Today I went to a couple of local bakeries / restaurants, Cobbs Bakery and Café Grande Cappuccino to pick up some bread and baked goods for the week. We had ham and cheese croissants from Cobbs and apple strudels from Café Grande for lunch while we watched Nicole Wallace and Deadline: White House over lunch. Very nice! Tonight we're looking forward to the new seasons of 9-1-1, Bull, The Good Doctor and want to try a new show, All Rise. Yay!!!
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| Books, books and more books! |
Just Finished
"Kathy Reichs's Temperance Brennan forensic mystery series is always entertaining. I have felt at times that she is dialing in her story. This was not the case with Fatal Voyage, the fourth book in the series. I think this was one of my favorites so far, of the 9 that I've read.
Temperance is part of North Carolina's DMORT, a disaster response team, and is called to the hills of North Carolina to help in the investigation of a plane crash. This is a major effort, of course, involving local, state and federal investigators. Temperance is surprised to even find her partner from the Montreal police force, Detective Ryan, involved. His partner had been on the flight, escorting a criminal back to Montreal and Ryan is now part of the investigation.
At the outset, something strange occurs. Tempe discovers a foot that she must take from a coyote (with Ryan's assistance). The foot doesn't seem to be part of the crash remnants. Quite suddenly, Tempe is accused of disrupting the air crash investigation, especially by the lieutenant-governor and as the story moves along, she is removed from that investigation.
Some people don't believe what has taken place and continue to help Tempe with her efforts to prove that she didn't commit any wrongs. These include Ryan, an FBI agent, McMahon and a local police chief, Lucy Crowe. As well, Tempe is baby-sitting a dog for her ex-husband, Pete. Boyd is a great character. Anyway, the efforts to investigate this foot, and also to get into a hidden cabin located near the crash site, are stymied consistently, even to the point of a friend of Tempe's being murdered.
It's a tense, rich story. The people are well-crafted (I particularly liked Sheriff Crowe, smart, independent, down-to-earth) and the story moves along very nicely, especially considering its length. There are frustrations, but they are minor and don't take away from the overall enjoyment of the story. I like her relationships and her stubbornness, even though it does get her into trouble. But she is an intelligent, passionate, relentless investigator. There is some development of her relationships with her ex and with Ryan but this part of her life doesn't play too much of a role in this story. More to follow in the others. All in all, an excellent, enjoyable mystery / thriller with a pretty darn satisfying ending. (4.5 stars)"
"Bitter River is the 2nd book in the Bell Elkins series by Julia Keller. I enjoyed the first book, A Killing in the Hills, but this one was even better. Keller is an excellent author spinning a tense mystery and crafting excellent characters.
Bell Elkins is the DA of a small town in West Virginia. She is called out by the sheriff, her friend Nick Fogelsong, when a body is discovered in her car in the Bitter River. The body is that of a young girl, Lucinda Trimble, a high school senior, who is also pregnant. The story basically involves their investigation of the murder of the girl. Complicating the story is the fact that Nick had previously had a relationship with the girl's mother, Maddie many years ago. Both had moved on, Nick marrying someone else and Maddie marrying as well.
Besides this main story, Bell is also dealing with a number of issues, her ongoing relationship with a younger man, Clay; the fact that her daughter has moved to Washington to live with her father and Bell's ex-husband; the absence of Bell's sister after her release (in the last story) from prison. As well, an ex-friend of both Bell moves to Raythune County to get away from things for awhile. He has some issues, it appears. Will these affect anything?
This is more than simply a murder mystery, as things begin to spiral out of control as the story moves along. The tension builds nicely and there are a number of surprise happenings that add to it. Judith Keller is an excellent story - teller. She develops characters very nicely, making them more than words on paper. She presents the locale and events clearly and in a manner that draws you in to the story.
I found the story flowed along smoothly and could feel the tension of the characters and events as they occurred. I enjoyed it very much. Some of the events seemed far-fetched, but in Keller's hands they just mde for a more entertaining story. Well worth reading. I look forward to continuing the series. Next in line is Summer of the Dead (4.5 stars)"
Currently Reading
I've started 3 books since my last entry.
"1926, and Joe Sandilands is back from India, enjoying the frantic pleasures of Jazz Age London. Yet there is a darkness behind all that postwar gaity. A woman has been discovered bludgeoned to death in her suite at the Ritz. A broken window and missing emerald necklace suggest that it is a burglary gone wrong. But the corpse is that of a much-respected member of the British establishment, Dame Beatrice Joliffe, one of the founders of the Wrens, and so Scotland Yard send Joe to conduct a swift enquiry. Yet very soon he discovers that this Dame was no tweed-wearing fusty type; Titian-haired Beatrice wore evening gowns by Lanvin and perfume by Caron; she drank cocktails and had a younger lover. And death dogs her footsteps. Her companion, an ex-chorus girl, falls from Waterloo Bridge at twilight. Two of the Dame's clique of eager young Wrens commit suicide. All these deaths make Joe suspect that Beatrice has been killed by someone close to her but suddenly he finds that the case is closed and he is asked by his superiors to surrender his files. unseen governmental presences he struggles on, picking his way through the political panic and rebelling against authority, through to a shattering solution to the killings."
"Dreary Cnothan's most hated man is dumped into a tank filled with lobsters then eaten in Britain's best restaurants. Exiled there with his dog Towser, Hamish Macbeth misses his beloved Highland village Lochdubh, Priscilla, and easy lazy days. His superiors want the business hushed up, a dark-haired lass wants his body, and a killer is out for more blood."
"An excavation at the lost gardens of Earlsacre Hall is called to a halt when a skeleton is discovered under a 300 year old stone plinth, a corpse that seems to have been buried alive. But DS Wesley Peterson has little time to indulge in his hobby of archaeology. He has a more recent murder case to solve. A man has been found stabbed to death in a caravan at a popular holiday park and the only clue to his identity is a newspaper cutting about the restoration of Earlsacre. Does local solicitor Brian Willerby have the answer? He seems eager to talk to Wesley but before he can reveal his secret he is found dead during a 'friendly' game of village cricket, apparently struck by a cricket ball several times with some force. If Wesley is looking for a demon bowler this appears to let out most of the village side. But what is it about Earlsacre Hall that leads people to murder?"
My Ongoing Look at the Mystery Genre - American Cops
In my last entry I took a look at Lyn Hightower's Detective Sonora Blair.
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| Tony Hillerman |
"This is the first book in the Lt Joe Leaphorn, of the Navajo Tribal Police, mysteries. It was recommended to me in one of my Goodreads book clubs. I enjoyed this very much, reminded me somewhat of the Longmire books, except from the perspective of the Native Law and Order.
Leaphorn isn't in the story all of the time, quite large portions follow his friend McKee, an archeologist who is researching Navajo witches. Joe is trying to solve the murder of Luis Horseman, a Navajo, who is hiding out in Navajo country after stabbing a man in Portland.
I enjoyed the view of Navajo culture and how both of the story lines tied in together. There is nice tension in the story as we got deeper into solving the case and I liked both Joe and McKee, plus the other characters that populated the story. It's definitely made me interested in reading more of this series. (4 stars)"
"I'm so very glad that I was introduced to the Joe Leaphorn series. Dance Hall of the Dead by Tony Hillerman is book 2 and is a joy to read. It's a bit like the Longmire series, but instead told from the perspective of the Native police inspector, rather than the local police chief. I like how the story was paced, I like Joe Leaphorn very much, he's calm, quiet and thoughtful. I really enjoy the information about the various Native cultures, in this book, the Zuni and Leaphorn's Navajo. I hope as I get more into this series that more and more information is provided.
This story involves the murder of a Zuni boy and the follow-on murder of a Navajo man. It involves the Zuni festival, to welcome the Shalako season and the desire of a Navajo boy to be introduced to the Zuni tribe and rites. There is so much to like about this mystery; it's difficult to put the book down once you've begun. I'm so looking forward to trying the next book, Listening Woman. (4 stars)"
"Listening Woman is the 3rd book in the Joe Leaphorn mystery series by Tony Hillerman. Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn is a member of the Navajo Tribal Police in Arizona. He tends to work on his own as he follows his caseload, travelling over the vast expanse of the area he covers.
In this story, Joe is involved in a couple of cases that might be related; bank robberies by a militant native group, the Buffalo Society, trying to find and ensure the safety of a young woman, investigate a murder on the reservation and as a side issue, monitor a Boy Scout troop camping in the area. It's a meandering sort of story as Joe goes to Albuqurque and other locations to gather information on the cases. It's also quite a thoughtful story as Joe, working on his own, spends his time considering the cases. There are also nice tidbit on the various Native cultures; the Navajo, Kiowa and others that mingle and live together.
There is enough menace and action to satisfy you, an interesting mystery that slowly falls into place and a satisfying, albeit somewhat quick ending to the whole darn thing. But I continue to enjoy this series and look forward to continuing to follow Joe Leaphorn and his life and mystery-solving in New Mexico. (3.5 stars)"
The complete list of books in the series can be found at this link.
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| Time to get off your butt old man! |
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| C'mon! Let's go! |
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