Dec 16 - 22, 2018

Field of Bones by J.A. Jance - in the 18th book of the series Sheriff Joanna Brady has just won her third election and just delivered her third child a few weeks early. She's settled down determined to take all of her maternity leave when her team uncovers what look like a serial killer. This book is a little different, with Joanna more in the background providing assistance to her team in the form of getting specialists and interviewing relatives. There are also multiple POVs and a couple of in depth back stories. Not one of my favorites but okay.

3 stars
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Postern of Fate by Agatha Christie - the last book AG wrote and it should have remained unwritten. Featuring Tommy and Tuppence (my least favorite characters and even more irritating in old age than they were in their youth), this is a confusing tale of maybe spies, hidden clues, and half remembered stories in a badly constructed timeline. I'm still not sure what the story was about. I only finished it so I could check it off my list.

1 star
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Robin by Dave Itzkoff - a very thorough biography of Robin Williams. The author was obviously a fan and presents a fairly sympathetic viewpoint. (Which is fine with me, I don't care for vitriolic bios.) The chapter leading up to Robin's last days was heart wrenching.

3 stars
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A Deadly Wind:The 1962 Columbus Day Storm by John Dodge - a rather dry telling of the storm and the conditions leading up to it. I only found this interesting because I was in it when I was 11. We didn't realize how bad it was until it was over. This book had a little too much meteorological info for me and a little too much back story for some of the people. The oddest story was a boy who was mauled by a lion who escaped during the storm.

2 stars
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Curtain by Agatha Christie - Poirot and Hastings return to Styles, the setting of their first mystery together. Things have changed a lot over the years. Poirot is in a wheelchair due to arthritis and Hastings is a widower with a grown daughter who is also one of the guests at Styles. Poirot wants Hastings to be his eyes and ears. He believes there is a very clever murderer among the guests who is about to strike again. Poor Hastings, still not quite clever enough. This is the last Poirot novel, Christie wrote it during WWII but it was not published until 1975.

3.5 stars