It's Sunday again??

Peek-a-boo Daddy...

Hard to believe that another week has gone by since my last post here. I can't say I've been overly busy, it's been a normal week. Jo continues to recover from her broken foot. She's been getting around more and more without her air cast which is a good thing. Clyde had his annual check-up at the vet during the week. All is well, although he needs to get his teeth cleaned sometime. I had my acupuncture treatment on my back. I think that was last week. But, just normal stuff. Oh well, time goes by when you're having fun.

We're hungry, feed us!

I finished two books this past week. One was an easy one, a graphic novel that my daughter got me when she was in San Diego for Comic-on, but I'll count it. One new book arrived in the mail this week. So I'll update my latest reads, the one I started and my new book. As well, I'll continue with my look at the Mystery Genre, American Cops. So while I watch the Blue Jays and hope they can win a second game against the Mariners, let's get down to business.

New Books

1.The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn #1).











"In a world where ash falls from the sky, and mist dominates the night, an evil cloaks the land and stifles all life. The future of the empire rests on the shoulders of a troublemaker and his young apprentice. Together, can they fill the world with colour once more?

In Brandon Sanderson's intriguing tale of love, loss, despair and hope, a new kind of magic enters the stage— Allomancy, a magic of the metals." 

Just Finished

1. Truth and Consequences: The Hall of Insides by Anne Elizabeth.












"I received this as a gift from my daughter. She bought it from the author, Anne Elizabeth. Truth & Consequences: The Hall of Insides Collection is a collection of five comics all set in The Hall of Insides, an art gallery but also a fantasy realm. The five comics are -

The Hall of Inside
The Hairy Willets vs the Wizards
Bully Boys
The Zentopedes
Truth Man

My favorite was The Hall Inside where a group of friends find themselves in Vivant a gathering place that can see, feel, breathe, hear and think. Because these friends aren't necessarily nice, they are transmitted to the Hall Inside, where they are made to see the errors of their ways or face the consequences. The other stories follow similar themes for the most part, or follow creatures that live within the Hall.

The artwork is excellent and the coloring bright and intense. The stories each are different and some are better than the others. But overall, the comic was entertaining and a nice quick read. I'll have to check out other of Anne Elizabeth' works. (3 stars)"

2. The Collaborator of Bethlehem by Matt Beynon Rees (Omar Yussef #1).












"The Collaborator of Bethlehem by author Matt Rees is the first book in his Omar Yussef mystery series. Omar Yussef is a teacher at the UN school in Bethlehem. He's a somewhat frustrated middle aged man, not liking how the people of Palestine are developing. His job is also at threat by the American principal of the school, as the principal doesn't appreciate Omar's crusty, old-fashioned attitudes.

Omar meets an old friend, a Christian, George Saba for coffee and they part their ways. George has complained about his frustration. Palestinian rebels, from the Martyr's Brigade, have used the rooftop of George's house to fire into Israel at night, thereby making Georg's house a target for return fire from the Israelis.  As George returns to his home that night, the activity is going on and George finds his family cowering behind the stone walls of the house as it is riddled with fire from the Israel side of the border. He gets an old revolver from his house and goes to the roof to get rid of the Palestinians.

The next day, Omar discovers that George has been arrested for collaborating with the Israelis on the murder of another Palestinian, another rebel. Omar goes with the police chief to the house and discovers another former student of his (George was one as well) Dima was married to the murdered man. Omar finds clues that lead him to believe that George is innocent and just a target because he is a Christian. Omar believes that George has been set up by the Martyr's Brigade leaders.

So begins a frustrating and scary investigation by Omar as he tries to prove George's innocence. He hits walls at every turn. The police are powerless, or involved maybe, as the power is held by the 'rebels' who terrorize the regular citizens. Omar's job is still at risk and even his family is being threatened. Omar finds himself frustratingly helpless to accomplish anything and other people will die, either due to his interference or just to get rid of possible witnesses. Omar doesn't know who to trust and how to solve this crime and to save his friend.

It is a scary story and quite a portrait of life in Palestine. How accurate, I don't know, but Matt Rees was Bureau Chief for Time in Jerusalem, so I imagine he's got a perspective. There a very nice people in Bethlehem, many of the friends of Omar are evidence of this. But there is also much hatred and crime as people fight for control and power. The Israelis are an ever present force as well , somewhat faceless at times, evidenced by the helicopters that hover over the Palestine and then conducting raids into Bethlehem to find the threats. Fascinating, terrifying world. How do you try to live a normal life; go to school, raise your family, etc. The story isn't perfect and is fairly depressing, although there is a positive (ish) ending. I will find the other books in this series to see more about Omar's life. Will he continue to teach or has he got the detective bug??? (3.5 stars)"

Currently Reading

1. Friends in High Places by Donna Leon (Inspector Brunetti #9).

"Donna Leon's sophisticated Commissario Brunetti series has won her legions of fans over the years. In Friends in High Places, Brunetti is visited by a young bureaucrat investigating the lack of official approval for the building of Brunetti?s apartment years before.

What began as a red tape headache ends in murder when the bureaucrat is found dead after a mysterious fall from a scaffold. Brunetti starts an investigation that will take him into unfamiliar and dangerous areas of Venetian life, and will reveal, once again, what a difference it makes to have friends in high places."

My Ongoing Look at the Mystery Genre - American Cops Part 12

Meg Gardiner

1. Meg Gardiner - Jo Beckett. I highlighted Meg Gardiner previously in my look at American PI's. That look featured her character Evan Delaney. In this entry, I'll feature forensic psychologist, Jo Beckett. Beckett performs psychological assessments on the dead for the police, determining whether the death was an accident, suicide or murder. Gardiner wrote 4 books in this series. I've read the first book in the series so far and I have the next two sitting on my book shelf.

a. The Dirty Secrets Club (2008).












"Meet Jo Beckett - a forensic psychiatrist who profiles victims' lives to help solve their deaths. On a San Francisco street, Jo confronts a scene of pure carnage: four dead, five injured after a high speed pursuit. In the mangled remains of a BMW lies prosecutor Callie Harding, dead with the word dirty written in lipstick on her thigh. Why did Harding run from the police? Why did she crash through a bridge railing? Was it an accident? Suicide? Or murder?Jo is a last resort in difficult cases. But now she's on the front line, because Callie Harding isn't the first high flyer to go down and take others with her. And if Jo can't figure out why the prosecutor died, Harding won't be the last.Jo's about to discover how dirty some secrets can be." (4 stars)

b. The Memory Collector (2009),

"Forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett's specialty is the psychological autopsy- an investigation into a person's life to determine whether a death was natural, accidental, suicide, or homicide. She calls herself a dead-shrinker instead of a head-shrinker: The silence of her "patients" is a key part of the job's attraction. When Jo is asked to do a psychological autopsy on a living person-one with a suspect memory who can't be trusted to participate in his own medical care-she knows all her skills will be put to the test.

Jo is called to the scene of an aircraft inbound from London to help deal with a passenger who is behaving erratically. She figures out that he's got anterograde amnesia, and can't form new memories. Jo finds herself racing to save a patient who can walk and talk and yet can't help Jo figure out just what happened to him. For every cryptic clue he is able to drag up from his memory, Jo has to sift through a dozen nonsensical statements.

Suddenly a string of clues arises, something to do with a superdeadly biological agent code-named "Slick," a missing wife and son, and a secret partnership gone horribly wrong. Jo realizes her patient's addled mind may hold the key to preventing something terrible from happening in her beloved San Francisco.

In order to prevent it, she will have to get deeper into the life of a patient than she ever has before, hoping the truth emerges from the fog of his mind in time to save her city-and herself."

c. The Liar's Lullaby (2010).











"Tasia McFarland is a washed-up country-pop singer desperate for the break that will get her back atop the charts. She’s also the President’s ex. So when Tasia writes a song with politically charged lyrics, people take notice and her star begins to rise anew. In the spectacle-driven opener of her comeback tour, she flies down a zip line above her adoring fans, fake-firing a Colt .45 at the fireworks-filled stage. Tasia is riding high.

Until she’s killed by a bullet to the neck, in front of a shocked crowd of forty thousand.

When video and ballistics can’t prove the shot came from Tasia’s Colt .45, the police call in forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett to perform a psychological autopsy and help avert a political disaster. But as Jo sifts through the facts, she only finds more questions: Did Tasia kill herself in one last cry for attention? Were those lyrics the ranting of a paranoid woman losing her grip? Or warnings from a woman afraid and in danger? And most disturbing of all: Just what does Tasia’s death mean for a president—and in fact a nation—teetering on the brink of catastrophe?"

The remaining book in the series is -

- The Nightmare Thief (2011)

So there you go. Maybe you'll see some books that pique your interest. We're having a curry tonight and watching Jack Irish. Have a great week!