May 20 - 26, 2018

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert - 17 yo Alice has spent most of her life moving from place to place with her mother. It seems a streak of bad luck is always following them. When her grandmother, a reclusive author of dark fairy tales, dies it looks like things might be changing. And they do, but not necessarily for the better. Alice's mother is kidnapped and strange people want her to go to the Hazel Wood, a place she has been warned against. I didn't "get" this book at all, especially when Alice enters another world. I didn't know what she was supposed to be doing or why. This is a YA book, it's possible I'm too old for it. Looks like it's the start of a series.

1 star
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The Temptation of Forgiveness by Donna Leon - in the 27th Commissario Brunetti looks into a suspicious accident that has left a man in a life threatening coma. Could someone have wanted him dead and why? Does it have something to do with his son's possible drug habit? Brunetti does most of his investigating by gazing out his window and thinking. He makes some missteps in this one by not listening to one of his co-workers. As always, much of the book is spent at home with the Brunetti's and their food, conversations, and what books are being read. Not the best in the series, but a calm, comfortable read.

3 stars
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Bittersweet by Susan Wittig Albert - China Bayles is out of her comfort zone in Pecan Springs when she visits her mother and stepfather on their ranch for Thanksgiving. She's worried that her mother won't be able to run their ranch as a birders retreat now that her stepfather is in the the hospital. Along with that worry she gets peripherally involved in the big money business of exotic game farming and hunting. The chapters alternate with China's part of the story and game warden Mackenzie Chambers investigation into the same issues. Although I actually enjoyed Mackenzies portion more I felt it wasn't realistic to the normal tone of the series. The story is told in the (too) folksy voice of China and then jumps to a point of view she couldn't know. The ending was a little rushed and abrupt. I consider these books cozy mysteries and read them when I want to take it easy.

2.5 stars
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Very Bad Men by Harry Dolan - David Loogan, editor of mystery magazine Grey Streets, receives a very short manuscript detailing the murders of three men. All three are named and two of them are already dead. It looks like someone is killing the members of a bank robbing gang but to what end? A very convoluted tale of possible political cover-up ensues. I may have read this book before, the plot seemed very familiar until the end. Too many twists and turns for me.

2 stars
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A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielson - 12 yo Gerta wakes one day to see a barbed wire fence dividing east Berlin from the west. And her father and brother are on the other side. Her family has already been under scrutiny because of her father's activities. There doesn't seem to be any hope her family will ever be together again. But one day she sees her father dancing on one of the viewing towers in the west. He is acting out one of their favorite children's songs and she just knows he's sending a message. Do she and the rest of her family dare to act? This is a middle grade book but it certainly didn't seem childish to me. I found it quite exciting at the end. The only quibble I have is the precocity of Gerta but I think her circumstances certainly contributed to that.

5 stars