Penny's Wishful Thinking - 2015

I joined in 2010 and finally reached the magic number in 2015. I don't know if I can reach it again but you are a good group to read with so I will give it another try. This year my reading will also be influenced by Club Read 2015.

1. Bonecrack by Dick Francis.
An interesting read, how two sons, one 34 and one 18, deal with oppressive fathers. Told against the background of running a horse racing stables by one and the ambitions to ride a famous horse in the Derby by the other.

# 2. Peace on Earth: The Christmas Truce of 1914 by David Boyle.

The first time I heard about the 1914 World War I Christmas Truce I was struck with wonder and disbelief. Could it really have happened? "Peace on Earth: The Christmas Truce of 1914" describes in some detail how it came about, the details of the various truces up and down the line, how it originated with the Germans, the exchange of souvenirs in the midst of No Man's Land and, of course the football games and singing.

It also views the truce from the different levels of command and why it was acceptable to some and not to others. From the point of view of officers on the ground it gave them an opportunity to bury their dead, clean up their trenches and take as much of a look as possible at the other sides’ trenches. Just a little spying!

For those in the higher levels of command they were horrified and wanted it stopped. As the English Infantry talked to Germans, who had been waiters in London or taxi drivers in Birmingham just months ago, it brought the war down to a level too close to home. You don’t shoot your neighbours. Two people opposed for similar reasons were Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler, a German infantryman, familiarity does not always breed contempt.

The sources in many cases are letters written home to family and friends describing this unusual and unexpected Christmas of 1914.
Posted review

# 3. Proof by Dick Francis.
Tony Beach drifted into the work of a wine merchant because he didn’t have his family’s interest in the military or horse racing and he did have the ability to identify wines and spirits based on smell and taste. He never felt he lived up to his father’s expectations of him as a leader and his fear of acting in a pressure situation. In Proof his experience with wine and spirits helps him track down stolen tankers of whiskey and in doing so he proves to himself that he can overcome the fear of acting just as his father did.

I am seeing different threads as I reread Dick Francis this time. Upfront there is the story, the entertainment, always a horse or two somewhere, a little violence, sometimes romance, right versus wrong. Behind that is a theme sometimes of family, often a conflict between father and son, or the strength of friendship and what it means when the bond is broken. Interesting.
Posted review.

# 4. Silks by Dick Francis and Felix Francis.
Geoffrey Mason, barrister cum amateur jockey, is defending a fellow jockey of a murder charge. He is also being threatened by a former client to ensure that the jockey is found guilty. Like other Dick Francis books the focus is less on horses and racing and more on the murder and in this case the law. You will learn interesting facts about the Magna Carta signed in 1215 and the English legal system that developed from it and spread around the world.

# 5. Flying Finish by Dick Francis.
A young aristocrat, Henry Grey, throws up a respectable job to join a firm which transports race horses all over the world. When men start making one way trips he wonders what happened to them. Not as believable as some of Francis' story lines.
An interesting commentary on the place of the aristocracy in the everyday working life of England and how they are viewed by others.

# 6. The Bobbsey Twins' Mystery At School by Laura Lee Hope
I read “The Bobbsey Twins' Mystery At School” this afternoon and was pleasantly surprised. The last time I read a Bobbsey Twins book was about fifty-five years ago. I received this one as a stocking gift from my sister after she found the 1962 edition at a flea market.

I say surprised because it was fairly well written, the pace was fast, lots of character involvement, adult and child, besides the twins, and lots of actions to keep the plot moving. Having said that the plot was not very believable and there was too much action happening, a train trip through a hurricane, followed by a circus train crash, a trick dog who adopts the twins, a museum opening at the school, the stealing of a valuable Greek statute lent to the museum, a class bully and more. All of which provides mysteries for the twins to solve and of course everything works out in the end.
Much has been written about the value of the Bobbsey Twins’ books since they entertained me many years ago. They certainly kept me reading and lead me to other series and books as I grew older and that is what I think their important contribution to children’s reading has been. They drew children in, provided entertainment and some suspense and went a long way to instilling the reading habit in young children. I am still reading and not always mysteries!
Posted review.

Off to a great start! I have yet to finished something this year. Maybe tonight I will make a concerted effort to finish one of the many unfinished books lying around :)

> 7 It does look good, but I have actually been having a hard time deciding what to read. Perhaps too much choice...

# 7. How The Light Gets In by Louise Penny.
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache faces the corruption in the Surete de Quebec for what will surely be the final time. But this time without his longtime friend and Lieutenant Jean-Guy Beauvoir who has joined the other side. Through a friend at Three Pines he becomes involved in the murder of the last of the women in a famous Quebec family. A SantaThing book from 2014.

# 8 Smokescreen by Dick Francis.
Edward Lincoln completes the last scenes of a movie which has him left in the desert handcuffed to the steering wheel. He then goes to South Africa to help a friend with her race horses. There the movie scene becomes real life. In the movie the focus was on the mental aspects of being left to die but he realizes when he is undergoing the real thing, no stopping for lunch, it is the physical that is the hardest thing to cope with. And it is all because he was given the gold mine shares someone else wanted to inherit.

# 9. The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant.

Addie Baum was born July 10, 1900 in the poverty stricken north end of Boston. Her parents had come from eastern Europe and spoke mainly Yiddish. Mameh, Abbie’s mother, never made the adjustment to America and was a negative, argumentative person. Papa turned more and more to the synagogue and away from his family, in particular his wife.

Ava, her great-grand daughter is interviewing eighty-five year old Addie, about her life and what made her the woman she is today. Through this process we learn of the history of Addie Baum.

Abbie wanted to learn, to take advantage of the things Boston and the changing times were offering even if it meant fighting her family. Her salvation came in the Saturday Club at the settlement house, a mixed group of Irish, Jewish and Italian young women who met to improve and entertain themselves. The friendships Addie made there were lifelong.

“The Boston Girl” is a wonderful tale of a woman who made it and raised herself in society through hard work, her own determination and being willing to take a chance. Diamant, also, in a straight forward tone that fits the Boston setting, lays out through the actions of the characters the social issues of the twentieth century, lack of birth control and access to safe abortions, the racial issues brewing in the southern United States, child labour and women in the workforce.

I enjoyed this book. The characters are well rounded, the events are realistic to the time period and placing the story against the events of the twentieth century adds depth to the novel. Five stars.
Posted review.

# 10. Becoming Queen by Kate Williams.

George III had seven sons and only two legitimate grandchildren, Princess Charlotte (1796-1817), daughter of the Prince of Wales, Prince George, and Princess Victoria (1819-1901), daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, fourth in line to the throne.

The society of the day for the upper classes was quite open, relationships between men and married women, over-drinking at the endless round of parties, little show of responsibility for one’s actions let alone one’s responsibility toward society in general, and indebtedness were common.

Against this background Williams, in “Becoming Queen,” examines the lives of Charlotte and Victoria in great detail, perhaps too much detail. It is important to know of the relationship of each princess to her mother, not good, but it does not need to be presented to the reader numerous times.

Decisions were made, not with the best interest of the children in mind, but on how much money it would bring into the household. Charlotte’s reaction was to rebel, to runaway, to play off her parents against each other. She finally settled into a good marriage only to die as a result of childbirth in 1817.
In 1818 George III’s health was failing badly and a newspaper article suggested his sons, all over forty, marry and produce an heir. Following this there were four marriages but only one heir, Princess Victoria. The Duke of Kent died when his daughter was two years old leaving the raising of her to her mother. The Duchess formed an alliance with John Conroy with the objectives of keeping Victoria separated from children her own age and from her father’s family, controlling her so she was biddable to their wishes and to make as much money off her as possible. The princess was a quiet child but also strong willed and refused to give into her mother. When she was told she was queen she did two things that indicated her future direction, she dismissed her household and, for the first time in her life, spent an hour by herself and she had her bed removed from her mother’s room.

The books ends with the coronation and marriage of Queen Victoria. Prior to reading this I had thought of Albert as a weak man who followed the Queen’s wishes. I overlooked the fact that he was German royalty and raised with strong views of right and wrong and his place in life. I suspect it was a tempestuous marriage.

I learned a lot from this book which is something I look for in each book I read but I didn't enjoy it. It is well researched but it could be better edited so you aren't bogged down but the repetition of family details and the writing could flow more easily and not make you feel you are lost in the facts and missing the story.
Posted review. Three stars.

# 11. M Is for Maple Leafs: An Official Toronto Maple Leafs Alphabet Book by Michael Ulmer,
Melanie Rose (Illustrator)
“M is for Maple Leafs” is a bright, cheerful book that will interest children and adults who have an interest in hockey and in the Toronto Maple Leafs. The words for each letter of the alphabet are drawn from the history of the Maple Leafs hockey team and the game of hockey which increases the reader’s and listener’s knowledge of the team and the game.

One major difference in this book from most alphabet books I have read is that it uses photographs rather than illustrations to depict the images for each letter of the alphabet which adds realism to the book. The photographs are of actual players and games. Also at the end of the book is a second list of words and information that can be used with each letter which helps expand the life of the book. One disappointment, it does not explain the use of Leafs not Leaves in the team name. Four and one half stars.
Posted review.

# 12. Coventry by Helen Humphreys.

To set the scene. The English City of Coventry is located in the West Midlands, north-west of London. It is an industrial city heavily involved in the car industry which, during the war, had been converted to armament and aircraft production.

On November 14, 1940 the city suffered from a massive German Luftwaffe raid known as the Coventry Blitz. More than 800 people died and thousands were injured and left homeless, 4,000 homes were destroyed, and three-quarters of the city’s industrial plants destroyed in addition to the 14th. century Saint Michael’s Cathedral. Of the 26 medieval cathedrals in England it was the only one destroyed during the war. It was rebuild as a modern building incorporating the ruins and reopened in 1962.

“Coventry” has four main characters. Hannah and Jeremy met on the roof of the cathedral on the night of November 14, 1940, both were fire wardens. Mauve, Jeremy’s mother, met Harriet September 20, 1914, the day Harriet’s husband, Owen, had shipped out to France in World War I. He was reported missing in action within two months and Hannah never recovered. Mauve was remembered by Hannah as another person who promised to return and didn’t. Because of colour blindness Jeremy is exempt from military duty so his life is on hold. The fourth is Coventry. Humphreys presents the city as a dying entity that is capsulized in the loss of its cathedral and of its people who flood out of the city to escape the bombs. The feelings of the city are expressed through the horror, fear and great sadness felt by Jeremy and Hannah, the noise of the bombs and the brightness of the fires. And the empty skyline where the cathedral spire was earlier in the evening.

Humphreys tells a huge story of grief and destruction in a novella. It is not rushed rather an occasion of a few hours feeling like forever. The mood is set by the noise, the night darkness and the light of a full moon, a bomber’s moon. And by an out of season swallow who dances above Saint Michael’s as if giving it a final salute.

The setting, characters, history, and mood are brought together by Humphreys in a book that will stay with you:

"When you read something you are stopped, the moment
is stayed, you can sometimes be there more fully than
you can in real life."*

Five Stars. Posted review.

* Harriet is watching the library burn and remembering the many, many hours she spent in it reading and researching.

# 13. Both Sides Now by Shawn Inmon and Dawn Inmon
The worst time to fall in love when there is a four or five year age difference is in your teens. No one believes it is forever, you are told "oh, you'll grow out of it." But what if you are separated when you are fifteen, you come to believe the negative side of the relationship and you don't see the other person for twenty-four years and then thirty years before you start to remember the relationship for what it was, love that does live for ever.

I loved Coventry (well, all her books really).

> 17. I have only read Coventry and The Frozen Thames. What do you recommend?

I quite enjoyed Lost Garden and Afterimage. I wasn't as impressed with her latest Reinvention of Love - it was good but not quite up to the same standard as her earlier stuff.

# 14. Dead Heat by Dick Francis and Felix Francis

Restaurant owner, Max Moreton, gets into hot water when guests at a gala race course dinner become very ill with food poisoning. This is closely followed by a bombing at the next event he caters. Who arranged the bombing and why do they want to kill Max?

# 15. Remembrance by Alistair Macleod.

It is November 11, a day for remembering.

David MacDonald stands beside the woodpile in front of his farm house in the cold Cape Breton November dawn. His mind drifts over the events of life, present and past, his failing eye sight and fear of losing his driver’s licence, meeting his wife and losing her and his two daughters as she leaves to go to the bright lights of Montreal and work in a garment factory. And in between the marriage and its ending is the war. He enlists because it pays, his family will have some money. He remembers basic training in New Glasgow and then in England. The horrendous battles in Italy, the liberation of Holland. Going home to meet another David MacDonald, his wife’s son who becomes his son.

This son arrives and they stand and wait for the next generation to come for them. This David MacDonald is a veterinarian from Toronto. He knows they will be waiting, they like to be early.

The perfection of Alistair Macleod’s writing is wonderful. His description of the Cape Breton landscape, the dew on the petals of the flowers, the rabbits changing colour, the raucous crows puts you beside David MacDonald as he surveys the land in front of his house. Macleod’s words flow and take you into the story. Highly recommended. 5 stars.
Posted review.

January = 15 Last year it was 12. Not bad at all.

February 2015

# 16. The Gauguin Connection by Estelle Ryan.

Paul Gauguin’s paintings and those of many other artists are being forged, auctioned off and the money used to buy arms for Russia. Unfortunately, once a painting was sold the young artist/forger was killed.

Insurance investigator and world renowned expert in nonverbal communication Dr. Genevieve Lenard becomes involved in a single murder investigation at the request of her boss who is assisting an old friend in the European government. The case quickly expands as Lenard is joined by others and as their knowledge base expands.

An extra challenge for Lenard, who normally works solely with computers, is having to interact with the mainly male members of the growing investigative team. Her life is extremely structured and she has developed her own coping methods which allows her to function with her high level autism spectrum disorder. The main one being to write the musical score for Mozart’s symphonies, either on paper or in her head. She can do this for hours completely unaware of what is happening around her.

Lenard dislikes having people invade her personal space and touch her, she is open with people she can read and trust but shuts down around others. An inability to understand idioms and other deviations from “English,” her need for everything to be in its place, her compulsion with cleanliness all speak to her high level of spectrum autism.

Ryan captures this through the varied pace of her writing, the repetition of behaviour, the noise levels and repetition of conversations. I learned about autism from this book, an aim I have with each book I read, fiction and non-fiction.
Recommended 4 Stars
Posted review.

# 17. The Handsome Man's De Luxe Café by Alexander Mccall Smith.

A woman who does not know her name, Charlie becomes a detective/secretary and Mma Makutsi opens a restaurant. All told at the pace of life in Botswana.

# 18. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell.

Black Beauty is a horse of good breeding and training and in this autobiographical novel he tells of the different stages he went through in his life. In his early years he enjoyed playing in the meadow and spending time with his mother. He was trained to be a carriage horse and he took great pride in doing his job well. However as he was sold to different owners, a duke, a livery stable owner, a cab driver, a baker, another cab driver in London his life changed as he moved down in the world.

Mr. Thoroughgood and his grandson, Willie, see Black Beauty at his lowest but still see the good bones and the style he has. They purchase him and retire him to a meadow where he regains his health and spirit. Black Beauty’s last owners are three ladies and he becomes a carriage horse once more.

The publication of “Black Beauty” in England in 1877 had a major focus on animal welfare as well as treating other people with kindness and respect. “… the “Encyclopedia of Animal Rights and Animal Welfare", have referred to "Black Beauty" as being “the most influential anti-cruelty novel of all time”. (Wikipedia - Black Beauty.) Anna Sewell wrote it for those who worked with horses, she said “a special aim was to induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding treatment of horses.” (Wikipedia - Anna Sewell.)

# 19. After the War Is Over by Jennifer Robson.
After the War is Over is a sequel to Somewhere in France which introduced Lily one of the first women ambulance drivers at the front and her former governess a nurse in a London hospital which specialized in shell shock. In the second book the focus is more on the tremendous strains on the social and economy structures of the postwar British society. Problems of military men being demobbed without any financial aid. The unemployed, both men whose's jobs have disappeared and women who lose their jobs to the returning men.

# 20. A Duty to the Dead by Charles Todd.
Bess Crawford, a nursing sister in World War I, is in England on sick leave and fulfills a promise to a former patient by delivering a verbal message to his brother. This involves Crawford with a strange, disturbed family, in murder, past and present, and a strong sense of duty to set things right.

# 21. MERRILL-GO-ROUND by Marcia Muller
A mother whose young daughter is missing asks Sharon McCone to look into it. She was last seen on a merry-go-round riding a pig but didn't get off.

# 22. Kindling Point by Marcia Muller
An old San Francisco victorian house under renovations, the wife with uneasy feeling about her husband, tales of past ghosts, two young girls with a ouija board and the past starts to repeat its self.

How are you faring over there? Are you buried under a mountain of snow yet? Or are you in one of the better spots? We have a lot over this way but nothing compared to the east coast this year. Maybe we need to temporarily move to Alberta until the spring thaw :)

We are pretty much buried, but there are places worse off. The big question is where to put the plowed snow. Years ago it went into the river but now that is not environmentally sound - the salt and dirt. The cold is bitter when you consider the wind chill and blowing snow which doesn't stop, if I am going to move I want more warmth than Alberta can offer.

# 23. Garment of Shadows by Laurie R. King.
It is 1924 and Russell and Holmes are in Morocco, she is doing a movie shoot in the desert and Holmes is in Fez visiting his cousin, the head of the French government in Morocco. Muhammed and Ali (O Jerusalem, Justice Hall) are involved in the war for the independence of Morocco and draw Russell and Holmes into the conflict.
I reread this so I will be ready to read the latest in the Mary Russell series Dreaming Spies which is up next, once I finish The Dante Connection by LT author Estelle Ryan.

# 24. The Dante Connection by Estelle Ryan.
Colin, Vinnie and Francine disappeared from Doctor Genevieve Lenard's life four months ago. It had been difficult for her to open herself to them and then to be deserted devastating. When they come back so do more art thefts and forgeries so the group must unit and solve the cases. At the sometime both Genevieve and the other three learn how to support each other.

# 25. The Braque Connection by Estelle Ryan

All the self control world-renowned nonverbal communication expert Doctor Genevieve Lenard can muster is put to the test in The Braque Connection, the third book in the Genevieve Lenard series. She is drugged, kidnapped and members of her team are charged with murder and physically attacked. Russian philanthropist and psychopath Tomasz Kubanov escaped arrest in The Gauguin Connection but lost standing in society and the financial world due to the work of Lenard's team. Now he has nothing to lose and is determined to end this on his terms.

This series is captivating and I am now reading the fourth, The Flinck Connection. The plot lines are fairly similar in each of the three mysteries. I think I know how it will all end but the surprises along the way keep me going. The bickering and endless meetings aside the plot does move fairly quickly.

The mix of characters is interesting, Colin is a former art forger and thief now secretly working for Interpol, Vinnie's background is criminal, Francine is an amazing researcher and hacker, legal and otherwise, Manny is a police investigator working for Interpol, and Philip is the owner of a high-end art insurance company. This disparate group have come together to stop art fraud and in the end they overcome the bickering, personal animosity and their diverse behaviours to succeed.

Over the course of the three mysteries Genevieve has changed. She has opened herself from being an extremely rigid personality who only saw black and white and had fixed behavioural responses to gradually adapting to having four people move into her personal space, indeed take over her apartment and freely make use of her office. She has been forced into a leadership position which she has, reluctantly, accepted. She makes the group function. As interesting as the other characters are there has been little to no growth in them. Their behaviour is predictable and gets tiresome.

I have learned I don't have the patience to work with a person with autism, but my admiration and respect for those who can has grown greatly. My knowledge of autism has expanded greatly.
Posted review.

# 26. The Flinck Connection by Estelle Ryan.
The Art Fraud group become involved in the murder of a high ranking French politician which leads them to money laundering, blackmail, an oil scandal and one of the largest art heists in history.

February = 11 Total = 26 On track with last year.

# 27. The Courbet Connection by Estelle Ryan
Art forgery is a common thread throughout the Genevieve Lenard series, but in The Courbet Connection it takes a backseat to the kidnapping of homeless or socially isolated 18 - 23 year olds and auctioning off their body organs. This is done on the dark net, a secret internet that is an underground marketplace offering sinister products and services.

# 28. The Pucelle Connection by Estelle Ryan
Dead priests, renovated Gothic churches, businesses getting bigger, small businesses disappearing, forged books and malaria all come together in the sixth book of the Genevieve Lenard series. Lenard says at the end she can't take it anymore and I don't think I can either.

# 29. Deceptions by Marcia Muller.
A collection of short stories featuring Sharon McCone, Elena Oliverez and a spooky western. Good read.

# 30. Bomber Girls by M J Foreman.

See review at https://www.librarything.com/work/15050513/details/115133500

# 31. An Impartial Witness by Charles Todd
Nursing Sister Bess Crawford escorted patients from France to hospitals in London. One, a burn victim, had his wife's picture pinned to his chest. Crawford, later that day, saw that woman bidding a teary farewell to another man at Waterloo Station. The next day her body was recovered from the Thames, a murder victim.

# 32. The Purple Heart Detective Agency by Rock Neelly.

On August 7, 1782, George Washington, General and Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army stated:

“LET IT BE KNOWN THAT HE WHO WEARS THE MILITARY
ORDER OF THE PURPLE HEART HAS GIVEN OF HIS BLOOD
IN THE DEFENSE OF HIS HOMELAND AND SHALL FOREVER
BE REVERED BY HIS FELLOW COUNTRYMEN.”

Clayton Grace and Roddy O’Mallery were veterans of the war in Iraq and each had been awarded the Purple Heart and were the owners of the Purple Heart Detective Agency. Their first big case involved finding a missing magician, except it wasn’t that simple. It involved a multi-million dollar swindle, murder, research into drugs for phantom limb pain, the use of the drug for mind control, monkeys used as test animals, and today’s version of the O.K. Corral gun fight with military level weapons. Oh, and a love affair which became a double cross.

“The Purple Heart Detective Agency” is written at two levels, the plot is the main level but it is accented by the dreams/memories of Clay and Roddy’s time in Iraq. This provides insight into the characters and how their time in Iraq and their injuries shaped them for civilian life.

The plot is intricate and kept my interest, although occasionally I got some of the lesser characters confused. I didn’t like the level of violence, especially the final ‘showdown’ which left thirteen men dead. If this were to become a series I don’t think I would read another.

Washington may have hoped that those who wore the Purple Heart would be revered by their countrymen but, as is evident in “The Purple Heart Detective Agency,“ this is not the case. Unfortunately.

This is an Early Reviewers book.

Posted review
March 15, 2015

# 33. The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan.
Espionage and murder lead to life on the run in an attempt by Richard Hannay find a trustworthy British government minister who will believe and act on his information in an attempt to stop Germany from starting World War I.

# 34. Dreaming Spies by Laurie R. King
Mary Russell meets Haruki Sato a young woman well educated in both eastern and western culture on board a ship sailing from Bombay, India to Kobe, Japan. Sherlock Holmes sights the Earl of Darley whom he suspects of blackmail. Mix in the Prince Regent of Japan, a book he presented to King George V of Great Britain and some other colourful characters and you have Laurie R. King's latest book. I find in all of her books I have to suspend my disbelief, and I don't mind doing so, but with Dreaming Spies it was more of a reach than I was comfortable with. But it was still an entertaining read.

# 35. With Every Letter by Sarah Sundin.

In 1942, the U.S. Army Air Corps (USAAC) took the unheard-of step of forming and employing two women's aviation units (The Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS--with a capital S) and the Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs).) That same year, a unit of flight nurses who had not yet quite finished their training, were sent into North Africa on Christmas Day following the Allied invasion in November,1942. On Feb. 18, 1943, the U.S. Army Nurse Corps' first class of flight nurses formally graduated.*

With Every Letter is the story of Flight Nurse Lt. Philomela (Mellie) Blake stationed in Liberia in North Africa in 1942-43. She and her colleagues fly into combat areas in cargo planes that empty their cargo and then load the wounded to fly them back to the base hospital The flight nurses care for the wounded in the air.

Blake and Lt. Thomas MacGilliver meet though an anonymous letter exchange set up to support soldiers at the front. Sarah Sundin develops the relationship through the letters as well as Blake’s day to day life. The information about all of the characters is incomplete, repetitive and leaves me wanting what is just hinted at. This repetitiveness is also found in the action of the characters.

I chose this book because I like World War II fiction that is based on real events and it also filled a spot on my Bingo card, part of the book is written in letters between Blake and MacGilliver . At the time I didn’t realize it was also a Christian romance. However the latter does open another aspect of the war by providing information on the work of Army Engineer Lt. Thomas MacGilliver in North Africa and Italy.

I gave the book three stars which means it is okay and if someone is looking for a light novel it will suffice.

The book is based on research and interviews.

The websites listed below provide more information on flight nurses.

National Museum of the United States Air Force:

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=15457

http://www.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/223/Article/109638/women-play-huge-r....

Posted review, March 31, 2015

# 36. The Fall Guy by Barbara Fradkin.
Handyman Cedric O'Toole constructed a deck for a wealthy client. Unfortunately the client's wife leans on the railing and falls to her death. Was it a case of shoddy workmanship or was the deck sabotaged to cause the death?
This is part of the Canadian Rapid Read series, interesting and varied books written by good authors to interest teens and adults in reading. It is very well done.

# 37. Want You Dead by Peter James.
A woman is being stalked by a former boyfriend who will go to any lengths, including murder, to keep her from friends and families. It is a difficult case. Roy Grace is getting married, and his first wife Sandy, whom he had declared dead ten years after her disappearance, is back in Brighton.

# 38. Paradise City by Archer Mayor.
Start with break and enter and murder, which is what attracts the police in the first place and see where it leads. One person runs a group of buglers who focus on taking jewelry and silver from upscale homes in Vermont and Massachusetts, importing illegal aliens with the skills to convert the ill gotten gains into pieces that can be resold and finally control over the owner of a multimillion dollar business that can disperse the remade jewelry around the world. Another good Joe Gunther tale - read it.

March 2015 = 12 (March 2014 = 52, Total = 78. Agatha Christie has come back to bite me!)

Total = 38

APRIL 2015



# 39 The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch.
Prince Ronald, the financée of Princess Elizabeth, is stolen away by a dragon who also burns all of Princess Elizabeth's beautiful and elegant clothes. But this does not deter her, she slips into a paperback and dashes after the dragon and her love. But does he remain her love when she rescues him by tricking the dragon? SPOILER ALERT: Ronald sees her and says "You smell like ashes, your hair is all tangled and you are wearing a dirty old paper bag. Come back when you are dressed like a real princess." Does he deserve a princess as brave and beautiful as Elizabeth?

Robert Munsch reverses a traditional fairy tale and honours feisty females to the detriment of whiney males who focus on appearance not character. The Paper Bag Princess has become a modern classic fairy tale that enchantes its readers.

The SFF April CAT is books that are based on fairy tales, myths, legends, and folklore and should also fall within the umbrella of speculative fiction, sci-fi, and/or fantasy.
Posted Review
April 1, 2015

# 40. Mila's Tale by Laurie R. King.
Mila's Tale is one of many retellings of "Jephtha's Vow" from Judges 11:1-40 from the Hebrew or Old Testament Bible. Laurie R. King has written a midrash and then provided a commentary which is the Jewish tradition of studying a reading from the Bible. The commentary provides a history of the biblical story and other viewpoints people have used when writing their own midrash. King has a background in theology and religious studies.

# 41. 12 Rose Street by Gail Bowen.
I like Joanne Kilbourn and having lived in Regina for ten years I can see the different parts of the city in my mind's eye. One of the branch libraries I supervised was located in the middle of the North Central community and they dealt daily with the impoverished children and other people like those featured in this book.
Joanne and husband Zack Shreve live in North Central which is an old community located on the edge of downtown Regina. Zach is running in a tight race for mayor, as a progressive candidate, against an incumbent who has been in office for a number of terms and has used his position to fill his and certain property developers' pockets.
A good read as are all of the Kilbourn series.

You are motoring along nicely! I am somewhat stalled again - 4 books on the go and I can't seem to find the time or energy to finish (despite having an extra long weekend). I will finish something this weekend if only to give myself a sense of accomplishment. :)

The Abbot's Agreement by Mel Starr

Unfortunately I am unable to read this this Early Reviewers book. The print is dark and crisp, and the fond is clean but it is just too small. I read most of my books on a Kindle where I can adjust the font size. I have very little vision in one eye which creates some problems and reading small size font is one of them. In the future I will request only e-books or children's books which I read to my great nieces and nephews.

I have read books in Mel Starr's Hugh de Singleton series before. He has improved his plot and character development since the first I read A Trail of Ink, the third in the series. There is usually something to learn, usually a historical tidbit. I like it when an author pays attention to the historical period in which he places his book and keeps it as true as s/he can to the real events. Mel Starr does this and he often includes real people as a character.

# 42. Hellbender by Laurie R. King.
A private investigator is approached with the request he find seven missing people. He considers this too many to look for at one time so they settle on the last name added to the list, Harry Savoy. The search leads to stalking, a mob presence, a science research lab, the missing people, a gun fight and murder. The Salaman end up in the hospital. This genre bender for Bingo 2015 combines mystery and science fiction.

# 43. The Iron Girl by Ellen Hart.
Jane Lawless, Minneapolis Minnesota restaurateur and sleuth is drawn into this case because she meets a young woman who looks so much like her lost lover. Just hours before Christine's death a savage triple murder took place. Now, years later Jane is convinced the wrong man was convicted because of items she finds in boxes of Christine's belongings she had packed away without looking at them.

# 44. In the Nick of Time: John Rebus vs. Roy Grace by Ian Rankin, Peter James
In the summer of 1964 on the beaches and streets of Brighton it was common for two groups of young men, the Mods and the Rockers, to face-off in brutal combat. Nearly fifty years later John Rebus, in Edinburgh, hears a near death confession to murder from that summer. Together he and Roy Grace of Brighton look into this case and its unusual outcome.

# 45. Last Resort by Quintin Jardine

Bob Skinner has long been an opponent of one police force for all of Scotland and it has now come to pass with Sir Andrew Martin as chief. With over thirty years in policing Skinner is faced with his biggest career decision. His wife, Sarah Grace, urges him to go to Spain and think things through away from the pressures of Scotland.

In L’Escala he is approached by old friend Xavi Aislado, former journalist with the Edinburgh newspaper “Saltire” and now living in Spain running a large multi-media empire. One of Aislado’s top I.T. people, Hector Sureda Roca, has disappeared and he wants Skinner’s help in finding him.

At the same time Skinner discovers that he and his family have been stalked for some months. To assist in sorting this out he enlists the help of his daughter Alex in Edinburgh. Alex is going through her own personal and professional crisis as she takes on this case.

In both cases things turn messy fast with murder and mayhem, involving old acquaintances, family members, Russian spies and a mysterious true crime author. Fold into that mix a recently discovered, late teens, young man, who is in prison for killing his grandmother, and happens to be Skinner’s son.

Once the Spanish case is completed Bob returns to Edinburgh to assist Alex in winding up the stalking case. With his decision made he can relax and look forward to life.

The thing I love about Quintin Jardine is he can take all of the above blend it together and end up with a very readable book that keeps me hanging until the very end. This is the first time he has written a Skinner novel without the police background and usual round of characters and at times he is feeling his way as Bob starts to use his policing skills in new and different ways. The result is a slight lost of believability in some areas of the book. Now that I know there is a future for Skinner I can wait, impatiently, for the next book.

****
Posted Review
April 10, 2015

# 46. Abattoir Blues by Peter Robinson
A tractor valued at one hundred thousand pounds is stolen. Two young men go missing. A woman and her son are intimidated. A collector of abattoir waste dies in a truck accident. Among the waste debree at the accident site parts of a human body are found. Just to further complicate things as Alan Banks and his officers investigate they discover that the theft of the tractor is part of an European ring.

# 47. Marie Curie and Her Daughters: The Private Lives of Science's First Family by Shelley Emling
The Curie's were an amazing family; Marie and her husband Pierre shared a Nobel Prize in Physic (1903), Marie is the only person to receive a second Nobel Prize in another discipline, Chemistry (1911), daughter Irène Joliot-Curie and her husband Frédéric Joliot-Curie shared the Physic Prize in 1935, and daughter Eve's husband, Henri Labouisse received the Peace Prize in 1965 on behalf of the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF). Irene's son Pierre and her daughter, Helene and her husband Michel Langevine, were award winning scientists.
Most biographies of Marie Curie end in 1906 when her husband was killed in an accident or in 1911 when she received her second Nobel Prize. Marie Curie and Her Daughters: The Private Lives of Science's First Family starts in 1910 and based on letters, interviews with Eve (daughter) and Helene (grand daughter) and other research carries their lives through to Eve's death in 2007.
It is a very readable book with interesting information on family, their involvement in the women's rights movement, humanitarian issues, World War II, and politics, Irene and her husband turned to the communists for the solution to world peace. Eve became a musician, war correspondent and journalist.
Highly Recommended
*****

Sounds very interesting indeed!

# 48. The Bank Job by Alex Gray.
The Bank Job is a prequel to the DCI Lorimer series and explains how Lorimer got interested in the police.

# 49. Strange Children by Kate Charles.
The rejected lovers of the bride and groom are seated together, unbeknownst to them, at the wedding reception. They rush into marriage but all is well until she becomes pregnant and his mother appears. Murder and a couple of attempted murders follow.

# 50. Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie.

Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up was first staged as a play in 1904 and in 1911 published as a book with the title Peter and Wendy.

# 51 False Tongues by Kate Charles

When I first started reading mysteries as an adult I focused a lot on what I termed ecclesiastical mysteries. Early on they were mainly Catholic; Father Brown, Father Koesler, Father Downing, or Jewish; Rabbi Small. As the genre developed medieval characters appeared, Sister Fidelma , Brother Cadfael, and Dame Frevisse. Perhaps one of the stranger religious sleuths is Reverend Randollph, a former professional foodball player turned Methodist minister, with a cathedral on the top of a Chicago high rise.
False Tongues by Kate Charles features Callie Anson an Anglican deacon in London. This mystery is told by a number of characters and is set in London where a fifteen year old boy is murdered and in Cambridge where malicious lies abound.

April, 2015

13 Titles = 51 Total

# 52. A Quiet Kill by Janet Brons.
It is 1997 and a woman is found murdered in the Canadian High Commission in London. RCMP Inspector Liz Forsyth is sent from Ottawa to work with Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Hay on the case. Two more murders occur in addition to a suicide against a backdrop of Eco-Terrorists demonstrating against the seal hunt off the Atlantic coast of Canada and drug trafficking from the Balkans. This book is short listed in the first novel section of the Arthur Ellis Awards. It is a good read, I gave it ****.

# 53. Sidney Sheldon's Chasing Tomorrow by Sidney Sheldon and Tilly Bagshawe
Art cons do amazing steals, murder and plans for murder come together in Sidney Sheldon's Chasing Tomorrow. The author leaves you hanging as the novel flows from beginning from beginning to end.

# 54. A Vintage Affair by Isabel Wolff.
A Vintage Affair is a light novel, much like the cup cake prom dresses, entertaining and true to the period with a deeper tale of conflicts. It is a tale of twos. Phoebe and Emma, best friends split by a man when it mattered the most. Therese, in World War II and the blue coat which haunts her throughout her life. Phoebe who refuses to listen to her ex-lover Guy because she can't face the truth, Miles who can't see his daughter for what she really is and how she manipulates his life.
Wolff captures her characters and the feelings they have that move the story forward or fill in the necessary bits and pieces. She is able to balance a number of threads of activity and characters at one time as well as weave through the book the magic of vintage clothes.



# 55. The Fall by John Lescroart.
Rebecca Hardy takes on her first murder case which has many challenges. Her client has pushed for having his case heard as soon as possible which greatly limits her prep. time, he becomes a friend as well as a client and he becomes personal involved with Harding's assistant which adds pressure. As with all Lescroart books the plot flows well, characters from previous books float in and out adding to the depth of the plot development. The trial ends with a very surprising twist leaving Hardy with a puzzle to solve. Good read.

# 56. Around the World In Eighty Days by Jules Verne.
One man, Phileas Fogg, very set in his ways such that each of his days are identical, one to the next, unexpectedly bets his fortune that a man could go around the world in eighty days, using what ever means of transportation available. His man servant, Passepartout, took the position that very morning because he wanted the calm of repetition, no unexpected events in his life. Seventy-nine days later they return to London. The characterization is delightful, Fogg goes through the journey as though he is still sitting in his London club, noticing nothing, except for the possible fate of a beautiful Indian widow. Where as Passepartout learns the art of travel and sees and smells his way around the world. A wonderful read!



# 57. The Maharani's Pearls by Charles Todd
A prequel to the Bess Crawford World War i mystery series. Bess's family is being visited by the Maharani whose husband is involved in a delicate political situation. When the Maharani is ready to leave Bess notices suspicious looking men in the crowd and as a result the Maharani's life is saved.

June 2015

6 Titles
Total = 57 I was ill for much of May and couldn't focus my mind on reading. Sleeping was the preferred activity.

June 2015



#58. A Bitter Truth by Charles Todd.
Bess Crawford unwillingly becomes involved in a disturbing family situation that ranges from spousal abuse, a child born as a result of marital infidelity, to murder. I liked this Crawford mystery better than the previous ones as her characters are becoming better rounded, but there is room for more improvement. I read the series for the setting although Crawford's situation is not that of a typical nursing sister.

# 59. You Are Dead by Peter James.
If you are a young woman with long, light-brown hair parted in the middle living in Brighton or Hove be on the watch as a serial killer is watching you. I like Peter James. He uses different characters to voice the chapters, each chapter leaves me hanging and the next chapter doesn't always pickup where the last one left off. He expresses feelings, grief, fear, gloating, well. He involves me in the plot and characters, I worried if Lauren would get the sugar she needed for her diabetes in time, I felt Norman's grief. A good read!

# 60. Fables; Legends in Exile by Bill Willingham.
The characters of our childhood fairy tales have lost their land and now live in New York side by side, but unknown, with other New Yorkers. Rose Red has disappeared and the evidence of her apartment indicates she has been murdered. The Bad Wolf and Snow White are leading the investigation and the number one suspect is Jack in the Beanstalk.
This is the first Fables I have read, in fact the first comic book since I was a kid. I found it dragged in places as they tried to include everyones story but it kept my attention and I enjoyed it. Would I read another, I don't know.

# 61. The Girl in the Photo by Gaspar González.
A brother born after the death of his older brother in Vietnam sets out to discover who he was, using a prom photo as his starting point.



# 62. The Language Of Flowers: Introduction to Flowers and Their Meaning by Lana Gilmore.
An introduction to the symbolism of popular flowers. I read a Kindle version and the pictures of the flowers were clear and easy to recognise.

# 63. Destroyer Angel by Nevada Barr.

Destroyer Angel is unlike any of the other titles in Nevada Barr’s Anna Pigeon series. Anna is a National Park Service Ranger and has worked in many of the parks around the United States encountering strange situations which often lead to murder and threats on her life. In the process Barr has developed a well rounded picture of Anna with all her warts, and her family members.

In Destroyer Angel Anna leaves her husband in Colorado to camp and canoe in northern Minnesota with friends Heath, a paraplegic and her fifteen year old daughter Elizabeth and dog Wily, and Leah, a designer of outdoor equipment and her thirteen year old daughter Katie. On the second night of the trip Anna is taking a solo canoe trip on the Fox River when a noise alerts her to possible problems at camp. She returns to discover her friends have been taken hostage and much of the camp destroyed.

The hostages are a motley crew of armed thugs quite unsuited for the job at hand as they are inner city breed with no experience with the outdoors. This will be their Achilles’ heel as Anna takes on a one person and dog campaign to rescue her friends before they are raped and murdered.

Barr has moved away the formula which has worked well in the Anna Pigeon series and taken a risk with this eighteenth novel. She has added a strong psychological element. One that is presented, in some degree, from the point of view of each character. This adds tension as each hostage worries about themselves, their daughter and each other and the thugs attempt to deal with the challenging physical surroundings, their desire to please ‘The Dude’ and get a piece of the action for themselves. She also adds superstition and terror as one of the thugs, Jimmy, disappears and reappears.

None of the Pigeon series are written at a fast pace but in comparison to Destroyer Angel they clip along. It moves at the pace of the group as it slowly wanders from the riverside camp site to an air strip eight or so miles away, if you don’t go around in circles in the mist. Each step hurts the body somewhere and the mind is constantly whirling with ‘what if’s. Moving Heath in her special chair requires at least two other people and slows down everyone, both physically and mentally.

It is the psychological tension, the characterizations, what will Anna’s next attack be and what is behind the hostage taking that kept me reading through the night.

****
Posted Review
June 14, 2015

# 64. Outstanding in the Rain by Frank Viva

My first impression of Outstanding in the Rain by Frank Viva was when I took it out of the envelope and the cover appeared so dark, especially for a children’s book. Looking at it later I saw more colour in the cover which helped change my opinion somewhat.

A young boy and his mother visit an amusement park to celebrate his birthday enjoying treats, rides and birthday cake on the beach. The “night rain” did began to fall as the “night train” came but not enough to ruin the amusement park visit which ends with a nice, smiling ice cream man making the little boy’s day!

The illustrations are cleverly done using holes in the pages making use of text and illustrations on the next page. When the sun is out the pages are a bright turquoise with brown print and when the rain comes the colours are reversed. This continued to help change my opinion of the brightness of the book but unfortunately not enough to overcome my first impression of darkness. For me, the story doesn’t connect to the title, Outstanding in the Rain. The rain came at the end of the story certainly not spoiling anything, and the smiling ice cream man saved the day according to the boy. I guess he was outstanding as he helped overcome the boy’s memory of the dropped ice cream cone at the entrance to the park which a dog ate.

Reading this review I wonder why I don’t like the book. I guess it is the combination of my first impression of darkness and small things in the book, e.g.: the over use of the colour brown, the not always clever use of the holes, the red purse with one handle becomes a red purse with two handles and then changes back again and the change in colour of the characters’ clothes, the brown dress becomes turquoise and then goes back to brown and the boy’s clothes also change. This probably sounds picky to some but for me the cumulation of the little things became to much. I gave it three stars because the little boy enjoys his birthday day! This is an Early Reviewers book.

***
Posted Review
June 30, 2015

# 65. The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah, Agatha Christie

Review to follow

# 66. The Forgers by Bradford Morrow.

Adam Diehl, a rare book dealer, is murdered and has his hands cut off. There appear to be only two suspects, Will, a recovering, convicted forger and boy friend to Megan Diehl, Adam's sister and another forger and blackmailer, Henry Slater. The forgery ranges from adding author signatures' to the flyleaves of rare 18 and 19th century British and American books to letters from authors of the same period. The book is narrated by Will, much of it taking place in his head. The characters are flat and repetitive. The book could do with a good edit to improve the flow of the plot, and the use of language.

# 67. The Night Thief by Barbara Fradkin.

Something is stealing from Cedric O'Toole's garden and farm yard and he is on the chase. He certainly didn't expect to find a ten year old boy...who keeps stealing once well fed and has cleaned the farm yard. It is a puzzle for Cedric to solve.
"Rapid Reads are well-written, well-told books that can be read in one sitting. They are intended for a diverse audience, including ESL students, reluctant readers, adults who struggle with literacy and anyone who wants a high-interest quick read." http://orcabook.com/rapid-reads.com
I think they provide a good, quick read as well as books of interest for their wide audience.

# 68. The Léger Connection by Estelle Ryan

A video call from her dad leads top hacker Francine to four stolen masterpieces, and to a possible murder--in Brazil. Her frustration at being so far away is turned into anger when her loved ones are attacked and corrupt law enforcement officials stonewall their inquiries.Blackmail, a kidnapping and a blatant heist in their backyard in Strasbourg reveal a plan to use unregulated drone technology in a daring escape. Together with her team, she will do anything to stop these criminals from executing their brutal plan. If she's not already too late.



# 69. Our House in Arusha by Sara Tucker.

Sara Tucker, an American travel writer, meets Patrick, an expat from France and safari tour guide, on her first trip to the Serengeti, an African game park. She ends an eighteen-year-old marriage and becomes Patrick's wife and 11 year old Thomas' step-mom. A memoir of adjustment as she settles into Arusha, Tanzania and then for the entire family when they move to New Jersey following 9/11.

# 70. The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure

In 1942 Parisian architect Lucien Bernard is barely making ends met and then he is offered a commission that could get him killed. For a large sum of money he is asked to create a hiding place for a wealthy Jewish man that will escape the search done by the Germans. He also receives a commission to do a factory to make weapons for the German war effort. He fights his conscience each time he is asked to do this but it always loses. An interesting look at how the Germans get work done and how the French are forced to comply or die, as well as one way Jews were hidden before being smuggled out of France.

# 71. The Night Searchers by Marcia Muller.

In San Francisco Night Searchers are a group of people who follow clues to discover a treasure, in the dark of night regardless of the weather. Is one of McCone's clients using this group to terrify his wife so he can have her committed? If so why? Sharon and her husband, Hy Ripinsky, find their separate cases merging over the Night Searchers.
I reread this in preparation for her next title Someone Always Knows (A Sharon McCone Mystery) to be released July 7.

# 72. City of Whispers by Marcia Muller
McCone's half brother Darcy Blackhawk is missing in the dark side of San Francisco. It takes all of her resources and help from her husband to solve this case.

# 73. Skeleton in the Closet by Marcia Muller.

Sharon McCone has finally accepted new office space is needed by her agency. She signs a contract for an old house on Sly Lane and then goes back to take another look. This look leads to the opening of an old box with, you guessed it, a skeleton inside.

June, 2015 = 16
Total = 73

July, 2015



# 74. Locked In by Marcia Muller.

Sharon McCone comes across a burglar in her office and is shot in the head which causes a locked in condition. She can not move, or speak but can hear all that is said around her and can respond by blinking her eyelids. All of her operatives look at their current and recent cases to determine who the assailant could be. As Sharon listens she helps direct them as they question themselves. She faces a long recovery after the bullet moves and brain surgery is requires.

# 75. Coming Back by Marcia Muller.

McCone is back at work following rehab for a bullet wound to the head. She is received with mixed feelings from her staff, ranging from she should still be off and in rehab, to let's give her a chance and see how she handles it (we will, of course, follow her to make sure she doesn't blow it). And she has her own self doubts as she becomes involved in a case of a missing friend with a link to rogue intelligence agencies. Can I handle this case or will I need to turn it over to others to complete?

# 76. The Duchess of Cornwall: Camilla's Story and Secrets by Jessica Jayne.

A short biography of Camilla Shand/Parker-Bowes/The Duchess of Cornwall. I knew nothing of her except what I read in the press. I feel now that I have a better sense of her personality and relationship with Prince Charles and why it survived all those years. I think she is now, finally, in a happy, loving and stable relationship which gives her peace and she is coming into her own as a royal wife.

# 77. Fire Whisperer & Circle of Souls: Two Novellas of the Supernatural by Lynn L. Clark

Review to follow

# 78. An Unmarked Grave by Charles Todd.

It is the spring of 1918 and the Spanish Influenza has hit Europe in addition to the constant flow of wounded soldiers. The body of an officer from Nursing Sister Bess Crawford's father's old regiment is found where it should not be and is only recognized by chance. Before Crawford can make a report she falls ill and the orderly who discovered the body has hung himself. Or did he?

# 79. A Question Of Honor by Charles Todd.
In India in 1908 an officer serving under Colonel Crawford is suspected of murdering five people in England and his parents in Agra. He flees and is believed to have died in Afghanistan. Ten years later Bess Crawford sees him near the battlefront in France. On behalf of her father she wants to return to the regiment the honour his actions took from it.

# 80. The Loner by Quintin Jardine.

The Loner is the autobiography of Xavier Aislando from boyhood through to middle age. He is half Spanish and half Scottish and brought up by his grandmother, Paloma Puig in Edinburgh.
The storyline is quiet and gradually draws you into the life of this 'gentle giant,' he stands 6'7 in his socks. He is not alone in his life with close school friends and a love affair that reach back to his early school days and they play a major role in his life. But he is a loner. He determines his own path in life, who will be part of it and who won’t. Once his mind is made up it is very hard to change it. Despite being a journalist there is an innocence to Xavi and the loyalty and honesty he gives he expects in return.
The Loner focuses on his successful years as a journalist as well as the massive tragedy, loss and betrayal he faces as an adult.

# 81. Last Resort by Quintin Jardine

Bob Skinner has long been an opponent of one police force for all of Scotland and it has now come to pass with Sir Andrew Martin as chief. With over thirty years in policing Skinner is faced with his biggest career decision. His wife, Sarah Grace, urges him to go to Spain and think things through away from the pressures of Scotland.

In L’Escala he is approached by old friend Xavi Aislado, former journalist with the Edinburgh newspaper “Saltire” and now living in Spain running a large multi-media empire. The Loner is an autiobiographical novel of Aislado's early life and Jardine picks that up in Last Resort. One of Aislado’s top I.T. people, Hector Sureda Roca, has disappeared and he wants Skinner’s help in finding him.

At the same time Skinner discovers that he and his family have been stalked for some months. To assist in sorting this out he enlists the help of his daughter Alex in Edinburgh. Alex is going through her own personal and professional crisis as she takes on this case.

In both cases things turn messy fast with murder and mayhem, involving old acquaintances, family members, Russian spies and a mysterious true crime author. Fold into that mix a young man who is in prison for killing his grandmother, and happens to be Skinner’s recently uncovered son.

Once the Spanish case is completed Bob returns to Edinburgh to assist Alex in winding up the stalking case. With his decision made he can relax and look forward to life.

The thing I love about Quintin Jardine is he can take all of the above blend it together and end up with a very readable book that keeps me hanging until the very end. This is the first time he has written a Skinner novel without the police background and usual round of characters and at times he is feeling his way as Bob starts to use his policing skills in new and different ways. The result is a slight lost of believability in some areas of the book. Now that I know there is a future for Skinner I wait, impatiently, for the next book.

****
Posted Review
July 12, 2015

I just reread The Loner and wanted to continue with Xavi Aislado's story which Jardine picks up in Last Resort where he plays a role in setting Skinner on a new path as his thirty year plus police career comes to an end.

# 82. Behind Palace Doors: My True Adventures as the Queen Mother's Equerry by Major Colin Burgess

An equerry is an officer of the British royal household who attends the sovereign or other member of the royal family. In the case of the Queen Mother's household this was an officer of the Irish Guards. The two year term Major Colin Burgess served was 1994 - 1996. The Queen Mother was in her mid-nineties and the Royal Family was at the mercy of the Press.

Burgess was responsible for the planning and implementing of all the events that occurred involving the Queen Mother. From a picnic lunch in the Scottish highlands, a dinner at Clarence House with guests, a visit to the Chelsea Flower Show,or at a military function where she would ask very specific questions about operations of the different units. But duties could also be stretched to teach a younger guest (age 64) how to roller skate, or solve the dilemma when all the luncheon guests, including the Queen Mum, fall asleep in the sun except for Burgess and it is past three in the afternoon.

This book provides a unique view into the workings of the Queen Mum's household. Servants who had worked there for up to thirty years or more, who had their own ways which were rather casual when compared to the military. It sheds light on her relationships with her children and grandchildren. Who comes to visit often or never. It opens the personalities of some of the lesser know royals, Zara Phillips, daughter of Princess Anne and Princess Margaret's son, David Viscount Linley, both of whom visited often, as did Prince Charles who said: "She was quite simply the most magical grandmother you could possibly have and I was utterly devoted to her."

Posted Review
July 27, 2015
****

# 83. The Cavalier in White by Marcia Muller

Joanna Stark, a former art security expert, withdrew from the art world and San Francisco upon the death of her husband David, three years earlier. She has a personal secret she is hiding and an obsession about catching an international art thief, Parducci. When approached by her security firm partner, Nick Alexander, to follow up on a recent museum theft he uses Parducci to pull her into the investigation.

# 84 There Hangs the Knife by Marcia Muller.

Joanna Stark puts into place a sting operation, in London, in an attempt to catch Parducci, an international art thief. A number of paintings by Brueghel have been stolen in Europe and Stark hopes that advertising another of his paintings (a forgery) he might be caught in the act. But when you are out to trap a thief and others are involved you can't always control what happens.

# 85. Concerto for Fear by Norman Firth.

Red Benton is attending the debut of an original piece of music written by a young friend of his. Unfortunately the composer is unable to play the composition as he injured his hand. His replacement dies of a gun shot wound during the performance. In a wish to play it to the end the conductor plays the piece and he too is shot when he plays the only low G in the composition. Benton steps in to investigate why the piano is so deadly. Red Benton is a 1940's private investigator in London.

# 86. Dark Star by Marcia Muller.

Anthony Parducci comes after Joanna Stark with the plan to kill her and at the same time steal a Van Gogh that is being sold in San Francisco. He is found dead in Stark's apartment and evidence points to her son E.J. The roots of feuds between families and among family members need to be uncovered before the case is resolved.

# 87. Tree of Life by Marcia Muller.

Featuring Elena Oliverez, curator of the new Museum of Mexican Arts in Santa Barbara. She always thought her boss was lazy and a slob but she didn't expect to find out he was also a smuggler of South American art artifacts using embezzled museum funds.

July = 14
Total = 87

August 2015



# 88. SARA PARETSKY: WILD WOMAN IN CONTROL by Gay Toltl Kinman

Boucheron "is the world's premier event bringing together all parts of the mystery and crime fiction community. In 2011 Dr. Sara Paretsky, author of the V.I. Warshawski mysteries, founding mother of Sisters in Crime, and a social activist was honoured with the Bouchercon Lifetime Achievement Award. Herein is the award speech from the Program Book, a biography, and interview with Dr. Paretsky. A most impressive woman and she had me with her first book.

# 89. Zara Phillips by Brian Hoey.

# 90. The Whole She-Bang edited by Janet Costello

If you enjoy short stories keep this collection by your chair to be picked up when you want a change of pace. A collection of short stories by members of the Toronto Chapter of Sisters in Crime Canada.



# 91. The Whole She-Bang 2 edited by Janet Costello.

If you enjoy short stories keep this collection by your chair to be picked up when you want a change of pace. A collection of short stories by members of Sisters in Crime Canada.

# 92. The Good Little Book by Kyo Maclear.

What a deceiving looking book, but the eyes in the O’s of “Good” on the cover lets you know all is not what it seems. This wonderful little book introduces you, the reader, to a book which becomes your friend and companion. When it is lost you are sad, you search and search but to no avail. You feel lost without it. But “The Good Little Book” didn’t leave you alone, it led you to the library and the wonder of other books which open the whole world and beyond to you. So much so that when you finally see your book in the hands of a little girl your hesitate and then let her go on with it in hand. You know the book has changed you and now it is her turn to be opened to the world of books.

Opening a child to the world of books is pretty heavy stuff for a picture book, but the fun, colourful illustrations accompanying the text helps it to happen. The pictures, a great contrast to the plain red cover, offer so much detail they tell a story of their own. I look forward to reading this to my great nieces and nephews.

*****
Posted Review
August 10, 2015

# 93. Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood.

Phryne Fisher is introduced as a very rich, bored, society young woman from England who returns to Australia on a whim. She left Melbourne as a poverty stricken ten year old but because of deaths in the line of succession her father comes up roses and wealthy to boot. Her whim to become a private investigator actually has a job attached to it which leads her into a cocaine distribution ring as well as back street abortions. Fortunately she is an intelligent social butterfly!
I look forward to more in the series.

# 94. Killer in the Cloister by Camille Minichino.

It's the fall of 1965 when 28-year-old Sister Francesca leaves her small town convent in upstate New York to study theology at a large university in the Bronx. She expects to face demanding professors and challenging classes; she doesn't expect to become entangled in the controversies surrounding Vatican II. What she least expects is involvement in the mysterious death of her new Superior, Mother Ignatius. Was the old woman a victim of greedy neighborhood businessmen? Or was she simply in the way of unstoppable changes in the Church? In the process of investigating her Superior's murder, Sister Francesca risks her life and must come to terms with the changing world around her, a challenge to both her faith and her vows.
If you are a Catholic who lived through the changes imposed by Vatican II you will find this both thought provoking and amusing.

# 95. Christmas with the Queen by Brian Hoey.

Hoey's "Christmas with the Queen" provides both historical and present day, private and public information on the ten or so weeks from December to the first week of February on the Queen's Christmas celebrations. The order of the guests arrival at Sandringham - it is akin to a military operation, whom she has breakfast with, what kind of gifts are exchanged within the Royal Family and what is given to the staff. Queen Elizabeth II delivered her first Christmas message to Great Britain and the Commonwealth via radio in 1952, and moved to television in 1957. It is one of the centre points of Christmas afternoon with set arrangements of how the Christmas speech is viewed.
The Queen's Christmas message has been a part of my Christmas since I was a child and my mother told me to watch it, so the behind the scenes details of her Christmas interested me.

# 96. Flying Too High by Kerry Greenwood.

Phryne Fisher faces two challenging cases in "Flying Too High," the second mystery in the Phryne Fisher series. The daughter of the winner of a recent lottery is kidnapped. Candida Alice Maldon is a plucky six year old and torments the kidnappers as she awaits rescue which she knows will happen because it does in books and the comics.
In her second case Mrs, McNaughton is afraid her son, William with a known temper, is going to kill his father, a rather unpleasant man who is soon found dead near the tennis courts in his work shoes. It takes some of Fisher's aerobatic tricks as well as her ability to solve a puzzle to bring both cases to a conclusion.

# 97. Murder on the Ballarat Train by Kerry Greenwood.

The dashing Phryne Fisher, Australian flapper and sleuth is on the train to Ballarat to visit distant relatives. She is awaken by the smell of chloroform and manages to shoot open her train compartment's window and proceeds to break all the windows in the first class car. Everyone survives but an elderly woman who had been travelling with her daughter is missing. Her body is found along the tracks and Fisher is hired to find her murder.

# 98. The Walnut Tree by Charles Todd.
Lady Elspeth Douglas is in Paris when the Germans invade France in August, 1914. In her escape to England she sees and does enough to make her decide she wants to be a military nurse. Knowing her guardian will not allow this she enters without permission and keeps her title private. Amongst the horrors of the war she discovers love but it 's course does not run smoothly.

# 99. Death at Victoria Dock by Kerry Greenwood.

Phryne Fisher is driving by Victoria Dock late one evening when the windshield of her car is shot out and she discovers a very young man dying of a bullet wound on the dock. Word is this has to do with the anarchist and leads her to tattoo parlours, pubs, spiritualist halls and a bank robbery. Her second case involves a runaway teen who wants to become a nun but her family is afraid she will reveal some sordid family secrets. This books gets bogged down with the anarchists and religion.

# 100. Long Upon the Land by Margaret Maron.
Susan Stephenson has been brought up to be a proper lady, to marry, have children and do good work but there is something within her that rebels at this, she wants more. She wants to do something that is real and different. While working at the airfield in Goldsboro in 1943 she meets a flight instructor who before he goes overseas gives her his lighter and makes her promise to not waste her life playing it safe as he did.
Forward to the present Deborah Knott is wishing she had listened more to her mother, Susan, the last summer they were together and found out how the proper lawyer's daughter from town married a bootlegger with eight sons. So she sets out speaking to everyone she thinks will know and ends with her father who provides the last bits of the love story. The reader learns as the timing of the novel swings from the forties to the present and the voices of Sue and Deborah.
I enjoy Maron's novels and this one satisfied my curiosity as well as Deborah's regarding her family history.

# 101. The Green Mill Murder by Kerry Greenwood.

Phryne Fisher is at the Green Mill Jazz Club where a dance marathon ends when the male partner of one of the two remaining couple is murdered. Fisher's escort disappears to the washroom and is gone. So, two mysteries, who is the murdered and why did Charles run? This, the fifth in the Phryne Fisher series, is long and drawn out, it lacks the crispness of the first two books.

# 102 Mary Russell's War by Laurie R. King.

Mary Russell is fourteen, living in San Francisco with her parents and younger brother, Levi, when the first World War broke out. She becomes engrossed with following the news coverage of the war,disgusted with the American's lack of interest and is determined to catch a German spy. Prior to moving to Washington, D.C. where her father will be an advisor on the war the family takes a last trip to their lodge. Enroute there is a car accident and Mary is the sole surviver. Once recovered she is determined to go to England and become involved in war work. At fifteen, putting her hair up to look older, she crosses the United States by train and then sails the Atlantic, alone. Ending up on a farm in Sussex that had belonged to her mother. This is a prequel to The Beekeeper's Apprentice.
*****

# 103. Tales: Short Stories Featuring Ian Rutledge and Bess Crawford by Charles Todd.

Tales includes "The Kidnapping" and "Cold Comfort," featuring Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge and "The Girl on the Beach," and "The Maharani's Pearls"with battlefield nurse Bess Crawford.

# 104. Dead on Ice by Lauren Carr.

Dead on Ice is the first installment of Lauren Carr’s new series (Lovers in Crime) featuring Hancock County Prosecuting Attorney Joshua Thornton and Pennsylvania State Police homicide detective Cameron Gates. On June 3, 1978 Angie Sullivan has a nasty run in with school mate, Cheryl Smith and then she disappears. Fast forward to the present. Angie's body was found and it was declared a suicide but this is questioned by some. Now Cheryl Smith's, aka porn star Cherry Pickins, body is found in a freezer in the basement of a house that just blew up. Gates and Thornton have lots of suspects to consider as they sort through all the aspects of the case.

# 105. X (Kinsey Millhone) by Sue Grafton

“X” is wonderful, a little of this and a little of that! Kinsey Millhone doesn’t have a client for her major investigation, rather she is working a case she inherited from Pete Wolinsky, a P. I. she met when she was training for her job. She doesn’t know what it is about as she is working off a cypher Pete left which Henry has turned into a list of women’s names. She is feeling somewhat guilty about Pete and her views of his working style and that drives this case. Mixed in are Henry’s obnoxious neighbours and the usuals at Rosie’s Bar, the sports fans silently disappeared and the staff from the local police precinct have moved in, which makes it easy for Kinsey to consult with the police on her case.
A good read! *****

August = 18
Total = 105

I didn't realise X was out! Sweet :)