July 24 - 30, 2016

The Baker Street Letters by Michael Robertson - two brothers, very different, rent offices at 221B Baker Street, not realizing a stipulation of the low rent is answering letters written to Sherlock Holmes. And that's the only connection to Holmes. Most of the book takes place in L.A. when the younger brother decides to personally answer a letter written 20 years ago. I'll try one more in the series because I like the premise.

2.5 stars
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Death Come Quickly by Susan Wittig Albert - the 22nd China Bayles book, a cozy mystery series. The author uses an I'm chatting to you in person style which I find irritating, but the story usually makes up for it. Not this time. An attack on an acquaintance that leads to her death has China giving us her views on global warming, urban sprawl, and the judicial system, along with her hatred of Houston traffic. Padding for a thin plot?

2 stars

July 17 - 23, 2016

Mind's Eye by Hakan Nesser - the first Inspector Van Veeteren, written in 1993, published in English in 2008. A man wakes up with such a hangover he's not sure who he is and discovers his wife drowned in the bathtub. With no defense other than he can't remember, he's convicted and sent to a mental hospital. When he is murdered a few weeks later, the police must find the real killer. I liked the police procedural part better than the policemen. Van Veeteren is not a likeable person.

3 stars
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Boar Island by Nevada Barr - the 19th Anna Pigeon book. Anna is on temporary assignment in Acadia National Park. But she could be anywhere by the lack of description of the park. In fact, she spends very little time there. There are two different plots: Anna's goddaughter is being cyber bullied and a lobster fisherman is murdered in a nearby town. Both plots are rather unrealistic. Sad to see this series going downhill.

2 stars
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Mayday by Karen Harrington - Wayne's world  is divided into Before and After. Before and after his uncle is killed, surviving a plane crash, and having his grandfather move in with he and his mother. The crash left him  unable to talk, so he can't even complain too much. A story about finding your voice. This is a children's book, probably for preteens. A little too repetitive for me.

3 stars

July 10 - 16, 2016

Hour of the Wolf by Hakan Nesser - a teenage boy is killed in a hit and run accident and somehow this leads to a murder. And another. Not realizing the first is connected to the second, the police struggle to find a motive and any clues at all. Retired Chief Inspector Van Veeteren becomes involved in a personal way. The seventh in the series. I've not read them all, some of the earlier books are harder to get in English.

4 stars
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The Hanging Girl by Jussi Adler-Olsen - in this Dept. Q installment, Carl refuses to take a cold case from an acquaintance. When there are severe consequences, his secretary Rose is infuriated and forces him to take the case. Twenty years ago a young girl was hit by a car and thrown into a tree. Only one man thought it was more than an accident. It's fascinating to watch the detectives find the smallest of threads to go back 20 years. There are little side plots that I find irritating because they don't seem to ever be resolved.  I didn't finish the previous book in this series, it just didn't grab me. This one did.

4 stars

July 3 - 9, 2016

In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware - Nora wakes up in the hospital and gradually comes to the realization that she's been in an accident and someone is dead. She remembers being invited to a hen party of a friend she hasn't seen for 10 years, but what happened in the hours right before the accident? The characters seem a little childish but I found the gradual unfolding of the story satisfying.

4 stars

June 26 - July 2, 2016

Rough Riders: Theodore Roosevelt, His Cowboy Regiment, and the Immortal Charge Up San Juan Hill by Mark Lee Gardner - from the forming of the Rough Riders to the posthumous award of the Medal of Honor for Roosevelt. What I found most interesting was how eager Roosevelt and all his volunteers were to engage in war. It certainly wasn't a war run with military precision. Lots of bungling from the higher-ups. This seems to have been extensively researched, with lots of excerpts from letters and diaries.

3 stars
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Brotherhood in Death by J.D.Robb - the 42nd Eve Dallas book. What starts out as a missing person case becomes several murders of revenge. I think I complained about the previous book being more graphic than I remembered the series being and this is the same. I read these mostly for the relationships between Eve and her friends but am getting tired of sifting through the other stuff. And there are the obligatory sex scenes with Eve and her husband.  At least those I know are a page and a half and can easily skip them. I do like watching Eve and her team catch the bad guys, you usually know who they are fairly soon.

2 stars