Trust No One

James Rollins' standalone thriller Trust No One (#1,360) is just the ticket for a hot afternoon read in front of a cool fan.  

The action is nonstop as American Sharyn Karr studying at the University of Exeter is entrusted with a priceless antique volume and told to keep it safe.  Later that same night, the professor who gave her the book by the storied Comte of Sainte-Germaine is killed seemingly by witches.  Sharyn is set up to take the fall for the murder, but fortunately her roommates escape their apartment with her and the chase is on.  Sharyn calls the number the professor gave her and soon she and her friends are crisscrossing Europe trying to solve the mysteries of the locked book.

Saint-Germaine seemed immortal to his contemporaries; what other mysteries has he confided to the pages of his booby-trapped book?  And who else is in pursuit of those secrets at any cost?  The answers will keep you glued to the pages of Trust No One to the very end.

A Matter of Pedigree - A Carole & Poopsie Mystery #1

Leslie Meier has set her new murder mystery series in Providence, Rhode Island, a colorful setting.  A Matter of Pedigree (#1,359) introduces Carole Capobianco and her plumbing contractor husband Frank as they place an unsuccessful bid on a multimillion-dollar condo in a rebuilt mansion in a tony part of town.

Frank is livid over the outcome, but Carole is secretly pleased with all the modern amenities and closet space in a gentrified warehouse apartment they've rented just down the street from the state Capitol Building.  It's a convenient place to take her demanding dog Madame Pompadour (more commonly known as Poopsie) for her daily walks.  Picking up the newspaper on her way back into their apartment one morning, Carole learns that the stubborn old Yankee who turned down their bid for the condo has been killed.  Not only that, but it was on Frank's current project site!  Soon the police are knocking at the Capobianco's door and arresting Frank.  It's up to Carole and Poopsie to find the real killer before Frank is put in jail permanently!

I got a kick out of reading about Carole's seemingly endless closet crammed with more designer clothes that she knows what to do with, and Frank's parents who supply a constant stream of homemade Italian specialties for their refrigerator and freezer.  Why anyone would want a dog like Poopsie is beyond me, though!  

This is a promising beginning for a new series.

No One Would Do What the Lamberts Have Done

No One Would Do What the Lambers Have Done (#1,358) according to author Sophie Hannah.  What that happens to be, I have no idea, because I found the prologue so strange I didn't care to continue.  I believe it's supposed to be a new take on a murder mystery, but you'll have to find out on your own.  Did not finish it.

The Summer Girlfriend

What a nice surprise to win a Kindle copy of Kristina Forrest's latest romance The Summer Girlfriend (#1,357) from GoodReads!  I was able to download it mid-Pacific and thoroughly enjoyed it.  This is the first book in Ms. Forrest's new series Heart Beach.  

This exclusive Black beach enclave on the Jersey shore is the setting for a fake romance.  Noelle Lewis is trying desperately to get her life back on track after losing a full scholarship.  Her former boyfriend betrayed her and then walked away to save his own scholarship.  Ever since, Noelle has been scraping together every penny she can, working multiple jobs to be able to complete her degree.  When a handsome stranger fends off unwanted advances from an aggressive guy, she stops to consider his unorthodox proposal: pose as his girlfriend at a visit to his family's summer house at Heart Beach.  How hard could it be?  One of her side gigs is acting as a bride's best friend throughout the wedding planning and preparation.  Playing a fake girlfriend for one weekend should be easy and the money is irresistible.  Everything goes well until Jeremiah's Smith's family takes Noelle to its heart, and insist that Jeremiah come back with her the following weekend, and the next, and the next...

Jeremiah, in the meantime is too ashamed to admit to his family why it is painful for him to step through the doors of their summer house.  As the summer progresses, and feelings go from fake to heartfelt, both Noelle and Jeremiah struggle to keep things "just for the summer".

I prefer my romances sweet rather than steamy, and for the most part, The Summer Girlfriend meets that standard.  When things do heat up, it seems a natural progression of the plot.

I'll be looking forward to meeting more of the denizens of Heart Beach in future books!

Mistress of Rome

I also started Kate Quinn's ancient Roman series Empress of Rome with Mistress of Rome (#1,356) while I was away.  The first book in the series recounts the story of an enslaved Jewish handmaiden and a British prisoner of war forced to fight in the Colosseum as a gladiator with resounding success.  This novel happens to be set during the reign of Dormition, the same period as one of my other favorite mystery series by Lindsay Davis, the Flavia Albia series, so I was already acquainted with some of this emperor's deeds.  Perilous times, indeed!

The story moved briskly along, with sympathetic characters to root for, and really evil villains to detest.  All the reader has to do is enjoy the ride and hope that nothing too bad happens to the protagonists.  It does, but they survive against all odds and nails bitten to the quick.

Kate Quinn's stories are a favorite of mine both because of the power of her storytelling and the care she takes researching the details of time and place to make them feel "right".  I'm looking forward to reading the rest of this Roman series!

Spellbreaker

Charlie Holmberg's fantasy novel Spellbreaker (#1,355) proved to be a much more entertaining traveling companion.  

Spending her days as a general factotum for an artist who has taken her in from the workhouse, Elsie Camden has powers of her own - to break magic spells cast on objects.  She feels she is doing good, but there is a problem; Elsie is not licensed to break the spells, so if she is caught, there can be severe consequences, including a death sentence.

She is content to work in the shadows until she comes up against Bacchus Kelsey, a handsome Jamaican about to complete his own magical mastership in Victorian London.  Elsie is afraid of the power he holds over her, yet she senses that he is bound up by a spell cast unbeknownst to him.  Can they work together to defeat the cabal busy murdering magicians and stealing their priceless spell books?

We won't know until we read the sequel Spellmaker!

The Tale of Genji

I thought I would read Japan's first recognized novel The Tale of Genji (#1,354) by Lady Murasaki Shikibu.  Funnily enough, it popped up in Kate Quinn's recent best seller The Astral Library as the literature of choice for a reader to permanently escape to.  Sorry to say, but it would never be mine.  My Kindle version (I was traveling to Japan while reading it.) stretched to more than 1500 pages.  I made it through almost 300 pages before I lost interest in The Shining One and moved onto something much more interesting.

Genji turns out to be the illegitimate son of the emperor by the concubine he could never forget.  In consequence, Genji was supernaturally beautiful, and each and every trial and tribulation in his relatively calm life rendered him even more so, and irresistible to men, women and children.  Genji was happy to seduce one and all.  It was all just a game to him.  He took his poetry more seriously than his sex life.  For me the endless seductions grew exceedingly tedious.  Although The Tale of Genji is stored on my Kindle, I doubt I will ever finish it.  Maybe you will have better luck.