The King's Ransom

Hold onto your hats!  Janet Evanovich has a new series with recovery agent Gabriela Rose jet-setting around the world in pursuit of purloined objects of all sorts.  In The King's Ransom (#1,354) culturally important objects including the Rosetta Stone and a solid gold Egyptian coffin have been stolen.  Although the British Museum might have called on Gabriela to aid in its recovery, this time it's her ex-husband Rafer and his charming but clueless cousin Harley who pull her into it.  Harley's head of an investment bank which recently insured every single one of the missing objects.  Strings are being pulled, but he and Rafer have no clue by whom, but they do know that Harley is in danger; his predecessor was shot dead on the street just outside the bank.  Can Gabriela help?

Gabriela doesn't want to, but of course she finds herself in the middle of a dangerous caper.  First it's the Rosetta Stone, which she snatched out from under the noses of the mysterious cabal.  There she meets Ahmed, a skilled and dangerous operative for the Egyptian government whose real prize is the golden coffin.  Soon it's off to Egypt and a wild ride through the desert.  Harley's abduction makes the stakes impossibly high as the trail leads to Florida and back to Europe.

Love the characters in this series!  Gabriela has skills!  Rafer and Ahmed play off each other in a Will they? Won't they? dynamic.  Harley is just plain goofy, but a welcome addition.  Hope this series is as successful as Stephanie Plum!

Aphrodite

 Aphrodite (#1,353) is the second in the Regency Goddesses series by D.G. Rampton, and much of it takes place at a Christmas house party.

April Hartwood is stunningly beautiful. Things weren't too bad in rural Cornwall where she grew up, but now that she has moved to London with her newly engaged mother and her fiance, men's reactions to her can be downright embarrassing.  For her part, April's just anxious to get her mother happily married off to the man who adores her, and go back to managing her heavily mortgaged estate of St. Maw.  Too bad her domineering grandmother has other plans for her - marriage to the Duke of Claredon.  Or is that really her grandmother's plan?

You'll have fun finding out the answer in this clever romance.  Can't wait to read Aurora, the last book in this delightful series.

Artemesia

 Artemesia (#1,352) is part one of the Regency Goddesses series by D.G. Rampton. which I downloaded on my Kindle to take on a recent trip with me.  It appealed to me because it was a light Regency romance similar to those written by Georgette Heyer, the Queen of this venerable genre.  It was just the ticket.

Artemesia has been brought up by her uncle on a country estate where she is perfectly happy to spend time with her friend in the surrounding woods and fields.  She has not the least interest in going to London or having a Season to launch her into Society.  But her uncle has determined he is not doing his duty by Artemesia, so he insists on bringing her to town.  But all does not go smoothly; she has never understood the scandal surrounding her mother, or the identity of her father.  She is about to find out...

A fun romp with a happy ending never in doubt.

Three Bags Full

"Soon to be a major motion picture!"  That's how the blurb for Three Bags Full (#1,351) by Leonie Swann begins the GoodReads review.  While that is apparently true, it's Ms. Swann's other quirky mysteries which caught my attention.  This is an early book of hers and is now enjoying a resurgence in popularity.

When a shepherd is killed in a remote Irish village, there is much speculation about the perpetrator and the motive, but not a lot of activity to actually solve the mystery.  But the sheep in his flock want to know.  Led by the feisty Miss Maple each sheep contributes his or her bit to the pool of knowledge as they weave the facts together.  After all, their fates depend on it...

There is now a second book in this series, and I look forward to reading it, too.  One piece of advice: if you have never read Three Bags Full, do yourself a favor and skip the intro by A.J.Finn.  It's been added to the reprint of the original.  If you want to have all the plot points and twists explained to you in excruciating detail before you have the pleasure of reading it for yourself, by all means read Finn's intro.  I stopped well before I finished it with a distinct air of relief.  It reminded me of when I was a junior in high school and my class was assigned Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter.  Fortunately for me, I had already read it on my own.  Our teacher (who was a graduate student at Harvard) began the first class on the book by announcing "The minister did it."  Way to disincentivize a class of teenagers whose only interest might have been the smutty speculation!  Save yourself that disappointment and forge ahead on your own with Three Bags Full.  After all, you can always go back and read the analysis afterwards. 

The Book of Lost Hours

If you don't normally think of yourself as a science fiction reader, you might want to give Hayley Gelfuso's novel The Book of Lost Hours (#1,350) a try.  The action begins when Lisavet Levy's father, a watchmaker, puts her inside the mysterious time space to save her from the Nazis on Kristallnacht.  She never sees him again.  She grows up mostly alone, learning about the books on the walls of shelves in this place.  But it isn't totally safe; she sees uniformed men searching the shelves and destroying certain books.

Years go by until Lisavet meets Ernest, a young American, and falls in love.  Book is their story as they deal with the consequences of destroying or preserving memories.  Lisavet is eventually forced back into the outside world by a brutal and powerful American agent working for a secret government program.  Given a new identity, she meets Ernest again but must keep life-changing knowledge from him.  It's a difficult dance. 

There are some interesting ideas here about the space/time continuum.  Could it work like this?  An intriguing premise.

The Taking of Jemima Boone: Colonial Settlers, Tribal Nations, and the Kidnap That Shaped America

I've been meaning to read Matthew Pearl's book The Taking of Jemima Boone: Colonial Settlers, Tribal Nations, and the Kidnap That Shaped American (#1,349) for quite some time.  I'm only just now getting around to it, but the timing has proven to be perfect, since we are also watching Ken Burns' The American Revolution on television.  I've been amazed at how the stories dovetail.  It's all part of the arc of the American imperative for western expansion and the European politics which aimed to limit that growth with both sides using the native Indians to further their own purposes.

Jemima Boone was close to her legendary father Daniel Boone who never met a boundary he didn't want to push.  He had brought his family to Boonesboro in Kentucky despite warnings from both the British authorities and the Indians themselves, who understood that Kentucky was part of their sacred hunting grounds as set apart by the British monarch.  Neither stricture made much of an impression on Daniel.  Jemima and two other daughters of the fort's other leader were captured from their canoe in plain sight of the settlement in July of 1776.  When the Indian leader of the expedition recognized Jemima as Daniel Boone's daughter, his prize became even more valuable as a bargaining chip.  It set off a series of events which influenced the very outcome of the American Revolution itself and the trajectory of new nation in its greed for new territory.

Pearl's background as a historical novelist infuses this non-fiction work with all the page-turning suspense of those thrillers as he explores a little-known aspect of our common history.

A Ferry Merry Christmas

What's Christmas without a Debbie Macomber book to give you the warm fuzzies of a holiday romance?  This year it's A Ferry Merry Christmas (#1,348).  Ms. Macomber says she based her story on a rare occurrence: one of the Puget Sound ferries stranding on a sandbank.

Avery Bond is taking the Bremerton ferry to meet her brother in Seattle for the Christmas holiday, their first without their beloved Grams who raised them.  To sweeten the pot, Reid has made them a reservation at her favorite seafood restaurant overlooking the Sound.  

To the trio of Navy submariners aboard, something is sounding off about the ferry's engine, but frankly, Harrison is more interested in the cute brunette aboard.  Avery wants nothing to do with him at first because she's been burned by a two-timing Navy man.  Harrison persuades her to give him a chance for as long as it takes the ferry to reach Seattle.

In the meantime, her brother and his sister are awaiting the ferry's arrival at the Seattle terminal.  Reid recognizes Kellie from a workshop she gave at Microsoft and they wind up spending the time together as well.

Yes, there's no mystery about what's going to happen here, but it's always entertaining to watch the romance (in this case, the romances!) unfold.  Something warm to put you in the mood for the holidays!

Katabasis

R.F Kuang is certainly catholic in her output.  Katabasis (#1,347) is her take on a classic trope of a journey through the Underworld.  Here Asian, classical and Inferno references all have a place.  The question is, can you stick through the extended philosophical flights long enough to return to the upper world?

An American graduate student wins a place at Cambridge with a world-renowned Professor of Analytical Magick.  In reality, he's a misogynistic, bullying parasite who expects absolutely everything from his hapless advisees.  Alice Law is never quite sure whether or not she deliberately messed up her pentagram which caused Grimes to explode.  But that creates a problem for her; Grimes hasn't approved her dissertation yet.  She frantically researches spells for entering the Underworld with the thought of retrieving Professor Grimes.  Just as she's about to complete the pentagram, her nemesis Patrick appears and jumps inside the form with her.  Her academic rival is the very last person Alice wants accompanying her on a trip to Hell; but isn't that appropriate?

Do they succeed?  Is Professor Grimes really worth saving?  Will either Alice or Partick or both survive to re-emerge in the upper world again?  It's only a considerable investment of your precious time to find out.

There Will Be Bodies

There Will Be Bodies (#1,346) by Lindsey Davis delivers on its promise, but certainly not in the way that private investigator Flavia Albia and her husband Tiberius Manlius Faustus expect in this entertaining mystery series

Tiberius grew up in his uncle Tullius' house.  They theoretically share the family fortune, but that's a notion more than a fact as Tullius can squeeze a sesterce so hard the gods would shriek.  He's inveigled Tiberius Manlius to renovate a vacation villa for him he bought for a song not too far from Mt. Vesuvius.  The eruption was over ten years ago, but there's a catch; the villa is still half buried in volcanic debris.  If Tiberius can clean it up for him, they will have the use of the property during the project.  A seaside villa sounds like a good idea when it might be prudent for the family to be out of reach of the Emperor for the time being.  The seller of the property warns them at a meeting that his brother went missing at the time of the eruption - so be on the lookout for any clues to his whereabouts.

Flavia Albia and Tiberius Manlius along with their household therefore aren't surprised to find skeletal remains on the property, but they are shocked by the circumstances and the number of bodies.  Flavia, of course, has been commissioned by the former owner to identify his older brother, if possible, but now she's on a mission to identify the other bodies on the property and the circumstances which led to their deaths.  Even though it happened ten years ago, Flavia Albia is stirring up a hornet's nest amongst those who presumed the victims would never be found.  The pirates! The pirates, O beware!

Wish You Were Here

It was really surprising to read Jodi Picoult's Covid pandemic novel Wish You Were Here (#1,345).  Not only did it have a shocking twist in the middle, but it all seemed as though the story took place years ago, not just a relatively brief five years ago.  That was the consensus of my book club as well.

Diana O'Toole is just where she wants to be in life.  Her trip to the Galapagos with her boyfriend Finn will result in their engagement: she's seen the ring in his sock drawer.  But when a mysterious virus shows up suddenly in New York City, it's all hands-on-deck for Finn, a surgery resident at New York Presbyterian.  Since their trip is all paid for, he suggests Diana go on her own, safe from the virus.  She agrees and winds up isolated on Isabela Island as the Galapagos shut down as well.  This is the story of how the couple copes with their enforced separation.  Or do they?

It's the classic fever dream story.  Relationships are turned on their heads as the entire world shuts down.  Diana and Finn are only able to communicate sporadically by email as she settles into island life and new relationships while Finn is overwhelmed both physically and emotionally by the demands of his hospital work.  Once they are reunited, can they resume the perfect relationship they once shared?

It's an absorbing read touching on the issues of love and loss.  If you are reading this, you are old enough to have lived through this turbulent time yourself and Diana and Finn's dilemmas are entirely relatable. 

Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution

Nathaniel Philbrick's work Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution (#1,344) was originally published in 2013, but it is just as fascinating today, especially if you intend to watch Ken Burn's newest documentary on the American Revolution.  I thought I knew quite a bit about the Revolutionary history where I grew up, but reading this book opened my eyes to just how much I didn't know.

Philbrick introduces the reader to people, places and politics which led to the bloody battle of Bunker Hill (which actually took place on nearby Breeds Hill) and the British evacuation of besieged Boston less than a year later.  The descriptions he includes of the good, the bad and the ugly make these historical figures and events come alive on the page through their own words.

Mr. Philbrick also makes it clear how the outcomes of these events turned on the smallest details.  What if the patriots had had enough gunpowder at Bunker Hill?  What if General Gage authorized British attacks on key points like Dorchester Heights?  What if smallpox hadn't riddled the besieged city of Boston?  It is astonishing how fragile the American victory actually was!  His extensive notes at the end of the book are equally interesting, expanding on the text with references to pertinent web sites, etc.

I was constantly reminded of the places where I played growing up - Quarry Hill and the old Powder House in what is today Somerville, Massachusetts and was then Charlestown Without the Neck.  Coming out every year to watch Paul Revere ride by on his horse.  I was fortunate to have parents who were interested in history as well and brought us to visit the local sites.

It was interesting to read that John Quincy Adams refused to attend any of the memorials of the battle at Bunker Hill, including the dedication of the monument in 1843, because the memories of watching the actual battle with his mother when he was eight years old were too vivid and painful.  I have climbed that monument many, many times, but my most vivid memory is of a day in the 1980s when I was doing post graduate work at Northeastern.  We were to tour a neighborhood clinic adjacent to the monument so a few of the adult students took the opportunity to climb to the top.  We'll never forget overhearing one of the younger students earnestly explaining to the others with her that "This is where the Americans rolled the cannon balls down onto the heads of the British..."  Yikes!  Bunker Hill ought to be mandatory reading for them all!

The Busybody Book Club

Who ever heard of a small community book club involved in a murder mystery?  Especially one where the members of said book club are each a part of a mystery of their own tied to that murder?  It works surprisingly well in Freya Sampson's The Busybody Book Club (#1,363).

Nova Davies should be concentrating on her upcoming wedding in a few days, but hanging on to her job at the community center is getting harder.  Her evening book group is a perfect example.  One of the members of the group is suspected of nicking the cash to repair the roof of the community center building.  The money is essential in order to keep it open.  Otherwise, it will be condemned, and where will all the people who depend on its services go in this remoted Cornish coastal town?  

When the book club members hear they are under suspicion, they bond together to find out "who dunnit".  Michael, a newcomer to the group, is a prime suspect since he rushed out of the meeting on the night the money went missing.  Following the examples of their favorite fictional detectives, they find a body at his home, and Michael missing.  Case closed?  Not since more evidence points to Nova herself as the likely culprit.

As they investigate, each member of the book club turns out to have secrets of their own.  As these are slowly revealed, the plot thickens, and so do their bonds with each of these lonely folks.  All will become clear at Nova's wedding - if she ever makes it to the church!

Entertaining characters and evolving relationships are at the heart of this cozy mystery.  If you enjoy character-driven stories, you will also want to check out Freya Sampson's Nosy Neighbors.

Apostle's Cove

Cork O'Connor is forced to confront an episode from his past in William Kent Krueger's Apostle's Cove (#1,362), the latest in his popular Cork O'Connor mystery series set in northern Minnesota.  A brutal murder which took place in Aurora twenty-five years ago has re-surfaced when Cork's son Steve, a law student, begins working for an organization similar to The Innocence Project.  Although Cork has long been retired as sheriff in town, the murder of Chastity McGill has always haunted him.  His feelings are confirmed when Steve phones to tell him he's convinced his father sent the wrong man to jail.

Cork and Steve's investigation (with the help of his daughter Jenny) stirs up old wounds in Aurora.  It quickly becomes obvious that someone does not want to re-visit Chastity's murder, especially her glamorous and infamous mother Aphrodite.  She was found at the time with a bloody knife sitting by her daughter's body.  Could she be responsible?  The problem is that Chastity's estranged husband Axel Boshey long ago confessed to the crime and has been behind bars for decades.  When Cork confronts him, he maintains that he is doing good behind bars, and that is where he belongs.  But as facts are slowly uncovered, Cork is convinced that the real murderer is still out there...

This was the perfect time of year to be reading this book, as it is set in the Halloween season.  The crime is presented in both the past and the present as justice slowly grinds.  It is good to spend time with familiar characters.

The Red Kimono

The Red Kimono (#1,361) by Jan Morrill tells a story of Americans of Japanese descent caught up in the turmoil after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  Sachiko and Nobu Kimura have never known anything but the quiet Berkeley neighborhood where they have been brought up.  The bombing changes everything as their father becomes the victim of a hate crime and is beaten in a local park in front of young Sachiko.  She recognizes one of the three boys involved in the beating as a friend of her older brother.

The novel follows the lives of both the perpetrator and the victims as the Kimura family are relocated to an internment camp for their "protection", and Terrence is processed through the American legal system for his crime.  It makes for thought-provoking reading.

How can you be asked to support a country where you are denied the most basic of rights?  Sachiko, Nobu and Terrence all struggle in their own ways to make meaningful connections and make the best of a horrific situation.

Recommended reading for those who have only recently become aware of what the American government has done to its own people in the past, and are concerned about what might be in store for the future.

The Magician of Tiger Castle

Louis Sachar has written his first novel for adults with The Magician of Tiger Castle (#1,361) and I, for one, hope he continues to entertain his expanded readership.  I've seen this book lumped into both science fiction and fantasy categories, but to me, it was more magical realism.  However you decide to characterize it, though, it is a charming picaresque tale set in 1523.

Anatole is the official magician for a small Italian city state where the wedding of the century is shortly to take place.  The King and Queen want their daughter to be docilely presented at the altar to unite their kingdom with the even more powerful Oxatanian kingdom next door.  Tullia, their daughter, is not going to go willingly; she is in love with Pito, a poor scribe working at the court.  What can be done to change her mind?  Both parents and Tullia appeal to Anatole to help them out of a sticky situation.  Anatole, a kind soul, is caught between a rock and a hard place, but his strongest sympathy is with Tullia.  He intends, however, to go along with the king's wishes until the bridegroom is revealed.  The stakes become personal for Anatole...

The story is rooted in the events happening across Europe in that time period, but just enough so that what is affecting the characters pushes the plot along.  In a seemingly impossible situation, can love conquer all?  You'll definitely be rooting for Anatole!

Murder At Gulls Nest

In what I hope is going to be a continuing series, Jess Kidd introduces readers to Nora Breen, former nun, in her latest book Murder At Gulls Nest (#1,360).  

The Gulls Nest in question is a rundown boarding house perched on the edge of an equally down-at-the-heels beach resort town in Kent.  Nora has left her order after thirty years and is using her time to investigate why another young postulant of the order has stopped writing to her.  

Freida Brogan's health has forced her back out into the world, and she landed at Gulls Nest for the beneficial sea air.  So why has she suddenly stopped writing to Sister Agnes of the Cross and disappeared from the boarding house, leaving everything behind?  Nora is having a hard time getting the police in Gore-on-Sea take her inquiries about Freida seriously.

Until there is a mysterious death at Gulls Nest, followed by a second death and a beating.  Now Inspector Rideout is willing to take Nora's suspicions seriously and take advantage of the skills she offers to solve the mysteries.

It's quite a dark, bleak series set in the years just after World War II.  Miss Kidd has introduced a cast of "flotsam and jetsam" characters to inhabit Gulls Nest.  You certainly wouldn't want to eat there, and even more certainly not partake of any hot beverages on offer!  Nora is such a wonderful character I hope there will be more of her adventures "in the world" to come.  Don't miss this one.

Murder Takes A Vacation

Hmm.  I've discovered a new author with a list of publications to keep me occupied for a long time: Laura Lippman.  Murder Takes A Vacation (#1,359) has been causing some buzz on GoodReads, so I decided to check it out.

Muriel Blossom, a peripheral character in Ms. Lippman's Tess Monaghan series, has an adventure of her own.  She'd been living with her daughter's family in Arizona, helping out with the girls, when her son-in-law announces that they are relocating to Tokyo.  Sorry, Muriel, no room for you.  

But her fortunes change when she wins a multimillion-dollar payout from the Lottery.  She decides to return to Baltimore and indulge her wish to travel by booking a French river cruise for her and her old friend Elinor.   She'll spend a week in Paris first, visiting museums and spending her days immersed in art.  That was the plan.  But a little romance begins in the Baltimore airport and continues through an unexpected stop in London where the kind and handsome Allan has a meeting.  Setting off on her own to Paris, Muriel is stalked by another handsome man.  But then strange things keep happening; her luggage and room are searched, the police ask her about Allan's unexpected death in Paris, where he is not supposed to be and Danny, her second stalker, is definitely not who he claims to be...

I can relate to Muriel as an older (usually invisible) plus-sized woman.  This trip is forcing her out of the shell she's been hiding in since her husband's death years ago.  She has to rely on her own intuition to get to the bottom of the mysterious happenings.  Opening herself to new experiences and new friends is the key to a colorful life she never dreamed could exist for her.  Plus, Muriel finds out she's a darn good detective!

If you've never taken a European river cruise, don't be put off my Muriel's experience on board the Solitaire.  They really are a wonderful way to travel.  Your normal cruise staff would be fired on the spot if they treated their guests the way the Solitaire staff did!

Accomplice To The Villain

I recently watched a very entertaining author interview with Hannah Nicole Maehrer who has written a popular romcom/science fiction(??) series featuring an innocent village maiden who is forced to seek employment with the local Villain.  Apprentice To The Villain (#1,358) is the third book, with the fourth to be announced soon.

Evie Sage has a way of putting her foot in everything, creating chaos wherever she is.  Trystan Maverine, The Villain, has of course fallen for this, hook, line and sinker.  The tension in this book is largely due to the "Will they, won't they?" question.  (And please, if you can't figure out the answer to that one, the rest of the book will be lost on you!)  Much of the action in this installment is the pursuit of a cure for the spell which has turned a neighboring kingdom's prince into an adorable crown-wearing frog.  Kingsley, as he's known in Massacre Manor, communicates by a word or two scribbled on signs which Trystan has considerately left for his use all over the manor.  That's all well and good, but lately, Kingsley seems to be spending more and more time lapsing into actual frog behavior.  Time is of the essence in reversing the spell.  Many daring and dangerous adventures befall our merry band as they pursue the enchantress who did this to Kingsley.  Things are not yet resolved at the end (hence the need for the fourth book!!), but things are getting close...

I enjoyed the Accomplice, but for myself, I would have preferred a little less steam and a lot more swashbuckling, but that's just me.  Looking forward to finding out what title Evie Sage will take on in the next volume!

My Friends

 Frederik Backman scores another emotional hit with his latest novel My Friends (#1,357).  To try to pin down what the story is about is difficult; it's one story wrapped around another, wrapped around yet another, all to do with friendship, family and art.

It weaves back and forth in time, and between characters who are still interrelated, unpeeling one layer of the plot and emotions at a time.  It may seem confusing at times, but when Backman finally arrives at the end, the conclusion is so satisfying you just sit back and nod to yourself.  It feels right.

It's not always an easy read, but it's absolutely worth the time to meet this trio of teen boys and the painting they inspire.  It may change your mind about art.

Fuzzy Nation

I didn't realize John Scalzi's Fuzzy Nation (#1,356) was exactly the book I wanted to read until my husband retrieved it from the stacks of our local library.  It has action, humor, legal drama and a totally new species!  And, best of all, it's terrifically entertaining.  If you watch and re-watch the Indiana Jones movies, you'll probably love Fuzzy Nation too.  Too bad so many people won't even pick it up because it's labeled science fiction.

Jack is a contract prospector working for a mammoth company on a distant planet.  He likes being out by himself (with his dog Carl, of course) exploring the planet's mineral resources and blowing up things.  His fortunes change the day he uncovers a fabulous vein of priceless gems with his unorthodox methods.  By a fluke of pissing off his boss and being fired, the ownership of the sunstones reverts to Jack under the fine print of his contract.  The fight for the claim is on.  To complicate matters, when Jack returns to his treetop home, he finds a small, utterly adorable fuzzy creature and its family.  The question of wealth hinges on whether or not the fuzzies are sentient...

Great storytelling here!

Dogged Pursuit

The latest book in the Andy Carpenter mystery series, Dogged Pursuit (#1,355) by David Rosenfelt is actually a prequel.  For fans of the series, we finally get to find out how Andy met Tara.  The result is a clever, dog-centered mystery series.

Here we meet Andy who has decided that life in the DA's office is no longer for him.  His wife and wealthy father-in-law are both pressuring him to join the family firm as a corporation lawyer.  His income would be secure, and his life would be a series of long lunches and regular hours. And zero intellectual stimulation.  It's not what Andy wants, but he's not sure what he does want.  

The day he decides to adopt a dog, everything changes.  He not only immediately bonds with Tara, the golden retriever (and arguably the best dog in the history of the world) but her shelter buddy, Sonny the beagle, is part of the package.  There's a complication.  Sonny belongs to a man charged with a triple murder.  In order to take Sonny home, Ryan Tierney will need to sign off on Andy taking custody.  After speaking to Ryan, Andy decides to take on his case.  He has found his new profession: defense attorney. Now all he needs is an office and investigators. The mystery is complex as Andy negotiates through a web of deceit to uncover a high stakes enterprise and unmask the real killer.

This would be an excellent place to start reading the Andy Carpenter mysteries if you haven't already discovered them.  If you're a fan, you will find a few answers to some of the questions you didn't know you had about Andy and Tara's back story along with other favorite characters.

Too Old For This

Lottie Jones has settled into a routine which suits her - a quiet life centered around church and the weekly Thursday night Bingo games with her friends.  The biggest problem she comes up against is what to make for the buffet table.  Everything changes one day with a knock on her door.  A perky young woman announces that she's come to do a docuseries on Lottie's former life - her life as an accused serial killer.

Too Old For This (#1,354) by Samantha Downing is not my usual read, but its dark and twisted plot pulled me right in.  Lottie hasn't worried about being outed in many years.  But here is proof right inside her house that she will be exposed if she doesn't stop Plum Dixon from going national with her story.  Her instincts for self-protection kick in.  Old habits are hard to break and therein lies the tale.

We know Lottie did it, but what makes it so interesting is how everything she does is driven by forces outside of her control, the very opposite of her old life.  I was rooting for her throughout the book despite everything I knew to be wrong.  I had to admire how clever she had been all along.  Does she succeed?  You'll have to read Too Old For This to find out.

Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds

Allison Brennan says that Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds (#1,353) is somewhat of a departure from her usual writing.  Well, I enjoyed it so much I hope she continues add to this romance genre.  I don't normally enjoy steamy romances, but in Beach Reads it blended seamlessly and logically into the story line.  Guilty pleasures, indeed!

Mia Crawford is about to be made partner in the financial planning firm where she has spent the last five years.  She loves her job, but can't the partners just deposit a bonus into her retirement account and let her get on with things?  But no, they insist she takes a week's vacation at an exclusive Caribbean resort on a private island.  What's a girl to do but sit back and enjoy the mai tais?

A guest has just gone missing from the resort and Mia has time to speculate about what could have happened.  Her romantic late-night encounter with a gorgeous bartender at a secluded lagoon is spoiled by a body washing up on the beach.  Mia can't help herself; she's read too many mysteries not to try to track down clues.  A used book she picked up at a gift shop swap table may hold the key...  And will she ever have enough time with Jason Mallory to have that romantic fling she promised herself?

It's a great locked room mystery with an intriguing plot and lots of colorful characters.  I particularly liked Ms. Brennan's quotes from some of my favorite books and authors which begin each chapter, and she's sprinkled Easter eggs for others throughout the pages.  It really is the perfect beach read!  More, please!

Mrs. Plansky Goes Rogue

Well, it didn't take Mrs. Plansky very long to earn the title "Florida Woman..." in her second adventure Mrs. Plansky Goes Rogue (#1,352) by Spencer Quinn.  Despite knowing that there is a large alligator in the pond behind her condo (She's named him Fairbanks!) it doesn't take her long to swim in that pond.  That's the dumbest of dumb moves in any Florida waterway.

She does, however, manage to get to the bottom of her tennis partner's disappearance after their triumphant win in mixed doubles over a rival tennis club.  His fancy fishing boat explodes in a ball of flame after he claims it was hit by lightening.  Mrs. Plansky was right there, but she didn't see said bolt.

Between trying to cope with her father's love life taking place right there in her spare bedroom, and trying to get in touch with her tennis pro son Jack, Loretta's serene life has gone down the drain.   The only person who seems to have spoken to Jack recently is her father, but he has turned cagey about the particulars, just that his grandson consulted him on "business".  That in itself is suspicious to Loretta since Chandler has never managed money successfully in his life.

A clue here and a clue there gradually add up to something bad happening that ties everything together.  The question is, will Loretta survive solving the mysteries?

There Is Nothing For You Here - Finding Opportunity In The 21st Century

 A member of my book club recently heard Fiona Hill speak and suggested we read her memoir There Is Nothing For You Here - Finding Opportunity In The 21st Century (#1,351).  I soldiered through what I  felt was mostly a dry economics text.  When Ms. Hill wrote about herself and her own experiences, the book came alive.  Alas, those instances were too few and far between.

Let me sum up the lesson of this book: getting an education and/or vocational training, as much of it as possible, is the key to earning a decent wage and social mobility.  Using every contact and opportunity which presents itself, or that can be unearthed by diligent efforts will also be necessary.  

The problem is that it takes Ms. Hill over three hundred pages and multiple repetitions of these core ideas to make her point.

Her own examples drawn from her life are admirable.  She has been extraordinarily fortunate in pursuit of her goals, and she has proved that she possesses inner strength and integrity.

But that said, I think I stand by the principal that less is more.  Also, I was very unhappy with the way she characterized my hometown, trashing it as "Slummerville".  If you are going to call it a deindustrialized failure of a place, full of "have nots", at least do your homework.  Somerville, Massachusetts is east of Cambridge, not north, and it's obvious she hasn't revisited it since her college days at Harvard when she fell into the "gown" portion. It's very easy to look down on those you have to squint to see from your ivory tower. Talk about an economic turnaround! I do have to say that it made me wonder what else might be missed in this book since it was written in the 2020s, not the 1980s.  No positive updates here.

Definitely not for the casual reader.

Great Big Beautiful Life

I don't usually read Emily Henry, so I'm not sure what made me pick up Great Big Beautiful Life (#1,350), but it's like getting two books in one.  There's the steamy rom-com with rival writers competing to write a famous recluse's memoir, and then there's the more noirish tale of the infamous Margaret Ives Sinclair.  If I had to choose, I'd go with the rom-com minus most of the steam, which wouldn't actually leave very much story behind.

I did read it all the way through, but somehow, it wasn't very satisfying.  I guess millions of devoted readers know better than me, so in the future, I will leave them to it

Detective Aunty

I was really looking forward to reading Uzma Jalaluddin's novel Detective Aunty (#1,349) a mystery set in Toronto.  It has great cover art.  Unfortunately, as far as I'm concerned, that's the best thing about it.  I quit reading it after a hundred pages, and the only reason I got that far was that I was stuck waiting in a doctor's office with no other reading material on hand.

Kausar Khan is the aunty in the title, an older woman who never recovered from the death of her youngest son many years ago.  She and her husband moved to a remote northern Canadian former military base leaving everything that reminded her of her son behind her - the rest of her family, friends, and mosque.  When her daughter calls and asks for her help, she comes back to Toronto to find that nothing is as it seems.  A man has been murdered in her daughter's shop in a rundown plaza, and Sana is the chief suspect in the murder.  The more she pokes, the more Kausar thinks they may be right, but she will do her utmost to protect her family.

Kausar herself is so self-centered, it's hard to have much sympathy for her as she moans about how difficult her life has been.  It's fine to ignore everyone else who might have suffered losses of their own as long as she hoards her own grief.  

Besides, I found the assumption that the reader who is not Muslim, nor a South Asian living in Toronto would be familiar with the terms used in the book without enough context to explain them made for difficult reading.  Since I couldn't care about the characters, I gave up.  Every book has its reader.  For Detective Aunty that's not me.  

Coded Justice

Just as stories about AI fill the airwaves, Stacey Abrams' latest thriller arrives: Coded Justice (#1,349).  The protagonist of While Justice Sleeps, Avery Keene, is back to upset the balance of power not in the Supreme Court, but in the tech industry.

She's been bored to tears in her junior associate job in a high-powered D.C. law firm, so when her friend approaches her in her capacity as an investigative attorney to vet a major new tech company on the eve of a high-profile IPO, she jumps at the chance.  Not only will it get her out of the office, but she will be able to potentially bring a major new client into the firm.

Camasca Enterprises has developed an integrated health system powered by AI.  It is about to revolutionize the delivery of healthcare, especially for the veteran population it aims to serve.  Avery and her team are wowed by the technology and by its charismatic owner.  On the surface, everything looks good, but Major Rafe Diaz, the CEO, alerts them to an accidental death on their property.  He wants to make sure that it won't affect the rollout of Camasca.  Avery's team will lend the proper cachet to the stock deal when they clear the company and its practices.  What could possibly go wrong?

It's both creepy and extremely credible, which makes this thriller the stuff that will keep you up at night worrying about your own privacy (if there is such a thing anymore!).  It might make you think twice about what you're putting out there about yourself online...

The Convenience Store By The Sea

I'm becoming hooked on the recent rash of novels translated from Japanese authors.   They seem to follow the general pattern of chapters telling an individual's story which as the reader progresses through the book, reveal themselves to be interconnected, usually with a bit of magical realism thrown in.  They're warm and comforting reads.  The latest is Sonoko Machida's The Convenience Store By The Sea (#1,348) translated by Bruno Navasky. 

In The Convenience Store the magic is provided by the store's young handsome manager.  Charm oozes off him so that trying to check out an item when he is at the cash register is like trying to fight off a group of Swifties intent on scoring the latest album.  But somehow, Shiba's fans never seem to mind the wait.  His other employees keep the shop humming while observing the customers and trying to help out with their issues.  This particular branch of the Tenderness Convenience Store is located not far from the waterfront in a picturesque seaside town.  It has the added attraction of a separate dining room where customers can enjoy the seasonal offerings and beverages available at the store.  They even have a daily bento box lunch special to accommodate the senior citizens who live on the floors above the store.  It's a win-win for both and provides plenty of fodder for the stories.

It's utterly charming, but beware.  The descriptions of the food available at this convenience store will make you wish you had a Tenderness nearby!

The Blonde Who Came In From The Cold

The Blonde Who Came In From The Cold (#1,347) certainly kept me entertained this weekend!  Ally Carter's follow up to The Blonde Identity hit all the right notes for humor, enemies-to-lovers romance and spy spoofery.  The Blonde Identity was Zoe's story; The Blonde Who Came In From The Cold is her identical twin Alex's story.  It's hard to decide which one is more fun.

Alex Sterling and Michael Kingsley met the night before they were both due to ride the bus to the CIA's training facility.  Sparks immediately flew and through years of being paired on impossible missions together, they know each other well.  Too well, it seems, when they wake up in the dark hand-cuffed to each other.  Who kidnapped them, and what do they want?  It takes a while for these spies to work out just what's going on, but someone knows all their trigger points...

As the bullets and the knives fly so do their insults, but underneath it all, they know they would die for each other.  They just hope they won't have to.

I certainly hope that Ally Carter's surprise at the end of this book promises that there will be more adventures to come.  These books are worth laying in a goodly supply of the best snacks to keep you company while you read!

The Tapestry of Time

I picked up The Tapestry of Time (#1,346) by Kate Heartfield because the plot is built around the Bayeux Tapestry during World War II.  I know, I know - every other novel these days still seems to be about WW II!  But this one is a little different for a couple of reasons; there's a definite woo-woo vibe because the Nazis are aggressively pursuing possession of the tapestry for its supposed ability to predict the future and the outcome of the war, and secondly it's introduced by a lesbian romance in occupied by Paris.

Since the book led with that romance, I admit I almost put it down, but I stuck with it and soon found it hard to put down.  The Sharp family is gifted with Second Sight although they do their best to downplay it.  But they are able to see things that others are not, and that makes them valuable to the British government during World War II.  Their father Rupert, and his three daughters at home are all recruited for different roles in war work.  The fourth daughter, Kit, is living in occupied Paris, but keeps seeing her sister Ivy in her flat, and outside on the street.  Kit is convinced Ivy is in trouble.  When old friend and neighbor Max also shows up outside her Paris flat and offers to help her look for Ivy, she leaves behind her lover and goes off in pursuit of her sister.  Harrowing adventures ensue.

The point of view switches amongst the four sisters, filling in the broader story about the tapestry and their own attitudes about their "gifts".  It's a clever use of an interesting and enigmatic historical object.  Should you ever have the chance to see the Tapestry for yourself, it's an astonishing piece of work.  It would be fun to think that it possesses some of the powers the Nazis believed it had!

Shadow of the Solstice

A new Anne Hillerman mystery is always something I look forward to reading.  Her latest, Shadow of the Solstice (#1,345) did not disappoint.

Two separate happenings have occurred in the Navajo Nation: a body has been found in a restricted area containing uranium waste, and one of Darlene Manuelito's clients is mysteriously missing on a day when they had an appointment, a most unexpected and worrying thing.  Each event will set off a chain of discoveries with enormous impacts on the Navajo community.

Jim Chee is suddenly thrust into a leadership role when his chief suffers a heart attack in the middle of a briefing on an impending visit from the Secretary of the Department of Energy.  Providing security and access for her will be a major headache as well as an honor.

Meanwhile, Bernadette Manuelito has been answering nuisance complaints from Navajo neighbors complaining about a cult who have rented a spot on a local ranch to celebrate the upcoming summer solstice.  The owners are concerned about an unauthorized sweat lodge the cult members are building as part of the festivities.  The Yazzis think it's a death trap and want the police to check it out and prevent the cult from using it.  Bernadette finds she is in over her head when she goes out to the remote site to investigate.

Darlene Manuelito isn't able to reach either her sister Bernie or her brother-in-law Jim Chee about her missing Mrs. Raymond.  When Mrs. Raymond finally leaves a message with her daughter, it turns out she and her grandson are in Phoenix.  How and why she got there are still unknown, but the more Darlene and Mrs. Raymond's son Greg find out, the more worried they are until they decide to go find the missing pair on their own.  What they discover puts them all in danger...

There are some big issues covered in this story affecting the Navajo and other tribes in the Southwest, both environmental and criminal.  It seems this book will be a turning point for Jim and Bernie as well as Darlene.

The More The Terrier

David Rosenfelt is back with another Christmas-themed mystery in his Andy Carpenter mystery series - The More The Terrier (#1,344).  Laurie Carpenter loves Christmas.  Andy not so much.  But when a small terrier shows up on their doorstep, they're in the mood to be charitable (it's a dog, isn't it?).  They think there's something familiar about the dog.  It's not a stray because it's obviously well-taken care of, but it isn't until their son Ricky comes home that the mystery is solved.  He identifies Murphy by a trick he taught the dog whom they fostered until he was adopted into a loving home.  When they return the dog to his owners, a short distance away, the mother is glad to see the dog but distressed because her son BJ is in jail on a murder charge.

Of course, Andy and Laurie investigate.  BJ is accused of murdering his professor, a brilliant computer scientist, over a grade dispute.  In fact, he has a defense attorney who urges him to plead guilty for a lesser sentence.  Andy wants to know how this sleazebag attorney came to represent BJ, and the deeper he digs, the more suspicious the circumstances become.  BJ is a pawn in a game some very clever people are playing...

Clever twists and lots of riffs on how much Andy hates Christmas.  Entertaining read.

Royal Holiday

Our library has a "Christmas In July" display, and I found one of Jasmine Guillory's romances - Royal Holiday (#1,343).  Not only in she one of my favorite romance writers, but this story featured Sandringham, where the British royals spend Christmas, and a heroine in her fifties.  Romance isn't just for the young!

Vivian Forest has been invited to take a break from her job as a hospital social worker to accompany her stylist daughter on the assignment of a lifetime: arranging the holiday wardrobe of the Duke and Duchess as a stand-in for the Duchess' regular stylist on maternity leave.  It's the chance of a lifetime for Maddie, and she gets to bring her mother as her plus one!  While Maddie is busy, Vivian bumps into the Queen's private secretary in the kitchen of the cottage where they are staying.  The cook is famous for her scones, and Malcolm Hudson is there to take advantage of them.  He and Vivian hit it off, and he finds himself inviting her on a tour of the grounds.  One thing leads to another in the most delightful way.

Yes, this is a steamy romance, but it grows so naturally out of the story you find yourself wrapped up in it all.  It just adds to the pleasure of reading Royal Holiday.

And naturally, there are conflicts - there is an ocean between this pair of lovers.  Will they ever be able to resolve it?  And do they even want to?  You'll just have to read Royal Holiday to find out.

Splinter Effect

In contrast, I thoroughly enjoyed the time-travel adventure Splinter Effect (#1,342) by debut novelist Andrew Ludington.  Think Indiana Jones, if he had the technology behind him to send him back to particular moments in time.

Rabbit Ward is a chrono-archaeologist on a mission.  He's been commissioned to retrieve six manuscripts known to have been in the Library of Alexandria when Caesar destroyed it.  He manages to grab three, but another scavenger from the future beats him to the other manuscripts.  He has barely enough time to hide his trophies before he must jump back to 2018, his own time.  His corporate sponsors are disappointed, to say the least.  So he's glad to be given another chance to go after his real prize - the Menorah looted by  the Romans from the Temple in Jerusalem.  He's tried to retrieve it once before and failed, but this time he's going back to Constantinople in 535 CE and he vows he will be successful...

Things never go as expected, and his own past failures come back to haunt him, while he is forced to team up with his nemesis, Helen, who grabbed the manuscripts from him in Alexandria. Of course, she's after the same Menorah.  And even if they are successful, who will claim the Menorah in the future?  Blending into the past isn't always easy, especially when you know how things are supposed to go.  Their mission is not to change the past in ways that will affect the future.  When things do change, that's the Splinter Effect, and all bets are off.

Rabbit and Helen make such a great team, I sure hope we haven't seen the last of them!  I think this could be the start of a very promising series.  Please, Andrew Ludington, let's go more places in time!

Austen At Sea

 There's been a bit of buzz on Natalie Jenner's Austen At Sea (#1,341).  She's also the author of The Jane Austen Society.  Looking back, I didn't care much for that book, either, and many of my criticisms of Austen at Sea are the same.  I felt that this book couldn't decide what it wanted to be: was it serious literary criticism with the Massachusetts Supreme Court justices debating the merits of Jane Austen's novel?  Or was it about Henrietta and Charlotte Stevenson, daughters of one such judge who correspond with Jane Austen's living brother?  Or was it about women's marital and property rights both in England and the United States at the end of the Civil War?  The story jumped between these threads and others.

Henrietta and Charlotte are invited to England by Sir Francis Austen with the lure of private letter written by Jane to her brother - one that has miraculously escaped the destruction of her papers by the rest of the family.  Not only do these two women in their twenties run away from home to do it (their father, a Massachusetts Supreme Court judge doesn't approve!) but Henrietta impulsively marries on board ship setting up future complications.  And why not randomly introduce Louisa May Alcott as an eccentric fellow passenger as a contrast to Jane Austen?

It was all such a mish-mash that it failed to entertain or enlighten me.  Hard pass on this one.

Just Some Stupid Love Story

I really thought Katelyn Doyle's Just Some Stupid Love Story (#1,340) had some promise.  A rekindled romance between two high school sweethearts at a fifteen year reunion?  Why not?

Turns out that this is the steamiest of steamy romances and not my cup of tea.  If you like the sex explicit and often, this may be the book for you.  I did not care to stick around, if you get my meaning.

On The Plus Side

I liked the idea of On The Plus Side (#1,339) by Jenny L. Howe.  That is until I read the Author's Note with all its disclaimers and trigger warnings.  I managed to read two pages and that was enough for me.  Did not finish.

Takedown Twenty - A Stephanie Plum Novel

How did I miss Janet Evanovich's Takedown Twenty (#1,338) in her best-selling Stephanie Plum series?  My husband found it on the library display and asked if I'd read it.  I hadn't!  In case you were wondering, this is the one with Kevin the giraffe and Joe's family connection Uncle Sunny.

Can it be that Stephanie might be tiring of the life of a bond retrieval agent?  She doesn't seem to be having much luck tracing the skips her cousin Vinnie is giving her.  And it's getting downright dangerous, too!  It doesn't help that Ranger is asking her to moonlight for a client of his whose mother was murdered and tossed in a dumpster.  

In the meantime, she does get a big-ticket trace - Uncle Sunny.  He's a well-known mobster who controls the Burg.  He's so well-liked in the neighborhood, no one will rat him out, including Joe Morelli, Sunny's godson and Stephanie's main squeeze.

And what about the giraffe roaming around the neighborhood?  No one has reported seeing him.  Stephanie and Lula are almost convinced they're imagining it, too, until Ranger spots him one dark night.

Bingo, funeral parlors and acquiring domestic tools are making Stephanie have serious thoughts about settling down if she and her grandmother make it out alive.  The question is - with whom?

Always a fun read!

Alice Chen's Reality Check

I'm not a fan of reality TV shows like Survivor, but I did enjoy this cheeky romance mystery set on one such couples show: Dawn Tay's Inferno.  Co-authors Kara Loo and Jennifer Young have a lot of fun with the off-set goings on in Alice Chen's Reality Check (#1,337) and I did too.

Alice is a no-nonsense math teacher who takes her challenges seriously.  When her boyfriend proposes becoming contestants on a new reality show an old college buddy is working on, he persuades Alice to agree when he tells her the jackpot for the winning couple will be one million dollars.  Although Alice hasn't shared the information with anyone, her mother's stage 4 cancer treatments are eating up her salary and than some. Winning a million dollars would sure help settle the medical debts.

Her old high school nemesis Daniel Cho just happens to be half of one of the other couples competing.  Now Alice has double motivation: to help her mother and beat the pants off Daniel (even if thinking of what's under those pants is making her sweat!)  When Alice's fiancé Chase is caught with his pants down with another contestant, it almost gets them thrown off the show, but the show's emcee and producer are determined to build up the show's ratings even more by swapping the couples and continuing on.  And Alice thought it couldn't get any worse - now she's paired with Daniel Cho and they've got to make good.

The behind-the-scenes shenanigans lead to sabotage and eventually murder on the set.  Can Alice and Daniel stop the killer before more people are hurt?  It's not looking good...

Alice and Daniel are strong characters in an interesting, if slightly preposterous setting.  Add to that a locked room mystery and you have it all!  And isn't that what beach reading is all about?  I look forward to reading more from this South Asian writing duo.

The Expectant Detectives

Kat Ailes debut novel, The Expectant Detectives (#1,336) is set in a charming Cotswold village at her boyfriend's suggestion, but Alice doesn't adjust easily to the move from London.  Add to that being close to her pregnancy due date, and you have a recipe for disaster.  Their rented cottage is quaint, but is a definite fixer-upper.  While dealing with repairs and unpacking, Alice manages to find a prenatal training group locally and meets a few of the local women her age in the class.  

Things are proceeding well when one of her classmates goes into labor and Alice gets a bloody preview of what's in store for her.  Meanwhile downstairs the owner of the shop has been murdered and now they're all suspects.  Can Alice and her clutzy dog Helen solve the mystery before someone else gets hurt?  The rest of the prenatal group band together hunt down the clues and the culprit.

The childbirth and pregnancy descriptions are more graphic than I cared for, but that's just me.  I did think that this mystery would have benefitted by some judicious pruning.  I found myself picking it up and putting it down, so it actually took me several months to finish reading it.  That should have been a clue right there.  And that may have been partly due to the cover art.  Really did not care for it.  I'd file this one under "Meh."

The Love Haters

I am a late comer to the Katherine Center fan club, but that only means that I have a lot of catching up to do.  I just finished her latest The Love Haters (#1,335) and loved it.

Katie loves her job as a videographer, even if some of her corporate clients aren't the world's most exciting.  For that, she has her own private YouTube channel featuring A Day In The Life, where she chronicles those unsung heroes who step forward when needed to pull a man from a burning car, or dive into a pool to rescue a child.  

But things at her company are not going well, and her own job might be next on the chopping block.  But her superior gives her a chance to film a recruiting video for the U.S. Coast Guard.  Its subject will be a rescue diver who saved Jennifer Anniston's dog after it fell off a cliff.  Hutch Hutchinson is perfect for the poster boy role.  The only problem is that he's stationed in Key West, and in order to fly on the helicopter to film him, she'll have to pass a swimming test.  And she doesn't even own a bathing suit, let alone swim!   

Complications and lies pile on, there's an epic "meet cute" and an amazing dog named George Bailey as she settles into a kitschy cottage hotel run by Hutch's colorful aunt Rue.  Katie not only meets the love of her life, but a welcoming family as well as she works to conquer her issues for a goal that will change her life for the better if she can survive long enough.

When I was discussing this novel with one of my friends who had also recently read it, we agreed on one thing: the reason we love these books so much is that there is an added layer of emotional depth.  They go beyond the "meet cute" and "happily ever after" of other romance books and tackle real issues everyday people struggle with.  How many women out there can relate to Katie's body image sensitivity and online bullying?  Ms. Center offers in her pages some gentle guidance which might help others suffering from these issues in a positive direction.  Their own happy endings?  Wouldn't that be nice?  I found Ms. Center's purposeful inclusion of these story elements in her Author's Note at the end of The Love Haters profound and moving.  More books like these?  Yes, please!

Agnes Sharp and the Trip of a Lifetime

Leonie Swann's Agnes Sharp and the Trip of a Lifetime (#1,334) is the second in what I hope will be a long-running series.  Originally written in German, her three books so far have been ably translated by Amy Bojang into cottage cozy English.  If you enjoy the Marlow Murder Club series, you should add Ms. Swann's books to your "To Read" list.

Agnes Sharp and the rest of the tenants at Sunset House have been suffering through a long cold spell with the boiler on the fritz.  Space heaters aren't just doing the trick.  And Agnes has decided to defer telling anyone about the body in the church for the time being. Why should it become her responsibility?  So Edwina winning a trip for two to a luxury eco resort on the Cornwall coast is just the ticket to escape.  Everyone (with Charlie's financial help!) will go with Edwina to the iconic Eden resort.  As the house mates explore the luxurious surroundings with spectacular walls of glass overlooking the sea, the bodies start to accumulate.  Edwina is convinced she is on a mission for her old spy masters, and somewhere along the way she has acquired a white boa constrictor as part of it.  It soon becomes clear to Agnes that she is on the unknown hitman's list and that the pile of corpses in cold storage will continue to pile up unless and until she can deduce who the assassin is...

The characters in these books are just so eccentric and delightfully over-the-top that they make the Thursday Murder Club crew look positively average.  And don't get me wrong - I love that series as well!

I can't wait until there's another installment in the Miss Sharp Investigates series.  In the meantime, I have to go back and read the mystery that started it all - Three Bags Full. 

Wish I Were Here

Catherine Lipton has achieved her goal - she's about to begin a tenure-track position as a mathematics professor with a world-recognized authority as her mentor.  Plus, for the very first time she has an apartment all to herself in a cozy older building.  If only the elevator wasn't always on the fritz, and the klutzy (although attractive) doorman wasn't so busy doing everything but tending the door!  The day of a super important interview for instance, he manages to make her spill her latte all over herself while he's dancing the Carolina Shag with an older resident in the lobby.

Catherine's real problems don't start until the day she reports to the university for staff orientation.  None of the paperwork she so meticulously provided appears in any system - not the university's, not the DVM's, not Social Secuity's.  She has become effectively a non-person.  She stands to lose everything she has worked so hard for if she can't come up with an original copy of her birth certificate.

How she achieves that goal, and what she discovers about herself and her community as she goes about solving her problem comprise the plot of Melissa Wiesner's delightful Wish I Were Here (#1,333).  Life is more than the sum of all Catherine's equations!  Recommended.  And did I mention there are clowns?

The Sinners All Bow: Two Authors, One Murder, and the Real Hester Prynne

I was hooked by Hester Prynne's name in the subtitle: The Sinners All Bow: Two Authors, One Murder, and the Real Hester Prynne (#1,332).  Kate Winkler Dawson promised in her Prologue that she would reveal previously unknown facts about a true crime case involving the death of a mill girl in 1840s Tiverton, Rhode Island (today Fall River, Massachusetts) and that she would be working in tandem with another author, Catharine Read Arnold Williams.  She coyly draws the reader in by setting the scene, although she neglects to tell the reader at first that Catharine Williams was reporting on the supposed murder in her own best-selling book from 1844.  I tried to read this several times, but I just couldn't get over the creepiness factor of Dawson's approach.  Reader, I did not finish this.

The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau

Kristin Harmel is back in rare form after overcoming a personal crisis of her own in The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau (#1,331).  This one has a dual timeline: Paris during the Nazi occupation, and a jewelry exhibit in Boston in 2018.  Colette Marceau is the link.

Colette sees an article on an upcoming exhibit featuring twentieth century jewels at a local museum. It contains a photo of an intricately designed bracelet which she has not laid eyes on since it disappeared with her four-year-old sister Liliane during a Nazi raid in Paris in 1942.  Her sister's body turned up in the river, but the bracelet sewn into the hem of her nightgown was gone.  Until now.  Colette is determined to find out where the bracelet has been and who might have been responsible for her sister's death.

It won't be easy, since Colette has spent the intervening years as an accomplished jewel thief herself, carrying on the family tradition as descendants of the legendary Robin Hood.  During the Nazi occupation of Paris this meant relieving the Nazis and their collaborators of their ill-gotten gains and funding the Resistance movement to provide papers and safe passage for Jews out of Paris.  It got her mother killed by the Nazis during World War II, but it was key to Colette's survival.

It's a gripping read as the links are gradually connected.  My only complaint about The Stolen Life is that maybe a few too many links were tied up with neat little bows at the end.  It was kind of a "happily ever after" overload.  I'm sure that's just me...  I'm glad Ms. Harmel is back!

Insignificant Others

Lena's life is proceeding along the trajectory she has envisioned: high powered career, supportive best friend and handsome, successful boyfriend.  Tonight he is going to propose, right on schedule.  Except he doesn't.  Lena flees home to her aunt on Bainbridge Island.  The problem is when she awakes the next morning, she's in a Paris bedroom with a sexy man.  But wait!  Lena knows him...  That's the premise of Sarah Joi's entertaining novel Insignificant Others (#1,330).  

Every morning Lena wakes in a different setting with a different man from her past.  She has a chance to learn what might have been had she married this one or that one.  Seattle, Ireland, Pennsylvania, New York.  Different places, different careers, varying outcomes in terms of happiness.  When Lena is able to put together the lessons she's learned from these fleeting glimpses of what could have been, she's finally ready to confront her actual life choices and decide where her future lies.

This was a fun read, but with one exception, all of Lena's alternate lives seemed to have involved handsome, well-to-do men.  That was a bit unrealistic, but of course, this is fiction!  Just sit back and enjoy the ride.

The Pretender

I do love historical fiction done well, and Jo Harkin's novel The Pretender (#1,329) falls into that category.  She's taken a little-known historical footnote - Lambert Simnel - and turned him into a living, breathing person.  Not that this novel is a re-creation of his life, but rather of what his life might have been like in the turbulent transition period between the Plantagenet and the Tudor dynasties.

John Collan grows up believing he is the son of a well-off farmer buried deep in the English countryside.  The day a stranger appears at the farm on an expensive horse his life changes.  He is told that he is the son of the Duke of Clarence, brother to Edward the IV and Richard III.  In fear of his life, his father had him hidden away.  He is, in fact, Edward, Earl of Warwick, and the rightful heir to the throne of England.  He is only ten years old, and must be educated to step into his anointed role when the time is judged right by his supporters.  John assumes many names as he is moved around on a chessboard not of his own devising. The uprising backing him ultimately fails and John finds himself in Henry Tudor's household working as his servant. 

This bawdy and thoroughly entertaining story puts the reader into John's mind as he grapples with the constant changes and danger lurking around every corner.  What does John believe about himself and his circumstances? Can he trust any of the friendships offered him?  And what does happen to him in the end?  You will have to read The Pretender to find out!

And just a note: I loved the cover art used for this novel!  It's just how I pictured the boy John (or Lambert, or Edward!) in my mind's eye as I was reading.

The Days I Loved You Most

Nice imagery, but a story is based on its characters, and I found Joseph and Evelyn so selfishly provoking I had to stop reading The Days I Loved You Most (#1,328) before I threw the book across the room.  It's Amy Neff's debut novel, and there is a big name on her cover blurb.  I wish her well, but I couldn't finish it.

Basically Evelyn has been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease.  Rather than slide into the devastating end phases she decides to kill herself before she gets to that point in exactly one year.  Joseph, being over-the-top devoted, will also kill himself then, rather than live without her.  The novel opens with the couple breaking the news of their plans to their three adult children.  Angst ensues.

Touching?  Not to me.  Feel free to try it for yourself.

When The Moon Hits Your Eye

Okay, what if the moon really is made out of green cheese?  That's the premise of John Scalzi's latest novel When The Moon Hits Your Eye (#1,327).  One day NASA is preparing for the imminent launch of its first moon-landing missions in decades, with help from the private tech factor.  Next thing you know the moon is suddenly much, much bigger.  It no longer appears to be rock.  And how do you explain the fact that the moon rock samples here on earth have undergone a similar change?  They appear to now be cheese!

The different chapters in the book cover various aspects of the event.  Some think it's a hoax.  Some think it's a religious experience.  Others are disappointed that their personal ambitions have been thwarted.  And it the moon really is cheese, what are the implications for life on earth?  Is it the end?!

John Scalzi certainly has an inventive mind.  Some of the chapters I found quite amusing, others not so much, but overall, I have to say I enjoyed it.

The Amalfi Curse

Okay, I'll admit I picked up The Amalfi Curse (#1,326) because of the novel's setting.  Positano on the Amalfi Coast is a beautiful place, but as Haven Ambrose laments in the modern sections of the book, "Oh, those stairs!"  (Maybe that's why I prefer Amalfi itself.)  

I was surprised when I started reading it that it is actually a dual-time line story.  Mari DeLuca lives in Positano in 1821, where she and a group of similarly gifted women clandestinely practice the arts of stregheria.  They are sea witches, keeping their town safe and the fishing plentiful.  But powerful merchant brothers have their eyes on the town with the aim of harnessing those powers for their own benefit.  

Haven Ambrose is in modern-day Positano to lead a maritime archaeological expedition to map the many wrecks just off the coast using improved technology.  The very first day in Positano, she and her dive safety master witness the inexplicable sinking of an enormous luxury yacht just off shore.  Shortly afterwards, Haven receives a phone call dismissing her and her crew from the project.  They have been replaced by a rival team whom Haven is convinced is after sunken treasure instead.  Mari and Haven's paths are destined to cross in time and space...

Two love stories, two tales of perils, piracy and plunder, with a touch of magical whirlpools and control of the sea currents, all in a gorgeous setting.  What's not to like, especially if you're reading it on the beach with a frosty drink close at hand? 

A Drop of Corruption

It's always wonderful when a book you loved has a sequel that lives up to the original!  That's the case with Robert Jackson Bennett's A Drop of Corruption (#1,325) in his follow up to The Tainted Cup.  I think at its heart it's an intricate mystery wrapped in a science fiction/fantasy cover.  Mr. Bennett's world-building is amazing, but it's really his unique characters who really pull the reader into the action.

In this book, Iudex Investigator Dinios Kol is assigned to the case of an Imperial Treasury Agent's disappearance in Yarrow, a land outside the Empire's sole control, yet vital to imperial functioning. Working with an Apoth warden assigned permanently to the territory, layer after layer of mystery is unpeeled.  The nearer they approach, the more monstrous the consequences appear for themselves, for Yarrow and for the Empire itself.

I really hated to come to the end of both of these books, I was so wrapped up in the stories.  My consolation is that I know that there will be at least one more book in this series (if not more!).  I can't wait to find out what happens next!

Mark Twain

I was so excited to learn that I had won a prepublication copy of Ron Chernow's new biography Mark Twain (#1,324) from Penguin House.  It was every bit as interesting as I hoped it would be.  Samuel Langhorn Clemens was no saint - there is plenty of cringe-worthy material here - but Mr. Chernow makes him so relatable it's hard to put this book down.  I think the reason it took me so long to read this biography is that it's massive.  The paperback copy I received weighs in at just under three pounds, thus it's not the greatest travel companion.  I also think as I get older, it just takes me longer to read the text!

My fascination with Mark Twain really got a boost last September when I had the good fortune to visit the Mark Twain home and museum in Hartford, Connecticut.  The guide who took us through the house was both knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the author and brought the rooms alive with anecdotes about what happed there with friends and family.  So, when I was reading about that time in the life of Mark Twain it was easy to picture him there.  It's also the period of his life that the general public tends to associate with him - the man in the white suit with a perpetual cigar clamped in his jaws and always some witticism to pass along to an adoring public.

His literary output was massive, and his unique literary style won him a world-wide audience.  His books were so popular that he was in demand as a speaker on the lecture circuit.  Fans mobbed and adored him everywhere, but so did his writing contemporaries.

But as Mr. Chernow shows in his biography, there is more, so much more to learn about him, much of it dark.  Though he adored his wife Livy, and doted on his children when they were young, once his three surviving daughters became teenagers, he virtually ignored them.  In his own eyes, Twain was a financial genius, but the facts prove otherwise. He was capable of nursing implacable grudges against those whom he perceived had wronged or cheated him in business or personal matters.  He was ahead of his time in racial equality (despite the "N" word controversy which still bars his Huckleberry Finn from many public-school libraries) and his work to discourage antisemitism yet scandalized his wife by his views on God and religion.  After Livy's death, there was his peculiar obsession with young girls between ten and sixteen years old which the public at the time thought was sweet but would be viewed differently today through a modern lens.

In other words, Samuel L. Clemens was human.  From his humble beginnings in Hannibal, Missouri through an adventurous life with many changes in careers to his pioneering and distinctive literary voice, it's all here.  Thank you, Mr. Chernow for introducing us to a unique American character.

The Answer Is No

In this Fredrik Backman novella, The Answer Is No (#1,323) Lucas is living his perfect life.  He lives alone, works remotely, has his meals delivered and avoids contact with others if at all possible.  He can play his video games and watch TV on his schedule.  All is well until the day a frying pan appears on the grounds outside his apartment building...

Lucas' contacts with his neighbors increase as the board stubbornly tries to figure out who put it there.  It's so easy to see how Lucas gets sucked into the drama as things go from bad to worse outside.  It's all quite, quite amusing.  Poor Lucas.  But lucky us!

The Reunion Dinner (Busybodies Collection #2)

The Reunion Dinner (#1,322) by Jesse Q. Sutanto is a novella from her Busybodies Collection, but she manages to pack in a boatload of family dynamics in a fraught holiday family dinner.  I'll bet you won't see the end coming before the final page!

Josephine has finally triumphed!  For the first time, she is hosting the family New Year's Celebration dinner, and she's going to show her older brother how things should be done!  She's cooked for days, and the relatives are all bringing their specialties to share.  The only thing that's missing is her son.  He's late, but he's promised a surprise when he arrives.  It's more like a shock to a number of the guests when he shows up with a gorgeous, toxic girlfriend.  What's a mere murder on top of that?  No one will ever forget Josephine's New Year's Eve dinner...

A Villa in Sicily: Olive Oil and Murder

I was in the mood for something light, and I found just the book with Fiona Grace's A Villa In Sicily: Olive Oil and Murder (#1,321), the first in her new Cats and Dogs Cozy Mystery series.  It helped that the opening chapters were set in Boston where I happened to be visiting!

Audrey Smart is a young, single veterinarian working in an upscale animal practice in Boston's Back Bay.  She's sick of playing second fiddle to the male members of the practice, and explaining to her patient's "parents" that she is a real doctor.  She doesn't have much of a social life, so when her high school crush contacts her about meeting up at their class reunion, Audrey hopes things are beginning to look up.  They don't.  When the rent on her tiny broom closet apartment doubles overnight, what is to stop her from buying a gorgeous-looking villa in Sicily for $1?  She's got nothing to lose by entering the bidding lottery.  Audrey is shocked when her bid is accepted immediately because they need her as a vet in the small village where her chosen property is located.

When she arrives in the remote mountain village of Mussomeli, nothing is as she imagined - it's way, way worse, especially when her neighbor across the way with a fabulous renovation underway accuses her of murder.  Can Audrey solve her way out of this one?  (Yes, she can!  Because there are at least 5 more books in this fun series.)  Find out how she does it.

The Dressmakers of London

Of the many aspects of living in WWII era Britain. one topic rarely covered is that of clothing.  Julia Kelly has tackled this fascinating subject in The Dressmakers of London (#1,320).

Isabelle and Sylvia Shelton are estranged sisters who have one thing in common: each owns a half share of their late mother's modestly successful London dressmaking business.  Sylvia, the beauty of the family, lost touch when she married "up" to a wealthy Harley Street physician.  She has learned to fit in with a sophisticated crowd, always impeccably turned out.  With her husband now serving in Royal Navy she realizes just how far they have grown apart.  Isabelle, on the other hand, has a flair for design and the sewing and tailoring skills to go with it.  Her dream is to take over her mother's business so she can make her sketches a reality.  Both sisters are shocked that their mother has left the business to both of them.

With the war heating up, Isabelle is called up to serve before she can buy out Sylvia.  Somehow, the sisters must work out a way to keep Mrs. Shelton's Dresses open until the end of the war.  Coupons for clothes, rationing of materials and government design requirements make a difficult job even harder.  I was certainly rooting for both of them by the end of the book!

Such a simple thing - the clothes on your back - can make such a difference in your physical and mental wellbeing.  Yet such an important point is seldom discussed with any seriousness outside academic texts.  Here it is handled beautifully, and I found the author's comments at the end of the book interesting in how her research for this novel affected her own thoughts about her wardrobe.  I can't wait to track down and read some of Ms. Kelly's other novels.

We'll Prescribe You A Cat

I've become a fan of the whimsical Japanese novels recently appearing on American bookshelves.  We'll Prescribe You A Cat (#1,319) by Syou Ishida (translated by E. Madison Shimoda) is a perfect example. 

 Although it's called a novel on the cover, it's really more of a series of inter-related short stories concerning people who are suffering from various societal issues: extreme job dissatisfaction, bullying, loneliness, grief.  Each person has one thing in common as they seek help from a mysterious Clinic for the Soul.  The Clinic itself is almost impossible to find in the streets of Kyoto.  Once located, the same staff of doctor and nurse deal with each new patient.  As the patients describe their problems, the solution is the same: they are each handed a cat in a carrier with different instructions.

It's so satisfying to read about how the different cat personalities suit each individual's situation and contribute to their ultimate healing.  As you read, you realize that their intertwined stories are leading to one inevitable conclusion.  As in many of these gently told Japanese tales, it is a bit "woo-woo", but none the less enjoyable for it.  Plus, the fact that one of the cats prescribed was a Scottish Fold, as two of our own beloved cats were, sealed the deal for me.

If you love cats and happy endings, this is definitely a book for you!

Swept Away

When you're not feeling well, there's nothing like a good romance to distract you, and Beth O'Leary's latest, Swept Away (#1,318) fills the bill.  When a sizzling one-night stand turns into a two-week involuntary trip on a houseboat, sparks are going to fly.  But Swept Away adds a few unexpected twists: physical, life-and-death danger in multiple ways on top of a May/December hook-up.  In this case, Lexi is the older woman and Zeke the winsome younger playboy.

Yet somehow, it all works.  The dialogue is witty enough to keep your interest, and the actual danger involved when the houseboat is swept out to sea ratchets up the tension beautifully.  They both intended to walk away after one night, but that's become impossible.  What do they even know about each other?  As time passes without sign of rescue, survival adds an edge to their blossoming romance.  Is it real, or is it merely proximity?

Since it's basically just Lexie and Zeke here, it goes without saying that the character development is key to the story.  You'll be rooting for both of them by the end of the book.  Enjoy!

The Taster

I chose V.S.  Andrews' WWII novel The Taster (#1,317) without knowing much about it.  I thought it would be grim, but I didn't quite realize just how far it would go to paint a realistic portrait of the end of the Third Reich.  I did find it hard to put down.

Magda Ritter has grown up in Berlin, more concerned with the effect the war is having on the young men available to date than any interest in politics.  When her parents decide to ship her off to her aunt and uncle in Berchtesgaden in the Alps Magda finds herself an unwanted guest, forced to search for a job to help support the household.  She soon finds herself working at the Berghof, Hitler's Alpine retreat, as one of his tasters.  Her fervently Nazi aunt and uncle are thrilled she is working there; Magda decidedly is not.

What happens to Magda over the course of the book kept me glued to the pages.  Usually WWII novels are presented from the Point of View of the Allies, not the Germans themselves.  That alone made this book different.  Recommended.

Elephant Company

A friend recommended Elephant Company (#1,316) by Vicki Constantine Croke.  I found this non-fiction account absolutely fascinating.  It describes life in a post WWI teak logging camp in Burma where the chief sources of labor were Asian elephants.  Although this way of life was already being phased out by the 1930s, the invasion of the Japanese during WWII spelled the end.  The elephants were prizes for the Japanese, but a group of elephant handlers under the leadership of a British soldier snatched the elephants and a group of struggling refugees right from under the noses of the enemy in a daring escape through the jungle and over the mountains into India.  His name was James Howard ("Bill") Williams.

Williams grew up in Cornwall, fascinated by all living creatures, roaming the countryside on his own.  He went directly into the British Army after finishing secondary school as WWI raged.  With the war finally over, Jim, as he was known to his family, could not settle down at home.  He applied for a position with a British logging company in Burma.  The adventure of an overseas post appealed to him, but the real draw was the chance to work with elephants.  He eagerly learned all he could about them and began to develop new ways of choosing and training them for work in the logging industry.

That knowledge would pay off when World War II broke out, and he was recruited by British special forces to continue working with elephants behind enemy lines, supporting the war effort, and spiriting the valuable animals away from the Japanese to the safety of India.  His daring rescue of the families of Ghurka soldiers stationed in Burma made Elephant Bill a living legend.

There was so much interesting information packed into this biographical book I don't know quite where to start: elephants, of course, but also World War II in Burma.  Ms. Croke tells this true story in such an entertaining way that it's hard to put down.  Also included are a number of photographs and watercolors done by Williams himself.  It's not a new book; it came out about ten years ago, but the story is timeless.  Look out for yourself.  I bet you'll find yourself heading for the nearest spot to observe elephants you can find!

The Big Empty

Elvis Cole takes on a missing persons case for a social media influencer in The Big Empty (#1,315) by Robert Crais in his ongoing series.  Needless to say, it does not go well.

Approaching the tenth anniversary of her father's disappearance, Traci Beller wants to re-open the case after fruitless years of searching.  Elvis finds it hard to turn down the cute girl-next-door muffin baker, so he agrees to look, despite the objections of her manager and staff.  He doesn't expect to find any trace until he does...

And people most definitely do not want him looking.  He calls in Joe Pike for assistance but too late to avoid a beating that leaves him for dead.  All that does is make the pair more determined to solve the case and protect those who might still be in danger.  But you can't unsee something, the quandry Elvis and Joe find themselves in.

I thought I had this one figured out part way through.  I did not!  And I didn't even see it coming!!

If a good mystery/thriller is your cup of tea, you can't do better than Robert Crais' Elvis Cole and Joe Pike series.

John Lewis: A Life

David Greenberg has produced a biography of "Conscience of the Congress" civil rights leader and activist John Lewis worthy of your time in John Lewis: A Life (#1,314).  Rising from a poor rural Alabama farm family through multiple arrests and beatings to a seat in Congress, where at the end of a long and fruitful life, he lay in state in the Capitol rotunda in Washington, this book covers it all.  I came away even more impressed with the man after I read it.

That is not to say that this is a hagiography; far from it.  Greenberg captures his foibles and fumbles as well as the highlights.  What he has done is humanize John Lewis and reveal some of the struggles in both his professional and personal life.

Some of the events covered in Greenberg's book occurred before I was old enough to remember, but many of them I can vividly recall.  Coming across two people in these pages whom I met and spoke with makes me realize my own life is passing into history.  It's rather daunting.  It's also excruciating to realize that many of the gains John Lewis and his co-activists worked so hard to achieve are being hacked away in the Washington, D.C. government of today.  Now that's food for thought!

The Medici Return

More skullduggery at the Vatican in Steve Berry's latest Cotton Malone thriller The Medici Return (#1,313), this time involving an old Medici loan to the Papacy which could be called in by a legitimate Medici heir for billions of euros.

Stephanie Nelle has asked Cotton Malone to check on whether or not a specified amount of money is being stored at the summer residence of a German cardinal as a favor.  It is, but he realizes he's been set up when the police show up to arrest him.  Also caught in the web of deceit is the cardinal himself.  The money was planted to implicate him in a Vatican Bank scandal presently on trial in the Holy City.  But who is pulling the strings?

The trail leads from Cologne back to Florence and the medieval city of Sienna, just in time for its famous Palio horse race, tracking the ancient documents signed by Pope Julius II and Giuliano Medici.  Good thing there's no Medici heir...

Berry delivers another fast-paced thriller in colorful settings.  As always, he separates the facts from the fiction at the end of his novel.  There's usually some history for me to follow up on after reading one of his books.  I definitely have to put Sienna on my "To Visit" list!

Now Or Never - Thirty-One On The Run

I can't believe Now Or Never (#1,312) is the thirty-first Stephanie Plum novel!  Janet Evanovich keeps pumping them out, but somehow the books never get old.  She's one of the few writers who can actually make me laugh out loud.

Stephanie is really in a pickle here.  She's finally engaged.  To two different men.  How's a girl to choose?  These things just happen.  Meanwhile, she's got to bring in some FTAs to earn enough money to start refurnishing her fire-bombed (for the third time!) apartment.  She's getting tired of smelling like a s'more all the time, so some new clothes wouldn't hurt either.

She's hot on the trail of one of the most dangerous mob bosses in Trenton, a masked Robin Hoodie whose spoils go to the homeless and a self-proclaimed vampire.  Who knew going to a laundromat could be so dangerous?  Or that there would be so much at stake?

Lots of decisions for Stephanie, aided by her usual crew of Lula, Connie and Grandma Mazur.  Does she choose wisely?  You'll have to read Now Or Never to find out!

The Lotus Shoes

Set in China at the end of the nineteenth century, The Lotus Shoes (#1,311) by Jane Yang tells the stories of two young women, mistress and slave.  Chapters alternate between Little Flower, the slave and Jinling, the daughter of the First Wife in a wealthy household.

Little Flower is sold by her mother at age six to the powerful Fong family.  Her sacrifice will save her mother and brother from death by starvation. Her mother has tried to do right by Little Flower by beginning the process of foot binding to produce "golden lilies".  No Chinese woman can rise above peasant status without them.

Jinling has been spoiled all her life as the favorite of her father in a house full of women.  When Little Flower is given to her as her personal slave, she takes out her frustrations on Little Flower.  She orders Little Flower to unbind her feet before her "golden lilies" are fully formed, setting in train a life of misery.  Jinling is jealous of Little Flower's ability to do exquisite embroidery, winning Lady Fong's attention.  

When disgrace expels Jinling from her home, she takes Little Flower with her into an even more perilous situation in a Celibate Sisterhood run by her aunt.  She is compelled to labor in a silk-reeling factory.  Treated as a peasant herself, she watches Little Flower rise in the factory as she brings her embroidery skills to bear to improve her own and others' positions.  Jinling finally sees a chance to topple her rival forever.

While I did find the story interesting, and the many details of life in a rich Chinese home fascinating, I was less impressed by the characters of Little Flower and Jinling.  I found them too one dimensional.  Little Flower had a difficult, painful and brutal life while soldiering on stoically.  Jinling, on the other hand, was almost always portrayed as mean, spiteful and selfishly self-involved.  And to have the final confrontation between mistress and slave be over a man was a bit too much for me.  I certainly didn't find him worthy either of the obsession by Jinling, or the capitulation by Little Flower.  Ho-hum.  Read it for the insights on Chinese domestic life.

Worst Case Scenario

So glad I'm not flying 4 - 6 times a week anymore after reading T.J. Newman's lastest thriller Worst Case Scenario (#1,310).  First she wrote about a pilot's family being held hostage so he will be forced to crash the commercial jet he's flying.  Next, a plane goes down in the ocean shortly after takeoff.  Will there be any survivors?  This time, the worst-case scenario is a jet crashing into a nuclear power plant in the Midwest.  Meltdown, anyone?

It's nail-biting stuff, but T.J. Newman (a former flight attendant) adds enough human interest in the character sketches of the townsfolk cut off by the crash, and the staff of the nuclear power plant in the middle of an ordinary day when the unthinkable happens to make you root for them all.  I have to admit going through a number of tissues while I was reading.  I was totally wrapped up in the story she spun.

Her first two novels are coming out soon as major movies.  I'm sure Worst Case Scenario will follow.  The question is, do I actually want to see it on screen, or was picturing it in my head the farthest I want to go?  You'll have to decide for yourself, but no matter what, remember that the book is always better!