The Mystery Bookshelf

The Pharos Objective - Book Review

2012-01-27T09:09:00.000-08:00

Publisher: Deviation
Release date: July 2010
Number of Pages: 461 pages
ISBN-10: 1935142151
ISBN-13: 978-1935142157

Back Cover Blurb:

"Driven by visions of his dead father, Professor Caleb Crowe reluctantly joins the Morpheus Initiative, a team of remote-viewing archaeologists determined to locate the remains of the seventh Wonder of the Ancient World - The Pharos Lighthouse - beneath which the legendary treasure of Alexander the Great is rumored to be hidden. Crowe's quest spans two thousand years of visionary history that connects the ashes of Herculaneum and the lost Library of Alexandria with a secret government program and an ancient society called The Keepers. To discover a threshold guarded by deadly traps and forgotten prophecies is one thing, but facing the truth about himself is something else altogether."

My thoughts:

I always love it when I find a new author that I like. Sakmyster is the latest. I loved The Pharos Objective. The plot moved along nicely and I hope the characters return in a sequel. The novel was well researched and the author has a chapter at the end telling us what is real and what is fiction. I had never heard of the Pharos Lighthouse before and feel like I had a history lesson. There was a lot of action and adventure which is a must for the treasure hunt sub-genre of mysteries. I can see this as a movie with Nicholas Cage playing the lead. Highly recommended.

Oath of Office - Book Review

2012-01-27T05:51:00.000-08:00

Title: Oath of Office by Michael Palmer
Release date: Feb. 14, 2012
Publisher St. Martin's Press
ISBN 978-0-312-58753-6

Oath of Office is Michael Palmer's 17th medical mystery novel. I received an ARC from the author. The story begins with Dr. John Meacham talking to himself about the consequences he will face for just yelling at a patient. Roberta Jennings is an overweight patient who refuses to diet, risking her health in a myriad of ways. Meacham had already been disciplined for mistreating patients and knows that Jennings will report him to the proper authorities. All that Meacham can think about is that there are witnesses to his behavior who have the power to remove his medical license permanently. In a flash of irrational thinking, Meacham guns down everyone in his waiting room, muttering "no witnesses" before turning the gun on himself. 7 people die at his hand.

His friend and Physician Wellness Office (PWO) mentor Dr. Lou Welcome is suspended from his job with PWO because he was the PWO official who helped Meacham get his license restored. The PWO blames Welcome for the massacre at Meacham's office. Dr. Welcome visits Meacham in the hospital where he is in ICU. Welcome is surprised that the treating physician is trying to extract the bullet from Meacham's brain when doing so jeopardizes his life. One of the hospital's finest nurses fails to see that an IV in sertes into Meacham is not properly working, leaving Welcome to notice and fix it. Later, Meacham's widow Carolyn makes a poor decision while driving irratically to follow a car with no working taillights. She wants to warn the driver of the car that he could get in an accident but ends up in one herself. Upon a recommendation to try a new restaurant, Millie's Diner, Dr. Welcome and his father eat there one evening. Welcome is fascinated by watching one of the chefs cutting carrots when the chef puts his thumb out and cuts it off with his chef's knife. Why is everyone making such poor decisions? Dr. Welcome investigates and finds the answer.

There is a secondary plot involving the President's wife and her childhood friend Russ Evans. Evans was just fired from his cabinet post as Secretary of the Agriculture by the President for having a sexual dalliance with an underage prostitute. He asks the First Lady to try and get his legislative agenda regarding genetically modified food passed in Congress. Enough said. I don't want to give the whole story away.

Oath of Office is a quick read. I read it in one setting. I like the fact that a crime occurred in the first chapter. It is the beginning to the thriller formula and Palmer follows it through-out his story. The plot is a realistic scenario that could actually be happening in real life. In that respect, the novel is chilling. It gives all of us food for thought (pun intended). The ruthless nature of the political and medical association characters remind me of those I have had to deal with over the years. I loved Oath of Office and think that you will too. Palmer is a master at the medical mystery genre and I urge you to read his previous novels also.

Threat Warning - Book Review

2012-01-27T04:07:00.000-08:00

Publisher: Pinnacle
Release date: July 1, 2011
Number of Pages: 400 pages
ISBN-10: 0786024925
ISBN-13: 978-0786024926

Threat Warning is the third installment of John Gilstrap's series featuring Jonathan "Digger" Grave who owns a company that rescues hostages. The story opens with 2 snipers shooting drivers at random on Washington D.C.'S Wilson Bridge during rush hour. The shots are preceded by a shooting at a mall in Kansas City, and is followed by a bombing at a Detroit school. One of the shooters kidnaps the wife and son of a special ops soldier away on duty. They are soldiers for The Army of God who are posing as an Army of Allah in order to keep the police at bay. They are using terror to re-educate Users, ie, people who take whatever they can get in life but do not give back to society. What do the terrorists want? They demand the immediate withdrawal of U. S. Troops in the Middle East. Why do they want this? You will have to read the book. I don't want to be a spoiler.

Threat Warning presents a realistic scenario that scares me. His portrayal of the members of the cult, Army of God, remind me of some so-called Christians who have a narrow view of life; a view that only allows their beliefs to exist. I am not saying that all Christians are like this but just a few sects like Westboro Baptist Church led by Fred Phelps. They protest at funerals of soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. Gilstrap's characters are also realistic, from the cult members to the law enforecement officials. The pacing of the plot is fast which made Threat Warning a terrific book to read. Highly recommended.

The Abbey - Book Review

2012-01-25T09:07:00.000-08:00

Synopsis From the Publisher's Product Description: "Ash Rashid is a former homicide detective who can't stand the thought of handling another death investigation. In another year, he'll be out of the department completely. That's the plan, at least, until his niece's body is found in the guest home of one of his city's most wealthy citizens. The coroner calls it an overdose, but the case doesn't add up. Against orders, Ash launches an investigation to find his niece's murderer, but the longer he searches, the more entangled he becomes in a case that hits increasingly close to home. If he doesn't solve it fast, his niece won't be the only family member he has to bury."

I loved this book. The characters were memorable and I would like to see them in another novel. The main character, Ash Rashid, is an American Muslim who works as a police detective. His religion is not a part of the plot but is merely used as a character description. His wife and colleagues had traits that were also interesting. The plot was intricate as there were many twists and turns before a surprise ending. I hope the author does a sequel because this was one great read.

2012 Cozy Mystery Challenge

2012-01-18T10:06:00.000-08:00

This is the final reading challenge that I am signing up to participate in. I am joining the Cozy Mystery Challenge at the Super Sleuth level of participation. This means that I need to read a minimum of 10 - 12 books by the end of the year. Debbie's Book Bag is hosting the challenge. You need to sign-up for this challenge by February 4, 2012. It begins on January 1 and runs through December 31, 2012. Each participant must choose a level of participation. The levels are:

Level 1 Snooper: 1 to 3 Cozy Mysteries
Level 2 Gumshoe: 4 to 6 Cozy Mysteries
Level 3 Private-Eye: 7 to 9 Cozy Mysteries
Level 4 Super Sleuth: 10 to 12 Cozy Mysteries

You do not have to have a blog to participate, but you must choose a place to post your reviews. Some options are Facebook, Goodreads, LibraryThing, Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Allowable formats are print, audio, e-book, Arc's, library books, books from your own collections. There will be six mini-giveaways through out the year and one grand-prize. Participants who meet the guidelines for their level of participation will be eligible to win the grand prize: A cozy mystery series of up to 5 books.

Foodies Read 2 Challenge

2012-01-18T08:39:00.000-08:00

The Foodies Challenge from last year was one of my favorites so I will be participating again. I hope to review more than two, which is the number I reviewed in 2011. I have a 3rd cookbook that I read last year that is now ready to be reviewed. The need to make a few recipes slows down the normal book review process. Books that qualify for the challenge include cookbooks, food biographies or memoirs, non-fiction books focused around a specific food, wine, chef or restaurant as well as fictional stories in which food plays a major role.

The Rules:

1. Pick a level of level of participation. The levels are:

Short-Order Cook: 1 to 3 books

Pastry Chef: 4 to 8 books

Sous-Chef: 9 to 13 books

Chef de Cuisine: 14 to 18

Cordon-Bleu Chef: More than 19

2. Write a post about the challenge on your blog. If you don't have one you can sign up in the comments section of the challenge post.

3. After you have reviewed a book, post a link on the challenge page. There will be categories for cookbooks, memoirs/biographies, fiction, and nonfiction.

4. The challenge runs from January 1 through December 31, 2012.

5. You don’t need a pre-selected list of books.

6. It’s okay to cross over with other challenges.

7. Any book format is allowed (print, audio, ebook).

I am selecting the Pastry Chef level of participation and will do my best to review 8 books. I hope there are some good chocolate cookbooks coming out in 2012. That will make things easier for me!

2012 Mystery and Suspense Reading Challenge

2012-01-18T06:23:00.000-08:00

I have to join this challenge again. It's my all time favorite and it runs all year long. This year there are 2 levels of participation. You can choose from reading 12 mystery & suspense novels or reading 24! That's a lot for 1 challenge but I am going for the 24. Books don't have to be selected ahead of time, you can just add them as you go. Also if you do list them now you can change them. The books you choose can crossover into other challenges you are participating in. Audiobooks do not count, but all other formats are accepted. You do not have to write reviews of the books you read! You can choose from the many sub-genres of mystery and suspense. They are listed on the challenge post at http://www.bookchickcity.com/2011/12/sign-up-mystery-suspense-reading.html?m=1.

Venice in February Challenge

2012-01-17T17:48:00.000-08:00

Venice is such a romantic place. I would love to travel there. Since I can't, I will have to be happy with some armchair traveling. The challenge is to read one book in February that has Venice as the setting. There are a number a number of books listed in the challenge post that we can read. All of them look good to me.

2012 Middle East Challenge

2012-01-16T14:23:00.000-08:00

I have decided to join the 2012 Middle East Reading Challenge. With this year being a presidential election year, discussion about how to handle the problems in the middle east will be prevalent. It's a good time to find out how people in that area live. I am looking forward to settling down in my easy chair with a few memoirs.

For purposes of the challenge, the Middle East is defined as including only the countries around the Arabian peninsula. However Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco have been added because of all the recent news reports about them. The challenge runs all year and to qualify, a book must be written by someone from the countries. There are no levels of participation. Whew! If you would like to join me in the challenge, you can sign up here. There will be a link for the reviews also.

2012 Historical Fiction Challenge

2012-01-15T18:13:00.000-08:00

I will be joining the historical fiction reading challenge again this year. I was pleasantly surprised with the challenge last year. I found several new authors that I love and want to continue reading their works as well as finding even more new authors.

The folks at the Historical Tapestry blog are hosting the challenge and have posted rules for the challenge:

"Everyone can participate, even those who don't have a blog (you can add your book title and thoughts in the comment section if you wish), add the link(s) of your review(s) including your name and book title to the Mister Linky we’ll be adding to our monthly post (please, do not add your blog link, but the correct address that will guide us directly to your review), any kind of historical fiction is accepted (fantasy, young adult, graphic novels...)"

My link command is not working so if you are interested in joining me in this challenge, here is the challenge post page address: http://historicaltapestry.blogspot.com/2012/01/historical-fiction-reading-challenge.html

2012 Chunkster Reading Challenge

2012-01-15T16:14:00.001-08:00

There is something alluring about having a chunky book in your hands so I am joining the chunkster challenge again this year. What is a chunkster? It is 450 pages or 525 pages for large print books. I am joining under the Plump Primer level of participation which requires you to read 4 books.

If you think you may be interested in joining me in the challenge, here are the rules that you will need to follow: No audio books or e-books are allowed. This year for the first time, essay, poetry, and short story collections will be allowed. Collections have to be read in their entirety to count. Books may crossover with other challenges and you don’t need to list your books ahead of time. You must select a level of participation and once you pick it, you're stuck with the decision.

January Reads

2012-01-12T19:35:00.000-08:00

I have been laid up with a virus this month and have gotten more reading done than I expected. I have reviews to write for Chris Culver's The Abbey, John Gilstrap's Threat Warning and David Sakmyster's The Pharos Objective. I am still reading Conqueror by Conn Iggulden. All of them were great so I was lucky this month.

The Sauvignon Secret - Book Review

2012-01-03T09:47:00.000-08:00

I was disappointed in this latest installment of Ellen Crosby's wine country series. The book started out right with a murder in the first pages. However there was no link to the murder until 70 pages later. What lay in between was character development on characters who are not part of the series. Nothing happened again until 50 pages later when the author began to lay out a few red herrings and then the denoument.

2011 Page Counts - Final Count

2012-01-03T06:18:00.000-08:00

I have read 32,244 pages from 94 books in 2011. The is way behind my 2010 stats of 121 books in 2010 with a total of 37,906 pages but I intended to read less this year so that I could spend more time exercise. The exercise did not get done. Instead, I worked on a lot of colored pencil drawings. The stats on this year's books are as follows:

Agent X 391
Delirious 371
The Holy Bullet 591
Delirious 371
The Athena Project 275
A Heartbeat Away 404
Dead Center 272
Scoop to Kill 198
The Tudor Secret 327
The Pillars of the Earth 1008
World Without End 1014
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo 644
Spying in High Heels 326
Scones and Bones 295
The Winter Ghosts 265
The Union Quilters 269
I Shall Not Want 276
The Union Quilters 269
The Demon in the Freezer 195
Medicus 414
The Pope's Assassin 388
The 12th Imam 426
The Moses Expedition 384
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest 563
The Blood Spilt 341
American Assassin 434
The Peach Keeper 273
A Marked Man 323
Hooked on Murder 230
The Bible of Clay 512
Hypothermia 235
The Ice Princess 400
A Killer Plot 311
Dead Men Don't Crochet 278
The Accidental Sleuth 273
Terra Incognito 420
Half Past Dawn 356
Survivors 382
Art Deco Fashion 408
The Fashion Designer's Textile Directory 319
Shoes 507
The Bayeau Tapestry Emberoiderer's Story 112
City of Veils 389
The Devil Colony 480
The Traitor's Emblem 321
Hell is Empty 309
A Small Fortune 229
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan 267
Packing for Mars 334
Neverwhere 370
Rubies and Other Gems 400
Valley of Obsessions 251
Sand Daughter 471
The Motive 436
The Fatal Touch 372
Full Black 382
Germ 491
Under Fire 397
The Lost Angel 382
Tempest in the Tea Leaves 304
Sand Daughter 471
The Explorers Code 360
Persona Non Grata 398
A Prayer for the Damned 304
Deeply, Desperately 302
Absolutely, Positively 320
Firewall 405
Late For Tea at the Deer Palace 402
Smilla's Sense of Snow 467
Farm Fresh Murder 292
Murder is Binding 281
Homicide in Hardcover 289
Grace Under Pressure 310
Truly, Madly 305
A Killing Frost 317
The Second Cycle 256
Storm Warning 288
Good Poems American Places 484
Lulu in Marrakech 307
Buffalo West Wing 305
Crocheted Socks 64
Redwork From the Workbasket 128
Colored Pencil Painting Bible 180
The Art of Paper Collage 132
Ultimate Guide to Colored Pencils 304
Creating Textures in Colored Pencils 130
1.6 Million African American Quilters 62
Color Inspiration 247
Essentials of Christian Theology 423
Rose's Heavenly Cakes 498
The Story of Tea 417
Your 100 Day Prayer 223
Portrait of a Spy 383
Caveat Emptor 352

Portrait of a Spy - Book Review

2012-01-01T09:56:00.000-08:00

I was disappointed with the latest Gabriel Allon spy novel. The action was slow compared to previous novels in the series and my attention waned on and off. It took me a month to read, which is unusual for a Silva novel. I would not describe it as a thriller because of the lack of action. As a straight mystery though, it was a good book. Because my expectations for the book were so high I could not help but be disappointed.

I think that the characters and their relationships need to mature some. They have not changed in the 30 years in which the series has taken place. I am not sure how this can be done without hurting the plot so perhaps Silva should start a new spy thriller series to keep his writing fresh. These are merely musings of mine. My real problem with Portrait of a Spy was the reduction in the level of action. Silva's writing in general is superb and if this was the first book someone read of Silva, he or she would be thrilled with it. Us regular readers have been spoiled by 10+ dynamite Allon thrillers and are hard to please.

Top Ten Books of 2011

2011-12-31T09:15:00.000-08:00

#10: Murder by Mocha by Cleo Coyle

#9: The Devil's Colony by James Rollins

#8: Valley of Obsessions by Betty Gordon

#7: A Heartbeat Away by Michael Palmer

#6: The Tempest in the Tea Leaves by Kari Lee Townsend

#5: The Tudor Secret by C. W. Gortner

#4: The Explorers Code by Kitty Pilgrim

#3: Half Past Dawn by Richard Doetsch

#2: The Lost Angel by Javier Sierra

AND THE NUMBER ONE BOOK OF 2011 IS:

#1: Caveat Emptor by Ruth Downie (published 12/21/2010 but close enough to 2011 when I could afford to buy it!)

Authors I Have Discovered in 2011

2011-12-31T09:13:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all of the reading challenges that I participated in this year, I found 26 new (to me) authors that I love and will be following in the future.

Kitty Pilgrim
John Wesley Rawles
Diane Johnson
Richard Doetsch
Conor Fitzgerald
Mark Terry
Margaret McLean
Audrey Braun
Craig Johnson
Mary Roach
Barbara Hamilton
Noah Boyd
Sarah Bryant
C. W. Gortner
Daniel Palmer
Juan Gomez Jurado
Joanna Higgins
Arnaldur Indridason
Ruth Downie
Julia Navarro
Helen Osterman
Elsa Klensch
Kari Townsend
Ellery Adams
Ken Follett
Luis M. Rocha

There were 14 new authors I was not impressed with:

Neil Gaiman
Joel Rosenberg
Joyce DeBacco
Betty Hechtman
Sarah Graves
Robert Liparolo
Mary Maffini
Camilla Lackberg
Henning Mankell
Asa Larsson
Peter Hoeg
Gemma Halliday
Richard Flanagan
Sally Goldenbaum

This comes to a total of 40 new authors that I read this year.

Battle of the Sexes

2011-12-31T08:50:00.000-08:00

I read 94 books in 2011. The number of books written by men and women are as follows:

Women 48
Men 46

The women have won again!!!!! In 2010 the women won by 23. In 2009 the women were ahead by 19 books and in 2008 it was a tie. This year the women won by only 2.

What's Up with Blogger?

2011-12-26T12:13:00.001-08:00

I had to leave 10 spaces between each photo in the last 2 posts in order for the commentary to line up with the photo. Well, it finally looks OK on my computer. God only knows what it looks like on yours.

Our Family Christmas 2011

2011-12-26T11:40:00.000-08:00

Easiest tree to put up. All it requires is a trip to the basement and plug it in.

Snowman decorations surround family photos of my maternal grandmother and my father and his parents taken during WWII.

More smowmen surrounding a photo of my mother from the 1990s. The 3 singers in front represent the singing trio that my mother was in both before and during WWII. They were aptly called "The Brandt Sisters" and sang on WGN Radio, at the Oriental Theater in downtown Chicago and all over the nation.

Sitting Santas in front of my high school graduation photo. A photo of my mother as a child is on the left and and a photo of my older sister is on the right.

A cat band serenading whatever was cooking in the microwave; probably coffee.

The dinner my sister cooked: sage stuffing, Uncle Sharon's Famous Ham and Pineapple Casserole, green bean casserole, deviled eggs, red jello and cole slaw. Dessert was mint chocolate chip ice cream and peach ice cream.

Rocky eating the ribbons and then sound asleep from all of activity. All 15 minutes of it.

Yours truly, the first year of the post menopausal gut. I had nothing to do with its development. It just appeared one day. Really.

A close up of my angelic face that my sister wants a copy of. Well, gmail would not upload it so here it is.

Christmas Lights

2011-12-26T10:42:00.001-08:00

Santa Visits the Condo One Week Before His Annual Ride

2011-12-18T16:44:00.000-08:00

Dreams of Joy - Book Review

2011-12-10T06:21:00.000-08:00

Dreams of Joy is a continuation of Lisa See's The Shanghai Girls. Most of the action takes place during China's Greast Leap Forward, a failed agricultural program that resulted in a horrific starvation of the Chinese people. The author did her research well. She accurately portrayed life during this time in the 1950s.Dreams of Joy starts off with Pearl's daughter Joy finding out that her aunt May is really her mother. This creates alot of anger at both her mother and aunt. During this time, Joy has been thinking about returning to China and helping with its revolution as well as finding her real father,Z.G. Joy travels to China and finds her father fairly quickly and follows him to the countryside for what she thinks is an honorable job to teach painting to peasants who live there. However, Z. G. is really being banished to the countryside for having bougais ideas.While living in the village of Green Dragon, Joy is filled with love and happiness. She meets a man named Tao and falls madly in love. When Joy discovers that Pearl had returned to China to find her, she is angry that Pearl is trying to destroy her new found joy. Joy marries Tao and finds that he is completely opposite of the type of man that she thought he was. The Great Leap Forward program is begun at this time and everyone suffers terribly.I won't say any more about the book because I don't want to ruin it for you. I loved Dreams of Joy so much that I read it in one sitting. You will find love as its theme; the love of Pearl and May for Joy as well as Joy's love for her father and Tao. It is a gripping story of the horrors of the Great Leap Forward program and I learned much about how it affected citizens in the countryside. In this respect, the book is historical fiction of 1950s China. I highly recommend it. I apologize for the lack of paragraphs. The new blogger interface is not allowing me to have paragraphs. If any one knows how to fix this or explain what is happening, please advise. Thanks.

2011-11-24T08:46:00.001-08:00

A Killer Plot - Book Review

2011-11-13T15:04:00.000-08:00

There are quite a few new cozy authors being published each month. Many are simple and old fashioned. However, I loved this first book by Ellery Adams. The modern cozy mystery formula was followed perfectly (as opposed to a cozy formula). The characters were interesting and memorable and will make this new Books By the Bay mystery series a winner.

The plot summary is taken from the back cover:

"In the small coastal town of Oyster Bay, North Carolina, you'll find plenty of characters, ne'er-do-wells, and even a few celebs trying to duck the paparazzi. But when murder joins this curious community, the Bayside Book Writers are there to get the story…

Olivia Limoges is the subject of constant gossip. Ever since she came back to town—a return as mysterious as the day she left—Olivia has kept to herself, her dog, and her unfinished novel. With a little cajoling from the eminently charming writer Camden Ford, she agrees to join the Bayside Book Writers, break her writer's block, and even make a few friends…

But when townspeople start turning up dead with haiku poems left with the bodies, anyone with a flair for language is suddenly suspect. And it's up to Olivia to catch the killer before she meets her own surprise ending."

Olivia Limoges is always accompanied by her poodle Captain Haviland (get it? Limoges and Haviland china from France.). As an animal lover I think they make a great pair. The author's use of a writing group to solve murders is brilliant! I cannot wait to read the next book in the series.

Buffalo West Wing - Book Review

2011-11-13T14:26:00.000-08:00

Buffalo West Wing is the 4th novel in Julie Hyzy's White House Chef series. Olivia "Ollie" Paras is the main character. She is the executive chef at the White House but manages to get herself involved in trickery occurring all through out the Executive Mansion. In this installment of the series Ollie has to deal with a new president, his family chef and a new boyfriend. I think it is the best book in the series to date. While the author has begun another series, I am not sure if this one will continue. That added to the mystery for me because I thought that perhaps there would be a final ending a la Who Shot J.R. I am not going to give you any hints though. You will have to read it to find out.

The Bayeaux Tapestry the Embroiderer's Story - Book Review

2011-11-13T13:57:00.000-08:00

I picked up this book a few months ago because of the beautiful photos and elegant font. However, I have no idea what the writing said because I found it illegible. As I said, the font is an elegant script in a tiny size. Not for the near sighted!

Lulu in Marrakech - Book Review

2011-11-13T12:22:00.000-08:00

This book surprised me. I was expecting a middle eastern memoir but it is a spy thriller instead. What made it more exciting for me was that the main character/spy is female. You don't see that very often. As the title suggests, the setting is in Marrakesh with all of the exotic foods, smells and Islamic lifestyle required to be followed by the British and American expats who all live nearby each other. They all act a little mysteriously so it is hard to tell who is also a spy and who isn't.

This is the first book by Diane Johnson that I have read. She has written 14 previous novels which I am now going to have to look for at B & N, the only bookstore in town these days. Lulu in Marrakech is a great contribution to the spy thriller sub-genre.

The Story of Tea - Book Review

2011-11-05T08:10:00.001-07:00

The Story of Tea was written by Mary Lou Heiss and Robert J. Heiss. It was published in 2007 by Ten Speed Press. It is mainly a history and how-to book instead of a cookbook. However, there are several dessert recipes that require tea as an ingrediant. I love this book. It is fun to peruse with your morning coffee or evening hot chocolate. Also, I learned a lot about the tea trade business.

The contents this 417 page book are divided into sections on the history of tea, life of a tea bush. Manufacture, tea trail, brewing the perfect cup, tea customs and culture, health benefits of tea, ethics in the tea trade and cooking with tea. As you can deduce, this book has information on everything tea. I am mainly intersted in the recipes, though. All require tea leaves, not brewed tea. I made the Indian Black Tea, Corn and Mushroom Tea. In addition I made the Lapsang Souchong and Jasmine Tea Ice Cream. All of the ingrediant are easy to find and the mixing directions are simple. Beginning cooks can make these recipes. The soup was delicious but the ice cream did not taste good. If your not interested in the recipes, this book could be a coffee table book.

The Story of Tea is the best book on tea that I have seen to date. I highly recommend it.

Rose's Heavenly Cakes - Book Review

2011-11-05T07:09:00.000-07:00

Rose's Heavenly Cakes is the 2nd cake book written by Rose Levy Beranbaum. I am a big fan of Rose. I have her earlier cake book as well as her pie and bread books. In this volume the cakes are divided by butter and oil cakes, sponge cakes, flourless cakes, baby cakes and wedding cakes. A photograph of each cake accompanies most recipes. This is a must for me. There is also an introductory paragraph describing for whom or when the author used each recipe. Lots of notes and variations also accompany each recipe. The ingrediants for the recipes are easy to find. Her recipes are not for the slouch though. They are geared for the intermediate and advanced bakers. They are easier than those in the first cake cookbook though. Rose states that a new cake cookbook was needed as exotic ingrediants are easier to find than they were 25 years ago when The Cake Bible was published and pan sizes have changed. A few recipes from the first book have been revised in order to conform to a 9 x 2 pan. The pans used to be 9 x 1.5. Changes in consumer tastes have required that simpler recipes be available.

I made 5 cakes from this cookbook. They include the Genoise Rose on page 169, Southern Coconut Cake with Silk Meringue Buttercream on page 23, Pure Pumpkin Cheesecake on page 247, Lemon Canadian Crown on page 261, and Deep Chocolate Rosebuds on page 355. The rosebud recipe requires one of those Nordic Ware pans that have 6 miniature rose cavities. There was no problem finding the ingrediants. A trip to Williams and Sonoma and Jewel Food Stores had everything that I needed. The cakes came out of the oven looking just like their photos in the cookbook. The only problem that I had was over-greasing the mini rose pan for the Deep Chocolate Rosebuds which affected how the tops of the mini roses appeared. The mixing of ingrediants was much simpler than those in The Cake Bible; no professional chef skills required.

I highly recommend this this book to all bakers. Even if you don't bake, it is a great book just to read. If you are a baker, beware. You are going to want to make many of these cake recipes. My next cake will be the Sicilian Pistacio Cake on page 65. I will probably make most of the recipes at least once.

Book Beginnings on Friday-November 4

2011-11-04T07:50:00.000-07:00

Katy at the A Few More Pages blog is hosting this weekly meme.

I am reading Andy McDermott's "The Secret of Excaliber." The book begins with:

"The litle church watched over the village of San Maggiori as it had every sunset for seven centuries. The dusty road up from the village was steep and winding, but the local faithful were proud enough of their place of worship and its long history not to complain about the trek. At least, not too frequently "

This first paragraph set the scene of the action in the book. Because I know that this is a treasure hunt, the scene will change and something bad is about to happen here. I probably won't know who and why for another 80 pages. I know the formula for this sub-genre well that I know what pages the setting is likely to change. Does this make me an expert?

The Explorers Code - Book Review

2011-11-04T05:38:00.000-07:00

The Explorers Code is Kitty Pilgrim's first novel. It has many elements that make it difficult to pin down what mystery sub-genre it belongs in. There is a treasure hunt aspect to it but also adventure, romance, scientific discovery, arctic exploration, medical mystery and government spies. Ms. Pilgrim worked as a reporter at CNN for many years so I presume she gained a lot of material from that job. The summary of the book is from the inside cover:

"When the prominent young oceanographer, Cordelia Stapleton, is invited to a glamorous gala in Monaco, she has no idea her life is about to change. Wealthy philanthropist, and dashing archaeologist John Sinclair, presents her with the posthumous award for her great great-grandfather, Elliot Stapleton — a famous Victorian polar explorer. She also receives Stapleton’s personal journal from 1908, and learns she is heir to a missing land deed – a valuable document that is also sought by consortium of underworld criminals.

Cordelia and John Sinclair team up to search for the deed in some of the most sophisticated and romantic places in the world – the principality of Monaco, a Mediterranean voyage of the Queen Victoria ocean liner, a lavish country estate outside of London and a palatial apartment in Paris. Chased by a gang of ruthless killers, the search continues to exotic locales such as the archaeological ruins of Ephesus, Turkey and the high arctic archipelago of Svalbard, Norway. Along the way Cordelia and Sinclair encounter a team of British virologists trying to decode the genome of the 1918 pandemic, a Russian oligarch and his entourage, a famous supermodel, a world champion fencer, and a cult of religious fanatics. Filled with high adventure, elegant lifestyle, and international intrigue, The Explorer’s Code is a welcome addition to the successful tradition of romantic thrillers."

I loved the characters and would like to see them in a series. The pace was super fast but what makes the book so exciting is the exotic locales that the characters travel to. Ms. Pilgrim's descriptions could be used in a travel brochure because they make me want to see these places in person. They are light and fun. All of the previous treasure hunts that I have read were written by men who do not describe the changing locales but stick to writing about what happened. Maybe this is a difference between male and female writers. I don't know. All I know is that there is something extra in Ms. Pilgrim's setting descriptions that click with me.

This is another book that I could not put down. I highly recommend it.

Wrap Up of the Historical Fiction Challenge 2011

2011-11-03T13:07:00.000-07:00

I signed up for the Struggling with the Addiction level of participation in the Historical Mystery Reading Challenge 2011. 10 books were required to be read and reviewed. The books that I read for the challenge are listed below with links to their respective reviews:

The Tudor Secret - C. W. Gortner
The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett
World Without End - Ken Follett
Medicus - Ruth Downie
Terra Incognita - Ruth Downie
Persona Non Grata - Ruth Downie
Mask of Ra - P. C. Doherty
A Marked Man - Barbara Hamilton
Sand Daughter - Sarah Bryant
Winter Ghosts - Kate Mosse

Favorite Book: The Pillars of the Earth

Least Favorite Book: None but if I have to pick one I guess it would be A Marked Man

Thoughts on the Challenge: I found a new (to me) author that I will be following in the future so this was a successful challenge. I love Ruth Downie's books and there is 1 more in the Roman Empire series that I haven't read yet. I will read it before the end of the year so that I am caught up on the series.

Late for Tea at the Deer Palace - Book Review

2011-11-03T12:59:00.000-07:00

Tamara Chalabi's Late for Tea at the Deer Palace is a memoir of 4 generations of the Chalabi family of Iraq from roughly 1920 to the present. I was fascinated by what they had to endure during several changes in government during the 20th Century. The author gives us some day to day details of her family's life in Iraq from her great grandparents generation to her own generation. She also provides details of their life in exile. The family was quite wealthy until they were forced to leave Iraq but continued to have influence on events that were happening in Iraq. When Saddam fell from power, the author and her father returned to Iraq to assist in repairing the country. However, they returned to London a few years later. One of her uncles still lives there today.

Ms. Chalabi's great grandfather Abdul Hussein Chalabi was a powerful man who helped in creating the new country, Iraq, after the Ottoman Empire fell. Abdul's son Hadi was a great businessman and became very wealthy through his political connections with British diplomats and with the country's royal family. The story is mainly told though through the viewpoint of his wife Bibi, the author's grandmother. She had a strong personality that influenced how the men in the family conducted their businesses. When Hadi died she had been married to him for 70 years. 70 years! I think that this is incredible in today's world. After Saddam Hussein became the country's ruler Ms. Chalabi's father Ahmad Chalabi became the leader of the opposition party Iraqi National Congress while he was still in exile. The author herself entered Iraq for the first time in 2003 and voted in the first election ever held in the country.

Late for Tea at the Deer Palace is an insightful memoir of events that occured in Iraq in the past 100 years. Given the U.S.'S current involvement in the country, I believe this book should be required reading for all Americans. I learned a lot from reading it.

Persona Non Grata - Book Review

2011-11-03T08:03:00.000-07:00

I just finished Ruth Downie's latest book Persona Non Grata. It is the 3rd installment of her Roman Empire series and is a fast read. The characters are so interesting that I didn't even notice that the crime didn't occur until one third of the way through the book. Usually I hate that. Downie writes historical fiction superbly. Her knowledge of the early Roman Empire era is evident. The characters are believable, memorable and loveable.

If you are a fan of the series let me tell you right off that there is a secret at the end that you will love. 'Nuff said about that. The scene of Persona moves from Brittania to Ruso's family home in Gaul. When a series author changes the scene, the plot usually suffers. This did not happen with Persona. Downie did a good job with the characters and events that occured in Gaul.

I highly recommend it.

Half-Past Dawn - Book Review

2011-11-03T07:59:00.000-07:00

I read Half-Past Dawn by Richard Doetsch in 1 sitting. It is a fabulous suspense thriller with many unusual twists and turns in the plot. While there were a few faults that bothered me somewhat I don't think they affected the readability of the book or the level of suspense. The plot summary is from the inside cover:

"Jack Keeler wakes up one bright June morning to the shock of his life. He gazes in the mirror and sees a half-healed gash over his right eye and a hastily stitched-together wound in his shoulder that looks suspiciously like the result of a bullet. He also notices an intricately designed tattoo—words written in a foreign script—covering the length of his forearm. He’s alone, his house eerily silent without the delightful chatter of his wife and two daughters. He has absolutely no memory of how, when, or why he ended up in such gruesome physical condition.

Jack gropes his way down to the kitchen to call his wife, Mia—an FBI agent—and to find some answers. But before he can pick up the phone, his eyes are drawn to the front page of that morning’s paper. He takes in a large photo of a bridge, the guard rail missing, a skein of tire marks on the roadway. Above the photo, in large black type, a headline that simply reads NEW YORK CITY DISTRICT ATTORNEY JACK KEELER DEAD.

From this mind-shattering opening scene, Richard Doetsch takes readers on a twisting, turning adventure as Jack struggles to find out not only what happened to him, but to his missing wife. As fragments of his memory return, and with the help of a loyal friend, he reconstructs the events of the previous night, which culminated in his being shot and Mia’s abduction. He has only until dawn of the following day to uncover an ancient mystery hidden in the depths of one of the country’s most heavily guarded prisons. Just when Jack thinks he has put all the pieces together and has saved Mia’s life, a final twist occurs that changes everything.

A thriller spanning time, an Asian people out of legend, an assassin who will stop at nothing to avenge his death sentence, and a diary whose contents foretell the future, Half-Past Dawn is a race through the borders of life and death, insanity and reason, and dreams and reality. In the dim light of half-past dawn, nothing is as it appears to be."

Half-Past Dawn is the first book of Doetsch's that I have read. I am impressed enough with it to want to read his earlier books. He has written 4 other books that have received high praise. Doetsch may become a favorite author of mine and I think that you will love him too. Check this one out.

Terra Incognita - Book Review

2011-11-03T07:58:00.000-07:00

Terra Incognita is the 2nd installment of Ruth Downie's Roman Empire series. It is set in 118 AD Brittania and features Roman Empire Legionaire medic Gaius Petreius Ruso and his housekeeper/lover Tilla from Brittania. In this story Ruso and Tilla travel to the northern Brittania town of Coria, near Tilla's childhood home, where headless bodies are being found. The locals believe that an antlered man sent by one of their gods, Cernunnos, is responsible. However, one of the other medics, Thessalus, has confessed to the crime as he is terminally ill and wants to save another man from the noose. Thessalus feels it is better that he be executed since his life will end soon anyway. Ruso cannot accept this and decides he must use his forensic skills to determine who the killer is.

I love this series. All of the books are light reads and it is hard to figure out who the killer is. Downie fools me every time. The characters seem eccentric to a 21st century person but this adds to the book's appeal. Highly recommended.

Survivors - Book Review

2011-11-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

I received a free copy of John Wesley, Rawles disaster thriller Survivors from the publisher. It is an end of the world treasure hunt story that kept my attention even though the suspension of believability problem irritated me. The author did a good job at creating suspense at the end of each chapter. The characters included 4 who were cliches of Russian mobsters and tv evangelists but were eccentric enough to be interesting. I would rate this a 3.5 out of 5.

Book Beginnings on Fridays

2011-10-21T04:00:00.000-07:00

Katy at the A Few More Pages blog is hosting this weekly meme.

I haven't been reading much lately but last weekend I started Robert Whitlow's Water's Edge. It begins with:

"Chiseled deep into the rock face of Stone Mountain, Georgia, is a football field-sized carving of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. Young Atlanta lawyer Tom Crane was on the brink of a promotion as important to him as Lee's selection as commander of the Army of Northern Virginia-litigation partner at Barnes, McGraw, and Crowther."

This is not an attention grabbing beginning for a legal thriller but it is an appropriate one. The setting is staged as well as the introduction of the main character. I have worked at an Atlanta mega firm so I know what the firm's partners are going to do to Tom Crane. Maybe they will surprise me. Stay tuned.

Sand Daughter - Book Review

2011-10-20T07:23:00.000-07:00

I read Sarah Bryant's Sand Daughter for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. It takes place during the time of the Crusades while Saladin is trying to unite the Arab world to fight the French who have control of the Holy Land. However, the story is about a young Bedouin woman named Khalidah, who runs away with a stranger in order to avoid marriage to a man she despises. There is a sub-plot about Khalidah's childhood friend Bilal, whom she really loves. The descriptions about the Crusades are seen through Bilal's point of view. The fact that he is gay and in love with one of Saladin's sons, who is also gay, adds to the drama.

Khalidah's stranger is a traveling minstrel named Sulayman. His intention is to take Khalidah back to her mother's tribe, the Jinn, but Khalidah does not know this until they have traveled halfway there. Upon arrival Khalidah meets her grandfather who informs her that she is heir to the tribe's leadership. She now has to decide whether she will accept her role and whether she is willing to lead her tribe in a war againt the Crusaders.

I thought it odd that Saladin's son was gay and that Saladin knew about his romances. This would not have been allowed in an Islamic society. However, people have been gay since the beginning of mankind so many folks must have ignored it. It is unusual, though, to read about the Crusades from the perspective of a gay Muslim. Sand Daughter is an easy read. If you don't read it in one day, you can pick up the action where you left off pretty quickly. I loved the Khalidah character but have questions about why she made certain decisions in her life. The author did not go into detail her thought processes and I couldn't believe that she left her home to travel through the desert with a male stranger. The Suleyman character's personality and motives were revealed to the reader in a mysterious way. Ms. Bryant should have done the same with her main character. Sand Daughter was still an enjoyable read and I recommend it to historical fiction fans.

The Lost Angel - Book Review

2011-10-20T04:17:00.000-07:00

Publication Date: October 4th 2011
Publisher: Atria Books
Genres: Religious Thriller, Treasure Hunt
Hardcover Pages: 448
ISBN-10: 1451632797
ISBN-13: 9781451632798

I have been waiting a long time for Javier Sierra to publish another book so I was pleased to see The Lost Angel on the book shelves at B & N last week. This book is centered on a mysterious pair of 16th century stones used for communicating with God. It is a fast-paced story that combines historical fact with fiction.

The story opens with Julia Alvarez working on restoring the artwork at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. While preparing to leave one morning after midnight she hears the sound of someone lurking in the locked church. It is Nicholas Allen, a U.S. Special operative. Then there is gunfire and Julia leaves with Colonel Allen. He tells her that he has a message from her husband Martin Faber whom she has not seen in a month. Martin was in Turkey working on gathering data on Mount Ararat for a climate change study but now he has been kidnapped by the Kurdistan Workers Party and Colonel Allen has a recorded message from Martin for Julia to view. At the end of the video while holding a rock in his hand Martin tells Julia "if you squander the remaining time, all will be lost. The discoveries we made together. The world that opened up to us. All of it. Fight for me. Use your gift. And though others may strive to steal what was ours, keep envisioning a way for these two halves to be made whole again." Colonel Allen wants know what the message meant.

The Kurdistan Workers Party is a Middle Eastern terrorist group that wants the world to end. The members believe that they are the descendants of angels and that they can be returned to heaven with the help of Martin. Martin's research has led him to an extraordinary secret. For Martin, his hope for survival depends on his wife who has a rare psychic gift. Colonel Allen and Julia try to save him using the clues he left in the video for his wife to interpret. The story travels from Spain to New Mexico, Turkey and Washington, D.C.

I was hooked from page 1. There are many more twists and turns in the plot than I have mentioned that keep you reading until the end. The pace is fast and the characters interesting. I wouldn't mind seeing them in another novel. As with his "The Secret Supper" and "The Lady in Blue," Javier Sierra has crafted another terrific religious thriller, which is his chosen genre. He is good at it so if I have to wait 2 or 3 years for each novel, the wait is worth it.

Crime Fiction Euro Pass - Turkey

2011-10-17T11:34:00.000-07:00

The Crime Fiction Europass tour is ending today with this trip to Turkey for an author biography. Author Mehmet Murat Somer was born in Ankara, Turkey 52 years ago. He graduated from a technical university and then held jobs as a engineer, a banker, and a management consultant. Somer began writing the Hop-Ciki-Yaya mystery series in 2001 after 2 open heart surgeries put him into semi-retirement. 3 of his 6 novels have been published in English:

The Prophet Murders
The Kiss Murder
The Gigolo Murder

Somer loved to read books from the detective sub-genre while he was growing up. However, he did not like all of the blood and gore. He does not want his readers to have to read anything harsh or too dark. He has another book in the series being published in 2011 titled "The Wig Murders" and he is in the process of writing book #7.

Crime Fiction Euro Pass - Italy

2011-10-03T17:55:00.000-07:00

The Crime Fiction Europass tour will be ending soon. This week we are stopping in Italy. The only time I have visited Italy was 2 years ago through Giulio Leoni's The Mosaic Crimes historical mystery novel. The action takes place in Florence during medieval times. Dante Alighieri, future author of the Inferno and the newly appointed Prior of Florence, is working on his first investigation. He has to roam (pun intended) the streets of Florence to find the killer of a master mosaicist named Ambrogio. The artist was killed before he was able to finish a mosaic he was creating for a church. Dante discovers that Ambrogio was a member of a secret group of scholars who had recently assembled in Florence. He believes that the group has knowledge of the murder as do the rest of us. The author has written a second book in this Dante series but it has not been translated into English. If it isn't translated, this may be my one and only vacation in Florence.

Crime Fiction Euro Pass - Czech Republic

2011-09-26T05:30:00.000-07:00

With the Crime Fiction Alphabet Meme having recently ended, Kerrie of the Mysteries in Paradise blog is hosting the Crime Fiction on a Euro Pass weekly meme. The idea of this challenge is to embark on a 12 stage European Journey in Eurail Pass style. This week we are stopping in the Czech Republic for a short biography of one of its more famous writers, Josef Škvorecký.

While a youth, Škvorecký worked for two years as a slave laborer in a German aircraft factory. When the war ended he studied medicine at Charles University in Prague. After his first term he changed his focus to english and philosophy and eventually earned a Ph.D. in Philosophy. Škvorecký then did 2 years of military service in the Czechoslovak army. He began writing novels while working as a teacher, editor and translator. His first 2 novels, The End of the Nylon Age and The Cowards, were published in the late 1950s but were banned by the Communist party. When the Russians invaded Czechoslovakia Škvorecký escaped to Canada with his wife.

He continued his teaching career in Canada and continued to write and also publish banned Czech and Slovak books. After retirement he wrote 4 detective novels featuring Lieutenant Boruvka of the Prague Homicide Bureau. The novels are "The Mournful Demeanor of Lieutenant Boruvka," "Sins for Father Knox," "The End of Lieutenant Boruvka" and "The Return of Lieutenant Boruvka."

Škvorecký also wrote poetry, non-fiction as well as writing for the movies and television. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in 1982 and was awarded the Order of the White Lion in 1990 by the President of Czechoslovakia, Václav Havel. In 1992 he was made a Member of the Order of Canada.

The Fatal Touch - Book Review

2011-09-24T08:42:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed Conor Fitzgerald's The Fatal Touch but it was a slow read for me. Perhaps that is because it is a police procedural, not my favorite mystery sub-genre. However, I loved one of the characters, Caterina Mattiola, a woman who wants to rise in the Rome Police Department. I also enjoyed learning the differences between Italian and American legal procedures. The story concerns the death of an artist who painted fake masterpieces. When the police visited the artist's home, they found some notebooks, paintings and tools of the forger's trade. There they also found a reason for someone to want to kill the artist. The plot was intricate as were the details on how to create an art forgery. As an amateur artist, I loved these details. I am going to continue to read this series as I am dying to know how Caterina deals with the gender discrimination that she faces.

Wrap Up of the Aussie Author Reading Challenge

2011-09-22T07:12:00.000-07:00

A minimum of 3 books were required for this challenge. I had a hard time finding books that weren't police procedurals so I barely finished the challenge. I had high hopes when I signed up for this but the difficulty in locating books was discouraging. I read 2 cozy mysteries by Elsa Klensch (Live at 10:00 Dead at 10:15 and Second Script) and one by Richard Flanagan (The Unknown Terrorist). I love the Klensch books and will continue to read her in the future. Will I do this challenge again? Heck no.

Wrap Up of the Cruisin' Through the Cozies Reading Challenge

2011-09-22T06:46:00.000-07:00

A minimum of 13 books were required to be read for this challenge. I thought that I would surpass the 13 book requirement but I have been in a blue funk for 2 months and have not done much reading. Now I am behind on my other challenges. Anyway, here is a list of the books that I read for this challenge:

Scoop to Kill - Wendy Lyn Watson
Scones and Bones - Laura Childs
Hooked on Murder - Betty Hechtman
Spying in High Heels - Gemma Halliday
I Shall Not Want - Debbie Vigurie
The Union Quilters - Jennifer Chiaverini
Mourning Gloria - Susan Wittig Albert
The Accidental Sleuth - Helen Osterman
Live at 10:00, Dead at 10:15 - Elsa Klensch
Tempest in the Tea Leaves - Kari Townsend
Murder by Mocha - Cleo Coyle
Dead Men Don't Crochet - Betty Hechtman
Shooting Script - Elsa Klensch

Favorite Book:Tempest in the Tea Leaves

Least Favorite Book:Scoop to Kill

Favorite New (to me) Author:Helen Osterman, Kari Lee Townsend and Elsa Klensch. I can't pick one because I love all 3 and will be reading anything they publish in the future.

Thoughts on the Challenge: I have a lot of books that I bought for this challenge but haven't read. These authors are favorites of mine but I am just not in the mood to read because of legal issues with my condo association. Julie Hyzy's Buffalo West Wing, Ellen Crosby's The Sauvingon Secret and Mary Jane Maffini's Organize Your Corpses are high on my tbr list and I have unsuccessfully tried to start them. I would love to do this challenge again next year because there are sooooo many new cozy writers being published that it seems impossible to keep up with all of them.

Crime Fiction Euro Pass Week 8: Switzerland

2011-09-19T08:38:00.000-07:00

Wrap Up of the Medical Mystery Madness Reading Challenge

2011-09-18T18:42:00.000-07:00

4 books were required to complete this challenge. The 4 books that I read were:

A Heartbeat Away - Michael Palmer
Delirious - Daniel Palmer
Germ - Robert Liparolo
Medicus - Ruth Downie

Favorite Book: Medicus

Least Favorite Book: Germ

Thoughts on the Challenge: I have done this challenge a few years in a row. While medical mysteries is one of my favorite mystery sub-genres I probably won't participate in this challenge any more. There are only a handful of writers who write these books well. Most medical mysteries are forensic mysteries which I don't like so the selection is limited.

Wrap Up of the New Author Challenge

2011-09-18T18:22:00.000-07:00

15 books were required for this challenge. I managed to read 18 new authors thus far this year. Here are the specifics:

Daniel Palmer - Delirious
Noah Boyd - Agent X
Joanna Higgins - Dead Center
C. W. Gortner - The Tudor Secret
Luis M. Rocha - The Holy Bullet
Betty Hechtman - Hooked on Murder
Gemma Halliday - Spying in High Heels
Arnaldur Indridason - Hypothermia
Robert Liparolo - Germs
Joel Rosenberg - The 12th Imam
Ruth Downie - Medicus
Betty Hamilton - A Marked Man
Neil Gaiman - Neverwhere
Juan Gomez Jurado - The Moses Expedition
Joyce Debacco - Rubies and Other Gems
Asa Larsson - The Blood Spilt
Henning Mankell - Firewall
Camilla Lackberg - The Ice Princess

Favorite New Author: Juan Gomez Jurado

Least Favorite Authors: Henning Mankell, Camilla Lackberg and Asa Larsson

Thoughts on the Challenge: I enjoyed this challenge and would never have read so many new authors without making a commitment to a challenge. I found a few favorite writers who I will keep reading in the future: Daniel Palmer, Noah Boyd, C. W. Gortner, Arnaldur Indridason, Ruth Downie, Betty Hamilton and Juan Gomez Jurado. I would say that this was a successful challenge.

Full Black - Book Review

2011-09-12T08:02:00.000-07:00

Full Black is Brad Thor's newest thriller. It took me several weeks to read this book because of personal issues that I had to deal with. Because of this, the book was not as thrilling for me as previous books that I have read by Thor. This is not his fault but I have to be truthful in my feelings toward Full Black. It was easy to pick up and have your attention immediately grabbed though which is the sign of a great thriller. Here is the publisher's (Atria Books) summary:

Full Black is "a terrifying story of espionage and betrayal—brilliantly paced with superb nonstop action. Born in the shadows and kept from heads of state, there are some missions so deadly, so sensitive, that they simply don’t exist. When one such mission goes horribly wrong, a wave of dramatic terrorist attacks is set in motion. Their goal: the complete and total collapse of the United States. With the CIA’s intelligence abilities hobbled, former Navy SEAL Team 6 member turned covert counterterrorism operative Scot Harvath launches an audacious plan to infiltrate the terrorists’ network and prevent one of the biggest threats the United States has ever faced. Simultaneously, a foreign wet work team has been sent to California. Their target: one of Hollywood’s most famous filmmakers. While working on a secret documentary project, movie producer Larry Salomon has unknowingly exposed one of the world’s wealthiest and most politically connected powerbrokers—a man with a radical anti-American agenda poised to plunge the nation into deadly, irreversible chaos. As the plots rocket to their pulse-pounding conclusion and the identities of the perpetrators are laid stunningly bare, Harvath will be left with only one means to save America. Unable to trust anyone, he will be forced to go Full Black."

The action begins on page 1 and your attention is grabbed immediately. The plausability of the plot is too realistic and is a little scary. I hope terrorists don't get any ideas from Thor's books. Thor follows his usual Scot Harvath series template which makes me happy because I know what I can expect from the book - a great read. Thor's description of the current international political scene is right on which contributes to the plausability of the plot. I highly recommend Full Black.

Crime Fiction Euro Pass Week 7: Austria

2011-09-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

Crime Fiction Euro Pass Week 6: Germany

2011-09-05T05:16:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite novels is John LeCarre's The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. It begins and ends in East Germany. What has happened to East Germany since its reunification with the west? The five original East German states that had been abolished in 1952 were recreated. On October 3, 1990, the five states officially joined the Federal Republic of Germany, while East and West Berlin united as a third city-state. Billions of dollars in government subsidies were granted in order to put the former East Germany on an equal political and financial footing as the West. The question remains, how long will the West have to prop up the East?

After the initial euphoria over reunification, East Germans resented West Germans for acting as if they had "won" and the East Germans had "lost" in the reunification process. This led many East Germans to think of themselves more strongly as "East" Germans rather than as simply as Germans. Per Wikipedia, Danish historian Feiwel Kupferberg argued in 2002 that the "real difficulty in German reunification was the discrepancy in the ways the West Germans and East Germans have viewed their Nazi past. The West Germans grimly faced it, atoned for it, and transformed their half of the country into a prosperous, free democracy that valued both individual freedom and responsibility, by contrast, the East Germans absorbed the Soviet-made myth that East Germany was the "victor of history" that successfully resisted the fascists. They blamed their western compatriots for the Nazi atrocities because West Germany had a capitalist economy, which had created Hitler; without capitalism, East Germany was now pure. This attitude, Kupferberg argues, allowed middle classes that had supported Hitler to retain powerful roles in East Germany and there was no radical break with the Nazi regime."

In a July, 2009 article by Oliver Samson titled "The girls who get up and go." The research group "ostmobil" at the Center for Social Research in Halle has established that the East Germans who leave are primarily the youngest, the most flexible and the best educated. And many of them are young women, who, in eastern Germany, are twice as likely to get a school diploma as their male peers. Not only are their chances of finding work greater in the West, they are also more likely to find a partner with a similar educational background. But the result is that in some parts of eastern Germany, the ratio of young women to men is 80:100. Consequently, the number of potential mothers is expected to have fallen by 50 percent by 2030.

A January, 2010 New York Times article stated that "the drop in the birth rate in eastern Germany is now higher than anywhere else in Europe, a demographic development that brings with it an entire set of problems, from school closures to empty apartments and neglected infrastructure. Ultimately, the gap between the boom towns and the boondocks shows no signs of closing." See more here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/18/world/europe/18iht-women.html.

Another interesting fact from the article is that most schools in Germany still end at lunchtime, a tradition that dates back to feudal times. Women have been trapped by this tradition. Now, because of economic necessity, this school system is changing.

Germany is now the only European country with a growing Jewish population. When the State of Israel was formed most Jews left. Only 10,000 - 13,000 remained. There are now 200,000 Jews in Germany and Judaism has been granted equal legal status with the Catholic Church and Evangelical Church. Note that this number reflects non-Jewish spouses or children who also immigrated under the Quota Refugee La. 104,024 are officially registered with Jewish religious communities. Most Jews in Germany are recent immigrants from the former Soviet Union and from Muslim countries such as Iran, Turkey, Morocco, and Afghanistan. In 2003, Chabad-Lubavitch of Berlin ordained 10 rabbis, the first rabbis to be ordained in Germany since World War II. In 2002 a Reform rabbinical seminary, Abraham Geiger College, was established in Potsdam. In 2006, the college announced that it would be ordaining three new rabbis, the first Reform rabbis to be ordained in Germany since 1942. I found this to be not just surprising, but shocking. Every Jewish person that I know would never go anywhere near Germany. I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Crime Fiction Euro Pass Week 5: Denmark

2011-08-29T09:43:00.000-07:00

With the Crime Fiction Alphabet Meme having just ended, Kerrie of the Mysteries in. Paradise blog is going to be hosting the Crime Fiction on a Euro Pass weekly meme. The idea of this challenge is to embark on a 12 stage European Journey in Eurail Pass style. This week we are stopping in Denmark. There are quite a few crime fiction writers in Denmark. They include the following:

Peter Høeg: Peter Høeg was born in Copenhagen and attended the University of Copenhagen where he received a Master of Arts in Literature in 1984. He had a variety of jobs before beginning his writing career. He worked as a sailor, ballet dancer, and actor. Høeg is best known for Smillas Sense of Snow which was published in 1992.
He wrote 3 additional novels, Borderliners, The Woman and the Ape, and The Quiet Girl as well as a couple of short stories.

Leif Davidsen: Leif Davidsen was born in Otterup and worked as a journalist before beginning his crime fiction writing career. His first job was in Spain where he worked as a freelance journalist for Danmarks Radio. Later he covered news from the former Soviet Union for the radio station. Eventually he moved to Moscow to cover Russia in depth. When Davidsen returned to Denmark he became the chief editor of Danmarks Radio's foreign news desk. In 1999, he became a full time writer of political thrillers. His books include The Sardine Deception which was published in 1984. It is a story of intrigue in the Spanish Basque Country shortly after Franco's death. Davidsen's second novel The Russian Singer is set in the period after the fall of communism in the Soviet Union and tells the story of a Danish diplomat who falls in love with a singer in a Moscow nightclub. The Last Spy is about the hunt for a highly-placed Russian spy in Danish government just after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Serbian Dane was published in 1996 and features a Serbian hit man with roots in Denmark. Other books include Lime's Photograph, The Enemy in the Mirror, The Unknown Wife and The Woman from Bratislava.

Anders Bodelsen: Bodelsen writes thrillers about middle-class people that face the consequences of materialism, which often clashes with their human values. His most famous novel is Think of a Number which was published in 1968. In addition, he wrote a few children's thrillers such as Golden Shower which was published in 1986.

Jussi Henry Adler-Olsen worked in a variety of jobs before he began writing novels. I was impressed with his family background. His father was a sexologist and he spent his childhood in several mental hospitals across Denmark (with his family). While a teenager, he played in several pop groups as the lead guitarist. During his college years he studied medicine, sociology and film making. In the late 1970s, he worked in various areas of publishing including cartoon-scripting, proof-reading and journalism. Adler-Olson wrote the thriller Alphabet House which was published in 1997 as well as the 20002 novel The Company Basher. The Company Basher is a thriller set in Iraq and concerns an Indonesian man bringing down an oil company. In 2006 The Washington Decree was published. It is about the assassination of the Democratic nominee shortly before an American presidential election. Adler-Olson has written many other crime fiction novels such as The Woman in the Cage, The Pheasant Killers, Message in a Bottle and Journal 64.

T.P. Boje: T.P. Boje was born in 1976 in Copenhagen but now lives in Florida. She writes YA paranormal thrillers. Her One, Two, He is coming for you ... is her first book that was written in English. In addition, she has written The Eye of the Crystal Ball and The Academy, her latest book.

Sara Blaedel: Sara grew up near Copenhagen and was a shy child with dyslexia who was able to escape her problems by reading crime fiction. At 28 she was placed on invalidity pension due to three fingers on her left hand being paralysed from an unknown cause. Later an extra vertebrae was discovered in her neck. When it was removed Sara regained the use of her fingers. In 1993 she decided to start her own publishing company, reprinting old crime stories in paperback. She has written six books of her own that are part of her Louise Rick/Camilla Lind series and is currently writing the 7th.

Crime Fiction Euro Pass Week 4 - Holland/Belgium

2011-08-21T18:18:00.001-07:00

The Valley of Shadows - Book Review

2011-08-18T06:13:00.000-07:00

ISBN-10: 1933515945
ISBN-13: 9781933515946
Format: Hardcover 312 pp
Publisher: Oceanview Publishing
Publication Date: 06/07/2011

I received a free copy of Mark Terry's The Valley of Shadows through the Library Thing Early Reviewer's group. It is the 4th novel in Terry's Derek Stillwater Series and his 10th novel to date. I love the terrorist thriller sub-genre so my expectations are high when I find a new (to me) author of these types of thrillers. My expectations were more than met for I was gripped from the first page until the end of the book.

Here is a summary of the plot from the inside cover: "A raid on a Pakistan Al-Qaeda cell recovers two laptops. When the computers' booby-traps are defused and the computers decrypted and translated, they indicate that Al-Qaeda has planned a series of simultaneous attacks in five U.S. cities involving potential dirty bombs, biological weapons and maybe even a nuclear weapon-on Election Day. Derek Stillwater, troubleshooter for the Department of Homeland Security, is assigned to a multinational Special Terrorism Activity Response Team (START) to locate the weapon and terrorists in Los Angeles and prevent the attack. They have two days. But as they close in on their targets, Derek begins to think that the intelligence they gathered is a sideshow to distract them from the real target-one of the two candidates for President of the United States."

I loved the Derek Stillwater character. He has a gruff personality and knows BS when he hears it, which makes him the perfect protagonist. He is always able to pull the proverbial rabbit out of a hat and win the battle. I am excited about getting copies of the earlier books in the series to discover more of his exploits.

The Valley of Shadows has every element that makes a great thriller: fast pacing, intricate plotting, action and plenty of suspense. It's the kind of book that I can sit down and relax with. I believe that you will enjoy it too.

Thursday Tea - August 18

2011-08-18T06:06:00.000-07:00

The book:Full Black by Brad Thor. The title comes from a type of black operations that are more than classified. These missions are from the darker side of black ops and are not classified because they don't exist.

The tea:Black Dragon Pearl, a full bodied black tea that is hand rolled into its round shape. When placed in hot water the leaves separate.

Do they go together: Yeas! Full Black = full black.

Under Fire - Book Review

2011-08-17T05:04:00.000-07:00

Margaret McLean's Under Fire is a super legal thriller that keeps you reading until you finish it. It is her first novel and the writing is as good as any author with a publishing history. The only issue that I have with Under Fire is that part of the plot is too weird to be believable. However, even though this bothered me I could not put the book down due to the suspense factor. Note that I received a free copy of the book from the author's publicist.

There are 2 strong characters in Under Fire. Former prosecutor Sarah Lynch is talked into co-representing an African immigrant against arson and homicide charges by her liberal defense attorney uncle Buddy. Amina Diallo, the immigrant, is the only police suspect for the crimes. Uncle Buddy has a hunch that she is innocent and as a defense strategy sets out to find the person responsible for the crime. Uncle Buddy is a loveable but eccentric character. I can see him on TV or in a movie. His character traits are accentuated by straight-laced Sarah. Together they make a great couple.

At least half of the story takes place in the courtroom with Sarah and Uncle Buddy going against prosecuting attorney Nick Marinelli whom Sarah used to supervise. With my own 30 year work history as a paralegal, I found that to be funny as hell. The thoughts of some of the jurors during the trial is a secondary plot. I don't think I have read any legal thrillers where this occurred.

I loved this book and am looking forward to more from Margaret McLean. I hope Sarah and Uncle Buddy become part of a series.

Crime Fiction Europass - Week 3

2011-08-15T08:36:00.000-07:00

Go Do Good Exhibition

2011-08-09T10:36:00.000-07:00

This season's outside art exhibition in Chicago is bizarre. One person, a "letter artist," was chosen to create an exhibition. The letters she chose spell the phrase "Go Do Good.". These words are plastered all over the downtown area and the Mayor's office is trying to meet a record number of 100,000 good deeds by the end of August when the exhibition closes. Until someone told me about the exhibition I did not know what those words were saying. I wear bifocals and the Gs,Ds, and Os all look alike. This is not art. I don't know what they were thinking.

Pop Up Art Loop

2011-08-09T10:07:00.000-07:00

Pop Up Art Loop is a new program that the City started to decorate vacant buildings. It partners artists with property owners and provides temporary gallery space at no costs to artists in prime Loop locations. Several types of art are displayed in this program. They include sculpture, photography, 2D art, video and more. This design is on several buildings within a one block radius.

Crime Fiction Europass - Week 2

2011-08-08T05:02:00.000-07:00

With the Crime Fiction Alphabet Meme having just ended, Kerrie of the Mysteries in. Paradise blog is going to be hosting the Crime Fiction on a Euro Pass weekly meme. The idea of this challenge is to embark on a 12 stage European Journey in Eurail Pass style. This week we are stopping in Spain and Portugal.

I have a couple of favorite authors from Spain, i.e.,Julia Navarro, Matilde Asensi, Javier Sierra and Juan Gomez-Jurado. I also enjoy the books of Luis Miguel Rocha from Portugal. All have worked as journalists in their respectice countries. Here are short bios of these authors:

Luis M. Rocha: Rocha was born in Oporto, Portugal in 1976 and during his childhood he lived in Viana do Castelo, a small town north of Oporto. He has published 2 books in English: The Holy Bullet and The Last Pope. The last book in this Vatican Trilogy will be published later this year. Rocha writes his books in an unusual way. He writes only on his cell phone! Another interesting feature about his writing is that he does not have to do research on his topics because of his connections in the Vatican that allow him to write these stories. He also has a team of journalists and investigators in Rome who are always working on leads and getting material for his books. He currently writes his novels on a full time basis.

Julia Navarro: I was first introduced to Julia Navarro when I read her 2006 religious thriller Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud. Her Bible of Clay, published in English in 2008. Ms. Navarro is a journalist and political analyst for Madrid's Agencia OTR/Europa Press. She has also been a correspondent on Spanish radio and TV stations. In addition, she writes a weekly column for Tiempo magazine and has had several books on political issues published.

Matilde Asensi: Matilde Asensi has written 10 historical mysteries but only 2 of them were translated into English: The Last Cato and Everything Under the Sky. She was born in 1962 at Alicante, Spain. She studied journalism at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and she later worked for three years in the service of news of Radio Alicante-SER and RNE, Spanish National Radio, as the person in charge of local and provincial news. She was also a correspondent for Agencia EFE and provincial contributor in the newspapers La Verdad and Información. Most of the online information about Asensi is written in Spanish. Since I cannot read Spanish, my bio of Ms. Asensi is not complete.

Javier Sierra: Javier Sierra was born in the northeastern Spanish town of Teruel in August 1971. He had his first radio program in Radio Heraldo at the age of twelve. By the time he was sixteen, he was writing articles for the press, and at eighteen he was one of the founders of the international magazine Año Cero (Year Zero). At the age of twenty-seven, he became editor of the magazine Beyond Science. His first book, The Lady in Blue, describes in detail the trances and bilocation of a nun from Soria, María Jesús of Ágreda (1602-1665). Other novels followed dealing with historical enigmas: Las puertas templarias (The Templar Doors, 2000), El secreto egipcio de Napoleón (Napoleon’s Egyptian Secret, 2002) and La cena secreta, The Secret Supper, which was the finalist of the prestigious novel prize Ciudad de Torrevieja and consequently made an immediate appearance on the bestseller lists of Spain and Latin America.

Juan Gomez-Jurado: Mr. Gomez-Jurado was born on December 16, 1977 in Madrid, Spain. Currently, he is a columnist in "La Voz de Galicia," and "ABC", distributed in Spain, and he participates in several radio and TV programs. Gómez-Jurado has worked in many of the top Spanish medias such as 40 Principales, Cadena Ser, Cadena Cope, Radio España, Canal + and ABC, before hitting the bestseller lists throughout the world with God's Spy , his first novel. His next novel was titled The Moses Expodition. In September, 2008 Gómez-Jurado won the prestigious Premio de Novela Ciudad de Torrevieja for his latest novel The Traitor's Emblem.

Dead Men Don't Crochet - Book Review

2011-08-07T11:10:00.000-07:00

I bought Dead Men Don't Crochet from the author at the Printer's Row Lit Fest a few months ago. At the time I did not remember that I did not like the first book in this crochet series. I must admit though, that the readability of Betty Hechtman's writing is 100% improved but it still has a slow pace and dull characters.

Here is the book's summary from the back page blurb: "The Tarzana Hookers are a motley crew of women, all of whom are not afraid to speak their minds. Except Sheila. She's a timid, anxiety-ridden crocheter whose is desperate need of money, so she sells her beautiful scarves at a local antique and consignment store. But when the new owner stiffs Sheila, the boisterous ladies rally and offer their support. The real trouble begins when the tightly wound shop owner is found dead - unraveling Sheila's quiet life. Molly ignores the warnings from her homicide-detective boyfriend and, with the help of her stitch mates, sets out to clear Sheila's name. It's up to them to sort through the skeins of evidence before someone gets away with murder."

I have given the author 2 tries but she has not been able to snag my interest. This will be the last book of hers that I will read.

Murder by Mocha - Book Review

2011-08-07T05:37:00.000-07:00

Murder by Mocha is Cleo Coyle's 10th coffeehouse mystery. Like all of the others before it, this one is equally enjoyable. It has a complex plot, quick pace and great dialogue. As I have written in reviews of earlier books in the series, the series reaches beyond the cozy mystery genre into a general mystery with sex, descriptive murder scenes and a sophisticated writing style. Some highlights include main character Clare Cosi and police boyfriend Mike Quinn discussing the M word and mother-in-law Madame DuBois is investigated concerning a cold case committed decades ago. You will have to read the book to find out the outcomes and you won't know the answers until the last chapters.

I love the characters in these novels. The relationships among the coffeehouse characters are realistic even though their personalities and abilities are different. I can't image these folks getting along in a real coffeehouse but Coyle makes this work. Esther Best is a full figured, loud mouthed woman with a Russian boyfriend. Tucker Burton is a sweet southerner with hopes of making it big as an actor. Dante Silva is an aspiring artist and woman magnate and new character Nancy Kelly, new to NYC, is naïve about everything. All get involved in solving the crime with their insights into their customer's actions. While they are minor characters, they loom large with their endearing imperfections.

In this novel Clare has teamed up with a chocolatier, Gudrun Voss, and a businesswoman from the feminist website Aphrodite's Village, Alicia Bower, to create a Mocha Magic Coffee drink. The product has been advertised as an aphrodisiac and no one but Alicia knows what the secret ingrediant is. The trouble is that drinkers become ill from it. During the product's launch one of the website's editor's is killed. However, the opening scene is much more dramatic when Alicia wakes up in her hotel room next to a man with a knife in his back and bloodied sheets. Alicia goes to her friend Madame DuBois's room where they call Clare and ask her to come over for advice. After meeting the 2, Clare goes into Alicia's hotel room and sees the dead man on the bed. After leaving the room she shortly returns but finds that the body and bloody sheets are gone. Clare believes that the 2 murders are connected and that the killer is seeking the secret ingrediant.

Highly recommended.

The Accidental Sleuth - Book Review

2011-08-06T11:43:00.000-07:00

The Accidental Sleuth is Helen Macie Osterman's debut novel. It is the start of the Emma Winberry Mystery Series featuring senior sleuth Emma and her significant other Nate Sandler. They are living together in sin! I love it. A little old lady sleuth who loves sex. He calls her Sparrow and generally tries to be helpful in her pursuits with only a few grunts of displeasure. The book reads like a Mrs. Pollifax novel so if you miss Dorothy Gilman, read Helen Osterman.

The tale begins with the newly shacked up couple discussing plans for being extras for the local Chicago opera as well as for a B-Movie Film Company. After a bad experiewnce with the filmmaker, they swear off flicks. When Nate has to leave town to be by the side of his brother who recently had a heart attack, Emma decides to work in one more movie. All she has to do is squint at a flashlight while lying under a box in the street. However, she is kidnapped before filming begins and is transported by 2 thugs to a warehouse where she is left tied up. Of course, she sets herself free, meeting a homeless man in the process. Once she gets home she has new neighbors to contend with as well as helping the police find her kidnappers. Mrs. Winberry works to solve everyone's personal problems with the help of her Guardian Angel.

I loved this one! Check it out.

Marilyn on the Boul Mich

2011-08-06T10:51:00.001-07:00

This statue by Seward Johnson went up about 10 days ago in front of the WGN Radio News on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. I could not figure out why the men were taking photos up Marilyn's dress but now I know why. She is wearing her grandmother's underwear!

Live at 10:00, Dead at 10:15 - Book Review

2011-08-06T08:26:00.000-07:00

Elsa Klensch's series of mysteries starring television fashion journalist Sonia Iverson begins with Live at 10:00, Dead at 10:15. There are 2 additional books in the series at this time: Take Two and Shooting Script. Ms. Klensch uses her insider knowedge of the fashion business in this wonderful addition to the cozy mystery genre.

The main character of the series is amateur sleuth Sonya Iverson who is a TV producer for the Donna Fuller Show. She hates being in front of the camera but when an iconic fashion house, Franklin, hosts a party for the introduction of a new fragrance Sonya has to dress up for recording interviews with attending celebrities. The Franklins, Harriett and Isaac, pretend to have the perfect marriage but underneath the veneer of glamour they don't really know each other any more. Harriett is a demanding woman who has taken over the control of design from the newly hired French fashion designer Jason Sarnoff and gets her way by beating people down. No one likes her, especially her husband who has never forgiven her for sending their son Jeremy, a person with Downs Syndrome, to an institution.

Just before the main entree is served, Harriett Franklin is found murdered in the ladies room with a knife in her back. There are many suspects including the recently fired fashion designer Leonard Novelli, supermodel Kim Kelly who is seen by Sonya pulling the knife out of her back, fashion magazine editor Mari St. Clair who accepted money from Harriett for a townhouse and her own husband. Being an ambitious woman, Sonya works hard this weekend recording interviews with employees of the House of Franklin about the murder. She even gets into Harriett's office without the knowledge of the police. Sonya introduces us to each character and their foibles as the plot develops in the search for Harriett's killer.

For a first novel, the writing is more than excellent. Ms. Klensch weaves a facinating tale with superb dialogue, fast pacing and greedy characters. Live at 10:00, Dead at 10:15 is a soap opera in book form that I believe all cozy fans will enjoy.

Tempest in the Tea Leaves - Book Review

2011-08-06T06:38:00.000-07:00

Tempest in the Tea Leaves is the first book in Kari Lee Townsend's Fortune Teller Mystery. It is a delightful new cozy mystery series that I think all cozies lovers will enjoy. Although it is Ms. Townsend's first novel, the writing is that of a seasoned author.

The story begins with 29 year old amateur sleuth Sunny Meadows leaving her parents highrise in NYC for a small town called Divinity, New York. Sunny is determined to support herself as a psychic. Having purchased an old Victorian home to live and work in, Sunny is pleased when she gets her first customer, librarian Amanda Robbins. Sunny uses tea leaves to give a reading for Amanda, but it turns out that what she sees will be terrible news. She predicts that Amanda will be murdered by a man. Waiting an hour after Amanda leaves her home, Sunny informs the police of her reading, hoping to prevent a crime from happening. However, her call is too late. Amanda dies within a half hour of leaving Sunny's place. Detective Mitch Stone is assigned to investigate the murder. While denying that psychics can predict anything, he names her as his prime suspect. Sunny now has to use her powers in order to find the murderer and clear her name. What she finds, though, is all of the town's nuttiest residents and several male suitors.

While I am not a fan of supernatural material, this book tickled my fancy. There was more character development and red herrings than hocus pocus. Highly recommended.

The Unknown Terrorist - Book Review

2011-08-05T06:24:00.000-07:00

I read Richard Flanagan's The Unknown Terrorist for the Aussie Author Reading Challenge. I selected this book based upon countless positive reviews. However, I didn't like it. The first 2 pages were blasphemous, ie, "Jesus is history's first, but not last, example of a suicide bomber." The next 75 pages were soft core porn. There was a lot of descriptions of women pole dancers spreading this and that in excruciating detail. The book degrades women. Other flaws include the fact that the crime did not occur until around page 90 of this 320 page ebook. The rest of the book was well plotted but I could not overcome all of my negative feelings about the book's beginning.

Book Beginnings on Friday - August 5, 2011

2011-08-05T04:11:00.000-07:00

Katy at the A Few More Pages blog is hosting this weekly meme.

How to participate:

Share the first line (or two) of the book you are currently reading on your blog or in the comments. Include the title and the author so everyone know what you're reading.

Then let us know what your first impressions were based on that
first line, and let everyone know if you liked or did not like the sentence. The link-up will be here at A Few More Pages every Friday.

I am reading "The Unknown Terrorist" by Richard Flanagan. It was first published in 2006 by Pan Macmillan Australia and later published in the U. S. By Grove Press. It begins with:

"The idea that love is not enough is a particularly painful one."

This is a provocative statement. However, what follows is shocking, if not blasphemous. The author continues with . . . "Jesus is an especially sad example of this unequal struggle. The innocent heart of Jesus could never have enough of human love. . . Jesus who wanted love to such an extent, was clearly a madman, and had no choice when confronted with the failure of love but to seek his own death. . . Jesus is history's first, but not last, example of a suicide bomber."

I think I know what is coming but was profoundly angry when I read the first 2 pages. I was planning to hate the rest of the book and was looking for more reasons to dislike this book. While I see where the author is going, he ticked me off with this opening that I don't think that I can like the rest of it.

August Reads

2011-08-02T06:16:00.000-07:00

2 of my favorite authors are publishing their annual installments of their serieses. Cleo Coyle's Murder by Mocha was published today. It is part of her coffeehouse mystery series. Ellen Crosby's The Sauvigon Secret, a wine country mystery, will be published on August 16. I am currently reading Richard Flanagan's The Unknown Terrorist for the Aussie Author Challenge. I have received free copies of Brad Thor's Full Back and Thomas Greanias' The 34th Degree that I will need to read and review this month also.

Crime Fiction Europass Week 1

2011-08-01T06:53:00.000-07:00

A Small Fortune - Book Review

2011-07-30T08:07:00.000-07:00

A Small Fortune is Audrey Braun's first novel and it is terrific. It is well plotted with interesting characters and plenty of suspense. Note that I received an advanced review copy of the book. It was published by AmazonEncore on July 19, 2011.

The story begins with book editor Celia Donnelly and her financial advisor husband Jonathan preparing for a vacation in Mexico. Their teenage son Oliver is traveling with them. Celia expects that the trip will help heal the wounds of her 18 year marriage. However, on arrival she finds that Jonathan is acting strangely. A few hours later Celia is lured to a beach where she is kidnapped. Believing that she was abducted at random, Celia expects that when Jonathan discovers her missing he will find her. Then she hears news of his betrayal and his interest in her inheritance from her mother.

A Small Fortune is a quick read because of the suspense. What amazes me most about the book is that it is Ms. Braun's first novel. You don't often see writing this good in a first novel. Consequently, my future expectations for Ms. Braun are high. As you can infer from the first paragraph, my review of this book is quite late. I feel guilt from not being able to get my act together before the publication date so I feel the need to make it up to the author. I may ask her for an interview or write a post about her background, similar to my posts for the Crime Fiction Alphabet Meme.

The Traitor's Emblem - Book Review

2011-07-26T16:12:00.000-07:00

The Traitor's Emblem is Juan Gomez Jurado's second novel. It was translated by Daniel Hahn and published in hardcover in July, 2011 by Atria Books. I received a free copy of the book from the author. Since I am way behind in writing my reviews and want to get this review done quickly, here is a summary of the book from the publisher:

"In the vein of Dumas' and Zafón's masterpieces, Juan Gómez-Jurado's The Traitor's Emblem is an epic novel spanning decades of family betrayal, impossible love and the high price of vengeance. Set against the dark and menacing streets of Depression-era Munich and the cruel rise of Nazism, Gómez-Jurado's spellbinding thriller proves again that he is a master of narration.

The Straits of Gibraltar, 1940. In the heart of a storm at sea, Captain GonzÁlez rescues a group of German castaways. When the torrent subsides, the leader of the survivors gratefully offers the captain a strange-looking emblem made of gold and diamonds, in exchange for safe passage to the coast of Portugal. Decades later, in 2002, the son of captain GonzÁlez receives a substantial offer for the emblem. He does not sell it, but the buyer reveals an astounding story behind that mysterious object: it holds the key to Paul Reiner's lifelong quest...

Munich, 1919. After his family fall into disgrace, 15-year-old Paul Reiner and his mother work as servants in the palace of Baron Von Schroeder. Unhappy and full of despair, Paul dreams of the heroic father he never knew. But one night, seconds before committing suicide, Paul's cousin reveals a terrible secret. Paul's father didn't die in the First World War, as he had always been told. He was killed by someone very close to him, and for unclear reasons. This discovery turns Paul's world upside down and from that moment, Paul sacrifices everything to discover the truth behind his father's death, even his love for Alys Tannenbaum, a Jewish-American photographer who helps him on his dangerous pursuit."

I enjoyed this book immensely. It is based on a true story and spans several decades in the 20th Century. The setting description, depression era Germany between the world wars, is detailed. I learned a lot about Germany in this time period. The characters are realistic and believable. There is some romance in the novel which you don't usually see in a mystery. However, the author meshes it so well with suspense and the true story aspects of the book that it does not read like the romance genre.

City of Veils - Book Review

2011-07-24T06:56:00.000-07:00

City of Veils is Zoe Ferraris' 2nd book and it is fabulous. Here's the publisher's summary of the book:

"Women in Saudi Arabia are expected to lead quiet lives circumscribed by Islamic law and tradition. But Katya, one of the few women in the medical examiner's office, is determined to make her work mean something.

When the body of a brutally beaten woman is found on the beach in Jeddah, the city's detectives are ready to dismiss the case as another unsolvable murder-chillingly common in a city where the veils of conservative Islam keep women as anonymous in life as the victim is in death. If this is another housemaid killed by her employer, finding the culprit will be all but impossible.

Only Katya is convinced that the victim can be identified and her killer found. She calls upon her friend Nayir for help, and soon discovers that the dead girl was a young filmmaker named Leila, whose controversial documentaries earned her many enemies.

With only the woman's clandestine footage as a guide, Katya and Nayir must confront the dark side of Jeddah that Leila struggled to expose: an underworld of prostitution, violence, exploitation, and jealously guarded secrets. Along the way, they form an unlikely alliance with an American woman whose husband has disappeared. Their growing search takes them from the city's car-clogged streets to the deadly vastness of the desert beyond.

In CITY OF VEILS, award-winning author Zoë Ferraris combines a thrilling, fast-paced mystery with a rare and intimate look into women's lives in the Middle East."

The author does a great job of describing the desert setting through the search for the whodunnit. I never knew what a sandstorm meant or how dangerous it can be. Her descriptions of life in Saudi Arabia can only come from someone who has lived there, as the author has. Her characters include both devout and undevout Muslims, which I found interesting. With all that we hear on American TV about Muslims, I never imagined that there was any other kind of Muslim other than a devout one. Ferraris follows the thriller formula to a T. It is fast paced with suspense on just about every page. She is an incredible writer and with the success of both of her books, I have to wonder where she has been hiding all these years.

Alphabet in Crime Fiction - Letter Z

2011-07-11T12:23:00.000-07:00

The letter Z was difficult. I could not find any crime fiction authors or characters whose names began with this letter. So, I am featuring chick lit author Gwendolyn Zepeda. I feel she qualifies for the meme because there is some mystery in her novels. However, she is clearly eclectic in her writing as you will see below.

In June 1997, Zepeda started writing an online journal called "Gwen's Trailer Trash Page." It was later renamed "Gwen's Petty, Judgmental, Evil Thoughts." Her first book "To the Last Man I Slept with and All the Jerks Just Like Him," was a short story collection published by Arte Publico Press in 2004. Her first novel "Houston, We Have a Problema" is a chick lit novel and was published by Grand Central Publishing January 2009. Her first picture book "Growing Up with Tamales" was published by Pinata Books, an imprint of Arte Publico Press, in May 2008. It is a 2009 Charlotte Zolotow Highly Commended Title and was nominated for a Tejas Star Award. Pinata Books published her second picture book "Sunflowers" in May 2009. She also blogs for the Houston Chronicle.

Ms. Zepeda has accomplished much considering her relative youth. She was born in 1971.

Wrap Up of the 2011 Mystery and Suspense Reading Challenge

2011-07-07T16:49:00.000-07:00

In the Mystery and Suspense Reading Challenge we were required to read 12 books from 12 different mystery sub-genres. I read 17. Here are the specifics:

Psychological thriller: Delirious by Daniel Palmer
Medical mystery: A Heartbeat Away by Michael Palmer
Murder mystery: Blowback by Peter May
Legal thriller: The Motive by John Lescroart
Suspense: I'll Walk Alone by Mary Higgins Clark
Spy thriller: American Assassin by Vince Flynn and Agent X by Noah Boyd
Action thriller: The 12th Imam by Joel Rosenberg
Hard Boiled: Lake Charles by Ed Lynsky
Religious thrillers: The Holy Bullet and The Pope's Assassin by Luis M. Rocha
Cozy mystery: Valley of Obsessions by Betty Gordon
Historical Mystery: Medicus by Ruth Downie and The Tudor Secret by CW Gortner
Conspiracy: The Jefferson Key by Steve Berry
Adventure thriller: The Devil Colony by James Rollins
Political Thriller: The Athena Project by Brad Thor

Favorite Book: The Devil Colony

Least Favorite Book: The 12th Imam

New Authors (to me): Ruth Downie, Joel Rosenberg, Luis Rocha, Daniel Palmer, C. W. Goertner and John Lescroart

Thoughts on the Challenge: This is my favorite challenge every year so I will keep on participating as long as someone hosts the challenge.

Nordic Challenge Wrap-up

2011-07-07T08:23:00.000-07:00

I was required to read 4 books for this challenge. However, I read 5. They are as follows:

The Blood Spilt by Asa Larsson
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Ice Princess by Camilla Lackburg
Hypothermia by Arnaldur Indridason

I still have 2 books on my tbr list from Scandinavian authors that I will read in a few months:

Firewall by Henning Mankell
Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg

Favorite Book: Hypothermia

Least Favorite Book: The Blood Spilt

New Authors (to me): All of them. I had never read anything by an author from Scandinavia.

Thoughts on the challenge: Scandinavian authors seem to put a higher emphasis on character and setting descriptions. For me, this slows down the readability of the book. Probably the only author that I will read again is Iceland's Arnaldur Idridason.

2011 Page Counts - The Half Year Mark

2011-07-07T06:53:00.000-07:00

I have read 16,474 pages from 40 books thus far in 2011. The is way behind my 2010 stats. However, my goal was to reduce the number of books I have been reading so that I had time for exercise and movies. The stats on this year's books are as follows:

Agent X 391
Delirious 371
The Holy Bullet 591
Delirious 371
The Athena Project 275
A Heartbeat Away 404
Dead Center 272
Scoop to Kill 198
The Tudor Secret 327
The Pillars of the Earth 1008
World Without End 1014
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo 644
Spying in High Heels 326
Scones and Bones 295
The Winter Ghosts 265
The Union Quilters 269
I Shall Not Want 276
The Union Quilters 269
The Demon in the Freezer 195
Medicus 414
The Pope's Assassin 388
The 12th Imam 426
The Moses Expedition 384
The Bible of Clay 512
American Assassin 434
Hypothermia 235
Germ 491
Rubies and Other Gems 979
The Ice Princess 400
Art Deco Fashion 408
The Fashion Designer's Textile Directory 318
Shoes 507
The Peach Keeper 273
A Marked Man 323
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan 267
Packing for Mars 334
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest 563
The Blood Spilt 341
Hooked on Murder 236
The Devil Colony 480

The Motive - Book Review

2011-07-07T04:13:00.000-07:00

John Lescroart's The Motive is part of a series featuring characters Dismas (Diz) Hardy and Abe Glitsky. Diz is an attorney and Abe is the Deputy Police Chief of San Francisco. There are 2 previous novels in the series titled "The First Law" and "The Second Chair" but it is the first novel of Lescroart's that I have read. I read it for the 2011 Mystery and Suspense Reading Challenge.

The story begins with a homicide/arson. The victims are Paul Hanover, a wealthy socialite, and his fiance Missy D'Amiens. While homicide detective Dan Cuneo is in charge of the investigation, Mayor Kathy West asks Glitsky to conduct his own investigation into Hanover's death as Hanover was a major campaign contributor. Cuneo believes that Hanover's daughter-in-law, Catherine Hanover, is the perp because she lied about her alibi, had the opportunity to commit the crime, and had the motive to commit the crime. Glitsky disagrees, as several leads have not been pursued and Hardy decides to represent Missy Hanover.

There are 3 sections in The Motive. The first section involves the murder/arson and the police investigation. The second section consists of the trial of Ms. Hanover. The story is resolved in the third section. I became bored during parts of the first section where the police conducted their investigation. I shouldn't blame the author, though, because I do not like police procedurals. The publisher should have advertised the book as both a police procedural and legal thriller. I only saw the legal thriller description on the back blurb and on that basis picked up The Motive. Also, some of the subplots had no connection to the main plot such as the sex harassment dialogue by one of the police detectives.

I would rate The Motive a 3 out of 5. I think Lescroart should stick with 1 mystery sub-genre because he needs to follow the formula for either police procedurals or legal thrillers. The reader gets confused by failing to follow a successful formula.

Alphabet in Crime Fiction - Letter Y

2011-07-04T12:05:00.000-07:00

Suzanne Young is the author of the Edna Davies Mystery Series. Edna is an amateur sleuth that works as an herbalist in a coastal town in Rhode Island. Ms.Young has published 2 books:

Murder by Yew published in 2009
Murder by Proxy published in 2011

In addition, she wrote a short story “Mistwillow Crime Wave” which was a winner in the 2007 Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers contest for the anthology Tales from Mistwillow.

According to the bio on her website:

I was born in Providence and grew up in Warwick and East Greenwich, Rhode Island, spending summers on a farm near Hope Valley with frequent outings to the beaches in Narragansett. Some of my favorite memories were trips with my father to the fish markets in Wickford and Galilee, where I would stare wide-eyed at tanks of live lobsters and layers of fish and shellfish on beds of ice behind glass-fronted counters.

After earning my degree in English from the University of Rhode Island, I headed toward California with $90 in my pocket and all my worldly goods packed into a 1965 VW Karmann Ghia. Stopping along the way to visit siblings, I eventually reached Denver before running out of money. My job hunt landed me at a consortium for higher education where I worked for the public information officer. Months later, my boss confided that I had been hired over others because, when asked if I could spell, I replied, “No, but I can use a dictionary.”

It took four years for me to bail myself out of Colorado and reach California, but by that time my heart belonged to the high desert plains of the Rocky Mountains. Instead of returning immediately to Colorado, however, I made a slight detour back to Boston and Cambridge where I was hired to work on a National Science Foundation grant at M.I.T. The project was to investigate the feasibility of computerizing the allocation of urban emergency services (police, fire and ambulance). In addition to my duties as project editor, I researched and wrote a paper on the historical evolution of police performance measures which included such things as two-man versus one-man patrol, response time, and patrol frequency. Thus began my fascination with the world of public safety and how the men and women “in blue” cope with the jobs they are given.

Ms. Young is fairly new to the cozy mystery genre but is well on her way to becoming a favorite of many.

Crime Fiction Europass Meme

2011-07-04T08:45:00.000-07:00

With the Crime Fiction Alphabet Meme ending in 2 weeks, Kerrie of the Mysteries in. Paradise blog is going to be hosting the Crime Fiction on a Euro Pass weekly meme. The idea of this challenge is to embark on a 12 stage European Journey in Eurail Pass style. It begins on August 1, 2011.

Here is how the meme works: You have to post a link from a blog post on your blog that relates to crime fiction in the country we are visiting that week.

You can choose one of the following:

1). a book review (create a new one or revive an old one

2). an author profile

3). a reading syllabus for crime fiction either set in this country, or written by authors from this country.

Sign up for the challenge now with the above link. The stops on our journey will be as follows:

August 1 - England - this is our starting point, and as with all the countries we visit, you can choose exactly where your post takes us.

August 8 - Spain/Portugal

August 15 - France

August 22 - Holland/Belgium

August 29 - Denmark

September 5 - Germany

September 12 - Austria

September 19 - Switzerland

September 26 - the Czech republic

October 3 - Italy

October 10 - Greece

October 17 - Turkey

After publishing your blog post, go back to Kerrie's blog and leave a link to your blog post. I am excited about this meme. Half of the countries will be easy for me. The others I will probably prepare a reading syllabus so that I can refer to it in the future.

Hell is Empty - Book Review

2011-07-04T07:53:00.000-07:00

Hell is Empty is the first book of Craig Johnson's that I have read. It is also the first western that I have enjoyed. The reason? Quirky characters and the wilderness setting. Sheriff Walt Longmire is the main character of this series. In Hell is Empty he is transporting 3 criminals through Wyoming's Big Horn Mountains to another jurisdiction. Each of them are interesting characters but the quickiest and most violent is a sociopath named Raynaud Shade. They get caught in a snowstorm during the hand over with the result being that the criminals escape. However, they are also hindered by the storm. Except for Shade. Shade is a sociopathic killer on his way to life in prison for killing a 7 year old boy. He has no remorse for this crime. What makes him so interesting is that he thinks he and Sheriff Longmire have a lot in common, including being possessed by Indian spirits that force him to kill on command. The dialogue that comes out of his mouth is amusing because he speaks like a classic sociopath and frequently references Dante's Inferno, a book that Longmire is carrying with him. He's an intellectual killer. What's not to like about that?

The setting plays a major role in the book. Most of the obstacles to resolving the story is the weather in the Big Horn Mountains. As I write this review, I see that the weather does not sound interesting. However, Johnson makes it suspenseful. The reason for the title is found on page 81 and I am not giving any hints. Not only is hell empty, it has frozen over in this novel.

There are 2 additional reasons why I enjoyed this western, a genre that I normally do not like. One, I have driven through Wyoming and have fond memories of this trip that I took 32 years ago. The scenery is gorgeous. Two, the references to Dante's Inferno were hysterical. I read this book in high school and loved it. Then. I don't think I would be able to get through it today but I remember it well enough to smile when Shade or Longmire mention it.

Hell is Empty would make a make a great movie but don't wait for Hollywood to take a look at Hell. Find a copy and read it. This modern western is fabulous.

Chicago's Summer Reading Program for Adults

2011-07-04T07:32:00.000-07:00

I picked up a brochure at the Chicago Public Library for this summer's reading program for adults. I was shocked that there were so few books listed. Usually the brochure has books listed on every page of the 25 some page brochure. However, the new mayor decided to make it a "go to a concert and listen to music" event. Only the last 2 pages have books listed.

I am not liking Rahm much anymore. He cancelled the fireworks and now he has, indirectly, cancelled the summer reading program. He is off to a bad start. What kind of mayor spends money to produce music events but won't spend money to celebrate the founding of our nation. I feel like moving.

Book Beginnings on Fridays - July 1

2011-07-01T09:20:00.000-07:00

Katy at the A Few More Pages blog is hosting this weekly meme.

How to participate:

Share the first line (or two) of the book you are currently reading on your blog or in the comments. Include the title and the author so everyone know what you're reading.

Then let us know what your first impressions were based on that
first line, and let everyone know if you liked or did not like the sentence. The link-up will be here at A Few More Pages every Friday.

I am reading "A Small Fortune" by Audrey Braun. It will be published on July 19 by AmazonEncore in Las Vegas. I have received an ARC of the book. It begins with:

"I don't know why I am awake. I set the alarm before I fell asleep but it hasn't gone off."

While these sentences are not attention grabbers, there is the question of what caused someone to wake up early. Since I have just begun the book I can't say how well the opening represents the book. An interesting note, though, is that I have noticed from participating in this weekly meme that many books I have read begin with someone awaking abruptly. Obviously it is a great tool to use to grab the reader's attention or writers would not use it.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - Book Review

2011-06-30T05:32:00.000-07:00

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is the third and final book in the late Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trio. As with the 2 earlier books this one is a great story. It brings together everything that happened to main character Lisbeth Salander to a satisfying conclusion. All of the characters from the previous 2 novels are included in Hornet's Nest. I am not going to summarize the book because it will be a spoiler. All I can say is that the ending is big.

I normally do not read series in the order they were written and have never felt that I lost something by doing this. In this Millenium series I first read book 2, then #1 and now the 3rd. However, in this series I believe that it is better to read them in the order they were written because Stieg Larsson has a unique way of building the plot in each installment of the series as well as his amazing method of tying loose ends together.

Other thoughts that I have on the series are that I am amazed that a man wrote a book with a female protagonist. Most men cannot do this so Larsson's ability to write with a woman's perspective is also unique even though Lisbeth Salander is not the normal female character. The themes of the series are good vs evil and that women are equal to men. While this tale is heavy with spies and government conspiracies, the issue of violence toward women is also prominent as Lisbeth is not the only female character being abused.

Upon finishing Hornet's Nest, I felt the same way I felt after finishing The Pillars of the Earth. It will be a long time before another book will satisfy me and I apologize in advance to the authors whose works I review next. I can say no more about the Millenium Trilogy except that if you have not read it yet, do so ASAP. You will love it.

The Devil Colony - Book Review

2011-06-29T07:18:00.000-07:00

Hardcover: 496 pages
Release date: June 21, 2011
William Morrow
ISBN: 0061784788
Language:: English

When I first read the publisher's summary of The Devil Colony I thought that I knew how it would end because I am familiar with Mormon doctrine on the American Indian. I was wrong. Author James Rollins fooled me again. The Devil Colony is one of his best, if not the best, novels. It has all of the history, science, action and adventure that are in his earlier works. Several intricate subplots add to the drama that make it one great read.

The story is hard to summarize because so much action is happening simultaneously. However, the story begins with the discovery by 2 boys of mummified bodies and an ancient artifact from a Utah Native American site. The artifact threatens a prominent Mormon belief that the Native American Indian is the lost Israeli tribe of Manassah. When scientists arrive at the site, there is an explosion that is blamed on a bomb planted by a Native American girl. However, the explosion was too large to be from a man made bomb and the Sigma Force operatives are called in. Soon nanotechnology, volcanology, a secret group called the Guild, Fort Knox, Thomas Jefferson's relationships with Lewis and Clark, the Iriquois, and a 14th colony that tried to be included with the 13 that formed the U.S.A. enter this intricate plot. It's an amazing grouping of subject matter that I don't think has ever been attempted before.

You simply MUST read The Devil Colony. It is too good to pass up.

Go Do Good Exhibition

2011-06-28T20:22:00.000-07:00

Alphabet in Crime Fiction - Letter X

2011-06-28T16:58:00.000-07:00

I had a difficult time finding an author whose name begins with X. However, I found 3 Chinese writers that fit the bill but none are crime fiction writers. Only one of them has written fiction so I am going with Xiu Xinran (pronounced shin-ran). She was born in Beijing and hosted a radio program "Words on the Night Breeze." On the show Ms. Xinran invited women to call in and share their life stories. Later she met some of them so that she would be able to gather material for a future book. In 1997, she travelled to London, where she now lives.

In July 2002, the material was published in a book titled "The Good Women of China.". It has been published all over the world in more than 30 languages. Her 2nd book "Sky Burial" was published in 2004. Sky Burial is the true story of a married couple where the husband joined the army shortly after the marriage and is sent to Tibet for the purpose of unifying the cultures of Communist China and Tibet. Ms. Xinran also wrote a regular column for The Guardian newspaper between 2003 to 2005. The columns were compiled and published in book format titled "What the Chinese Don't Eat. Ms. Xinran's first novel "Miss Chopsticks" was published in 2007. It explores the relationship between Chinese migrant workers and the cities they flock to for jobs. Recent economic reforms in China have made it possible for these girls to take other jobs where they can bring home lots of cash and earn respect. Ms. Xinran's fifth book is titled "China Witness: Voices From a Silent Generation" was published in 2008 and is based on her twenty years of interviews of Chinese women.

Whew!! On to the letter Y.

Hooked on Murder - Book Review

2011-06-28T16:09:00.001-07:00

Hooked on Murder is the first novel in Betty Hechtman's crochet mystery series. I wish that I could say I loved it but, sadly, I was bored from page one. The characters were not memorable. None had any bad habits or bad luck that would make a character interesting. The pace was slooooow. I think the plot moved 3 times, every 80 pages. Most of the dialogue had to do with crochet stitches and while I am a crocheter, this was not entertaining. Maybe the author will get better with the next book.

Book Beginning's on Fridays - June 24

2011-06-24T06:24:00.000-07:00

Katy at the A Few More Pages blog is hosting this weekly meme.

How to participate:

Share the first line (or two) of the book you are currently reading on your blog or in the comments. Include the title and the author so everyone know what you're reading.

Then let us know what your first impressions were based on that
first line, and let everyone know if you liked or did not like the sentence. The link-up will be here at A Few More Pages every Friday.

I am reading Stieg Larsson's "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" for the Nordic Reading ChaLlenge. The book begins with:

"Dr. Jonasson was woken by a nurse five minutes before the helicopter was expected to land. It was just before 1:30 in the morning."

While these sentences are not attention grabbers, there is the question of w
hy a dr must meet a helicopter early in the morning. A spark of interest is lit. There was a prologue for part 1 that is about 600 women serving as soldiers in the American Civil War that has nothing to do with what I have read up to page 115. It's not called a prologue , just part 1 and then chapter 1 begins with the words I have in quotes. I think it's an electronic error but we will see as I continue reading the book.

Packing for Mars - Book Review

2011-06-23T04:29:00.000-07:00

Packing for Mars is a funny book that details the testing done on some absurd, but necessary, topics in order to prepare for the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle missions. She tackles bathroom issues, nausea, loss of gravity, and psychological profiling matters as well as how much normalcy can a human being forego, for how long and what does it do to them. Author Mary Roach is a science writer but writes for the layperson. She makes science seem like fun. I laughed my way through the book.

She starts out by discussing the psychological tests that astronauts undergo to determine if they can survive in space. In the early years of Mercury, bravado ruled. All those astronauts were top military fighter pilots. Today, with astronauts spending longer time periods in space a different type of person is desired. Astronauts may spend a week in an observation room with an assignment to create 1000 origami cranes. The test is supposed to show patience and accuracy under pressure.

The term astronaut has been changed to a 2 tier system. There are the pilots who run the controls and payload specialists who do the science experiments, make repairs and launch the satellites. 99% of their time is spent working a desk job and running tests and 1% flight time. Most astronauts don't ever get a flight assignment.

Roach then goes into the most important subject matter for space travel - the bathroom. Well, there isn't one and she tells some funny anecdotes that she heard from past space travelers.

Packing for Mars is a great book for non-scientists to learn, and really understand, what it takes to put a human in space. It is the funniest book I have ever read. I think you will love it.

Alphabet in Crime Fiction - Letter W

2011-06-22T05:37:00.000-07:00

Heather Webber has written 14 romance novels. She is currently writing a cozy mystery series called the Lucy Valentine Series which is about a professional matchmaker. Next year she will be debuting a whole new series, The Wishcraft Mysteries, which is a paranormal mystery sub-genre. The first book, It Takes a Witch, will be published in January 2012 under the pen name Heather Blake. Webber has a separate website for this series. It is located at www.heatherblakebooks.com. Other works include a short contemporary romance titled "The Cinderella Plan" and "Sweet Dreams," a romantic suspense short story.

In addition, Ms. Webber writes for several blogs:

The Cozy Chicks – posts every Friday

The Naked Hero – posts every Thursday

Killer Characters – posts the third Monday of every month

You can also find her on her website at http://www.heatherwebber.com and on her Books by Heather blog at http://www.booksbyheather.net.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Book Review

2011-06-21T16:26:00.000-07:00

Lisa See has written 7 historical fiction novels that take place in China. I have loved every one of them. "Snow Flower" was published in 2005 and is a story of love and regret in the friendship between 2 Chinese girls, called "laotong" which means "old sames." The girls, Lily and Snow Flower, meet each other in 1830 at the age of 7 and execute a contract to be life long friends. They are tutored in the "nu shu" language, which was a real, secret language for women through which they communicate with each other by writing nu shu on a fan. They begin their friendship while going through the footbinding horror together and it continues through marriage and childbirth until one of them feels betrayed by the other. The time period is the 19th century and the setting is in Hunan County.

I thought it interesting that women's lives were categorized into the following stages: Daughter Days which includes milk years and foot binding; Hair pinning days; Rice and Salt Days (marriage and motherhood); and Sitting Quietly (old age, ie, 35-40). I don't know if these categories are fact or fiction.

I love Chinese culture so I knew that I would like this book. I was not disappointed. Lisa See always writes a poignant story and "Snow Flower" is no different. Highly recommended!

The Blood Spilt - Book Review

2011-06-20T07:25:00.000-07:00

I read Asa Larsson's The Blood Spilt for the Nordic Challenge. Unfortunately, I gave up at the one third mark because of boredom. The pace crawled due to there being too many setting descriptions. When I took a few days off and returned to the book, I had no idea what I had read before. When I tried flipping through pages that I had already read, I couldn't find any plot movement. I did this twice. When I went back the third time I decided to give up. This book is not for me.

Alphabet in Crime Fiction - Letter V

2011-06-18T18:52:00.000-07:00

Brenda Rickman Vantrease is one of my top 5 favorite authors even though she has only published 3 books. They are The Illuminator, The Mercy Seller and The Heretic's Wife. All are historical fiction stories that take place in medieval times.

According to her website Ms. Vantrease is "a former librarian and English teacher from Nashville, Tennessee. She graduated from Belmont College where she majored in English and minored in history. She also holds a masters degree and a doctorate from Middle Tennessee State University."

Ms. Vantrease is enjoying great success. Her last novel, The Heretic's Wife, was published in 15 languages. She is currently doing research into the history of the English Civil War.‭ ‬ While not sure if this will be part of a new novel, she says "that shadowy characters are beginning to emerge.".

You can find more information about her books on her website which is located at www.brendarickmanvantrease.com.

Book Beginnings on Friday Meme - June 18

2011-06-18T02:37:00.000-07:00

Katy at the A Few More Pages blog is hosting this weekly meme.

How to participate:

Share the first line (or two) of the book you are currently reading on your blog or in the comments. Include the title and the author so everyone know what you're reading.

Then let us know what your first impressions were based on that
first line, and let everyone know if you liked or did not like the sentence. The link-up will be here at A Few More Pages every Friday.

I am reading Asa Larsson's "The Blood Spilt" for the Nordic Reading ChaLlenge. The book begins with:

"I am lying on my side on the kitchen sofa. At this time of year, in the middle of summer, the nights are so light they allow you no rest."

This beginning does not create any excitement for me. I do wonder, though, why there is a sofa in the kitchen. I am a third of the way into the story and it is a good one. The writing styles of the Scandinavian authors differ from the American thriller authors that I am used to. They put more emphasis on character and setting descriptions which slows the pace. Every book I have read for the challenge has been good, just slower reading.

Winning the Lit Fest Raffle

2011-06-16T05:30:00.000-07:00

I received a call on Wednesday advising me that I had won the raffle at the Printer's Row Lit Fest. The prize is a Kobo ereader. It should arrive in the mail soon. I already have the NookColor so I don't know if I will use the Kobo or give it away.

Alphabet in Crime Fiction - Letter U

2011-06-12T06:42:00.000-07:00

Lisa Unger is the author of 6 crime fiction novels that have been published in 26 countries. Although she was born in Connecticut she grew up in the Netherlands, England and New Jersey. She began writing while in high school. Both her high school and college teachers encouraged her to pursue writing but Ms. Unger felt that she needed a degree that would make her employable. After transferring to the New School for Social Research and getting a degree, Ms. Unger worked for a publisher in New York City. During a publishing conference on Key West she met her husband. They immediately fell in love and decided to make a huge change in their lifestyles. Both of them quit their corporate jobs and moved to Florida. Ms. Unger mailed a manuscript to 5 agents just before moving and the rest, as they say, is history.

Her mystery novels include:

Beautiful Lies (2006)

Sliver of Truth (2007)

Black Out (2008)

Die for You (2009)

Fragile (2010)

Darkness, My Old Friend (2011)

Ms Unger has also written several books using her maiden name of Lisa Miscione:

Angel Fire (2002)

The Darkness Gathers (2003)

Twice (2004)

Smoke (2005)

2 of her books have made best seller lists. Beautiful Lies was on the USA Today Bestseller list in 2010. Fragile was a New York Times bestseller also in 2010. In addition, Fragile was featured on abcnews.com as one of the Good Morning America "Top Book Picks for Great Summer Reading" in 2010 and Black Out was a finalist for the "Prix Polar International" award in 2009. Die For You featured on the Today show in 2009 as a top summer pick in a segment called "Life's a beach read."

One cool section on her website is Reading Group Guides for book groups that are reading her novels. It's a great way for emerging authors to become known by readers. Beautiful Lies, Sliver of Truth, Fragile, and Die for You have Reading Group Guides. Ms. Unger will answer questions by group members via e-mail or by a 20 minute teleconference. I love this feature and wish more authors would add this feature on their own websites.

In summary, Ms. Unger is definately on her way up. Each successive book brings more praise as her writing improves with each one. She is a mystery author to watch.

The Ice Princess - Book Review

2011-06-10T10:11:00.000-07:00

The Ice Princess is the 1st of 7 crime stories that take place in the author's home town, Fjällbacka, on the west coast of Sweden. Erica Falck is the main character of the series. She lives in Stockholm and writes biographies. In The Ice Princess, Erica has returned to Fjällback to settle her parents' estate after their sudden death in a car accident. One day while she is outside for a walk, a man comes running after her and asks Erica to go back into a house where he just found a dead body. The house is the home of Erica's closest childhood friend Alexandra "Alex" Wijkner and the man is the caretaker of the home during the week. Upon entering the bathroom Alex is found dead in the tub with her wrists slashed and the water frozen. Alex's parents ask Erica to write an article for the local paper about the life of their daughter. Erica thinks Alex's story would make a great book so she begins to write a novel about the reasons that Alex may have wanted to end her life. Erica begins interviewing Alex's friends and finds out that she was happily pregnant. With the local police investigating the death, Erica runs another old friend, Patrik Hedstrom, who is on the police force. When the police reveal that Alex was murdered, Erica and Patrik frequently cross paths as both try to solve the murder.

The setting, Fjällbacka, is a former fishing village that is fast becoming a summer resort community. During the winter most of the homes are vacant and this adds to the eerie feeling of the empty town. There is a subplot concerning Erica and her sister's thoughts about whether to keep or sell the family home. However, Erica's brother-in-law is demanding that it be sold so he can afford a nicer home in London where he lives with Erica's sister Anna. The plot unfolds slowly because the setting descriptions are prominent in the story. The theme of coldness is the same as in Indridason's Hypothermia, the previous book I reviewed. I wonder whether I am going to see this in every author that I read for the Nordic Reading Challenge.

I enjoyed this book and recommend it to all fans of psychological thrillers as well as fans of Stieg Larsson and Karin Fossum. Lackberg's writing style is similar to both of these authors.