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| We're ready for Xmas! |
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| Finally got Clyde before he moved.. Well, not the tail |
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| Waiting for Mommy to come downstairs |
Just Finished
"I've enjoyed the Gaslight Mysteries since the very first book. Murder on Marble Row by Victoria Thompson is the sixth book in the series. In this latest mystery, mid-wife Sarah Brandt and Detective Sgt Frank Malloy investigate the murder of wealthy industrialist Gregory van Dyke. He is killed in an explosion at his office. Suspects abound; oldest son Creighton who has left home and taken up with anarchists, van Dyke's partner Mr. Snowberger with whom there has been considerable enmity, youngest son Tad, the anarchists, etc. Frank is assigned the case by the Police Commissioner, Teddy Roosevelt, himself, which adds to the pressure on him.
It's an entertaining story. Both Sarah and Frank are wonderful characters, both with their own issues. Sarah has strong feelings for a young girl living in an 'orphanage' but her lifestyle as a mid-wife makes her concerned about adopting her. Frank's young deaf son, Brian, has shown steady improvement after surgery to repair his club-foot and Frank is now trying to sort out whether he should go to school. We don't see as much of Sarah's neighbor, Mrs. Ellsworth but there is enough to still enjoy her character. But in this story, Sarah's mother, Mrs. Decker, plays a bigger role and her common sense attitude and straight forward ways are a breath of fresh air. She accompanies Sarah in her investigations, even travelling on the subway and wandering around the streets of the seedier areas of New York. It was nice to see her playing a bigger role.
All in all, it's an entertaining story, frantic at times and it progresses very nicely, investigation mixed with the personal lives of Sarah and Frank. The picture of New York in the early 1900's is well portrayed and the characters are all interesting. Has their been progress in Sarah's and Frank's relationship? Well, somewhat maybe, but you'd have to read it to come to your own conclusions. Still entertaining and enjoyable, much recommended. (4.0 stars)"
"Agent 6 is the final book in the Leo Demidov trilogy by Tom Rob Smith. The final story is a decades long tale, covering the time when KGB investigator Leo Demidov first meets his wife Raisa until the present day (actually 1981) when he finally discovers what really happened during Raisa's trip to New York City 16 years earlier, events that destroyed Leo's life.
It's a fascinating, meandering tale that will take the reader from Moscow to New York to Afghanistan, back to New York and then ultimately return to Moscow. The first part of the story focuses on Raisa, who will lead a group of Russian students, including daughters Zoya and Elena to New York for a US / USSR concert at the UN. It also focuses on a black American singer, Jesse Austin, who believed in Communist ideals, went to Russia for a concert in 1950 (where he meets Leo and Raisa) and then pilloried back in the US by the US, especially by one particular FBI agent, Tom Watts. A Russian group hopes to bring Austin out of enforced retirement to make a speech at the UN. Raisa's daughter Elena will play a critical role in this action. After NY, the story takes a detour to Afghanistan just before and during the Russian invasion where Leo has been exiled and lives out his depression while advising Afghanistan police. Events will come to a conclusion back in New York.
It's a fascinating story, very depressing at times but it draws you in. Leo is an enigmatic character, at one time a rising star in the KGB, whose attitudes change over time, especially after meeting and falling love with Raisa. We see him in Afghanistan as a defeated man, opium - addicted as he tries to destroy his memories. But we see anther change even in Afghanistan as he fights his addiction and tries to save an Afghani woman. He's not a likable character but he is a strong, complex person. There is no doubt about his love for Raisa and his children and his determination to find out what happened in NY. But he is also self-destructive.
The story itself is fascinating, troubling, depressing, disturbing and a page turner. Smith ties many disparate threads together very smoothly, takes you on a journey with Leo, shocks you at times, but ultimately provides a 'relatively' satisfying conclusion to this trilogy. I say 'relatively' because there are things that I wish had turned out differently but Leo has planted seeds of positive developments for the futures of people with whom he interacts. All very vague, I know, but the story really needs to be read to be appreciated. It could be read as a standalone but reading the other two will let you know more about Leo and Raisa. Excellent conclusion to this trilogy (4.5 star)"
Currently Reading
""When the Dark comes rising, six shall turn it back, three from the circle, three from the track; wood, bronze, iron; water, fire, stone; five will return, and one go alone.”
With these mysterious words, Will Stanton discovers on his 11th birthday that he is no mere boy. He is the Sign-Seeker, last of the immortal Old Ones, destined to battle the powers of evil that trouble the land. His task is monumental: he must find and guard the six great Signs of the Light, which, when joined, will create a force strong enough to match and perhaps overcome that of the Dark. Embarking on this endeavor is dangerous as well as deeply rewarding; Will must work within a continuum of time and space much broader than he ever imagined."
The Crime: Armed robbery to the tune of nine million dollars
Dom Rizzi robbed a bank, stashed the money, and did the time. His family couldn't be more proud. He always was the smart one.
The Cousin: Joe Morelli
Joe Morelli, Dom Rizzi, and Dom's sister, Loretta, are cousins. Morelli is a cop, Rizzi robs banks, and Loretta is a single mother waiting tables at the firehouse. The all-American family.
The Complications: Murder, kidnapping, destruction of personal property, and acid reflux
Less than a week after Dom's release from prison, Joe Morelli has shadowy figures breaking into his house and dying in his basement. He's getting threatening messages, Loretta is kidnapped, and Dom is missing.
The Catastrophe: Moonman
Morelli hires Walter "Mooner" Dunphy, stoner and "inventor" turned crime fighter, to protect his house. Morelli can't afford a lot on a cop's salary, and Mooner will work for potatoes.
The Cupcake: Stephanie Plum
Stephanie and Morelli have a long-standing relationship that involves sex, affection, and driving each other nuts. She's a bond enforcement agent with more luck than talent, and she's involved in this bank-robbery-gone-bad disaster from day one.
The Crisis: A favor for Ranger
Security expert Carlos Manoso, street name Ranger, has a job for Stephanie that will involve night work. Morelli has his own ideas regarding Stephanie's evening activities.
The Conclusion: Only the fearless should read Fourteen."
Cotton Malone, one-time top operative for the U.S. Justice Department, is enjoying his quiet new life as an antiquarian book dealer in Copenhagen when an unexpected call to action reawakens his hair-trigger instincts–and plunges him back into the cloak-and-dagger world he thought he’d left behind.
It begins with a violent robbery attempt on Cotton’s former supervisor, Stephanie Nelle, who’s far from home on a mission that has nothing to do with national security. Armed with vital clues to a series of centuries-old puzzles scattered across Europe, she means to crack a mystery that has tantalized scholars and fortune-hunters through the ages by finding the legendary cache of wealth and forbidden knowledge thought to have been lost forever when the order of the Knights Templar was exterminated in the fourteenth century. But she’s not alone. Competing for the historic prize–and desperate for the crucial information Stephanie possesses–is Raymond de Roquefort, a shadowy zealot with an army of assassins at his command.
Welcome or not, Cotton seeks to even the odds in the perilous race. But the more he learns about the ancient conspiracy surrounding the Knights Templar, the more he realizes that even more than lives are at stake. At the end of a lethal game of conquest, rife with intrigue, treachery, and craven lust for power, lies a shattering discovery that could rock the civilized world–and, in the wrong hands, bring it to its knees."
The fourth in the internationally bestselling series featuring the irresistible Sicilian detective.
Inspector Salvo Montalbano, with his compelling mix of humor, cynicism, and compassion, has been compared to Georges Simenon's, Dashiel Hammett's, and Raymond Chandler's legendary detectives.
In this latest novel, Montalbano's gruesome discovery of a lovely, naked young woman suffocated in her bed immediately sets him on a search for her killer. Among the suspects are her aging husband, a famous doctor; a shy admirer, now disappeared; an antiques-dealing lover from Bologna; and the victim's friend Anna, whose charms Montalbano cannot help but appreciate. But it is a mysterious, reclusive violinist who holds the key to this murder."
When news of the find is publicized, Mexican President Quauhtli Garza is forced to act. He knows that this bell comes from a former Confederate ship that sank off the African coast and he fears that the discovery of a missing piece of a Quetzalcoatl statuette, which was aboard the ship, will undermine his plans for Mexico's future.
With Garza determined to stop the Fargo's investigation at all costs, the couple are drawn into a deadly conspiracy that connects the 1883 Krakatoa explosion with an attempt to resurrect the fallen Aztec empire ..."
"First in the Henry Gamadge series. Bibliophile-sleuth Henry Gamadge investigates the bizarre death of Amberly Cowden and uncovers murder and mayhem in the midst of a troupe of impoverished actors."
"X: The number ten. An unknown quantity. A mistake. A cross. A kiss.
X: The shortest entry in Webster’s Unabridged. Derived from Greek and Latin and commonly found in science, medicine, and religion. The most graphically dramatic letter. Notoriously tricky to pronounce: think xylophone.
X: The twenty-fourth letter in the English alphabet.
Sue Grafton’s X: Perhaps her darkest and most chilling novel, it features a remorseless serial killer who leaves no trace of his crimes. Once again breaking the rules and establishing new paths, Grafton wastes little time identifying this sociopath. The test is whether Kinsey can prove her case against him before she becomes his next victim."
The man's here to ask a favor. He wants Alex to help him find the woman with whom he had a brief, passionate affair three decades ago. Who is Alex to deny his friend a chance to ward off a classic midlife chill by rekindling an old flame? But as the search deepens, McKnight begins to suspect that he hasn't been told the full story. And there might just be a reason why this mysterious woman is so hard to find."
Bernie and Chee discover that a cold case involving his former boss and partner, retired Inspector Joe Leaphorn, may hold the key. Digging into the old investigation, husband and wife find themselves inching closer to the truth...and closer to a killer determined to prevent justice from taking its course."
A group of strangers has descended on Sociable, some with abilities Trinity finds hard to believe, and agendas she refuses to trust. For some reason, they know a lot more than they should about the strange events in town. And what's happening in Sociable is growing stranger by the minute."
Top criminal psychologist Dr Tony Hill is prepared to think the unthinkable - this is not a copycat murder but something much stranger. While DCI Carol Jordan and her team mount a desperate and dangerous undercover police operation to trap the murderer, Hill heads towards a terrifying face-off with one of the most perverse killers he has ever encountered..."
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