Entries Tagged 'Detective or mystery' ↓
February 22nd, 2010 — Adoption, Book Review, Books, Detective or mystery, Military, Parenting
Because I enjoyed Tess Hudson’s Double Down so well, I wanted to read this one. If you remember, Double Down was a romance about a young woman overcoming her addiction to gambling. There were some darker images in it involving uncovering a mystery about drugging a football player (her new romance) in order to predict a game.
I don’t know what I expected from Invisible Girl. Perhaps it was something psychological about a teen? It was not what I expected.
Invisible Girl’s prologue starts in the middle of the story. It unfolds in flashbacks to Vietnam and the Vietnam War, not chronological, superimposed on present day. It is very well written. I finished it pretty much in one sitting. I couldn’t put it down.
I think Hudson captures the time of the war, as well as the feeling that there are a lot of things we will never know about or that are deliberately hidden from us. She tells us that she was befriended by a Vietnam-era veteran who taught her about writing, art, and faith and showed her a side of the war she hadn’t glimpsed in the news broadcasts from her childhood.
She uses that to good advantage here. I cannot check her facts, but I can attest that she captures the feel of that time of war perfectly. And the feel of many of the returning soldiers.
She moves effortlessly from the battlefield to deep love; from rape to the babylift; from the soldiers to the highest echelons of politics and a powerful family; from the family of soldiers to the family of one of them; from the harshest of betrayals to the depths of trust and love. Along the way she mingles Catholicism and Buddhism, as Maggie’s mother covers all the bases to protect her family. She succeeds in a way not foreseen, including her own death and the solving of a puzzle from the past wherein only bits of the puzzle are held by individuals in order to afford protection to her children.
I find myself thinking if only, if only she had taken others into her confidence, others that loved her, she would be alive and reunited with her daughter.
For those who are touched by the Vietnam babylift, this book offers a small insight into the pain corruption adds to adoption. At the same time, the woman who was adopted as a baby was deeply loved by her adoptive mother (and loved her too.) There is also reunion of the half-siblings.
Additionally, it was interesting to me how the young Vietnamese woman who gave birth after being raped by an American soldier named her daughter Tam, which means heart. She felt that when she prayed to Buddha, he conceived this child through her heart on her own, not through rape. I don’t know how realistic this is, but it was very touching to me. Having biological (and adopted) children of my own, I know how deep is the mother love, and how it is very often our heart.
I give it a 5.
Karin
Originally posted 2008-07-09 08:06:21.
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January 5th, 2010 — Book Review, Detective or mystery, Humorous, Kindle book, Romance
Handbags and Homicide is a Haley Randolph Mystery.
If you like Stephanie Plum, you will love Haley Randolph, with a cast of characters as quirky and loveable as the SP books, what’s not to love!
I knew this was going to be a good book, when I laughed my way through the first chapter. And, of course, since retail is in my blood, it was even funnier.
Haley Randolph is in trouble, big time. She is a purse aficionado, and she knows her ins and outs of handbags. Her mother has a trust fund, but Haley wants to make it on her own. And it necessitates a lot of cash because she can’t resist a good multi-$100 handbag, for every outfit.
First, she gets a job through connections to a tony law firm — then is let go under suspicion.
At the same time she has a second job working retail at Holt’s Department Store, a store whose merchandise she doesn’t like. It’s a hoot to see how she manages to ‘work’ in all the areas of the store, not get anything done, yet do more than others who actually work.
Then she finds a dead body in the stock room, and she is a suspect.
It’s up to her to clear her name on both counts.
Along the way, she picks up some friends — and some purses. She helps customers put together outfits that are actually wearable.
Her stream of consciousness is a hoot.
There is very little romance in it, less than in a SP book, but there are similarities in the number of men interested in her. She has an almost-boyfriend.
In my head I kept hearing the voice of Isla Fisher as Rebecca Bloomwood in Confessions of a Shopaholic.
If you want a book to make you laugh, this is it. I give it 5*.
And for those of you who like a good series, the second book is already out:
PURSES AND POISON, the second book in the series, finds Haley still working at Holt’s Department Store. When her sort-of boyfriend Ty Cameron’s ex-lover is poisoned and suspicion falls on both Haley and her mom, Haley launches her own investigation. From the L.A. club scene, to the Fashion District, to the elegant Biltmore Hotel, Haley must find a way to catch a murderer, get the guy, and find the purse of her dreams.
And a third:
Howell also writes historical romance novels under the pen name Judith Stacy. She’s has 23 other books and almost 3 million readers worldwide. So it’s a good bet we can expect more from her, in this series too. This is the first book I’ve read of hers, but it won’t be my last.
And good news for Kindle owners: the first two books listed here are available for Kindle. $4.47 and $9.99.
Have you read this one?
If you are a fashionista, don’t miss this one — or if you simply love purses.
Karin
www.savvythinker.com
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December 23rd, 2009 — Book Review, Detective or mystery, Kindle book
The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin, Gentleman Burglar. by Maurice LeBlanc is a fun book. Throughout the course of the book background information is given on why he became a burglar. There is almost a romance in it, with some twists and turns and Arsene being the gentleman that he is, being even more gentlemanly and less of a thief, at least at times.
The book kept my attention and kept me smiling at the fun of it, the twists, the personality of Lupin, his choice of ‘victims.’
I suppose a modern counterpart would be the Bernie the Burglar books by Lawrence Block which were made into only one movie with Whoopie Goldberg playing Bernie as a woman, not a man as it was written (a cute movie, BTW.) (And I’d like to see more.) But Bernie always finds a dead body when he is burglaring, whereas there are no dead bodies in this book.
And somehow he always manages not to get caught.
Arsene books available from Kindle
There are a number of Arsene books available for Kindle. I ‘bought’ the free one. It’s not clear if some of the others are duplicates or not.
I do think it would be fun to read more of them. But I want to be sure before I choose one that has a cost, that it is a different book.
Perhaps if I clicked on any one of the available ones (which I didn’t yet) the description would tell me enough to determine if it were different.
Another plus for Kindle
This is a book I likely would not have found without the Kindle. I enjoyed the old fashioned nature of this book, a glimpse into the past, not as a modern book written in an older (but new) manner, but as a genuine book written in an earlier time frame. The mores were gentler, but OTOH in many ways it was a tougher time to live in. so a trade off.
As I was reading, simultaneously, I found myself imagining what a reader in his time frame would have felt about the book, how the reader would have enjoyed the twists and turns. And how it would feel if I were that person.
Have you read this one?
Have fun if you decide to read it. You can’t go wrong at the price!
Have you read any of the other ones?
Karin
www.savvythinker.com
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December 2nd, 2009 — Book Review, Detective or mystery, Inspirational, Kindle book
If you would like an interesting read, full of sympathetic characters, with an underlying sense of living in another country (in this case Botswana), Alexander McCall Smith’s series about the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency is one you should look into.
I am enjoying the HBO series based on his books, which is what led me to this book, 10th in the book series, as I have not read any before this. It is also available for Kindle.
Precious Ramotswe and her endearing, but aggravating assistant, Grace Makutsi, once again are called upon to solve problems big and small, using their common sense and general acumen. And woven into the plot is Precious’ fear for her new husband traveling a dark road at night, as well as her sorrow that her old van is kaput, and Grace’s very reasonable upset that her fiance is being taken in by a floozy. Along the way, Precious offers help to a woman she meets while walking to work, only to find out she is living with a weekday husband and a weekend husband, neither of which she is married to, and now one man works for the other and has asked him to dinner.
It’s rare to find a book that I want to read every word. Only because time was at a premium did I begin to skim.
I think it helps to know the way the actors have portrayed the characters, so in my mind’s eye I can picture Grace with her desire to do everything perfectly and Precious whose life has included a wonderful daddy and an abusive first husband. The reader (or the viewer) only wants the best for each of them.
Have you read any of the series?
Do you watch it on HBO?
I will begin to read other books in the series.
How about reading it on audio?
I think I’d like to check that out too~
Karin
www.savvythinker.com
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August 6th, 2009 — Book Review, Books, Detective or mystery, Paranormal
Jim Butcher has another hit on his hands with his latest in the Dresden Files series, Turn Coat. Once again, Harry Dresden, the last wizard in Chicago is pitting his wits against the dark forces marshaled against him and the White Council. This is book 11 in the series, so if you like a good series, this is one to really consider.
The White Council of Wizards [is] the governing body for the practice of magic in the world, and made up of its most powerful practitioners…God help the poor practitioner who broke one of the Laws. p 8
I admire the way Butcher has constructed an entire universe around more or less believable lines. We have Harry, the wizard detective, with his loyal cohorts: the fairies (with courageous Toot toot again); the pack of werewolves; even a sort of alignment with Lara, the scary vampire queen of the White Court, the ‘better’ vamps. We can be pretty sure Harry survives in each book, even if it is by the skin of his teeth, but that is at least one thing we do not need to worry about.
And since I’m not expecting the Never Never land to open up, I’m not worried about the rest of the dark forces showing up some day or night either. So it is pure (that’s an oxymoron) escapism, with lots of clever dialogue and clever thoughts in the narration voice of Harry, who has been compared to Phillip Marlowe, and twists and turns, and always a hanging end at the end because, after all, the fight with evil never ends…and there is a next book.
I understand there was a TV series, which I never saw as I didn’t learn about it until after I started reading the series. I wish they had made a movie out of each book instead, as they are doing with Twilight and with Harry Potter. Perhaps they will do this in the future. I’d be first in line to buy tickets.
Harry is thrown into the deep end when Morgan, the Warden who has been sure Harry should be curtailed (dead) shows up on his threshold covered with blood, asking Harry to hide him from the Council. He has been charged with murder, having been caught with the bloody knife in his hand. Of course, in getting away he has killed several other Wardens, and the Council of Wardens are understandably after him. Harry knows a bit about being unjustly targeted, so he takes him in, against the better judgment of anyone who knows him.
There is a mole in the Council. Can he or she be found?
And then there’s his brother (half-brother) Thomas, the vamp who runs a salon instead of running the night, who is taken by an especially powerful and evil shapeshifter. Not everyone knows that Thomas is Harry’s brother, so there is some consternation at how much Harry undertakes to get him back.
There is just such an interesting mix of characters. It doesn’t take long to figure out who the cast is and how they fit, and even to care about them and to wonder what’s next. I don’t think it is necessary to read the books in order. Frankly, book 1 is probably my least fave and I read it about 3rd.
Butcher has an ability to write really interesting fight/war scenes with a lot of paranormal thrown in. This is Harry Potter grown up and to the nth.
Have you read any of these books?
This is a series I’d like to own (and reread) for the pithy dialogue and interesting insights into human nature. I can’t say that about many books.
Have you ever listened to any of the series?
I would love to hear an audio book, assuming there are some. Yes! there is:
I wonder who the reader is. James Marsters — hmmm, who is he. I’m going to have to check one out.
Get thee down to your nearest library and check the book out. (It’s in modern dialogue, even if that last sentence is not.)
My take: I rate it a 4 out of 4.
Karin
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August 17th, 2008 — Book Review, Books, Detective or mystery, Humorous, Romance
Fearless Fourteen continues the comic saga of Stephanie Plum and her cohorts in bond enforcement. Along the way there are the requisite crimes to solve to the tune of $9 million missing from a heist. Then add to the mix being stalked by the perpetrators who are dying one by one. Complicate it with the kidnapping of a cousin of Morelli’s, and it gets more and more crazy.
If you are a fan of this saga, you will appreciate this latest caper. So many of the characters seem like old friends — Lula, the overweight ex-’ho, who has no concept that she dresses for a woman half her size; Grandma Mazur, who is always a hoot and never acts her age; Joe Morelli, the longsuffering cop who loves Stephanie in his own way; Ranger, hot as hades; and assorted other characters who add to the zaniness — Zook who is totally absorbed in an online game until he is asked to watch Morelli’s house –saved by potatoes; Brenda, the 61 year old singer, who is being stalked by a man who claims to be prescient, then she wants to be an interviewer…
Ranger was sort of periphery in this book. He could have had more of a part. Lula is planning her wedding to Tank, who can’t quite remember how he got roped into it. Stephanie holds it all together, while at the same time she creates situations that for any other person would mean disaster.
I laughed a lot, either because it was funny or because it was so hard to believe.
I give it a 2.5. It wasn’t as good as some of her books, but it was a happy read for summer.
Karin
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July 7th, 2008 — Book Review, Books, China, Detective or mystery
This is the first book I’ve read by Qiu Xiaolong, though he’s written a number of other books. I chose to read this book because the cover jumped out at me from the library — a beautiful Chinese woman, drawn from just above the mouth, rising over a city (Shanghai) — and because of the Chinese subject matter.
This is the fifth book in the Chief Inspector Chen series, according to Qui Xiaolong’s website, though he has written other books, including translations of poetry. I found I could easily pick up the stories with this book, then read the others.
He dedicates this book to his elder brother, Xiaowei –
but for luck, what happened to him during the Cultural Revolution could have happened to me.
I am privileged to know someone who was caught up in the Cultural Revolution, so this book had a secondary appeal to me.
In a way, this sets the stage for the book which moves from just before the Cultural Revolution up to the present. The book is interspersed with much Chinese poetry, heady insights into the Cultural Revolution and its costs to Chinese society, Shanghai history and Chinese culture (including the concept of ‘face’ as it plays out in the story.) It also has a couple of scenes of cruelty to animals in cooking (also befitting the story.)
Chief Inspector Chen has decided to take a vacation that coincides, fortuitously, with his being asked to investigate a corruption case that is going to court. He can’t directly say no, but he can use this time to take a literature course wherein he has to write a paper.
He doesn’t appear a lot in the first half of the book. Instead we meet the other characters, including the lawyer in the corruption case, officials, his counterpart in the force who is taking over for him while he is gone and this man’s wife who is interested in helping her husband solve the case. (Women play pivotal roles in this story.) But like a fox, he solves the case in a slow and steady way, using love poems along the way.
If you are interested in learning more about Chinese culture, this series would be for you.
Qiu Xiaolong was born in Shanghai, but now lives in St. Louis, MO. A poet and translator, he has an MA and PhD from Washington University.
The book has a feel of being translated from Chinese. By this, I mean that it is easy to slip into the world of China, because the choice of words or phrases is a bit different than a native American English speaker would choose. I’m not sure this is a deliberate literary ploy or if we are just blessed because of who is writing it.
I felt the book was as valuable for what it says about China both literally and through the story and the interactions of the characters as it was for the actual story.
If you have a Chinese child or a heart for China, you should not miss this book. It is not always easy to read (such as the scenes of cruelty in cooking and the fact that it has a feel of being translated and because you’d like to remember the cultural references) but it is very worthwhile.
I look forward to reading his other books. Have you read it?
I give it a 4.
If you would like to see the story behind the book, go here.
Karin
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June 7th, 2008 — Book Review, Books, Detective or mystery
Stuart Woods has written a lot of books, nearly all of them good. They are peppered with interesting characters, a bit of humor, some cynicism, some romance, some intrigue. And some of them cross characters from one of his series into another.
Reckless Abandon has some of my favorite of his characters: Stone Barrington, ex-NYPD, now lawyer; his friend Dino, still on the force, married to a mafioso’s daughter; Holly Barker, ex-military, now police chief in Orchid Beach, FL (crossing over from her own stories — or bringing her story, because this one is her’s and bringing in Stone and Dino, take your pick). Throw in Lance, who is CIA and recruits both Stone and Holly, and Holly’s ex-sometime-lover who is FBI, and you have a story with a lot of twists and turns. Factor in Herbie, the audacious photographer, Ham (Holly’s dad) and other assorted characters and you get the ridiculous with the sublime.
The setting moves from NYC to Orchid Beach to Santa Fe to NYC, including the dinners at Elaine’s and other assorted restaurants, all on a hunt for a killer with mafia roots. Holly, along with her trusty attack dog, Daisy, is determined to bring him to justice, dead or alive. Along the way, she and Stone are nearly killed. But you know they will survive to see another day.
There’s not a lot of gore. There’s honor among thieves (thankfully for Stone and Holly.) Bad things happen to bad people who did bad things to good people.
Have you read any of his books? I read them as I find them, not always in order, but the books give enough detail to pick up stories that have occurred before. Holly’s fiance (in another book) was killed in a bank robbery the day they were to marry. A cult is involved and she has yet to catch the cult leader. There’s always another book. That’s a good thing!
I like the series, so I give it a 4.
Karin
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May 16th, 2008 — Book Review, Books, Detective or mystery
While perusing the new book section of our local library, I came across a new (to me) author/book series by Felicia Donovan The Black Widow Agency (Black Widow Agency Mysteries).
In a way, it reminds me of The First Wives Club, but it has the added twist of being a mystery series.
The main characters who make up the agency are all interesting and diverse. Each of them has a back story, but we don’t get the full story on at least one of them. The author is a recognized expert in the field of law enforcement techniques including the recovery of computer files, enhancement of photos, assisting the FBI, and providing technical advice about cyber crimes. She makes use of her background and knowledge in the book. I’m not always sure if it is currently possible or soon-to-be possible. Nevertheless, I found it entertaining and informational.
Have you read it?
Her new book Spun Tales is coming out shortly and I look forward to it also.
Karin
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