May 15 - 21, 2016

I started the week with some ebooks I've had on my list for awhile.

No Honor Among Thieves by J.A. Jance - the author brings together two of her characters for the first time, Ali Reynolds and Sheriff Joanna Brady. The story starts with a truck over an embankment and barrels on from there. Quite a bit of action for a short story.

3.5 stars
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A Haunting of the Bones by Julia Keller - old bones are discovered and they turn out to be the mother of Bell Elkins, prosecuting attorney. She's always been told her mother ran off with another man and now she vows to learn the truth.

3 stars
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An Event in Autumn by Henning Mankell - finally published in English, this wraps up the Kurt Wallander series, although it takes place between two other books. Kurt literally stumbles on a semi-buried body while looking at a house to buy. He and the team try to solve a mystery that is 50 years old.

3 stars
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Keller's Fedora by Lawrence Block - hitman Keller is out of retirement but he's also playing detective this time. The client doesn't know the identity of his wife's boyfriend but wants him out of the picture permanently. Lots of Keller's usual musings about stamps and odd facts. Inspired by the author's recent train trips. Crude sex talk, which I don't remember from previous Keller novels.

3 stars
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3:17 a.m. (The Lassie Files) by Nick Pirog - a short story in the Henry Bins series, the man who is only awake one hour each night. The Lassie files center on the pets in his life. Lassie, his cat, wants him to rescue a gerbil. I like these improbable stories.

3.5 stars
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3:46 a.m. (The Wedding) by Nick Pirog - Henry and Ingrid are getting married, of course between 3 and 4 in the morning. His dad has everything timed down to the minute. There is an unexpected guest and then things go awry. There's also a new pet in the mix, Archie the kitten.

3.5 stars
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Fan Mail by Peter Robinson - an author receives a letter from a fan asking him to help plan the murder of his wife. Things take an ugly turn.

3 stars
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Summer Rain by Peter Robinson - a man comes to the police station claiming that he was murdered in a former life. Inspector Banks looks into it mainly to avoid dealing with crime statistics.

3 stars
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And now some actual books.

Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben - former special ops pilot Maya has buried her husband just a few days ago when she thinks she sees him playing with their daughter on the nanny cam. Is it real or PTSD? Her private investigation leads her to the death of her sister and her involvement with a secretive blogger. One of the more surprising endings I've read.

4 stars
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The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George - Jean Perdu runs a bookshop on a barge in the Seine. He has somewhat peculiar ideas about what books people should read and often will not sell the wrong book to them. But when his lover deserted him 20 years ago, he sealed himself off from emotion. When circumstances lead him to finally read her goodbye letter he sets off on his barge through the south of France accompanied by some other hurting people. Translated from the French and with a European sensibility towards sex. With recipes and book recommendations.

4 stars
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The Doorbell Rang by Rex Stout - Nero Wolfe is asked to somehow persuade the FBI to cease its harassment of a woman and her business. Wolfe sets several traps to snare the FBI into showing its hand. Mr. Stout did have a bias against the FBI and Herbert Hoover and the way it treated private citizens. This was published in 1965. I've read it before but nothing rang a bell until the last fifth of the book. One of the advantages of getting older. Not one of my favorites in the series.

2 stars