Dexter is Delicious by Jeff Lindsay

5th book featuring, Dexter, who works as a blood-spatter expert for the Miami Police Department.  This book continues where the previous one left off - but now he’s got a new baby, a beautiful little girl. So Dexter decides he really, really wants to live like a normal human, to leave his Dark Passenger behind and stop all this murder stuff.  But his Dark Passenger isn't ready to leave and now his left for dead dead brother, Brian, is back.  We left him at the end of book 1.  Brian starts bonding with Dexter's family as Deborah, his sister, keeps insisting that Dexter help her with the case that involve missing girls, vampirism, and cannibalism.  And honestly it is making it difficult keeping his homicidal urges in check.

Part of the charm of these books is the dialog Dexter has with us (the readers).  His use of witty and sarcastic dialog makes for a fun read.  Interesting enough Dexter only kills one person and he really, really deserved it.  It isn't the strongest of the series but definitely back on track after book 3 that I really did not like at all.

Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen

The story starts with Joey Perrone being thrown overboard from a cruise chip by her husband Chaz. The almost-murdered wife of corrupt Charles "Chaz" Perrone, survives by clinging to a floating bale of marijuana and is rescued by Mick Stranahan, a burnt-by-love ex-cop. The description alone of how she deals with the attempted murder and then the fight to survive is hysterical if it wasn't so scary at the same time.

Chaz, an incompetent marine biologist, (he doesn't even know which direction the Gulf Stream flows in), has long been on the take from agribusiness tycoon Red Hammernut, who's been dumping fertilizer into the endangered Everglades. He thinks that Joey has discovered that he's been exchanging clean-water samples for the actual tainted water that is the result of Hammernut's environmental pollution. But while his wife suspects he is sleeping around she doesn't have a clue about the scam.

Joey recovers her strength, mental and physical, at the island home of her gallant rescuer Mike, who is the victim of six failed marriages. Instead of going to the police, however, she decides to play dead. She persuades Mike to help her mess with Chaz's mind while she figures out why he tried to kill her.

Great cast of charcters - Tool the hired goon of Red Hammernut w ho is brought in to watch Chaz. He was shot in the behind and still has the bullet lodged up his butt.  So since he is in constant pain he raids hospice nursing homes for pain patches.  During one of his late night raids he meets an old woman who gives it right back to him and suddenly reveals that Tool might have a heart of gold.

Hiaasen is not for the faint of heart as he likes his humor dark but still laugh out loud funny.  It is a bit preachy on the devastation of the everglades but you can tell it is a passion of Hiaasen and you can't fault him with being passionate.

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride

Sam has dropped out of college and is stalled in a fast-food job in Seattle. Interrupting the boredom of days waiting on Plumpy customers and evenings watching old movies with his friends, a scary guy named Douglas enters Sam’s world. After a few pithy verbal threats, Douglas has Sam beaten and mauled by a sidekick—and later delivers teen Brooke’s pretty blond head to Sam’s door. The good news is that Brooke seems to be in no pain and is as sassy as ever. The bad news, as Sam finds out in short order, is that Douglas is a necromancer and has identified Sam, who hasn’t a clue what his strengths are, as a rival. Before the week is out, Sam finds himself in a cellar, caged with another pretty girl, who is part werewolf, part fairy. And then there’s Ashley, the parochial-school-uniformed 10-year-old who can orchestrate salvation for Sam by using her Blackberry and brains.

A little trivia, the title and all the chapter headings are lyrics, some which are familiar and others more obscure but it makes one pause and try to figure it out.

Great fun and I hope it will encourage readers who like this book to try other more established series such as Jim Butcher's Dresden's Files.

Naked Heat by Richard Castle

2nd book in the series featuring female New York cop, Nikki Heat, who reluctantly pairs up with a writer, Jameson Rook.   Rook had written an cover story featuring New York City Police department but it focused on Nikki Heat, leaving her feeling exposed to all to see.  When New York's most vicious gossip columnist, Cassidy Towne, is found dead, Heat uncovers a gallery of high profile suspects, all with compelling motives for killing the most feared muckraker in Manhattan.

Heat's murder investigation is complicated by her surprise reunion with superstar magazine journalist Jameson Rook. In the wake of their recent breakup, Nikki would rather not deal with their raw emotional baggage. But the handsome, wise-cracking Pulitzer Prize-winning writer's personal involvement in the case forces her to team up with Rook anyway. The residue of their unresolved romantic conflict and crackling sexual tension fills the air as Heat and Rook embark on a search for a killer among celebrities and mobsters, singers and hookers, pro athletes and shamed politicians.

Some of the storylines are following the TV series so it makes for fun reading.  If you watch the show "Castle" this will all make more sense.   But even if you don't watch the series it is great fun and I really enjoy the reader.