Murder in E Minor by Robert Goldsborough - a continuation of the Nero Wolfe mysteries by Rex Stout, this takes place two years after the last novel by Mr. Stout. Nero Wolfe has not taken a case for two years and the only thing that can bring him out of his self-imposed retirement is a case involving an old friend from his years in Montenegro as a freedom fighter. I thought the author did a good job capturing the flavor of the Stout novels, but they just missed having that little something special. This was published in 1986 and the author has written several more. I'll be happy to continue the series.
3 stars
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The Bloodied Ivy by Robert Goldsborough - a college professor is sure that his fellow professor's death is murder and not an accident. So much of the book is Archie trying to decide if it really is murder. Everyone is unlikeable and the conclusion was anticlimactic. The third in this new series. I read out of order because it was what I could get on my Kindle from the library.
2 stars
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Black Orchids by Rex Stout - two short stories in one book, the first also the title of the book. Nero Wolfe actually leaves his office to a look at some rare black orchids. And of course a murder happens at the flower show when he's there. In the second, Cordially Invited to Meet Death, a professional party giver hires Wolfe to discover who is sending her nasty anonymous letters. I had read these before but still enjoyed them.
3 stars
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And Four to Go by Rex Stout - a collection of four Nero Wolfe short stories, three with a holiday theme. In Christmas Party, someone is killed right in front of Archie, Easter Parade starts out with orchid theft and ends with murder, Fourth of July Picnic has someone murdered at a picnic where Wolfe is giving a speech, and Murder is No Joke has Archie and Wolfe hearing a murder over the telephone. It's always a pleasure to see how Wolfe figures things out.
3 stars
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The Rubber Band by Rex Stout - an almost lynching forty years ago, an English marquis, and an accusation of theft. They all come together in one case for Nero Wolfe that finds some of the accused hiding out in his house. I've read this before but had no recollection of it, one of the benefits of getting older.
3 stars
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Dark Matter by Blake Crouch - Jason Dessen lives a happy but somewhat bland life. Walking home from a bar one night he is kidnapped and knocked unconscious. When he comes to it's to a life he doesn't know. He's in a lab being congratulated for a successful experiment. But his wife is not married to him and his son doesn't exist. Which reality is real? This was a great, fast read. (You must be willing to suspend disbelief in order to really enjoy this.)
5 stars
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Sunday, November 20, 2016
Nov 13 - 19, 2016
The Gunslinger by Stephen King - the first book the the Dark Tower series. Everyone quotes the first line when they talk about this book so I will too. "The Man in Black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed." And that about sums up the book. This takes place on our world in a different time, or another world like ours, or maybe we'll find out later. I read this because I wanted to have some background before the movie comes out. Not sure if it helped. And because I have to know, I'll read the second in the series.
3 stars
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Reckless Creed by Alex Kava - Ryder Creed and his K9 search and rescue dogs are called on for something different than the usual. Someone is trying to start a pandemic and the dogs are being trained to detect the virus. Although this is billed as the third Ryder Creed novel, Maggie O'Dell, the FBI agent from the author's other series features just as much. She's on the search for the rogue scientist that escaped her in the previous Creed book. I like these books because of the dogs.
3 stars
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The Girl from Venice by Martin Cruz Smith - it's near the end of WWII in Italy, and one night Cenzo, a fisherman, pulls into his boat a young girl on the run from the Nazis. He decides to help smuggle her out of the country. This is supposed to be a historical mystery with some romance but it didn't hit any of those for me. A little too slow paced until the very end.
2 stars
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In Big Trouble by Laura Lippman - Tess Monaghan is out of her comfort zone when she goes to Texas to find an old boyfriend. She gets dragged into a 20 year old murder and at the same time the boyfriend is being accused of a current murder. The fourth in the series and it ends with an interesting development that I'm curious to see played out in the next book.
3 stars
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A Walk in the Woods:Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson - almost on a whim, the author decides to walk the trail, seemingly with little preparation. And his traveling companion is even less prepared. Lots of history and geology lessons along the way, with very un-pc thoughts about the residents of Georgia. This wasn't as amusing as I expected.
2 stars
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Random Acts by J.A. Jance - a short e-book in which Sheriff Joanna Brady learns her mother and stepfather have been killed in a car accident. Or was it? I don't think it's fair to put important info in these short stories. Book 17 in the series started with Joanna dealing with their deaths and you're going when did this happen?
2 stars
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The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware - Lo Blacklock is not dealing well with a recent trauma. So when she thinks she's heard a woman thrown overboard while on a cruise she has trouble getting others to believe her. For one thing, no one is missing and no one saw the woman except Lo. But someone believes her and it's probably the murderer. Or is the whole thing her imagination?
4 stars
3 stars
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Reckless Creed by Alex Kava - Ryder Creed and his K9 search and rescue dogs are called on for something different than the usual. Someone is trying to start a pandemic and the dogs are being trained to detect the virus. Although this is billed as the third Ryder Creed novel, Maggie O'Dell, the FBI agent from the author's other series features just as much. She's on the search for the rogue scientist that escaped her in the previous Creed book. I like these books because of the dogs.
3 stars
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The Girl from Venice by Martin Cruz Smith - it's near the end of WWII in Italy, and one night Cenzo, a fisherman, pulls into his boat a young girl on the run from the Nazis. He decides to help smuggle her out of the country. This is supposed to be a historical mystery with some romance but it didn't hit any of those for me. A little too slow paced until the very end.
2 stars
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In Big Trouble by Laura Lippman - Tess Monaghan is out of her comfort zone when she goes to Texas to find an old boyfriend. She gets dragged into a 20 year old murder and at the same time the boyfriend is being accused of a current murder. The fourth in the series and it ends with an interesting development that I'm curious to see played out in the next book.
3 stars
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A Walk in the Woods:Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson - almost on a whim, the author decides to walk the trail, seemingly with little preparation. And his traveling companion is even less prepared. Lots of history and geology lessons along the way, with very un-pc thoughts about the residents of Georgia. This wasn't as amusing as I expected.
2 stars
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Random Acts by J.A. Jance - a short e-book in which Sheriff Joanna Brady learns her mother and stepfather have been killed in a car accident. Or was it? I don't think it's fair to put important info in these short stories. Book 17 in the series started with Joanna dealing with their deaths and you're going when did this happen?
2 stars
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The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware - Lo Blacklock is not dealing well with a recent trauma. So when she thinks she's heard a woman thrown overboard while on a cruise she has trouble getting others to believe her. For one thing, no one is missing and no one saw the woman except Lo. But someone believes her and it's probably the murderer. Or is the whole thing her imagination?
4 stars
Sunday, November 13, 2016
Nov 6 - 12, 2016
Butcher's Hill by Laura Lippman - the 3rd Tess Monaghan book. She's made it official and has opened her own office as a private investigator. Her first client is the notorious vigilante, Luther Beale, just out of prison for killing a young boy. He wants her to find the witnesses to the crime so that he can make retribution to them. But when they start turning up dead Tess wonders if she's helping him find them for another reason. Published in 1998, there are some interesting conversations about race that are relevant to today. Tess is starting to grow on me as she continues to become more mature.
3.5 stars
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Downfall by J.A. Jance - Sheriff Joanna Brady is planning the funeral of her mother and stepfather when she receives word there has been a murder/suicide or double homicide. Two women have been found at the bottom of a cliff. When it becomes apparent there was no connection between the two women, Joanna finds herself in the middle of a complex investigation while also grieving. And oh yes, she's also expecting a baby girl and in the middle of a reelection campaign.
4.5 stars
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Blind Sight by Carol O'Connell - the 12th Kathleen Mallory book. A nun and a blind boy disappear from a busy street and no one sees it happen. Mallory becomes involved because of the nun and the clues lead to the mayor of New York. This book is written in a (to me) disjointed style that makes it almost necessary to have read at least some of the previous books. The books are dark, Mallory is not likeable, and this book is no exception. I find them strangely compelling.
4 stars
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A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny - the 12th Armand Gamache book and the author is still going strong. The books starts with little tidbits of hints of what's to come and just keeps building. Gamache has come out of retirement to become head of the Surete police academy. The corruption he's been fighting has settled even here and he plans to dig it out. But a murder may lay those plans to rest. There's also an old found map, sullen cadets and a mysterious girl woven in.
5 stars
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An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison - the author's story of her struggle with manic depression beginning in her teen years. She has gone on to become a leading authority on the disease.
4 stars
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Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris - Jack and Grace are the perfect couple. He's handsome and oh so attentive to her every thought. She pulls off dinner parties with ease. But what happens when everyone leaves? It's not a spoiler to say not everything is as it seems. It's the why that's horrifying.
3 stars
3.5 stars
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Downfall by J.A. Jance - Sheriff Joanna Brady is planning the funeral of her mother and stepfather when she receives word there has been a murder/suicide or double homicide. Two women have been found at the bottom of a cliff. When it becomes apparent there was no connection between the two women, Joanna finds herself in the middle of a complex investigation while also grieving. And oh yes, she's also expecting a baby girl and in the middle of a reelection campaign.
4.5 stars
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Blind Sight by Carol O'Connell - the 12th Kathleen Mallory book. A nun and a blind boy disappear from a busy street and no one sees it happen. Mallory becomes involved because of the nun and the clues lead to the mayor of New York. This book is written in a (to me) disjointed style that makes it almost necessary to have read at least some of the previous books. The books are dark, Mallory is not likeable, and this book is no exception. I find them strangely compelling.
4 stars
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A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny - the 12th Armand Gamache book and the author is still going strong. The books starts with little tidbits of hints of what's to come and just keeps building. Gamache has come out of retirement to become head of the Surete police academy. The corruption he's been fighting has settled even here and he plans to dig it out. But a murder may lay those plans to rest. There's also an old found map, sullen cadets and a mysterious girl woven in.
5 stars
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An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison - the author's story of her struggle with manic depression beginning in her teen years. She has gone on to become a leading authority on the disease.
4 stars
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Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris - Jack and Grace are the perfect couple. He's handsome and oh so attentive to her every thought. She pulls off dinner parties with ease. But what happens when everyone leaves? It's not a spoiler to say not everything is as it seems. It's the why that's horrifying.
3 stars
Sunday, November 6, 2016
Oct 30 - Nov 5, 2016
The White Mirror by Elsa Hart - Li Du, an exiled librarian and now independent traveler, is traveling with a caravan in the mountains leading to Lhasa. A storm forces them to seek shelter in a secluded valley where they come upon a dead monk on a bridge. There are many undercurrents swirling among the travelers and their hosts and Li Du begins to suspect the death of the monk was not really suicide. I found this second in the series a little disappointing. There were almost too many legends and suspicions woven into the main story.
3 stars
3 stars
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