Heat Wave by Richard Castle

In the middle of a New York heatwave, the murder of real estate tycoon brings detective Nikki Heat to the case--and along with her comes the aggravating journalist Jameson Rook.  Nikki Heat is hit with an unexpected challenge when the commissioner assigns superstar magazine journalist Jameson Rook to ride along with her to research an article on New York's Finest. Pulitzer Prize-winning Rook is as much a handful as he is handsome. His wise-cracking and meddling aren't her only problems. As she works to unravel the secrets of the murdered real estate tycoon, she must also confront the spark between them. The one called heat.  Jameson Rook, is a fictionalized version of Richard Castle himself.  If you watch the show "Castle" this will all make more sense.

One of the fun aspects of the show is the sexual tension between Castle & Beckett and in this book it comes to fruition with a not too graphic sex scene.  In the first season we see most of the characters reading "Heat Wave" and I always wondered if it was as fun as they kept saying it was.  Now I won't say this is the most exciting mystery I ever read but I did enjoy that it just wasn't another episode rehashed and I can see how characters from the were written into this series.   I enjoyed listening to it on CD while driving and will definitely look for the 2nd one that is already in press. 

Take from Amazon.com
"Mystery sensation Richard Castle, blockbuster author of the wildly best-selling Derrick Storm novels, introduces his newest character, NYPD Homicide Detective Nikki Heat. Tough, sexy, professional, Nikki Heat carries a passion for justice as she leads one of New York City's top homicide squads.

About the Author

Richard Castle is the author of numerous bestsellers, including the critically acclaimed Derrick Storm series. His first novel, In a Hail of Bullets, published while he was still in college, received the Nom DePlume Society's prestigious Tom Straw Award for Mystery Literature. Castle currently lives in Manhattan with his daughter and mother, both of whom infuse his life with humor and inspiration."

I do enjoy the way this series is being treated as a real thing and even has the actor "Nathan Fillion" who plays Castle as the author on the back of the book. I feel like ABC and the writers of the show are having a great time with this series and if you are a fan of the show then you'll enjoy these books.

Last Seen Wearing by Colin Dexter

2nd book in the Inspector Morse series.  This is one of the  most complicated mysteries that I've ever read.   Morse & Lewis are brought in to take over a case after the investigating detective died in a car accident.  Valerie Taylor has gone missing 3 years ago and presumed dead.  But suddenly letters to her parents start arriving to bring fresh interest into the case.  Morse immediately assumes she is dead but wonders why letters would start arriving but most of all who would send them.  Is it her distraught parents, her mysterious lover or the murderer?

Morse bumbles through the case trying out theories, drinking and listening to opera.  One of my favorite scenes is him trying to get into what we would call a stripclub without paying for a ticket.  Poor Lewis is left outside to wait.   Morse eventually figures it out but then it appears his theory is wrong - but as the book ends we wonder.  Maybe he was right after all.  You need to read it to judge for yourself.

Morse is one of my favorite book and TV series.  So I enjoy going back and re-reading these.

Half-Life of Planets by Emily Franklin

Told from two alternating points of view. Liana, who loves studying about outer space, has recently been deemed a “slut” via an anonymous note, and she aims to disprove the label by not kissing anyone during summer break. Liana deals more with her own self-image as well as her disassociation with her parents. Her father is a hypercondriac and constantly in the hospital with tests.

Hank, who has a vast knowledge of music, has Asperger's syndrome, and he doesn't think that a girl would ever want to kiss him. He has is own issues with his family as we see him interact with his mother and older brother.

They meet in the hospital at the candy machine and quickly form a bond, yet as they navigate their friendship, they have a hard time expressing their individual needs.

It's really well done and it was refreshing to read a YA book that wasn't filled with drama and teen angst. Both characters felt real and it had me rooting for the ending.

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: a modest bestiary by David Sedaris and illustrations by Ian Falconer

Short stories that feature animals. Each story starts out normal enough, more or less like an Aesop's Fable, but then gets more preposterous as far as animals go and then more and more relevant to life as we live it today. But to me a lot of the stories were unneccessary violent or just depressing. At first I enjoyed Falconer's illustrations but when some were more graphic than I wanted it just left a bad taste in my mouth. I think my favorite ones were early on and as the stories got more perverse I just didn't enjoy it.

I've enjoyed the other books by Sedaris that I've read so was disappointed in this collection.

Sleeping Doll by Jeffery Deaver

Featuring Katheryn Dance

Kathryn Dance, an investigator with the California Bureau of Investigation, is the lead cop handling the escape of psychopathic killer Daniel Pell. Pell dubbed "Son of Manson" by the press for his "family" of young runaways and his most horrendous crime, the murders of computer engineer William Croyton, Croyton's wife and two of their three children. The only child left alive, nine-year-old Theresa, is known as the Sleeping Doll. Pell, charismatic and diabolically intelligent, continually eludes capture, but Dance, a specialist in interrogation and kinesics (or body language), is never more than a few suspenseful minutes behind.

As with all Deaver's books there is a big twist that kept on coming. It kept me guessing and I enjoyed learning more about Dance's character and her specialty of kinesics. This series is much less violent than his other series and I enjoy the mental aspects of it as well.

Cat getting out of a bag and other observations by Jeffrey Brown

You can tell from the cover that Jeffrey Brown knowns his cats. This small comic book captures the various mannerisms of how cats behave and act. So much of this book reminds me of my 2 cats that it made me smile and laugh. Brown obviously loves his cats and admires their quirks. Many of the comics stand alone and some combine together to make lovely little vignettes.

For cat lovers everywhere.

Espresso Tales by Alexander McCall Smith

Continues 44 Scotland Street serial that McCall Smith wrote for the Scotsman. It continues the adventures of all our favorites but mostly focuses on Bertie Pollock, the super intelligent 6 year old and his relationships with his parents and adapting to a new school and making friends.

But our other band of characters are there as well. Bruce has lost his job as a surveyor, and between admiring glances in the mirror, is contemplating becoming a wine merchant. Pat is embarking on a new life at Edinburgh University and perhaps on a new relationship, courtesy of Domenica, her witty and worldly-wise neighbor. Plus we see Ramsey Dubarton, who puts his wife, Betty, to sleep by reading her installments of his memoirs.

It makes for such a nice mix of stories, that I can't help but smile when I read them. I love everything he writes and have found that I'm really enjoying listening to this series on audio as I drive.

Any Place I Lay My Hat by Susan Isaacs

Amy Lincoln has trust issues. Her mother abandoned her after her father was first sent to prison. She was brought up in the projects by her Grandma Lil, a leg waxer and devoted Falcon Crest viewer; her amiable father, Chicky, spent most of Amy's childhood in prison on a series of minor theft raps.

A boarding school scholarship rescues Amy from lower-class oblivion; she goes on to Harvard and Columbia, then lands a job at "In Depth", a highbrow weekly magazine. Upbeat and self-deprecating, Amy spends little time bemoaning her past, but an encounter with college student Freddy Carrasco, who claims he's the illegitimate son of a Democratic presidential candidate, gets Amy wondering where her own mother might be. While advising Freddy how to approach his father, she uses her reporting skills to track down her elusive mother.

She eventually discovers her maternal grandmother living in Florida. Thankfully Amy's job takes her to Florida to cover a democratic rally. She instantly connects with her new found grandmother and wonders about her mother. Most the rest of the book is Amy trying to get up the nerve to actually find her mother as well as try to get over her recently ended 2 year relationship with John.

This was my first book by Isaacs and while there were elements I enjoyed I just kept wondering why I was reading it. I guess to see if Amy ever met her mother. It ended with a surprisingly happy ending but it felt unsatisfactory. I know Isaacs has been writting for a long time but it doesn't make me want to read more of her work.

Prime Baby by Gene Luen Yang

Eight-year-old Thaddeus Fong is insanely jealous of his baby sister and uses his intelligence as a weapon to prove his sister is really an alien or at least a portal for aliens to come through. He starts counting his sister's Ga (as this is the only sound she makes) and everytime it is a prime number. This leads him to conclude that his sister is an alien but eventually he discovers she is really a portal for aliens to come through.

So he uses his evil genius to corrupt the aliens into doing bad things like taking over the world but they keep doing good deeds like knitting socks and blankets. In a stroke of genius he manages to convince his parents that she is an alien and it works when she is taken away by the government to be studied. But surprising to him, Thad discovers that that his sister really loves him and he has broken her heart. So to make things right he shows his parents he is a portal to the aliens too so he can be with his little sister.

It is told in a delightful graphic book version. I didn't expect to really like it as much as I did. I read his other graphic novel "American Born Chinese" and enjoyed "Prime Baby" much more.

White Heat by Brenda Novak

Nate Ferrentino and Rachel Jessop shared one night of sex six months ago and it did not end well. Now they are being paired up as their roles of private investigators in Department 6 to investigate a religious cult/commune and the disappearance of one of its members. It sounds like a piece of cake assignment for Rachel, until she finds out that she will have to infiltrate the cult by posing as Nate's wife; and since she still has feelings for Nate, she will find this assignment a challenge.

Most of the novel is the almost lack of sizzle between these two as they try to infultrate the cult which is situated in a ghost town called Paradise. The cult is run by Ethan is is quickly established as a sociopath who lives off other's grief and drugs and sex. Honestly how this cult kept it together let alone how Ethan managed to keep these people in the cult I have no idea. He spends more time having sex or doing drugs than actually interacting with anyone. The only interesting twist was the gay relationship he started with his henchman.

It read quick but really had little sexual tension or substance to the story. I know that there are 2 others in the series but really have no interest in read them.

120 Days of Simon by Simon Gardenfors

Translated from Swedish, well known Swedish comicbook writer and rapper Simon Gärdenfors descides to go on an adventure and sublets his apartment for 120 days. He then posts on his website to get people to sponsor him for a maximum of 2 days. Simon gave himself only two rules: he couldn't return to his apartment and he couldn't spend more than two nights at the same place. Based on the responses he makes his map of where in Sweden he will go.

He scrupulously keeps a road diary and relies on his cell phone to keep in touch with friends and the love of his life. This of course doesn't stop him from having sex with anyone who will let him. He spends more time thinking about but it's still kind of shocking to see it done by a cartoon.

As all good things, they must eventually come to an end. He's had a great summer of alcohol, sex and adventures. Not everything went well as some of the previous girls he slept with are not happy with him and keep calling. So he spends a great deal of time avoiding them. He is way too casual about unprotected sex and not really caring about their age either. The book is kind of deceiving as it looks so cute and charlie brown like but it's way more adult than that.

So I'm not sure if I liked it or not. I found the premise interesting so that is why I wanted to read it. I was a bit disgusted by how casual Simon treats sex while touting his love of another woman.

Tricked by Alex Robinson

A new graphic novel that follows the paths of six characters who weave around one another, all finally meeting in the story's violent climax. The six are Ray Beam, a blocked and exhausted rock star; Nick, a small-time grifter; Phoebe, a daughter in search of her father; Steve, the very worst kind of music fan; Lily, a young girl drawn into Ray's artistic drama; and Caprice, a self-defeating waitress.

Again Robinson makes the characters real and believable. I think my favorite characters was Caprice, the waitress. Probably because she is a larger woman like myself. But I found her interaction much more believable than the relations between Ray Beam and Lily. The sections on Steve really terrifying and difficult to read. Robinson made it even more scary by making the text hard to read as it got more out of focus and scribbly.

I had just finished Box Office Poison a few weeks ago and enjoyed the more condensed storyline that focused on these 6 people whose lives are intertwined by a situation that hasn't happened yet. To keep the supsense going the chapters go from 49-1 almost like a countdown to the conclusion. But he really has a way of writing a story that is gritty but intriguing at the same time.

Forever Odd by Dean Koontz

Grieving the loss of his fiancee ,Stormie, killed during the climax the previous novel. Odd Thomas returns a year older later, now 21 he feels almost ancient and more rueful than ever about his gift for seeing ghosts. Elvis is still around and seems more morose than ever.

Early one morning Odd is awakened by Dr. Wilbur Jessup who appears in his pajamas. Instantly Odd knows that Dr. Jessup is dead and goes to investigate and finds the physician brutally murdered and Danny missing. Dr. Jessup is the stepfather of Danny who is Odd's best friend. Odd tracks Danny and his abductors to an abandoned casino-hotel, closed by an earthquake that killed dozens five years ago.

Quickly Odd discovers that it's a trap. Danny is bait to draw Odd to Datura, a spookily self-absorbed, wealthy porn entrepreneur and New Age nut, who, obsessed with violent death, wants Odd to make ghosts visible to her. He can't, but there are eight ghosts in the casino, one of whom comes in handy when Odd escapes Datura and her two gorillas, rescues and hides Danny, and engages in the protracted, lethal game of cat-and-mouse that changes everything for Odd.

I'm intrigued by how Koontz is developing the Odd Thomas storyline and curious to see how the future books develop.

Box Office Poison by Alex Robinson

Although the story is about an entire group of people, story of Sherman, Dorothy, Ed, Stephen, Jane, and Mr. Flavor it focuses on friends Sherman and Ed. Sherman is just out of college, wants to be a writer, but for now works in a bookstore as a clerk. He moves in with Stephen and Jane at the beginning of the story and we see his relationships develop and revolve around the apartment and the bookstore.

The shy and insecure Ed wants to become a cartoonist. Ed's storyline focuses more on him trying to gain some confidence, honesty and loyalty in the comic industry when he gets hired to work for Irving Flavor a short unhappy man who Ed discovers created one of the most successful comic book characters evermade - Nightstalker. But never got more than the $50 payoff he took 20 years previously. So Ed's mission becomes getting Mr. Flavor the reconognition and money he deserves. But as we see Mr. Flavor's history we learn that reality is very different than the stories he tells.

Most of it takes place during a year but the ending gives you a look into their futures. Robinson does a great job at making the characters look like real people (flaws and all) and has a great way of writing dialog that feels real. While this may look like a graphic novel it is more of a visual approach to fiction as it is presented in chapters.

Hide by Lisa Gardner

Follow-up to the book, Alone. Bobby Dodge, once a sniper for the Massachusetts State Police and now a police detective, gets called to a horrific crime scene in the middle of the night by fellow detective and ex-lover D.D. Warren. An underground chamber has been discovered on the property of a former Boston mental hospital containing six small naked mummified female bodies in clear garbage bags. A silver locket with one of the corpses, which may be decades old, bears the name Annabelle Granger.

Most of the story follows an unnamed woman who has been on the run for over 20 years. We eventually discover that she is Annabelle Grander. When she decides to go report to Boston Homicide offices it causes quite the stir. Especially since she physically resemblances to Catherine Gagnon (whose life Bobby saved in Alone). There is instant chemistry between Bobby and Annabelle which leads to complications.

It takes about half the book to discover that Annabelle isn't the only one who has reinvented herself. I did enjoy the background research that the first half of the book focuses on. I found Annabelle's character much more believable and enjoyed this suspensful book. Also I did not figure out who the bad guy was and was shocked when it was revealed. I did get annoyed at the end as I find Gardner seems to love to dwell on human suffering a bit too much.

But it was a good weekend or vacation read.

Colorado Kid by Stephen King

Fresh out of journalism school, Stephanie McCann is an intern at a weekly newspaper in an obscure corner off the coast of Maine. She is writing homey features and reporting on trivial stories, but she rather enjoys it. Then a big-city reporter comes to town to gather stories about "unsolved mysteries." The paper's owner and the managing editor send him away unsatisfied, and then tell Stephanie the only real unsolved mystery on the island.

Years earlier, two high school sweethearts found a dead body on the beach. There was no identification, and only a few items found with the body gave any hope of telling where he was from. Eventually it is revealed that they found out the man was from Colorado, which led to the identification of the body. The actual resolution to the mystery never comes, as the point of the story is to only share the mystery of it and how no one wants to read an incomplete story. hmmm... almost feels like a dig there by King.

I read this as I'm enjoying the SyFy show Haven that is based on this story. I had no idea how losely based as the TV show really has nothing about the story. I did enjoy the story as it's really an oral storytelling by two oldtimers who are sharing their love of the mystery with a newcomer who at heart is one of them. I have to say I enjoy King's novelas best as he has a way of capturing the situation and making one feel like you are a part of the story.

Three Weissmanns of Westport by Cathleen Schine

Betty Weissman is 75 when Joseph, her husband of 48 years, announces he's divorcing her. Soon, Betty moves out of their grand Central Park West apartment and Joseph's conniving girlfriend, Felicity, moves in. Thanks to Cousin Lou, Betty has a place to escape in a rundown Westport, Conn., beach cottage. But things quickly get more complicated when Betty's daughters run into their own problems. Literary agent Miranda is sued into bankruptcy after it's revealed that some of her authors made up their lurid memoirs, and Annie, drowning in debt, can no longer afford her apartment. Once they relocate to Westport, both girls fall in love—Annie rather awkwardly with the brother of her stepfather's paramour, and Miranda with a younger actor who has a young son.

This is a lovely story of heartache and family loyalty. The conversations between Betty and her daughters are ripe with prior resentments as well as trying to be supportive of such a shocking life change. My favorite parts were the dinner parties at Cousin Lou in which his father-in-law is suffering from Alzheimer's and doesn't know where he lives. This seems like it would be sad but honestly I laughed as he is really ok where he is but has no idea of who anyone is. He keeps asking who the man with the comb over is that keeps talking to him. What makes this funny is the person he is talking about is his daughter who has a hairdoo that rivals cotton candy. This is just one example of the wonderful conversations that take place in this story.

I would not call this chiclit but rather a lovely summer read for any age.

Faking it by Jennifer Crusie

Matilda "Tilda" Goodnight, whose chance encounter in a closet with cute con man/thief Davy Dempsey leads to madcap mayhem and breathless romance. He's trying to steal back the money he filched from Clea Lewis, ex-girlfriend (and possible husband killer), who had taken it right back. Tilda just wants her last "Scarlet" painting, which Clea has bought to impress Mason Phipps, her rich art-obsessed beau. It's the last of six forgeries Tilda did for Tony, her now deceased gallery-owner dad, and Tilda is determined to preserve her newly squeaky-clean reputation.

The whole Goodnight clan and supporting cast are entertainingly loopy. There's Tilda's mother, Gwen; her sister, Eve/Louise, a split-personality teacher/diva; her gay ex-brother-in-law, Andrew; and her precocious teenage niece, Nadine. Add a host of shady characters and would-be hitmen, and the breezy plot thickens and puffs up like the light airy doughnuts all Goodnight women are attracted to but eventually forsake for muffins: "Muffins are for the long haul and they always taste good. They don't have that oh-my-God-I-have-to-have-that thing that the doughnuts have going for them, but you still want them the next morning."

Crusie is known for her complicated romantic plots and this is no exception but more complicated than I remember. But it made for a nice weekend read. She writes comedy well and adds a nice blend of romance that is believable. Her characters are interesting and made me want to finish the story.

Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear

Massie Dobbs mystery - 4th in the series

Set in 1930's England just before WWII is going to begin. Georgiana Bassington-Hope, a pioneering female war reporter who was a classmate of Maisie's at Girton College (Cambridge), asks Maisie to investigate the death of her twin brother, Nicholas Bassington-Hope, a WWI veteran and artist. The police have ruled Nick's fall from a scaffold at a Mayfair gallery before his masterpiece could be unveiled an accident, but Georgiana suspects foul play. As Maisie delves into the art world and the dead man's unusual family, we see that class divisions still abound and dangerous political undercurrents of homegrown fascism in early 1930s Britain.

Massie Dobbs books are more about psychological development versus a true mystery. A lot of this book has Dobbs evaluating her life and those around her. I enjoyed the development between her and Billie (her assistant) whose family suffers a tragedy. Dobbs suffers from a melancholy spirit and has to find if anyone can make her happy. But I love how we see an independent woman deals with society who tries to dictate what she can and can not do. I like how the author merges history with for me is an unknown time in history. I've heard her speak a couple of times and she spends a lot of time researching her books and keeping the characters as authentic as possible.

Hallowed Murder by Ellen Hart

First in the Jane Lawless series

After discovering a sorority sister drowned near her Alma mater, restaurateur Jane Lawless embarks on an investigation to untangle the events that led to Allison Lord's death. Because little evidence exists, the police assume Allison committed suicide; but Jane is somehow convinced that the young woman was murdered. Besides the mystery we see the many issues such as fundamentalism, homosexuality, bigotry and psychological that torment the characters. Jane is herself a lesbian but while she observes various behaviors the issue is never brought up except with her good friend, Cordelia Thorn. Cordelia is really the more interesting of the 2 as she is an actress and loves food. We find out that Jane's partner died several years ago and she has isolated herself off and is trying to find her back.

It was an interesting story and it was kind of refreshing to read a lesbian story that didn't focus so much on the sex but rather the relationships. I'm intrigued enough to want to read more books that feature Jane Lawless.