The Island of Extraordinary Captives: A Painter, A Poet, An Heiress, and a Spy In a World War II British Internment Camp

I found The Island of Extraordinary Captives: A Painter, A Poet, An Heiress, And A Spy In A World War II British Internment Camp (#1,176) while I was browsing the non-fiction section of New Books at our local library.  How could I resist a title like that?  Its author, Simon Parkin, tells how he came across his subject quite by accident while researching a previous book.

Imagine all the creative people living under the Nazi Regime whose work did not suit the Reich's ideology - writers, artists, musicians, journalists and Jews - escaping if they were able the reach of the Nazis in Britain, only to be rounded up in Britain and sent to internment camps as "enemy aliens" even if they had been resident in Britain for years.  That is precisely what happened, and many of these gifted individuals wound up in the Hutchinson Internment Camp on the Isle of Man out in the Irish Sea.

Mr. Parkin tells us who some of these extraordinary people were, the stories of how they wound up at Hutchinson and how they occupied themselves while they were there.  Mr. Parkin goes on the chronicle what happened to a number of these refugees over the years, and how many went on to faithfully serve the country which had put them there in terrible isolation.  It's a bit of British history that you don't usually find in books about World War II, but an illuminating one.  If you like history, add this book to your list.

The Girl Who Wrote In Silk

The only reason I read Kelli Estes' novel The Girl Who Wrote In Silk (#1,175) was because it was available in my library's Book Clubs Book Bags.  I'm not sure how this book sneaked past all the buzzy notice on Good Reads and Library Thing because it was an absorbing read with tons of issues to talk about at my upcoming book club meeting.  When I mentioned The Girl Who Wrote In Silk to my other book club, the response was overwhelmingly positive from others who had already read it.

The plot ping pongs between two timelines with two different female protagonists: an 1880s American born Chinese woman living in Seattle when her family is driven out by the white population one terror-filled night, and a modern day young woman from a prominent Seattle shipping conglomerate who goes to Orcas Island in the San Juan Straits to sort out the summer estate her beloved aunt left to her.

Their stories are intertwined as the author gradually reveals through the discovery of an exquisite embroidered sleeve found concealed under a staircase in the cottage where Inara Erikson's aunt lived.  Bringing her find to a professor of Asian Studies at the University of Washington sets in motion a train of events affecting Inara's family while revealing Mei Lien's story.

Contemporary readers may be surprised by some of the American history central to the plot; it's not generally taught in schools.  Definitely a worthwhile read.

Murder Your Employer - The McMasters Guide to Homicide

What a droll read Rupert Holmes' latest is!  Murder Your Employer - The McMasters Guide to Homicide (#1,174) is presented as a rather dry mid-nineteenth century textbook.  But, oh! dear reader, the contents!  Ever had the urge to do away with an unpleasant boss?  This book promises to set you on the right path if you are unable to afford the pricey tuition to attend the McMasters Conservatory of the Applied Arts in person.  

After reading about the experiences of several students of the Conservatory, how could you not wish to attend?  The food, the settings, the classes all sound so enticing.  Of course, you do have to deal with the consequences of failing your Masters Thesis - the deletion of your intended target.  If unsuccessful, you yourself will be eliminated.  But no pressure!

Will the students described here succeed or fail?  The journey to find out is all of the fun of this highly entertaining novel.  Highly recommended.

All The Dead Shall Weep

All The Dead Shall Weep (#1,173) by Charlaine Harris is another entertaining entry in the Gunnie Rose series.  And the cover blurb is by William Kent Krueger!  Who knew?

As she is now properly known, Princess Lizbeth Rose Savarov is happy to welcome her half-sister Felicia to her isolated hometown.  Felicia is accompanied on her journey by Eli Savarov's brother Peter, enjoying a flirtation along the way.  On a less happy note, no sooner have the Savarov's guests arrived then their town is attacked by an unknown militia group.  Eli announces that he and Peter will be leaving shortly afterwards.

Hurt and confused, Lizbeth isn't quite sure whether either of them will ever be back again.  Felicia tries to cheer her up with tales of the Rasputin Academy where she is currently enrolled as a budding grigori.  When the two women are attacked again, it becomes apparent that Lizbeth is the intended target.  Who is after her, and why?  

Always a fun read, especially when you know there's more to come!

The River We Remember

I so enjoy curling up with a book by William Kent Krueger.  I just had the pleasure of reading The River We Remember (#1,172).  At its root, it's a murder mystery.  The richest man in town, Jimmy Quinn, is found dead in the Alabaster River in Jewel, Minnesota.  

So many people in town had a reason to wish him dead, but local sheriff Brody Dern would like to sweep it all the rug and act as though Jimmy's death was a suicide.  Fortunately, his deputy won't let him.  Things are still simmering in town a few years after World War II, with many veterans of World War I still around.  In fact, there's even a veteran in town who fought in the Indian Wars of the late 1800s.  There's plenty of resentment against Indians, Germans and Japanese.  It spills over onto the chief suspect in Jimmy Quinn's death: Noah Bluestone, a career Marine who happens to be a Sioux with a Japanese wife he brought home with him to his small farm.  Noah and Kyoko both worked for Jimmy Quinn and his second wife Marta for a time. When Brody Dern does finally arrest him, Noah Bluestone refuses to defend himself; neither will he admit to the crime.  Who is he covering for?  Things come to a shocking end before the facts which led to Jimmy Quinn's death are finally revealed and the lives of many citizens of Jewel are changed forever.

This is everything you can hope for in a book; a gripping story, plot twists and turns, and the landscape itself as an important character.  A thoroughly satisfying read, and highly recommended.  No wonder I'm a fan!

Tides of Fire

Tides of Fire (#1,171) is the latest in James Rollins' Sigma Force series.  Although there are plenty of human foes here, the main enemy is nature itself, in the form of volcanic eruptions and a mysterious ancient species of black coral.

The Chinese have inadvertently set off a series of catastrophic events when they fired an ELF wave at the depths of the ocean after one of their technologically advanced submarines went down in unexplained circumstances in one of the ocean's deepest areas - the Tonga Trench.  Scrambling to retrieve it before anyone from the West can leads to a full-blown Chinese assault on a pioneering oceanographic research installation.  Sigma Force is sent to help.

Hair-raising adventures and seemingly inescapable situations abound here, but as always in a Rollins novel, the scariest parts are those based on fact, not fiction.  The Ring of Fire surrounding the Pacific is real, as we are reminded during relatively minor eruptions.  What if there to be another event greater than Krakatoa or Mount Tambora?  This is the kind of book that may keep you up nights!

Good Dog, Bad Cop

David Rosenfelt has shifted the emphasis to a K Team member, Corey Douglas, in Good Dog, Bad Cop (#1,170) a spinoff novel from his popular Andy Carpenter mystery series.  It has the twists and turns and the humor that you would expect.

The K Team, comprised of Corey Douglas, his retired K9 partner Simon Garfunkle, Laurie Carpenter and Marcus Clark have been hired by the Paterson, New Jersey Homicide Chief Pete Stanton to clean up some of the cold cases sitting in the department's files.  The best thing about the gig?  They get to choose which cases to take on.  Corey's mentor Jimmy Dietrich was found dead on a drifting boat with Susan Avery, the wife of a cop murdered while on a stakeout.  Was it a suicide/murder?  There is no evidence one way or the other.  Corey persuades the team to take on the case to clear Jimmy's reputation.  They have no idea that they've stepped into something much, much bigger...

If you like Andy Carpenter mysteries, you'll eat this one up.  Andy even makes some bonus appearances!

The Vaster Wilds

I must say that Lauren Groff's writing is astonishing.  In The Vaster Wilds (#1,169), she has outdone herself.  The girl who is the protagonist here slowly reveals herself as she escapes the rickety palisade of the fort of the starving Englishmen of Jamestown in 1609.  Outside are the Indians lying in wait in a vast unknown wilderness.  What could be so powerfully wrong that it drives her to chance her life on such a perilous undertaking?

Lamentation Callat's tale is harrowing and horrifying.  She endures the privations of the wild and eludes those who follow her.  Just as you think she might prevail, another obstacle is placed in her path until, at the end, she succumbs.  Surely that will come as no surprise to the reader.  I was disappointed, though, that Ms. Groff could not allow the girl to die until she had beaten every last bit of hope and faith from her, dooming her to die a lost soul.  It's certainly a nihilistic view of life.  Not a read for the faint of heart.

The Maltese Iguana

Ordinarily I love Tim Dorsey's manic Florida novels.  They're packed with interesting tidbits of Florida history and trivia.  I am going to make an exception for The Maltese Iguana (#1,168).  Not enough Serge A. Storm and way too much pot culture and Central America political tinkering by way of Miami covert groups.  Dare I say with only one villain offed by Serge in the whole book that it actually was a bit tedious, and an effort to finish?  Hope he comes up with something better next time!