The Meg Lanslow series by Donna Andrews

What I think of during every Zoom meeting

Cheers!

Here's to you and getting through another week of a global pandemic.

In Illinois the Governor just announced that the K-12 students will not be returning to in-person learning for this academic year.  I'm sure most Illinois teachers were expected that, but it would still be like a gut punch.  

For me, in the Grades 13-16 sector, we have three more weeks of (online) instruction before finals weeks is here.  And this week, I've been proctoring exams via Zoom.  

On the bright side, I got to chat with all my students that I've haven't seen in over a month.  

On the down side, that's sooooo much Zoom.

So much Zoom.

Soo much.

Anyway, before I got Zoomed out, some of my online friends and I did a great Zoom hangout, and we didn't QUITE have enough of us to re-create The Brady Bunch opening shot when we were gallery view, but we got darn close.  And we had some great conversation and some much needed laughs.

And one of the things that came out of that hangout was a recommendation for mystery author, Donna Andrews.  Two of my friends (Hi, Karen and Deborah!) said they loved Ms. Andrews's books and that she was funny.

Dear book friends, Karen and Deb buried the lede.  Donna Andrews has a mystery series that has 26 books.  26!  TWENTY-SIX!!  

*clutches heart and fans self*

So I read the first one, Murder with Peacocks, and Deborah and Karen were right.  This was funny.  And fun.  And well worth reading.  So I read the second, Murder with Puffins , and I liked it, too. (There's a bird theme with all the Meg Langslow book titles.) 

You know how I love me a good series, and the Meg Langslow series IS a good series.  Meg is a blacksmith surrounded by a full cast of crazy family members.  There's her dad, a retired physician with a love of murder mysteries, a brother who accidentally designed a game called Lawyers From Hell when he should have been studying for the bar, a well-connected and gossip-attuned mother, and a nephew who is followed around by an egg-laying duck.  And THEN there are the assorted crazy cousins and neighbors.  I've read four of them so far, and I'll probably grab the fifth one this weekend.  And even though all the books aren't set in the same town, the cast of crazy characters seems to accompany Meg through out.

This is an amateur sleuth series without any over the top blood or gore, so if police procedurals are too much for you, but you still like a good whodunit, you should try this series out.

Plus there are 26.  TWENTY-SIX.  You know how many pandemic days you can wile away while reading 26 books?  So blessed many.

Dreaming Spies by Laurie R. King

(I received an Advance Reader Copy of Dreaming Spies from Net Galley.
Also mild spoilers.)

My love of Laurie R King's Mary Russell has been previously documented on this site here.

As I stated in my previous review, in this series, King has re-envisioned Sherlock Holmes, and Mary Russell is his partner in life and in solving crimes.  King's Sherlock is completely awesome.

Seriously, Ms. King writes the best Sherlock.
And I don't care who thinks that's blasphemous.
Best Sherlock is best.

Anyway, a new Mary Russell book, Dreaming Spies,  is coming on February 17, 2015.

Image from Amazon.com

This story is set on a cruise ship, in Japan and at Oxford.  The Russell-Holmeses do get around.

Traveling on a ship from India to America, Sherlock recognizes a man he believes to be involved with blackmail.  Russell knows well that Holmes need a good puzzle to keep himself occupied, and she wonders if his not-quite-obsession in ferreting out the blackmailer is just a means to avoid boredom.  (Russell prefers to entertain herself on-board with her reading material.)

But as hard as Mary works to convince herself that Sherlock merely needs a distraction, she can't help but notice some strange things happening on the ship--a passenger goes missing, the possessions of other passengers are being moved around, and Holmes and Russell meet an actual, real-life shinobi or ninja.

At the behest of the shinobi, they change their plans. They disembark in Japan and hitchhike, incognito, through the countryside--acquiring an appreciation and familiarity with Japanese customs. As they're mastering the art of hiding in plain sight, they're asked to help avert a national crisis. Despite their best efforts, foiling the plot costs two men they're lives.  And when they return home, the dramatic entrance of the shinobi  suggests that the case wasn't closed when they left Japan.

Dreaming Spies, like so many of the Mary Russell books, is a mystery wrapped in a travelogue.  If you haven't read one yet, start at the beginning with The Beekeeper's Apprentice, but, please do start. The series has all the smart detection of classic Sherlock with much better character development, and loving dedication and appreciation of world cultures.

Still Life by Louise Penny

A retired school teacher is found dead in the woods. The cause is not natural, but it's difficult to tell if she was felled by foul play or a hunting accident. The school teacher is Miss Jane Neal, who lived in a small Québécois village just north of the US border. She seems to be without enemies and her life seems void of motives for murder. The only details that are out of ordinary for the town "spinster" is that she's never let any of here friends into her house beyond the kitchen and one of her paintings was just recently accepted for an art show.

The first of series. Whose excited?

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his team, all from the Sûreté du Québec (the provincial police force of Québec) are responsible for finding the truth, and, of course, they do. This is a murder mystery as a work of fiction, after all, and not as a true crime tale. The Chief Inspector is man I quite like. He's capable and thoughtful, and he takes responsibity for mentoring his team. He is also a man of principles. I look forward to reading more of his cases.

What I like a bit less is the opaque mystery writer convention where the text tells you that something happened but doesn't tell you WHAT happened. This is meant to keep the mystery mysterious and makes it more difficult for the reader to solve the crime or second-guess the detective's next steps. I usually find it smug and pompous. For example, the Chief Inspector spends some time in a bookstore lost in heavy thought and deep conservation about the very meaning of life and loss. When he goes up to purchase a book, this is what the author shares with us:

"Ten minutes later Armand Gamache was sitting at the table by the Bistro window looking out on to Three Pines. He'd bought just one book from Myrna, and it wasn't Being or Loss. She'd seemed slightly surprised when put the book next to her till."

It's many paragraphs later that you discover what book the Chief Inpsector choose and why. Perhaps I'm too literal minded, but I find writing like that unnecessarily coy. (Being and Loss were the books Gamache had been discussing in detail.) There's another instance toward the end of the story where potential evidence is discovered in a hiding place and the author refuses to reveal what it actually is. I've never appreciated being allowed to tag along with the main characters except for key moments where they use slight of hand to disguise their actions. This always manages to take me out of the moment and my own imagination to remind me I'm reading a book. I can't imagine that's what the author wants.

Having said that, I really enjoyed this book. It's a sumptuous feast of words, thoughtful and capable like Gamache. It opens with the following passage:

"Miss Jane Neal met her maker in the early morning mist of Thanksgiving Sunday. It was pretty much a surprise all round. Miss Neal's was not a natural death, unless you're of the belief everything happens as it's supposed to. If so, for her seventy-six years Jane Neal had been walking toward this final moment when death met her in the brilliant maple woods on the verge of the village of Three Pines."

Doesn't that just make you sigh with satisfaction? I could read that thirty times and not get tired of it.

The text later brings us this quotation:

Basilica di San Francesco

"It always struck Gamache as paradoxical that churches were gloomy. Coming in from the sunshine it took a minute or so to adjust. And even then, to Gamache, it never came close to feeling like home. Churches were either great cavernous tributes not so much to God as the wealth and privilege of the community, or they were austere, cold tributes to the ecstasy of refusal."

Those words really made me think about the church as a people versus the buildings where people worship. As I'm traveling around Italy, I'm frequently stepping into churches. Some resonate and feel like holy places. Others feel like a tribute to hubris or a great need for control. Some fit my definition of beauty and then seem a fitting tribute to God's earth (i.e., the Basilica di San Francesco in Assisi). Other's violate my sense of order (i.e., Cattedrale di Santo Rufino also in Assisi).

All in all, I'm thrilled that my roommate in Italy suggested Louise Penny's works to me. Still Life is the first of a series, and the ninth book will be released later this year. I've already purchased the second, A Fatal Grace, and can't wait to start it.

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Devil's Corner by Lisa Scottoline

My first autograph from a
non-baseball player.

I'm somewhat of a book nerd.   Ok, who am I kidding?  I blog about books I've read.  I'm not SOMEWHAT of a book nerd, I AM a book nerd.  Need more proof?  Check the picture.  That's right.  That is an autograph (and an 'xoxo' thank you very much) from one of my new favorite authors,  Lisa Scottoline.  She was at the National Book Festival in September and when I was supposed to be in the Mary Pope Osborne line with my kids, I snuck over to see her.  Her line was relatively short (everything was short compared to Ms. Magic Treehouse), my kids had water, and their aunts were kind enough to wait with them...so why not?  She relayed to me some of her personal experiences surrounding her work in Save Me and even gave me a hug! A hug! It was pretty cool, if I do say so myself.

I swear I had already reviewed Save Me here at TFA, but it seems I did not.  (Ugh, I hate getting old and forgetting things.  I'll have to review it in the next month or so.).  But anyway, after meeting her and having my book signed, I wanted more. Meeting an author does that to you, I think.  I went to the library the next day and checked out Devil's Corner. 

So did I like Devil's Corner as much as Save Me?  Yes.  Possibly even more.  Devil's Corner is Scottoline's 12th novel and tells the story of US Attorney Vicki Allegretti in the midst of her most recent case.  The book opens with Vicki and her ATF partner Morty, calling on an informant for a scheduled interview.  The informant is home but so are the thugs who are robbing her.  Vicki then falls victim to a robbery, watches her partner die in the ensuing firefight and finds her pregnant informant dead upstairs.  All of that is just in the first two chapters, my friends.  The deeper Vicki digs however, the more she finds that Morty's death may have not been an accident.  Her findings lead her to one of the most notorious drug rings in Philadelphia.  There, she finds an unlikely accomplice/ally in an ex-con just released from prison.  oh, and did I mention she gets the added pressure of trying to suppress her deep desire for a married man who is also her best friend?  In short, Vicki is one busy gal.

This book reminded me of some of the older Patricia Cornwell novels that featured Kay Scarpetta, only with less technical jargon and more likeable characters.  With Scarpetta I got a rough-around-the-edges feel versus a tough but also more sensitive vibe from Allegretti.  I like the tough and sensitive better.  I thought it was refreshing to let your lead female character show her vulnerabilities every once in a while without letting it sacrifice her professionalism.  Allegretti also had the influence of her parents (both lawyers) in the story.  That was an interesting twist that allowed us to see a more complete picture of Allegretti.

I am pretty sure (Google told me) that this is the only one of Scottoline's novels that features Vicki Allegretti.  I'm bummed, but maybe I shouldn't be.  There are plenty of other Scottoline novels out there that sound like they would make for some great reads.  I will probably save some of those to read next summer.  For now, I'm researching who will be attending the 2013 installment of the National Book Festival.  Who needs a hug?

Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood

This isn't Phryne; she's more glamorous.

A few weeks back, Jenny Crusie was asking for recommendations of television series with strong female leads.  Someone mentioned the Australian series, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries.  I was intrigued, I researched, and I hit the jackpot!

The television series is actually based on a series of books.  AN ENTIRE SERIES!!!

(Okay. Deep breath.)

You know how I love me a good series.

Miss Fisher is Phyrne (pronounced Fry-nee) Fisher, a titled, wealthy woman who dresses well, flies a plane, drives her own car, and rubs elbows with the masses.  She does all this in the late 1920s.  She's probably about 50 years ahead of her time, but she's clever and observant and puts her talents to good use.  She, as the series title suggests, solves murder mysteries.

Cocaine Blues, the first in the series, is actually a not-quite murder mystery.  Phryne first travels from the U.K. to Australia to investigate a mysterious illness that affects the daughter of an acquaintance.  The illness seems life-threatening at times but oddly absent at others.  In investigating this not-yet-death, Phryne identifies and arranges for the arrest of an illegal abortionist who rapes the women that come to him before he'll perform the back-alley procedure, meets some displaced Russian ballet dancers, and takes down the head of a cocaine ring.  That makes her sound rather busy, but most of the story lines are intertwined, so it's not disjointed or distracting.

I started the series expecting something like Carola Dunn's Daisy Dalrymple mysteries or Elizabeth Peter's Amelia Peabody mysteries.  Both of these series are based on modern, intelligent women in historical settings.  Both Daisy and Amelia speak their minds within the genteel, cultural norms of their times.  Phryne is also a modern, intelligent woman, but she pretty much breaks all the rules about speech, adventure and sex.  After I adjusted my mindset, I just settled in and enjoyed the series.

For the mystery fans out there, I strongly recommend Kerry Greenwood's Cocaine Blues.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

I know I'm late to the party on this series.  For those of you who haven't actually read the three books Mr. Larsen wrote before his untimely death, I recommend them.  For those of you who have read the three books Mr. Larsen wrote before his untimely death; what's up with all the sandwich references?  I have now, in a little over a week, finished the first two books in this three book series.  And that speaks well for them, because they're not short-over 1200 pages together-and they're not short on detail.  I had originally purchased The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo a couple of years ago but due to life getting in the way I never read it.  When Sean and I went to see the movie Moneyball (Which is excellent even though I'm not a fan of the Oakland A's. I'd probably still like the movie even if it didn't have Brad Pitt in it.....but it does, so that's definitely in its favor.), one of the previews was for the movie adaptation of this book (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, not Moneyball which was also a book, but why have a preview for the movie you're about to see? That would just be weird.), and I was intrigued.  Normally I get annoyed when Hollywood infringes upon my imagination by adapting a book.  Usually the movies aren't as good as what I picture in my head, but Daniel Craig happens to be the male lead and the not-so-hard-on-the-eyes guy who played the Croatian doctor on ER is also in the movie.  (Yes, I thoroughly researched this review.  Ok.  Maybe not, but I've been busy reading!)  I can deal with having them in my head.

The books are set in Sweden, Mr. Larsen's homeland, and begin with a fairly well-known journalist being convicted of libel and in a professional pinch.  At this point in time he is offered an unusual and profitable job  by an aging head of a dwindling Swedish business empire.  Henrik Vanger would like Mikael Blomkvist to write his biography, but more to the point to find who killed his niece in the 60s.  It is an unusual offer and is surrounded by unusual circumstances, but as it is Mikael needs time to regroup before going back to work at the magazine he helped establish.  There is a lot of material to go through for the biography and the assumed murder (a body was never found) and as he is doing the research, Mikael comes to realize that the Vanger family has many and diverse personalities; few of which mesh well. 

As he gets closer to unlocking clues about Harriet Vanger's death, he comes to realize that he needs more help and that there are plenty of Vangers around who do not want him to keep looking.  Mikael gets help from Lisbeth Salander.  She happens to be the woman who did the (unknown) background check on him for Henrik Vanger.  She is whip smart, introverted to the point anti-social, and commands a computer like it's an extension of her body. She also has a mean set of survival skills and a few problems of her own.  She's not big on friendship but she and Mikael work well together.  They know they're getting closer to the truth as more and more unpleasantness occurs around and to them.

I'm going to leave the plot points at that because it's a mystery, and me telling you what happens is like skipping to the end of the book. And that's against the rules.  I will say that there are a lot of Swedish references which are foreign (duh) to those of us from the States.  For the most part I pretended as if my pronunciations were correct and I made a few assumptions about life in Sweden, mostly this; judging from the number of times they're mentioned I gleaned that sandwiches are the Swedish national bird and sex crimes are the national currency.  Those assumptions have also not been researched because they don't involve Brad Pitt or Daniel Craig.  There are several parts of the book that are uncomfortable; I'm not kidding when I say that sex crimes are a very prevalent theme and there are plenty of male characters in the book with hateful views on women.  But there are a couple of good mysteries and more than a couple interesting characters in the book as well.  I liked it.  I actually liked it a lot.

And now that I've finished my review I'm going to get the third book and make myself a sandwich.  Who's with me?!

Look!  A movie trailer!  Sure, Amy and Carrie do other fancy things, but I'm giving you Daniel Craig.  You're welcome.

Heat Rises by Richard Castle

There's something odd about reading a book "written" by a television character.  Of course, when I use the phrase "television character", I don't mean someone who's quite the character on television like Craig Ferguson (although, he is quite fun and he did write two books). No, no. I mean an actual fictional character on television.

(Uh, can you have an actual fictional anything?  This post was NOT supposed to be a philosophy test.)

Heat Rises  is the third book attributed to Richard Castle, the eponymous main character of the television crime show, "Castle", on ABC.  Richard Castle is portrayed, with great humor and charm, by Nathan Fillion.  The  person who ghost writes the books for Richard Castle is unknown.

Let me first say that I love "Castle".  It's fun and silly and witty all while solving a crime.  Oh, and did I mention Nathan Fillion?  (Yum.) That means there are many, many lovely things about the television show.  If you're not watching it, and you like mysteries or cop shows, you should be watching it.  If you're not watching it, but you enjoyed Nathan Fillion in "Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog" or "Firefly", you should be watching it.

(I would like to take this moment to thank my sister for introducing me to "Castle."

Thanks, Sarah!  You were totally right.)

Now, let's get back to this thing where there are three books purported to be written by a fictional television character.  I really can't think of another instance of this happening other than the series of murder mysteries written by Jessica Fletcher, Angela Lansbury's character on "Murder, She Wrote."  I think we can just agree it's odd and then move on.  (Which is ironic because I've taken six paragraphs to get past my first point. Can we all also agree to do as I say and not as I do for the duration of this post?  Thanks.)

I want to move on because I think the books are worth reading even if you don't watch "Castle."  It's not a requirement. I do think, however, that "Castle" fans will like the Richard Castle books better because of their familiarity with the characters.  In the books, Nikki Heat (the fictionalized book version of fiction television character Kate Beckett) gets stuck with Jameson Rook (Rook, Castle, Rook, Castle.  Get it?), an investigative journalist, for a series of ride-alongs.  The ride alongs only take place in the first book.  After that, it's Rook's and Heat's personal relationship that keeps them solving crimes together.

Heat Rises, like the other two Richard Castle books, are fun, easy reads.  I would call them beach reads.  They're light on the crime scene science and heavier on basic cop work and personal relationships.  "Castle" fans will find some corollaries between the last season of the show and this book.  Although, they are not one in the same.  The books are not mere re-hashing of episodes of "Castle". There are hints of corruption, unseen influence and connections between crimes past and crimes present.  In Heat Rises, Nikki Heat tries to solve the murder of a priest found in domination and submission dungeon.  The stakes are high as Heat is up for promotion and a target for those who don't want internal corruption exposed.  She puts her life and her career on the line.  The crime is solved, but not without great cost to those who love Nikki Heat.

Heat Rises ends with a bit of cliff-hanger, so I won't post anything about the final pages.  I will end by saying that this book is a great way to spend time enjoying characters I normally only see on Monday nights on ABC.

Other books by Richard Castle include Heat Wave and Naked Heat.

Pandora's Daughter by Iris Johansen

Please pardon the break in our normally scheduled postings.  Rest assured that while the three of us have been thoroughly enjoying our summer vacation, we have managed to squeeze in time to keep up with our habit.  We may be busy buying houses, selling houses and vacationing together in beach houses but we have been reading.  I promise.  (We just haven't been writing).   We'll try to be better about that. 

This time I found my book at my mom's house.  Growing up, there was always a bookshelf at the top of the stairs. I would occasionally go there to find something different to read.  I knew I could always count on a new Robert Ludlum book my dad had just finished, an Andrew Greeley mystery my mom had just read or my personal favorite, a worn out copy of "5 Minute Mysteries" by Michael Avallone.  That bookshelf would never disappoint.

So when I was home this summer with nothing to read, I called upon the old girl again.  The same copies of Robert Ludlum and Andrew Greeley's works are still there (and thankfully, so is "5 Minute Mysteries), but I also found "Pandora's Daughter".  I had never read an Iris Johansen book before and this was as good a time as any.

The story revolves around Megan, a young doctor that did not have the best childhood.  Her mother was killed when she was young, leaving her to be raised by her guardian/uncle Phillip.  Normally, I don't like books about women with traumatic upbringings (I have reality TV for that), but this one had a twist which kept me interested.  It turns out Megan has psychic powers just like her mom and the same people that killed her mother are out to get her.  Throw in a slightly hunky but sensitive family friend and you have the makings of a great read. 

I'm a little disappointed I have never read one of Johansen's books before.  I was missing out on some fast-paced reading and some unsuspected plot twists.  This one especially kept me hooked with the element of the supernatural.  Normally I am not a fan of anything outside of my comfortable little murder mystery genre, but "Pandora's Daughter" did the trick.  And happily, it wasn't SO supernatural that it became unbelievable, either.  The book stayed just on the brink of life here without going over the edge into an unrealistic abyss.

I am excited to see what the bookshelf has in store for me the next time I am home. In the meantime, I'll definitely be looking in to another Iris Johansen pick.  Suggestions anyone?

 

The King of Lies by John Hart

Based on the title of this book, I should probably offer you a whopper of an explanation as to why I missed my last post and why this post is a day late. Alas, I am the king of nothing and will stick to the truth. My non-virtual life got in the way. Please accept my apologies. I promise I've been reading; I just haven't been telling you about it.

The King of Lies is John Hart's debut novel, released in 2006. It's a legal thriller and a mystery. I picked it up because Barnes and Noble offered it for $2.99 as a Nookbook. Overall, I enjoyed it, and I'll be buying Mr. Hart's other three novels. Having said that, reading The King of Lies reminding me a lot of my sister's FAVORITE part of my non-virtual life--my road rage. I love to travel, and I even like to roadtrip. I do not, however, like other drivers. Occasionally, my distaste for everyone else's driving will lead me to yelling, while I'm at the wheel, "GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

It's almost as effective as you think.

When I was reading The King of Lies, I found myself wanting to yell at the main character, "DON'T DO THAT!" It was a lot like yelling at the drivers of other cars. He couldn't hear me, and nothing I said was going to change the situation. I'm quite sure that the main character, Work Pickens, could have avoided his entanglement with the police if he had read (or watched) more police procedurals.

The book opens with Work finding out that his missing father's body has been found. As the truth about his father's death, and life, unfolds, Work's life unravels. His career, his marriage, and his relationship with his sister all begin to teeter on the brink of destruction. Part of the problem comes from his assumption that his sister killed his father. She, of course, thinks that Work did it.

We all know the problems with assumptions.

The siblings triggered something like my road rage when they had stupid, opaque conversations that only furthered their suspicions of each other. Work continued to incite my wrath by tampering with evidence because he wanted to protect his sister. Happily, even though Work made a couple of amateur and cliched moves of "people of interest" in cop shows, the book ended with a twist I didn't see coming. That twist, plus the reasonably well-developed characters kept me interested. Honestly, my road-rage reaction wouldn't have happened if I hadn't been so involved. Otherwise, I would have simply breezed through the book, too indifferent to the characters to react so strongly.

I liked this book, and I think most mystery readers will, too. Even if parts of the tale irked this King of the Road.

Here's the information from amazon.com.

The God of the Hive (or an excuse to talk about any entire series) by Laurie R. King

Thanks to Netflix, I had a huge helping of Sherlock Holmes this weekend. I had read about a Masterpiece Mystery! remake of Holmes, but I missed the episodes on TV and online when they were free at PBS.org. Happily, the first "season" (only three episodes, but each runs 90 minutes) is now available for streaming on Netflix. They are a lovely, contemporary take on a classic.

I do love me some Sherlock Holmes. I enjoyed most (if not all) of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories. I like "House". I thought the Robert Downey Jr. remake was much better than friends had led me to believe. But, mostly, Laurie R. King has provided the most enjoyable interpretation of Sherlock Holmes that I know, so streaming the also enjoyable Masterpiece Mystery! episodes reminded me of how much I treasure Ms. King's work. I thought I'd share that with you here.

Ms. King has re-invented Holmes a bit--made him more humane, took some liberties with Conan Doyle's timeline, and gave Sherlock a sidekick so awesome that she, the sidekick, is the protagonists of Ms. King's tales. The sidekick is Mary Russell, a displaced and orphaned Jewish-American, a country neighbor to Holmes. Mary is every bit as capable as Holmes and because of a less-than-ideal home situation, she spends countless hours learning from and training with Holmes. This makes her more Holmes' equal than Dr. Watson ever was, and because, in part, she's basically a protege, Holmes begins to trust her and involve her in solving his puzzles. Over the ten Mary Russell books, the characters have grown up and grown together.

The God of the Hive involves great powers of observation and deduction, hidden bolt holes, clever disguises, a murderous cult, international intrigue, a Green Man (of the forest, not extraterrestrial), unexpected family, and Holmes' Irregulars. It also involves a fairly satisfactory ending to a puzzle so complicated it took two books to unravel. Satisfactory enough that I forgave Ms. King for leaving me hanging in the first place at the end of The Language of Bees.

Here's the link to the Amazon page describing The God of the Hive.

Sidenote: The most recent book, The God of the Hive, was released in April 2010, so I'm not exactly reviewing a new release here. However, if you love mysteries and ever enjoyed the mental prowess of Sherlock Holmes, I highly recommend these books. Don't start with The God of the Hive, because while it's a perfectly good representation of the series, it's the resolution of the cliffhanger started in The Language of Bees. I recommend starting at the beginning with The Beekeeper's Apprentice so that you'll get a full explanation of how Holmes has been re-interpreted, and so that you'll get a full understanding of how Russell and Holmes have grown together throughout the series. This will also give you time to catch up with the series before the newest one, Pirate King, comes out in September.

Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman

Amy says:
Phew!  After I made the terrible mistake of reading my last selection, I was worried the other two authors of this blog (and all 12 of our loyal followers) would disown me.  Never fear!  I am happy to redeem myself with a book worthy of being put in to print.

I found Baltimore Blues by accident when I was looking for a gift for one of my son's teachers.  She was born and raised here in Maryland and is an avid reader (one of the many reasons I love her).  I was searching for a book to keep her mind off of her son's impending deployment to Afghanistan (she's an Army mom, yet another reason why I love her) and thought a light mystery would be the perfect fit.  The title just about jumped off the shelf at me.  Then I read the jacket and learned the main character is a spunky reporter/private investigator born and raised in Baltimore.  Perfect!

(Confession:  I thought about just reading the copy I bought before I gave it to her, but I didn't.  I bought my own copy and read it in about 3 days.)  It is a light read, but I really enjoyed it.  I think the best part for me were the references to Baltimore.  Maybe it's because I have been a nomad
Army wife for 13 years, or maybe it's just because I like to feel connected to something, but I love reading about places that are familiar to me.  I found myself saying outloud, "Hey!  I know where that is!"  Whether Tess, the main character, was talking about her favorite restaurant or her morning rowing sessions on the Patapsco River, the book kept me interested.  It's not going to win a Pulitzer, but hey...it was fun to read. 

Have a favorite book about someplace you have lived?  I'd love to hear about it!

From Publisher's Weekly:  Downsized ex-reporter Tess Monaghan spends her days working part-time at the bookstore owned by sexy Aunt Kitty and trying not to fall into the disgustingly polluted Patapsco from her city-owned boat. When rowing buddy Rocky pays her what looks like a fortune to follow his fiance, the trail leads to murder with Rocky the prime suspect.

California Schemin' by Kate George

This book is an action-packed bi-coastal romp with a heroine I will keep following.  Our heroine witnesses a death (more or less) and, like a good citizen, contacts the authorities. This brings Bree nothing but trouble--break ins, threats to her friends, and kidnapping--until the man responsible for the death is stopped.

The story was fun, but I would call it “okay” instead of “good” for one little reason and one big reason.  First, the minor point, I was slow to warm up to the characters because I felt like I had been dropped down into the middle of a two-part mini-series.  If I had read the first book, Moonlighting in Vermont, I might have felt differently.  (Of course, if I had read the first one and the second then contained tons of back story, I would have been annoyed.  I know this about myself.  That's why this is a minor note.)

Second and more importantly, I love mysteries because they satisfy my inner Nancy Drew.  I want to piece through the clues and evidence and try to figure out "who done it" before the author reveals the answer.  Because Bree's time was spent running for her life and rescuing her boyfriend, my inner Nancy Drew was left uninvolved.

Despite poor Miss Drew’s dissatisfaction, I will go back and read the first book (Moonlighting in Vermont).  Also, there were two characters in this book that I hope make it into future books: man of intrigue, Richard Hambecker, and the FBI agent, Madison Truefellow.