Murder @Maggody.com by Joan Hess - I listened to this on cd in the car. I didn't like the reader but enjoyed the story. I always get a kick out of the latest Maggody book. I had read this one when it first came out a few years back but enjoyed it again. A fun series.

Muletrain to Maggody
Maggody, Arkansas is to (population 755, at least until Dahlia Buchanon brings her latest pregnancy to term), host a reenactment of the Skirmish at Cotter's Ridge, complete with mules, cannon, and corpses. The reenactors all have their own agendas. Jeb Stewart soaks his boots so they'll raise authentic blisters; Andrew Pulaski dreams of cutting a fine figure on horseback; Wendell Streek pores over the diary of Henry Largesse, whose unit camped at Boone Creek, where it was overwhelmed by Yankee artillery power. But it's Largesse's description of the Confederate gold, hidden somewhere on Cotter's Ridge, that piques the interest of virtually every one of the 755. Dahlia swipes her granny from the old folks' home to guide her through the ridge's caves. Ruby Bee Hanks and Estelle Oppers enlist the aid of backwoods delinquent Hammett Buchanon. Lottie Estes, Elsie McMay, and Eula Lemoy break into Headquarters House in Farberville looking for clues. When Lottie, along with Petrol Buchanon and Brother Verber, turns up missing, the heat's on Ruby Bee's pride and joy, Chief of Police Arly Hanks , to banish her old flame, filmmaker Jack Wallace, to the backlot so she can investigate.

China Bayles Herbal Mysteries by Susan Wittig Albert features herbalist China Bayles, who abandoned her career as a hot-shot Houston criminal attorney to buy an herb shop in a small town located half-way between Austin and San Antonio, Texas. Each of her mysteries has a signature herb that is connected to a major theme, and each is liberally sprinkled with information on growing and using herbs. Main characters are her friend Ruby, her lover ex-cop Mike McQuaid, as well as other friends and families.

1. Thyme of Death
China's first adventure. A friend dies--murder or suicide?

2. Witches' Bane
China and Ruby discover that the supernatural isn't funny.

3. Hangman's Root
Animal rights, academic politics, and murder--a potent mix.

4. Rosemary Remembered
Who remembers the victims of crime?

5. Rueful Death
Grace, forgiveness, and the mystery of community.

6. Love Lies Bleeding
China learns a tough lesson in love.

7. Chile Death
Hot stuff, folks! (Funny, too)

8. Lavender Lies
Mystery, murder, and a wet 'n' wild wedding

9. Mistletoe Man
What's Christmas without mistletoe? What's life without Ruby? Join China as she faces both of these difficult questions. When the mistletoe man is mysteriously run down by an hit and run driver immediate his neighbors are under suspicion as there has been a running feud with them for most of the year. But will the crazy aunt take the fall for the murder or will the real murderer please stand up? This one was a puzzlier but enjoyment to the end.

10. Bloodroot
We find out more about her relationship with her mother and her past. Leatha, China's mother, calls from Jordan's Crossing to ask for China's help in dealing with her Aunt Tullie's illness. Upon arrival in Jordan's Crossing Leatha informs China that Aunt Tullie has Huntington's Disease and struck Wiley, the manager of the plantation while in a rage about a long forgotten paper saying his great grandfather owns the property. When Wiley is discovered two days later drowned in the local pond they must all deal with the consequences of their aunt's actions. China must deal with this devastating news as she comes to understand how this affect her life as well as her mother's. When she goes to bed she dreams a childhood dream of following her Aunt and seeing her dig up an unmarked grave. When she awakes she finds Pearl's diary, Aunt Tullie's mother, and the pj's that China wore as a child stained with Bloodroot. Was it really a dream or are there really skeletons in the family graveyard that no one knows about. There are many mysteries to discover but thanks to the ghosts that speak from the past China learns the truth about herself and her past.

11. Indigo Dying
China has recently become part-owner of a combination herb shop and tea house called Thyme for Tea in tiny Indigo, Tex. But her new life-and the lifestyle of the bohemian entrepreneurs and elderly Indigo natives in the community-is put in jeopardy when Casey Ford, a reviled but powerful Indigo resident, concocts a plan to sell the coal-mining rights to a national conglomerate, a scheme that would allow him to evict most of the store owners in town once the deal is done. Ford is murdered days before he signs the agreement. Bayles and her husband, another former attorney named Mike McQuaid, find themselves stymied in their investigation of the murder by a town full of suspects who close ranks as they celebrate Ford's sudden death.

12. An Unthymely Death
Several short stories featuring our favorite characters. These were originally published in a magazine and feature many facts and recipes featuring herbs. Not as good as the full length novels but fun to read never the less.

13. Dilly of a Death

14. Deadman's Bones

15. Bleeding hearts
Coach Tim Duffy's Pecan Springs high school football team has won the state championships two years in a row -- and in Texas, that makes him a demigod. But when China's stepson's principal asks her to conduct a sensitive investigation concerning accusations of sexual misconduct lodged against Duffy, she becomes embroiled in a dark drama that, if exposed, could destroy families and ruin lives. Statutory rape and cold-blooded murder are just the beginning of this mystery…

China struggles to unravel the mysterious circumstances surrounding the murder of a beloved high school football coach and the alleged suicide of a woman who was once one of his students. A handmade quilt, sewn by a woman who went through cancer treatments, is missing from the quilt show that Ruby is in charge of. In typical New Age style Ruby decides to ask the Ouija Board to help guide her to the guilty party. Plus to complicate matters China's mother asks her to get some papers that were found after her husband's secretary's death. What China finds will rock her to the bone.

Interesting enough China's husband is out of town for most of the book. We get to see more of China interacting with other women and friends.

Hippie in the Wall by Tony Fennelly features Margo Fortier who is platonically married to a gay man from a prominent wealthy family. The first installment introduces us to Margo's past as an ex-stripper turned columnist in New Oreleans. A dead body is found in back of a closet of the strip joint she used to work in 20 years ago. She is brought in by a local cop who used to be a regular in the strip club. Only she remembers everyone who was working there and what each person is doing now. But who would kill a harmless hippie? and why? As the suspects start showing up dead and Margo herself is threatened she needs to discover who killed the hippie in the wall.

Best of Friends by Joanna Trollope is set in England it features two families. Gina and Laurence had been the best of friends ever since they were teenagers. They had never been in love - just friends. Gina had eventually married the exquisitely tasteful Fergus, and Laurence had married down-to-earth Hilary. Gina and Fergus lived in stylish perfection at High Place. Laurence and Hilary had spent their married lives turning Laurence's legacy, The Bee House, into both home and hotel. Then, with elegant disdain, Fergus Bedford announced he was leaving Gina and their teenage daughter. As Gina's misery ricocheted through the two homes, she turned for emotional support to Laurence, her dearest friend. And as Laurence gave comfort, so his own marriage and the stability of his children edged towards destruction.

While an interesting book it is a depressing one. I felt really sad for everyone. One interesting thing I found was that Trollope was a very objective author, I never felt that it was any one character who was worst or more to blame than any other. I don't think I could read too many of her books if each one is this sad. I did listen to it on tape which may have made it more sad to me.

Bonita Faye by Margaret Moseley is a wonderful book of a poor girl who's husband is blown away and she is left a young widow. As the story unfolds you discover there is much more to this simple Oklahoma country girl as she finds herself in France, but comes home to Oklahoma to find her roots.

White Oleander by Janet Fitch features Astrid is the only child of a single mother, Ingrid, a brilliant, obsessed poet who wields her luminous beauty to intimidate and manipulate men. Astrid worships her mother and cherishes their private world full of ritual and mystery-but their idyll is shattered when Astrid's mother falls apart over a lover. Deranged by rejection, Ingrid murders the man, and is sentenced to life in prison. This is an unforgettable story of Astrid's journey through a series of foster homes and her efforts to find a place for herself in impossible circumstances. Each home is its own universe, with a new set of laws and lessons to be learned. I also saw the movie before I read the book. I enjoyed both for different reasons. I was pleased to see that the movie followed the book pretty accurately except for the ending. But that's Hollywood baby!

Body of a Girl by Leah Stewart. Features journalist Olivia Dale as she finds and reports on the murder of a young woman who could have easily been her. Set in the Memphis summer heat you can practically feel the heat rising off the pavement. Olivia becomes obsessed with finding out why Allison Avery was killed. Was it somebody she knew, a stranger or because of drugs. Olivia becomes Allison to find out and becomes a part of the underground drug scene of Memphis. This is a difficult read but I could not put it down.

Folly by Laurie R. King features Rae Newborn. Rae has been in and out of mental institutions most of her adult life. After her 2nd husband and young daughter are killed in a car crash that leaves her physically as well as emotionally scarred 50 year old Rae decides to move to a deserted island to restore her great-uncles home build in the 1920's that the natives dubbed Folly. She discovers more about her mysterious great-uncle as well as her own strengths. An excellent read but as with anything that has mental illness hard to read sometimes. I did listen to this on CD and it was an excellent choice - as the reader Frank Muller did a great job.

Darker Place by Laurie R. King features Anne Waverly professor of religious studies who also moonlights as an undercover agent for the FBI infiltrating cults. Anne Waverly becomes Ana Wakefield and goes to investigate a new cult called Change. She finds that her past won't let her go as she becomes attached to a brother and sister who have been taken into the Change. This is truly one of those books which creates a powerful sense of "something wicked this way comes." In fact, there is so much tension, you may even feel a bit let down by the climax. (I wanted another chapter or at least an epilogue.) It is not an easy read on vacation book but causes thought and reflection.

Caveman's Valentine by George Dawes Green features Romulus Ledbetter (Rom). Who at one time was a loving spouse and father until he went insane. Rom now lives in a cave in Upper Manhattan's Inwood Park. He grocery shops in garbage cans and alleys. Rom is so gone he believes in an evil presence, Cornelius Gould Stuyvesant, who is responsible for destroying mankind with the evil Y and Z rays. When he discovers a dead body of young man outside of his cave he knows that Stuyvesant has something to do with it. He must keep it together to find out who killed this man and why. This is a difficult book to read as Rom goes back and forth between reality and his reality. But a very satisifing read.

This book has been made into a movie in 2001 which stared Samuel L. Jackson.

Big Read Tequila by Rick Riordan is set in San Antonio, TX. Tres Navarre left San Antonia for San Francisco years ago when he witnessed his father's murder in their front yard. After receiving letters from his childhood sweetheart he decides to come back and find out who killed his father. What he finds is that no one is as they seem and he may die trying to find his father's killer. I love reading books from Texas as I used to live in Houston and this has all the flavor of the great state of Texas. Each character was so gritty that they weren't likable but I had to find out what happened in the end. I would read more by this author.

Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger focuses on one relationship, that of Henry and Clare, as both it, and Henry, flow through time. When Clare first meets Henry she is six years old and he has traveled back thirty years to meet her. Set in Chicago, the story goes beyond the typical love ballad to become a story about living in the moment and enjoying people as they come and go through life.

A very intense read and one knows it can't end really happily but the relationships are so fascinating to read about.

Dreaming of the Bones by Deborah Crombie features Scotland yard Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and Sergeant Gemma James. Kincaid is asked by his ex-wife in Cambridge to help her prove that a talented poet did not commit suicide, but was murdered. They discover startling news that leads them into an engrossing history of poetry and scandal, found secrets and lost innocence. I have not read any of the books in this series but I will defintely start reading more from this author. I listened to this on CD and enjoyed it the reader.

Bubbles Unbound by Sarah Strohmeyer features hairstylist/journalist Bubbles Yablonsky. Bubbles is a divorced single mother of Jane, an 17 year old going on 30, teenager. She knows there is more to life than doing hair in Lehigh, Pennsylvania. She goes back to school, enters journalism classes and gets a job at a local newspaper for on-the-job training. When Bubbles stumbles upon a crime scene on the way home from an assignment, she's suddenly up to her roots in a nasty murder investigation. Plus can she resist Stiletto who keeps leaving her hanging. Very reminiscent of Evanovich's Stephanie Plum mysteries. Fun, light and entertaining.

In the sequel Bubbles in Trouble, Bubbles goes undercover to track down her friend Janice who left her fiance at the alter to go back to Amish country. No more make-up and high heals for Bubbles as she dones her plain dresses and braids her hair and she discovers that not all as it appears in Whoopee, PA. Of course there is the sexual tension between her and Stiletto, and will he finally pop the question. Read and find out.

Bubbles ablaze
Bubbles a broad

Bubbles Betrothed

Bubbles Yablonsky has hung up her curling iron for good, the ex-hairdresser and takes her new career seriously. The Lehigh News-Times reporter is willing to risk a contempt-of-court charge rather than surrender the notes from her interview with accused murderer Julia "Crazy Popeye" Simon. Popeye's poisoning in her jail cell makes the police think maybe she didn't kill high school principal Rudolph Schmidt, even though podiatrist Cerise May found the bag lady in her waiting room with her hands down the administrator's throat. And they think Bubbles's notebook may help them find out who did kill Schmidt, and whether the killing is connected to May's ex-boyfriend, Polish mafioso Karol Smolak.

Of course, keeping her mother Lulu out of trouble and helping daughter Jane fill out her application to Princeton take up most of Bubbles's spare time, so it isn't until the judge fines her $1,000 per minute until her notes resurface that she decides she'd better find out who killed Schmidt. But Bubbles doesn't reckon with the biggest distraction of all: AP photographer Steve Stiletto, who plunks a diamond on her finger and asks her to pretend to be his fiancée so he doesn't get sent to London.

Typical crazy murder and mayhem follow Bubbles where ever she goes. The whole fake engagement was kind of annoying and really didn't add much to the story. Bubbles is always fun but I miss her salon days.

Coraline is a delightfully spooky children's book by Neil Gaiman. Coraline is bored, she and her family just moved flat that is part of a converted house. Her parents are too busy working to pay attention to her and the others who live in the house are old. So she goes exploring. Looking for excitement, Coraline ventures through a mysterious door into a world that is similar, yet disturbingly different from her own, where she must challenge a gruesome entity (who calls itself her other mother) in order to save herself, her parents, and the souls of three others. Go to the linked website, it gives you a taste of what the book is about. I really liked this book!

Neil Gaiman's site (http://www.neilgaiman.com) seems to be down so I've linked his name to the publisher.

O Jerusalem : a Mary Russell novel by Laurie R. King. Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes have fled to Palestine on a mission for Mycroft Holmes. Disguised as itinerant Muslims and paired with two Arab spies, Russell and Holmes travel through the Holy Land trying to figure out exactly why Mycroft has sent them. A pair of seemingly unrelated murders sets them on the track of a brilliant and power-hungry killer. Only Holmes and Russell (along with some unexpected allies) can stop their adversary from destroying Jerusalem--if they can get to him in time.

I listened to this on CD and kept wanting to drive so I would know what happens. This is the 5th in the series but in time it takes place after Beekeeper's Apprentice. I have enjoyed all the Mary Russell novels especially this one as you get a real impression on how Russell and Holme's relationship developed.

Don't Cry for Me, Hot Pastrami by Sharon Kahn is the third mystery this funny series follows Ruby and the gang from Eternal, Texas, as they take to the Caribbean for a Temple-sponsored cruise to die for. The humor is very Jewish plus we deal with Ruby (a widow) as she begins to have romantic feelings for the prime suspect. A fast-paced mystery, a cast of quirky characters, humor and wit made me laughplus I really enjoyed getting to know this character. I might even try to read the others in the series.

Milicent Le Sueur by Margaret Moseley a mystery about a schizophrenic baglady who is the only witness to a murder. This book was enjoyable but kind of confusing as everything was from the point of view of Milicent who has lots of black holes in her memory. She would find things like a diamond earing in the trash and a baby in a dumpster. She has a compulsive way about her like she has to clean bathrooms and count noises. Plus has this strange friendship with the chief of police who is very protective of her as he lets her do what she wants. A very odd character but likeable at the same time. "WHATCHA LOOKING AT?!

Savannah Blues by Mary Kay Andrews is romantic mystery set in Savannah. Weezie is an antiques "picker" who combs Savannah's steamy back alleys and garage sales for treasures, when she's not dealing with her loopy relatives or her hunky ex-boyfriend. She is convinced that her troubles will be over if she makes a big killing at the upcoming estate sale at a noble plantation house. But when she finds the body of her ex-husband's fiance and is the prime suspect she has to find out who the real murderer.

Shade's Children by Garth Nix - In the brutal world of Shade's Children, your 14th birthday is your last. Malevolent Overlords rule the earth, directing hideous, humanoid creatures to harvest the brains and muscles of teens for use in engineering foul beasts to fight senseless wars. Young Gold-Eye escapes this horrific fate, fleeing the dormitories before his Sad Birthday. He is rescued from certain doom by other refugees who live in an abandoned submarine and work for Shade, a strange, computer-generated adult. Shade provides food and shelter in exchange for information that the children gather on dangerous forays into Overlord territory. But what does Shade really want? He is a sworn enemy of the Overlords, but his use of the children to gain knowledge and power seems uncaring and ruthless. Finally, Gold-Eye and his new friends set out to destroy the Overlords--with or without the enigmatic, dangerous Shade.

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.