The Cat, the professor, and the poison by Leann Sweeney

Cat lover Jillian Hart already has her hands full taking care of four preemie kittens at Mercy Animal Sanctuary's office with Deputy Candace Carson.  But when she rides along with Candace to answer a milk cow disappears from a neighbor's farm call she follows a cat to a nearby farm and leads to the discovery of a huge number of needy stray cats and the body of a professor. 

But while the professor seemed kind of crazy who would want the professor dead? What is the connection between the professor and all the stray cats? The more Jillian investigates, the more determined she is to solve the case. Jillian might just need a little help from her cats to solve this one. When cats' welfare is at stake, cats can depend on Jillian Hart!

I have to say I enjoyed this book even more than the first book I read a few months ago.  The characters are much more developed and with the introduction of her dead husband's daughter, Kara it brings a fresh perspective to the series.   This is a fun and relaxing series and I admire the character Jillian as she really tries to practice what she preaches.

Strings Attached by Judy Blundell

Set in 1950, seventeen year old Kit Corrigan has fled from her family in Providence, Rhode Island, and she's broken off her tempestuous relationship with a boy named Billy, who's enlisted in the army.  She now works as a chorus girl in a Broadway show that's so tiny that well, she's barely clinging onto her dream and she's pretty much a nobody in New York.  It's so bad that she lives with one of the other chorus girl's parents couch.


Never make deals with the devil, of this case a Mob lawyer.  When Nate (Billy's father) offers her an apartment, Kit jumps at the chance to leave the hard life behind but her gut tells her differently. There's always a catch and this one a pretty big one.  If she wants the apartment, she'll have to get back in contact with Billy and do a couple small favors for Nate.

So with Nate's help she suddenly becomes a somebody. She gets a job as a Lido girl (working at a nightclub and dancing), has her own apartment, and gets a brand new wardrobe.  But small clues point to something more sinister.  When she finally writes Billy he immediately comes back on leave and feelings inevitably resurface.

A lot of the story is told through flashbacks - most only a few months old.  We learn what makes Kit the woman she is becoming and why she had to leave everyone behind she loved to follow her dream of becoming a Broadway star.

I liked the noir aspects of the story and this really has a YA feel as the sexual overtones are very subtle.  Blundell does a great job giving the flavor of the time and life in New York City.  She has a bibliography at the end that makes me want to read more about this time period.

As the pig turns by M.C. Beaton aka Marion Chesney

22nd in the Agatha Raisin series

Agatha has a run-in with an overzealous policeman, Gary Beech, who tickets her for basically nothing on a clogged road outside her Cotswolds village of Carsely. After Beech tickets her a second time for slightly exceeding the speed limit, Agatha announces in the village store: "I'd like to kill him.... May he roast slowly over a spit in hell!" When Beech turns up dead, his decapitated body substituted for the pig that was supposed to be roasting over a fire as part of a post-Christmas celebration on a neighboring village's green, Agatha falls under suspicion. Meanwhile, she must cope with, among other personal problems, uncertainty about the men in her life, including her ex-husband.

There are very few series I can't wait to read and this is one of maybe 4.  It is always such a delight and I've re-read this series many times now.  You do have to suspend some belief but I read these more for the characters versus the actual mystery.  Though this had more mystery elements than previous. I'm always ready for a new Agatha Raisin book!

Live Wire by Harlan Coben

Latest in the Myron Bolitar series, an injured basketball player turned sports agent in New York City

Suzze Tervantino, a former tennis prodigy and one of Bolitar's first clients, visits his New York office and shows him a Facebook posting that suggests that her husband, rock star Lex Ryder, isn't the father of the child she's carrying. When Ryder, also a client of MB Reps, disappears, Suzze begs Bolitar to find him. In the process, Bolitar catches a glimpse of his sister-in-law, Kitty, at a crowded nightclub, and begins a search for her and his estranged younger brother, Brad, whom he hasn't seen for 16 years.

With his sidekick, Win, Myron has unexpected encounters with his estranged sister-in-law, who's entangled with rock stars, scandals, and drugs. Adding momentum to Myron's search, his dad suffers a life-threatening heart attack and asks to speak with Brad, his long-lost son. Along the way, Myron confronts his own buried secrets and recognizes that his abandoned sister-in-law and nephew interpret his big-heartedness as unwanted interference.

I'm not sure how I read this book as it isn't the first in the series like I normally do.  The book is a kind of roller coaster read as the story was tight and engaging.  But I enjoyed the ride.  I listened to it on CD so would go back and try one of the earlier book to get a better feel for the series.

Troublemaker. Book one written by Janet Evanovich and Alex Evanovich ; drawn by Joëlle Jones ; background pencils, Ben Dewey ; inks, Andy Owens ; colors, Dan Jackson ; letters, Nate Piekos of Blambot.

Graphic Novel sequel to Metro Girl and Motor Mouth.  Alexandra Barnaby ("Barney") and Sam Hooker are back together in this fun graphic novel. Sam's a NASCAR racer and Barney his mechanic and spotter, so chase scenes figure prominently in these lighthearted tangles of repartee and rotten villains. This time, Barney's friend Rosa has been taken hostage by a voodoo cult. Off scurry Barney and Hooker to rescue her, and we're in for a diverting mix featuring a swamp chase, breaking and entering, a botanical proprietress, and a meddling cougar of a mother.

It is pretty short - 100 pages with only 3-4 panels per page.  So it is easy to follow along and you don't even need to know the 2 other books as each character is introduced in full page glory. The only thing that bugged me is that the ending is left open for the 2nd book to come out.  I wish they had just made one book with all included. it would have been more satisfying.

And Only to Deceive by Tasha Alexander

For Emily, accepting the proposal of Philip, the Viscount Ashton, was an easy way to escape her overbearing mother, who was set on a grand society match. So just after a few months of marriage Philip dies on safari leaving her a young widow but feeling little grief. After all, she barely knew him. Now, nearly two years later, she discovers that Philip was a far different man from the one she had married so cavalierly. His journals reveal him to have been a gentleman scholar and antiquities collector who, to her surprise, was deeply in love with his wife. Emily becomes fascinated with this new image of her dead husband and she immerses herself in all things ancient and begins to study Greek.

Emily's intellectual pursuits and her desire to learn more about Philip take her to the quiet corridors of the British Museum, one of her husband's favorite places. There, amid priceless ancient statues, she uncovers a dark, dangerous secret involving stolen artifacts from the Greco-Roman galleries. And to complicate matters, she's juggling two very prominent and wealthy suitors, one of whose intentions may go beyond the marrying kind. As she sets out to solve the crime, her search leads to more surprises about Philip and causes her to question the role in Victorian society to which she, as a woman, is relegated.

But when there are rumors of an English man found in the bush of Africa carrying her photography Emily is convinced that Philip is not dead and sets out to find him.  But can she trust the people who claim to be her friends or is there something more sinister?

An interesting look at Victoria society with a hint of intrigue. Not the most exciting book but a light easy read. I prefer the older but still going series featuring Amelia Peabody.