Guardians of Ga'Hoole by Kathryn Lasky is an interesting new series reminiscent of Animorphs.

Book 1: The Capture introduces us to the main characters Soren, Gylfie, Twilight and Digger who have all been captured by other owls claiming they are orphans. There they are brainwashed to be almost slaves to these elder owls but Soren & Gylfie manage to escape but at a cost to other owls who try to help them. Once they escape they find Twilight and Digger and together band together to find the lost world of Ga'Hoole where they think their families may have hidden.

Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich

#13
Lean Mean Thirteen
This time around Stephanie is reunited with her two-timing lawyer ex-husband, Dickie Orr, while doing a favor for the mysterious, sexy Ranger. But when Dickie disappears from his house leaving behind only bloodstains and bullet holes, Plum becomes the prime suspect in his alleged murder. Determined to clear her name, Plum and her on-again off-again Trenton cop boyfriend, the irresistible Joe Morelli, uncover Dickie's ties to a shady group of men involved in everything from money laundering to drug running. And when Dickie's jilted business partners decide Stephanie holds the key to the $40 million they believe Dickie stole from them, she's in for a wild ride. While helping Ranger search for Dickie (the ex) she has three 'skips' to find for the bond office, a taxidermist with a penchant for bombs to a grave-robbing tax man show us that life is never dull in the burbs. We see more of Grandma who still goes to funeral viewings and Lola who seems to be changing her hoing ways as she stays with one man - Tank

12.5
Plum Lovin' is a "between-the-numbers" Stephanie Plum novel. Stephanie already has two guys in her life (cop Joe Morelli and bounty hunter Ranger), reconnects with Diesel, a third heartthrob. Diesel offers Stephanie a deal: if he lets her find Annie Hart, a relationship coach who's become a big-ticket bond on Stephanie's Most Wanted List after fleeing a charge for a robbery she didn't commit, then Stephanie can do Annie a big favor by playing Cupid for a number of Annie's lovelorn clients, including a shy butcher, a desperate vet, an overworked single mom, a 30-something virgin and the marriage-phobic fellow who just happens to be Stephanie's pregnant sister's boyfriend. Diesel and Stephanie's short but sweet adventure ends on a teasing note that will leave fans hungry for the next juicy Plum-a-thon.

More of a novela than a full fledged novel it is still packed with laugh-out-loud moments. I felt kind of let down by the ending but it's no more a cliff-hanger than the previous books. So we'll see what comes out this summer. If Diesel is still around or left behind.

Twelve Sharp
#12 in the series
In usual fashion Stephanie finds herself in danger when she discovers that a woman is following her. This woman who threatens her and waves a gun around claims to be Carlos Manoso's (aka Ranger) wife! When she ends up dead and Ranger's daughter is discovered kidnapped from Miami by Ranger himself Stephanie knows something is up! A doppleganger has stolen parts of Ranger's identity, marrying the strange woman, kidnapping Ranger's daughter and then wants to go after Stephanie herself. Now she gets to pay Ranger back for all the times he helped her out in a jam. But she'll need the help of both Ranger and Morelli. Meanwhile she and Lulu are trying to pick up as many FTA's people who skipped their count appearance before Vinnie goes bankrupt. They have to start hiring new bounty hunters and the interviews are so funny! They end up hiring a FTA Stephanie is able to hunt down, a sad sack named Melvin Pickle, who had been arrested for indecent exposure in the multi-plex. Plus Lula, Sally, and Grandma Mazur start up a rock band and find new costumes for each gig!

You can't help but laugh out loud at all the quirky characters but I have to admit that this one had more depth than previous ones. It even ends with Ranger feeding Stephanie cake. yum...

Ten Big Ones ~ Stephanie Plum, girl bounty hunter, the terror of Trenton, the bane of her boyfriend Joe Morelli's existence, and the delight of her crazy grandma's heart, is in the wrong place at the wrong time--as usual. Just happening to be indulging her nachos jones at a local deli when it's robbed by the notorious Red Devils, Plum is the eye witness who could put the gang leader, known as the Junkman, behind bars... if he just lets her live long enough. Looking for a place to hide out from the killer until the cops catch up with him, Stephanie sneaks into her fellow bounty hunter Ranger's apartment without telling Morelli, who's not overly fond of him. All the usual suspects in this long-running series are along for a wilder than ever ride, including Lula the gun-toting ex-hooker, Grandma Mazur, Stephanie's pregnant sister Valerie and her fiancé, as well as a host of minor characters who bring Trenton's seedier environs to life.

To the Nines ~ Usual characters, but not so much Grandma that I enjoy so much but we get more of Lulu who is just a hoot as she decides she is only going to eat meat to become a super model. Plus we get to know Joe's family better, but Joe is only around superficially in my opinon. Makes you wonder what their future is? This time we get Stephanie out of town going to Las Vegas. There is more tension between her and Ranger as he becomes her bodyguard after she is obviously being stalked by the "webmaster". I did get annoyed as I did figure out who was the "webmaster" about half way through the book and found it interesting how oblivious Stephanie can be. For the first time not one car gets blown up but Stephanie is forced to get her hair cut short, I really never pictured her with long hair. But still a fun - laugh out loud read.

Hard Eight ~ It lives up to it's name as she gets beat up trying to catch fugitives and finally gets naked with Ranger! Hurray! Several laugh out loud moments, especially as she is stalked by a bear and a rabbit! All our favorites are here including Grandma.

One for the Money
Two for the Dough
Three to Get Deadly
Four to Score
High Five
Hot Six
Seven Up

Visions of Sugar Plums ~ is a special almost novella featuring our favorite bounty hunter Stephanie Plum. It's Christmas in Jersey and Stephanie Plum has bigger problems than the usual thugs, robbers, thieves, and hoodlums. This time, there's someone in her apartment who just won't leave and he goes by Diesel and they are both after the same guy, Sandie Claws. But will Stephanie get into the Christmas spirit and just who is her grandmother's new hottie? Thumbs up for this Christmas story Jersey style.

Full House by Janet Evanovich - originally published in 1989 under the name Steffie Hall. She decided to update it and create some sequels only in paperback. It was a fun read, though not quite up to par with the Plum books. You can tell it takes place in the 80's but it isn't too dated. Billie Pearce is a divorced mother of two children. She meets Nick Kaharchek while taking Polo lessons. When fate brings them and their existing families together it can only be a disaster waiting to happen. Some basic drama and a very quick ending make this for a satisfying read.

Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand follows the journey of horse, jockey, owner and trainer and they together show the world what true spirit is. I learned so much about the racing world of the 1920's - 1940's. Plus it takes place mostly around Southern California so how can it go wrong? I think the hardest thing was listening to the horrible accidents that jockeys and horses went through just to win a race. Makes me shrudder... I listened to this on tape and it was very engrossing. I'm not sure I could have read it as I would have probably skimmed a lot of it. But listening to it made me keep going.

Repo by Bill Eidson Ex-DEA Agent Jack Merchant is living out his precarious retirement on the docks of Charlestown, Mass., surrounded by the revenge-minded dealers and punks he used to put away. All he's got is his sloop, the Lila, but soon enough he gets a visit from the repo man. Except the repo man's a woman, Sarah Ballard. Her proposition: they've got a week to track down a spoiled rich couple who've disappeared with their yacht. Find it, and Merchant can keep the Lila. The trouble is, they're not the only ones looking... While I enjoyed the relationship between Jack & Sarah, I found the actual plot not so plausable and more violent than I like. S & M, embezzlement, while I'm sure is prevelent I just don't want to read about it. I don't know if I'll read another book by this author.

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire is the retelling of Cinderella. Maguire sets the familiar tale in an unexpected setting, making the story of the stepmother's family a paradigm for the rise of the middle class in seventeenth century Holland. While the trappings of magic are always just around the corner—the fairy godmother, the pumpkin coach, the beautiful gown—Maguire resists making a fairy tale out of what is really a story of economic distress and the threat of starvation.

Cat Who series by Lilian Jackson Braun. This series was started in 1966 - I discovered it back in 1987 when it was re-issued in paperback. I haven't read the series in several years so thought I would go back and listen to it on CD. It appears to be still going strong - makes you wonder if Braun actually writes this series anymore.

Cat Who Could Read Backwards
introduces Jim Qwilleran, a prizewinning reporter who's been on the skids but is now coming back with a job as feature writer (mostly on the art scene) for the Daily Fluxion. George Bonifield Mountclemens, the paper's credentialed art critic, writes almost invariably scathing, hurtful reviews of local shows; delivers his pieces by messenger; lives with his all-knowing cat Koko in a lushly furnished house in a moldering neighborhood, and has a raft of enemies all over town. He offers the newcomer a tiny apartment in his building at a nominal rent, and Qwilleran grabs it, surmising the deal will involve lots of cat-sitting.

Cat Who Ate Danish Modern
Qwill is given a new assignment from his editor is to produce a special Sunday supplement on interior decorating. For Qwilleran and his Siamese investigative cat, even interior decoration has its interesting side, murder for instance. Again Qwill is homeless but is able to sublet a wonderful modern apartment for free. He has all the luck. He finds Koko a female siamese named Yum Yum and develops a romantic interest but since Koko doesn't like her we know she won't last.

Cat Who Turned On and Off (1968)
Cat Who Saw Red (1986)
Cat Who Played Braums (1987)
Cat Who Played Post Office (1987)
Cat Who Knew Shakespeare (1988)
Cat Who Sniffed Glue (1988)
Cat Who Had 14 Tails [SS] (1988)
Cat Who Went Underground (1989)
Cat Who Talked to Ghosts (1990)
Cat Who Lived High (1990)
Cat Who Knew a Cardinal (1991)
Cat Who Moved a Mountain (1992)
Cat Who Wasn't There (1993)
Cat Who Went into the Closet (1994)
Cat Who Came to Breakfast (1994)
Cat Who Blew the Whistle (1995)
Cat Who Said Cheese (1996)
Cat Who Tailed a Thief (1998)
Cat Who Sang for the Birds (1998)
Cat Who Saw Stars (1999)
Cat Who Robbed a Bank (2000)
Cat Who Smelled a Rat (2001)
Cat Who Went Up the Creek (2002)
Short and Tall Tales (2002)
Cat Who Brought Down the House (2003)

Cat Who Talked Turkey
The shooting death of a well-dressed gentleman in the woods on Qwill's property is nearly neglected in the fuss and excitement engendered by the neighboring town of Brrr's bicentennial. On the trail of a story for the celebration, Qwill interviews Edythe Carroll, a wealthy widow who has retired to Ittibittiwassee Estates from the magnificent mansion she plans to leave to her granddaughter, Lish (short for Alicia). Little does Edythe know that Lish and her boyfriend, Lush, have already trashed the place. After dozing off in his gazebo after a busy day, Qwill is startled awake by strange noises, including some coming from Koko. Enter an entire family of wild turkeys. If this all sounds like a bit of a ramble, it's quite in keeping with the story, which wanders pleasantly around Moose County, surveying its eccentric citizens as they go about their idiosyncratic business. In spite of two murders and a pair of villains, the tale is as cozy as an hour spent cuddling your favorite cat.
Cat Who Went Bananas (2004)

Mystic River by Dennis Lehane. When Jimmy Marcus's daughter is found dead, his childhood friend Sean Devine is assigned the case. Sean's personal life begins to unravel as his investigation takes him back into a world of violence and pain he thought he'd left behind. His quest also leads him on a collision course with Marcus--a man with his own dark past--and David Boyle, a man who hides monstrous secrets beneath a bland facade. The first quarter of the book is a flashback to their friendship when they were 11 and how each one was affected by one particularly horrible incident. I listened to this on tape and while fascinating was very difficult to listen to.

Dortmunder series by Donald Westlake
1. Bank Shot ~ Introduces us to John Dortmunder, recently released from prision. He is immediately recruited by a buddy to come up with a plan to heist a large emerald belonging to a small African nation by another African nation. He comes up with the perfect plan but not the pefect people to do the job, so they end up having to steal it over and over again. I laughed a lot during this book and was cheering for the bad guys to win.

2. Hot Rock ~ features many of the same characters from Hot Rock with some new additions. It is even more wacky than the first as Dortmunder is talked into organizing a bank heist in which they drive off with the bank! The bank is in a mobile home in it's temporary facility while it's new building is being built. After much planning and organizing and of course several people to carry this off the bank is stolen but it doesn't go quite as planned.

3. Jimmy the Kid ~ After Kelp spoils Dortmunder's attempted robbery, Dortmunder takes a long time to get over being angry with Kelp about this incident. As a result, he's slow to take to Kelp's idea that the gang kidnap a child following the plot of a novel called Child Heist by Richard Stark. Eventually, Mae (Dortmunder's live-in girlfriend), Stan Murch (his favorite driver), Murch's Mom (the New York City cabbie) and Dortmunder agree. Mae and Murch's Mom go along more because they want to be sure that the child isn't harmed. The book alternates sections from Child Heist with what actually occurs. In the midst of this, Jimmy turns out to be a child genius who easily runs circles around the gang. The results are humorous and often unexpected.

4. Nobody's Perfect ~ As the book opens, Dortmunder is about to begin a defense against being caught red-handed with a stack of television sets he is stealing. As a twice-convicted felon, that's bad news. Suddenly, in walks one of the great criminal defense attorneys, J. Radcliffe Stonewiler, Esq., and in an hour-and-a-half Dortmunder is a free man. What's going on? That's what Dortmunder wonders, too, and he soon finds out that he has an obligation to fulfill to Arnold Chauncey, a society collector who likes to fill in the gaps in his income with payments from his insurance company for art that has "disappeared." Dortmunder's full realization that the bad luck that dogs him has more to do with him than with Andy Kelp is priceless. We are also introduced to a large and easily angered tough guy, Tiny Bulcher. The Continental Detective Agency also makes another appearance, having been reassigned after losing the bank in Bank Shot.

5. Why Me? ~ Having unsuspectingly lifted the hottest gem in town - the Byzantine Fire, John Dortmunder becomes the prey of the FBI, the New York City police, terrorist groups from three nations, and all of New York's petty and not-so-petty crooks. Dortmunder quickly gives up on the notion of trying to make any money from the gem. After all, every fence in New York is being watched and no one would buy it. He decides to give it back, but the police won't cooperate. They want his head on the wall. Now, how will Dortmunder get out of this one? That's the mystery of this story. This book will delight anyone who finds the "value-added" features of telephones (such as call waiting, call forwarding, caller ID, and answering machines) to be annoying. John Dortmunder does, too, especially after his friend, Andy Kelp, becomes addicted to all of these features.

6. Good Behavior ~ While escaping from a robbery attempt, Dortmunder falls through the roof of a convent. The cloistered nuns take this as a sign from heaven and tell Dortmunder (by writing notes) that they will not turn him in if he helps to return Sister Mary Grace to their convent. Sister Mary Grace is a young nun who is being kept in a tower apartment by her millionaire father, who is trying to deprogram her, but she is firm in her commitment to remain a nun. She is able to smuggle out the details of the high-rise's security system to Dortmunder, and the big escape begins.

7. Drowned Hopes
After a typically unrewarding night of attempted burglary, Dortmunder comes home to find ex-cellmate Tom Jimson ensconced in the living room. Jimson, given a 70th-birthday release from an overcrowded state prison, is as calmly venal and vicious as ever as he asks Dortmunder's help in reclaiming a $700,000 stash from an old robbery. The loot was buried in an upstate New York town that was subsequently flooded to become part of New York City's reservoir system. Jimson's plan to blow up the reservoir dam will doom nearby towns, so Dortmunder must concoct a more humane solution. Once again Westlake manages to bring in the current technology (book set in 1990) by introducing a computer nerd who lives in the reality of his computer games. But he is brought in as an expert to help them come up with possible plans. This is hilarious as we see one by one Dortmunder's plan fail. And then the irony of how it finally ends up. Great to see more about his girlfriend May and the other characters new and old.

8. Don't Ask
The caper features the femur of St. Ferghana, a 15th-century relic claimed by rival Eastern European governments in the newly created nations of Tsergovia and Votskojek. Whichever country is awarded ownership of the bone (by a dim archbishop) will gain the one available seat in the U.N. A Tsergovian cousin of Dortmunder's pal Tiny Butcher convinces the nefarious crew, including Stan Murch, Andy Kelp and others, to steal the bone from the Votskojek embassy, currently a boat berthed in the East River.

But nothing is as easy as it appears and Dortmunder's plan fails at the last minute. Now the bone is under Coast Guard custody on Governor's Island, half the gang is in the DEA's hands and Dortmunder's in a dungeon watched over by the Frankenstein-like Dr. Zorn. Dortmunder's escape and a few botched rectifying thefts occur before the lugubrious conman conceives an elaborately devious final job that involves impeccably timed crimes in New York City, in Vermont (at the ski chateau of an international hotelier with a $6 million art collection and an eye on the new Eastern European market) and at the Rivers of Blood Cathedral in Votskojek's capital. A twist or two later, the Tsergovians are accepted into the UN but are they even a real country or just appears to be so on paper?

Laugh out loud funny as always.

9. What's the Worst That Could Happen?
When billionaire hotshot Max Fairbanks, who has caught Dortmunder burgling his Long Island estate, tells the arresting police that the good-luck ring on Dortmunder's finger was stolen from him (when it was in fact a gift from Dortmunder's girlfriend, May), Max's fate, no matter how well protected he may be, is sealed.

Dortmunder makes repeated attempts to get his ring back, hitting on ingenious ways to get into the billionaire's lavish Times Square and Watergate apartments, making off each time with considerable more loot with each heist. But while Dortmunder is not unhappy with the loot he is really after only the ring. It's a pride thing.

When Fairbanks goes off to his huge casino/hotel/theme park in Las Vegas, in a deliberate attempt to entrap Dortmunder, does the dour vengeance-seeker shift into really high gear. Other friends from previous Dortmunder outings are collected into a formidable army, pitted against the best security Max's millions can buy, all leading to a showdown only Westlake could have conceived.

Fabulous! This is the most elaborate heist ever! Plus we get to see everyone travel, by bus, by air and by motor home! Kelp finds his own lady friend, Anne Marie, whom he picked up in New York while he was helping Dortmunder break into Fairbank's apartment. Anne Marie who was drowning her sorrows in the bar after her husband left her to go back to Kansas quickly jumps in to lend a hand. She has a knack for it too. Can't wait to read more of this fun, fun, fun series

10. Bad News
John Dortmunder and his gang of lowlifes from the back room of the O.J. Bar and Grill. In this, perhaps the best Dortmunder novel so far, Andy Kelp, Tiny Bulcher and the Murches (Stan and Mom) join Dortmunder in horning in on another crew's scam cheating two Native American tribes out of one-third of the take from a lucrative Indian casino in upstate New York. Fitzroy Guilderpost, mastermind of the con (and a memorable Westlake creation one hopes to see again), has enlisted Little Feather Redcorn, a Las Vegas card dealer and showgirl, to pose as the last living member of an extinct tribe with a claim to the casino. Unknown to the schemers, the casino managers have been cooking their books and will go to any length to avoid sharing the wealth. As the foes switch dead Indians from grave to grave, seeking to prove or deny Little Feather's tribal membership, Dortmunder plots an impossible and hilarious robbery using a blizzard as an accessory, and comes up with the usual mixed results.

Another hysterical edition of Dortmunder's adventures.

11. Thieves' Dozen

12. Road to Ruin
Dortmunder and his gang are approached by a friend of Kelp's - disgruntled former driver for Monroe Hall. He wants revenge on Hall and to hit him where it hurts. In order to do the heist of Hall's classic car collection they hire on as live-in staff on his secluded ranch as a way to get access to, and ultimately steal, his collection of antique cars.

Hall has recently been caught robbing his own company blind and is now in seclusion within his sprawling compound with his wife, security guards and various collections that include cuckoo clocks, chess sets, rare books and music boxes. In fact, the man collects just about everything. The only thing he seems unable to collect is servants who don't want anything to do with him - after all, he's a pariah.

Hall has ruined many people and some of those people want revenge. Mac, Buddy and Ace are some blue collar employees who were laid off when Hall's company went under; Mark and Os are investors who lost a lot of money when the stock collapsed. They team up with the intent of kidnapping Hall and forcing him to transfer money out of his "secret" off-shore accounts. But unlike Dortmunder and his crew, these folks are strictly amateurs.

Then things start to crumble, as they tend to do around Dortmunder. Not his fault, of course. Who could know that three other sets of people are also plotting revenge on this same crook? Or that these other bozos would kidnap the crook, thereby bringing the police onto the scene just at the wrong time? And who could have predicted that Dortmunder would be kidnapped right along with the boss?

Enjoyed this fun read but I think that there were too many voices as we hear Dortmunder, Hall, plus the bumbling amatures that wreck havoc on Dortmunder's carefully crafted plan. Still Westlake has a gift for the comedic relief and you are rooting for Dortmunder until the very end

13. Watch Your Back!

14. What's So Funny?

Monsieur Pamplemousse by Michale Bond who created Paddington Bear has written these delightful French mysteries. Monsieur Pamplemousse and his trusty bloodhound Pommes Frites are traveling through out France taking an extended vacation to stay at the famed La Langoustine. Pamplemousse is really undercover working for "Le Guide" France's premier guide to cuisine. But he quickly discovers that nothing is as it appears including himself when he tells one of the other people staying at the hotel who is an amputee that he has two artificial wooden legs. The word travels fast and before he knows it everyone wants to see him without his pants on. So much happens in this first novel of the series that I don't want to spoil it for anyone but it reads really fast.

I have read this series many times but enjoy reading it over and over again. It is so delightful and relaxing. The story takes place from both Pamplemosse and Pommes Frites. I wish it was still in print but at least more still keep coming. The only downside is the French isn't translated but I get the general jist of it.

Inn at Lake Devine by Elinor Lipman - It's the early 1960s and Natalie Marx is stunned when her mother inquires about vacation accommodations in Vermont and is refused because their family is Jewish. So begins Natalie's fixation with the Inn and the family who owns it. And when Natalie finagles an invitation to join a friend on vacation there, she sets herself upon a path that will inextricably link her adult life into this peculiar family and their once-restricted hotel.

I listened to this on tape and really enjoyed it. I always loved how people's lives cross and criss-cross over again through-out life.

Goodnight, Irene by Jan Burke introduces Irene Kelly, set in fictional Las Piernas, where Irene Kelly works and lives. The story starts with her discovering her good friend O'Connor has been murded by a bomb left at his own front door. And all because of an unsolved, three-decades-old murder the blustery, big-hearted newspaperman wouldn't let rest in peace. Once Irene Kelly gave up journalism for public relations. Now she decides to take over O'Connor's stories back at the newspaper that she left 3 years ago. But the search for O'Connor's killer may prove fatal for the intrepid reborn reporter. Because a savagely murdered "Jane Doe" corpse from thirty years ago is pointing the way into a lethal maze of blood and politics. And in the blink of any eye it could be "Goodnight, Irene"...forever.

A truely excellent series, I don't know why I waited so long to read it. Several more to read as well, hurray!

Sweet Dreams, Irene 2nd in the series - Jacob Henderson, the sixteen-year-old son of a candidate for District Attorney, comes to Irene seeking help. He claims his father's opponent plans to use an incriminating photograph to accuse Jacob of being a member of a Satanic cult. Whether or not the accusations are true, there are disturbing signs of cult activity in Las Piernas, most of which seem to have some connection to a local runway shelter. The stakes are raised on Halloween night, when the body of Althea Fremont, Frank's next-door neighbor and founder of the shelter, is discovered surrounded by ritual symbols—the same night one of the residents of the shelter goes missing. Irene is soon ensnared in a trap set by violent adversaries and will it be Sweet Dreams Irene?

Books by by Alexander McCall Smith

Professor Dr. von Igelfeld
Portuguese irregular verbs
Von Igelfeld is the world's leading scholar on Portuguese irregular verbs, having written a majestic, nearly 1,200-page book on the subject. As one review says, "There is nothing more to be said on this subject. Nothing." But in other matters, von Igelfeld is not nearly so skilled. Whether haplessly playing tennis against an equally dreadful opponent, or committing his friends to swordfighting duels without their knowledge, von Igelfeld is somewhat naive in the ways of the world. Yet that does not stop him from having a go at life, and the results are always humorous.

Utterly delightful!

Isabel Dalhousie Mysteries
Sunday philosophy club
Isabel is fond of problems, and sometimes she becomes interested in problems that are, quite frankly, none of her business. This may be the case when Isabel sees a young man plunge to his death from the upper circle of a concert hall in Edinburgh. Despite the advice of her housekeeper, Grace, who has been raised in the values of traditional Edinburgh, and her niece, Cat, who, if you ask Isabel, is dating the wrong man, Isabel is determined to find the truth—if indeed there is one—behind the man's death. The resulting moral labyrinth might have stymied even Kant. And then there is the unsatisfactory turn of events of events in Cat's love life that must be attended to.

This series is very different that his other series but equally enjoyable.

Precious Ramotswe Mysteries
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
Introduces new female detective named Precious Ramotswe of Gaborone, Botswana in Africa. She inherits money after her father died to start her own business. She is hired to track down a missing husband, uncover a con man, and follow a wayward daughter. But the case that tugs at her heart, and lands her in danger, is a missing eleven-year-old boy, who may have been snatched by witchdoctors. She and her little white van drive all over Africa helping people solve problems in their lives.

Tears of the giraffe
Precious Ramotswe tracks a wayward wife, uncovers an unscrupulous maid, and searches for an American man who disappeared into the plains many years ago. In the midst of resolving uncertainties, pondering her impending marriage to a good, kind man, Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni, and the promotion of her talented secretary (a graduate of the Botswana Secretarial College, with a mark of 97 per cent), she also finds her family suddenly and unexpectedly increased by two.

Morality for beautiful girls
Precious Ramotswe, founder and owner of the only detective agency for the concerns of both ladies and others, investigates the alleged poisoning of the brother of an important "Government Man," and the moral character of the four finalists of the Miss Beauty and Integrity Contest, the winner of which will almost certainly be a contestant for the title of Miss Botswana. Yet her business is having money problems, and when other difficulties arise at her fiance's Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors, she discovers the reliable Mr J.L.B. Matekoni is more complicated then he seems.

Kalahari typing school for men
Now that The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (the only detective agency for ladies and others in Botswana) is established, its founder, Precious Ramotswe, can look upon her life with pride: she's reached her late thirties ("the finest age to be"), has a house, two children, a good fiancé -- Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni -- and many satisfied customers. But life is never without its problems. It turns out that her adopted son is responsible for the dead hoopoe bird in the garden; her assistant, Mma Makutsi, wants a husband and needs help with her idea to open the Kalahari Typing School for Men; yet Mma Ramotswe's sexist rival has no trouble opening his Satisfaction Guaranteed Detective Agency across town. Will Precious Ramotswe's delightfully cunning and profoundly moral methods save the day?

Full Cupboard of Life
Worrying about her upcoming marriage to J. L. B. Matekoni, Precious Ramotswe is confronted by the challenges of running her No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, a terrifying request from the matron of the Orphan Farm, and a case involving an investigation into the would-be suitors of a wealthy woman to determine if any are fortune hunters. As usual all ends well but it does not feel like a clicque. I just love re-reading these books and enjoyed this as much as the first one.

This is a lovely series and I cannot wait until a new one in the series will come out. It is such a satisfying read, I think because it more about moral ethical issues that affect all us in life rather than just mysteries. We really see the characters develope.

In the Company of Cheerful Ladies
We see the return of newly married Precious Ramotswe, with husband Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, his apprentices, and assistant detective Grace Makutsi in tow. The group embarks on another set of clever and amusing Botswana adventures that kick off with an intruder in Mma Ramotswe's home and proceeds to a succession of other dilemmas: Mr. Matekoni's apprentice Charliekeeps company with a mysterious older woman and quits his position, Mma Ramotswe and her assistant encounters a good-hearted man with a dark past, and Mma Makutsi reluctantly begins dance lessons with a stuttering stranger.

Blue Shoes and Happiness
There is considerable excitement at The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. A cobra has been found in Precious Ramotswe's office. Then a nurse from a local clinic reveals that faulty blood-pressure readings are being recorded. And Botswana has a new advice columnist, Aunty Emang, whose advice is rather curt for Mma Ramotswe's taste. All this means a lot of work for our heroine and her assistant, Grace Makutsi. But there's trouble brewing in Mma Makutsi's own life. When Phuti Radiphuti misses their customary dinner date, she begins to wonder if he is having second thoughts about their engagement. And while Mma Makutsi may be able to buy that fashionably narrow (and uncomfortable) pair of blue shoes, it may not buy her the happiness that Mma Ramotswe promises her she'll find in the simpler things--in contentment with the world and enough tea to smooth over the occasional bumps in the road.

Good Husband of Zebra Drive
As with the previous novels there are several cases going on at one time. But now the cases are shared with others besides Makutsi. Dr. Cronje, who's half Xhosa and half Afrikaner, consults Smith's sleuth, the gentle and insightful Precious Ramotswe, because patients at his hospital who have occupied a particular bed have been dying mysteriously at the same time of day. Meanwhile, Mma Ramotswe's recently engaged assistant, Grace Makutsi, threatens to break their longstanding association. Mma Ramotswe must adjust their relationship in order to retain Mma Makutsi's services. J. L. B. Matekoni also tries his hand at the detective business, catering to a rude client who suspects her husband of infidelity. The case prompts Mr. Matekoni to wonder whether he's exciting enough for his cherished wife. Charlie, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni's older assistant branches out on his own when he buys a Mercedes from him with disastrous consequences.

Of course, no matter what dramas the day brings, Mma Ramotswe always has time to enjoy a cup of red bush tea and revel in the beauty of her native land.

Delightful as always and so nice to hear it read outloud as the reader is excellent. Plus now I have a better idea of how the names should be pronouced. One of my most favorite series

Holes by Louis Sachar Stanley Yelants IV is wrongly accused of a petty crime and sent to Camp Green Lake juvenial facility to work out his term. At this camp, that is neither green nor has a lake, he finds friendship, self-confidence, and dreams. A wonderful dreamlike quality as you feel like you are digging the holes with Stanley and the other kids. It is tied up very nice and neat but hey it's a children's book. Now I need to see the movie.

The Man Who Turned Into Himself by David Ambrose After losing his wife and son in an accident, Rick Hamilton finds himself inhabiting a parallel universe in which the tragedy has not happened. The trouble is that nobody believes his story when he tells them, not even his wife or his best friend, Harold. They want him to have treatment, to admit that he is mentally sick. Can Rick really trust them? What is really interesting is that the lines blur between whichever reality he thinks he lives in. At the end you wonder what is really real. A very thought provoking book.

Angels & Demons by Dan Brown Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a mysterious symbol -- seared into the chest of a murdered physicist -- he discovers evidence of the unimaginable: the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati. He along with the dead physicist's daughter Vittoria Vetra discover that the anti-mater that she created with her father has been stolen and placed somewhere in the Vatican. Meanwhile with the Pope's recent death the bishops have gone to the Vatican to vote on the new Pope, but the 4 favored Bishops have been kidnapped and their lives threatened while the clock is ticking. Will Robert find the anti-matter or will he be too late? A very exciting read, it only took me a few days most of which I finished half on the first day. Can't wait to read Da Vinci Code.

the curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon. 15 year old Christopher finds the body of his neighbor's dog, Wellingon, impaled on a pitchfork and is blamed for the killing. Christopher is a high-functioning autistic and relates better to animals than to people. He hates to be touched by any person and seems to not have an emotional connection to anyone including his family. He also doesn't trust strangers and hates people who lie as he feels that he always tells the truth.

He decides that he needs to find out who killed Wellington but ends up discovering a lot about himself and his parents. He has to decide if he can trust his parents after he discovers that his simple life is now very complicated. A very intense read as it is from his point of view which focuses on very minute details and mathematical equations. This is a British novel so some of the terminology is different. Highly recommended.

With a Vengeance by Eileen Dreyer features Maggie O'Brien -- A trauma nurse and paramedic who works one of the toughest EDs in the city. When people start dying who shouldn't be she starts to question the system. She quickly discovers that when she choices sides that she becomes an outsider and is on her own. When her own life becomes at risk who can she really trust. An interesting read, kind of dramatic but good. We mostly get things from her point of view but interspersed there are chapters of other's point of view that are anonymous which leads to the drama and suspence. I will probably read more by this author.

Chasing Shakespeare by Sarah Smith is a story about a self-professed "hick from Vermont," window installer/Shakespeare scholar Joe Roper who while cataloging an obscure collection discovers evidence that might refute the Bard's authorship of his hallowed canon. If Joe announces his find, it could make his career as a literary scholar-but it would also mean betraying his beloved mentor, Roland Goscimer, who's on the cusp of publishing part two of his long-awaited Shakespeare biography. Posy Gould, a flashy, aggressive Harvard student, who believes the Earl of Oxford is the author of the canon, jets with Joe to England to resolve the matter by sleuthing through libraries, graveyards, castles and stately homes-and, vicariously, through the glitter and duplicity of the Elizabethan stage and court. Smith, a Harvard Ph.D., knows academia can be as hazardous as cocktails with the Borgias and renders that world well, while making the Shakespeare authorship controversy as riveting as any film noir plot bursting with bodies.

Out of Sight by T.J. MacGregor deals with many moral issues. Human experimention is the major one and do we have the right to play god. Dr. George Nash has discovered how to make things and people invisible with the help of an indian named Luis. He manages to make a couple invisible but one (Logan) escapes while her husband Tyler is imprisoned. 3 years later Logan comes back to break Tyler out and destroy the project. A family camping accidently gets made invisitble as well and all hell breaks loose. A very fast moving and thought provoking book.

Slow River by Nicola Griffith Lore awoke in a dark alley, damaged and afraid. Who could she trust, not her family that wouldn't pay her ransome, until a stranger, Spanner takes her in and she starts living in the hidden dark side of society. Credible internet charity scams, kidnapping, fashionable designer drugs, sex, sadism, advanced digital porn, sabotage, information and identity theft are all a part of society and gives us a glimpse of what the future may hold. She discovers herself in both worlds and must decide where she will live. A very interesting read.