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.