May 11-17, 2014

The Flatey Enigma by Victor Arnar Ingolfsson - The Flatey Saga is a real book that is a collection of Icelandic sagas. The story is built around a riddle posed by the sagas. An unidentified body is found on an uninhabited islet close to Flatey island. The story takes place in 1960 and is a good look at how the islanders live. In between each chapter is a portion of the Saga. Usually gruesome. There are so many Icelandic names and places that I had a little trouble keeping track of things.

2 stars
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What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman - a woman involved in a hit and run claims she is one of two sisters kidnapped 30 years ago but she refuses to talk about it. The story goes back and forth in time and has many viewpoints.

4 stars
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3 a.m. by Nick Pirog - Henry Bins has a condition so rare it's named after him. He is only awake one hour a day, 3 a.m. to 4 a.m. One night he hears a woman scream and sees a man coming out of her house - the President. This was a free ebook and I really enjoyed it. Parts were amusing but it was also a little crude in places.

4 stars
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Wife of the Gods by Kwei Quartey - a murder investigation set in Ghana. Inspector Donnie Darko is sent to the same town his mother disappeared from 25 years ago to investigate a murder. He's hot tempered and sometimes lets that get the best of him when dealing with suspects. He's not always a law abiding policeman. It was interesting to read a mystery set in a country I'm not familiar with. I'll be reading the next in the series.

3 stars
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The Creaky Knees Guide Washington by Seabury Blair Jr. - a guide to 100 hikes the author thinks are easy. Actually, the ratings go from stroll in the park to knee punishing, so they're not all easy. A brief description of each hike.

2 stars
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Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter - everyone in this book has an anger problem: the killer, the coroner, the ex-husband sheriff, the detective. Also very graphic. I should have quit but wanted to know who dunnit. Won't be reading any more by this author.

 1 star
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Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood - the first Phyrne Fisher novel. I have watched the first season of the Miss Fisher mysteries but my sister told me the books were different enough to read. Phyrne is a wealthy (although not always so) single woman in the 1920's. She is asked to go to Australia to find out what is wrong with a young woman. She gets caught up in a cocaine ring. Some s*x scenes. A little too much description of what she's wearing and eating.


3 stars