A Murderous Glaze by Melissa Glazer

★★★¼

GENRE: Cozy Mystery
SUBJECT:
Setting: Maple Ridge, VT
CHARACTERS: Carolyn Emerson, Bill, Emerson, John Hodges, Herman Meadows, Buch Hardcastle
DATE READ: April 30 - May 2
NO. OF PAGES: 311
Challenges: 75, Category, TIOLI , 50 US States
SOURCE: Nook stockpile

PLOT:....................................................................3.50
CHARACTERIZATION:.......................................3.00
TOPICS: ...............................................................4.00
STYLE:..................................................................3.50
ORIGINALITY:.......................................................3.00
ADDICTIVENESS:..............................................3.00
OWNERSHIP:......................................................3.00
Threshold Quality.................................................3.00
Average..............................................................................................3.25

Carolyn Emerson is a potter whose studio, Fire at Will, was the scene of the discovery of dead body, someone she didn't particularly like, so, of course, she's a suspect in the murder.  A dead body also doesn't help business, so Carolyn needs to get the murder solved ASAP but the sheriff in the little town of Maple Ridge VT is not one of her greatest fans and seems to be dragging his feet.  Enlisting the help of the Firing Squad - amateur potters who use her kiln- Carolyn sets out to find the killer herself.

There were some fun characters in this starter for the Clay and Crime Mystery series and I'm looking forward to getting to know them better.

Death Al Dente by Leslie Budewitz

 ★★★½

GENRE: Cozy Mystery
SUBJECT: recipe theft, 
Setting: Jewel Bay, Montana
CHARACTERS: Erin Murphy, Francesca Murphy,Kim Caldwell,  Claudette Randall, Dean Vincent, Linda Vincent, James Angelo, Chiara Phillips, Landon Phillips, Ted Redaway
DATE READ: March 8 - March 11
NO. OF PAGES: 304
Challenges: 75, Category, TIOLI,  GastroCAT, US 50 State
SOURCE: Nook

PLOT:....................................................................3.50
CHARACTERIZATION:.......................................3.50
TOPICS: ...............................................................3.50
STYLE:..................................................................3.50
ORIGINALITY:.......................................................3.50
ADDICTIVENESS:..............................................3.50
OWNERSHIP:......................................................3.50
Threshold Quality.................................................3.50
Average..............................................................................................3.50 

Erin Murphy comes home to Jewel Bay to help her mother and shortly after her return convinces the local merchants to plan a festival to start the summer season - Festa di Pasta. 

The inaugural event is marred when a returning resident is found dead in the alley behind the party.  It doesn't help Erin that the person was her mother's former employee who left with a married man.  Fingers start to point in all directions - Erin's mother for possibly being angry a being left in the lurch, the married man,  the angry wife - but the police seemed to think that Erin's mother is the prime suspect.

Enlisting her friends and family to help find the answers, Erin delves into the secrets of the town to clear her mother.

I love the character of Erin who is trying not only to help her mother but also her hometown - working to utilize and sell homegrown items as much as possible.

The author has woven a clever mystery while at the same time introduced us to some very interesting characters.

The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff

★★★

Genre: Historical Fiction

Subject: Mormons, pologamy,

Setting: Utah

Main Characters: Ann Eliza Young, Brigham Young, Joseph Smith

Series: no

Dates Read: July 28 - August 25

Number of pages: 514

Off the Shelf (pre-2012)? Source?: yes, audio stockpile

Category for 12 in 12 challenge: Geography Class

I don’t know exactly what to say about this book. There are more than enough reviews telling you the plot of the book but I think I need to say something before I express my impressions of the story.

The book is actually two stories - one about the origins of the Mormons in Utah and the second a murder mystery in the current day. I think I would have liked it better if instead of trying to interweave the two tales, each had been separate. I often found it confusing going back and forth and so I feel like I lost continuity.

The material about the founding of the Church of the Latter Day Saints was enlightening and noticibly well-researched.

True Justice by Robert Tenanbaum

★★★★

Genre: Legal Thriller

Subject: infanticide, legal definitions

Setting: Delaware, NYC

Main Characters: Bucth Karp, Lucy Karp, Marlene Ciampi, Sarah Goldfarb

Series: yes, #12

Dates Read: June 20 - July 3

Number of pages: 464

Off the Shelf (pre-2012)? Source?: no, Public Library

Category for 12 in 12 challenge: Geography class

Today's controversial headlines easily could be the driving force behind this legal thriller. After a wave of suspicious baby deaths, the NY public, spurred on by sensational headlines and newspaper stories, wants someone convicted and Butch Karp, the Chief ADA in NYC, is put in the position of having to prosecute a 15 year old Hispanic girl who is alleged to have thrown her baby out of a bathroom window after delivery so that she could return to a party. In the meantime, his wife, Marlene, who specializes in security for battered women, decides she's been shot at enough and is going back to practice law.

Marlene's first case is the defense of a young woman in Delaware who also is accused of infanticide. Leaving her two young sons and teenage daughter, Lucy, to the care of her husband and the Nanny, Marlene travels down the interstate to entangle herself in the search for justice for the dead child as well as the young woman accused of an horrific crime.

Lucy has troubles of her own when she inadvertently discovers the bodies of the parents of her best friend, dead in their home. The alleged murderer is someone that Lucy had befriended and so she tries to discover where her instincts were wrong in trusting this person.

The three different subplots of the book are so well intertwined that once the reader is embroiled in the story, there is little rest to be had. The stories grab your emotions and swing the reader from side to side until the inevitable conclusion.

The characters are interesting, though at some points a bit stereotypical, but all in all a story to relish. Unfortunately, it is part of a series (stands alone quite well) but only drives me to want to see these characters again. Ah, well, what's another series. Highly recommended.

Calamity Jayne by K.C. Bacus

★★★

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Subject: ineptitude

Setting: Iowa

Main Characters: Tressa Jayne Turner, Rick Townsend, Joe Townsend

Series: yes, #1

Dates Read: June 18 - June 20

Number of pages: 326

Off the Shelf (pre-2012)? Source?: no, Public Library

Category for 12 in 12 challenge: Geography class

Tressa Jayne Turner is accident prone. She also seems to manage to get herself into, shall we say, unusual situations. In this introductory story, Tressa manages to inadvertently "steal" a car without realizing it and then finds a dead body in the trunk when she goes to change a flat tire.

Since she finds the body and then loses it, she has to prove to everyone she knows that she hasn't lost her mind and so sets out to solve the murder that hasn't been recorded yet.

It was a fun story but I have a hard time with somebody being that dumb. Also the cover of the book has this straight haired blonde while through out the book Tressa complains about her unmanageable curly hair.

Summer of Fire by Linda Jacobs

★★★½

Genre: Fiction

Subject: marriage separation, personal communications

Setting: Yellowstone National Park

Main Characters: Clare Chance, Steve Heywood, John Deering, Devon Chance

Series: yes, #1

Dates Read: June 3 - June 10

Number of pages: 483

Off the Shelf (pre-2012)? Source?: yes, Nook stockpile

Category for 12 in 12 challenge: Geography Class

Actual events are frequently used as the backdrop of fiction. In this novel the wildfires in Yellowstone National Park in 1988 are the driving force for the adventures told.

Clare Chance is a firefighter from Houston who volunteers to help fight the inferno that Yellowstone has become. Because of her background she is set the task of training the soldiers that are sent by the Army to assist.

The battles of the characters against the fires and their inner demons makes for good reading.

This was the first book that I read that was a Freebie from Barnes & Noble's Free book Friday. I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the writing and story. It was the first in a series set in Yellowstone. I hope to see these characters again though from reviews of the other books In the series, they don't appear prominent.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

★★★

Genre: Fiction

Subject: Civil Rights, segregation, racism

Setting: Jackson Mississippi

Main Characters: Celia Forte, Johnny Forte, Skeeter Phelan, Minny, Aibileen, Hilly Holbrook, Elizabeth Leefolt

Series: none

Dates Read: January 8 - January 18

Number of pages: 721

Off the Shelf (pre-2012)? Source?: yes, MCL

Category for 12 in 12 challenge: Geography, Extra curricular activites

This book had me swaying back and forth - did I like it or not? I purposely delayed reading to wait for the hubbub die down so that it wouldn't influence my impression. Then my book club decided to read it and I agreed to go for it. I was disappointed. I'd heard that it was an extremely well-written book and I saw flashes of that but, the beginning had me extremely confused about what characters went with other characters, and the middle dragged and was very repetitive. The ending left me with too many questions. The story had numerous moments of excellence, i.e. toilets on the lawn, Celia in the pink dress, the chocolate cake, but they were few and far between. The characters were stereotypes - few were more than two dimensional or were used only for a particular aspect of the story. And yet, the story held me, having me wish that somehow it was going to turn out differently and each of the characters would be redeemed in some manner so that their lives would be better. Maybe this aspect of the book is why I rated it a 3 star, otherwise, I probably would have gone lower. Just proves, all books are not for all people.

Call of the Wild by Jack London

Read: June 27 - June 27

Format: Audiobook 4 CDs equivalent 139 pages

Source: Public Library

Subject: Dog sledding

Category: The Kids have it - Young adult and children's books

Challenges: 11 in 11, 75 Book, TIOLI, AUDIO, SYLL, 50 State Challenge - ALASKA

Stars: ★★★½

This is the book telling the story of a dog named Buck. He is a magnifiicently strong animal that is stolen from his farm in California and sent off to the Yukon becoming a member of a dog sled team.

The style of the story reminds a great deal of Black Beauty coming from the animal's POV. I wasn't sure what to expect and was pleasantly surprised at a fast paced tale.