Death Overdue★★★ by Mary Lou Kirwin

Karen has taken a trip to London to spend time with her boyfriend, Caldwell,  and see if she is ready to move permanently from her job as a librarian in Minnesota to a book shop dealer in London.  But before she can concentrate on that decision, her boyfriend's ex returns turning the situation problematic but then turns up dead. Caldwell seems to be the prime suspect, so Karen feels the need to investigate herself which tends to prove dangerous.

I liked the story and the characters but am wondering how they will progress in the future.


Series/ Progress: Librarian mysteries   2/2
DATE READ: January 16 - January 18
NO. OF PAGES: 245
Type of Book ARD
SOURCE: Public Library

The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

 ★★★

GENRE: General Fiction
SUBJECT: Holocaust survival
Setting: Westerbrook, NH, Auschwitz, Poland
CHARACTERS: Sage Singer, Leo Stein, Minka, Josef Weber
DATE READ: July 23 - July 29
NO. OF PAGES: 460
Off the Shelf (pre-2013)? Source?:   no, Public library

PLOT:.........................................3.00
CHARACTERIZATION:............3.00
TOPICS:.....................................4.00
STYLE:.......................................3.00
ORIGINALITY:............................3.00
ADDICTIVENESS:....................2.50
OWNERSHIP:............................2.50
Threshold Quality.......................3.00
Average..............................................................3.00

Sage Singer, an atheist of Jewish descent, works at a religious bakery.  Having been scarred, she hides in the back and works during the night.  One day she is introduced to an old man and they become friends.  But here is where the story gets weird.  Josef informs Sage that he was a Nazi SS officer and that wants her to kill him.

The story is also that of Sage's grandmother and her survival during the Holocaust as well as a story that her grandmother wrote during her youth and incarceration at Auschwitz.

At times, the stories were difficult to follow because they kept jumping back and forth.

The ladies in my book club rave about Jodi Picoult so we selected this one for July.  I had read My Sister's Keeper but was not impressed so I was hoping that this one would be better.  The story was okay but I felt that the characters were a bit stereotypical and lacked originality.

The Enchantress by Michael Scott

  ★★★½

GENRE: Fantasy
SUBJECT: saving the world
Setting: San Francisco, CA
CHARACTERS: Josh Newman, Sophie Newman, Perenelle Flamel, Nicolas Flamel
DATE READ: April 26 - May 1
NO. OF PAGES: 517
Off the Shelf (pre-2013)? Source?:   Yes, audio stockpile

PLOT:....................................3.00
CHARACTERIZATION:.......3.50
TOPICS:................................3.50
STYLE:...................................3.00
ORIGINALITY:........................4.00
ADDICTIVENESS:...............3.50
OWNERSHIP:.......................3.00
THRESHOLD QUALITY:......3.50
Average.......................................................3.38

The end of the world as we know it could be at hand.  Nicolas and Perenelle Flamel have only the energy for  their auras to survive one more day and unless help comes from other immortals and  the world of Danu Talis, the human world will be destroyed and taken over by monsters.  

Throughout this book, the reader is naturally rooting for the good guys, but they have been changing.  In the previous installments of this series we have seen the Flamels, the Newman twins, and friends like Joan of Arc and St Germain joining together to fight against the immortals that have been on the wrong side.  But now we see that the bad guys understand more fully the devastation that may be at hand and so Machiavelli, Dr. Dee, Virginia Dare and others are now with the Flamels and trying to save the world. 

The ending of a series is always somewhat of a letdown because the reader realizes that the characters that have become friends will no longer be there with new adventures, but the adventures that we did share were definitely worth the ride.

Too Many Murders: A Carmine Delmonico Novel by Colleen McCullough

 ★★★¾
GENRE: Mystery
SUBJECT: mass murder
SETTING: Holloman, CT
CHARACTERS: Carmine Delmonico, Abe Goldberg, Corey Marshall, Dr. Erica Davenport
DATE READ: December 2 - December 7
NO. OF PAGES: 384
Off the Shelf (pre-2012)? Source?:   Yes, audio stockpille
CATEGORY: Study Hall

PLOT: 4
CHARACTERIZATION: 4
TOPICS: 3.5
STYLE: 4
ORIGINALITY: 3
ADDICTIVENESS: 3.5
OWNERSHIP: 3.5
THRESHOLD QUALITY: 3.5
Average 3.6


Holloman CT, a small university town, is overwhelmed with a dozen murders in one 24 hour period on April 3, 1967.  There doesn't seem to be any kind of connection - the victims range from the CEO of a major conglomerate to an 18 month old Down Syndrome baby. None of the victims is killed in the same manner, but Carmine Delmonico, the head of the homicide division in the town is sure there has to be a connection.

The investigation into each death and eventual connections, draws Delmonico and others into a dangerous and threatening situations.  The reader is taken on a roller coaster ride of questions and answers that eventually lead to a satisfactory conclusion.

Uniform Justice by Donna Leon

 ★★★¼

GENRE: Mystery
SUBJECT:  blackmail, threats, cover-ups, military schools
SETTING: Venice, Italy
CHARACTERS: Commissario Guido Brunetti
DATE READ: October 15 - October 20
NO. OF PAGES: 286
Off the Shelf (pre-2012)? Source?:  yes, audio stockpile
CATEGORY: Math Class

PLOT:   3
CHARACTERIZATION:   3
TOPICS:   3
STYLE:   4
ORIGINALITY:   3
ADDICTIVENESS:   3
OWNERSHIP:   3
THRESHOLD QUALITY:   4
Average 3.25


This Commissario Brunetti chronicle tells of the discovery of young teenage boy found hanging at a military school, an apparent suicide.  However, as Guido investigates he finds that the family of the victim has been continually threatened due to the father's political activities.  Was the death a hazing gone bad, a payback to the father, or more sinister?

Donna Leon's storytelling always manages to captivate me while telling of some social problem in a mesmerizing locale.  Definitely another good tale in this series.

Evil in Carnations by Kate Collins

★★★★

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Subject: speed dating, gigolo

Setting: New Chapel, IN

Main Characters: Abby Knight, Marco Salvare, Nikki Hiduke, Carmen Gold

Series: yes, # 8 Flower Shop Mysteries

Dates Read: September 11 - September 14

Number of pages: 313

Off the Shelf (pre-2012)? Source?: no, public library

Category for 12 in 12 challenge: Math Class

Abby returns from a romantic weekend with Marco to find that her roommate Nikki has gone out with Jonas Treat (after Abby warned her not to) and now that Jonas has been found murdered, Nikki is in a bundle of trouble since she was apparently the last one to see him alive.

Nikki's lawyer hires Marco to investigate and, of course, Abby has to join in. The suspects include a Speed Dating Coordinator (where Nikki and Jonas met), an ex-fiancée, previous business associate, previous client, and Jonas' own private stalker. With all those to check out Abby gets into a few unusual situations getting her family to jump to some interesting conclusions.

It's been a while since I read the last Flower Shop mystery and I'm wondering how I could have let that much time go by. This cozies are always so much fun because Abby Knight along with her family and employees just make me laugh. I definitely cannot let this much time go by again.

Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James

★★★

Genre: Mystery

Subject: suspicion, family separation

Setting: Derbyshire, England

Main Characters: Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth Darcy, Colonel Fitzwilliam, George Wickham

Series: no

Dates Read: August 16 - August 21

Number of pages: 418

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

Category for 12 in 12 challenge: Speech Class

Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice are two of the best loved characters in fiction and so have often been "kidnapped" by other authors for use in their novels. P.D. James' version has the Darcys living happily at Pemberley with their children, Elizabeth's sister Jane and her husband Charles Bingley and their family living in the neighborhood and plans underway for the annual Lady Anne Ball. But before the festivities can commence, Lydia shows up in a fit, screaming that Wickham is dead!

The gentlemen of Pemberley return to the nearby woods and find Wickham bending over the body of his friend Denny, wailing of how Denny is dead and that he killed him. Regrettably, the Wickhams must be offered Pemberley's hospitality until the local magistrate can be notified. The Ball is cancelled and the investigation begins into the circumstances of Captain Denny's death.

News spreads of the events and fortunately, for the readers the only "sightings" of Lady Catherine and Mr. Collins come in the form of letters with their typical tones of condescension and haughtiness in the form of unwanted advice and disdain.

This book was by no means a heavy mystery lacking twists and turns that would hide the inevitable conclusion, it was a lighter mystery showing that the inhabitants of Pemberley are still the characters we loved and that the issues that they are forced to endure can be resolved to everyone's satisfaction.

This wasn't the greatest mystery but it was fun.

A Sea of Troubles by Donna Leon

★★★

Genre: Mystery

Subject: fishing industry corruption

Setting: Venice Italy

Main Characters: Commiossario Brunetti, Signorina Electra

Series: yes, # 10

Dates Read: August 15 - August 16

Number of pages: 239

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

Category for 12 in 12 challenge: Math Class

Commissario Guido Brunetti is called to the little fishing village of Pellestrina after a fishing boat explodes and sinks and two bodies are found in the wreckage. The clam fishermen are not very communicative so Signorina Elettra "volunteers" to gather information while on "vacation" in the village while she visits with relatives.

What Brunetti uncovers on his own, makes him question the wisdom of allowing Signorina Elettra to remain the corrupt environment which threatens to be exposed by the investigation.

This was not one of Leon's best, IMO, leaving me a bit flat. The police procedural was missing and the thrilling end was the only redeeming part.

Jar City by Arnaldur Indridason

★★★½

Genre: Police procedural

Subject: children of rape, medical diagnosis database

Setting: Reykjavik, Iceland

Main Characters: Erlendur, Kolbrún, Audur, Einar, Holberg

Series: yes, Reykjavik mystery #1

Dates Read: July 16 - July 30

Number of pages: 294

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

Category for 12 in 12 challenge: Geography class

Inspector Erlendur Sveinsson of Iceland's CID is called to the sight of a dead body. The atmosphere is oppressive in the basement apartment of the victim, Holberg, and the only possible clue is a old black and white photo of a gravestone.

Deciphering the clue, Erlendur tracks down a history of the victim that finally enables him to find the murderer and the motive. The victjm didn't really get your sympathy so finding the motivation was paramount.

I had a very difficult time at the start of this book because of the unusual names. It was hard to figure out who was who and what their relationships were. However, the setting of Iceland came through well, making me feel that I really was seeing what it was like for someone to be in this country. The mystery was interesting and the characters, once I understood who was who, were very engaging.

Travelling with Pomegranates by Sue Monk Kidd, Ann Kidd Taylor

★★★★

Genre: Memoir

Subject: Mother/Daughter relationships

Setting: Greece, France, SC USA

Main Characters: Sue Monk Kidd, Ann Kidd Taylor

Series: no

Dates Read: July 16 - July 21

Number of pages: 419

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

Category for 12 in 12 challenge: Foreign Languages

Sue Monk Kidd is a writer (Secret Loves of Bees) but she is also a woman and mother. This book, co-authored with her daughter Ann Kidd Taylor, is about their lives and their relationship with and to each other.

The story is very spiritual in that Sue sees herself and Anne as a modern Demeter and Persephone. Sue, with health issues, projects her own fears of growing old, while Ann, shows a lack of self-confidence to go forward with her life and relationships. But as they travel and see the ancient world and hear its tales, they see that their fears and uncertainties need not stop them from doing what they want to do.

The progression from Greece and the Demeter/Persephone comparison (pomegranate charms that they wore) move on in another year to Paris where they are engrossed in the Jeanne d'Arc and then a return to Greece after Ann's marriage and their connection with Black Madonnas is filled with introspection and self-analysis.

This isn't the type of book that I normally read, but I found it interesting that a mother and Daughter would be this close. The descriptions of their travels were also enjoyable.

The Colfax Massacre by LeeAnna Keith

★½

Genre: History

Subject: racial issues during Reconstruction

Setting: Louisiana, USA

Main Characters: William Smith Calhoun

Series: no

Dates Read: July 14 - July 15

Number of pages: 171

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

Category for 12 in 12 challenge: History class

This book told of the account of the racal incident in Colfax, LA where 13 white men and 150 negros were killed. It was extremely difficult reading not just because of the topic but the writing as well. Hard to follow and at times a bit too detailed.

Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik

★★★

Genre: Fantasy

Subject: Dragons, deportation to Australia

Setting: Australia

Main Characters: Captain Laurence, Temeraire

Series: yes, #6

Dates Read: July 13 - July 15

Number of pages: 274

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

Category for 12 in 12 challenge: Speech Class

In previous installments, Laurence has been convicted of treason and only to save the services of Termeraire the celestial dragon, his sentence is commuted to transportation to Australia where it is hoped Temeraire can help the new colony with dragons on New South Wales.

Upon their arrival they are caught in a power struggle between the Colonial Governor, Captain Bligh (of Bounty fame) and local rebels. Try as they can to complete their designated missions, they encounter defeat after defeat in the Outback.

This story seemed to lack substance and just seemed to be a vehicle to move the characters from one locale to another. It was entertaining but not what has been the normal thrill of a Temeraire tale. Hope the next one is back on track.

Alexander Graham Bell: Inventor and Visionary by Kendall Haven

★★★

Genre: History

Subject: Biography

Setting: Scotland, USA

Main Characters: Alexander Graham Bell

Series: no

Dates Read: July 12

Number of pages: 114

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

Category for 12 in 12 challenge: History class

Did you know that Alexander Graham Bell was a talented pianist? His talent was so great that he could have been a concert pianist but his father believe that it was too frivolous and insisted that he give it up. His father wanted him to do something valuable in the area of sound (his own specialty was development of Visual Sound language). But Alexander (AGB) was not academically inclined. He was a visionary.

At the age of 8,with his brother Melville, AGB invented a wheat separator for a neighboring farmer. Later at his father's suggestion, they created a talking machine that could be "programmed" to mimic the human voice.

The early years of his life he spent helping the deaf learn to speak but he yearned to put his other ideas into action. Receiving funding from his future father-in-law to create a harmonizing telegraph, AGB "accidently" developed and created the telephone. And there is where most people leave AGB - the Telephone effected everyone and still does but at the age of 29 AGB wasn't finished.

Other inventions in his life were:

audiometer to measure hearing loss

creation of the decibel rating system

fiber optic photophone was ahead of its time (80 yrs.) so it flopped

a metal detector to try to find bullet in Garfield (would have worked except for the metal springs in the bed)

vacuum jacket - forerunner of the iron lung

graphophone (dictaphone) voice recordings

automatic butter churner, water delivery system, cooling fans,

aeronautical designs from aircraft to jet engines

hydrofoil boats

flat records for phonographs

He also financially supported other inventors - Samuel Langley - steam aerodrome and Albert Michelson, Nobel prize winner for measurement of the speed of light for a few. And he wanted to spread the word of scientific progress so he helped to create the National Geographic Society and publication as well as supplying money to start the Smithsonian publication.

AGB also warned of the "greenhouse effect" and of energy shortages he foresaw in the future.

So Alexander Graham Bell was not just the telephone, he was a visionary for his time and the future.

An Irish Country Doctor by

★★★½

Author: Patrick Taylor

Genre: Fiction

Subject: Small Irish village and new doctor

Setting: Ballybucklebo

Main Characters: Barry Laverty, Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly, Kinky Kincaid

Series: no

Dates Read: July 2 - July 9

Number of pages: 448

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

Category for 12 in 12 challenge: Geography Class

Dr. Barry Laverty has finished medical school and searching for a location to hang out his shingle, answers an advertisement and heads to a small village in Ulster called Ballybucklebo. There Dr. Laverty is confronted with the town doctor who is looking for an assistant. Dr. O'Reilly is a larger than life character who proceeds to teach the younger man the nuances of treating the village residents.

The amusing tales highlight the gentleness of the area - reverberating with the simple setting and the lack of the urban rush of most of our everyday lives. The characters and situations make you smile and often laugh - just a wonderful summer read. Highly recommended.

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.

The Enchanted April by

★★★½

Genre: Fiction

Subject: Italian holiday, shared quarters

Setting: San Salvatore, Italy

Main Characters: Mrs. Lotty Wilkins,Mrs. Rose Arbuthnot,Lady Caroline,Mrs. Fisher,Mellersh Wilkins, Mr. Briggs

Series: no

Dates Read: June 24 - June 27

Number of pages: 361

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

Category for 12 in 12 challenge: Extra curricular activites

"To Those Who Appreciate Wisteria and Sunshine" - how enticing can an advertisement be than to lore you in with the thought of flowers and sunshine? So four unrelated ladies decide to rent an Italian castle for 4 weeks to escape from their everyday lives.

Four ladies so uniquely different - Lottie is a demoraliized house wife who decides that this is what she wants to do with her nest egg. Having met Rose Arbuthnot, who is of like mind, they advertise for two additiinal ladies to share the cost of the rental and head off to Italy for the month of April. Each lady has her own reason for avoiding their normal home environment, and friendships are formed as well as lives repaired amid the flourishing gardens and idyllic setting.

The writing brings a sense of peace to the reader as we picture the buzzing bees, blazing flora, and the puffing floating clouds on the hill overlooking the Mediterranean. There are also moments of amusement as well as self-analysis.

A great beach read IMHO.

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

★★½

Genre: Historical Fiction

Subject: Thomas Cromwell

Setting: England

Main Characters: Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour

Series: no

Dates Read: June 10 - June 23

Number of pages: 640

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

Category for 12 in 12 challenge: Extra curricular activites

Wolf Hall is one of those books that shows that not everyone will feel the same about any one book. The majority of readers appear to gush over this book, extolling the writing and the narrative manner, but I found it tedious, constantly trying to follow the story as it was told even though I knew the story quite well.

My English teacher from high school would have been horrified at the poor sentence structure and unidentified pronouns throughout. It was an interesting concept using Thomas Cromwell as the central character, but for me, the book fell flat.

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.

Contrary Blues by John Billheimer

★★★½

Genre: mystery

Subject: Federal subsidies, fraud, extortion

Setting: Contrary , West Virginia

Main Characters: Owen Allison, Mary Beth Hobbs, Stony Hobbs, Stuart Hobbs, Purvis Jenkins, Dwight Armitage

Series: yes, #1

Dates Read: June 4 - June 17

Number of pages: 278

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

Category for 12 in 12 challenge: Geography Class

Okay, it's filled with stereotypes - hillbillies, moonshine, less than smart individuals, revenue runners, etc. but it was still fun!

Contrary, West Virginia has been receiving a federal grant for 4 years for buses to run in their town, but this year when the DOT sends an auditor he ends up dead. Well, the audit has to be finished so DOT sends another - Owen Allison - to Contrary to finish up and he ends up un the middle of a can of worms that nearly gets him killed too.

The problem is just a "small clerical error" on the request changing 2 buses to 20 buses and the DOT didn't notice so they been sending $500,000 a year. Well, the town of Contrary didn't want to live up to its name so they kept the extra funds and used them for other things. Trouble comes when a "disabled" veteran wants a bus ride to his "job" of guarding the local still.

Well, you can see how this is filled with the stereotypes but they are woven in so humorously, you just keep going with a smile on your face.

An absolutely entertaining read - and perfect for my West Virginia state visit!

Shakespeare's Landlord by Charlaine Harris

★★★

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Subject: impulses, self-defense

Setting: Shakespeare, Arkansas

Main Characters: Lily Bard, Claude Friedrich, Marshall Sedaka

Series: yes, Lily Bard #1

Dates Read: June 2 - June 7

Number of pages: 224

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

Category for 12 in 12 challenge: Geography Class

Lily Bard has a past. She's been living in Shakespeare, ARK for 3 years, working to clean the homes of many of the residents of this little town. Trouble threatens to expose what she's hiding when she witnesses a hooded figure wheeling a mysterious bundle into the nearby park. When she goes to investigate, she finds the area landlord dead.

This was a simple little cozy. More time was spent on Lily and her relationships with the town residents than maybe was necessary. The main characters and secondary characters do need a bit more development but since this is the first in the series, there's time. The mystery was light but entertaining. Hope for improvement in future installments.