The Horse You Came in On by Martha Grimes features her detective Richard Jury. The murder is in America, but the call goes out to Scotland Yard superintendent Richard Jury. Accompanied by his aristocratic friend Melrose Plant and by Sargeant Wiggins, Jury arrives in Baltimore, Maryland, home of zealous Orioles fans, mouth-watering crabs, and Edgar Allen Poe. In his efforts to solve the case, Jury rubs elbows with a delicious and suspicious cast of characters, embarking on a trail that leads to a unique tavern called "The Horse You Came In On"... I have never read any of her previous books and while this was rather complicated and convoluted I really enjoyed the different characters and how their lives intertwined.

Rosewood's Ashes by Aileen Schumacher is the forth book featuring Tory Travers and David Alvarez. I have not read the previous three titles. Tory has to confront her past when she learns that her father, who she hasn't seen in years, is in a coma from an automobile accident. So she and her partner David Alvarez fly to her hometown of Gainesville, FL. This book alternates between present day and events that happened 1923 when a white mob attacked a black town of Rosewood, Florida. A series of murders seem to tie the present day to this event 70 years before. The clues are in the past but will they discover it before Tory becomes another victim.

Star King and the sequel Star Prince by Susan Grant. These are futuristic romance science fiction novels.

In Star King Time and space pause, bringing two people from vastly different worlds together for only moments. Air Force Lieutenant Jasmine Boswell believes she's been shot down over the Saudi Arabian Desert. Prince Romlijhian B'Kah has just witnessed his brother's plane exploding when a vision of what he believes to be an angel saves his life. For a moment, soul mates meet and recognize the profound implications, only to be wrenched away. Later each believes that their meeting was only a hallucination. Nine years later, an alien nation contacts earth to establish trade relations. A glimpse of one of the aliens on television brings instant recognition to Jas. She immediately arranges a six-month absence and smuggles onto the airbase where Rom's star craft is about to launch. Jas is divorced, her life missing something, and she longs to seek answers in the stars. Rom has been disowned from the royal family and is making his living as minor smuggler. As their worlds collide, Jas and Rom struggle with their painful pasts, their growing love and an encroaching evil that threatens to destroy the galaxy.

In Star Prince, Princess Tee'ah Dar was sick of enduring life in isolation as Vash Nadah tradition demanded. In a desperate bid for freedom, Tee'ah stole a starspeeder to begin a new life doing what she loved most, flying! Ian Hamilton, an Earth dweller who was the heir to the Trade Federation and crown prince of the Vash empire, was deep undercover. He posed as Ian Stone, a trader of black market items. He was determined to bring the human people of Earth, the Vash people of Sienna, and all the people in the Federation together in peace! However, freak accidents and bad luck kept getting in the way. When his pilot died, Ian's crew was stranded on an awful world called Donavan's Blunder. Ian's critical mission would have failed right there, had a spunky pilot, Tee, not happened to appear. But neither Ian nor Tee told the other who they really were.

Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem features Lionel Essrog. A walk on the wild side of Brooklyn's criminal underclass with a hero known as "The Human Freakshow," a would-be detective also answering to the name of Lionel Essrog. Essrog is a victim of Tourette's Syndrome; hapless and veering out of control, he fights himself and his disease. He is part of L&L detective agency with the other Minna Men - pulled out of St. Vincent's Home for Boys by Frank Minna. When Frank is killed Lionel is compeled to find out who did it. He finds Zen Budda's, mafia men and giants. We see this all from his perspective. An interesting book, I listened to it on CD and it was tough as his Tourette's is part of the dialog. There really isn't a conclusion but rather a realization of betrayal and can you really trust anyone?

Miracle Strip by Nancy Bartholomew is about exotic dancer Sierra Lavotini who lives in Panama City. She never intended to become an amateur sleuth, but when her co-worker Denise Curtis is in trouble, she has to help. Someone kidnapped Denise’s dog Arlo and is holding him for $100,000 ransom. After closing down the Tiffany Club where they both work, Sierra and Denise head to Denise’s room to plot a strategy. What they find is a dead body. Denise insists she has never seen the man before, but Sierra and the police have their doubts. What follows is a hysterical frolic around Panama City, reminiscent of Janet Evanovich. I will read the rest of the books the author has to offer.

Just finished the sequel Drag Strip in which Sierra is to appear at the Dead Lakes Motor Speedway with a new dancer named Ruby. When she almost witnesses Ruby's death, she is knocked unconscious to find Panama City homicide Detective John Nailor over the body only to leave her to take the fall. Is he involved? Did he murder Ruby and why did she see him kissing another woman? Find out by reading this latest installment of Sierra Lavotini. Plus we get to meet more of her interesting family and friends.

Finished the 3rd in the series, Film Strip in which Sierra is shot in the behind while another dancer is killed. What follows is that Sierra pretends to be connected to a crime boss from New Jersey, more killings and finally getting to know John Nailor in that personal way. Hurray! A fun read and I am hoping that a 4th will arrive in the near future.

Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris is the 2nd book featuring Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic barmaid in Bon Temps, Louisiana. Sookie gets loaned out by the local vampires to another vampire group in Dallas. She and Bill are sent to discover what has happened to a nest brother of the head vampire. What she discovers are an evil church who wants to masacure the vampires, a vampire who meets the sun, more shapeshifters and a maenad who lives in the forest. I enjoyed this latest installment but far too many loose ends were neatly tied up by the end of the story. I think Harris is trying to become more like Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K Hamilton as there is a lot more gore and sex in this one. I wish I could have learned more about the Maenad who seemed to thrive on pride and drunkeness. But a quick overall good read.

Desperate Measures by Kate Wilhelm - Wilhelm's sixth Barbara Holloway legal thriller. Holloway's latest client is a brilliant young man named Alex Feldman, who has been left hideously deformed by a birth defect. He is accused of killing his next-door neighbor, Gus Marchand, a tyrannical religious zealot who saw Alex's deformity as the mark of the devil. Did he do it? Holloway goes all out to prove he did not, even going up against her father.

Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold is this amazing book about a 14 year old girl, Susie, who is murdered by a serial killer. She observes everything that happens to her family, friends, strangers and the killer from heaven as she tries to make sense of what happened to her and how it effected others. Not an easy book to read but worth it. Kind of like a ghost story but better.

Cold Day in Paradise by Steve Hamilton. This is the first in a series featuring Alex McKnight, ex-Detroit cop in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, answers a cry for help from wealthy Edwin Fulton--only to find the man--a compulsive gambler who had gone to meet with a bookmaker--in his motel room with his throat cut. But as he investigates he finds that the murders are not as simple as it first appears. It made for an interesting read, will read more of this series.

Posted to Death by Dean James features Simon Kirby-Jones, an american, gay, vampire living in England. He discovers that he is not the only vampire living in the small town but thanks to modern medicine they can walk around in the sunlight, not need to drink blood and blend in with society. The characters are quirky and lots of flirations develop as it seems that most of the men in Snupperton Mumsley are gay. A light cozy read made for a good read. I got a little tired of the flirtations but it helped the character move along with his day.

Corpse de Ballet by Ellen Pall features Juliet Bodine, a successful writer of Regency novels and ex-professor of English literature at Barnard, puts aside her own deadlines to give literary advice to her longtime friend, Ruth Renswick, choreographer for the Jansch Ballet Company of New York, who is creating a new ballet based on Charles Dickens's Great Expectations. When the principal dancer dies during a rehersal, Juliet is convienced that it is murder. Unfortunately the police do not agree, so Juliet tries to ignore her gutt instinct but when another dancer almost dies during another rehersal can she convience the police that foul play is afoot? An entertaining read, I enjoyed the descriptions of the various ballet dancers and of the dance itself. I did get annoyed with Juliet and her odd and rather flat relationships with Ruth and her assistant and most of all the conflict between love internet Would read more by this author.

Oracle by Katherine Greyle is a futuristic fantasy novel with a slight romantic twist. Jane Deerfield is a computer tech at a university and is sucked into what she thinks if the past but finds that she is now two centuries in the future after a cataclysmic nuclear event obliterates most of the planet. Now she is in a time where magic is real and animals, trees and streams house old souls. Only she knows what the key is to open the room of knowledge but will she unlock it only to see history repeat itself. I found it an interesting fantasy as she meets all the characters who were spirits who merged with the water, trees, and animals. Where magic is the norm but even that is fading. Will she destroy or be the savoir of this fragile world?