Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa Ethiopia. It becomes Missing Hospital as the natives cannot distinguish the words. Orphaned by their mother’s death in childbirth and their father’s disappearance, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution. Raised by 2 surgeons, Ghosh and Hema, both from India they came together to work in Missing hospital.  Ghosh has loved Hema from afar but the birth brings them closer until their love merges and together they raise the twins. Insuring in the twins a love of medicine.  But while identical, Marion and Shiva are as different as their names.

As they grow their passion for the same woman tears them apart and force Marion, fresh out of medical school, to flee his homeland. He makes his way to America, finding refuge in his work as an intern at an underfunded, overcrowded New York City hospital. When the past catches up to him—nearly destroying him—Marion must entrust his life to the two men he thought he trusted least in the world: the surgeon father who abandoned him and the brother who betrayed him.

I partially listened to it on CD and mostly read it for my work bookclub.  I could not put it down after awhile, I just had to know how it would end.  I do not enjoy family saga books and do not care for medical descriptions but these were done so beautifully I found myself fascinated by the story.  Verghese has an extensive bibliography at the end of the novel and you can see how he developed the story and shows his love of medicine and for Ethiopia.

To the Power of Three by Laura Lippman

Josie, Perri, and Kat have been inseparable best friends since third grade -- the athlete, the brilliant, acerbic drama queen, and the popular beauty with a heart that is open to all around her. They live in an affluent suburb of Baltimore and enjoy privileges many teenagers are denied. But on the final day of school one of them brings a gun with her. And when the police break down the door of the high school girls' bathroom, locked from the inside, they find two of the friends wounded, one of them critically -- and the third girl is dead.

This was my first stand alone title by Laura Lippman.  It is so different than her Tess Monaghan series that I wasn't sure if I would enjoy it or not.  Plus with the main storyline told from the point of view of a teenager I was worried it might be too angst driven.  But boy was I wrong as the story unfolds I begun to see the complexity of these 3 girls and how their lives intertwined until the tragic ending.  Is there really a bad person in this story, I'm not really sure. 

I'm a fan of Laura Lippman because of her series but now I'm a fan of her stand alones as well.

Love in a Nutshell by Janet Evanovich and Dorien Kelly  

So Kate takes matters into her own hands and confronts Matt Culhane (owner of the beer) and demands that he hires her since his mistake cost her job.  So Matt decides to use Kate to spy on his brewery employees. Someone has been sabotaging his company, and Kate is just new enough in town that she can insert herself into Culhane’s business and snoop around for him. If Kate finds the culprit, Matt will pay her a $20,000 bonus. Needless to say, Kate is highly motivated. But several problems present themselves. Kate despises beer and finds out she is very allergic. No one seems to trust her, plus she is falling hard for her boss.

Can these two smoke out a saboteur, save Kate’s family home, and keep a killer from closing in…all while resisting their undeniable attraction to one another?  Plus Kate has to deal with her parents who suddenly show up for a Thanksgiving family gathering and decide to relive their memories from the Nutshell.

 

Now this is not up there with Stephanie Plum as it didn't have those laugh-out-loud moments.  But it was fun and entertaining and I wanted to know what happened to the characters.  I'm sure that Evanovich used her name to help sell this book but I think that Dorien Kelly can carry her own.  Looking forward to others by this fresh and fun author.

Kate Appleton needs a job. Her husband has left her, she’s been fired from her position as a magazine editor, and the only place she wants to go is to her parents’ summer house, The Nutshell, in Keene’s Harbor, Michigan. Kate’s plan is to turn The Nutshell into a Bed and Breakfast. Problem is, she needs cash, and she just lost her job due to bad beer being delivered to the bar she was working at.

Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich

Featuring Stephanie Plum

Before Stephanie can even step foot off Flight 127 Hawaii to Newark, she’s knee deep in trouble. Her dream vacation turned into a nightmare, and she’s flying back to New Jersey solo. Worse still, her seatmate never returned to the plane after the L.A. layover. Now he’s dead, in a garbage can, waiting for curbside pickup. His killer could be anyone. And a ragtag collection of thugs and psychos, not to mention the FBI, are all looking for a photograph the dead man was supposed to be carrying.



Only one other person has seen the missing photo—Stephanie Plum. Now she’s the target, and she doesn’t intend to end up in a garbage can. With the help of an FBI sketch artist Stephanie re-creates the person in the photo. Unfortunately the first sketch turns out to look like Tom Cruise, and the second sketch like Ashton Kutcher. Until Stephanie can improve her descriptive skills, she’ll need to watch her back.


Over at the bail bonds agency things are going from bad to worse. The bonds bus serving as Vinnie’s temporary HQ goes up in smoke. Stephanie’s wheelman, Lula, falls in love with their largest skip yet. Lifetime arch nemesis Joyce Barnhardt moves into Stephanie’s apartment. And everyone wants to know what happened in Hawaii?


Morelli, Trenton’s hottest cop, isn’t talking about Hawaii. Ranger, the man of mystery, isn’t talking about Hawaii. And all Stephanie is willing to say about her Hawaiian vacation is . . . It’s complicated.

I always enjoy a new Stephanie Plum novel, they make for easy weekend reading.  I know people say these are past but I still find myself reading the latest ones and never disappointed.  I'm also looking forward to the movie coming out soon.

Twelve Drummers Drumming by C. C. Benison

Several months after his wife's still unsolved homicide in London, Reverend Tom "Father" Christmas accompanied by his nine year old daughter Miranda, fans of the French version of Nancy Drew, visit his sister-in-law Julia Hennis the music teacher and her husband Alastair the physician Thornford Regis. When Vicar Peter Kinsey failed to arrive to lead the services for the late Ned Skynner at St. Nicholas Church, Father Christmas conducts the ceremony. Tom takes over the vacated position of village vicar.

The Christmas pair finds life in the village soothing as they heal from their loss. However, at the fair, someone murders the daughter of the choirmaster; Sybella Parry's body is found inside a large drum. Although most locals assume drugs were involved in the homicide, Tom thinks otherwise. As he makes inquiries and uses the confessional to gather information, Tom finds several suspects who could easily have killed the teenager.

Now Father Christmas aka Tom feels compelled to discover the truth as the unsovled murder of his wife hangs heavy in his heart. This move to a quiet village was supposed to make both he and his daughter more secure and heal.  

Interesting dynamics with Tom and the dealings of the small town folks make this a fun yet complex mystery. Reminds me of the Agatha Christy Miss Marple mysteries where there is always more than meets the eye.