Mary's bookshelf: all en-US Fri, 24 Jan 2025 23:03:25 -0800 60 Mary's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Loving 7501925 384 Danielle Steel 0307566633 Mary 3 3.33 Loving
author: Danielle Steel
name: Mary
average rating: 3.33
book published:
rating: 3
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date added: 2025/01/24
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]]> The Bonfire of the Vanities 8146622 The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers and the cultural U-turn at the turn of the '80s in The Right Stuff, nobody thought he could ever top himself again. In 1987, when The Bonfire of the Vanities arrived, the literati called Wolfe an "aging enfant terrible."

He wasn't aging; he was growing up. Bonfire's pyrotechnic satire of 1980s New York wasn't just Wolfe's best book, it was the best bestselling fiction debut of the decade, a miraculously realistic study of an unbelievably status-mad society, from the fiery combatants of the South Bronx to the bubbling scum at the top of Wall Street. Sherman McCoy, a farcically arrogant investment banker (dubbed a "Master of the Universe," Wolfe's brilliant metaphorical co-opting of a then-important toy for boys), hits a black guy in the Bronx with his Mercedes and runs--right into a nightmare peopled by vicious mistresses, thin wives like "social x-rays," slime-bag politicos, tabloid hacks, and Dantesque denizens of the "justice" system. If the Coen and Marx brothers together dramatized The Great Gatsby, Wolfe's Bonfire would probably be funnier. Many think his second novel, A Man in Full, is deeper, but Bonfire will never die down.

You might find it interesting to compare the film The Bonfire of the Vanities, a fascinating calamity perpetrated by the geniuses Brian De Palma and Tom Hanks, with The Right Stuff, one of the very best films of the '80s. --Tim Appelo

]]> 686 Tom Wolfe Mary 5 4.26 1987 The Bonfire of the Vanities
author: Tom Wolfe
name: Mary
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1987
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/09/24
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]]> White Shadow 1144187 402 Ace Atkins 0425214907 Mary 3 3.52 2006 White Shadow
author: Ace Atkins
name: Mary
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2006
rating: 3
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date added: 2024/03/03
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]]> <![CDATA[The Detective Up Late (The Sean Duffy Series)]]> 199343280 354 Adrian McKinty 1504762630 Mary 5 4.34 2018 The Detective Up Late (The Sean Duffy Series)
author: Adrian McKinty
name: Mary
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2018
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/03/02
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]]> <![CDATA[Three-Inch Teeth (Joe Pickett, #24)]]> 197211752
A rogue grizzly bear has gone on a rampage—killing, among others, the fiancee of Joe’s daughter. At the same time, Dallas Cates, who Joe helped lock up years ago, is released from prison with a list of six names tattooed on his skin. He wants revenge on the people who sent him the people he blames for the deaths of his entire family and the loss of his reputation and property.
    Targeted are a judge, the county prosecutor, his lawyer, a prison guard—and both Nate Romanowski and Joe Pickett. Using the grizzly attacks as cover, Cates devises a method of violence identical to the bear killings and sets out to methodically check off his list.]]> 371 C.J. Box 0593331346 Mary 3 4.26 2024 Three-Inch Teeth (Joe Pickett, #24)
author: C.J. Box
name: Mary
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2024
rating: 3
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date added: 2024/02/29
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]]> <![CDATA[Cave of Bones (Leaphorn & Chee, #22)]]> 35712819
A New York Times Bestseller

Anne Hillerman brings together modern mystery, Navajo traditions, and the evocative landscape of the desert Southwest in this intriguing entry in the Leaphorn, Chee, and Manuelito series.

When Tribal Police Officer Bernadette Manuelito arrives to speak at an outdoor character-building program for at-risk teens, she discovers chaos. Annie, a young participant on a solo experience due back hours before, has just returned and is traumatized. Gently questioning the girl, Bernie learns that Annie stumbled upon a human skeleton on her trek. While everyone is relieved that Annie is back, they’re concerned about a beloved instructor who went out into the wilds of the rugged lava wilderness bordering Ramah Navajo Reservation to find the missing girl. The instructor vanished somewhere in the volcanic landscape known as El Malpais. In Navajo lore, the lava caves and tubes are believed to be the solidified blood of a terrible monster killed by superhuman twin warriors.

Solving the twin mysteries will expose Bernie to the chilling face of human evil. The instructor’s disappearance mirrors a long-ago search that may be connected to a case in which the legendary Joe Leaphorn played a crucial role. But before Bernie can find the truth, an unexpected blizzard, a suspicious accidental drowning, and the arrival of a new FBI agent complicate the investigation.

While Bernie searches for answers in her case, her husband, Sergeant Jim Chee juggles trouble closer to home. A vengeful man he sent to prison for domestic violence is back—and involved with Bernie’s sister Darleen. Their relationship creates a dilemma that puts Chee in uncomfortable emotional territory that challenges him as family man, a police officer, and as a one-time medicine man in training.

Anne Hillerman takes us deep into the heart of the deserts, mountains, and forests of New Mexico and once again explores the lore and rituals of Navajo culture in this gripping entry in her atmospheric crime series.]]> 323 Anne Hillerman Mary 4 4.14 2018 Cave of Bones (Leaphorn & Chee, #22)
author: Anne Hillerman
name: Mary
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2018
rating: 4
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date added: 2024/02/21
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]]> <![CDATA[The Way of the Bear (Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito, #26)]]> 61812400 Fossil harvesting, ancient lore, greed, rejected love and murder combine in this gripping new installment of New York Times bestselling author Anne Hillerman's Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito series.

An unexpected death on a lonely road outside of Utah's Bears Ears National Park raises questions for Navajo Tribal Police officers Jim Chee and Bernadette Manuelito. Why would a seasoned outdoorsman and well-known paleontologist freeze to death within walking distance of his car? A second death brings more turmoil. Who is the unidentified man killed during a home invasion where nothing seems to have been taken? Why was he murdered?

The Bears Ears area, at the edge of the Navajo Nation, is celebrated for its abundance of early human habitation sites and the discovery of unique fossils which revolutionized the scientific view of how early animals dealt with their changing world. For Chee and Bernie, the area glows with geological interest and spiritual insight. But their visit to this achingly beautiful place is disrupted by a current of unprecedented violence that sweeps them both into danger.

An illicit business, a fossilized jaw bone, hints of witchcraft, and a mysterious disappearance during a blizzard and to the peril. It will take all of Manuelito's and Chee's experience, skill, and intuition to navigate the threats that arise beneath the twin buttes that give Bears Ears its name and to see justice served.]]> 281 Anne Hillerman 0062908391 Mary 4 3.82 2023 The Way of the Bear (Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito, #26)
author: Anne Hillerman
name: Mary
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2023
rating: 4
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date added: 2024/02/19
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]]> <![CDATA[The Sacred Bridge (Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito, #25)]]> 58587866 "A fine legacy series . . . in the spirit of her late father, Tony."--Booklist

An ancient mystery resurfaces with ramifications for the present day in this gripping chapter in the Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito series from New York Times bestselling author Anne Hillerman.

Sergeant Jim Chee's vacation to beautiful Antelope Canyon and Lake Powell has a deeper purpose. He's on a quest to unravel a sacred mystery his mentor, the Legendary Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, stumbled across decades earlier.

Chee's journey takes a deadly turn when, after a prayerful visit to the sacred Rainbow Bridge, he spots a body floating in the lake. The dead man, a Navajo with a passion for the canyon's ancient rock art, lived a life filled with many secrets. Discovering why he died and who was responsible involves Chee in an investigation that puts his own life at risk.

Back in Shiprock, Officer Bernadette Manuelito is driving home when she witnesses an expensive sedan purposely kill a hitchhiker. The search to find the killer leads her to uncover a dangerous chain of interconnected revelations involving a Navajo Nation cannabis enterprise.

But the evil that is unleashed jeopardizes her mother and sister Darleen, and puts Bernie in the deadliest situation of her law enforcement career.]]> 308 Anne Hillerman 0062908367 Mary 4 3.89 2022 The Sacred Bridge (Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito, #25)
author: Anne Hillerman
name: Mary
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2022
rating: 4
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date added: 2024/02/18
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]]> <![CDATA[Stargazer (Leaphorn & Chee, #24)]]> 54573153
What begins as a typical day for Officer Bernadette Manuelito—serving a bench warrant, dealing with a herd of cattle obstructing traffic, and stumbling across a crime scene—takes an unexpected twist when she’s called to help find an old friend. Years ago, Bernie and Maya were roommates, but time and Maya’s struggles with addiction drove them apart. Now Maya’s brother asks Bernie to find out what happened to his sister.

Tracing Maya’s whereabouts, Bernie learns that her old friend had confessed to the murder of her estranged husband, a prominent astronomer. But the details don’t align. Suspicious, Bernie takes a closer look at the case only to find that nothing is as it seems. Uncovering new information about the astronomer’s work leads Bernie to a remote spot on the Navajo Nation and a calculating killer.

The investigation causes an unexpected rift with her husband and new acting boss, Jim Chee, who’s sure Bernie’s headed for trouble. While she’s caught between present and past, Chee is at a crossroads of his own. Burdened with new responsibilities he didn’t ask for and doesn’t want, he must decide what the future holds for him and act accordingly.

Can their mentor Joe Leaphorn—a man also looking at the past for answers to the future—provide the guidance both Bernie and Chee need? And will the Navajo heroes that stud the starry sky help them find justice—and the truth they seek?]]> 326 Anne Hillerman 0062908359 Mary 4 4.28 2021 Stargazer (Leaphorn & Chee, #24)
author: Anne Hillerman
name: Mary
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2021
rating: 4
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date added: 2024/02/16
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]]> <![CDATA[The Tale Teller (Leaphorn & Chee, #23)]]> 40788134
Joe Leaphorn may have retired from the Tribal Police, but he finds himself knee-deep in a perplexing case involving a priceless artifact—a reminder of a dark time in Navajo history. Joe’s been hired to find a missing biil, a traditional dress that had been donated to the Navajo Nation. His investigation takes a sinister turn when the leading suspect dies under mysterious circumstances and Leaphorn himself receives anonymous warnings to beware—witchcraft is afoot.

While the veteran detective is busy working to untangle his strange case, his former colleague Jim Chee and Officer Bernie Manuelito are collecting evidence they hope will lead to a cunning criminal behind a rash of burglaries. Their case takes a complicated turn when Bernie finds a body near a popular running trail. The situation grows more complicated when the death is ruled a homicide, and the Tribal cops are thrust into a turf battle because the murder involves the FBI.

As Leaphorn, Chee, and Bernie draw closer to solving these crimes, their parallel investigations begin to merge . . . and offer an unexpected opportunity that opens a new chapter in Bernie’s life.]]> 288 Anne Hillerman Mary 4 4.28 2019 The Tale Teller (Leaphorn & Chee, #23)
author: Anne Hillerman
name: Mary
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2019
rating: 4
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date added: 2024/02/14
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]]> <![CDATA[Song of the Lion (Leaphorn & Chee, #21)]]> 31280668
New York Times Bestseller

“Fans of Leaphorn, Chee, and Manuelito, characters created by the author’s father, Tony Hillerman, will savor this multilayered story of suspense, with its background of contemporary environmental vs. development issues.” — Library Journal

A deadly bombing takes Navajo Tribal cops Bernadette Manuelito, Jim Chee, and their mentor, the legendary Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, back into the past to find a vengeful killer in this riveting Southwestern mystery from the bestselling author of Spider Woman’s Daughter and Rock with Wings.

When a car bomb kills a young man in the Shiprock High School parking lot, Officer Bernadette Manuelito discovers that the intended victim was a mediator for a multi-million-dollar development planned at the Grand Canyon.

But what seems like an act of ecoterrorism turns out to be something far more nefarious. Piecing together the clues, Bernadette and her husband, Sergeant Jim Chee, uncover a scheme to disrupt the negotiations and inflame tensions between the Hopi and Dine tribes.

Retired Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn has seen just about everything in his long career. As the tribal police’s investigation unfolds, he begins to suspect that the bombing may be linked to a cold case he handled years ago. As he, Bernadette, and Chee carefully pull away the layers behind the crime, they make a disturbing a meticulous and very patient killer with a long-simmering plan of revenge.

Writing with a clarity and grace that is all her own, Anne Hillerman depicts the beauty and mystery of Navajo Country and the rituals, myths, and customs of its people in a mystery that builds on and complements the beloved, bestselling mysteries of her acclaimed father, Tony Hillerman.]]> 307 Anne Hillerman 0062391895 Mary 4 4.28 2017 Song of the Lion (Leaphorn & Chee, #21)
author: Anne Hillerman
name: Mary
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2017
rating: 4
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date added: 2024/02/12
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]]> <![CDATA[Rock with Wings (Leaphorn & Chee, #20)]]> 22934457
Doing a good deed for a relative offers the perfect opportunity for Sergeant Jim Chee and his wife, Officer Bernie Manuelito, to get away from the daily grind of police work. But two cases will call them back from their short vacation and separate them—one near Shiprock, and the other at iconic Monument Valley.

Chee follows a series of seemingly random and cryptic clues that lead to a missing woman, a coldblooded thug, and a mysterious mound of dirt and rocks that could be a gravesite. Bernie has her hands full managing the fallout from a drug bust gone wrong, uncovering the origins of a fire in the middle of nowhere, and looking into an ambitious solar energy development with long-ranging consequences for Navajo land.

Under the guidance of their mentor, retired Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, Bernie and Chee will navigate unexpected obstacles and confront the greatest challenge yet to their skills, commitment, and courage.]]> 322 Anne Hillerman 0062270516 Mary 4 3.75 2015 Rock with Wings (Leaphorn & Chee, #20)
author: Anne Hillerman
name: Mary
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2015
rating: 4
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date added: 2024/02/11
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]]> <![CDATA[Spider Woman's Daughter (Leaphorn & Chee, #19)]]> 17349269
Bernie and Chee discover that a cold case involving Chee’s former boss and partner, retired lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, may hold the key to the shooting. Digging into the old investigation with fresh eyes and new urgency, husband and wife find themselves inching closer to the truth with every clue . . . and closer to a killer who will do anything to prevent justice from taking its course.]]> 301 Anne Hillerman 0062270486 Mary 4 3.86 2013 Spider Woman's Daughter (Leaphorn & Chee, #19)
author: Anne Hillerman
name: Mary
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2013
rating: 4
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date added: 2024/02/08
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]]> <![CDATA[Skeleton Man (Leaphorn & Chee, #17)]]> 48082 In 1956, an airplane crash left the remains of 172 passengers scattered among the majestic cliffs of the Grand Canyon - including an arm attached to a briefcase containing a fortune in gems. Half a century later, one of the missing diamonds has reappeared... and the wolves are on the scent.

Former Navajo Tribal Police Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn is coming out of retirement to help exonerate a slow, simple kid accused of robbing a trade post. Billy Tuve claims he received the diamond he tried to pawn from a mysterious old man in the canyon, and his story has attracted the dangerous attention of strangers to the Navajo lands - one more interested in a severed limb than the fortune it was attached to; another willing to murder to keep lost secrets hidden. But nature herself may prove the deadliest adversary, as Leaphorn and Sergeant Jim Chee follow a puzzle - and a killer - down into the dark realm of Skeleton Man.]]> 336 Tony Hillerman 006056346X Mary 4 3.94 2004 Skeleton Man (Leaphorn & Chee, #17)
author: Tony Hillerman
name: Mary
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2004
rating: 4
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date added: 2024/01/24
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]]> <![CDATA[Coyote Waits (Leaphorn & Chee #10)]]> 40383103
Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn believes there is much more to this outrage than what appears on the surface, as he and Jim Chee set out to unravel a complex weave of greed and death that involves a historical find and a lost fortune. But the hungry and mythical trickster Coyote is waiting, as always, in the shadows to add a strange and deadly new twist.]]> 368 Tony Hillerman Mary 3 4.14 1990 Coyote Waits (Leaphorn & Chee #10)
author: Tony Hillerman
name: Mary
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1990
rating: 3
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date added: 2024/01/23
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]]> <![CDATA[The Shape Shifter (Leaphorn & Chee, #18)]]> 48081 Since his retirement from the Navajo Tribal Police, Joe Leaphorn has occasionally been enticed to return to work by former colleagues who seek his help when they need to solve a particularly puzzling crime. They ask because Leaphorn, aided by officers Jim Chee and Bernie Manuelito, always delivers.

But this time the problem is with an old case of Joe's--his "last case," unsolved, is one that continues to haunt him. And with Chee and Bernie just back from their honeymoon, Leaphorn is pretty much on his own.

The original case involved a priceless, one-of-a-kind Navajo rug supposedly destroyed in a fire. Suddenly, what looks like the same rug turns up in a magazine spread. And the man who brings the photo to Leaphorn's attention has gone missing. Leaphorn must pick up the threads of a crime he'd thought impossible to untangle. Not only has the passage of time obscured the details, but it also appears that there's a murderer still on the loose.

New York Times bestselling author Tony Hillerman is at the top of his form in this atmospheric and riveting novel set amid the rugged beauty of his beloved Southwest.]]> 276 Tony Hillerman 0060563451 Mary 4 3.99 2006 The Shape Shifter (Leaphorn & Chee, #18)
author: Tony Hillerman
name: Mary
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2006
rating: 4
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date added: 2024/01/07
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]]> <![CDATA[The Sinister Pig (Leaphorn & Chee, #16)]]> 48092
But if a hunter were involved, Chee knows the prey was intentionally human. This belief is shared by the "Legendary Lieutenant" Joe Leaphorn, who once again is pulled out of retirement by the possibility of serious wrongs being committed against the Navajo nation by the Washington bureaucracy. Yet it is former policewoman Bernadette Manuelito, recently relocated to Customs Patrol at the U.S. -- Mexico border, who possibly holds the key to a fiendishly twisted conspiracy of greed, lies, and murder -- and whose only hope for survival now rests in the hands of friends too far away for comfort.]]> 318 Tony Hillerman 0061098787 Mary 4 3.87 2003 The Sinister Pig (Leaphorn & Chee, #16)
author: Tony Hillerman
name: Mary
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2003
rating: 4
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date added: 2023/12/24
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]]> <![CDATA[The Fallen Man (Leaphorn & Chee, #12)]]> 48115 From New York Times bestselling author Tony Hillerman comes another thrilling mystery featuring Leaphorn & Chee who must investigate a cold case that has far more personal consequences than expected.

“G°ůľ±±č±čľ±˛Ô˛µ.â€Ĺ¨¶Ä�New York Times Book Review

Human bones lie on a ledge under the peak of Ship Rock mountain, the remains of a murder victim undisturbed for more than a decade. Three hundred miles across the Navajo reservation, a harmless old canyon guide is felled by a sniper's bullet. 

Joe Leaphorn, recently retired from the Navajo Tribal Police, believes the shooter and the skeleton are somehow connected and recalls a chilling puzzle he was previously unable to solve. But Acting Lieutenant Jim Chee is too busy to take an interest in a dusty cold case . . . until the reborn violence of it hits much too close to home.]]> 320 Tony Hillerman 0061092886 Mary 4 4.07 1996 The Fallen Man (Leaphorn & Chee, #12)
author: Tony Hillerman
name: Mary
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1996
rating: 4
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date added: 2023/12/17
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]]> <![CDATA[Resurrection Walk: The Brand New Blockbuster Lincoln Lawyer Thriller]]> 202294327
Bosch pulls a needle from the haystack: a woman in prison for killing her husband, a sheriff’s deputy, but who still maintains her innocence. Bosch reviews the case and sees elements that don’t add up, and a sheriff’s department intent on bringing quick justice in the killing of one of its own.

Now Haller has an uphill battle in court, a David fighting Goliaths to vindicate his client. The path for both lawyer and investigator is fraught with danger from those who don’t want the case reopened and will stop at nothing to keep the Haller-Bosch dream team from finding the truth. Packed with intrigue and courtroom drama, Resurrection Walk shows once again that Michael Connelly is “the most consistently superior living crime fiction author� (South Florida Sun Sentinel).]]> 416 Michael Connelly 1398718963 Mary 3 Meh 4.46 2023 Resurrection Walk: The Brand New Blockbuster Lincoln Lawyer Thriller
author: Michael Connelly
name: Mary
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2023
rating: 3
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date added: 2023/12/09
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Meh
]]> <![CDATA[The Dark Wind (Leaphorn & Chee, #5)]]> 48093 290 Tony Hillerman 0061000035 Mary 3 4.07 1981 The Dark Wind (Leaphorn & Chee, #5)
author: Tony Hillerman
name: Mary
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1981
rating: 3
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date added: 2023/12/03
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]]> <![CDATA[Talking God (Leaphorn & Chee, #9)]]> 766567 338 Tony Hillerman 006109918X Mary 4 4.03 1989 Talking God (Leaphorn & Chee, #9)
author: Tony Hillerman
name: Mary
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1989
rating: 4
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date added: 2023/12/02
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]]> <![CDATA[Dance Hall of the Dead (Leaphorn & Chee, #2)]]> 425100 255 Tony Hillerman 0061000027 Mary 3 3.98 1973 Dance Hall of the Dead (Leaphorn & Chee, #2)
author: Tony Hillerman
name: Mary
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1973
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/11/19
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]]> <![CDATA[Skinwalkers (Leaphorn & Chee, #7)]]> 48162 282 Tony Hillerman 0061000175 Mary 4 4.05 1986 Skinwalkers (Leaphorn & Chee, #7)
author: Tony Hillerman
name: Mary
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1986
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/11/16
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]]> <![CDATA[Wings Above The Diamantina (Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte #3)]]> 936042 312 Arthur W. Upfield 0020259700 Mary 4 4.02 1936 Wings Above The Diamantina (Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte #3)
author: Arthur W. Upfield
name: Mary
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1936
rating: 4
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date added: 2023/11/15
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Have to thank my friend, Ron, who introduced me to Inspector “Boney� Bonaparte. Really enjoying this series.
]]> <![CDATA[The Ghostway (Leaphorn & Chee, #6)]]> 48118 301 Tony Hillerman 006100345X Mary 4 4.10 1984 The Ghostway (Leaphorn & Chee, #6)
author: Tony Hillerman
name: Mary
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1984
rating: 4
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date added: 2023/11/12
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]]> <![CDATA[Simply Lies (Mickey Gibson, #1)]]> 61198195 A twisting new psychological thriller in which two women—one a former detective, the other a dangerous con artist—go head-to-head in an electrifying game of cat and mouse.

Mickey Gibson, single mother and former detective, leads a hectic life similar to that of many moms: juggling the demands of her two small children with the tasks of her job working remotely for ProEye, a global investigation company that hunts down wealthy tax and credit cheats.

When Mickey gets a call from a colleague named Arlene Robinson, she thinks nothing of Arlene’s unusual request for her to go inventory the vacant home of an arms dealer who cheated ProEye’s clients and fled. That is, until she arrives at the mansion to discover a dead body in a secret room—and that nothing is as it seems.

Not only does the arms dealer not exist but the murder victim turns out to be Harry Lancaster, a man with mob ties who used to be in Witness Protection. What’s more, no one named Arlene Robinson works at ProEye.

In the blink of an eye, Gibson has become a prime suspect in a murder investigation—and now her job is also on the line until she proves that she was set up. Before long, Gibson is locked in a battle of wits with a brilliant woman with no name, a hidden past, and unknown motives—whose end game is as mysterious as it is deadly.]]> 432 David Baldacci 1538750635 Mary 3 3.73 2023 Simply Lies (Mickey Gibson, #1)
author: David Baldacci
name: Mary
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2023
rating: 3
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date added: 2023/11/02
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Not very good character development. Misdirections interfere, which are Unnecessary. But I like a happy ending, at least for some.
]]> The Shipping News 7354
A vigorous, darkly comic, and at times magical portrait of the contemporary American family, The Shipping News shows why E. Annie Proulx is recognized as one of the most gifted and original writers in America today.
(back cover)]]> 337 Annie Proulx 0743225422 Mary 3 3.88 1993 The Shipping News
author: Annie Proulx
name: Mary
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1993
rating: 3
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date added: 2023/10/31
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]]> <![CDATA[The First Eagle (Leaphorn & Chee, #13)]]> 48090 319 Tony Hillerman 0061097853 Mary 4 4.05 1998 The First Eagle (Leaphorn & Chee, #13)
author: Tony Hillerman
name: Mary
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1998
rating: 4
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date added: 2023/10/31
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]]> <![CDATA[The Wailing Wind (Leaphorn & Chee, #15)]]> 48084 Officer Bernadette Manuelito found the dead man slumped over in the cab of a blue pickup abandoned in a dry gulch off a dirt road--with a rich ex-con's phone number in his pocket ... and a tobacco tin nearly filled with tracer gold. It's her initial mishandling of the scene that spell trouble for her supervisor, Sgt. Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police--but it's the echoes of a long ago crime that call the legendary former Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn out of retirement. Years earlier, Leaphorn followed the trail of a beautiful, young, and missing wife to a dead end, and his failure has haunted him ever since. But ghosts never sleep in these high, lonely Southwestern hills. And the twisted threads of craven murders past and current may finally be coming together, thanks to secrets once moaned in torment on the desert wind.

]]> 334 Tony Hillerman 0061098795 Mary 4 4.06 2002 The Wailing Wind (Leaphorn & Chee, #15)
author: Tony Hillerman
name: Mary
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2002
rating: 4
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date added: 2023/10/30
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]]> <![CDATA[Judgment Prey (Lucas Davenport, #33; Virgil Flowers, #15)]]> 78441449 Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers team up to crack an unsolvable case in this thrilling new novel by John Sandford.

Alex Sand was spending the evening at home playing basketball with his two young sons when all three were shot in cold blood. A wealthy federal judge, there’s no short list of people who could have a vendetta against Sands, but the gruesome murders, especially that of his children, turn their St. Paul community on its head. Sand was on the verge of a major donation to a local housing charity, Heart/Twin Cities, and with the money in limbo, eyes suddenly turn to his grieving widow, Margaret Cooper, to see what she might do with the money. Margaret, distraught over the death of her family, struggles to move forward, and can’t imagine how or why anyone would target her husband.

With public pressure mounting and both the local police force and FBI hitting dead end after dead end, Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers are called in to do what others could not: find answers. With each potential lead flawed, Davenport and Flowers are determined to chase every theory until they figure out who killed the Sands. But when they find themselves being stonewalled by the most unlikely of forces, the two wonder if perhaps each misdirection could lead them closer to the truth.]]> 395 John Sandford Mary 4 4.41 2023 Judgment Prey (Lucas Davenport, #33; Virgil Flowers, #15)
author: John Sandford
name: Mary
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2023
rating: 4
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date added: 2023/10/25
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]]> <![CDATA[People of Darkness (Leaphorn & Chee, #4)]]> 530560 304 Tony Hillerman 0061099155 Mary 4 4.07 1980 People of Darkness (Leaphorn & Chee, #4)
author: Tony Hillerman
name: Mary
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1980
rating: 4
read at: 2023/10/24
date added: 2023/10/24
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Sands of Windee (Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte #2)]]> 920883
Why had Marks driven out to Windee? Had he bee murdered? Or had he, as the local police believe, wandered away from his car and been overwhelmed by a dust storm/ Bony knows that the answers to these and many another question lie buried in the sands of Windee.]]> 217 Arthur W. Upfield 0684185024 Mary 4 3.88 1931 The Sands of Windee (Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte #2)
author: Arthur W. Upfield
name: Mary
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1931
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/10/22
shelves:
review:
Looking forward to the next one in the series. Delightful audio narration, love all the different accents - Aussie, English, Irish, American, Aboriginal.
]]> The Fly on the Wall 530561 Ace reporter John Cotton is a fly on the wall -- seeing all, hearing all, and keeping out of sight. But the game changes when he finds his best friend's corpse sprawled on the marble floor of the central rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. Suddenly Cotton knows too much about a scandal centered around a senatorial candidate, a million-dollar scam, and a murder. And he hears the pursuing footsteps of powerful people who have something to hide ... and a willingness to kill to keep their secrets hidden.

]]> 353 Tony Hillerman 0061000280 Mary 3 3.76 1971 The Fly on the Wall
author: Tony Hillerman
name: Mary
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1971
rating: 3
read at: 2023/10/21
date added: 2023/10/21
shelves:
review:
Book was published 50 years. Landlines, typewriters, teletypes but the business of politics was just as dirty back then as it is today. People were killed to further the political agenda of the power hungry greedys.
]]> <![CDATA[A Thief of Time (Leaphorn & Chee, #8)]]> 425098 “All of Tony Hillerman’s Navajo tribal police novels have been brilliant, but A Thief of Time is flat-out marvelous.”�USA Today

From New York Times bestselling author Tony Hillerman, A Thief of Time is the eighth novel featuring Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn and Officer Jim Chee as they find themselves in hot pursuit of a depraved killer.

At a moonlit Indian ruin where "thieves of time" ravage sacred ground in the name of profit, a noted anthropologist vanishes while on the verge of making a startling, history-altering discovery. Amid stolen goods and desecrated bones, two corpses are discovered, shot by bullets fitting the gun of the missing scientist.

There are modern mysteries buried in despoiled ancient places, and Navajo Tribal Policemen Leaphorn and Chee must plunge into the past to unearth an astonishing truth and a cold-hearted killer. In his breakout novel, Hillerman paints a stunning portrait of the psychology of murder—and offers a heart-rending example of love and forgiveness.

Ěý±Ő±Ő> 324 Tony Hillerman 0061000043 Mary 2 4.08 1988 A Thief of Time (Leaphorn & Chee, #8)
author: Tony Hillerman
name: Mary
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1988
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2023/10/19
shelves:
review:
Horrible narrator on the audio version, paused every third word to take a breath, slurred words and uneven modulation. Wrecked the book.
]]> <![CDATA[Listening Woman (Leaphorn & Chee, #3)]]> 425099 316 Tony Hillerman 0061000299 Mary 3 4.11 1978 Listening Woman (Leaphorn & Chee, #3)
author: Tony Hillerman
name: Mary
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1978
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/10/18
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Sacred Clowns (Leaphorn & Chee, #11)]]> 41014353 384 Tony Hillerman Mary 4 4.15 1993 Sacred Clowns (Leaphorn & Chee, #11)
author: Tony Hillerman
name: Mary
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/10/12
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Hunting Badger (Leaphorn & Chee, #14)]]> 48116 318 Tony Hillerman Mary 3 4.02 1999 Hunting Badger (Leaphorn & Chee, #14)
author: Tony Hillerman
name: Mary
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1999
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/10/10
shelves:
review:
Some good Navaho history and culture along with interesting descriptions of Arizona, Utah landscapes.
]]> The Levee 62919542
It’s 1927, and the most devastating flood in American history has swelled the Mississippi River to a width of eighty miles. In an attempt to save a family trapped by the rising water, four men in a tiny rowboat battle the treacherous flow: three are convicts, on loan from the local prison and pressed into service; the fourth, the leader of the team, is driven by his own hidden motives. But to their surprise upon arrival at Ballymore, an ancestral home protected by a high, circular levee, not everyone in the family feels the need to be saved. Pride, greed, loyalty, and even love create their own complex currents behind the massive wall. As the threat from the flood increases and time ticks away, the crew and the family must decide on a course of action, and a desperate plan is hatched to save the weakening levee and all it was built to protect.

The Levee is a propulsive, heartfelt tale of courage, cowardice, and sacrifice in a historic moment when the indomitable human spirit is pitted against the awesome and destructive power of nature.]]> 4 William Kent Krueger 1797153528 Mary 4 3.50 The Levee
author: William Kent Krueger
name: Mary
average rating: 3.50
book published:
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/10/08
shelves:
review:

]]> The River We Remember 101160844 In 1958, a small Minnesota town is rocked by the murder of its most powerful citizen, pouring fresh fuel on old grievances in this dazzling standalone novel.

On Memorial Day, as the people of Jewel, Minnesota gather to remember and honor the sacrifice of so many sons in the wars of the past, the half-clothed body of wealthy landowner Jimmy Quinn is found floating in the Alabaster River, dead from a shotgun blast. Investigation of the murder falls to Sheriff Brody Dern, a highly decorated war hero who still carries the physical and emotional scars from his military service. Even before Dern has the results of the autopsy, vicious rumors begin to circulate that the killer must be Noah Bluestone, a Native American WWII veteran who has recently returned to Jewel with a Japanese wife. As suspicions and accusations mount and the town teeters on the edge of more violence, Dern struggles not only to find the truth of Quinn’s murder but also put to rest the demons from his own past.

Caught up in the torrent of anger that sweeps through Jewel are a war widow and her adolescent son, the intrepid publisher of the local newspaper, an aging deputy, and a crusading female lawyer, all of whom struggle with their own tragic histories and harbor secrets that Quinn’s death threatens to expose.

Both a complex, spellbinding mystery and a masterful portrait of midcentury American life, The River We Remember is an unflinching look at the wounds left by the wars we fight abroad and at home, a moving exploration of the ways in which we seek to heal, and a testament to the enduring power of the stories we tell about the places we call home.]]> 432 William Kent Krueger 198217921X Mary 5 4.19 2023 The River We Remember
author: William Kent Krueger
name: Mary
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/10/08
date added: 2023/10/08
shelves:
review:
Lucky to get this book from the library so soon after publication. Great story, great character development, great pacing but best of all, an epilogue that ties up all the loose ends and more.
]]> <![CDATA[The Barrakee Mystery (Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte #1)]]> 1583390 328 Arthur W. Upfield 0434811505 Mary 5 The author takes you to the Australian outback where you experience the weather extremes, the expansiveness, lifestyles of the aborigines and sheep men and their families. The book ended too soon. Glad there’s some more books in the series. Thanks for the gift, Ron.]]> 3.65 1929 The Barrakee Mystery (Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte #1)
author: Arthur W. Upfield
name: Mary
average rating: 3.65
book published: 1929
rating: 5
read at: 2023/10/05
date added: 2023/10/06
shelves:
review:
Just delightful. Great writer. Audio book is fun because the author declared that all the accents, particularly those of the Aboriginals, are authentic. Sent me to the dictionary a few times - billabong, jackaroo, billycan, gummers, etc.
The author takes you to the Australian outback where you experience the weather extremes, the expansiveness, lifestyles of the aborigines and sheep men and their families. The book ended too soon. Glad there’s some more books in the series. Thanks for the gift, Ron.
]]> <![CDATA[The Blessing Way (Leaphorn & Chee, #1)]]> 867387 Alternate cover edition can be found here.

Homicide is always an abomination, but there is something exceptionally disturbing about the victim discovered in a high lonely place, a corpse with a mouth full of sand, abandoned at a crime scene seemingly devoid of tracks or useful clues. Though it goes against his better judgment, Navajo Tribal Police Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn cannot help but suspect the hand of a supernatural killer. There is palpable evil in the air, and Leaphorn's pursuit of a Wolf-Witch is leading him where even the bravest men fear, on a chilling trail that winds perilously between mysticism and murder.]]> 306 Tony Hillerman 0061000019 Mary 5 3.99 1970 The Blessing Way (Leaphorn & Chee, #1)
author: Tony Hillerman
name: Mary
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1970
rating: 5
read at: 2023/10/06
date added: 2023/10/06
shelves:
review:
Looking forward to the next in the series. Interesting to find out how many Indian words I mispronounce, like hogan with the accent on the second syllable, not the Irish pronunciation.
]]> Elon Musk 125277346 From the author of Steve Jobs and other bestselling biographies, this is the astonishingly intimate story of the most fascinating and controversial innovator of our era—a rule-breaking visionary who helped to lead the world into the era of electric vehicles, private space exploration, and artificial intelligence. Oh, and took over Twitter.

When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist.

His father’s impact on his psyche would linger. He developed into a tough yet vulnerable man-child, prone to abrupt Jekyll-and-Hyde mood swings, with an exceedingly high tolerance for risk, a craving for drama, an epic sense of mission, and a maniacal intensity that was callous and at times destructive.

At the beginning of 2022—after a year marked by SpaceX launching thirty-one rockets into orbit, Tesla selling a million cars, and him becoming the richest man on earth—Musk spoke ruefully about his compulsion to stir up dramas. “I need to shift my mindset away from being in crisis mode, which it has been for about fourteen years now, or arguably most of my life,� he said.

It was a wistful comment, not a New Year’s resolution. Even as he said it, he was secretly buying up shares of Twitter, the world’s ultimate playground. Over the years, whenever he was in a dark place, his mind went back to being bullied on the playground. Now he had the chance to own the playground.

For two years, Isaacson shadowed Musk, attended his meetings, walked his factories with him, and spent hours interviewing him, his family, friends, coworkers, and adversaries. The result is the revealing inside story, filled with amazing tales of triumphs and turmoil, that addresses the are the demons that drive Musk also what it takes to drive innovation and progress?]]> 670 Walter Isaacson Mary 0 to-read 4.63 2023 Elon Musk
author: Walter Isaacson
name: Mary
average rating: 4.63
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Running Grave (Cormoran Strike, #7)]]> 139399948 In the seventh installment in the Strike series, Cormoran and Robin must rescue a man ensnared in the trap of a dangerous cult.

Private Detective Cormoran Strike is contacted by a worried father whose son, Will, has gone to join a religious cult in the depths of the Norfolk countryside.

The Universal Humanitarian Church is, on the surface, a peaceable organization that campaigns for a better world. Yet Strike discovers that beneath the surface there are deeply sinister undertones, and unexplained deaths.

In order to try to rescue Will, Strike's business partner, Robin Ellacott, decides to infiltrate the cult, and she travels to Norfolk to live incognito among its members. But in doing so, she is unprepared for the dangers that await her there or for the toll it will take on her. . .

Utterly pulse-pounding, The Running Grave moves Strike's and Robin's story forward in this epic, unforgettable seventh installment of the series.]]> 960 Robert Galbraith 0316572101 Mary 0 currently-reading 4.56 2023 The Running Grave (Cormoran Strike, #7)
author: Robert Galbraith
name: Mary
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/30
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> The Librarian Spy 58787295 A moving novel inspired by the true history of America’s library spies of World War II.

Ava thought her job as a librarian at the Library of Congress would mean a quiet, routine existence. But an unexpected offer from the US military has brought her to Lisbon with a new mission: posing as a librarian while working undercover as a spy gathering intelligence.

Meanwhile, in occupied France, Elaine has begun an apprenticeship at a printing press run by members of the Resistance. It’s a job usually reserved for men, but in the war, those rules have been forgotten. Yet she knows that the Nazis are searching for the press and its printer in order to silence them.

As the battle in Europe rages, Ava and Elaine find themselves connecting through coded messages and discovering hope in the face of war.]]> 400 Madeline Martin 1335426914 Mary 0 currently-reading 3.91 2022 The Librarian Spy
author: Madeline Martin
name: Mary
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2023/09/20
date added: 2023/09/20
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Sleepless City (Nick Ryan, #1)]]> 86005277
In fact, they don't talk about him at all. He doesn't wear a uniform, but he is the most powerful cop in New York. Nick Ryan can find a criminal who's vanished. Or he can make a key witness disappear. He has cars, safe houses, money, and weapons hidden all over the city.

With conflicted loyalties and a divided soul, he's a veteran cop still fighting his own private war. He's a soldier of the streets with his own personal code.Ěý±Ő±Ő> 321 Reed Farrel Coleman 1982627476 Mary 4 3.77 2023 Sleepless City (Nick Ryan, #1)
author: Reed Farrel Coleman
name: Mary
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/09/17
shelves:
review:
Robert B. Parker he’s not, even though he tried to be for many years. First book in a new series. I wish him luck. Nick Ryan, the NY city cop/detective survives explosions, beatings, stabbings, gunshots that anyone of which would have killed anyone of us. But he’s a tough Afghanistan veteran with a cop dad and has powerful connections that come to his rescue. Maybe.
]]> The Keeper of Hidden Books 62054146 A heartwarming story about the power of books to bring us together, inspired by the true story of the underground library in WWII Warsaw, by the New York Times bestselling author of The Last Bookshop in London.

All her life, Zofia has found comfort in two things during times of hardship: books and her best friend, Janina. But no one could have imagined the horrors of the Nazi occupation in Warsaw. As the bombs rain down and Hitler’s forces loot and destroy the city, Zofia finds that now books are also in need of saving.

With the death count rising and persecution intensifying, Zofia jumps to action to save her friend and salvage whatever books she can from the wreckage, hiding them away, and even starting a clandestine book club. She and her dearest friend never surrender their love of reading, even when Janina is forced into the newly formed ghetto.

But the closer Warsaw creeps toward liberation, the more dangerous life becomes for the women and their families—and escape may not be possible for everyone. As the destruction rages around them, Zofia must fight to save her friend and preserve her culture and community using the only weapon they have left—literature.]]> 416 Madeline Martin 1335455027 Mary 4 4.07 2023 The Keeper of Hidden Books
author: Madeline Martin
name: Mary
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/09/14
shelves:
review:
Very difficult book to get through. So well researched that the author puts you right in the middle of Warsaw right in the middle of WW2 and into the intimacy of families and friendships as they fight for their lives - and books that they love and fight to preserve.
]]> <![CDATA[After That Night (Will Trent, #11)]]> 63833664 After that night, nothing was ever the same again

Fifteen years ago, Sara Linton's life changed forever when a celebratory night out ended in a violent attack that tore her world apart. Since then, Sara has remade her life. A successful doctor, engaged to a man she loves, she has finally managed to leave the past behind her.

Until one evening, on call in the ER, everything changes. Sara battles to save a broken young woman who's been brutally attacked. But as the investigation progresses, led by GBI Special Agent Will Trent, it becomes clear that Dani Cooper's assault is uncannily linked to Sara's.

And it seems the past isn't going to stay buried forever.]]> 432 Karin Slaughter 0063157780 Mary 5 4.15 2023 After That Night (Will Trent, #11)
author: Karin Slaughter
name: Mary
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/09/05
shelves:
review:
She’s good. Lots of good twists and surprises. Some side distractions that were unnecessary and annoying, but still gets my best rating, particularly because she ties up all the loose ends, even the ones way back in the beginning. Not a lazy writer.
]]> An Honest Man 61425815
Israel Pike was a killer, and he was an honest man. They were not mutually exclusive.

After discovering seven men murdered aboard their yacht � including two Senate rivals � Israel Pike is regarded as a prime suspect. A troubled man infamous on Salvation Point Island for killing his own father a decade before, Israel has few options, no friends, and a life-threatening secret.

Elsewhere on the island, 12-year-old Lyman Rankin seeks shelter from his alcoholic father in an abandoned house only to discover that he is not alone. A mysterious woman greets him with a hatchet and a “Make a sound and I’ll kill you.�

As the investigation barrels forward, Lyman, Israel, and the fate of the case collide in immutable ways.]]> 373 Michael Koryta 031653594X Mary 4 3.99 2023 An Honest Man
author: Michael Koryta
name: Mary
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/09/01
shelves:
review:
Lots of loose ends untied, or are they? A son who kills his father; an uncle bent on destroying his nephew; another father who beats his 12 YO son whose mother left him to have to deal with his drunken malevolent father. All this on a small island off Maine that holds even worse secrets.
]]> <![CDATA[The Detective Up Late (Sean Duffy, #7)]]> 122859501 299 Adrian McKinty Mary 5 Don’t want to say to much for fear of spoiling the book. I just may read it again next week.]]> 4.25 2018 The Detective Up Late (Sean Duffy, #7)
author: Adrian McKinty
name: Mary
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2023/08/14
date added: 2023/08/14
shelves:
review:
He’s back! What a delightful book, especially the audio version. Gerard Doyle has all the accents down, which just adds to the fun. Some corny jokes, but Sean Duffy is his old self but married with a 3 YO. “Don’t sit on the cushions. They’re cats.�
Don’t want to say to much for fear of spoiling the book. I just may read it again next week.
]]> <![CDATA[The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder]]> 61714633 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a page-turning story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth. The powerful narrative reveals the deeper meaning of the events on the Wager, showing that it was not only the captain and crew who ended up on trial, but the very idea of empire.

On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty's Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as "the prize of all the oceans," it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing nearly 3,000 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes.

But then . . . six months later, another, even more decrepit craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways, and they told a very different story. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes - they were mutineers. The first group responded with countercharges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous senior officer and his henchmen. It became clear that while stranded on the island the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the barren wilderness. As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the Admiralty convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death--for whomever the court found guilty could hang.

The Wager is a grand tale of human behavior at the extremes told by one of our greatest nonfiction writers. Grann's recreation of the hidden world on a British warship rivals the work of Patrick O'Brian, his portrayal of the castaways' desperate straits stands up to the classics of survival writing such as The Endurance, and his account of the court martial has the savvy of a Scott Turow thriller. As always with Grann's work, the incredible twists of the narrative hold the reader spellbound.]]> 331 David Grann 0385534264 Mary 4 4.14 2023 The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
author: David Grann
name: Mary
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/08/13
shelves:
review:
True story. And there’s a Wager Island in Patagonia where they were shipwrecked. And a Byron Island named after Lord Byron’s grandfather who was on the ship and survived the deplorable conditions they had to endure.
]]> <![CDATA[A Time to Kill (Jake Brigance, #1)]]> 32542 This is an alternate cover edition for ISBN 9780385338608

Before The Firm and The Pelican Brief made him a superstar, John Grisham wrote this riveting story of retribution and justice. In this searing courtroom drama, best-selling author John Grisham probes the savage depths of racial violence, as he delivers a compelling tale of uncertain justice in a small southern town, Clanton, Mississippi.

The life of a ten-year-old girl is shattered by two drunken and remorseless young men. The mostly white town reacts with shock and horror at the inhuman crime. That is, until her black father acquires an assault rifle and takes matters into his hands.

For ten days, as burning crosses and the crack of sniper fire spread through the streets of Clanton, the nation sits spellbound as young defense attorney Jake Brigance struggles to save his client's life, and then his own.]]> 738 John Grisham Mary 4 4.11 1989 A Time to Kill (Jake Brigance, #1)
author: John Grisham
name: Mary
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1989
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/08/02
shelves:
review:
Audible pulled a fast one on me. By combining this title with another and offering them as one book, I thought I hadn’t read it before. Gets the same rating.
]]> Savages (Savages #2) 8008928
When they refuse to back down, the cartel escalates its threat, kidnapping Ophelia, the boys' playmate and confidante. O's abduction sets off a dizzying array of ingenious negotiations and gripping plot twists that will captivate readers eager to learn the costs of freedom and the price of one amazing high.]]> 302 Don Winslow 1439183368 Mary 3 3.84 2010 Savages (Savages #2)
author: Don Winslow
name: Mary
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/07/28
shelves:
review:

]]> Flags on the Bayou 63910381 New York Times-bestselling author James Lee Burke comes a novel set in Civil War-era Louisiana as the South transforms and a brilliant cast of characters � enslaved and free women, plantation gentry, and battle-weary Confederate and Union soldiers � are caught in the maelstrom

In the fall of 1863, the Union army is in control of the Mississippi river. Much of Louisiana, including New Orleans and Baton Rouge, is occupied. The Confederate army is in disarray, corrupt structures are falling apart, and enslaved men and women are beginning to glimpse freedom.

When Hannah Laveau, a formerly enslaved woman working on the Lufkin plantation, is accused of murder, she goes on the run with Florence Milton, an abolitionist schoolteacher, dodging the local constable and the slavecatchers that prowl the bayous. Wade Lufkin, haunted by what he observed—and did—as a surgeon on the battlefield, has returned to his uncle’s plantation to convalesce, where he becomes enraptured by Hannah. Flags on the Bayou is an engaging, action-packed narrative that includes a duel that ends in disaster, a brutal encounter with the local Union commander, repeated skirmishes with Confederate irregulars led by a diseased and probably deranged colonel, and a powerful story of love blossoming between an unlikely pair. As the story unfolds, it illuminates a past that reflects our present in sharp relief.]]> 310 James Lee Burke 0802161693 Mary 5 3.93 2023 Flags on the Bayou
author: James Lee Burke
name: Mary
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/07/12
shelves:
review:
So much better than his last book. Set during the Civil War in Louisiana and narrated by different characters: 2 black women, a white woman, a Reb officer, Union officer, a southern lawman and plantation owner’s nephew. Interesting device that worked very well in spite of the characters all seemingly very clichéd. Gritty, smelly, noisy, itchy and dirty.
]]> Pompeii 880
But the carefree lifestyle and gorgeous weather belie an impending cataclysm, and only one man is worried. The young engineer Marcus Attilius Primus has just taken charge of the Aqua Augusta, the enormous aqueduct that brings fresh water to a quarter of a million people in nine towns around the Bay of Naples. His predecessor has disappeared. Springs are failing for the first time in generations. And now there is a crisis on the Augusta's sixty-mile main line—somewhere to the north of Pompeii, on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius.

Attilius—decent, practical, and incorruptible—promises Pliny, the famous scholar who commands the navy, that he can repair the aqueduct before the reservoir runs dry. His plan is to travel to Pompeii and put together an expedition, then head out to the place where he believes the fault lies. But Pompeii proves to be a corrupt and violent town, and Attilius soon discovers that there are powerful forces at work—both natural and man-made—threatening to destroy him.

With his trademark elegance and intelligence, Robert Harris, bestselling author of Archangel and Fatherland, re-creates a world on the brink of disaster.]]> 274 Robert Harris 0812974611 Mary 4 3.85 2003 Pompeii
author: Robert Harris
name: Mary
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/05/28
shelves:
review:
Set in 79 AD, Pompeii, Italy, a couple of days before Mt. Vesuvius erupts to bury the city. A wonderful glimpse into life in the first century and the aqueduct system the Romans built. Who knew that Pliny the Elder was there and died trying to rescue a friend.
]]> <![CDATA[Rain Dogs (Detective Sean Duffy, #5)]]> 26067711
When journalist Lily Bigelow is found dead in the courtyard of Carrickfergus Castle, it looks like a suicide. Yet there are a few things that bother Duffy just enough to keep the case file open, which is how he finds out that Bigelow was working on a devastating investigation of corruption and abuse at the highest levels of power in the UK and beyond.And so Duffy has two impossible problems on his desk: Who killed Lily Bigelow? And what were they trying to hide?]]> 329 Adrian McKinty 163388130X Mary 5
Just as good the second time around.]]> 4.14 2016 Rain Dogs (Detective Sean Duffy, #5)
author: Adrian McKinty
name: Mary
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/05/26
shelves:
review:
Audio version is simply delightful. Gerard Doyle, the narrator, has all the Irish accents down. Loved this book.

Just as good the second time around.
]]> The Subtle Serpent 56955157 Peter Tremayne Mary 5 5.00 1996 The Subtle Serpent
author: Peter Tremayne
name: Mary
average rating: 5.00
book published: 1996
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/04/26
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Storm Watch (Joe Pickett, #23)]]> 61225421 368 C.J. Box 0593331311 Mary 4 4.20 2023 Storm Watch (Joe Pickett, #23)
author: C.J. Box
name: Mary
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/04/23
shelves:
review:
Should be a 3, but it’s C. J. Box. It’s as if the reader is dragged kicking and screaming into the world of crypto currency, domestic terrorists, FBI, politics and drugs all in a tiny Wyoming town. Yeah, that works.
]]> The Abbot's Tale 36327062
At his side is the priest Dunstan of Glastonbury, full of ambition and wit (perhaps enough to damn his soul). His talents will take him from the villages of Wessex to the royal court, to the hills of Rome—from exile to exaltation. Through Dunstan's vision, by his guiding hand, England will either come together as one great country or fall back into anarchy and misrule . . .

From one of our finest historical writers, The Abbott’s Tale is an intimate portrait of a priest and performer, a visionary, a traitor and confessor to kings—the man who can change the fate of England.]]> 480 Conn Iggulden 1681777304 Mary 5 3.94 2017 The Abbot's Tale
author: Conn Iggulden
name: Mary
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/04/21
shelves:
review:
Thanks to Dan for the recommendation. Thoroughly enjoyed this book.
]]> The Investigator 60808694
By age 24, Letty Davenport has seen more action and uncovered more secrets than many law enforcement professionals. Now a recent Stanford grad with a master’s in economics, she’s restless and bored in a desk job for US Senator Colles. Letty’s ready to quit, but her skills have impressed Colles, and he offers her a carrot: feet-on-the-ground investigative work, in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security.

Several oil companies in Texas have reported thefts of crude, Colles tells her. He isn’t so much concerned with the oil as he is with the money: Who is selling the oil, and what are they doing with the profits? Rumor has it that a fairly ugly militia group - led by a woman known only as Lorelai - might be involved. Colles wants to know if the money is going to them, and if so, what they’re planning.

Letty is partnered with a DHS investigator, John Kaiser, and they head to Texas. When the case quickly turns deadly, they know they’re on the track of something bigger. Lorelai and her group have set in motion an explosive plan...and the clock is ticking down.

©2022 John Sandford (P)2022 Penguin Audio]]> John Sandford Mary 3 3.92 2022 The Investigator
author: John Sandford
name: Mary
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/04/17
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review:

]]> A Delicate Truth 16167080 Gibraltar, 2008.

A counter-terror operation, codenamed Wildlife, is being mounted in Britain's most precious colony. Its purpose: to capture and abduct a high-value jihadist arms-buyer. Its authors: an ambitious Foreign Office Minister, and a private defence contractor who is also his close friend. So delicate is the operation that even the Minister's private secretary, Toby Bell, is not cleared for it.

Cornwall, UK, 2011.

A disgraced Special Forces soldier delivers a message from the dead. Was Operation Wildlife the success it was cracked up to be - or a human tragedy that was ruthlessly covered up?

Summoned by Sir Christopher Probyn, retired British diplomat, to his decaying Cornish manor house, and closely observed by Kit's beautiful daughter, Emily, Toby must choose between his conscience and duty to his Service.

If the only thing necessary to the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing, how can he keep silent?]]> 320 John Le Carré 067092279X Mary 4 3.75 2013 A Delicate Truth
author: John Le Carré
name: Mary
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/03/17
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review:

]]> Absolute Friends 18997
Today, Mundy is a down-at-the-heels tour guide in southern Germany, dodging creditors, supporting a new family, and keeping an eye out for trouble while in spare moments vigorously questioning the actions of the country he once bravely served. And trouble finds him, as it has before, in the shape of an old German student friend, radical, and onetime fellow spy, the crippled Sasha, seeker after absolutes, dreamer, and chaos addict. After years of trawling the Middle East and Asia as an itinerant university lecturer, Sasha has yet again discovered the true, the only, answer to life -- this time in the form of a mysterious billionaire philanthropist named Dimitri. Thanks to Dimitri, both Mundy and Sasha will find a path out of poverty, and with it their chance to change a world that both believe is going to the devil. Or will they? Who is Dimitri? Why does Dimitri's gold pour in from mysterious Middle Eastern bank accounts? And why does his apparently noble venture reek less of starry idealism than of treachery and fear? Some gifts are too expensive to accept. Could this be one of them? With a cooler head than Sasha's, Mundy is inclined to think it could.

In Absolute Friends , John le Carre delivers the masterpiece he has been building to since the fall of an epic tale of loyalty and betrayal that spans the lives of two friends from the riot-torn West Berlin of the 1960s to the grimy looking-glass of Cold War Europe to the present day of terrorism and new alliances. This is the novel le Carre fans have been waiting for, a brilliant, ferocious, heartbreaking work for the ages.

“A searing, startling novel that sweeps through much of the twentieth century and up to the present conflict with Iraq.� —Lev Grossman, Time]]> 456 John Le Carré 0316159395 Mary 4 3.63 2003 Absolute Friends
author: John Le Carré
name: Mary
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/03/13
shelves:
review:
My friend Dan recommended this book and, as usual, he’s spot on. Wish I’d known at the beginning that LaCarre narrated the audio version. I was impressed at his skill with the accents and different voices.
]]> Murder Book 61437908 420 Thomas Perry 1613163835 Mary 4 3.58 2023 Murder Book
author: Thomas Perry
name: Mary
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/01/20
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review:
Got a little tedious in parts. Could have named the book, Being Chased.
]]> The Ruin (Cormac Reilly, #1) 36588482
When Aisling Conroy's boyfriend Jack is found in the freezing black waters of the river Corrib, the police tell her it was suicide. A surgical resident, she throws herself into study and work, trying to forget - until Jack's sister Maude shows up. Maude suspects foul play, and she is determined to prove it.

DI Cormac Reilly is the detective assigned with the re-investigation of an 'accidental' overdose twenty years ago - of Jack and Maude's drug- and alcohol-addled mother. Cormac is under increasing pressure to charge Maude for murder when his colleague Danny uncovers a piece of evidence that will change everything...

This unsettling crime debut draws us deep into the dark heart of Ireland and asks who will protect you when the authorities can't - or won't. Perfect for fans of Tana French and Jane Casey.]]> 380 Dervla McTiernan 0143133128 Mary 0 currently-reading 3.90 2018 The Ruin (Cormac Reilly, #1)
author: Dervla McTiernan
name: Mary
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/13
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> The Boys from Biloxi 61065355
Keith Rudy and Hugh Malco grew up in Biloxi in the sixties and were childhood friends, as well as Little League all-stars. But as teenagers, their lives took them in different directions. Keith’s father became a legendary prosecutor, determined to “clean up the Coast.� Hugh’s father became the “Boss� of Biloxi’s criminal underground. Keith went to law school and followed in his father’s footsteps. Hugh preferred the nightlife and worked in his father’s clubs. The two families were headed for a showdown, one that would happen in a courtroom.

Life itself hangs in the balance in The Boys from Biloxi, a sweeping saga rich with history and with a large cast of unforgettable characters.]]> 464 John Grisham 0385548923 Mary 4 3.81 2022 The Boys from Biloxi
author: John Grisham
name: Mary
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/01/13
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review:
Long and loses its energy in places. Still a good read.
]]> <![CDATA[Sinister Graves (Cash Blackbear Mysteries, #3)]]> 60146809
A snowmelt has sent floodwaters down to the fields of the Red River Valley, dragging the body of an unidentified Native woman into the town of Ada. The only evidence the medical examiner recovers is a torn piece of paper inside her bra: a hymnal written in English and Ojibwe.

Cash Blackbear, a 19-year-old Ojibwe woman, sometimes helps Sheriff Wheaton, her guardian, on his investigations. Now she knows her search for justice for this anonymous victim will take her to the White Earth Reservation, a place she once called home.

When Cash happens upon two small graves in the yard of a rural, “speak-in-tongues kinda church,� Cash is pulled into the lives of the malevolent pastor and his troubled wife while yet another Native woman dies in a mysterious manner.]]> 240 Marcie R. Rendon 1641293837 Mary 4 3.91 2022 Sinister Graves (Cash Blackbear Mysteries, #3)
author: Marcie R. Rendon
name: Mary
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/12/06
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[Hancock Park (Kate Delafield, #8)]]> 519356 256 Katherine V. Forrest 042520247X Mary 2 3.94 2004 Hancock Park (Kate Delafield, #8)
author: Katherine V. Forrest
name: Mary
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2004
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2022/12/06
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review:
Was attracted by the title since Hancock Park is where I grew up. Doubt the author ever visited the area or was familiar with the residents.
]]> Dead Cert 8525 "The best thriller writer going."
THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY]]> 277 Dick Francis 0425194973 Mary 4 3.99 1962 Dead Cert
author: Dick Francis
name: Mary
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1962
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/12/02
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review:

]]> Bolt (Kit Fielding, #2) 8552 288 Dick Francis 0425202887 Mary 4 4.04 1986 Bolt (Kit Fielding, #2)
author: Dick Francis
name: Mary
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1986
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/11/29
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Death of a Heretic (Sister Fidelma #33)]]> 59716611
Thrown into a world of treachery and jealousy, where religious beliefs are vehemently disputed, Fidelma and her companions, Eadulf and Enda, face a barrier of deceit. The abbey, a leading ecclesiastical teaching institution as well as a conhospitae, housing both men and women, is divided into factions. Can Abbot Cuán trust Prioress Suanach, who is in charge of the sisterhood? Can the professors trust each other as well as their students? Moreover, can suspicion be levelled at the builders working on the abbey under their dominant Master Builder, Sítae? As more deaths follow, Fidelma must use her wit and ingenuity to unravel the complexities of this intricate mystery.]]> 364 Peter Tremayne 1472265432 Mary 5 4.10 2022 Death of a Heretic (Sister Fidelma #33)
author: Peter Tremayne
name: Mary
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/11/23
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]]> Small Things Like These 58662236
Already an international bestseller, Small Things Like These is a deeply affecting story of hope, quiet heroism, and empathy from one of our most critically lauded and iconic writers.]]> 128 Claire Keegan 0802158749 Mary 4 4.13 2021 Small Things Like These
author: Claire Keegan
name: Mary
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/11/20
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[Murder on the Red River (Cash Blackbear Mysteries, #1)]]> 58778978 Set in 1970s along Red River Valley, Marcie R. Rendon's gripping new mystery follows the life of a young Ojibwe woman as she struggles to come to terms with the callous murder of a Native American stranger, bringing to life the gritty, dark reality of a flawed foster care system and the oppression of indigenous people.


Renee "Cash" Blackbear, a 19-year-old, tough-as-nails, resilient Ojibwe woman, has lived all her life in Fargo, sister city to Minnesota's Moorhead, just downriver from the Cities. Her life revolves around driving truck for local farmers, drinking beer, playing pool, smoking cigarettes, and solving criminal investigations through the power of her visions. She has one friend, Sheriff Wheaton, who's also her guardian and helped her out of the broken foster care system. Together they must work to solve a murder across cultures in a rural Midwest community layered in racism, genocide, and oppression.

This critically acclaimed series debut, winner of the Pinckley Prize and nominated for the Sue Grafton Memorial Award, brings Cash Blackbear to Soho Crime along with Marcie R. Rendon's full crime backlist and future publications of new books in the Cash Blackbear Mystery series.]]> 320 Marcie R. Rendon 1641293888 Mary 4 3.66 2017 Murder on the Red River (Cash Blackbear Mysteries, #1)
author: Marcie R. Rendon
name: Mary
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/11/17
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]]> <![CDATA[Girl Gone Missing (Cash Blackbear Mysteries, #2)]]> 43537590
Her name is Renee Blackbear, but what most people call the 19-year-old Chippewa woman is Cash. She lived all her life in Fargo, sister city to Minnesota’s Moorhead, just downriver from the Cities. She has one friend, the sheriff Wheaton. He pulled her from her mother’s wrecked car when she was three. Since then, Cash navigated through foster homes, and at 13 was working farms, driving truck. Wheaton wants her to take hold of her life, signs her up for college. She gets an education there at Moorhead State all right: sees that people talk a lot but mostly about nothing, not like the men in the fields she’s known all her life who hold the rich topsoil in their hands, talk fertilizer and weather and prices on the Grain Exchange. In between classes and hauling beets, drinking beer and shooting pool, a man who claims he’s her brother shows up, and she begins to dream the Cities and blonde Scandinavian girls calling for help.]]> 208 Marcie R. Rendon 1947627112 Mary 4 3.94 2019 Girl Gone Missing (Cash Blackbear Mysteries, #2)
author: Marcie R. Rendon
name: Mary
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/11/15
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review:

]]> Horse 59109077 A discarded painting in a junk pile, a skeleton in an attic, and the greatest racehorse in American history: from these strands, a Pulitzer Prize winner braids a sweeping story of spirit, obsession, and injustice across American history

Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South. When the nation erupts in civil war, an itinerant young artist who has made his name on paintings of the racehorse takes up arms for the Union. On a perilous night, he reunites with the stallion and his groom, very far from the glamor of any racetrack.

New York City, 1954. Martha Jackson, a gallery owner celebrated for taking risks on edgy contemporary painters, becomes obsessed with a nineteenth-century equestrian oil painting of mysterious provenance.

Washington, DC, 2019. Jess, a Smithsonian scientist from Australia, and Theo, a Nigerian-American art historian, find themselves unexpectedly connected through their shared interest in the horse--one studying the stallion's bones for clues to his power and endurance, the other uncovering the lost history of the unsung Black horsemen who were critical to his racing success.

Based on the remarkable true story of the record-breaking thoroughbred Lexington, Horse is a novel of art and science, love and obsession, and our unfinished reckoning with racism.]]> 401 Geraldine Brooks 0399562966 Mary 5 4.17 2022 Horse
author: Geraldine Brooks
name: Mary
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/11/11
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]]> The Uncommon Reader 1096390 120 Alan Bennett 0374280967 Mary 5 Delightful, really fun. 3.75 2007 The Uncommon Reader
author: Alan Bennett
name: Mary
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/11/06
shelves:
review:
Delightful, really fun.
]]> The Winners (Beartown, #3) 60318890
As the locals of Beartown struggle to overcome the past, great change is on the horizon. Someone is coming home after a long time away. Someone will be laid to rest. Someone will fall in love, someone will try to fix their marriage, and someone will do anything to save their children. Someone will submit to hate, someone will fight, and someone will grab a gun and walk towards the ice rink.

So what are the residents of Beartown willing to sacrifice for their home?]]> 671 Fredrik Backman Mary 4 4.45 2022 The Winners (Beartown, #3)
author: Fredrik Backman
name: Mary
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/11/06
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[Racing the Light (Elvis Cole #19; Joe Pike #8)]]> 60312252 Private investigator Elvis Cole and his enigmatic partner Joe Pike are back on the case in this brilliant new thriller from number-one 'New York Times' best-selling author Robert Crais.

Adele Schumacher isn't a typical worried mom. When she hires Elvis to find her missing son, a controversial podcaster named Josh Shoe, she brings a bag filled with cash, bizarre tales of government conspiracies, and a squad of professional bodyguards. Finding Josh should be simple, but Elvis quickly learns he isn't alone in the hunt - a deadly team of mysterious strangers are determined to find Josh and his adult film star girlfriend first.

With Elvis being watched and dangerous secrets lurking behind every lead, Elvis needs his friend Joe Pike more than ever to uncover the truth about Josh, corrupt politicians, and the vicious business cartels rotting the heart of Los Angeles from within. And when Elvis Cole's estranged girlfriend Lucy Chenier and her son Ben return, Elvis learns just how much he has to lose...if he survives.

Written with the heart, humor, and relentless suspense for which Crais is famous, 'RACING THE LIGHT' delivers Elvis Cole's most dangerous case yet.]]> 368 Robert Crais 0525535756 Mary 3 Meh. 4.26 2022 Racing the Light (Elvis Cole #19; Joe Pike #8)
author: Robert Crais
name: Mary
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2022/11/02
shelves:
review:
Meh.
]]> The Last Bookshop in London 53331577 Inspired by the true World War II history of the few bookshops to survive the Blitz, The Last Bookshop in London is a timeless story of wartime loss, love and the enduring power of literature.

August 1939: London prepares for war as Hitler’s forces sweep across Europe. Grace Bennett has always dreamed of moving to the city, but the bunkers and blackout curtains that she finds on her arrival were not what she expected. And she certainly never imagined she’d wind up working at Primrose Hill, a dusty old bookshop nestled in the heart of London.

Through blackouts and air raids as the Blitz intensifies, Grace discovers the power of storytelling to unite her community in ways she never dreamed—a force that triumphs over even the darkest nights of the war.]]> 325 Madeline Martin 133528480X Mary 5 4.07 2021 The Last Bookshop in London
author: Madeline Martin
name: Mary
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/11/01
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]]> The Lost Kings 59576052 Twins Jeanie and Jamie King are inseparable. Stuck in a cabin in rural Washington with their alcoholic father, they cling to one another for safety and companionship. Until one night, when their father comes home covered in blood. The next day, he is gone ... and so is Jamie.

Jeanie's whole world is turned upside down. Not only has she lost her beloved brother, but with no family left in Washington, she is ripped from everything she knows, including Maddox, the boy she could be learning to love.

Twenty years later, Jeanie is in England. She keeps her demons at bay by drinking too much, sleeping with a married man, and speaking to a therapist she doesn't respect. But her old life catches up to her when Maddox reappears, claiming to have tracked down her dad. Stunned, Jeanie must decide whether to continue running from her past or to confront her father and finally find out what really happened that night, where her brother is, and why she was the one left behind.

At once a propulsive, heart-pounding mystery and an affecting exploration of love and the familial ties that bind us, The Lost Kings will transport, move, and shock you.]]> 336 Tyrell Johnson 0593466861 Mary 4 3.65 2022 The Lost Kings
author: Tyrell Johnson
name: Mary
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/11/01
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review:

]]> Beartown (Beartown, #1) 33413128
People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded this town. And in that ice rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow will be better than today. Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys.

Being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semi-final match is the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected.

Beartown explores the hopes that bring a small community together, the secrets that tear it apart, and the courage it takes for an individual to go against the grain. In this story of a small forest town, Fredrik Backman has found the entire world.]]> 432 Fredrik Backman Mary 5 4.27 2016 Beartown (Beartown, #1)
author: Fredrik Backman
name: Mary
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/10/26
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]]> The Silent Patient 40396699 Promising to be the debut novel of the season The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband—and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive�

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.

Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him....]]> 362 Alex Michaelides Mary 3 4.18 2019 The Silent Patient
author: Alex Michaelides
name: Mary
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2022/10/19
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[Long Shadows (Amos Decker, #7)]]> 60383018
What at first seems cut and dry is anything but: Not only did the judge have more enemies than Decker can count—from violent gang members, drug dealers, and smugglers to a resentful ex-husband—but the bodyguard presents additional conundrums that muddy the waters even further. Who was the real target in this vicious attack?

Meanwhile, Decker must contend with a series of unsettling changes, including a new partner—Special Agent Frederica “Freddie� White—and a devastating event that brings Decker’s own tragic past back to the present . . . and forces him to reckon with his future. As potential witnesses start disappearing, Decker and White are inexorably pulled down a twisted tunnel of secrets, crimes, and scandal—at the end of which lies Decker’s deadliest threat yet.]]> 448 David Baldacci 1538719827 Mary 5 4.23 2022 Long Shadows (Amos Decker, #7)
author: David Baldacci
name: Mary
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/10/14
shelves:
review:
There’s a good reason for all the five star ratings.
]]> <![CDATA[Treasure State (Cassie Dewell, #5; Highway Quartet, #6)]]> 58724706
#1 New York Times bestselling author C. J. Box's Treasure State finds Cassie Dewell in Montana on the trail of a con man.

Private Investigator Cassie Dewell’s business is thriving, and her latest case puts her on the hunt for a slippery con man who’s disappeared somewhere in the “treasure state�. A wealthy Florida widow has accused him of absconding with her fortune, and wants Cassie to find him and get it back. The trail takes Cassie to Anaconda, Montana, a quirky former copper mining town that’s the perfect place to reinvent yourself. As the case develops, Cassie begins to wonder if her client is telling her everything.

On top of that, Cassie is also working what's easily one of her strangest assignments ever. A poem that promises buried treasure to one lucky adventurer has led to a cutthroat competition and five deaths among treasure-hunters. But Cassie’s client doesn’t want the treasure. Instead, he claims to be the one who hid the gold and wrote the poem. And he’s hired Cassie to try to find him. Between the two cases, Cassie has her hands full.

In Montana, a killer view can mean more than just the scenery, and Cassie knows much darker things hide behind the picturesque landscape of Big Sky Country. Treasure State , C. J. Box's highly anticipated follow-up to The Bitterroots , is full of more twists and turns than the switchbacks through the Anaconda Range.]]> 275 C.J. Box 1250766966 Mary 4 3.96 2022 Treasure State (Cassie Dewell, #5; Highway Quartet, #6)
author: C.J. Box
name: Mary
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/10/10
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]]> <![CDATA[Righteous Prey (Lucas Davenport #32, Virgil Flowers #14)]]> 60067154
“We’re going to murder people who need to be murdered.�

So begins a press release from a mysterious group known only as 'The Five,' shortly after a vicious predator is murdered in San Francisco. The Five is made up of vigilante killers who are very bored…and very rich. They target the worst of society—rapists, murderers, and thieves—and then use their unlimited resources to offset the damage done by those who they’ve killed, donating untraceable Bitcoins to charities and victims via the dark net. The Five soon become popular figures in the media …though their motives may not be entirely pure.

After The Five strike again in the Twin Cities, Virgil Flowers and Lucas Davenport are sent in to investigate. And they soon have their hands full--the killings are smart and carefully choreographed. With no apparent direct connection to the victims, the killers are virtually untraceable. But if anyone can destroy this group, it will be the dynamic team of Davenport and Flowers.]]> 416 John Sandford Mary 4 4.42 2022 Righteous Prey (Lucas Davenport #32, Virgil Flowers #14)
author: John Sandford
name: Mary
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/10/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Girl, Forgotten (Andrea Oliver, #2)]]> 59445976
Who killed Emily Vaughn?

Prom Night. Longbill Beach, 1982. Emily Vaughn dresses carefully for what's supposed to be the highlight of any high school career. But Emily has a secret. And by the end of the night, because of that secret, she will be dead.

Nearly forty years later, Andrea Oliver, newly qualified as a US Marshal, receives her first assignment: to go to Longbill Beach to protect a judge receiving death threats. But Andrea's real focus isn't the judge � it's Emily Vaughn. Ever since she first heard Emily's name a year ago, she's been haunted by her brutal death. Nobody was ever convicted � her friends closed ranks, her family shut themselves off in their grief, the town moved on � so the killer is still out there. But now Andrea has a chance to find out what really happened…]]> 400 Karin Slaughter 0062858114 Mary 4 3.99 2022 Girl, Forgotten (Andrea Oliver, #2)
author: Karin Slaughter
name: Mary
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/10/05
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[The Ink Black Heart (Cormoran Strike, #6)]]> 60144955
When frantic, disheveled Edie Ledwell appears in the office begging to speak to her, private detective Robin Ellacott doesn’t know quite what to make of the situation. The co-creator of a popular cartoon, The Ink Black Heart, Edie is being persecuted by a mysterious online figure who goes by the pseudonym of Anomie. Edie is desperate to uncover Anomie’s true identity.

Robin decides that the agency can’t help with this—and thinks nothing more of it until a few days later, when she reads the shocking news that Edie has been tasered and then murdered in Highgate Cemetery, the location of The Ink Black Heart.

Robin and her business partner, Cormoran Strike, become drawn into the quest to uncover Anomie’s true identity. But with a complex web of online aliases, business interests and family conflicts to navigate, Strike and Robin find themselves embroiled in a case that stretches their powers of deduction to the limits � and which threatens them in new and horrifying ways . . .]]> 1391 Robert Galbraith 0316473537 Mary 3
How do you do character development just using a chat room, hashtags and abbreviations? How do you get to know a character hiding behind an avatar and Internet lingo?

The author strongly suggests who the murderer is, but it’s still hard to follow.

The narrator does a heroic job plowing through chat room speak. (To clarify, it’s not all chat room chatter.)

Almost quit because it was so hard to listen to - almost 30 hours worth. In a moment of insanity, I thought about listening to it again to get a better understanding, but nah, I have better things to do.

]]> 4.07 2022 The Ink Black Heart (Cormoran Strike, #6)
author: Robert Galbraith
name: Mary
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2022/09/19
shelves:
review:
The most difficult book I’ve ever listened to and couldn’t decided on one star or five star.

How do you do character development just using a chat room, hashtags and abbreviations? How do you get to know a character hiding behind an avatar and Internet lingo?

The author strongly suggests who the murderer is, but it’s still hard to follow.

The narrator does a heroic job plowing through chat room speak. (To clarify, it’s not all chat room chatter.)

Almost quit because it was so hard to listen to - almost 30 hours worth. In a moment of insanity, I thought about listening to it again to get a better understanding, but nah, I have better things to do.


]]> To the Hilt 8543 352 Dick Francis 042519681X Mary 4 4.10 1996 To the Hilt
author: Dick Francis
name: Mary
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/09/05
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[This Side of Murder (Verity Kent, #1)]]> 33019745 The Great War is over, but in this captivating new series from award-winning author Anna Lee Huber, one young widow discovers the real intrigue has only just begun . . .

An Unpardonable Sin?

England, 1919. Verity Kent’s grief over the loss of her husband pierces anew when she receives a cryptic letter, suggesting her beloved Sidney may have committed treason before his untimely death. Determined to dull her pain with revelry, Verity’s first impulse is to dismiss the derogatory claim. But the mystery sender knows too much—including the fact that during the war, Verity worked for the Secret Service, something not even Sidney knew.

Lured to Umbersea Island to attend the engagement party of one of Sidney’s fellow officers, Verity mingles among the men her husband once fought beside, and discovers dark secrets—along with a murder clearly meant to conceal them. Relying on little more than a coded letter, the help of a dashing stranger, and her own sharp instincts, Verity is forced down a path she never imagined—and comes face to face with the shattering possibility that her husband may not have been the man she thought he was. It’s a truth that could set her free—or draw her ever deeper into his deception . . .]]> 304 Anna Lee Huber 149671315X Mary 1 3.70 2017 This Side of Murder (Verity Kent, #1)
author: Anna Lee Huber
name: Mary
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2017
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2022/08/29
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review:
I made it as far as chapter 5 before I gave up. Pacing was way too slow for me. Too bad because I wanted to like this book.
]]> <![CDATA[Fox Creek (Cork O’Connor, #19)]]> 59366108 Cork races against time to save his wife, a mysterious stranger, and an Ojibwe healer from bloodthirsty mercenaries.

The ancient Ojibwe healer Henry Meloux has had a vision of his death. As he walks the Northwoods in solitude, he tries to prepare himself peacefully for the end of his long life. But peace is destined to elude him as hunters fill the woods seeking a woman named Dolores Morriseau, a stranger who had come to the healer for shelter and the gift of his wisdom.

Meloux guides this stranger and his great niece, Cork O’Connor’s wife, to safety deep into the Boundary Waters, his home for more than a century. On the last journey he may ever take into this beloved land, Meloux must do his best to outwit the deadly mercenaries who follow.

Meanwhile, in Aurora, Cork works feverishly to identify the hunters and the reason for their relentless pursuit, but he has little to go on. Desperate, Cork begins tracking the killers but his own skills as a hunter are severely tested by nightfall and a late season snowstorm. He knows only too well that with each passing hour time is running out. But his fiercest enemy in this deadly game of cat and mouse may well be his own deep self-doubt about his ability to save those he loves.]]> 388 William Kent Krueger 1982128712 Mary 4 4.05 2022 Fox Creek (Cork O’Connor, #19)
author: William Kent Krueger
name: Mary
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/08/25
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review:

]]> Find Me (Ellie Hatcher, #6) 53175311 “Alafair Burke's latest propulsive thrill-ride is a suspenseful, twisty mystery about memory, friendship and secrets. A page-turner of the highest order.� -Laura Dave, author of The Last Thing He Told Me

The disappearance of a young woman leaves her best friend reeling and an NYPD homicide detective digging into her own past in this twisty mystery about the power of female friendships. From the New York Times bestselling author of The Better Sister and The Wife.

Some pasts won’t stay forgotten . . .

She calls herself Hope Miller, but she has no idea who she actually is. Fifteen years ago, she was found in a small New Jersey town thrown from an overturned vehicle, with no clue to her identity. Doctors assumed her amnesia was a temporary side effect of her injuries, but she never regained her memory. Hope eventually started a new life with a new name in a new town that welcomed her, yet always wondered what she may have left behind—or been running from. Now, she’s leaving New Jersey to start over once again.

Manhattan defense lawyer Lindsay Kelly, Hope’s best friend and the one who found her after the accident, understands why Hope wants a new beginning. But she worries how her friend will fare in her new East Hampton home, far away from everything familiar. Lindsay’s worst fears are confirmed when she discovers Hope has vanished without a trace—the only lead a drop of blood found where she was last seen. Even more ominously, the blood matches a DNA sample with a connection to a notorious Kansas murderer.

With nowhere else to turn, Lindsay calls NYPD homicide detective Ellie Hatcher, the daughter of the cop who dedicated his life to hunting the Kansas killer. Ellie has always believed there was more to the story of her father’s death twenty years earlier—and she now fears that Hope’s recent disappearance could be related.

In pursuit of answers, the women search for the truth beneath long-buried secrets. And when their searches converge, what they find will upend everything they’ve ever known.]]> 293 Alafair Burke 0062853368 Mary 4 3.52 2022 Find Me (Ellie Hatcher, #6)
author: Alafair Burke
name: Mary
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/08/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Cracked Spine (Scottish Bookshop Mystery, #1)]]> 25663657 A bold adventurer who wants to travel the world from a comfortable and safe spot behind a desk that has seen the likes of kings and queens, paupers and princes. A humble book and rare manuscript shop seeks a keenly intelligent investigator to assist us in our search for things thought lost, and in our quest to return lost items to their rightful owners.

Never an adventurer, no one was more surprised than Delaney Nichols when she packed her bags and moved halfway across the world to Edinburgh, Scotland to start a job at The Cracked Spine, a bookshop located in the heart of the city. Her new boss, Edwin MacAlister, has given her the opportunity of a lifetime, albeit a cryptic one, and Delaney can’t wait to take her spot behind the desk.

The Cracked Spine is filled with everything a book lover could want, each item as eclectic as the people who work there; the spirited and lovable Rosie, who always has tiny dog Hector in tow; Hamlet, a nineteen-year-old thespian with a colored past and bright future; and Edwin, who is just as enigmatic and mysterious as Delaney expected. An extra bonus is Tom the bartender from across the street, with his cobalt eyes, and a gentle brogue—and it doesn’t hurt that he looks awfully good in a kilt.

But before she can settle into her new life, a precious artifact goes missing, and Edwin’s sister is brutally murdered. Never did Delaney think that searching for things lost could mean a killer, but if she’s to keep her job, and protect her new friends, she’ll need to learn the truth behind this Scottish tragedy.]]> 294 Paige Shelton 1250057485 Mary 2 3.43 2016 The Cracked Spine (Scottish Bookshop Mystery, #1)
author: Paige Shelton
name: Mary
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2016
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2022/08/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Of Books and Bagpipes (Scottish Bookshop Mystery, #2)]]> 29939077
While taking in the sights of the distant Highlands from the castle’s ramparts, Delaney is startled when she spots a sandal-clad foot at the other end of the roof. Unfortunately, the foot’s owner is very much dead and, based on the William Wallace costume he’s wearing, perfectly matches the description of the man who was supposed to bring the Oor Wullie. As Delaney rushes to call off some approaching tourists and find the police, she comes across the Oor Wullie, its pages torn and fluttering around a side wall of the castle. Instinct tells her to take the pages and hide them under her jacket. It’s not until she returns to the Cracked Spine that she realizes just how complicated this story is and endeavors to untangle the tricky plot of why someone wanted this man dead, all before getting herself booked for murder.]]> 320 Paige Shelton 1250057493 Mary 3 3.64 2017 Of Books and Bagpipes (Scottish Bookshop Mystery, #2)
author: Paige Shelton
name: Mary
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2022/08/21
shelves:
review:
A girl from Kansas takes a job in a bookstore in Scotland and becomes involved as a sleuth in a murder. Right. Sure. I believe it. (Sarc) Should really be 2 stars but credit is given for good character development.
]]> <![CDATA[A Perilous Perspective (Lady Darby Mystery, #10)]]> 58505173
Argyll, Scotland. July 1832. After a trying few months in Edinburgh, Kiera and her husband and investigative partner, Sebastian Gage, are eager to escape to the Highlands with their three-month-old child. Kiera is overjoyed for her cousin Rye and her detractor-turned-friend Charlotte who are being wed in a private ceremony at the estate of Rye’s great-uncle, the Marquess of Barbreck, in what seems to be the perfect wedding party.

But when Kiera is invited to peruse Barbreck’s extensive art collection, she is disturbed to discover that one of his most priceless paintings seems to be a forgery. The marquess’s furious reaction when she dares to mention it leaves her shaken and the entire house shocked. For it turns out that this is not the first time the word forgery has been uttered in connection with the Barbreck household.

Matters turn more ominous when a maid from a neighboring estate is found murdered where the forged painting hangs. Is her death connected to the forgeries, perhaps a grisly warning of what awaits those who dare to probe deeper? With unknown entities aligned against them, Kiera and Gage are forced to confront the fact that they may have underestimated their opponent. For they are swiftly made to realize that Charlotte’s and Rye’s future happiness is not the only issue at stake, and this stealthy game of cat and mouse could prove to have deadly consequences.]]> 387 Anna Lee Huber 0593198468 Mary 4 4.09 2022 A Perilous Perspective (Lady Darby Mystery, #10)
author: Anna Lee Huber
name: Mary
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2022/08/12
date added: 2022/08/12
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]]> <![CDATA[A Wicked Conceit (Lady Darby Mystery, #9)]]> 54537617 384 Anna Lee Huber 0593198441 Mary 4 4.10 2021 A Wicked Conceit (Lady Darby Mystery, #9)
author: Anna Lee Huber
name: Mary
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2021
rating: 4
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date added: 2022/08/10
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]]> <![CDATA[A Stroke of Malice (Lady Darby Mystery, #8)]]> 45454139 Lady Kiera Darby and her husband Sebastian Gage are looking forward to relaxing with new friends at an exciting yearly soiree, but they soon learn that murder never takes a holiday in the latest riveting installment in this national bestselling series.

Scotland 1832. After enjoying a delightful holiday with her family, Lady Kiera Darby is looking forward to finishing her new friend, the Duchess of Bowmont's portrait, as well as attending the duchess's annual Twelfth Night party. Though she normally avoids such fashionable events, Kiera trusts the attention will not be focused on her, but rather her notorious hostess and her family. But upon their arrival at the opulent Scottish estate, Kiera and her husband and fellow investigative partner, Sebastian Gage, swiftly deduce that all is not merry in the duke's household. The family appears to be under a great strain, and someone seems determined to cause mayhem among the guests with a series of forged notes.

However, matters swiftly turn from irksome to downright deadly when the merrymakers stumble upon a decomposing body in the castle's crypt. This corpse is certainly no laughing matter, especially when it is identified as the duchess's son-in-law, the Earl of Helmsdale, who had purportedly traveled to Paris more than a month earlier. It is evident the man met with foul play, and Kiera and Gage step in to investigate, at the duchess's insistence. Kiera and Gage must swiftly reexamine the facts, for a ruthless murderer walks among them and may well be a member of the duchess's own family. Kiera soon discovers just how deep the killer is willing to dig to keep their secrets from ever seeing the light of day.]]> 384 Anna Lee Huber 0451491386 Mary 3 4.07 2020 A Stroke of Malice (Lady Darby Mystery, #8)
author: Anna Lee Huber
name: Mary
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2020
rating: 3
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date added: 2022/08/07
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]]> The Island 58340727 It was just supposed to be a family vacation.
A terrible accident changed everything.
You don't know what you're capable of until they come for your family.

After moving from a small country town to Seattle, Heather Baxter marries Tom, a widowed doctor with a young son and teenage daughter. A working vacation overseas seems like the perfect way to bring the new family together, but once they’re deep in the Australian outback, the jet-lagged and exhausted kids are so over their new mom.

When they discover remote Dutch Island, off-limits to outside visitors, the family talks their way onto the ferry, taking a chance on an adventure far from the reach of iPhones and Instagram.

But as soon as they set foot on the island, which is run by a tightly knit clan of locals, everything feels wrong. Then a shocking accident propels the Baxters from an unsettling situation into an absolute nightmare.

When Heather and the kids are separated from Tom, they are forced to escape alone, seconds ahead of their pursuers.

Now it’s up to Heather to save herself and the kids, even though they don’t trust her, the harsh bushland is filled with danger, and the locals want her dead.

Heather has been underestimated her entire life, but she knows that only she can bring her family home again and become the mother the children desperately need, even if it means doing the unthinkable to keep them all alive.]]> 375 Adrian McKinty 0316531286 Mary 2 3.71 2022 The Island
author: Adrian McKinty
name: Mary
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2022/07/26
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]]> <![CDATA[The Silent Wife (Will Trent, #10)]]> 49975863 Atlanta, Georgia. Present day. A young woman is brutally attacked and left for dead. The police investigate but the trail goes cold. Until a chance assignment takes GBI investigator Will Trent to the state penitentiary, and to a prisoner who says he recognizes the MO. The attack looks identical to the one he was accused of eight years earlier. The prisoner’s always insisted that he was innocent, and now he’s sure he has proof. The killer is still out there.

As Will digs into both crimes it becomes clear that he must solve the original case in order to reach the truth. Yet nearly a decade has passed—time for memories to fade, witnesses to vanish, evidence to disappear. And now he needs medical examiner Sara Linton to help him hunt down a ruthless murderer. But when the past and present collide, everything Will values is at stake…]]> 400 Karin Slaughter 0062858912 Mary 3 4.35 2020 The Silent Wife (Will Trent, #10)
author: Karin Slaughter
name: Mary
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2022/06/24
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review:

]]> One Good Deed (Archer, #1) 44016314 The #1 New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci introduces an unforgettable new character: Archer, a straight-talking former World War II soldier fresh out of prison for a crime he didn't commit.

It's 1949. When war veteran Aloysius Archer is released from Carderock Prison, he is sent to Poca City on parole with a short list of do's and a much longer list of don'ts: do report regularly to his parole officer, don't go to bars, certainly don't drink alcohol, do get a job--and don't ever associate with loose women.

The small town quickly proves more complicated and dangerous than Archer's years serving in the war or his time in jail. Within a single night, his search for gainful employment--and a stiff drink--leads him to a local bar, where he is hired for what seems like a simple job: to collect a debt owed to a powerful local businessman, Hank Pittleman.

Soon Archer discovers that recovering the debt won't be so easy. The indebted man has a furious grudge against Hank and refuses to pay; Hank's clever mistress has her own designs on Archer; and both Hank and Archer's stern parole officer, Miss Crabtree, are keeping a sharp eye on him.

When a murder takes place right under Archer's nose, police suspicions rise against the ex-convict, and Archer realizes that the crime could send him right back to prison . . . if he doesn't use every skill in his arsenal to track down the real killer.]]> 416 David Baldacci Mary 4 4.08 2019 One Good Deed (Archer, #1)
author: David Baldacci
name: Mary
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/06/17
shelves:
review:
Fun book emulating Raymond Chandler’s style.
]]> <![CDATA[The Judge's List (The Whistler, #2)]]> 57865158
Then she meets a mysterious woman who is so frightened she uses a number of aliases. Jeri Crosby’s father was murdered twenty years earlier in a case that remains unsolved and that has grown stone cold. But Jeri has a suspect whom she has become obsessed with and has stalked for two decades. Along the way, she has discovered other victims.

The man Jeri holds responsible for all these deaths is brilliant, patient, and always one step ahead of law enforcement. He is the most cunning of all serial killers. He knows forensics, police procedure, and most important: he knows the law.

He is a judge, in Florida—under Lacy’s jurisdiction.

But the man keeps a record of all his victims and targets, people unlucky enough to have crossed his path and wronged him in some way. Lacy must work to take him down, while somehow keeping her name off his list.]]> 357 John Grisham 0385546025 Mary 4 3.95 2021 The Judge's List (The Whistler, #2)
author: John Grisham
name: Mary
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/06/16
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]]> <![CDATA[The Whistler (The Whistler, #1)]]> 29354916
But what happens when a judge bends the law or takes a bribe? It’s rare, but it happens.

Lacy Stoltz is an investigator for the Florida Board on Judicial Conduct. She is a lawyer, not a cop, and it is her job to respond to complaints dealing with judicial misconduct. After nine years with the Board, she knows that most problems are caused by incompetence, not corruption.

But a corruption case eventually crosses her desk. A previously disbarred lawyer is back in business with a new identity. He now goes by the name Greg Myers, and he claims to know of a Florida judge who has stolen more money than all other crooked judges combined. And not just crooked judges in Florida. All judges, from all states, and throughout U.S. history.

What’s the source of the ill-gotten gains? It seems the judge was secretly involved with the construction of a large casino on Native American land. The Coast Mafia financed the casino and is now helping itself to a sizable skim of each month’s cash. The judge is getting a cut and looking the other way. It’s a sweet deal: Everyone is making money.

But now Greg wants to put a stop to it. His only client is a person who knows the truth and wants to blow the whistle and collect millions under Florida law. Greg files a complaint with the Board on Judicial Conduct, and the case is assigned to Lacy Stoltz, who immediately suspects that this one could be dangerous.

Dangerous is one thing. Deadly is something else.]]> 424 John Grisham 0385541201 Mary 4 3.96 2016 The Whistler (The Whistler, #1)
author: John Grisham
name: Mary
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/06/14
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Book Woman's Daughter (The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, #2)]]> 58803339 New York Times and USA Today Bestseller

Bestselling historical fiction author Kim Michele Richardson is back with the perfect book club read following Honey Mary Angeline Lovett, the daughter of the beloved Troublesome book woman, who must fight for her own independence with the help of the women who guide her and the books that set her free.

In the ruggedness of the beautiful Kentucky mountains, Honey Lovett has always known that the old ways can make a hard life harder. As the daughter of the famed blue-skinned, Troublesome Creek packhorse librarian, Honey and her family have been hiding from the law all her life. But when her mother and father are imprisoned, Honey realizes she must fight to stay free, or risk being sent away for good.

Picking up her mother’s old packhorse library route, Honey begins to deliver books to the remote hollers of Appalachia. Honey is looking to prove that she doesn’t need anyone telling her how to survive, but the route can be treacherous, and some folks aren’t as keen to let a woman pave her own way. If Honey wants to bring the freedom that books provide to the families who need it most, she’s going to have to fight for her place, and along the way, learn that the extraordinary women who run the hills and hollers can make all the difference in the world.]]> 336 Kim Michele Richardson 1728242592 Mary 3 4.16 2022 The Book Woman's Daughter (The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, #2)
author: Kim Michele Richardson
name: Mary
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2022/06/11
shelves:
review:
The afterword pretty much sums up what’s wrong with the book. The author did extensive research on the Blue people, Appalachia flora and fauna, coal miners, etc., and forces a lot of that research into the book. It had the effect of interrupting the pacing, which I found annoying.
]]>