State of the Onion
White House Chef Mystery series by Julie Hyzy

Set in a fictionalized White House, Assistant Chef Olivia Paras (aka Ollie) faces challenges aplenty: a heated competition for the soon-to-be-vacant top chef's job, the sneering antagonism of the president's newly appointed sensitivity director and, of course, the mysterious intruder she unwittingly stops on the White House lawn with a couple of swift blows from a frying pan—an unarmed man with news of a threat to the president. Though the Secret Service disapproves of her interference, Ollie soon takes on the mantel of amateur sleuth, which could endanger not only her life but her cozy relationship with handsome Secret Service Agent Thomas MacKenzie. The tension mounts as the president negotiates a major peace plan for the Middle East, Ollie stumbles on the path of a nearly invisible enemy known as the Chameleon, and obnoxious TV celebrity chef Laurel Anne Braun shows up to threaten Ollie's career.

I am not a big fan of those cutsie mysteries in which there are a lot of puns and "oh no it's a dead body in the freezer" books. So I was pleasantly surprised that while there is a lot of food action no murder is involved with the kitchen. It will be interesting to see where this series goes from here.

Test of Wills by Charles Todd

I saw a book review for a more recent book in this series but since I like to start at the beginning here it is. Set in 1919, Inspector Ian Rutledge, a British veteran of the Great War secretly still suffering from shell-shock, returns to his Scotland Yard job in hopes of exorcizing his private demons. However, a devious higher-up has learned of his Achilles heel and gets Ian assigned to a potentially explosive and career-damaging case--a murder involving a decorated war hero, a beautiful ward, and a shell-shocked witness. Rutledge is a sympathic character but is suffering from a split personality whom he calls Hamish. We find out midway through the book that he believes Hamish is a ghost that haunts him from the war.

There are many red herrings as up until the end I did not know who the murderer was. But the loose ends are tied neatly except for knowing how Rutledge will handle his own mental issues. Plus Rutledge finds himself wondering if Hamish is a ghost from his past or is he suffering from a split personality. While this was not the most uplifting read I did find myself intrigued by the main characters past and how he is adapting back in his English life. I'm looking forward to reading more in this series.

Aunt Dimity: Vampire Hunter by Nancy Atherton

Lori Shepherd’s life in England couldn’t be more tranquil or more satisfying— except for one thing. Her five- year-old twins have started school, and Lori fears they’ll catch everything from the flu to fleas. What they do come home with, however, is worse: a report of a pale, cloaked figure with bloodstained lips lurking in the woods. Lori is skeptical at first but soon grows concerned enough to consult with her late (but not entirely departed) Aunt Dimity and her dear friend Kit Smith.

The vampire-hunting trail leads to Leo, a charismatic vagabond who just returned to England after a self-imposed exile, a bitter old crone named Lizzie Black, and finally to Aldercot Hall, where a mysterious murder took place forty years ago. With Kit and Aunt Dimity’s help, Lori uncovers the secret that will shock everyone—including herself—about the true identity of the twins’ vampire.

I haven't read one of the Aunt Dimity books in a year or so. I can only take so much of Lori's panic stricken run around like a chicken with her head cut off moments of paranoia. But I enjoy her relationships with her neighbors, township and most of all Aunt Dimity. Her dead aunt by friendship who she communicates via a special journal. This was an easy weekend read and a nice break from the lately kind of depressing mysteries I've been reading.

Death of a Red Heroine (Inspector Chen Cao)
by Qiu Xiaolong

This political mystery offers a peek into the tightly sealed, often crooked world of post-Tiananmen Square China in the 1990's. Chen Cao, a poet and T.S. Eliot translator is bureaucratically assigned to be chief inspector. He is assigned to investigate the murder of Guan Hongying, a young woman celebrated as a National Model Worker, but who kept her personal life strictly and mysteriously confidential. Chen and his comrade, Detective Yu, take turns interviewing Guan's neighbors and co-workers, but it seems most of them either know nothing or are afraid to talk openly about a deceased, highly regarded public figure.

Maybe they shouldn't be so uneasy, some characters reason; after all, these are "modern times" and socialist China is taking great leaps toward free speech. Chen and Yu make headway when they stumble on Wu Xiaoming, senior editor of Red Star magazine, who apparently was involved with Guan before her death. Tiptoeing around touchy politics and using investigative tactics bordering on blackmail, Chen slowly pieces together the motives behind the crime.

This is an intriguing novel as we see how life is in 1990's China. The main character translates English literature into Chinese but also writes his own poetry. We see how various relationships have established the person he is now and who he is to become. I am looking forward to reading more books in this series.

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! voices from a medieval village by Laura Amy Schlitz ~ Winner of 2008 Newbery award

Using a series of interconnected monologues and dialogues featuring young people living in and around an English manor in 1255, she offers first-person character sketches that build upon each other to create a finer understanding of medieval life. The book was inspired by the necessity of creating a play suitable for a classroom where "no one wanted a small part." Each of the 23 characters (between 10 and 15 years old) has a distinct personality and a societal role revealed not by recitation of facts but by revelation of memories, intentions, and attitudes. Sometimes in prose and more often in one of several verse forms, the writing varies nicely from one entry to the next.

Historical notes appear in the vertical margins, and some double-page spreads carry short essays on topics related to individual narratives, such as falconry, the Crusades, and Jews in medieval society. Although often the characters' specific concerns are very much of their time, their outlooks and emotional states will be familiar to young people today. Reminiscent of medieval art, Byrd's lively ink drawings, tinted with watercolors, are a handsome addition to this well-designed book.

I wasn't sure what to think when I first heard about this book as I am not a fan of monologues or poetry. But I was pleasantly surprised. I can see this being a favorite of upper elementary and middle school teachers for years to come.

Pardonable lies : a Maisie Dobbs novel by Jacqueline Winspear
Maisie Dobbs has been operating her detective cum psychiatric agency for more than a year. Her mentor, Maurice Blanche, a cross between Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot, has retired and she has been successful on her own. She becomes involved with three cases: proving the innocence of a 13-year-old farm girl, Avril Jarvis, accused of murder; undertaking a search for Sir Cecil Lawton's only son, a pilot shot down behind enemy lines in WWI, whose body was never recovered; and looking into the circumstances of the death of her university friend Priscilla Evernden Partridge's brother in France during the war. Maisie must go back to the region where, 13 years earlier, she served as a nurse, and confront her memories of mud, blood and loss.

I enjoy the Maisie Dobbs novels as they have a bit of suspense and esp tied into the mystery plus you really feel like you are there in the 1930's living her life. I met the author a few years ago and she was quite interesting to hear speak about her writing and her characters. She has found a good niche.

Yiddish Policeman's Union
by Michael Chabon

This alternate history of a world where Jews were settled in Alaska after World War II, is told through the eyes of Meyer Landsman, a police detective investigating a murder. It is a mere few weeks before the special Jewish district will soon be controlled by Alaska again.

Landsman, macerated in brandy and sadness, becomes interested in the hotel corpse, though he has enough dead bodies in his own past to keep him busy: a never-born child, a possibly murdered sister and a father who committed suicide, not to mention the ghost of his marriage to a Sitka policewoman. Landsman calls up his partner and cousin, Berko Shemets, a half-Jewish half-Tlingit big man with a soft heart and what passes in this novel for a happy home life. The corpse turns out to be a chess prodigy and heroin addict, the wayward son of a powerful head of a Jewish sect called the Verbovers, and possibly the key to the essential mysteries of both his own death and the future of the Jews. Landsman and Shemets are on the case, even though any number of people try to throw them off.

The book is shot through with Yiddish phrases and names, which melodically roll off Riegert's tongue.

This book took me a full 6 weeks to read as I had to really read slowly. It is not kidding when it says above that it is full of Yiddish phrases & names. I have no background in the Yiddish community so it felt rather foreign to me but I did enjoy the story and the relationships the main character has.

I am Legend by Richard Matheson

Listened to on CD while driving to and from work. I actually read the graphic novel a few months earlier so it was interesting to read the original.

Robert Neville has witnessed the end of the world. The world's population has been obliterated by a vampire virus, though Neville has somehow survived. As he toils to make sense of it all and protect himself against the hounding vampires who seek out his life force, Neville embarks on a series of projects to discover the source of the plague and hopefully put an end to the vampires.

Set in a future 1976 we see Neville try to survive and not loose the part of himself that makes human. But in the end is he just as much a monster as he tries to kill the vampires. It is a powerful novella and still relevent today though it was written in the 1950's.

Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
We find Queen Elizabeth II in a mobile library van in pursuit of her runaway corgis and into the reflective, observant life of an avid reader. Guided by Norman, a former kitchen boy and enthusiast of gay authors, the queen gradually loses interest in her endless succession of official duties and learns the pleasure of such a common activity.

With the dawn of her sensibility... mistaken for the onset of senility, plots are hatched by the prime minister and the queen's staff to dispatch Norman and discourage the queen's preoccupation with books. Ultimately, it is her own growing self-awareness that leads her away from reading and toward writing, with astonishing results.

I listened to this novella on CD in the car - it is only 3 CD's plus it is read by the author. I thoroughly enjoyed it. What a hoot!

All Seated on the Ground - by Connie Willis

It's nearly Christmas and the aliens have landed. Far from being a menace, however, or bringing greetings from another planet, the aliens are just standing there and scowling, with a look of "utter, withering disapproval," much like Meg's Aunt Judith, as a group of researchers from scientists to linguists to clergymen, politicians and an aroma expert try, unsuccessfully, to communicate with the aliens.

The only thing that seems to get through to the Altairans, as the authorities in Denver, where the aliens have landed, have named them, is certain music, especially Christmas carols. Journalist Meg and seventh grade girls choir teacher, Mr. Ledbetter, believe they have nearly figured out a way to communicate with the aliens, if they can just work out the details before the alien ship takes off or the aliens kill everyone on earth.

I am a big fan of Connie Willis and I enjoy these novellas of hers. Of course I read mine from the library. It has a nice holiday feel and I enjoyed everything about it.

Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff

The story opens in the psychiatric ward of the Clark County Detention Center (Las Vegas, NV). Accused murderer, Jane Charlotte, explains to her psychiatrist that her alleged crime was authorized by a covert organization dedicated to crime prevention. Jane was an operative in the Department for the Final Disposition of Irredeemable Persons ("Bad Monkeys"), regularly dispatched to eliminated evildoers who eluded the justice system. Her life story revolves around this organization and its departments of Ubiquitous Intermittent Surveillance (Panopticon), Optimal Utilization of Resources and Personnel (Cost-Benefits), internal affairs (Malfeasance), and The Scary Clowns. She tells her story from childhood to date as her psychiatrist gently points out inconsistencies between her version and the official record.

The reader is left to question, "who is Jane Charlotte?" Ruff layers the story with basic questions of good vs. evil (characters named Wise, True, and Love all make appearances) as he leaves the reader with riddles upon riddles about the sarcastically funny Jane Charlotte.

This was a fun read. I was intrigued by the premis of the story of an underground group of assassins. But as the story progressed I started to question what was really going on. I was hoping it wasn't going to be one of those "it's all the dream". I almost didn't see the ending coming as this was a whirlwind tale with a high level of manic energy.

Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

Orphan, clock keeper, and thief, twelve-year-old Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when his world suddenly interlocks with an eccentric girl and the owner of a small toy booth in the train station, Hugo’s undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message all come together.

Winner of the 2008 Caldecott award this 526 page book is a mixture of illustrations and text. Often 10-12 pages of only illustrations will flow into a few pages of text to further tell the story. It felt strange to read a Caldecott winner that was over 32 pages. The illustrations were lovely but I didn't really care for the story until about 2/3 way into it. I felt that everyone was such an unhappy person and would delibertly not tell the truth that it got annoying to me. But I do appreciate the detail the author gives to telling the story of how cinema got it's start in the world. That part was truely amazing.

Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich

This is a "between-the-numbers" Stephanie Plum novel. We see the return of Diesel, introduced to us in Plum Lovin'.

It's St. Patrick's Day and there is a rainbow in the air. Grandma Mazur stumbles into a duffle bag full of money - lots of money. She thinks that it is lucky money and hers to keep. Let the good times roll. She is off to Atlantic City. But other people have claims on the money. The story has an interesting cast of characters including an ex-jockey who thinks that he is an invisible leprechaun (he is always lucky, but manages to fumble it away); of course there are Stephi, Lula, and Connie from the bailbonds office; Diesel appears from Stephi's past - another man in her life; a short guy hired by Grandma Mazur; the gangster Delvina; and a horse to add to the adventures and misadventures. Of course there is the money.

More of a novela than a full fledged novel it is still packed with laugh-out-loud moments. It's nice to have a mid-year book to help us make it until June when the newest installment comes out. So we'll see what comes out this summer. I guess we'll see Diesel in the mid-year books.

Always by Nicola Griffith

Aud Torvingen thriller

At the start of Griffith's intense third thriller to star Aud Torvingen (after The Blue Place and Stay), the stylish half-American, half-Norwegian lesbian ex-cop and self-defense teacher is still grieving over the shooting death of her lover, Julia, a year earlier. Also distraught over a recent violent incident involving one of her self-defense students, Aud welcomes the chance to leave Atlanta, accompanied by her friend, Matthew Dornan, to visit her ambassador mother, Else, in Seattle.

A film production company is leasing one of her warehouses, and after Aud is a victim of the various mishaps plaguing the group, she decides to take action. Now Aud's interest is personal—in more ways then one, since the female caterer working the set has caught her eye. Alternating chapters in current time with scenes from a self-defense class for women taught by Aud, Griffith controls the pacing with great style and nuance.

Adding romantic tension is Victoria "Kick" Kuiper, a caterer and former stuntwoman, to whom both Aud and Matthew are attracted. Aud's ace investigation reveals political and environmental chicanery, but more importantly, leads to a surprising lesson about love.

I think I tried to read one of the earlier books and not sure if it just didn't stick or not. I did skim the chapters that were more focused on her self-defense course as it got a bit repeative. But overall this was a book that was hard to put down. So I think I'll go back and try one of the earlier books to see how it works for me this time.

D.A. by Connie Willis


Some high school kids would do anything to be an IASA space cadet, but not Theodora Baumgarten in Willis's cheerfully tongue-in-cheek SF novella. "There's no air, you're squashed into a ship the size of a juice can, and it takes years to get anywhere interesting. If you... aren't killed first by a meteor or a solar flare or a systems malfunction." But somehow, without submitting an application, Theodora is accepted to the Academy. Soon, she's green with space sickness aboard the Academy space station (named, appropriately enough, the Robert A. Heinlein), learning the ropes with a class of robust, gung-ho cadets. Getting out will require solving the mystery of how she got into the Academy in the first place, but it might have something to do with the annotation "D.A." in her station records.

This is a very short novella - maybe 50 pages including several full page illustrations by J.K. Potter. But I do love Connie Willis even in such a brief form. I do wish a longer novel would come out or do like Charles De Lint and publish her stories in a collection. I'm thankful I can find her books at the library as it would get expensive to purchase each one on it's own no matter how lovely they are. This was a fun read and I liked how she is writting for a younger audience as we need good science fiction for teens and tweens.

I Love you Beth Cooper by Larry Doyle

After concluding he has nothing to lose, geekazoid valedictorian Denis Cooverman declares, during his graduation speech, his love for Beth Cooper, the way hot chief cheerleader. He is amazed to discover Beth is not completely repulsed by his feelings for her, although her army boyfriend, Kevin, is enraged. Beth, implausibly, later shows up at Denis's graduation party with two interchangeable sidekicks, Cammy and Treece. The party comprises exactly two guests, Denis (aka "The Coove") and his possibly gay best friend, Rich. Once Denis and Rich recover from the shock of being in the presence of pretty girls, they attempt to party, but the awkward celebration is cut short when Kevin arrives with his bruiser friends. Denis and Co. make their first of what will be several escapes, the circumstances of each providing Denis with evidence that Beth isn't the flawless goddess he'd imagined her to be.

I read some reviews of this book and were intrigued. Once I saw the hysterical cover I was hooked. I laughed and squirmed a lot during this read. You can't help but laugh at some of the awkward moments the characters share and sometimes just squirm with the uncomfortableness of it all. But I really did enjoy it.

A

Thursday Next : First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde

Fifty-two year old, Thursday Next, is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon. She is still madly in love with her writer husband, Landen Parke-Laine (who, fortunately, is fully restored after his two-year eradication by the fearsome Goliath Corporation) and their three children, one of whom may not really exist. The oldest, Friday, is sixteen, and he has turned out to be something of a slug who grunts, plays in a heavy metal band, and sleeps well into the day. Although Thursday pretends that she spends her time peddling and installing floor coverings for Acme Carpets, she is actually still very much involved in the Special Operations Network, working unofficially and under cover. She has never broken her strong ties to Jurisfiction, the policing agency within books, a job which earns her no money and is dangerous to boot. However, Thursday loves stories and she cannot resist using her considerable skills to help "maintain the continuity of the narrative within the pages of all the books ever written." Using her trusty Travelbook, she jumps into and out of the world of the printed word to hunt down malefactors.

Strange things have been happening lately. Thursday has a surreal conversation with her Uncle Mycroft, a brilliant inventor who has been dead for six years. He has no idea why he has reappeared as a ghost, but Thursday suspects that he has some unfinished business that involves her. Next, Thursday has to cope with two clones of herself who are cadets in training: one, Thursday 5, is a touchy-feely version who eats natural foods, believes in peace and love, and is so timid and nerdy that she is bound to get herself killed in short order. The other is a foul-mouthed, nasty, gun-toting version named Thursday 1-4, who is ruthless, violent, and intent on eradicating Thursday Next and taking her place. Looming over everyone in Jurisfiction is the specter of the dropping Outlander Reading Index. It seems that people in the real world (the Outland) no longer enjoy stories as they once did and the Bookworld is in danger of imminent collapse. This would be an incalculable loss for humankind.

Filled with all kinds of references to television and books it is always a treat to read the latest installment. Now I want to go back and re-read the first 4.

Richard Matheson's I am Legend by Steve Niles & Elman Brown

An illustrated novel than a comic book adaptation of I am Legend. I was surprised by the amount of very long blocks of text with only a few panels. I now want to read the original to see how it compares.

The storyline is basically a terrible plague has decimated the world, and those who were unfortunate enough to survive have been transformed into blood-thirsty creatures of the night. Except, that is, for Robert Neville. He alone appears to be immune to this disease, but the grim irony is that now he is the outsider.

Most of the book is him trying to make sense of how this could happen. Plus he attempts to explain the legendary aspects of the vampire myth in scientific terms. His discovery of a bacterium, which he dubs vampiris, as the true source of vampirism. Although we only get pieces of the story regarding the outbreak of the vampiric plague, including a reference to bombings, it can easily be seen as the fruits of germ warfare. Neville even conjectures that the Black Death of the Middle Ages was caused by this same vampiris germ, and he extrapolates facts and ideas from that history in his attempts to understand why such defenses as garlic, crosses, and stakes driven into the heart actually are effective against the hordes of undead creatures menacing his own time. He studies academic texts and conducts experiments with the blood of these creatures, which is the means by which he identifies the bacterium. The essence of garlic has no effect on the germ when injected into a blood sample, which initially he is unable to explain, but he later is able to explain garlic's effectiveness. Less scientific tests lead him to conclude that crosses are only effective against "Christian" vampires; the cross has no meaning to for vampires who were once Jews and Moslems, but sacred symbols of those religions, such as the Torah and the Koran, do. All of these scientific tests and speculations are just fascinating.

Neville is essentially the last man on earth, and the loneliness of his situation is the central part of the story. Matheson is able to communicate Neville's emotional feelings vividly, making him very real. We gradually acquire the story of the deaths of Neville's wife and daughter, essentially experiencing the pain he goes through when these memories overcome him. We watch him drink himself into a stupor as each night finds him besieged in his fortified house, surrounded by vampires, including his old friend and neighbor, calling for him to come out. We watch him slowly lose his grip on sanity and come very close to giving up. Then, however, we watch him overcome his depression and courageously fight to live in the nightmare world he is trapped in. The scenes with the dog he finds are full of emotion and really gripped this reader. This is Neville's first contact with nonvampiric life, and his attempts to befriend and help the poor creature (at the same time finally finding a companion) touched me greatly and brought tears to my eyes. His eventual discovery of another human being like himself is also powerful and emotional, although to speak more about this aspect of the story is to risk giving something away to the future reader.

This is a story of one man overcoming all obstacles and fighting to defend his way of life and his very humanity. The novel deals with the human condition, the essential ingredient to effective horror writing. Neville struggles constantly with his doubts and fears, particularly as he commits acts that he would have condemned as barbarous in the time before the plague. His needs for companionship of any kind offer us a clear image of the inner soul of man. By the end of the story, he does indeed become legend, both in his world and in ours.

Kissing Christmas Good-bye by M.C. Beaton

It's beginning to look as if the bloom has fallen off Agatha Raisin's obsessive love for her handsome ex-husband, James Lacey. Not that Agatha is about to admit to this. No. she's decided that her feelings if ennui are down to the lack of a really good investigation that she can sink her teeth into. So that when Agatha receives a letter from Phyllis Tamworthy who claims that someone in her family is trying to murder her. Agatha thinks that Phyllis Tamworthy may be a nutter, but something about the letter gives her pause. What if it is authentic? What if Phyllis Tamworthy is in real danger? With visions of Agatha Christie's "Hercule Poirot's Christmas" in mind (Christmas is after all round the corner), Agatha decides to take on the case.

In typical Agatha fashion her Christie-like visions come to nothing. Phyllis turns out to be penny-pinching bully to comes her children firmly under her thumb, while Phyllis' children seem to be so colourless and spineless a bunch, that Agatha has a hard time seeing any of them as potential killers. But when Phyllis drops dead after a truly awful tea, Agatha is sure that a very cunning murderer has struck. Quickly Agatha springs into action, determined to discover who murdered Phyllis, and no one, not the hostile police officers in charge of the case or Phyllis' equally hostile relatives or the twinge in her hip are going to stop her.

We see the addition of a new character, teenage Toni Gilmour, whose background is eerily akin to that of Agatha. Toni may be the anti-Agatha: young, beautiful, vivacious, charming and clever. Despite Agatha's occasional bursts of jealousy, the two women become friends as well as fellow detectives and Agatha's incredible generosity helping Toni softens the many hard edges she still exhibits.

The latest Agatha Raisin book is a reason to celebrate, so I saved this book to read on a my trip to San Diego. It is impossible to explain why I enjoy her books so much but I do. I cannot even remember who the murderer was but honestly that is not why I read them. I'm glad to see she might be moving past her obsession with James.

Past Perfect by Susan Isaacs

Former CIA analyst Katie Schottland receives a call from Lisa Golding, an old colleague who desperately needs her help. Katie, who was inexplicably fired from the agency some 15 years before, has since turned her experiences to profit, penning a successful cable-TV show based on her novel, Spy Games. But she remains clueless about the circumstances surrounding her termination. Lisa, it seems, knows all the devastating details and offers to offer them up in exchange for Katie's assistance. But can Katie, now ensconced in upper Manhattan, with a nice (if somewhat milquetoasty) husband and a 10-year-old son, leave behind her safe, comfortable life long enough to learn the truth?

Katie plunges back into the notes she smuggled out of the office. She seeks help from an old flame and another ex-agent (now a log-cabin recluse) who helps her trace three of Lisa's former charges at the CIA, East German asylum seekers transported to America and given new names. When two of them turn up dead within weeks of each other, Katie decides to give chase to locate the third before the woman becomes the next casualty.

Not a terribly fast read as I kept getting distracted by her whining about losing her job 15 years ago. I did enjoy her relationships with her family rather than her attemps at being a spy which she never was in the first place. This was my first attempt at reading her books and it does not really make me want to read more but I may down the road.