all your Reads in Here

It's Thursday! The end of the work week is in sight! I hope you're all reading good books (or in Glen's case, I hope he's reading books that he'll summarize with snarky one-liners that make us laugh.) I'm reading Cora Harrison's A Gruesome Discovery . It's a Reverend Mother mystery set in Cork, Ireland in the 1920s. Reverend Mother opens a trunk that has been delivered to the convent. It reeks, and, inside is the dead body of a well-to-do local businessman. I'm not far, only on page 58. But, I love this series for Reverend Mother, the history, and some of the recurring characters. What are you reading this week?

Welcome to the world of geek culture in Meghan Scott Molin's fun, fast-paced mystery, The Frame-Up . Even if you don't attend cons or read comic books, MG Martin's world is entertaining. It's repetitive to say it, but this is just a fun mystery. MG (Michael-Grace) Martin is totally immersed in geek culture. Her parents disowned her when she dropped out of law school to write comic books. And, it's that knowledge of comics and their history that involves her in a criminal investigation. She's in a coffee shop when she sees a crime scene on a man's computer and says it looks like a crime scene from an old comic. She's right, and Detective Matteo Kildaire of the LAPD is interested both in her personally, and in her knowledge. And, once she talks with Matteo, she admits "Witty banter is my Kryptonite." MG recognizes Matteo's crime scene as one starring her favorite superhero, the Hooded Falcon. She quickly becomes his consultant for the drug-re...

It's always difficult to review one of Louise Penny's books. The plots are so entwined with the characters that it's not easy to summarize the book without revealing too much. It's release date for Kingdom of the Blind , the first book Penny wrote after her beloved husband died. There are traces of Michael, traces of loss in the book. But, there's also courage and determination. David Singleton from the Charlotte Mecklenberg Public Library said "It may be her most personal book." Armand Gamache is presently suspended from his position as Chief Superintendent of the  Sûreté  du Quebec pending investigation into events the previous summer. But, he and Reine-Marie are quite content in Three Pines, the home that has become their refuge. That doesn't mean Gamache is idle. He's still planning to retrieve the drugs, the opiates that have not yet been released into the streets. He's watching for their distribution. Gamache also receives a strange lette...

Halley has been running from her problems for years. On a courier trip to Tallfors, deep in Swedish Lapland, everything is going to plan. Halley has her bag, with two precious wedding rings inside for delivery... until she doesn't. The only way to save the wedding is to team up with mysterious reindeer herder Bjorn, the one person who can lead her across the snowy tundra to be reunited with her bag. On a journey of a lifetime beneath the stars, with only the reindeer and a bad-tempered stranger for company beside the fire, Halley realises that she will need to confront her past heartaches in order to let the warmth of love in once more... Jo Thomas won me over with her debut novel The Oyster Catcher four years ago and I have loved each of her novels that she has released since then. The author has such a unique descriptive writing style that manages to create such vivid settings that transport me to places I could only ever dream of visiting. What I was looking forward to most when...

The Life of Sir Basil Brooke tells the life story of a very extraordinary man, Sir Basil Brooke, written by Sam Logan. His family originated in England and he was born in Ireland, into a family which had military service through its very DNA. One of his relatives earned a VC and he himself had an amazing record during World War 1. It was 1919 when he left the British army and took his bride

Whatever you do, don't enter Laura Bradford's Amish world in Pennsylvania expecting it to be the same as Linda Castillo's world in Ohio's Amish country.  Just Plain Murder , the sixth in Bradford's Amish mystery series, is a cozy set in a community that usually resembles it's name, Heavenly. Then, there are the troubles that disrupt any community, murder. Romantic moments between Claire Weatherly and Jakob Fisher are infrequent because of his job as a police detective. So, they steal the chance to have a picnic, but that peaceful time is one that Jakob comes to regret. He had ignored a phone call from the man who once mentored him, retired police chief Russ Granger. Granger is in town visiting his widowed daughter. Jakob knew he'd catch up with him later. But, he never had the chance because someone killed Russ outside his daughter's home. Jakob beats himself up because he wasn't there for the man who watched over him, the man Jakob admired enough to...