Marvel Age Mary Jane Volume 1: Circle of Friends
MJ's story is about being a high school teen, sorting out who she wants to be and, equally important, who she wants to be with. MJ's best friend, Liz, has her sights set on becoming Homecoming queen. Her boyfriend, Flash, the star quarterback, has been dragging his feet on getting his application for king handed in. MJ doesn't have a date for the dance, but Liz has that sewn up: the perfect guy, Harry Osborn, is up for grabs, and has his eye on our Mary Jane. She likes him, but does she really "like" him? He's no Spidey, but he sure is nice, and he pays for everything. MJ's efforts to raise money for a new dress and the identity of Flash's secret crush add even more complications.
Interesting to see life from MJ's point of view. We see Peter very occassionally but more often as Spiderman. More interesting things to come.
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Stuck With You (Time of Your Life) by Trish JensenAs lawyers on opposing sides of a messy divorce case, Paige Hart and Ross Bennett ought to have kept matters purely professional, yet Paige and Ross came to loathe each other with an intensity that was strictly personal. The bad blood between them takes on an unexpected new dimension when the infuriated pair is forced to share a hospital room, when they're quarantined after being exposed to the rare and highly contagious Tibetan Concupiscence Virus that's reputed to shift sensual desire into high gear. When symptoms (which a nonmedical person might mistake for pure and simple lust) start showing up way ahead of schedule, the lawyers' objections to each other are overruled -- and they enjoy every minute of it. But, after the doctors declare that the disease has run its course, Paige and Ross are still feverish with a longing for one another that they hope will never be cured. When the verdict comes in, will they be sentenced to life -- in love?
Fun read and an interesting story.
Fun read and an interesting story.
Monday, February 21, 2005
Kinsey Millhone Mysteries by Sue Grafton
I have read this series several times over since I first started reading it in the late 1980's. But it's like visiting old friends so every few years I start back at letter A and work my way to more recent book.
S is for Silence
Kinsey takes on a cold case--the question of what happened to a shady lady who disappeared 30 years earlier. From the days surrounding the Fourth of July, 34 years earlier, when a hot-blooded young woman named Violet Sullivan disappeared. Violet's daughter, Daisy, who was seven at the time, hires Millhone to discover her mother's true fate. Violet had toyed with every man in town at one time or another, so there's no shortage of scandalous secrets and possible suspects. Grafton alternates between Millhone's first-person point of view and third-person flashbacks that depict the life of the missing woman in 1953.
It did abruptly end with an ok solution. I think the books are becoming more about Kinsey allowing herself to develop relationships with other women.
R is for Ricochet
Kinsey is hired to "babysit" Reba who is getting out of prison after serving almost 2 years for embezzlement- simple, huh? Luckily for Kinsey, Reba, her new best friend also has great taste in clothing and manages to do some fashion re-education for Kinsey. More surprisingly, Kinsey gets a great new haircut- imagine how stylish she's looking! All this happens before the danger picks up and Kinsey is in the middle of breaking and entry and even scarier elements around the edges of crime. No great surprise, these lead to actual danger for Kinsey and fears for Reba's life.
A sub-plot with Henry trying to find love was a welcome side note for a much loved character. Though it was strange to read Reba as a force so strong she bends our tough Kinsey, it was still refreshing to see Kinsey have a female friend with some spunk. Also, I like Cheney he's tough enough, seems to give her enough space and there is a good chemistry between them. Hope they stick it out.
Q is for Quarry ~ It was eighteen years ago that officers Stacey Oliphant and Con Dolan, out on a morning hunting trip, found the decomposing body near the quarry. She was young, white, bound, and stabbed multiple times, and then her throat was slashed. She'd never been identified, her murderer never brought to justice, and the unsolved case has haunted Oliphant and Dolan all these many years. Now, old and sick, and at the end of their respective careers, they want one more shot at solving this Jane Doe homicide, and decide to enlist the help of Santa Teresa private detective, Kinsey Millhone. After hearing the whole story, and reading over the old murder book, Kinsey has to admit she's hooked, packs her duffle, and joins this "odd couple" on what turns out to be quite an intriguing and ultimately dangerous adventure in search of the truth.
Inspired by a still unsolved murder in Santa Barbara County over thirty years ago this rings as a true unsolved mystery. At the end there is a plastic composte of what the girl probably looked like.
P is for Peril ~ Kinsey looks into the disappearance of Dr. Dowan Purcell, who's been missing for nine weeks. Dr. Purcell is an elderly physician who runs a nursing home that's being investigated for Medicare fraud. His ex-wife, Fiona, hires Kinsey when it seems as though the police have given up on the search. Fiona thinks that he could be simply hiding out somewhere, especially since he's pulled a disappearance stunt twice before. However, Purcell's current wife, Crystal, believes that he may be dead. Kinsey is dubious about finding any new leads after so much time has elapsed. She's also worried about having to move out of the office space she now occupies in the suite owned by her lawyer, and between her interviews with suspects she tries to rent a new office from a pair of brothers whose mysterious background begins to make her suspicious.
With typical flair Kinsey is able to unravel all the loose ends.
O is for Outlaw ~ What begins as a random phone call from a "storage space scavenger" (someone who buys the contents of defaulted storage units) leads Kinsey to a box of old papers and personal effects that her ex-husband, former cop Michael "Mickey" Magruder, left behind. The story zigzags between past and present, as Kinsey gets involved again with her first ex-husband. The mementos include an undelivered letter addressed to Kinsey, providing Mickey with an alibi for the beating death of Vietnam vet Benny Quintero, the unproven charge against Mickey that prompted Kinsey to leave him. Although never convicted, Mickey was ruined--losing his job, wife, and friends. Conscience-stricken, Kinsey looks up acquaintances from her early marriage, questioning her judgment and values at the time. Then two Los Angeles police detectives inform her that Mickey has been shot and is in a coma, and Kinsey decides to investigate. But 15 years later, Kinsey realizes that foul play may have been involved in the murder, a deadly temptation for her.
N is for Noose ~ If Kinsey had had just a smidgen of foresight, she would never have taken her current case, handed down to her from her on-again, off-again flame and comrade in arms, Robert Dietz. We encounter the two this time out after Deitz's knee surgery, as Kinsey drives his "snazzy little red Porsche" back to Carson City, where she checks out his digs for the first time. To her surprise, he lives in a palatial penthouse, which--under the unspoken bylaws of investigative etiquette--she qualmlessly snoops through. They sit around for a fortnight playing gin rummy and eating peanut butter and pickle sandwiches together, but perennially single Kinsey grows wary: "It was time to hit the road before our togetherness began to chafe."
She heads off to meet Dietz's former client, Mrs. Selma Newquist, a devastated widow whose husband, Tom Newquist, a detective himself, had been working on a mysterious case when he abruptly died of a heart attack. Selma suspects foul play but can't figure out what Tom was working on even though he's left behind enough paper to fill a recycling truck. Kinsey digs right in and roams the sleepy, one-horse town of Nota Lake for clues, interviewing a colorful cast of in-laws and locals. Beneath the quaint, quiet, country veneer, she unearths a bubbling hotbed of internal strife and familial double-dealing. Was Tom covering up for his partner? Is Selma protecting someone?
M is for Malice ~ Bader Malek, a local industrial tycoon, has died, and his four sons now stand to inherit a substantial fortune. But one of them, Guy, has been missing since 1968. A drug addict, ne'er-do-well and all-around miscreant, Guy had been disinherited by his exasperated father shortly before he vanished. But that particular will has disappeared, and Kinsey has been hired by the family to find out if Guy is still alive and thus in line to collect his original portion of the estate. She quickly succeeds in locating him and brings back a sweet, guileless and totally reformed man. But is he? The three other brothers?a truly devious, arrogant and greedy lot?are deeply ambivalent about Guy's return. A murder in the family leaves the surviving Malek kin as prime suspects.
L is for Lawless ~ Kinsey agrees to help the family of recently deceased neighborhood WWII vet, Johnnie Lee, find out why the military has no record of his service. Soon after Kinsey has finished looking through his papers, Lee's rooms are burgled, and Ray Rawson, who claims he is an old friend recently arrived in Santa Teresa unaware of Lee's death, is beaten up. Kinsey soon finds herself on a plane bound for Florida, in possession of only the clothes she's wearing and her purse( with an extra toothbrush), trailing a young pregnant woman in possession of a duffel bag spirited from Lee's home. On a stopover in Dallas/Fort Worth, Kinsey sleuths disguised as a hotel maid dusting baseboards, meets the increasingly unreliable Rawson again and encounters yet another figure from Lee's past, a violent, vengeful psychopath. While gradually sorting out the connections among this cast, Kinsey travels to Louisville, where Rawson's 80-something mother proves her mettle and Kinsey, determining that lawless, in this case, is neither adjective nor collective noun, unravels a decades-old mystery. But will she make it home in time for William and Rosie's wedding?
K is for Killer ~ Kinsey agrees to look into the 10-month-old death of Lorna Kepler, a young woman whose decomposed body was discovered in her cabin so long after death that it was impossible to determine the cause. Kinsey's client, Lorna's mother, who works the night shift in a 24-hour diner, suspects murder. So does Kinsey, especially after investigating Lorna's effects and her considerable assets, some unaccounted-for. An anonymously delivered pornographic tape adds to the emerging portrait of the dead woman as an intriguingly self-sufficient, ambitious woman of the evening. In nighttime forays, Kinsey talks to an all-night deejay whom Lorna often visited at his studio; she meets--and befriends--a prostitute who occasionally teamed up with Lorna to party with clients. She also investigates the victim's day job as a part-time receptionist for the water district, where a high-stakes development project is currently raising tempers. A host of suspects includes a porn filmmaker in San Francisco, members of Lorna's family, her landlord, the water district employees and even a smooth-dressing cop, whom Kinsey talks to at night. But lack of sleep dulls Kinsey's perceptions, will she be able to figure it all out?
J is for Judgement ~ Kinsey is working again (or at least consulting) for California Fidelity. Shady financier Wendell Jaffe has recently been decreed dead, five years after his real estate empire collapsed and he disappeared from his beloved 35-foot ketch off the coast, an apparent suicide. California Fidelity has just paid his widow $500,000. But then Jaffe is spotted in Mexico with another woman. Kinsey's investigation lands her in some tough spots--such as a drunken stranger's hotel room where she pretends to be a hooker--gets her shot at and leads to a dramatic resolution at sea. Things get more complicated when Jaffe's 18 year old son escapes from prison and 3 people are left dead. He is caught and then suddenly released. Kinsey has to discover who is involved and who is just an innocent bystander.
While interviewing various people who were scammed by Jaffe she is introduced to a family she didn't know she had. As they try to bring her into their world she resists and pushes herself out. Kinsey has to revise her notion of herself as an orphan alone in the world. Thanksfully we see more of Kinsey's octogenarian landlord Henry, his older brother William, and Rose, the neighborhood bar owner. William and Rose are now engaged and living together. Many loose ends are left hanging in Kinsey's life though she's able to solve the mystery. Hopefully these will be answered in the next book.
I is for Innocent ~ When fellow PI Morley Shine dies of a heart attack, Kinsey takes over the task of gathering evidence for a local lawyer who is prosecuting architect David Barney. Six years earlier, Barney was acquitted of murder charges in the still-unsolved death of his wealthy estranged wife Isabel, killed by a bullet fired through the peephole of her front door. Now Isabel's first husband, Ken Voigt, hoping to strip the architect of the fortune he inherited, is charging Barney with Isabel's wrongful death in a civil court, where less stringent evidence is required for conviction. Quickly finding holes in Shine's investigation, Kinsey uncovers a slew of suspects in Isabel's murder, including Voigt's second wife, Barney's first wife, Isabel's less attractive twin sister and even her best friend. Kinsey determines that Shine's death was not straightforward, solves the mystery of another years-old death and comes under direct fire herself before she finally, nearly too late, figures out who is the threat. Kinsey is getting back to her old self as she has to sort out a mess left by another PI who dies suddenly. It's great seeing her find her groove and her way to the answers.
H is for Homicide ~ As the murder of an insurance claims adjuster sends PI Kinsey Milhone undercover in a Los Angeles barrio. Following up a suspicious claim in the murder victim's files, Kinsey trails beautiful young Bibianna Diaz, recently moved up the coast to Santa Teresa from L.A. Under the alias Hannah Moore, Kinsey befriends the young woman and learns she is attempting the same scam pursued by Raymond Maldonado, her ex-boyfriend in L.A. When Raymond's brother, sent to bring Bibianna back, is shot by the young woman's new lover, an old friend of Kinsey's, both Bibianna and Hannah/Kinsey are taken to jail, where Kinsey secretly agrees to join a statewide fraud investigation. Raymond's henchmen grab Bibianna, and take Kinsey too. Now Kinsey is undercover and up to her eyeballs in lies. Will she make it out alive to make sure the bad guys get theres? You can't help but cheer for Kinsey even when she isn't doing too well. This book shows her her not at her best and kind of a depressed side. But we'll stick it out anyway.
G is for gumshoe
A rich, complex, and gripping tale in which Kinsey's grit is tested to its utmost as she unearths the gruesome truth about a long-buried betrayal and, in the process, comes face-to-face with the grisly fact of her own mortality. "G" is for guilt and guile, for greed and grief and the Grim Reaper. California PI Kinsey Millhone, hired to investigate the disappearance of a client's eccentric, elderly mother, but the lady mysteriously disappears within hours of her arrival. Meanwhile she must evade a vengeful criminal whom she helped put away four years earlier. Trying to outwit the hit man on her tail. To this end, she teams up with another P.I. to act as her bodyguard. Right from the beginning sparks fly between these two, hence the romantic aspect of the book.
F is for fugitive ~ Kinsey work takes her to the small California town of Floral Beach, where she's been hired to investigate a 17-year-old murder. Though innocent of the crime, Bailey Fowler was coerced to confess to it; he escaped from prison soon after his sentencing and lived a quiet life under an alias until the cops picked him up on a fluke and discovered his convict status. Bailey's father Royce, now dying of cancer, hopes Kinsey will find the real murderer and save his son from returning to jail.
During her investigation, Kinsey lives at the Fowlers' beach motel with Royce, his demanding, hypochondriacal wife and their resentful, middle-aged daughter. The experience puts Kinsey in a dark mood, reminding her of her own short-lived family (she was orphaned at age five). Nor does the case itself bring joy, as she unearths the ugly secrets of many of Floral Beach's respected citizens--the hypocrisy of the unctuous minister; the philandery of the local doctor and the violence-prone schizophrenia of his wife; the sad secret of the high-school principal; and, of course, the intentions of the murderer, who kills again as Kinsey draws near. As usual never the person you expect and it leaves you guessing until the very end.
E is for Evidence ~ When someone mysteriously deposits $5,000 in Kinsey's bank account and changes the records on one of her cases, private eye Kinsey Millhone takes herself on as a client and finds out that "E" stands for evidence planted and evidence lost . . . and sometimes "E" stands for eternal. Her past has caught up with her as we meet childhood friends and her 2nd ex-husband. But it is not like old home week as murder becomes the key to the past. E is for excellent as always to me.
D is for Deadbeat ~ Kinsey Millhone meets a drunkard named Daggett using another name. He claims that he wants to give $25,000 to a friend who helped him out in the past. After his retainer check bounces Kinsey discovers his real name and that the money has been stolen from a drug sale. As she tries to track Daggett down he is discovered drowned. When she decides to deliver the money to Daggett's designee, a young man who was the sole survivor of an auto accident perpetrated by Daggett, Kinsey finds herself in a dilemma: too many ``D's'' are after the loot. There are two Mrs. Daggetts, a daughter, the drug dealers and a determined killer who soon claims a second life.
C is for Corpse ~ Bobby Callahan, a scared and ruined young man came to find something from his missing memory. His story was hard to credit: a murderous assault by a tailgating car on a lonely rural road, a roadside smash into a canyon 400 feet below, his Porsche a bare ruin, his best friend dead. The doctors had managed to put his body back together again -- sort of. His mother's money had seen to that. What they couldn't fix was his mind, couldn't restore the huge chunks of memory wiped out by the crash. Bobby knew someone had tried to kill him, but he didn't know why. He knew he had the key to something that made him dangerous to the killer, but he didn't know what it was. And he sensed that someone was still out there, ready to pounce at the first sign his memory was coming back. He'd been to the cops, but they 'd shrugged off his story. His family thought he had a screw loose. But he was scared -- scared to death. He wanted to hire Kinsey. His case didn't have a whole lot going for it, but he was hard to resist: young, brave, hurt. She took him on. And three days later, Bobby Callahan was dead.
B is for Burglar ~ Beverly Danziger looked like an expensive, carefully wrapped package from a good but conservative shop. Only her compulsive chatter hinted at the nervousness beneath her cool surface. She's looking for her absent sister, Elaine Boldt . A will to be settled -- a matter of only a few thousand dollars. Elaine Boldt's wrappings were a good deal flashier than her sisters, but they signaled the same thing: The lady had money. A rich widow in her early forties, she owned a condo in Boca Raton and another in Santa Teresa. According to the manager of the California building, she was last seen draped in her $12,000 lynx coat heading for Boca Raton. According to the manager of the Florida building, she never got there. But is Elaine dead or alive.
A if for Alibi ~ introduces California private investigator Kinsey Millhone--a twice-divorced, childless 32-year old woman who lives in a one-room "bachelorette" apartment. Kinsey is hired by Nikki Fife, a woman who had been sent to prison after being convicted of murdering her husband. Nikki maintains her innocence and wants Kinsey to find the real killer--eight years after the murder. While this is not my favorite book, you have to read it to get a feel for how Kinsey is. Plus it is important to see her relationships with her maiden Aunt Gin, her landlord, Henry, and Rosie the tavern owner which is nearby.
Kinsey is tough but it is her vulnerability that get you as she discovers that it is easier said than done to keep your distance. Her interaction with the other characters allowed us to understand her personality more as well. Also, I liked the style in which Grafton portrayed Kinsey through 1st person perspective. You "got into the shoes" of Kinsey Millhone and followed her through the mystery.
I have read this series several times over since I first started reading it in the late 1980's. But it's like visiting old friends so every few years I start back at letter A and work my way to more recent book.
S is for Silence
Kinsey takes on a cold case--the question of what happened to a shady lady who disappeared 30 years earlier. From the days surrounding the Fourth of July, 34 years earlier, when a hot-blooded young woman named Violet Sullivan disappeared. Violet's daughter, Daisy, who was seven at the time, hires Millhone to discover her mother's true fate. Violet had toyed with every man in town at one time or another, so there's no shortage of scandalous secrets and possible suspects. Grafton alternates between Millhone's first-person point of view and third-person flashbacks that depict the life of the missing woman in 1953.
It did abruptly end with an ok solution. I think the books are becoming more about Kinsey allowing herself to develop relationships with other women.
R is for Ricochet
Kinsey is hired to "babysit" Reba who is getting out of prison after serving almost 2 years for embezzlement- simple, huh? Luckily for Kinsey, Reba, her new best friend also has great taste in clothing and manages to do some fashion re-education for Kinsey. More surprisingly, Kinsey gets a great new haircut- imagine how stylish she's looking! All this happens before the danger picks up and Kinsey is in the middle of breaking and entry and even scarier elements around the edges of crime. No great surprise, these lead to actual danger for Kinsey and fears for Reba's life.
A sub-plot with Henry trying to find love was a welcome side note for a much loved character. Though it was strange to read Reba as a force so strong she bends our tough Kinsey, it was still refreshing to see Kinsey have a female friend with some spunk. Also, I like Cheney he's tough enough, seems to give her enough space and there is a good chemistry between them. Hope they stick it out.
Q is for Quarry ~ It was eighteen years ago that officers Stacey Oliphant and Con Dolan, out on a morning hunting trip, found the decomposing body near the quarry. She was young, white, bound, and stabbed multiple times, and then her throat was slashed. She'd never been identified, her murderer never brought to justice, and the unsolved case has haunted Oliphant and Dolan all these many years. Now, old and sick, and at the end of their respective careers, they want one more shot at solving this Jane Doe homicide, and decide to enlist the help of Santa Teresa private detective, Kinsey Millhone. After hearing the whole story, and reading over the old murder book, Kinsey has to admit she's hooked, packs her duffle, and joins this "odd couple" on what turns out to be quite an intriguing and ultimately dangerous adventure in search of the truth.
Inspired by a still unsolved murder in Santa Barbara County over thirty years ago this rings as a true unsolved mystery. At the end there is a plastic composte of what the girl probably looked like.
P is for Peril ~ Kinsey looks into the disappearance of Dr. Dowan Purcell, who's been missing for nine weeks. Dr. Purcell is an elderly physician who runs a nursing home that's being investigated for Medicare fraud. His ex-wife, Fiona, hires Kinsey when it seems as though the police have given up on the search. Fiona thinks that he could be simply hiding out somewhere, especially since he's pulled a disappearance stunt twice before. However, Purcell's current wife, Crystal, believes that he may be dead. Kinsey is dubious about finding any new leads after so much time has elapsed. She's also worried about having to move out of the office space she now occupies in the suite owned by her lawyer, and between her interviews with suspects she tries to rent a new office from a pair of brothers whose mysterious background begins to make her suspicious.
With typical flair Kinsey is able to unravel all the loose ends.
O is for Outlaw ~ What begins as a random phone call from a "storage space scavenger" (someone who buys the contents of defaulted storage units) leads Kinsey to a box of old papers and personal effects that her ex-husband, former cop Michael "Mickey" Magruder, left behind. The story zigzags between past and present, as Kinsey gets involved again with her first ex-husband. The mementos include an undelivered letter addressed to Kinsey, providing Mickey with an alibi for the beating death of Vietnam vet Benny Quintero, the unproven charge against Mickey that prompted Kinsey to leave him. Although never convicted, Mickey was ruined--losing his job, wife, and friends. Conscience-stricken, Kinsey looks up acquaintances from her early marriage, questioning her judgment and values at the time. Then two Los Angeles police detectives inform her that Mickey has been shot and is in a coma, and Kinsey decides to investigate. But 15 years later, Kinsey realizes that foul play may have been involved in the murder, a deadly temptation for her.
N is for Noose ~ If Kinsey had had just a smidgen of foresight, she would never have taken her current case, handed down to her from her on-again, off-again flame and comrade in arms, Robert Dietz. We encounter the two this time out after Deitz's knee surgery, as Kinsey drives his "snazzy little red Porsche" back to Carson City, where she checks out his digs for the first time. To her surprise, he lives in a palatial penthouse, which--under the unspoken bylaws of investigative etiquette--she qualmlessly snoops through. They sit around for a fortnight playing gin rummy and eating peanut butter and pickle sandwiches together, but perennially single Kinsey grows wary: "It was time to hit the road before our togetherness began to chafe."
She heads off to meet Dietz's former client, Mrs. Selma Newquist, a devastated widow whose husband, Tom Newquist, a detective himself, had been working on a mysterious case when he abruptly died of a heart attack. Selma suspects foul play but can't figure out what Tom was working on even though he's left behind enough paper to fill a recycling truck. Kinsey digs right in and roams the sleepy, one-horse town of Nota Lake for clues, interviewing a colorful cast of in-laws and locals. Beneath the quaint, quiet, country veneer, she unearths a bubbling hotbed of internal strife and familial double-dealing. Was Tom covering up for his partner? Is Selma protecting someone?
M is for Malice ~ Bader Malek, a local industrial tycoon, has died, and his four sons now stand to inherit a substantial fortune. But one of them, Guy, has been missing since 1968. A drug addict, ne'er-do-well and all-around miscreant, Guy had been disinherited by his exasperated father shortly before he vanished. But that particular will has disappeared, and Kinsey has been hired by the family to find out if Guy is still alive and thus in line to collect his original portion of the estate. She quickly succeeds in locating him and brings back a sweet, guileless and totally reformed man. But is he? The three other brothers?a truly devious, arrogant and greedy lot?are deeply ambivalent about Guy's return. A murder in the family leaves the surviving Malek kin as prime suspects.
L is for Lawless ~ Kinsey agrees to help the family of recently deceased neighborhood WWII vet, Johnnie Lee, find out why the military has no record of his service. Soon after Kinsey has finished looking through his papers, Lee's rooms are burgled, and Ray Rawson, who claims he is an old friend recently arrived in Santa Teresa unaware of Lee's death, is beaten up. Kinsey soon finds herself on a plane bound for Florida, in possession of only the clothes she's wearing and her purse( with an extra toothbrush), trailing a young pregnant woman in possession of a duffel bag spirited from Lee's home. On a stopover in Dallas/Fort Worth, Kinsey sleuths disguised as a hotel maid dusting baseboards, meets the increasingly unreliable Rawson again and encounters yet another figure from Lee's past, a violent, vengeful psychopath. While gradually sorting out the connections among this cast, Kinsey travels to Louisville, where Rawson's 80-something mother proves her mettle and Kinsey, determining that lawless, in this case, is neither adjective nor collective noun, unravels a decades-old mystery. But will she make it home in time for William and Rosie's wedding?
K is for Killer ~ Kinsey agrees to look into the 10-month-old death of Lorna Kepler, a young woman whose decomposed body was discovered in her cabin so long after death that it was impossible to determine the cause. Kinsey's client, Lorna's mother, who works the night shift in a 24-hour diner, suspects murder. So does Kinsey, especially after investigating Lorna's effects and her considerable assets, some unaccounted-for. An anonymously delivered pornographic tape adds to the emerging portrait of the dead woman as an intriguingly self-sufficient, ambitious woman of the evening. In nighttime forays, Kinsey talks to an all-night deejay whom Lorna often visited at his studio; she meets--and befriends--a prostitute who occasionally teamed up with Lorna to party with clients. She also investigates the victim's day job as a part-time receptionist for the water district, where a high-stakes development project is currently raising tempers. A host of suspects includes a porn filmmaker in San Francisco, members of Lorna's family, her landlord, the water district employees and even a smooth-dressing cop, whom Kinsey talks to at night. But lack of sleep dulls Kinsey's perceptions, will she be able to figure it all out?
J is for Judgement ~ Kinsey is working again (or at least consulting) for California Fidelity. Shady financier Wendell Jaffe has recently been decreed dead, five years after his real estate empire collapsed and he disappeared from his beloved 35-foot ketch off the coast, an apparent suicide. California Fidelity has just paid his widow $500,000. But then Jaffe is spotted in Mexico with another woman. Kinsey's investigation lands her in some tough spots--such as a drunken stranger's hotel room where she pretends to be a hooker--gets her shot at and leads to a dramatic resolution at sea. Things get more complicated when Jaffe's 18 year old son escapes from prison and 3 people are left dead. He is caught and then suddenly released. Kinsey has to discover who is involved and who is just an innocent bystander.
While interviewing various people who were scammed by Jaffe she is introduced to a family she didn't know she had. As they try to bring her into their world she resists and pushes herself out. Kinsey has to revise her notion of herself as an orphan alone in the world. Thanksfully we see more of Kinsey's octogenarian landlord Henry, his older brother William, and Rose, the neighborhood bar owner. William and Rose are now engaged and living together. Many loose ends are left hanging in Kinsey's life though she's able to solve the mystery. Hopefully these will be answered in the next book.
I is for Innocent ~ When fellow PI Morley Shine dies of a heart attack, Kinsey takes over the task of gathering evidence for a local lawyer who is prosecuting architect David Barney. Six years earlier, Barney was acquitted of murder charges in the still-unsolved death of his wealthy estranged wife Isabel, killed by a bullet fired through the peephole of her front door. Now Isabel's first husband, Ken Voigt, hoping to strip the architect of the fortune he inherited, is charging Barney with Isabel's wrongful death in a civil court, where less stringent evidence is required for conviction. Quickly finding holes in Shine's investigation, Kinsey uncovers a slew of suspects in Isabel's murder, including Voigt's second wife, Barney's first wife, Isabel's less attractive twin sister and even her best friend. Kinsey determines that Shine's death was not straightforward, solves the mystery of another years-old death and comes under direct fire herself before she finally, nearly too late, figures out who is the threat. Kinsey is getting back to her old self as she has to sort out a mess left by another PI who dies suddenly. It's great seeing her find her groove and her way to the answers.
H is for Homicide ~ As the murder of an insurance claims adjuster sends PI Kinsey Milhone undercover in a Los Angeles barrio. Following up a suspicious claim in the murder victim's files, Kinsey trails beautiful young Bibianna Diaz, recently moved up the coast to Santa Teresa from L.A. Under the alias Hannah Moore, Kinsey befriends the young woman and learns she is attempting the same scam pursued by Raymond Maldonado, her ex-boyfriend in L.A. When Raymond's brother, sent to bring Bibianna back, is shot by the young woman's new lover, an old friend of Kinsey's, both Bibianna and Hannah/Kinsey are taken to jail, where Kinsey secretly agrees to join a statewide fraud investigation. Raymond's henchmen grab Bibianna, and take Kinsey too. Now Kinsey is undercover and up to her eyeballs in lies. Will she make it out alive to make sure the bad guys get theres? You can't help but cheer for Kinsey even when she isn't doing too well. This book shows her her not at her best and kind of a depressed side. But we'll stick it out anyway.
G is for gumshoe
A rich, complex, and gripping tale in which Kinsey's grit is tested to its utmost as she unearths the gruesome truth about a long-buried betrayal and, in the process, comes face-to-face with the grisly fact of her own mortality. "G" is for guilt and guile, for greed and grief and the Grim Reaper. California PI Kinsey Millhone, hired to investigate the disappearance of a client's eccentric, elderly mother, but the lady mysteriously disappears within hours of her arrival. Meanwhile she must evade a vengeful criminal whom she helped put away four years earlier. Trying to outwit the hit man on her tail. To this end, she teams up with another P.I. to act as her bodyguard. Right from the beginning sparks fly between these two, hence the romantic aspect of the book.
F is for fugitive ~ Kinsey work takes her to the small California town of Floral Beach, where she's been hired to investigate a 17-year-old murder. Though innocent of the crime, Bailey Fowler was coerced to confess to it; he escaped from prison soon after his sentencing and lived a quiet life under an alias until the cops picked him up on a fluke and discovered his convict status. Bailey's father Royce, now dying of cancer, hopes Kinsey will find the real murderer and save his son from returning to jail.
During her investigation, Kinsey lives at the Fowlers' beach motel with Royce, his demanding, hypochondriacal wife and their resentful, middle-aged daughter. The experience puts Kinsey in a dark mood, reminding her of her own short-lived family (she was orphaned at age five). Nor does the case itself bring joy, as she unearths the ugly secrets of many of Floral Beach's respected citizens--the hypocrisy of the unctuous minister; the philandery of the local doctor and the violence-prone schizophrenia of his wife; the sad secret of the high-school principal; and, of course, the intentions of the murderer, who kills again as Kinsey draws near. As usual never the person you expect and it leaves you guessing until the very end.
E is for Evidence ~ When someone mysteriously deposits $5,000 in Kinsey's bank account and changes the records on one of her cases, private eye Kinsey Millhone takes herself on as a client and finds out that "E" stands for evidence planted and evidence lost . . . and sometimes "E" stands for eternal. Her past has caught up with her as we meet childhood friends and her 2nd ex-husband. But it is not like old home week as murder becomes the key to the past. E is for excellent as always to me.
D is for Deadbeat ~ Kinsey Millhone meets a drunkard named Daggett using another name. He claims that he wants to give $25,000 to a friend who helped him out in the past. After his retainer check bounces Kinsey discovers his real name and that the money has been stolen from a drug sale. As she tries to track Daggett down he is discovered drowned. When she decides to deliver the money to Daggett's designee, a young man who was the sole survivor of an auto accident perpetrated by Daggett, Kinsey finds herself in a dilemma: too many ``D's'' are after the loot. There are two Mrs. Daggetts, a daughter, the drug dealers and a determined killer who soon claims a second life.
C is for Corpse ~ Bobby Callahan, a scared and ruined young man came to find something from his missing memory. His story was hard to credit: a murderous assault by a tailgating car on a lonely rural road, a roadside smash into a canyon 400 feet below, his Porsche a bare ruin, his best friend dead. The doctors had managed to put his body back together again -- sort of. His mother's money had seen to that. What they couldn't fix was his mind, couldn't restore the huge chunks of memory wiped out by the crash. Bobby knew someone had tried to kill him, but he didn't know why. He knew he had the key to something that made him dangerous to the killer, but he didn't know what it was. And he sensed that someone was still out there, ready to pounce at the first sign his memory was coming back. He'd been to the cops, but they 'd shrugged off his story. His family thought he had a screw loose. But he was scared -- scared to death. He wanted to hire Kinsey. His case didn't have a whole lot going for it, but he was hard to resist: young, brave, hurt. She took him on. And three days later, Bobby Callahan was dead.
B is for Burglar ~ Beverly Danziger looked like an expensive, carefully wrapped package from a good but conservative shop. Only her compulsive chatter hinted at the nervousness beneath her cool surface. She's looking for her absent sister, Elaine Boldt . A will to be settled -- a matter of only a few thousand dollars. Elaine Boldt's wrappings were a good deal flashier than her sisters, but they signaled the same thing: The lady had money. A rich widow in her early forties, she owned a condo in Boca Raton and another in Santa Teresa. According to the manager of the California building, she was last seen draped in her $12,000 lynx coat heading for Boca Raton. According to the manager of the Florida building, she never got there. But is Elaine dead or alive.
A if for Alibi ~ introduces California private investigator Kinsey Millhone--a twice-divorced, childless 32-year old woman who lives in a one-room "bachelorette" apartment. Kinsey is hired by Nikki Fife, a woman who had been sent to prison after being convicted of murdering her husband. Nikki maintains her innocence and wants Kinsey to find the real killer--eight years after the murder. While this is not my favorite book, you have to read it to get a feel for how Kinsey is. Plus it is important to see her relationships with her maiden Aunt Gin, her landlord, Henry, and Rosie the tavern owner which is nearby.
Kinsey is tough but it is her vulnerability that get you as she discovers that it is easier said than done to keep your distance. Her interaction with the other characters allowed us to understand her personality more as well. Also, I liked the style in which Grafton portrayed Kinsey through 1st person perspective. You "got into the shoes" of Kinsey Millhone and followed her through the mystery.
Sunday, February 20, 2005
Houses of Stone by Barbara Michaels
Pseudonyme for Barbara Mertz but she also writes under the name Elizabeth Peters
Karen Holloway, an ambitious assistant professor at an unnamed women's college in the Northeast, learns of a previously unpublished novel by a 19th-century author known only as Ismene. Since she herself made Ismene famous in the academic world by publishing a volume of her verse, Karen knows her reputation will skyrocket if she can buy the manuscript from the bookseller who found it and issue it with her commentary. She and her colleague Peggy Finneyfrock travel to a dilapidated estate in Virginia's Tidewater region in search of clues to Ismene's identity. But other academics are also in hot pursuit, and Karen finds herself haunted by nightmares brought on by the claustrophobic themes in Ismene's work ("houses of stone" is a phrase from one of the pseudonymous author's poems).
While this did not appeal to me as much as I thought it would, it was still interesting. The main character, Karen, was rather flat but her friends, Peggy and others were much more fun to read about.
Pseudonyme for Barbara Mertz but she also writes under the name Elizabeth Peters
Karen Holloway, an ambitious assistant professor at an unnamed women's college in the Northeast, learns of a previously unpublished novel by a 19th-century author known only as Ismene. Since she herself made Ismene famous in the academic world by publishing a volume of her verse, Karen knows her reputation will skyrocket if she can buy the manuscript from the bookseller who found it and issue it with her commentary. She and her colleague Peggy Finneyfrock travel to a dilapidated estate in Virginia's Tidewater region in search of clues to Ismene's identity. But other academics are also in hot pursuit, and Karen finds herself haunted by nightmares brought on by the claustrophobic themes in Ismene's work ("houses of stone" is a phrase from one of the pseudonymous author's poems).
While this did not appeal to me as much as I thought it would, it was still interesting. The main character, Karen, was rather flat but her friends, Peggy and others were much more fun to read about.
Sunday, January 30, 2005
Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata is the 2005 Newbery award winner.
Chronicles the close friendship between two Japanese-American sisters growing up in rural Georgia during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and the despair when one sister becomes terminally ill.
I was worried about this novel with a terminally ill sibling, we all know's means death in those days. But this was a very uplifting book and I felt sad to leave these characters as the author really was able to make them seem real to me. I'm so glad it won the Newbery this year. So far two of my favorite novels have been Newbery award winners. I love Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo.
Cynthia Kadohata is from the Los Angeles area so we're hoping to get her to speak for the library.
Chronicles the close friendship between two Japanese-American sisters growing up in rural Georgia during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and the despair when one sister becomes terminally ill.
I was worried about this novel with a terminally ill sibling, we all know's means death in those days. But this was a very uplifting book and I felt sad to leave these characters as the author really was able to make them seem real to me. I'm so glad it won the Newbery this year. So far two of my favorite novels have been Newbery award winners. I love Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo.
Cynthia Kadohata is from the Los Angeles area so we're hoping to get her to speak for the library.
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Power of Five W.I.T.C.H. #1 adapted by Elizabeth Lenhard
It airs on Disney/ABC but I believe has been translated from a japanese series.
The text is book and it starts and ends with an vibrant color comics that kickstart the imagination. It's a story within a graphic novel. Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, and Hay Lin (W.i.t.c.h.) are five ordinary friends with an extraordinary secret: they each have the power to control a natural element -- air, water, fire, earth, and finally, the mysterious "Heart of Candracar." The girls use their powers to guard against evil and to uncover the truth behind mysterious portals leading to other worlds.
Interesting series and it is super popular and the books are always checked out. I like the comic element and believe a true graphic novels are coming out summer 2005 so we'll see how it graduates.
It airs on Disney/ABC but I believe has been translated from a japanese series.
The text is book and it starts and ends with an vibrant color comics that kickstart the imagination. It's a story within a graphic novel. Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, and Hay Lin (W.i.t.c.h.) are five ordinary friends with an extraordinary secret: they each have the power to control a natural element -- air, water, fire, earth, and finally, the mysterious "Heart of Candracar." The girls use their powers to guard against evil and to uncover the truth behind mysterious portals leading to other worlds.
Interesting series and it is super popular and the books are always checked out. I like the comic element and believe a true graphic novels are coming out summer 2005 so we'll see how it graduates.
Sunday, January 23, 2005
Embrace the Wolf by Benjamin M. Schutz
First in the series that features Leo Haggerty, Private Eye
I have the admit the first chapter sucked me in. 5 years previously twin 5 year old girls were kidnapped by an unknown person. The kidnappers never made a demand but the father, Herb Saunders, never gave up hope they would come home one day. He had been doing his own investigations to find his daughters so when the kidnapper calls and plays a tape of his daughters voices he is off to find the fiend who stole them. His wife returns home to find a note saying he was going to find the devil so she calls in Leo Haggerty to help bring her husband home.
I should have stopped reading it after the first chapter and just skipped to the ending. This is a very tragic book that has a lot of horrible sex and torture that I could have done without. I'm reading his latest book Mongol Reply that is so much more interesting. Perhaps someday I'll try his Leo Haggerty books again.
First in the series that features Leo Haggerty, Private Eye
I have the admit the first chapter sucked me in. 5 years previously twin 5 year old girls were kidnapped by an unknown person. The kidnappers never made a demand but the father, Herb Saunders, never gave up hope they would come home one day. He had been doing his own investigations to find his daughters so when the kidnapper calls and plays a tape of his daughters voices he is off to find the fiend who stole them. His wife returns home to find a note saying he was going to find the devil so she calls in Leo Haggerty to help bring her husband home.
I should have stopped reading it after the first chapter and just skipped to the ending. This is a very tragic book that has a lot of horrible sex and torture that I could have done without. I'm reading his latest book Mongol Reply that is so much more interesting. Perhaps someday I'll try his Leo Haggerty books again.
Sunday, January 16, 2005
Adrian Mole: the Cappuccino Years by Sue Townsend continues the Adrian Mole saga. Adrian , now 30, is divorced and the father of two sons (William, almost three years old, and Glenn, 12). His good friends are still around: old flame Pandora "we adore ya" Braithwaite has been elected a Labour MP by capitalizing on her short, tight skirts to win votes; best friend Nigel is trying to figure out how to tell his family he's gay. To Adrian's horror, his parents swap partners with Pandora's parents--and his dad discovers Viagra. Despite his ineptitude at cooking, Adrian works as the head chef at a snooty restaurant called Hoi Polloi, which specializes in "execrable nursery food." Adrian--temporarily--gets his own cooking show, "Offally Good!"
Another book on CD I keep laughing out loud in the car during some of the funny bits. I'm sure the other people driving by think I'm crazy.
Friday, January 07, 2005
League of Extraordinary Gentleman Vol. II by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neil
Collection of 6 comic books in the 2nd volume of the series. Set in an alternate, technologically advanced 1898 London, the story finds legendary literary heroes Allan Quartermain, Captain Nemo, Hawley Griffin (the Invisible Man), Edward Hyde and Mina Murray fighting battles that the British Empire can't handle without them. Here, the eclectic team is defending Earth from a Martian invasion, partially set in motion by another pulp hero, Edgar Rice Burroughs's John Carter of Mars. I have not read Volume I yet so will go back and see if it fills in any blanks.
Collection of 6 comic books in the 2nd volume of the series. Set in an alternate, technologically advanced 1898 London, the story finds legendary literary heroes Allan Quartermain, Captain Nemo, Hawley Griffin (the Invisible Man), Edward Hyde and Mina Murray fighting battles that the British Empire can't handle without them. Here, the eclectic team is defending Earth from a Martian invasion, partially set in motion by another pulp hero, Edgar Rice Burroughs's John Carter of Mars. I have not read Volume I yet so will go back and see if it fills in any blanks.
Monday, January 03, 2005
Giver by Lois Lowry
When Jonas turns 12, he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver--who alone holds memories of pain and pleasure in life. Now there can be no turning back from the truth. Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives. 1994 Newbery Medal winner. Lowry is such a wondeful author. Wow.
An interesting book as it really looks at how society would be if no one was different if there was a world where everything was controled by the committee and if you did not conform you were released from the society. A world in which death and love was not understood or color seen. The book leaves the ending open as you are not sure if he really escapes or if he is released. There are two related books that I am looking forward to reading to see if any of my questions are answered.
Gathering Blue is a companion to the Giver.
Lame and suddenly orphaned, Kira is mysteriously removed from her squalid village to live in the palatial Council Edifice, where she is expected to use her gifts as a weaver to do the bidding of the all-powerful Guardians. She meets Thomas, a carver, and Jo, a singer, who are also being trained for the future. When Matty, her only friend from the outside disappears she fears the worse but he brings her back something even more valuable than the color blue.
But as with the Giver, Kira discovers that while life seems so happy and perfect they are all really held captive and that there are consequences for everything. So she must choose.
Very engaging book and as with the Giver you do not know what will happen to the characters.
When Jonas turns 12, he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver--who alone holds memories of pain and pleasure in life. Now there can be no turning back from the truth. Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives. 1994 Newbery Medal winner. Lowry is such a wondeful author. Wow.
An interesting book as it really looks at how society would be if no one was different if there was a world where everything was controled by the committee and if you did not conform you were released from the society. A world in which death and love was not understood or color seen. The book leaves the ending open as you are not sure if he really escapes or if he is released. There are two related books that I am looking forward to reading to see if any of my questions are answered.
Gathering Blue is a companion to the Giver.
Lame and suddenly orphaned, Kira is mysteriously removed from her squalid village to live in the palatial Council Edifice, where she is expected to use her gifts as a weaver to do the bidding of the all-powerful Guardians. She meets Thomas, a carver, and Jo, a singer, who are also being trained for the future. When Matty, her only friend from the outside disappears she fears the worse but he brings her back something even more valuable than the color blue.
But as with the Giver, Kira discovers that while life seems so happy and perfect they are all really held captive and that there are consequences for everything. So she must choose.
Very engaging book and as with the Giver you do not know what will happen to the characters.
Saturday, December 25, 2004
Elf of Union Square by Jan Carr
An ancient, crotchety elf named Hiram and his sidekick, a Norwegian rat named Knut, conspire to drive people away from Union Square Park, while fifth-grader Jack Crain and a reporter for the New York Times, Will Manley, investigate. It was an entertaining read as it is faciniating to see how quickly people follow the herd over small things. Plus this story made me laugh as I know someone named "Will Manley" who works for the city of Tempe.
An ancient, crotchety elf named Hiram and his sidekick, a Norwegian rat named Knut, conspire to drive people away from Union Square Park, while fifth-grader Jack Crain and a reporter for the New York Times, Will Manley, investigate. It was an entertaining read as it is faciniating to see how quickly people follow the herd over small things. Plus this story made me laugh as I know someone named "Will Manley" who works for the city of Tempe.
Monday, December 20, 2004
Shadows in the Darkness by Elaine Cunningham
The first book in the Changeling series by Tor Books, introduces Gwen (GiGi) Gelman, a disgraced vice cop who learns that the Family she's been fighting might be the family she never knew she had. Kind of a cross between Anita Blake & Merry Gentry - written by Laurell K. Hamilton. A lot less sex and violence which is a nice change. I enjoy Hamilton's works but get turned off by the gore and violence with her various characters.
The first book in the Changeling series by Tor Books, introduces Gwen (GiGi) Gelman, a disgraced vice cop who learns that the Family she's been fighting might be the family she never knew she had. Kind of a cross between Anita Blake & Merry Gentry - written by Laurell K. Hamilton. A lot less sex and violence which is a nice change. I enjoy Hamilton's works but get turned off by the gore and violence with her various characters.
Friday, December 10, 2004
Books by Jeffery Deaver
Featuring detectives Lincoln Rhyme & Amelia Sachs
Bone Collector
Quadriplegic Lincoln Rhyme abandons his forced retirement and joins forces with rookie cop Amelia Sachs to track down a vicious serial killer. This was a very intense and totally had no idea of who dune it mystery. Very well crafted and I can't wait to read another one in this series. This title was made into a movie as well.
Coffin Dancer
Three witnesses to a murder could put a millionaire arms dealer behind bars for good. When one of them, the co-owner of Hudson Air, is blown up in a plane bombing with the Dancer's fingerprints all over it, the FBI takes the other witnesses into protective custody. Only Rhyme can decipher a crime scene, read the residue of a bombing, or identify a handful of dirt well enough to keep up with the killer. Helped by Amelia Sachs, his brilliant and able-bodied assistant, Rhyme traces the Dancer through Manhattan streets, airports, and subways. But in the end nothing is as it seems and it seems that the Coffin Dancer will win once again, or will he? An interesting against-all-odds love affair between Rhyme and Sachs develops and I can't wait to see if anything more happens or not.
Featuring detectives Lincoln Rhyme & Amelia Sachs
Bone Collector
Quadriplegic Lincoln Rhyme abandons his forced retirement and joins forces with rookie cop Amelia Sachs to track down a vicious serial killer. This was a very intense and totally had no idea of who dune it mystery. Very well crafted and I can't wait to read another one in this series. This title was made into a movie as well.
Coffin Dancer
Three witnesses to a murder could put a millionaire arms dealer behind bars for good. When one of them, the co-owner of Hudson Air, is blown up in a plane bombing with the Dancer's fingerprints all over it, the FBI takes the other witnesses into protective custody. Only Rhyme can decipher a crime scene, read the residue of a bombing, or identify a handful of dirt well enough to keep up with the killer. Helped by Amelia Sachs, his brilliant and able-bodied assistant, Rhyme traces the Dancer through Manhattan streets, airports, and subways. But in the end nothing is as it seems and it seems that the Coffin Dancer will win once again, or will he? An interesting against-all-odds love affair between Rhyme and Sachs develops and I can't wait to see if anything more happens or not.
Thursday, December 09, 2004
Dexter is now a show on Showtime featuring Michael C. Hall from Six Feet Under.
Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
Meet Dexter Morgan. He's a highly respected lab technician specializing in blood spatter for the Miami Dade Police Department. He's a handsome, though reluctant, ladies' man. He's polite, says all the right things, and rarely calls attention to himself. He's also a sociopathic serial killer whose "Dark Passenger" drives him to commit the occasional dismemberment. Mind you, Dexter's the good guy in this story.
Wow! is about all I can say. Very well written and definitely engaging story. The ending was a bit predicible but such an interesting premise. I listened to it on CD and it was very well done.
Dearly Devoted Dexter finally is here!
Dexter's just added his 40th victim, a homicidal pedophile, and is eagerly looking ahead to number 41 but Dexter's nemesis, Sergeant Doakes, is getting a little too close for comfort. So he decides to act normal and starts hanging out with his "girlfriend" Rita & her kids playing games and drinking lite beer. He is almost becoming normal.
Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
Meet Dexter Morgan. He's a highly respected lab technician specializing in blood spatter for the Miami Dade Police Department. He's a handsome, though reluctant, ladies' man. He's polite, says all the right things, and rarely calls attention to himself. He's also a sociopathic serial killer whose "Dark Passenger" drives him to commit the occasional dismemberment. Mind you, Dexter's the good guy in this story.
Wow! is about all I can say. Very well written and definitely engaging story. The ending was a bit predicible but such an interesting premise. I listened to it on CD and it was very well done.
Dearly Devoted Dexter finally is here!
Dexter's just added his 40th victim, a homicidal pedophile, and is eagerly looking ahead to number 41 but Dexter's nemesis, Sergeant Doakes, is getting a little too close for comfort. So he decides to act normal and starts hanging out with his "girlfriend" Rita & her kids playing games and drinking lite beer. He is almost becoming normal.
His sister Deborah, now a detective for the Miami-Dade Police Department, is called in on a case that even give Dexter pause for thought. A man is found with "everything on [his] body cut off, absolutely everything"—a piece of work that makes Dexter's own tidy killings look like child's play. This madman, nicknamed Danco, spends weeks surgically removing his victims' ears, lips, nose, arms, legs, etc., while keeping them alive to watch their own mutilation. Despite a certain professional admiration for Danco's dexterity, Dexter decides to take on the case. Plus Deborah's boyfriend has been snatched as the latest victim. Danco is after those who turned on him during U.S.'s involvement in South America.
It's the contradictions in Dexter's character that make it all work—he's smart, he's funny, he cares for children, and yet he has no normal human responses or emotions.
Hopefully additional titles will follow.
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Books by Meg Cabot
I got to see Meg Cabot speak at my library in January 18, 2005. She was very entertaining speaker. Some fans flew in from New Jersey just to meet her and hear her speak. Over 250 people showed up for the event.
Every Boy's Got One... ~
A day-by-day travel journal intended as a first anniversary present for Jane Harris's best friend, Holly, turns into Jane's rollicking private diary account of the madcap events leading up to Holly and Mark's Italian countryside elopement. We see their travels via Jane's diary, Cal's PDA journal and the hilarious e-mails (aka Blueberries) that whiz through cyberspace between the main characters, their respective family members and one diehard Wonder Cat fan. We get to know Castelfidardo, a small Italian town in the region of Le Marche, which happens to be the accordion-making capital of the world and is replete with unpredictable electricity, dubious public restrooms and bureaucratic snafus that nearly derail the wedding plans. The jaded, bitterly divorced Cal makes a worthy opponent to Jane, whose notions of marriage are much more romantic than his. Cabot's personal epilogue about her own elopement in the Italian countryside—marked by much of the mayhem her main characters encounter—adds spice to this frothy concoction of love, friendship and true romance.
Boy Meets Girl ~ one of her adult novels set in NYC. Kate works for the Human Resources division of New York Journal. She and her best friend have nick named her boss "T.O.D. - Tyrannical Office Despot" as she is gunning for the top and nothing will get in her way of a promotion and marrying a high end lawyer. So when she asks Kate to fire the most popular employee for being disrespectful of certain unpopular employees Kate does what she is told. Now the fired employee is suing the New York Journal and Kate for wrong termination. But then Kate meets the man of her dreams who is the lawyer representing NYJ.
But well with many ups and downs as is typical of Cabot's novels. It always amazes me that her books take place in NYC but it seems like a small town as there everyone seems to know one another. Lots of email and im'ing messages and cute phone conversations. Fun read.
Teen idol ~ High school junior Jenny Greenley is good at solving problems ... so good she's the school newspaper's anonymous advice columnist. Even if solving other people's problems doesn't make her own -- like not having a boyfriend -- go away, it's still fun. But when nineteen-year-old screen sensation Luke Striker comes to Jenny's small town to research a role life suddenly gets complicated. When he persuades Jenny to use her considerable talents to try to change things at school for the better, he creates havoc that even levelheaded Jenny isn't sure she can repair. Now she has to find her own voice and stand up for what she believes in, not just be the person who tries to fix things after they've broken. I enjoyed this book. It reminds me of an older Princess Diaries but I think the characters were much more enjoyable.
All American Girl ~ Samantha Madison is just your average disenfranchised sophomore gal living in D.C. when, in an idle moment sandwiched between cookie-buying and CD-perusing, she puts a stop to an attempt on the life of the president. Before she can say “MTV2” she’s appointed Teen Ambassador to the U.N. and has caught the eye of the very cute First Son. Suddenly she is an overnight sensation. She can survive all the attention from press but can she survive the attention from her classmates and family. What she discovers is that you have to pay attention to really see what is happening around you and there is always more than meets the eye.
Princess Diaries Series
1. Princess Diaries
2. Princess in the Spotlight
3. Princess in Love is the 3rd in the series. Mia has a boyfriend, Kenny, who she really doesn't like let alone kiss. Plus she is in love with her best friend's brother. It is counting down to her introduction to Genovia and she is overloaded with her grandmother's lessons, dress fittings, finals and how to break up with Kenny. As with the others in this series Mia's life is one big drama but oh, so fun to read. Teen anqst is always so enjoyable.
4. Princess in Waiting Mia's royal introduction to Genovia has mixed results: while her fashion sense is widely applauded, her position on the installation of public parking meters is met with resistance. But the politics of bureaucracy are nothing next to Mia's real troubles. Between canceled dates with her long-sought-after royal consort, a second semester of the dreaded Algebra, more princess lessons from Grandmare as a result of the Genovian parking-meter thing, and the inability to stop gnawing on her fingernails, isn't there anything Mia is good at besides inheriting an unwanted royal title? Always good to see how little Mia's sesteemteme has risen as she becomes fixated on thinking that Michael is going to dump her because she is so busy with her princess duties. More lists which are always fun, Buffy mentioned.
4.5 Project Princess ~ Mia & her friends volunteer to build houses for the less fortunate. It doesn't take Mia long to realize that helping others—while an unimpeachably noble pastime—is very hard work. Will her giving spirit prevail? Will the house collapse due to royally clumsy construction? And most importantly, will Michael stop working long enough to kiss her?
5. Princess in Pink ~ Now at the end of her Freshman year Mia tries to get her reluctant boyfriend to take her to the prom. She’s the newest staffer on the school paper, and her miraculous completion of freshman Algebra is just around the corner. Plus she’s about to get a new baby brother or sister. Could things possibly get any better? But as usual her friend Lilly has a mind of her own and stages a workers strike when a handsome bushboy is fired after pouring soup in Grandmare's lap. But with the usual finese things work out just fine for all.
6. Princess Present ~ Now, Princess Mia spends the holidays in Genovia with Grandmère. This year, she’s looking forward to the most perfect Christmas ever: her boyfriend, Michael, and her best friend, Lilly, are coming to Genovia, too. But even a princess’s plans can go awry. Lilly has a lot to learn about palace protocol, and with all the state holiday functions Mia must attend, there’s no time to linger under the mistletoe with Michael. Worst of all, Mia hasn’t been able to find him the perfect gift.
Perfect Princess ~ is kind of an off shoot part of the series. Mia and her Grandmere give advice on how to act and be a princess. Talks about various other princesses from around the world. Cute read for those who love the series.
I got to see Meg Cabot speak at my library in January 18, 2005. She was very entertaining speaker. Some fans flew in from New Jersey just to meet her and hear her speak. Over 250 people showed up for the event.
Every Boy's Got One... ~
A day-by-day travel journal intended as a first anniversary present for Jane Harris's best friend, Holly, turns into Jane's rollicking private diary account of the madcap events leading up to Holly and Mark's Italian countryside elopement. We see their travels via Jane's diary, Cal's PDA journal and the hilarious e-mails (aka Blueberries) that whiz through cyberspace between the main characters, their respective family members and one diehard Wonder Cat fan. We get to know Castelfidardo, a small Italian town in the region of Le Marche, which happens to be the accordion-making capital of the world and is replete with unpredictable electricity, dubious public restrooms and bureaucratic snafus that nearly derail the wedding plans. The jaded, bitterly divorced Cal makes a worthy opponent to Jane, whose notions of marriage are much more romantic than his. Cabot's personal epilogue about her own elopement in the Italian countryside—marked by much of the mayhem her main characters encounter—adds spice to this frothy concoction of love, friendship and true romance.
Boy Meets Girl ~ one of her adult novels set in NYC. Kate works for the Human Resources division of New York Journal. She and her best friend have nick named her boss "T.O.D. - Tyrannical Office Despot" as she is gunning for the top and nothing will get in her way of a promotion and marrying a high end lawyer. So when she asks Kate to fire the most popular employee for being disrespectful of certain unpopular employees Kate does what she is told. Now the fired employee is suing the New York Journal and Kate for wrong termination. But then Kate meets the man of her dreams who is the lawyer representing NYJ.
But well with many ups and downs as is typical of Cabot's novels. It always amazes me that her books take place in NYC but it seems like a small town as there everyone seems to know one another. Lots of email and im'ing messages and cute phone conversations. Fun read.
Teen idol ~ High school junior Jenny Greenley is good at solving problems ... so good she's the school newspaper's anonymous advice columnist. Even if solving other people's problems doesn't make her own -- like not having a boyfriend -- go away, it's still fun. But when nineteen-year-old screen sensation Luke Striker comes to Jenny's small town to research a role life suddenly gets complicated. When he persuades Jenny to use her considerable talents to try to change things at school for the better, he creates havoc that even levelheaded Jenny isn't sure she can repair. Now she has to find her own voice and stand up for what she believes in, not just be the person who tries to fix things after they've broken. I enjoyed this book. It reminds me of an older Princess Diaries but I think the characters were much more enjoyable.
All American Girl ~ Samantha Madison is just your average disenfranchised sophomore gal living in D.C. when, in an idle moment sandwiched between cookie-buying and CD-perusing, she puts a stop to an attempt on the life of the president. Before she can say “MTV2” she’s appointed Teen Ambassador to the U.N. and has caught the eye of the very cute First Son. Suddenly she is an overnight sensation. She can survive all the attention from press but can she survive the attention from her classmates and family. What she discovers is that you have to pay attention to really see what is happening around you and there is always more than meets the eye.
Princess Diaries Series
1. Princess Diaries
2. Princess in the Spotlight
3. Princess in Love is the 3rd in the series. Mia has a boyfriend, Kenny, who she really doesn't like let alone kiss. Plus she is in love with her best friend's brother. It is counting down to her introduction to Genovia and she is overloaded with her grandmother's lessons, dress fittings, finals and how to break up with Kenny. As with the others in this series Mia's life is one big drama but oh, so fun to read. Teen anqst is always so enjoyable.
4. Princess in Waiting Mia's royal introduction to Genovia has mixed results: while her fashion sense is widely applauded, her position on the installation of public parking meters is met with resistance. But the politics of bureaucracy are nothing next to Mia's real troubles. Between canceled dates with her long-sought-after royal consort, a second semester of the dreaded Algebra, more princess lessons from Grandmare as a result of the Genovian parking-meter thing, and the inability to stop gnawing on her fingernails, isn't there anything Mia is good at besides inheriting an unwanted royal title? Always good to see how little Mia's sesteemteme has risen as she becomes fixated on thinking that Michael is going to dump her because she is so busy with her princess duties. More lists which are always fun, Buffy mentioned.
4.5 Project Princess ~ Mia & her friends volunteer to build houses for the less fortunate. It doesn't take Mia long to realize that helping others—while an unimpeachably noble pastime—is very hard work. Will her giving spirit prevail? Will the house collapse due to royally clumsy construction? And most importantly, will Michael stop working long enough to kiss her?
5. Princess in Pink ~ Now at the end of her Freshman year Mia tries to get her reluctant boyfriend to take her to the prom. She’s the newest staffer on the school paper, and her miraculous completion of freshman Algebra is just around the corner. Plus she’s about to get a new baby brother or sister. Could things possibly get any better? But as usual her friend Lilly has a mind of her own and stages a workers strike when a handsome bushboy is fired after pouring soup in Grandmare's lap. But with the usual finese things work out just fine for all.
6. Princess Present ~ Now, Princess Mia spends the holidays in Genovia with Grandmère. This year, she’s looking forward to the most perfect Christmas ever: her boyfriend, Michael, and her best friend, Lilly, are coming to Genovia, too. But even a princess’s plans can go awry. Lilly has a lot to learn about palace protocol, and with all the state holiday functions Mia must attend, there’s no time to linger under the mistletoe with Michael. Worst of all, Mia hasn’t been able to find him the perfect gift.
Perfect Princess ~ is kind of an off shoot part of the series. Mia and her Grandmere give advice on how to act and be a princess. Talks about various other princesses from around the world. Cute read for those who love the series.
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Tale of Hill Top Farm by Susan Wittig Albert
After purchasing a farm in the Lake District of England, an animal lover attempts to befriend her fellow villagers, while her animal companions solve a baffling mystery, in a mystery tale inspired by the life of Beatrix Potter. In 1905, Beatrix bought a farm in England's beautiful Lake District. The books in this series (eight are planned) follow her adventures as she gradually moves away from her London life as a dutiful Victorian-age daughter, and into an independent life that offers new hopes, new love, and the possibility of self-determination. You will enjoy the authenticity of the historical setting and the details of Beatrix's life, smile at the antics of the animals, and warm to the strong feeling of place and community.
I so enjoy Albert's China Bayles novels so am looking forward to reading more of these novels but hope China will have more books as well.
Tale of Holly How : the cottage tales of Beatrix Potter
After purchasing a farm in the Lake District of England, an animal lover attempts to befriend her fellow villagers, while her animal companions solve a baffling mystery, in a mystery tale inspired by the life of Beatrix Potter. In 1905, Beatrix bought a farm in England's beautiful Lake District. The books in this series (eight are planned) follow her adventures as she gradually moves away from her London life as a dutiful Victorian-age daughter, and into an independent life that offers new hopes, new love, and the possibility of self-determination. You will enjoy the authenticity of the historical setting and the details of Beatrix's life, smile at the antics of the animals, and warm to the strong feeling of place and community.
I so enjoy Albert's China Bayles novels so am looking forward to reading more of these novels but hope China will have more books as well.
Tale of Holly How : the cottage tales of Beatrix Potter
Fethering Mystery series by Simon Brett
I love Brett's Mrs. Pargeter's mysteries. So am glad to find another series of his to read.
Body on the Beach ~ Very little disturbs the ordered calm of Fethering, a pleasingly self-contained retirement settlement on England's less than sun-kissed southern coast. Which is precisely why Carole Seddon, who has outlived both her husband and her career at the Home Office, has chosen to reside there. Her peaceful life is turned upside down when she stumbles upon a corpse on the beach while walking her dog and joins forces with her bohemian neighbor, Jude, to find a killer.
Death on the Downs ~ While out exploring the South Downs of a wealthy town, a driving rain forces Carole to seek shelter in an abandoned barn, where she discovers a bag of human bones. The local police are informed, and rumors spread to the effect that the bones might have belonged to a missing young woman named Tamsin. Soon Carole and her somewhat mysterious and exotic friend Jude are busily involved in sussing out information on their own partly for adventure, and partly because Tamsin had once turned to Jude for help. But per usual nothing is as it seems and it becomes much more complicated as Carole discovers that childhood hurts still haunt several of these people. And it may mean the end for Carole.
Torso in the Town ~ A dinner party at a Fedborough mansion with some stuffy, not very close friends is not exactly Jude's cup of tea. But the practically mummified torso of a woman found in the cellar is much more up Jude's alley. So Jude and Carole decide to investigate on their own. Everyone in this town seems so friendly and willing to gossip but are they really what they seem? Everyone has their own secrets to keep.
I love Brett's Mrs. Pargeter's mysteries. So am glad to find another series of his to read.
Body on the Beach ~ Very little disturbs the ordered calm of Fethering, a pleasingly self-contained retirement settlement on England's less than sun-kissed southern coast. Which is precisely why Carole Seddon, who has outlived both her husband and her career at the Home Office, has chosen to reside there. Her peaceful life is turned upside down when she stumbles upon a corpse on the beach while walking her dog and joins forces with her bohemian neighbor, Jude, to find a killer.
Death on the Downs ~ While out exploring the South Downs of a wealthy town, a driving rain forces Carole to seek shelter in an abandoned barn, where she discovers a bag of human bones. The local police are informed, and rumors spread to the effect that the bones might have belonged to a missing young woman named Tamsin. Soon Carole and her somewhat mysterious and exotic friend Jude are busily involved in sussing out information on their own partly for adventure, and partly because Tamsin had once turned to Jude for help. But per usual nothing is as it seems and it becomes much more complicated as Carole discovers that childhood hurts still haunt several of these people. And it may mean the end for Carole.
Torso in the Town ~ A dinner party at a Fedborough mansion with some stuffy, not very close friends is not exactly Jude's cup of tea. But the practically mummified torso of a woman found in the cellar is much more up Jude's alley. So Jude and Carole decide to investigate on their own. Everyone in this town seems so friendly and willing to gossip but are they really what they seem? Everyone has their own secrets to keep.
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Blankets by Craig Thompson
An autobiographical comic, intertwins the stories of his relationships with his younger brother, Phil (with whom he had to share blankets as a child), and with his first girlfriend, Raina (with whom he also shared a blanket). Raised by strict Catholic parents, Thompson struggles with his own faith, attracted to the message but repelled by the Church, and his black-and-white art makes use of Christian imagery.
This is one of the first graphic novels that I've ever read. It is over 500 pages which at first is rather daunting but since it is illustrated comic style it flows quickly. His is not a particularly happy life, full of many disappointments but it is interesting to see how his life evolves.
An autobiographical comic, intertwins the stories of his relationships with his younger brother, Phil (with whom he had to share blankets as a child), and with his first girlfriend, Raina (with whom he also shared a blanket). Raised by strict Catholic parents, Thompson struggles with his own faith, attracted to the message but repelled by the Church, and his black-and-white art makes use of Christian imagery.
This is one of the first graphic novels that I've ever read. It is over 500 pages which at first is rather daunting but since it is illustrated comic style it flows quickly. His is not a particularly happy life, full of many disappointments but it is interesting to see how his life evolves.
Sunday, October 31, 2004
Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett
Mixture of mystery, puzzles, possibilities, and art. Brainy 12-year-olds Petra Andalee and Calder Pillay attend the University of Chicago Laboratory School where their teacher's unorthodox methods make learning an adventure. When Vermeer's A Lady Writing disappears on its way to exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, the two overcome their adolescent awkwardness and let their friendship bloom, pooling their talents to rescue the masterpiece and expose the thief. Many elements play a role in unraveling the secrets surrounding the crime: Calder's set of pentominoes; his encoded correspondence with his friend Tommy about a missing boy named Frog; and Petra's intuitive communing with the woman in the painting, all augmented by the unusual ideas presented in a strange old book that Petra has found.
Great fun!
Mixture of mystery, puzzles, possibilities, and art. Brainy 12-year-olds Petra Andalee and Calder Pillay attend the University of Chicago Laboratory School where their teacher's unorthodox methods make learning an adventure. When Vermeer's A Lady Writing disappears on its way to exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, the two overcome their adolescent awkwardness and let their friendship bloom, pooling their talents to rescue the masterpiece and expose the thief. Many elements play a role in unraveling the secrets surrounding the crime: Calder's set of pentominoes; his encoded correspondence with his friend Tommy about a missing boy named Frog; and Petra's intuitive communing with the woman in the painting, all augmented by the unusual ideas presented in a strange old book that Petra has found.
Great fun!
Friday, October 01, 2004
Jane Eyre by Charolotte Bronte
Classic Victorian novel of love and being true to one's heart. Told in her own voice, Jane Eyre, tells her own story. The first section of the novel gives her childhood history and then how she came to Thornfield Hall. Jane Eyre becomes a governess in Mr. Rochester's home of Thornfield and falls in love with him before she finds that he has a tragic secret. The second and third sections of the novel are dominated by male figures who symbolize opposing forms of love: Rochester, who stands for physical passion, and St. John, who stands for spiritual passion. At the end of the novel, Rochester, having passed through redemptive fires and having repented of his hubris, can embody the fully integrated masculine self, capable of both physical and spiritual passion.
I listened to this on CD while driving in the car to and from work. I have never really read the entire novel. I was very annoyed at the first half of the book and then became involved in her quandary with what to do with her life. While the ending is a bit melodramatic, it does making a satisfactory one.
Classic Victorian novel of love and being true to one's heart. Told in her own voice, Jane Eyre, tells her own story. The first section of the novel gives her childhood history and then how she came to Thornfield Hall. Jane Eyre becomes a governess in Mr. Rochester's home of Thornfield and falls in love with him before she finds that he has a tragic secret. The second and third sections of the novel are dominated by male figures who symbolize opposing forms of love: Rochester, who stands for physical passion, and St. John, who stands for spiritual passion. At the end of the novel, Rochester, having passed through redemptive fires and having repented of his hubris, can embody the fully integrated masculine self, capable of both physical and spiritual passion.
I listened to this on CD while driving in the car to and from work. I have never really read the entire novel. I was very annoyed at the first half of the book and then became involved in her quandary with what to do with her life. While the ending is a bit melodramatic, it does making a satisfactory one.
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