Peck & Peck

 Author Bonnie Garmus achieved fame when her first book Lessons in Chemistry was published.  The book was popular with book discussion groups and was on the best seller lists for many weeks.  Peck & Peck is her newest publication. 

This time Garmus follows a young protagonist, Batter Gray, as he grows up and dreams of a career as a poet. Batter Gray starts out life as a young boy who does not fit in with the other boys at school. His parents are always suggesting he find a more profitable career to pursue. We follow him through his college years, to New York City where he works at a copy shop, a diner and a Gap store folding tee shirts.

When he stumbles across the publishing company, Peck & Peck, producers of the legendary poetry journal, he feels that he will finally achieve his dream.  

Through a series of confusing yet mysterious encounters, Batter is fast becoming embroiled in the workplace infighting and controversies of the Peck family and the employees. All the characters in this novel are eccentric and quirky. There are many twists and turns and a plethora of characters.  There are many great lines to remember and the author does a good job of making a non poetry lover question their decision.  

Though I would not rate this novel as good as her first, it was a entertaining novel.

Three Bags Full

 Three Bags Full was published back in 2005 written by Leonie Swann. I bought it brand new in hardcover back then, but never got around to reading it.  To be truthful I did try once or twice to pick it up but it never really caught my attention to read through it. 

I loved the title and the concept of the sheep playing the detectives.  Recently I saw that it was made into a movie and I was determined to read the book before I saw the movie. So i picked it as book discussion selection and forced myself to pick it up and read through it.  I suppose you can tell at this point, that I have not really enjoyed this mystery novel. 

It is a clever idea to have the flock of sheep find the Shepard dead in the pasture and decide to play detectives and uncover his murderer.  The Shepard has treated the flock very kindly and has promised them a trip to Europe. He reads mystery novels to them, so that is how they have ideas about how to investigate. the writing is clever with many animal references.  This flock of sheep are very clever though some other sheep they meet in the story are not as smart. 

Leonie Swann has written another book in this series, which I will check out.  She has also written another series that feature elderly pensioners who live together and have a pet tortoise who assists in solving a crime.  I have reviewed it here.  I do believe I enjoyed that series more than this one.

I will watch the movie later on TV.  I have heard it has been changed quite a bit to make it a family movie. 

Hazel Says No

 I do not know how this book almost escaped my notice.  I am so glad it did not go unfound in the end. Hazel Says No is a very quick read but very intense.

Hazel is an incoming senior when her parents move from New York City to a small Maine college town. She is living with her brother who is starting middle school, her mother who is trying to find herself, and her father who has gotten the college professorship and head of the English department position he has been dreaming of.

Hazel was a star student in New York but trying to look on the bright side, this move to a small Maine rural community may give her an added edge when applying to colleges. Her dream school is Vasser and it looks like you are ranked higher if you are an A student coming from a lesser known High School than if you come from a New York City school. 

Hazel spends the summer hanging out at the town pool watching her brother, and reading as se awaits the beginning of her final year of high school. The school principal seems friendly when he sees her at the pool.  But things do not turn out well when he calls her into his office on the first day of school.

This is a story of how the things we say and do can quickly change the trajectory of not only our lives but the people around us. 

Starting with the family move to Maine and following through with how Hazel and each of her family members react to the meeting between school principal and Hazel that first day of the new school year. Each family member has a narrative that tells the story from their perspective.

Ransom

 Ransom written by Daniel Silva is the newest of the Gabriel Alon series. 

I will just say that for those who have been reading Daniel Silva's Gabriel Alon series all these years, you will enjoy the suspense, the convoluted storyline and characters, just like you always to do.  But I think it is getting more difficult to keep the series going as Silva tries to keep the mysteries current with modern politics.  

It is as always a fascinating read, keeping the reader turning pages to see how the plot will develop. Trying to imagine how current leaders are interacting and creating scenes of conflict between major nations in current times was disturbing and I do not want to think about someone reading Silva's book and use the ideas he has imagined here to play out real life politics tomorrow.  Very scary thought!!!

The Summer Guests

 I thought Tess Gerritsen hit it out of the park with the first book in this new series, The Spy Club.  She has only added depth with this new novel, The Summer Guests.  This is The Martini Club sereis, featuring Maggie Bird and her ex-CIA friends. 

Maggie has retired and moved to Purity, Maine to live out the rest of her life in obscurity along with a few other ex-operatives.  They gather together for a pot luck dinner with martinis under the cover of a book group. But when murder comes to Purity it is hard for them to stay away.

Jo Thibodeau is the new young acting police chief.  The cases that are presenting themselves are more than a small town police force is prepared to handle. So slowly Jo is getting comfortable accepting assistance from the Maggie and her friends.

This time a young girl has disappeared in her purple swimsuit with her goggles. She, and her mother, are visiting the summer home of her new step father and his family.  While everyone seems to have an alibi for the time of the disappearance, her mother will not sit by and wait for the police to find her daughter. An excellent swimmer it is hard to believe she may have drown in the lake behind the house.

 Jo is trying to go through proper channels and procedures to find the girl,  Maggie and her friends use their special talents to investigate and help find out how a crime committed years ago ties into the situation in current day.

The relationships between summer people and year round home owners is strained. There seem to many secrets that these long time residents know and will not share. These must be revealed before any answers will surface.

My Sister is Going to Kill Me

Nina Simon, it turns out, writes from experience. She has a sister and they did a Grand Canyon trip together. 

Definitely a fun book to read, especially if you have a sister! This was an entertaining mystery that covered a lot of ground.  Hiking down into the Grand Canyon, whitewater rafting and camping out under the stars. That is quite a trip for two sisters with very different interests. 

Then layered onto that is the mystery aspects of the story with a group of campers who are all connected to a lifestyle company that is about to launch a new innovative product.  This is a chance for the board of directors to bond with thee investors and announce the new product with an influencer along for the ride. 

When things get sticky and uncomfortable, the sisters start to bond and when the CEO of the company turns up dead, those sisters really try to patch their differences and work together. There are obstacles along te way to test them and a murderer to find.  All making for a fun storyline.

Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel

 Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel by Lucy Foley is, I am sure, the first of many in the new Agatha Christie series by a new author.  Sophie Hannah has been the author, authorized by the Christie estate, to continue the Hercule Poirot series.  Now Lucy Foley is continuing the Miss Marple series.

I am not sure that I felt the true Christie ‘s Marple character or the same style of writing, but it was all close enough that it was a pleasure to read.  It was a great twisty mystery.  Though I felt along the way that the murderer was too obvious, in the end of course I was wrong  and the talented Foley managed to bring it all to closure in an unexpected way.

If you have followed and visited with Miss Marple in St Mary Mead, you will know her friend, Dolly Bantry.  Dolly has taken the advice of her new young assistant, Diana Glass and brought Jane Marple along for a delightful cold weather vacation in a luxury hotel at the top of a snow covered mountain.

Reading this novel told from the perspectives of Diana, along with a few of the other guests at the hotel that week, we learn of the death of a prominent politician and another unlucky guest.  The politician’s wife  shares her story, the famous actress is also a guest at the hotel and after the two murders, a man announces he a French policeman on vacation, but he is happy to investigate until the police arrive. 

Coincidences abound as the plot thickens and Miss Marple deploys her usual quiet, inquisitiveness as she listens and observes the surroundings.  Knitting always in her hands she appears to be just a simple old woman and is often underestimated.  

It was definitely a fun, intriguing mystery novel written by an experienced and excellent author of mystery.

Mother, Daughter, Sister, Stranger

Isn’t it surprising that even if you grow up in the same house with parents and siblings that when you reconnect with your siblings later in life you realize how different you all are.  Also how different your memories are of the past.

That is what I was thinking about as I read Mother, Daughter, Sister, Stranger the newest exciting thriller from author Hank Phillippi Ryan. This is a fast paced well plotted novel that will keep the reader guessing about the ending all the way through.  With misinformation and just a cause for self doubt as the characters are introduced and then interact. 

Bea and Eliza are sisters, who grew up with a busy mother who was a professor and a father who spent a lot of time on the road traveling.  When the Bea is graduating from college, they jump in the private personal plane and with her father flying head for their vacation home. The plane goes down and both of their parents are killed but the girls survive.  They go to live with their aunt, their mother’s sister. Every year on the anniversary of the fiery crash they gather at the cemetery for a special remembrance ceremony. 

Surprisingly this year Bea is nowhere to be found as the special day approaches. She has left her daughter Piper with Eliza for a sleepover and has not returned home. Then she misses the cemetery gathering and Eliza is extremely worried. But deciding who to trust and ask for help becomes complicated. As secrets from the past come to light and Eliza learns more about her childhood she is not sure who to trust and who is a possible threat to her and Piper. She is desperate to save her sister, though she is not sure Bea is in danger or where she could be.

This is a novel of intrigue, family relationships, secrets and trust. The plot is well written, keeping the reader on their toes,  guessing who you think is responsible. But every time you think you have it all figured out there is another twist that sends the plot in a different direction opens more options for a thrilling ending.

How to Get Away With Murder

 How To Get Away With Murder is a clever mystery novel.  Make sure you are reading the book written by the author Rebecca Philipson.   You have to watch some titles are used by a multiple of authors.

This story is about a young woman, Samatha, who is rising in the police force when a difficult experience with her partner causes her to take a 6 month leave from the police force. Supported by her father’s best friend the police chief, Harry, Samatha wants to come back to work when she hears about a young girl found dead in the park.  Next to her body is a copy of the book, How To Get Away With Murder.

Samatha was traumatized at work and is under  psychiatric care, but it is very important to her to see justice for this young girl. The investigating officers are reading the book to find out what the killer may do next, and to figure out who the killer really is. The author of this self help book is Denver Brady , an alias for the real serial killer.  The police detectives are reading the book as they search for the criminal staying just maybe one step ahead of him.  Or could he be leading them down a garden path of misdirection?

The characters are well developed and the plot is very intriguing. 

Holmes, Marple and Poe

 James Patterson writes this new series with Brian Sitts.  Using the well known and loved classic mystery novel detectives as inspiration, these authors have created a team of detectives that will solve any crime.  They can even work more than one case at a time. Sharing their unique specialities they each contribute something to solving of each mystery.  Though in addition their individual eccentricities also can get in the way of their work as they help each other through the lows and demons they each face.

 Book two is already available and I do hope there will be more to follow.  I enjoyed this mystery both for the twisty cases but also for the way the authors captured the personalities of the Homes, Marple and Poe.

I Am Not The Only Murderer in My Retirement Home

 Fergus Craig has written an entertaining mystery novel about the life of an aging and former serial killer.  Carol has done her time and paid her dues and now leaving the prison sentence behind she is moving into a senior living establishment.  She has decided to turn over a new leaf and lead a honest life.  She has had enough of prison.  

When a fellow resident dies, Carol is the first person on the scene and calls the police.  But when they realize who she is and learn about her past, her freedom may be at stake.  The police may think they do not look any further than Carol for the crime, but Carol insists she is innocent.

This time Carol may have to prove who the real killer is to be able to prove her own innocence. 

Mad Mabel

 Mad Mabel written by Sally Hepworth, is a winner of a book. Hepworth is a masterful storyteller with a great ability to build suspense.  This time we meet Elise Mabel Fitzpatrick, an elderly woman living a quiet life down a small lane.  She waves to her neighbors but keeps to herself. When a neighbor dies, Elise’s sarcastic responses to the police bring her past under closer scrutiny. 

Now her quiet life is disrupted by neighbors knocking at the door and a need to tell the story of her past.  As Elise tells the story of her life interspersed between the current events happening on Kenny Lane, Melbourne, Australia, we get a picture of her life story. A difficult childhood, with indifferent parents, Elise has a hard childhood with many challenges and difficulties along the way.  She tells the story of her life and explains so many of the mysteries that have surrounded her and followed her through her life.

The Very Unremarkable Life of Etty Bloom

Talya Jankovits, has written a very endearing first novel, The Very Unremarkable Life of Etty Bloom.  Along with the title the novel takes a slow stroll through the life of Etty Greenberger as she grows up in the Hasidic neighborhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  We watch her grow from the child of Holocaust survivors to a grown woman, getting married, becoming Etty Bloom, and struggling to have children.  We follow her life through to old age and find her not only growing old in age, but slowly growing smarter as she ages.  

Growing up in a time of great superstition, following the Holocaust, Etty's parents are over protective and social norms are constraining. The goal of every parent is to see their daughter married, taking care of a husband and many children.  Etty is headstrong and has other interests.  She has trouble fitting into the accepted society she was born into.  Her mother tries really hard to fit into the small world they live in and works hard to make Etty fit the role she is meant to play.  

Etty never seems to be happy.  She is not able to see the positive side of her life and experiences. As her friends all quickly make matches, marry and start building families, Etty has trouble accepting any of the young men she is offered in marriage. When she finally marries, she has trouble conceiving a child.  Then following the same mistakes her mother made, she imposes on her own daughter some of the same pressure to fit in, marry and raise a family.  Pushing her daughter to follow the accepted social practices of the Hasidic community, she did not favor. 

This is the story also of how from one generation to the next times changed.  Etty's daughter, Sarala, is very similar to Etty, but is stronger than her mother and fights the pressure of the community to stand strong in her beliefs. She is satisfied with her life even if it is not the prescribed pattern of the women in the neighborhood.

Though Etty Bloom’s life seems unremarkable, author Talya Jankovits has captured the voice of the NY immigrant Jewish community very well. The smells of the traditional foods and superstitious beliefs of the time period . The reader will be able to picture the Lower Eastside of New York and the life of the immigrants who came to America.  

The plot keeps you engaged until the end, always hoping maybe that Etty will find clarity and become a better person.  It will take Etty a lifetime but maybe she will finally realize that her unremarkable life is really rather remarkable. A wonderful lesson in humility, tzedukah and being your best self.

Murder on the Marlow Belle

As we move through the series of the Marlow Mystery Club it gets harder to keep the mysteries intriguing but Thorogood is nothing but great at his craft. Judith an her friends still manage to present a interesting and compelling read and keep the reader in suspense all the way to the concluding page. This time even though it seems the murderer has been apprehended there is a last minute current that sends the plot downstream toward another possible ending.

This time Judith Potts, the puzzle solving, woman of a certain age, citizen detective is called to a woman's home when her husband seems to have disappeared. Then when his body is found Judith, Suzie and Becks, the Marlow Murder Club, start to quietly ask questions.  This time DI Tanika Malik asks them not to investigate because she is being harassed by her colleague, who doesn't like the trio getting involved in police investigations. 

Judith joins the local amateur actors group, playing a role in the upcoming performance, which gets her on the inside with all the suspects.  The murdered man was the director, Oliver, who had issues with every one of the cast members. The cast members were all together on a boat ride, the Marlow Belle,  when the murder occurred. 

Blunt Instrument

 Amy Bloom has written her first crime novel, Blunt Instrument.  What a wild ride it is .  We follow self-taught private investigator, Dell Chandler, as she takes on her first solo case.  Dell was professor of English before she was fired from her position. The year her mother died she did everything she could do wrong in the job and ended up without a career.  Her Uncle Lou, who she had worked for through her teenage years, helping him with his private investigator firm, Martinez and Associates, offered to take her on as a partner.  She learned what she could from watching Law & Order.  Then she went to the gun range and learned how to shoot for protection.

Now her uncle is gone and her father has given her name to the Cromwell College president, Elizabeth Curry, as someone who can find the killer of Professor Oliver Bullfinch.  Killed in his office, Curry wants to find an answer quickly and the police have not been able to find the killer.  Dell sets to work trying to smoke out the killer.  She runs into many obstacles along the way.  The police do not want to share information.  She has angered a few people and they are trying to scare her away.  

She might be falling in love and she is not really sure who she can trust.  Someone who seems like a friend  could be or they could be a suspect.  As Dell negotiates her way through the suspect list and tries to keep herself, her father and her godfather, Theo Gurwitz, who was her mother’s closest friend, safe.  At seventy five he was blind and supposed to be retired but was still teaching on class at Cromwell.   

This novel takes the mystery plot a little deeper, building character development to round out the private investigator and the prime suspects personalities. Giving more depth to the relationships and motives.  Clever dialog and descriptions make this a perfect read.

The Secret of Cherry Hill Orchard

 

The Secret of Cherry Hill Orchard , written  by Kim Davis, is the second in the series about 11 year old, Amber and her younger 5 year old half sister, Ava.  In the first book they were playing a game and they were pulled into the land of the game.  This time Amber is supposed to babysit for Ava and her friend Harper.  Their mothers are going shopping for items they will both need when they each give birth to their next children.  Amber, Ava and Harper are not so excited about the new additions to the family.  As they start to play a game called Cherry Hill Orchard, a large cherry appears and takes them into the game.  There they meet a group of cats who are being harassed by a group of dogs. The dogs are chasing them and keeping the cats from harvesting their cherry trees. All the food the girls get to eat there are made with cherries.  Cookies, pies, even the drinks are cherry flavored. The three girls learn the importance of working together and getting along as they try to bring peace between the cats and dogs.  They travel through dangerous territory to meet the Queen and ask her to punish the dogs and protect the cats.  It is only then that they can return to the real world.  

A Slice of Murder

 A Slice of Murder is the first mystery novel in the Abigail Murphy series, written by Sophie Maddon. 

Abigail is a socially awkward young woman who works in the IT department, working on a new computer system for  a biscuit making factory.  She has set routines that work for her, like eating the same lunch everyday for a week and then switching to something new. Buying certain cheeses at the local shop after taste testing some new varieties.  She is not very sociable, but likes to spend time with her best friend, Hannah.  Abigail also likes to solve puzzles like Sherlock Holmes. 

When her tyrannical boss asks her to investigate an anonymous letter she received Abigail has no chose.  Then her boss is missing and the office director gives Abigail a promotion,  her boss' job.  Now she has to do the work of both positions. 

Abigail tells Hannah she knows something is wrong and when her boss turns up dead, it is time to put her dection skills to work. How would Holmes follow the clues?  Abigail and Hannah start doing some sniffing around and are ready to share information with the police to make sure they do not think Abigail is the number suspect. 

A light entertaining cozy mystery.  Easy to follow and there are some good red herrings.  I was on the wrong trail for the killer .. 

Theo of Golden

 I really did not want to read this book.  Everyone is talking about it.  There is so much publicity about how great it is , touching the heart strings, making you feel good in a time when people are so angry and bad tempered.  So I held out as long as I could and finally the stars aligned.  My book group put it on the to read list and just as I had thought maybe I will skip the meeting to discuss Theo of Golden, the book was sitting on the pile fo returns when I walked in to the library.  Ok I guess I was meant to read the book.

It is what everyone is saying, a feel good book about an elderly man who shows up in a small southern town to live for a short while.  He wants to do something good in life before the end.  He wants to give to others in need without the thought of thanks or reward. 

Walking into a small coffee shop in Golden he sees portraits hanging around the room of townspeople.  He decides to buy them and give them to the person in the painting.  We meet the members of the community as Theo meets them as he gives them each their portrait.  He learns their life story. Using the art of evasion he does not answer their questions. 

I kept reading because I knew somewhere in the end there had to be a connection  that has brought to this town and these people.  Of course I will not ruin the surprises but needless to say there two twists at the end that bring the story around to full closeure.

It is a feel good book with a happy ending that ties up all the loose ends in a neat package. 

This is Not About Us

I just finished reading Allegra Goodman's newest book, This Is Not About Us.  

I am blown away.  It was an incredible collection of stories that tied together so well I forgot at times I was not reading a novel.   The book spoke to me in so many ways.  So many of the life experiences were so relevant to my life like sibling rivalries. So many overlaps of the places I have attended and am still involved with.  Camp Ramah Palmer, Emerson College, Brandeis University.  I closed the back cover and announced to the empty room, " I am in love with Allegra Goodman!"  

This is a collection of short stories that follow a family through many lifecycle events.  

Reading this book and learning the perspectives of the various characters is enthralling.  You are pulled into the family dynamics, agreeing with some and finding fault with others. It is like living with your own relatives. Meeting up at get togethers and holidays and seeing the interaction between siblings, cousins and the aunts and uncles.

We meet the three Rubenstein sisters who are the matriarchs of the family. Jeanne, the sister who held the family together, is dying from cancer leaving Helen and Sylvia to figure out their place in the puzzle that has lost a piece of the whole.  At the shiva Sylvia turns up with an apple cake. Helen says that was her recipe and sees a slight in Sylvia's behavior.  It is not really about the apple cake, it is the competition and fighting for attention that siblings experience that never leaves the relationship. The estrangement will last through all the family lifecycle events that follow.  

In each story we meet the children and the grandchildren of this family. Seeing lfe from their perspective as they negotiate the everyday experiences of family and life. The balancing of carpools and after school activities, preparing for Bar/Bat Mitzvah and getting home to make dinner.  Keeping a marriage together or figuring out the divorce with children.  

We meet their families and see how the different personalities all work in concert with each other.  It is an incredible book that I think touches on so many personal issues that all of us can relate to.  I really felt like the author knew me and was paralleling my world. Every family has drama and disagreements.  Every family member just wants to be seen and loved. How we all fall into the traps of birth order and the competition for approval.

The author captured the personalities and needs of people, blending them between the short stories seamlessly. The book reads like a novel, not a set of individual stories.

The Murderous Affair of Judith Potts

 The Murderous Affair of Judith Potts is the latest in the Robert Thorogood mystery series about Judith Potts and her friends in Marlow. 

We have watched Judith, Becks and Suzie solve many murders assisting the police of Marlow, led by their friend DI Malik, with their crime board and access to old newspapers piled in a spare room in Judith's exotic home. They also have the ability to interview and question people who will not speak to the police.  They have been dubbed citizen investigators by DI Malik, but this time their badges have been taken away and DI Malik is taken off the job, suspended.  

Now two celebrities have been murdered and it is up to our friendly trio to solve the mystery of the connection between the two seemingly unrelated cases.  First a professional soccer player and then a thriller author turn up dead.  Judith seems distracted and not paying attention to the clues that Becks and Suzie are sharing with her.  Without Judith will they be able to solve these murders?  Will her friends be able to find out what is bothering Judith and bring her back to their group in time?  this could finally be the disclosure of the nagging history that has been following Judith since she moved to Marlow... What was she trying to escape?