The Circle than just work, so many social events. As the days go on, Mae is expected to be more and more social, online and in-person. Though it seems very difficult to keep up, Mae manages to do so, but there are drawbacks to all this online activity…

I listened to the audio, and had no trouble following without losing interest. I really liked this. It was hard to fathom how she could get more and more sucked in to that life and not realize the implications. I guess I felt like she had been brainwashed, like a cult. In fact, pretty much all of them had “drunk the Kool-Aid”! It was an interesting tale of taking social media way too far.

The True Tails of Baker and Taylor / Jan Louch
4 stars

Baker and Taylor were two library cats (Scottish folds) in small-town Nevada, who lived in the 1980s and 90s and were named after the bookselling company, Baker & Taylor. When the company found out about the cats, they decided to use them in the company’s promotional material, propelling the cats to stardom and creating a lasting image for the company, as they still use the cats’ likenesses 20+ years later.

Books and cats – my two favourite things! I also have three Baker & Taylor shopping bags, where I store unread books! I really enjoyed this. There is a section of photos in the middle of the book. Baker and Taylorare so cute, and each had their own personalities. They even had a fan club made up of a grade 2 class elsewhere in the country. The teacher had her class write letters (to help them with their writing) every year to the cats, and send gifts. These were quite cute. There was (like with Dewey’s book) some biographical information about the librarian (and author) who mainly took care of the cats, as well.

Hungry: A Young Model's Story... / Crystal Renn
4 stars

When Crystal was 14-years old, a modelling scout saw her and told her she needed to lose a lot of weight (she was 5’9’’ and 165 lbs), but if she did, she could make it in the modelling world. Crystal decided this was what she wanted to do, and went down to 95 lbs before heading to New York City to seek out that scout and the Agency he was a part of. She suffered for three years with anorexia before she pulled herself together, only to become bigger, still (no pun intended!), in the plus-size modelling world (at a size 12 once her weight settled).

I thought this was really interesting. Horrifying how skinny she became. She did share photos in the book, as well. After her bout with anorexia, she seemed so much more positive about her body-image as a plus model. I did look her up online after, though, to see that she’s gone down a couple of sizes since. What an awful world that is, though – the fashion industry.

Ararat by Christopher Golden
5★

An adventure that goes wrong…on a biblical scale. When an earthquake reveals a secret cave hidden inside Mount Ararat in Turkey, a daring newly engaged couple are determined to be the first ones inside…and what they discover will change everything. The cave is actually a buried ancient ship that many quickly come to believe is Noah’s Ark. When a team of scholars, archaeologists, and filmmakers make it inside the ark, they discover an elaborate coffin in its recesses. Inside the coffin they find something hideous. Shock and fear turn to horror when a massive blizzard blows in, trapping them thousands of meters up the side of a remote mountain. All they can do is pray for safety. But something wicked is listening to their prayers…and it wants to answer.

I loved this story from the very first page. Christopher Golden worked the story out slowly while adding suspense and a real element of fear that builds until the very last page. You KNOW what the archaeologist have found but you never can figure out how they are going to deal with it and live. The story works in an eerie and subtler manner that delivers a delicious element of fear that horror/supernatural story fans will love. I have two more of Christopher Golden's books waiting on the shelf. I'll be delighted if they are even half as good as this one.

If I can belatedly chip in here, I've been in the mood to get back to regular reading, so I dusted off my long-dormant LT account and was pleased to discover I don't actually have that much sitting around unread.

I've been working on:

The Egg and Sperm Race: The Seventeenth-Century Scientists Who Unlocked the Secrets of Sex and Growth by Matthew Cobb, which I've recently finished.

The Witches, Salem, 1692, A History, by Stacy Schiff, which will probably carry over in to July at this rate but merits mention.

By completely coincidence, both are books dealing with searches for meaning at the edge of human knowledge in the 17th century. The former is a fantastic case study in how science as an iterative human process actually operates, and the latter has so far shown a brave effort to explain (without, it should be stressed justifying) why neighbour turned against neighbour at the edge of the world in the twilight of magic.

I'm now cracking on with the catalogue from the V&A's "Videogames: Design / Play / Disrupt" exhibition last year, and a book on practical helicopter flight from the 1970s (because obviously that's going to be useful).

>51 sockatume: Welcome back! Hope you enjoy your book choices!

Girl Waits With Gun – Amy Stewart
Book on CD read by Christina Moore.
4****

Based on the true story of one of America’s first female detectives, Stewart gives us a wonderfully atmospheric historical crime novel set in 1914-1915, and with a great cast of characters.

Of course, the Kopp sisters are front and center. Constance is the eldest, and exceedingly tall; she is pragmatic and sensible, hard working and determined to keep the family farm, though everyone else, including their older brother, wonders how “three girls can manage alone out there.” Norma is the prickliest of the three; she prefers to stay away from town, tending to the animals on the farm, especially her carrier pigeons. And yet, she is equally devoted to her sisters, and especially to helping Constance as they try to protect their baby sister. Fleurette is that baby – now a young lady in her teens, and eager to go out into the world and experience all it has to offer.

Their nemesis is the rich and powerful owner of the local silk factory: Henry Kaufman, who runs his automobile into the Kopp’s buggy. The sisters demand payment for the damages he caused, which sets off an escalating war of intimidation, revenge and recrimination. Eventually, Constance goes to file a formal complaint, and this introduces her to Sheriff Robert Heath.

I loved Heath. He was principled, ethical, conscientious and straightforward. He never sugarcoated the possibilities and did his best to make certain the Kopp sisters were equipped to handle things on their own. Despite the obvious corruption in the system, and the power held in the hands of the factory owners, he persisted in seeking justice and punishing the wrongdoers, regardless of their wealth.

A side plot involving a factory worker whose child has been abducted, gives Constance a additional chance to prove her abilities as a detective. It also allows Stewart to give the reader a greater sense of the history of the time and the conditions faced by factory workers.

Christina Moore does a marvelous job narrating the audiobook. I particularly liked the way she acted Fleurette; she gave her an excited, breath delivery that really made me believe this was a 16-year-old girl, long sheltered (isolated) on a family farm and eager to experiences the world.

Brava to the Kopp sisters, Ms Stewart and narrator Moore. I’ll keep reading this series.

Victoria Victorious / Jean Plaidy
3.75 stars

This is a fictional biography of Queen Victoria. She had an unhappy childhood, but she married someone she loved (Albert), they had 9 children, who all lived.

This is a long book. It’s only the second book I’ve read on Queen Victoria, the first was only a month ago, and also written by Plaidy, but that one only included her childhood (there are sequels to that, so I will continue, but with larger gaps in between). Most of what I’ve read about British royalty was from the Tudors and earlier on, so 300+ years earlier. Some differences that happened in between included Royals being able to choose their spouses, and I found it interesting how much travel they did to see each other after Victoria’s children moved away to other countries. England now also had a Prime Minister, so decisions were not made by the monarchy, though they were discussed between the PM and the monarchy.

It was interesting to learn about Queen Victoria, as well as the different world that England had become over 300 years. I’m not sure, historically, how her husband, Albert, is regarded, but I was not a big fan, given how he’s described in this book. Victoria loved him, but I didn’t like him much. I found her family life (both as a child, and as an adult) more interesting than the politics in the book.

The Lost Queen of Crocker County
Elizabeth Leiknes
2.5/5 stars
When her parents perish in a plane crash, Jane Willow, a popular movie critic is forced to come home and face her past. Unfortunately, one night she hits something on the highway but runs from the scene after she discovers what was on the road. She spends the rest of the story sneaking around trying to make everything right. I enjoyed the author’s writing style and it was a fast read but I really had trouble with the actions of the main character and how it ended.

The Deep by Nick Cutter
3★

A strange plague called the ’Gets is decimating humanity on a global scale. It causes people to forget—small things at first, like where they left their keys…then the not-so-small things like how to drive, or the letters of the alphabet. Then their bodies forget how to function involuntarily…and there is no cure. But now, far below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, deep in the Mariana Trench, an heretofore unknown substance hailed as “ambrosia”’—a universal healer, from initial reports—has been discovered. It may just be the key to eradicating the ’Gets. In order to study this phenomenon, a special research lab, the Trieste, has been built eight miles under the sea’s surface. But when the station goes incommunicado, a brave few descend through the lightless fathoms in hopes of unraveling the mysteries lurking at those crushing depths…and perhaps to encounter an evil blacker than anything one could possibly imagine.

Cataloged as horror but mostly a psychological nightmare. The book is filled with flashbacks and journal entries that take away from the flow of the story. The characters are okay but nothing really outstanding about any of them. On another note... there are some truly scary passages, and you do get a real sense of what it would be like to be trapped underwater with no way to reach the top. This book isn't bad, I just wish there would have been more scary parts and less flashbacks. If you are a Stephen King fan or a Clive Barker fan you can probably be forgiving of these flaws. It's good to have learned what's wrong with me when I can't remember where I left my car keys.

A Good Enough Mother by Bev Thomas

"The most dangerous lies are the ones we tell ourselves.'Taut, absorbing and psychologically astute, in A Good Enough Mother Bev Thomas combines all the tension of a thriller with the emotional resonance of a powerful family drama."

I really enjoyed this book about a trauma psychologist who is deeply impacted in her work by her own trauma resulting in yet more trauma. It was a compelling page turner.

What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton
4★

For the first time, Hillary Rodham Clinton reveals what she was thinking and feeling during one of the most controversial and unpredictable presidential elections in history. Now free from the constraints of running, Hillary takes you inside the intense personal experience of becoming the first woman nominated for president by a major party in an election marked by rage, sexism, exhilarating highs and infuriating lows, stranger-than-fiction twists, Russian interference, and an opponent who broke all the rules. This is her most personal memoir yet.

I have no intentions of turning this site into a political platform. Everyone has their own political thoughts and agendas and arguing politics or religion is about as useless as trying to stop the Earth from spinning. I will say that the book is well written. Did she actually write it? I don't know and I don't care. I don't believe that I have ever seen reviews so far for, or so far against, a book since I have been on these book sites. That in itself was interesting but I think I really prefer a good murder mystery or ghost story.

I surprised myself by finishing the remaining half of The Witches, Salem, 1692, A History in three large bites. Haven't done that with non-fiction in a while. My review:

"Exhaustive to the point of exhausting, this is as detailed a work on Salem as I can imagine. It's meticulously built upon the historical record, quoting extensively, and conveys a strong sense of the geographic, social, political and personal factors that contributed to the Salem madness, without needing to editorialise or turn the facts towards a thesis. It's evocatively written, but also dense and far more concerned with accurately presenting events than delivering a gripping yarn. Worth sticking with."

As mentioned in my earlier post, this was a good accidental pairing. I don't have much of a historical sense and reading two books set in the same period helped give me more of a sense of the breadth of life experience in the 17th century. (You know that thing where in Star Wars there's the desert planet, and the ice planet, and everything's just got one defining characteristic? I tend to unconsciously do that with historical periods.) I normally alternate fiction and non-fiction when I'm reading two books at once but I might do something like this with non-fiction again.

Enjoyed this Library audiobook ~

The Third Wife by Lisa Jewell
(England/three wives, five children and serial husband/death mystery/family dynamics/mysterious young woman)

and

Enjoying this OverDrive audiobook ~

Girl in the Rearview Mirror by Kelsey Rae Dimberg
(psych thriller/features the young nanny of a prominent political family/deadly lies)

Nights of Rain and Stars / Maeve Binchy
3.5 stars

Andreas owns a small cafe in a small town in Greece. He has a few tourists at his cafe when they watch, from a distance, a tourist boat go up in flames in the water. This brings them all together, as they get to know each other over the few days they spend in Aghia Anna. Irish nurse Fiona and her awful boyfriend Shane; beautiful blonde German tv personality Elsa; divorced American dad Thomas; young English man David. They all have their own secrets and issues, as do some of the townsfolk that they meet.

I lovethe title of the book! The book itself was enjoyable. There was one part of the ending I wasn’t too crazy about. I didn’t see it coming, and I definitely think I was picturing Thomas differently from how he was meant to be pictured!

A Deadly Grind – Victoria Hamilton
2.5**

From the book jacket: When vintage cookware and cookbook collector Jaymie Leighton spies an original 1920s Hoosier-brand kitchen cabinet at an estate auction, it’s love at first sight. Despite the protests of her sister, Rebecca, that the nineteenth-century house they share is already too cluttered with Jaymie’s junk, she successfully outbids the other buyers and takes home her Hoosier. But that night on the summer porch where she’s left the Hoosier to be cleaned up, a man is murdered – struck on the head with the steel meat grinder that is part of the cabinet.

My reactions
True confession, I picked this up solely because I needed a cover image of “something broken” and this fit the bill.

I liked the basic premise of this new cozy series, including the small-town setting, the interplay between the sisters, and the cast of (potentially) recurring colorful characters. I even like her little three-legged dog, Hopalong. But Jaymie herself just irritated me. They way she went about doing her own investigation and the obviously ill-advised choices she made and dangerous chances she took just had me shaking my head.

Still, it was a fast, entertaining read, and I’d be willing to read another in the series.

I finished off the exhibition catalogue for Videogames; it's more like a well-illustrated collection of essays as befits the subject and the large scope of the exhibition. The last exhibition of its type I went to was literally 15 years ago and this covers the social, artistic, cultural and technical upheaval over that time period very well. Parts of it are encouraging, big bits of it are depressing (the videogames community's recent explicit resistance to games being anything other than disposable commercial objects has caused some serious problems) but it's overall a very strong survey of the state of the medium. I'd have no problem recommending it to someone from outside the hobby who wanted to know about the major creative controversies and trends.

Read and did a short review for The Magic Knot. I always fall back on my romance novels when I get a little overwhelmed and this one fit in nicely for a distraction.

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves – Karen Joy Fowler
Book on CD narrated by Orlagh Cassidy
4****

College student Rosemary Cooke is all but estranged from her family. Yes, she still speaks to her parents, and they are supporting her, but she’s gone as far as she possibly can from her Indiana home and only grudgingly goes home for quick holiday visits. A chance encounter with a fellow student, Harper, with a volatile temper and a propensity to act out, causes Rosemary to briefly abandon the careful façade she’s adopted and has her reflecting on her childhood, and her lost siblings: her sister Fern and her brother Lowell.

Through her thoughts and flashbacks the reader gradually gets a picture of the young Rosemary – talkative to the point of distraction, happy, inextricably linked to Fern and both under the protection of older brother Lowell. They live with their parents on a farm near the university where their father is a research professor, and the graduate students who work under him are part of the extended family. Rosemary and Fern roam freely in the natural landscape, climbing trees, catching frogs at the creek, picking wildflowers. But one pivotal event (which Fowler doesn’t fully reveal until close to the end of the book) destroys this idyllic existence and causes a nearly irreparable rift.

Fowler’s writing brings this wounded family to life. Though Rosemary is the narrator, and an unreliable one at that, we do get a sense of both the “before” and the “after.” Of how her once vibrant, clever mother is now a shell of her former self. Of why her adoring (and adored) older brother left and became a fugitive wanted by the FBI. Of how her father carries the burden of guilt and blame that his wife and children place on him for what happened. And of the guilt that Rosemary feels, because she “knows” that it was all her fault.

It's the kind of character-driven literary fiction that I relish.

Orlagh Cassidy does a marvelous job of performing the audio version. She sets a good pace, and I could follow the plot despite the back-and-forth in time structure. However, I think I would have enjoyed this even more had I read it in text, so I could savor Fowler’s writing.

An American Princess: the Many Lives of Allene Tew / Annejet van der Zijl
2.5 stars

Allene Tew was born in 1872 and lived till the mid-1900s. In that time, she married five times, had three children (who all died fairly young – one as a toddler, the other two were adults, but young), and became incredibly rich. She became a “princess” of the title when she married her… 4th (??) husband, a prince in Germany (??).

So, I think I just don’t tend to find rich people who don’t do a whole lot all that interesting. Much of the book focused on the people around her (which I’ve found with other biographies of historical women, as well), and because she married so many times, there were a lot of different people. After a while I had trouble keeping them all straight. I think the section on WWI was the most interesting to me, and maybe the rise of Hitler and WWII, as well. But that was more interest in the historical times than interest in Allene, herself.

Transcription
by Kate Atkinson
3/5 stars
Juliet Armstrong of England is recruited during WWII to be a spy and infiltrate the British Fascists. When WWII ends she joins the BBC to do radio programming but her history with MI5 comes back to haunt her. Well written but at times I got confused as to what was going on which I suspect was the aim of the author. After all isn’t that the purpose of a good spy!

I wrapped up my book on helicopters from the 1970s (it resists reviewing; I think I only got it out of a personal interest in the mechanics of helicopter flight from when I was a kid) and have cracked open Aesthetic Theory and the Video Game which is absolutely chock full of dense humanities prose so far but has some very interesting ideas.

Just After Sunset by Stephen King
5★

Who but Stephen King would turn a Port-O-San into a slimy birth canal, or a roadside honky-tonk into a place for endless love? A book salesman with a grievance might pick up a mute hitchhiker, not knowing the silent man in the passenger seat listens altogether too well. Or an exercise routine on a stationary bicycle, begun to reduce bad cholesterol, might take its rider on a captivating—and then terrifying—journey. Set on a remote key in Florida, “The Gingerbread Girl” is a riveting tale featuring a young woman born vulnerable and resourceful. In “Ayana,” a blind girl works a miracle with a kiss and the touch of her hand. For King, the line between the living and the dead is often blurry, and the seams that hold our reality intact might tear apart at any moment.

It's a book of several short stories by the "Master of the Unusual and the Unnatural". They have just enough unnatural element to satisfy the Stephen King enthusiast. It's common people doing what appears to be everyday ordinary things...but the reader soon knows there is nothing ordinary about any of it. If you're a King fan you will more than likely like it at least 3.5 -5 stars worth. If you have never read Stephen King...(and what planet did you just come from?), this probably isn't the book to begin with. We... the dyed in the wool followers will enjoy it because we KNOW what this author is capable of when he is really trying to frighten us.

Locavore: From Farmers' Fields to Rooftop Gardens... / Sarah Elton
4 stars

This looks at trying to eat locally in various parts of Canada. The first half of the book looks at agriculture and farming (the family farm, young farmers, organics, greenhouses), and the second half of the book moves into cities (urban farming, restaurants serving local, etc.)

Lots of people in lots of places across the country are doing things to try to make the world better by sourcing locally. It was interesting to learn about some of those different things. The author has a section at the end where she tries to help offer suggestions on what people can do/look for/ask if they want to move toward eating locally. She admits that she isn’t perfect about it, but really, every little bit helps. At the same time, once again, I wish I liked to cook or garden or both – would be really useful for my environmental sensibilities.

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
5***** and a Heart

I picked up this book in April as the first installment in the Lord of the Rings group read for LT, thinking that maybe, just maybe, with a visit pilgrimage planned to the Morgan Museum to see the Tolkien Exhibit there, I might be able to finish this book in early May. Alas, the Quest took a different path and I only finished it a couple of weeks ago. But at least it got me back to re-reading this amazing trilogy, so all is not lost!

There is always something more I discover when I read this series. This time, surprisingly, it was the Barrow Downs and the time spent at the Inn of the Prancing Pony. And I say that "surprisingly" because I'm of the camp that is not a fan of Tom Bombadil and the whole lead-up to the Prancing Pony. And this time through was no exception; there have been times where I've actually skipped those chapters with no detriment to my reading pleasure.

This time through I was struck with Tolkien's descriptions of place and made sure I understood what was where and where the hill or stream or trees when. It helped to have seen the maps he created at the Morgan Museum: they are detailed, down to the Hobbits' unit of measurement (which led to how long can a Hobbit trudge in a day). I can understand how the landscapes he created are more than just rock here, tree there but they have history and life.

Tolkien changed archetypes, he brought fantasy out of the nursery and made it a thing of pride and scholarship, and it is a rare fantasy author who is not compared to his work. And let's not forget the body of work that became RPGs and hard rock with their references to Middle Earth throughout their own corpus. And this is the book where he made the voyage from simple little Hobbit tales to dark, malevolent forces and an ultimate good vs. evil battle to come.

The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie
3 1/2 ***

Mr. Hercule Poirot--you fancy yourself, don't you, at solving mysteries that are too difficult for our poor thick-headed British police? Let us see, Mr. Clever Poirot, just how clever you can be." Was the anonymous note a brilliant challenge or a crackpot hoax? The answer is as loud and clear as a woman's scream--precisely that of Alice Ascher, a shopkeeper in Andover bludgeoned to death on the job. Next to her corpse, a clue that's as simple as ABC. Alphabetically speaking, the master Belgian sleuth suspects it's now a matter of one down, twenty-five to go . . .

It's a very good enjoyable Hercule Poirot mystery. It is written like a memoir, after Poirot and Hastings have retired, and describes a real-time challenge to M. Poirot's sleuthing ability via some quite personally addressed letters. Along with the letters come murders in alphabetical order on the date mentioned, and train travels that form an integral part of the plot.

The final pulling together of who dunnit vs. who dunnot did it was a bit more placid. The interview that M. Poirot does is the dull part, though I will say I was surprised by who the killer was. And Dame Christie pulls that part off in great Dame Christie fashion!

Out of the Blues by Trudy Nan Boyce
4****

On her first day as a newly minted homicide detective, Sarah "Salt" Alt is given the cold-case murder of a blues musician whose death was originally ruled an accidental drug overdose. Now, new evidence ha come to light that he may have been given a hot dose intentionally. And this evidence comes from a convicted felon hoping to trade his knowledge for shortened prison time . . . a man Salt herself put behind bars.

It's so refreshing to read a murder mystery set in Atlanta! Like Karin Slaughter and Kathy Hogan Trocheck, Trudy Nan Boyce's newly minted detective travels streets that have a long and strange history. And these streets in this novel lead into the seedy underbelly of drug deals and strip clubs, with some blues players added for a strong emotional pull. The murder victim in this book is on recordings that her late father had, as well as a blues singer who lives on the streets and is hard to find.

The details of a cop's life, especially a woman cop are tough; fortunately in Sarah Alt's world, she has enough of a reputation and enough contacts from her beat cop days to at least start to get some stories told to help lead her to a suspect. But the information does not come easy and Sarah "Salt" Alt has to deal with the ghosts of her past as well as demons in the present. Great detecting, great details, and a gritty crime drama.

A note to folks in this group who may pick up this book: the dialect of Atlanta's street populations are written here as they are spoken. Boyce is true to the city where she lives and doesn't try to make characters sound the way they wouldn't in real life. Having read the British publication of The Plague Dogs with the Tod's accent straight out of Geordie, I found that I sometimes had to read passages out loud to make them make sense. But the authenticity this editing and writing choice makes to the novel is what makes it all the stronger.

I Work at a Public Library: A Collection of Crazy Stories from the Stacks by Gina Sheridan
★ ★ ★ 1/2 - 161 pages

A very quick read. Sheridan has collected humorous vignettes from her own experiences as a librarian and others from online about the trials and tribulations of working in a public library. Most of the stories are funny, a few are touching, and a few are "ewww."

Hissy Fit – Mary Kay Andrews
Digital audio read by Moira Driscoll
3***

From the book jacket Keeley Murdock’s wedding to A.J. Jernigan should have been the social event of the season. But when she catches her fiancé doing the deed with her maid of honor at the country club rehearsal dinner, all bets are off. And so is the wedding. Keeley pitches the hissy fit of the century, earning herself instant notoriety in the small town of Madison, Georgia. Even worse is the financial pressure A.J.’s banking family brings to bear on Keeley’s interior design business. Enter a redheaded stranger – in a vintage yellow Cadillac – who’s purchased the local bra factory and a derelict antebellum mansion, which he hires Keeley to redo.

My reactions
Even before I read the jacket blurb, I knew I was in for a light, fun, fast, chick lit, beach read. And that’s exactly what I got. Mary Kay Andrews knows how to write in this genre and she does a fine job of it. The central characters are likeable (or not, as required … I’m looking at you, A.J. and Stephanie), and the plot is supported by a cast of eccentric older folks, wise and tolerant parents, and friends and acquaintances who help Keeley and take a keen interest in her personal life. Andrews includes a bit of a mystery subplot, which I felt distracted from the central romantic tension. But that’s okay … we need both sugar and salt in our reading diet.

It’s a fast, fun romp of a novel. Grab some iced tea and your sunglasses and set yourself up on a beach chair to enjoy.

Moira Driscoll did a fine job of performing the audio. Her southern accent was spot on, and she really brought the large cast of characters alive.