Dexter by Design by Jeff Lindsay

After a brief and mostly idyllic (except for some gruesome performance art) honeymoon in Paris, Dexter has returned to Miami as a devoted husband and family man. He's even getting involved with Rita's kids as he signs Cody up for cub scouts and takes him to his first meeting.

He returns to work just in time for a string of gruesome new murders: four people who are eviscerated, filled with weird stuff (fruit and sunscreen, among other things), and artfully arranged. When it causes a media storm, a reluctant Deb asks Dexter to please help her out with the investigation. His own experiences (and the Dark Passenger) tell Dexter that this isn't an ordinary serial killer, but someone who seems to have a strange grudge against the tourist trade of Miami. It just doesn't feel like a serial killer, but where did these bodies come from? Deborah looks into the Miami Tourist commission to see who might have a grudge and surprisingly there are several.

So Deborah and Dexter go investigating together, looking into the list given to them by the Miami Tourist commission. But then things get personal for Dexter when Deb is viciously stabbed, and while Dexter saves her and captures the attacker it looks like they can't prove it. After his relief Dexter decides to take things into his own hands and silently kills him in the night. He knows something is wrong when the man whispers "Smile" as his last word and his dark passenger is whispering to him. He quickly discovers that he because he got the wrong guy! An email shows up in his inbox with a link to Utube (we know that can't be good) and it isn't as there is a video of Dexter killing him!

The other man starts making it personal when Dexter takes Cody to his next cub scout meeting and there is the den master dead on display like the previous 4 bodies. Dexter ends up on a race against time to keep Rita and the kids from being the next round of victims. But Astrid and Cody can hold there own as they defend themselves and Rita from a kidnapping and are instrumental in helping Dexter in the end. There is a kind of surprise cliff-hanger at the end.

I eagerly awaited the latest addition of Dexter, hoping it wouldn't be like the 3rd in the series which was really a disappointment. So I was very happy to read and say "Dexter is back!". The author, Jeff Lindsay, has such a way of writing with dry humor and somehow makes you cheer for someone who would be labeled a sociopath and is a serial killer. But I really can't help it as this character is so conscious of this and still tries to live a normal life. When I read about or see on TV these horrible people who do horrible things I wish there was a Dexter in real life. If that makes me a terrible person, than so be it. I have seen a couple of episodes of the show on Showtime so maybe since this is in print it isn't a graphic to me. But I do appreciate how Lindsay, shows the struggle Dexter goes through to find his place. I think we all have that struggle with finding the appropriate way to show our emotions and react.

Ice House by Minette Walters

Ten years ago, Phoebe Maybury's hateful husband David disappeared from Streech Grange after his wife caught him in bed with their traumatized daughter Jane. After the body has never been found she still live under the umbrella of suspicion of the village. Now Phoebe lives with her two friends, Anne & Diane, and the three reclusive English women have become the subject of censure and speculation during a new murder investigation.

After a rotting corpse is found in the ice house of Streech Grange, Chief Inspector Walsh sets out at once to prove it is the body of David Maybury, whom wife Phoebe was suspected of murdering when he was reported missing years earlier. Since no body was ever found, Walsh deduces that Maybury returned and was killed by Phoebe or one of her friends, Anne and Diane, who live with her at the Grange. Detective Sgt. Alan McLoughlin, however, isn't so sure, especially after the coroner says the dead man was older than David and the local belief that the three women are a lesbian menage a trois turns out to be untrue. But McLoughlin can't understand why the Grange's residents make the investigation so difficult by refusing to answer questions and sometimes openly lying.

I have been meaning to read this book for at least 8 years and finally got around to it. It is Walters first book and while at first is a bit slow, once she gets rolling the book just sucks you in. It is a intelligent, emotionally suspenseful mystery and really not a traditional British murder mystery at all. Yes there is a murder (maybe 2) but there is this suspense in wondering what is the real motive behind all this. At once point Anne is struck and left for dead. She is saved by McLoughlin who while going through his own troubles and spends the first quarter of the book drunk is really the only person who is objective enough to find the truth. McLoughlin's wife has left him for his best friend and former police detective so he isn't the most objective when it comes to women right now. Plus the 3 women seem to relish throwing their "lesbian" relationship in his face. But is it real or just a ruse? Because McLoughlin is starting to have feelings for Anne which offers us some romantic intrigue.

You really have pay attention and there were many times I had to go back and re-read. I originally tried this on CD but found myself getting frustrated with it so went back to reading. I'm really glad that I did as it lived up to what I had read about it and left me wanting to read more of her books. Walters really has a way of writing about subjects that make you uncomfortable and she really delves deep into the souls of the characters she writes about. I'm looking forward to trying her other books soon.

Daddy Long Legs (Manga adapation) Manga Literary Classics series by YKids

Combines this classic novel by Jean Webster with the graphic of a modern manga style. This adaptation of Jean Webster's novel has been beloved by young girls ever since it was published in 1912.

Jerusha Abbott was brought up at the John Grier Home, an old-fashioned orphanage. The children were wholly dependent on charity and had to wear other people's cast-off clothes. Jerusha's unusual first name was selected by the matron off a grave stone, while her surname was selected out of the phone book. At the age of 18, she has finished her education and is at loose ends, still working in the dormitories at the institution where she was brought up.

One day, after the asylum's trustees have made their monthly visit, Jerusha is informed by the asylum's dour matron that one of the trustees has offered to pay her way through college. He has spoken to her former teachers and thinks she has potential to become an excellent writer. He will pay her tuition and also give her a generous monthly allowance. Jerusha must write him a monthly letter, because he believes that letter-writing is important to the development of a writer. However, she will never know his identity; she must address the letters to Mr. John Smith, and he will never reply.

Jerusha catches a glimpse of the shadow of her benefactor from the back, and knows he is a tall long-legged man. Because of this, she jokingly calls him "Daddy Long-Legs." She attends a women's college, but the name and location are never identified; however, men from Princeton University are frequently mentioned as dates, so it is certainly on the East Coast.

The book chronicles Jerusha's educational, personal, and social growth. One of the first things she does at college is to change her name to "Judy." She designs a rigorous reading program for herself and struggles to gain the basic cultural knowledge to which she, growing up in the bleak environment of the orphan asylum, was never exposed. While she is at college, she becomes acquainted with Jervis Pendleton, the wealthy uncle of one of her classmates, and they become increasingly attached to each other, but her shame and embarrassment at her humble origins lead her to reject his marriage proposal despite her love for him. Unhappy and depressed, she turns to "Daddy Long-Legs" or John Smith, for advice. At the end of the book the true identity of "Daddy Long-Legs" is revealed.

It was interesting to read a graphic version of this classic story which was one of my personal favorites from my childhood. It is a much more flighty, silly kind of story where from my memory it had a much more serious feel to it. I do want to go back and re-read the original story to see if my memories are accurate. I did enjoy this modern adaptation but wish it had been to keep the feel of the original story.

There Goes the Bride by M.C. Beaton

Agatha Raisin mystery

Now in her 20th mystery, Agatha Raisin is overrun with cases for her new detective agency. Overworked and needing a rest, Agatha takes a holiday visiting several of Europe's most famous battlefields. She goes to Istanbul to see the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimea War. However, Agatha is horrified to see her former husband, James Lacey, and his much younger fiancée Felicity Bross-Tilkingtonare. She jumps into a taxi hoping to escape notice but James sees her and assumes that she is stalking him as he also sees her again.

Back in England, Agatha ignores his accusations and but it's difficult since she and her entire detective agency and most of the village have been invited to his wedding. Per usual Agatha buries herself in her work until the wedding. After a disasterous pre-wedding party, James confides in Agatha that he is making a terrible mistake. But as a gentleman he is going throgh with the wedding. On the wedding day as James waits for his bride to walk down the aisle; his bride is found shot dead in her wedding dress. The police suspect Agatha in a crime of passion, but fortunately she has witnesses that place her elsewhere. Olivia Bross-Tilkingtonare, Felicity's stunned distraught mother, hires Agatha to find out who killed her daughter as she distrusts the cops to do an adequate job. However, this case is much more complicated as her investigations seem to stir up more trouble than actual find the murderer.

Agatha becomes enamoured with her new love interest, Sylvan Dubois, a friend of Felicity's father; as she suspects both of them in some dubious activities. But Agatha's confidence is shaken to its core when it seems every new person she meets wants to kill her. She even starts to doubt her own ability to be a detective.

Per usual, I await for the latest Agatha Raisin book to come out. But this one was much more complicated than any I've read so far. She travels more, falls in love with several different men, manages to retire from her own detective agency. Interestingly enough Charles shows himself to be more useful and in a much more positive light in this book than ever which shows promise. All the usual suspects are in the story and Agatha finally seems to finally have some closure with James as at one point describes their relationship as "old friends". So I enjoyed this new addition and appreciate the complexity that Beaton is now giving Agatha so hopefully we'll have many more mysteries to come.

Alone by Lisa Gardner

As a sniper with the elite Massachusetts State Police SWAT Team, Bobby Dakota saved a woman and her young son by shooting her armed husband. But vicious rumors begin to circulate the next morning and then Bobby loses his gun and his privileges. It turns out the dead man was the son of a prominent Boston judge and had accused his wife of poisoning their son. Facing awkward stares and a crippling wrongful death lawsuit, Bobby begins his own investigation into the fateful shooting-and a fight to reclaim the life he holds dear. As the trail takes him into a twisted minefield of sordid wealth and family secrets, he is learning that nothing - and no one - is what they seem.

I listened to this on CD and did find myself rolling my eyes during the scenes focusing on Catherine when she would work herself up into a frenzy. It was hard to feel sorry for her when so much of her problems were self made. Some of the best parts of the book were when Bobby was talking to his shrink - mandated by his forced time off. She really helped him delve into himself to find out what motivates him to helping Catherine. He is forced to explore his own painful childhood and his relationship with his parents.

It was interesting to me that this book was written by a woman as she really made the female characters either very weak or manipulative. It was a good story and honestly I'm still not sure after I finished it how much of this was arranged by Catherine or just happenstance.

Whiteout: Melt by Greg Rucka & Steve Lieber

Sequel to the Graphic Novel Whiteout.

U.S. Deputy Marshal Carrie Stetko is on much needed vacation in New Zealand, but still stuck in professional exile in McMurdo Station in the South Pole. When a Russian base blows up suspiciously, her bosses promise to bring her back to civilization if she'll cut her vacation short to go poke around the debris.

Although Article I of the Antarctic Treaty prohibits any military use of the continent, the Russians are suspected of using their base as a weapons cache and her bosses want her to see if she can find anything out. Soon, Stetko finds herself pursing a team of elite Spetznaz troops gone mercenary who are fleeing across the ice with stolen nukes. Upping the ante, Stetko teams up with a Russian GRU agent to track the rogue Spetznaz and recover the nukes.

There's even some sexual action about midway through the story that helps connect Carrie with the Russian agent and of course complicates the story. Carrie has to decide what is right for the overall good and what is just right for her. It's always a dilemma.

This story wasn't as complicated as most of it took place on the chase across the ice to catch the Spetznaz troops. But as always the black and white illustrations are haunting as we see the desolation of Antarctica and the people who live there.

Gallows View by Peter Robinson

Inspector Banks Mystery

Introduces Inspector Alan Banks, a police detective who left London to work in Eastvale, a town in Yorkshire, where he lives with his wife and two children. Women are being terrorized in the small English town of Eastvale by a peeping tom who likes to stare at women while they undress. There has also been a series of robberies affecting this small town but the police start taking notice when they find the body of Alice Matlock. The police cannot help themselves to wander if this was the work of outsiders or if the peeping tom passion has gotten to be deadly. Inspector Banks is in charge of the case and is working together with Dr. Jennifer Fuller to try to help him understand the mind of the voyeur and to see if there is possibility that he could be dangerous.

In case you wonder how all these various cases are tied together, it really is all down to Banks as he puzzles about these random cases. He has found a new passion of Opera and listens to his tapes in the car or on his Walkman. He admits that he finds new passions every 6 months and wonders if this new one will stick. He smokes too much and while tempted by a beautiful woman he remains faithful to his wife and family. But most of all he is a dedicated policeman who strives to do the right thing.

While this was a bit more graphic than I liked, it was still an intriguing police procedural. I'll definitely try more of these down the road.

Dog on It: A Chet and Bernie Mystery by Spencer Quinn

Chet the "Jet" is a dog with one white ear and one black who failed K-9 school (cats in the open country played a role in his demise), but now he is a dedicated PI and works with Bernie, owner of the Little Detective Agency. The story is told entirely from Chet’s point of view, which gives us an interesting twist on the traditional PI mystery, and it is definitely fun to read.

Wealthy divorcée Cynthia Chambliss hires Bernie, a former cop, to find her missing 15-year-old daughter, Madison, whose father is a real estate developer who smells suspiciously of cat. (Chet's keen sense of smell comes in handy.) When Madison reappears and disappears again, her dad says she's just a runaway, though Bernie thinks otherwise.

Chet may not understand things like maps (he doesn’t need them, as he can sniff his way home), but he is a great sleuth who finds the girl and solves the case. The always upbeat Chet makes us cheer for him and realize that dogs can be detectives too. Bernie is a good detective too but sometimes you need a nose to sniff out the truth.

This was a fun read from start to finish. I now have a new favorite duo to look for next year as I'm sure there are more books to come. The only thing I wish the author would do is actually name where the characters live. It is a generic "Valley" in the desert with former ranches and open land that are now city. I guess since I live in a valley in the desert I'm curious to where this is.

Brimstone by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Pendergast mystery series

Jeremy Grove, a notorious art critic, has been found dead. Burned from the inside out, with a demonic hoof print burned into the floor, and his crucifix melted. The work of the devil? Or a sign of the Second coming?

Enter in former NYPD cop Vincent D'Agosta and then FBI Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast, a wealthy, refined and ruthless. The relationship reminds me of Holmes and Watson. Obviously Pendergast is Holmes but D'Agosta while rough and tumble is no slouch in the brains department. When another burned corpse is discovered in NYC, New York Police Captain Laura Hayward, is introduced to the case and has connections to Pendergast & D'Agosta. D'Agosta who used to work for NYPD but after retiring from the police force to write novels he's back in New York state but now working for a suberb where the first murder is discovered.

But their investigation soon takes them from the luxury estates of Long Island and penthouses of New York City to the crumbling, legend-shrouded castles of the Italian countryside, where thirty years ago four men conjured up something unspeakable. There are several storylines as a homeless man from New Mexico reads about the burned coprse and decides he needs to go to NYC to spread the word of the 2nd coming.

This was quite the "sit on the edge of your seat" reading but I found the actual resolution a bit contrived. A lot of superficial characters are briefly in the story and then never really seen again. Maybe it's because I haven't read any of the previous books so need to go and try the first one that introduces the characters. But it was definitely a fun read so will look for the earlier books in the future.

City and the City by China Mieville

A modern crime/detective story set in a unique urban fantasy setting. Two cites that exist in the same space, and overlap at areas of "crosshatching". Citizens in Ul Qoma and Bes hold on to their identities as separate nations by unseeing and unsensing citizens from the other city. To notice in areas of crosshatching is to move over to that city and to breach. Breaching is a major crime and involves the mysterious oversight policing force known as Breach. They have more power than either city's police force but only deal with crime involving the illegal travel between cities. If you breach, you disappear. Trained from birth to ignore the other city, the citizens of either city can live their entire lives in one city without ever truly seeing anything from the other one.

A blend of near-future science fiction and police procedural. Told from the point of view of Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad roams through the intertwined but separate cultures as he investigates the murder of Mahalia Geary, who believed that a third city, Orciny, hides in the blind spots between Beszel and Ul Qoma. As Mahalia's friends disappear and revolution brews, Tyador is forced to consider the idea that someone in unseen Orciny is manipulating the other cities.

I have read several reviews so when it came out on CD thought I would give it a try. Honestly it was hard to just listen to especially with the almost Eastern European sounding names and places. Also I had no idea how the cities or names were spelled until I saw the book. I did enjoy the mix of mystery with science fiction elements. Now that I've listened to it on CD I want to re-read it in print to see how it works for me.

Criminal Vol 1 - Coward by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips

Coward is the story of Leo, a professional pickpocket known as a legendary heist-planner and thief. But there's a catch with Leo, he won't work any job that he doesn't call all the shots on, he won't allow guns, and the minute things turn south, he's looking for any exit that won't land him in prison. We see one of his past heists in which everyone is killed except him as he knows when to leave a situation before the shooting starts. But is he just lucky or is he really a coward? He has to live with that guilt.

Cut to the present, he's lured into a risky heist by the widow of one of the guys killed in a the past heist. She brings on the guilt, saying he owes her for her husband's life. So he agrees to the heist even though his gut is telling him to run. He comes up with a plan but others keep changing the rules. After the heist goes wrong, all his rules go out the window, and he ends up on the run from the cops and the bad men who double-crossed him. Now Leo must come face-to-face with the violence he's kept bottled up inside for 20 years, and nothing will ever be the same for him again. Everyone seems to die around him but he can't even do that right. Is he really a coward or just a survivor?

Interesting GN. I had read about it in an online article about the Parker GN that just came out. So I thought I'd give it a try. It's gritty and shocking and definitely not happy but thought provoking. What would you do when everything seems against you and there seems like no way out but the wrong way? The illustrations are dark and sinister and the shadows show more than the light. I had to read this in small batches as the melancholy was hard to take, as I knew there wasn't going to be a happy ending. But now that I'm done I keep thinking about it.

War for the Oaks by Emma Bull

Guitarist and singer Eddi McCandry has just left a floundering band and her boyfriend when a Phouka, a man who at times is a talking dog, becomes her guardian at the behest of the Faerie Folk. Eddi soon finds herself involved with warring Faerie groups, the Seelie Court and its noble queen versus the Unseelie Court, ruled by the evil Queen of Air and Darkness. The Seelie Court has chosen Eddi because there's "power in a mortal soul that all of Faerie cannot muster." The Faerie need a mortal to give them the mortality on the warring field as it is the only way to have casualties.

In between the battles and conflicts Eddi assembles a new band composed of her close friend Carla on drums, Dan Rochelle on keyboards, mumbling Hedge on bass and Willy Silver on lead guitar. Together they become part of the magic and form the base for Eddi's own powers, which she has acquired from her new place in Faerie. She decides to name the new band "Eddi and the Feys" as a kind of inside joke to her new life. But it will take all the band's power, all that the Seelie court has to offer, and a bit of pure luck besides to win the battle for Minneapolis. Especially when nothing is quite what it seems, for if the Fay never lie, they still can twist the truth to the quick.

The real strength of the story is pure knowledge of rock music and the field, the contribute to the climax, a struggle between Eddi and the dark queen at a concert.

I read this book several years ago and was really pleased to get to read it again for my bookclub. What fun, as it is still as fresh and innovative as the first time I read it. It reminds me why I enjoy urban fantasy and need to read more again.

Bootlegger's Daughter by Margaret Maron

Deborah Knott series

This book introduces attorney Deborah Knott, the daughter of an infamous North Carolina bootlegger, a local girl who is now running for a district court judgeship. 18-year-old Gayle Whitehead (whom Deb babysat) asks her to investigate the unsolved murder of her mother, Janie, which took place when Gayle was an infant. The girl wants Deb, who knows the locals of Cotton Grove, to ask around and see if she can find clues the police might have missed. Deb visits Michael Vickery, the gay son of Cotton Grove's retired doctor and owner of the property where Janie's body was found.

During the visit they are shot at by an unknown person who Deb suspects is Michael's partner Den. The next day Deb receives a call from an employee of Pot Shop who says neither man has shown up for work that day - she also says Den had called Deb and left her a message to meet him at the theater as he had something to give her. Realizing that she had missed his message Deb goes to the theater only to discover a dead boy - shot in the face- assumed to be Den, in the parking lot. After the initial autopsy it is found to be Michael instead.

Den comes to her asking for her legal advice. But is what he is telling her the truth or just a game he is playing? So while trying to win her judgeship she is doing her best to find the truth. Along the way she discovers long-kept secrets, learning that Janie had a roving eye and that her best friend had made overtures to Janie a week before the murder. But as is often the case, the answer is not obvious or easy.

I had read about this series so finally decided to try it out. I'm not a big fan of legal mysteries but do enjoy a good Southern story. I was happy to discover that the legal aspect was not the primary one so was able to enjoy it. I did find the main character's way of almost having conversations with herself to be somewhat distracting as it didn't really fit the rest of the story. But I enjoyed the characters and the politics you have to play to get the vote. I'll definitely read another one.

Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie & Bob Mayer

Agnes Crandall is a feisty food writer and cookbook author on her third fiancé, Taylor Beaufort. Though their future looks bright, their romance is curdling, partly due to their deal with widowed mob wife Brenda Fortunato (who is selling them her old house) to hold a Fortunato family wedding at their house in exchange for three months of payments.

While making dinner an armed thug tries to kidnap Agnes's dog so after Agnes bonks him on the head a few times with a frying pan he falls to his death through a false door to the basement (that Agnes didn't even know was there). Agnes calls the police but her friend Joey, a Fortunato family friend (and mobster) asks hit man Shane to keep an eye on Agnes. Cue the romantic interest. After many more head bashings with the frying pan and shootouts that call for the clean up expertise of Mr. Carpenter, Shane starts to wonder who is behind all this.

Meanwhile the wedding must go on or Agnes will lose the house to Brenda. But now she is starting to wonder if maybe Brenda is trying to screw Agnes out of the house as she seems to be sabotaging the wedding right and left. Many more cast of characters from the very bridizilla, Maria, and the groom who might be getting cold feet.

It is an interesting mix of the South meets New York gangsters. There are laugh out loud moment but not as many as I had hoped as this became quite the complicated story - primarily because of all the characters.

Late, Lamented Molly Marx by Sally Koslow

The book opens with a funeral. Molly Marx is 35 when she dies in an unexplained bicycle accident, and she is watching her own funeral. She chooses to watch her loved ones after her death. Molly's life is cut short during a bicycle ride in Riverside Park on a rainy day, and she suddenly finds herself in a place called the Duration.

Molly was married to a successful plastic surgeon (who has cheated on her since their wedding day and comes equipped with a stereotypical over protective Jewish mother), has a four year-old daughter she loves with all her heart, close relationships with her family, good friends, a fulfilling and creative career, and a handsome, secret lover who might just be her soulmate.

After her death when she wakes up in the Duration, she discovers that she is equipped with a fully functioning bull*&$ meter, and Molly watches as life goes on without her. Each chapter starts with important events that occurred before Molly's death, so the reader is given clues to perspectives of Molly's life from her memories, current events, the thoughts of her loved ones, and even an NYC detective who is trying to discover how Molly died.

But in the end, how Molly died is less important than how she lived, and how pieces of Molly lived on in others, long after she was gone.

This book reminded me of Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold kind of merging with Sex and the City. But I did really enjoy it. The ending was a bit contrived and really tried to tie up everything. I think I enjoyed the chapters that dealt with her relationships as she realizes that she really didn't value herself until after she saw how it affected her family and friends and even her husband who seemed more focused on apperances rather than just being.

Flood by Andrew Vachss

The main character a private detective known as Burke, comes to the assistance of a young woman named Flood. She is searching for a psychotic freak known as the Cobra, a child molester who has murdered her closest friend's child. After much fighting and chasing her down Burke finally accepts the job. Not necessarily a hitman, Burke is more of an avenging angel for hire, if he can be convinced the cause is worthy, and his dog Pansy doesn't rip a prospective client to shreds. His existence consists of an odd assortment of hookers, restaurant owners, gambling, and Max the Silent, his spiritual brother, and possibly the most dangerous man on Earth.

This is not a quick or easy or clean read. It makes you stop and think really shudder a bit as the story revolves around an underworld of S&M, perversion, and snuff films. Unfortunately we know from watching the news these things really do exist. Vachss is a lawyer specializing in child abuse cases and bases his stories on many true life situations he had found himself involved in.

The characters are interesting and intriguing and I'll probably read more but it will be awhile before my brain can really take another one.

Comforts of a Muddy Saturday by Alexander McCall Smith

Isabel Dalhousie Mystery

Edinburgh moral philosopher Isabel Dalhousie is living her life as best she can. She's recently assumed ownership of the obscure journal she's edited for many years, the Review of Applied Ethics. While this seems straightforward she has the dilemma of a former member of the board who submitted a paper for publication.

She is approached by a woman she meets at a dinner to investigate her husband, Marcus Moncrieff a doctor accused of scientific fraud. Did Dr. Moncrieff manipulate the data for a drug developed by the same company that funded his research? But as often is the case it is much more complicated than it first appears. It turns out that Dr. Moncrieff’s nephew, who is also his assistant, might have had good reason to exact revenge on his uncle. (At issue is the inheritance of a large farm on Scotland’s Black Isle.)

Meanwhile, Isabel’s much younger boyfriend, Jamie, continues to dote on Isabel and their infant son, Charlie. (Alas, Jamie’s extraordinary good looks have Isabel forever worrying that he will lose interest in her.) There are other moral dilemmas, too. Isabel suspects that Eddie, the vulnerable young man who works at Isabel’s niece’s deli, lied about the reason he needs to borrow money. And Grace, Isabel’s very assertive housekeeper, has been telling local residents that her adorable Charlie is her own.

Most of the story is Isabel contimplating how to best approach situations she is uncomfortable with. I enjoy her musings but find myself getting a bit tired of her fears about Jamie leaving her. Plus I really cannot stand her niece Cat who thankfully is not around much during this book. It is always like a quick vacation to Edinburgh and this is a much cheaper option.

Whiteout by Greg Rucka & Steve Lieber

Graphic novel set in Antarctica on a station with nothing but ice and snow for miles and miles. It is cold and desolete and the black and white drawings illustrate the starkness and almost depressive state of it all. Carrie Stetko is a U.S. Marshal, and though she's been exiled there she's made The Ice her home. Because she is one of the few year round women who live there she has to be cold and mean and hard to survive it. But she has also found a place where she can forget her troubled past and feel at peace. Then someone commits a murder in her jurisdiction and that peace is shattered. The murderer is one of five men scattered across the continent, and he has more reason to hide than just the slaying. Several ice samples were taken from the area around the body, and the depth of the drilling signifies something particular was removed. Enter Lily Sharpe, a British intellegence agent or spook, who wants to know what was so important another man's life had to be taken for it.

Just saw a movie trailer for a movie Whiteout based on this GN. This was a gritty and intense GN, I had to go back and reread sections as there is a lot packed into what originally looks like a simple story. It will be interesting to see how this translates on the big screen. There is one amazing sequence as Stetko and Sharpe are tied to a line and go out during a Whiteout to hunt down the killer. You see why the book is called the name as both are blind in their quest for the truth and finding the killer. Because of the harsh conditions everyone looks the same as they all wear the same gear so while you assume you know who the killer is you cannot be exactly sure.

Star Trek Archives Volume 1: Best of Peter David
Includes 5 original comics in one collection
Star Trek Annual #3 - Retrospect
Star Trek #13-15 - Return of the Worthy series - co-written by Bill Mumy
Star Trek #19 - Once a Hero

Great fun. I am a big fan of Peter David - I've read most of his earlier work and was not aware he had written Star Trek comics. So when I saw this in my local comic book store on Thursday I had to buy it. All of these focus on the original Star Trek crew and seem to be after ST2. All of these have a definite nostalgic feel as the various ST crew deal with loss.

Retrospect focuses on Scotty, it beings as he receives a package from home we see him grieve for the woman whom he loved. The story is told in reverse and ends with the first time they meet as young children in Scotland. Very sweet and always nice to see a story revolve around Scotty.

Worthy is a trio of comics that focus on the legend of the Worthy that are discovered by the Enterprise when they are exploring the planet before they set up the Lamver Unit, which is an inter-planetary device which is scheduled to be tested on the planet. During their exploration they are attached by a flying robot and discover a small space vessel which houses several humanoids in suspended animation. As they wake up the humanoids they find out that they are the Worthy who are legendary beings who go from world to world saving them. The storyline goes from the crew of the Enterprise getting to know the Worthy to deciding not to use the planet as a test sight as it is now a burial ground for the fallen Worthy to taking them home and finding it destroyed. In the end the Worthy decide to take back up their mission and save planets from a fate their planet suffered.

Once a Hero - is mostly about Kirk trying to come to terms that a member of his crew, Ensign Lee died to save Kirk's life but no one including Kirk knows anything about Lee except his name and rank. The storyline focuses on Kirk interviewing various members of the crew who interacted with Lee to see what they know about him as well as re-living the mission that ends Lee's life. It ends with a eulogy in which Kirk challenges everyone to get to know their fellow crew members no matter how insignificant they might be.

Now unless you are a Star Trek fan these comics won't do much for you. But Peter David has written so many novels for Star Trek that it really shows in these comics plus he writes really excellent dialog. I so enjoyed it.

Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon

Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery

When legendary German conductor Helmut Wellauer is found dead in his dressing room two acts into a performance of La Traviata , police commissario Guido Brunetti is called in. Among those who might have provided the cyanide poison that killed the maestro, immediate suspects include the much younger wife and many in the music industry who are offended by his homophobia. Methodically probing into the victim's past, Brunetti also uncovers Wellauer's Nazi sympathies and a lead to a trio of singing sisters from yesteryear--one now destitute, one dead and the other missing.

You truly feel like you are wondering around Venice in this book. But what I enjoyed even more than exploring Venice was observing Guido interact with his family; his moody teenage son, mathematically driven sure-footed pre-teen daughter, and his independent English Professor wife who he truly does love and desire even when his eye is drawn to other women. Plus he has an almost love/hate relationship with his very wealthy in-laws. I felt like I was there watching over his shoulder as he interviewed the various suspects and tried to unravel who killed the conductor and most of all why. They mystery is finally resolved at the end with a surprising twist but satisfactory conclusion. I am intrigued enough to read more.