Short stories featuring investigating barrister Patrick Mulligan as recorded by his confidential clerk Alexander Mullins.
Clever and convoluted solutions but no real explanation as to how the barrister figured out the solution. Enjoyable as short stories but would have been too precious to tolerate in book length.
Magic has changed. The men who used to wield it now have no power, but some women have acquired it, including the favorite Summer Concubine to king Oryn. As she tries to develop her powers and protect the women who are developing theirs, the first girl novice magician suffers constant hazing and runs from one determined but unknown killer.
Intriguing concept, with a detailed and believable portrayal of a culture in crisis, but the tale itself dragged. After almost 200 pages and nothing really happened, I gave up.
U.S. Senator Jerry Andrews’ life is so busy that he can put up with his sham marriage. But when a psychiatrist friend is found dead after discussing with Andrews that a famed multiple-personality may be leaving his institution, Andrews’ investigation may put his own life at risk as well.
Lutz writes thrillers with convoluted plots that are just too scary for me. As usual, I got a quarter of the way through and then had to skip to the end.
Daisy’s brother-in-law Lord John asks her help in finding the person who has been sending him poison-pen letters about a one-night stand during the War, years earlier. She finds he is not the only victim … and then she finds the dead body of one of her suspects.
Not quite as much fun as usual at the start, as Dunn takes us into the minds of the people receiving poison-pen letters, most of whom whine to themselves that their ill deeds were justified. Fortunately it didn’t last long, and then the story moved right along at Dunn’s usual fast pace. Daisy acquires another fan in the police department (to Alec’s chagrin) and Belinda shows to great advantage again, a charming but realistic little girl who loves her father and is delightedly anticipating Daisy taking over as her mother. My only other complaint is that the book ended too soon.
When the Duke of Mersham’s political dinner party is shockingly interrupted by a death, his brother Lord Edward teams with a Daily Worker reporter to identify the poisoner. His aristocratic status and her politics thoroughly muddle the waters, while he considers the scheduled inquest as his deadline for finding the killer.
Set in the 1920’s, this book is technically adequate and with fairly likable people, and providing the information needed to identify the killer, but curiously unsatisfying. Verity’s choices seem determined by the author to advance the story rather than natural, and the book ending doesn’t seem a resolution.
No idea if there was a story to this. The book lost me in the first 10 pages of cutesy but boring backstory about her parents’ different outlooks and why they saddled her with her name as supposed explanation of why she went to Arizona for the summer. I don’t know why some authors think they have to drown the reader with backstory at the start of the book, when the main character has done nothing to make us care about him/her, but it puts me off completely.
In the Caribbean to interview legendary songwriter/producer Danny Murtz, Mick wonders if there is really a connection between Murtz and two girlfriends who disappeared. But Danny’s drug-fueled paranoia and Mick’s evening with a cop Danny flew in will make for a very interesting interview.
I think I’m burned out on this series. The people (other than Ginny) have gotten more and more unlikable as the series progressed, and Danny simply deserves all the comeuppance Mick can arrange … but that doesn’t mean I care enough to read about it. I got a quarter of the way through and gave up.
After finding her golden-boy boyfriend in bed with her partner, policewoman Stella flees to her Pennsylvania hometown and finds her uncle dead, a suspected suicide.
I found Stella so whiny and annoying that I couldn’t get into the book at all.
Archbishop Cranmer offers Shardlake a lucrative royal commission to York, but ties it to a private assignment to look after the welfare of an arrested conspirator. As Shardlake and Barak try desperately to avoid political quagmires, Shardlake finds a murdered man and discovers, then loses, papers proving the man was part of a antiroyal conspiracy. As a political noose tightens around his neck, he encounters several physical assassination attempts as well.
Very slow read, but not because of tedium. It’s simply a rich story as well as a large book (almost 600 pages). I ordinarily get through a book in a day or two, but this one took about a week. This is not a good choice if you are looking for something to read a page or two at a time, you’ll lose some of the story threads. As in the previous Shardlake books, Sansom masterfully conveys the dancing-on-eggshells atmosphere of Henry VIII’s court, where the head of last year’s royal favorite may be decorating a traitor’s pike this year, and a flicker of the eyes at the wrong time can place anyone under suspicion. And that is why I won’t be reading any more in this series. It’s just too hard on poor Shardlake, a political thriller (which I generally don’t like) more than a murder mystery. The “now I knew it all” near the end, which I absolutely despise as not playing fair with the reader, simply iced the cake (even though the author only kept it a secret for a few pages). I had no hesitation in recommending this series as well-written and superbly conveying the feel as well as the facts of the age (before the “now I knew it all”), but it’s too gloomy for my taste.
Irissa is the last Torloc and can only keep her magic by never seeing her own reflection. Wrathman Kendric decides she is too valuable to leave alone and kidnaps her to bring her to the City of Rule, where the Wrathmen are based. Meanwhile, one of the members of the Council of Rule decides to convert the Six Nations to one – under him.
Another young-innocent-magician against experienced-bad-guys saga. <yawn> Irissa is a wimp, which always annoys me, and that “I don’t know what I’m doing” bafflement gets old fast. I gave up a quarter of the way through.
Nicholas Revill is thrilled to have temporary employment with the Chamberlain’s Men, who play Shakespeare’s work in his Globe Theatre. Then he accidentally foils a steward’s plan to frame a dumb servant for theft and is invited to live with the family by the son, who is disturbed by the resemblance of his family life to the murder in Hamlet and wants Nick to investigate.
Shakespeare and the Globe Theatre seem to be an irresistible lure to historical mystery writers. I have yet to read a good mystery set there, and this ain't it. Eager-beaver young actors don’t automatically interest me, and Revill doesn’t offer anything else. His girlfriend is a whore. (Literally). I’m not such a fan of Hamlet that a mystery based on a similarity to it intrigues me. There was also way too much, way too explicit sex, completely irrelevant to the story. If I wanted to read pornography, I’d buy pornography. I gave up a third of the way through.
Daniel Rawson serves Queen Anne and her favorite general, the Duke of Marlborough, as soldier and spy. While he heads for battle, two French agents of the general whose wife Daniel seduced follow him, seeking his death.
Following a brief introduction in which Daniel’s father is executed following the Monmouth Rebellion, and Daniel saves his mother from rape by a royal sergeant, the reader meets Daniel as an adult, wowing women and excelling in war. But none of the characters struck me as real or involved me in the story. The book also suffered from identity confusion; was it a war story or a romance? I gave up about a quarter of the way through.
Genre: historical mystery
Sent to early 20th century Biarritz to claim a legacy left to the suffrage society by a prostitute, Nell feels compelled to investigate why the woman would commit suicide. The more she learns of Topaz’ odd behavior the last night of her life, the more she considers her maid’s insistence that it was murder. Meanwhile, Nell is alarmed by the plans of a fellow suffragette to made a dramatic statement against an anti-suffrage MP vacationing with his family.
I liked this book, and I’m not sure why. Nell has no business investigating a death, which ordinarily annoys me. None of the characters were so sympathetic I couldn’t help rooting for them; several were rather obnoxious. And whodunit was pretty obvious too. But I kept reading to the end.
Genre: supposedly murder mystery but you couldn't prove it by me
Deborah takes office as a district court judge and helps build a house for a poor single mother.
Very slow start unless you’re a fan of North Carolina courtroom shenanigans and details of how to build a house, which I am not. When I got a quarter of the way through the book and nothing had happened to hold my interest, I gave up.
Recovering from job loss and chemotherapy, Hannah visits her sister-in-law’s country house and finds a long-dead body on the abandoned next farm. Feeling obligated to investigate the murder whose result she found, Hannah finds more than she bargained for.
Slow start but kept me reading once the story got going, even though an awful lot of the plot depended on coincidences. And the title had absolutely nothing to do with the story, one of my pet peeves.
Inez Stannert runs the Silver Queen saloon in silver-boom Leadville with her missing husband’s partner Abe Jackson. When her husband’s friend Joe is found dead behind her saloon, she determines to find his killer.
I always expect to enjoy a book when I start reading, but this one, set in fairly-nearby Leadville, Colorado, where I’ve actually been, I really wanted to like. But I just couldn’t. The story started briskly, but then deteriorated into a bunch of flashbacks. A wounded heroine is interesting; one laden with as many problems as Inez (drinking problem, missing husband, baby son sent to a family member rather than die in the Leadville winter) is oppressing. And there is always the challenge of making an amateur investigator believable, which Parker didn’t. I didn’t even get a quarter of the way through before giving up.
Disowned for being the lone “normal” person in a family of flaming weirdos, detective Perry Trethowan learns of his father’s murder in the paper and is sent to help a fellow detective find the killer.
If there was a story here, I never found it. I waded through 30 pages of boring family and house history and gave up. It didn’t help that the characters ranged from uninteresting to rabidly dislikable.
Harried by satanic-worshipping agents of the dead rebel earl Simon de Montfort, Edward I turns to his chancellor, who assigns clerk Hugh Corbett to investigate the apparent suicide of a goldsmith who supported the king. Corbett evades several assassination attempts as he searches out the members of a satanic ring and acquires a couple of new friends.
The widespread literacy in this story bothered me; even the women seemed mostly to be able to not only read but also to write. Literacy was unusual in the 11th century even among men, so the basic premise – that the King rewarded Hugh Corbett by making him a royal clerk – was not terribly believable. Then Doherty commited the worst sin an author can commit against a reader: Corbett found out some critical pieces of information that Doherty did not share with the reader. I absolutely hate that, and my normal reaction is to throw the book across the room. I still hated it but I kept reading. In spite of two major flaws, the story held my interest until the end.
Librarian Glynis Tryon is obsessed with identifying the murderer of a woman who might have been her late patron’s daughter.
I couldn’t get into this book. Glynis is a class-A wimp and I had no sympathy for her. The writing seemed okay, but I need a likeable character in order to care about what happens.
When Ginny’s book subject disappears, she calls Mick to come help find the man whose life he once saved. But others looking for singer/songwriter Gideon Pike include his manager, his lawyer, his lyricist, and an Asian hood. And Mick and Ginny don’t know who Gideon is afraid of.
While I enjoyed the earlier books in this series, this one both dragged as a story and was too rough for my enjoyment. I got about 2/3 of the way through and then skipped to the end.
Collection of short stories set in different eras of Darkover, by different authors.
This is one of the earliest books of non-Bradley Darkover stories; I think only “The Keeper’s Price” preceded it. The stories make sense and kept me reading, but if there is a theme, it’s that they are all bloody tales. Fighting and war are usually part of Darkover plots, but in this book, the bloodshed seems to overpower the other elements.
Jane is trying to schedule a badly-needed vacation when Kenneth’s cousin Stephanie announces she is moving to Shady Hills and will be staying with Jane and Nicholas. Between putting up with Stephanie, a flurry of town gossip about a new resident, and worrying about a string of burglaries in her neighborhood, Jane barely has energy to spare to investigate the murder of Florence’s friend Una. And you can tell by the title who is the next person to be found dead.
I gave up on the book and the series about 2/3 of the way through, when horrible Stephanie convinces Jane to pretend to be someone else in order to work at Stephanie’s office and find out what is wrong there. Jane hasn’t had a lot of gumption but this was too wimpy for me to stomach. Why can’t authors make their stories work without removing any spine from their characters? It’s terribly demeaning to the reader.
Rich, beautiful Charley Van Leeuwen shocks her friends by bringing home a husband from a visit to Britain, and shocks herself by finding a dead body in the hotel bathroom. Then Jack rescues Charley’s cousin from kidnappers and Charley realizes he must be more than the simple meteorologist she thought.
The story was severely disjointed but kept me reading through the first half. Then the “mysterious enemy out after innocent Charley but James Bond husband tries to keep her safe” plot just got to be too much for me (and still disjointed and draggy) and I gave up.
Short story collection, mostly with a mystery theme.
The stories vary in quality, of course. My favorite was a charming family story, “Growth Marks.” Some were simply taut mysteries, such as “The Early Retirement of Mario Colletti” and “The Stupid Pet Trick.” One was a gorgeous tale of revenge, “No, I’m Not Jane Marple.” Some I didn’t understand, such as “Craquelure.”
Heris worries about smugglers’ revenge and Familias politics when Lady Cecelia returns the prince to his family and tells the king a dangerous secret. When Lady Cecelia suffers an apparent stroke, Heris is suspicious.
I’ve given up on this series, but not for the usual reasons. The stories are involving, the characters are engaging and even the ditzy ones are redeemable. But the plots are just too scary for me. Moon brings the story to life too well. I got less than halfway through this one before I had to skip to the end.
Mature and horny authoress Dana has a brief encounter with handsome, charming Dan when a blizzard strands them both in Denver during her book tour. Then she spends the rest of the tour thinking about him.
I don’t know what McCaffrey was thinking when she wrote this. The first two chapters do nothing to advance the story and are utterly boring (unless the reader is interested in the minutiae of a book tour). The “hero” is bossy and manipulative, and I couldn’t respect Dana for putting up with him, much less being attracted to him. It’s reasonably clear that he is married, and the section where Dana tries to justify extramarital sex is simply ridiculous. Her normal involving and well-executed storytelling is so conspicuously absent that one wonders whether someone else wrote it and McCaffrey published it just to see if anyone could tell. I sure could, and gave up about halfway through.
Sixteen-year-old Jessica “Notso” Darling bemoans her best friend moving away and the shallowness of her beautiful mother and sister and her old friends.
This series got such good reviews that I had hopes that it would feature something other than the whiny self-obsessed teenager usual in “young adult” books. It doesn’t. I gave up about a quarter of the way through.
At a Christmas potluck testing recipes for Hannah’s upcoming book, Hannah finds the gorgeous new wife of a local man -- dead. When Mike refuses to listen to Hannah’s discoveries, she finds the killer by herself.
I was surprised when Hannah identifies the killer and elicits a a confession halfway through the book. But the rest of the book consisted of the recipes from Hannah’s cookbook. I’m not sure if I was disappointed or not, because some of the recipes sounded great!
Martin is a burglar who repeatedly visits the same homes to acquire food and cleaning supplies as well as valuables.
If there is a story in this book, I didn’t find it. I forced myself through the first 50 pages of details of Martin’s technique and “clients,” hoping that a story would develop (preferably with a likable character, which Martin isn’t). Then I gave up.
Mercy struggles both to keep her new faith and treat her patients as Lukas works in a poorly-run ER hours away, waiting for the Knolls ER to be rebuilt. Several children have been kidnapped in Knolls and a mysterious man seems to be watching Tedi.
I like this series, but could not finish the book. Alexander already put Tedi in danger of death once, but that one snuck up on me. I got halfway through before it became obvious that the kidnapper was after Tedi and immediately skipped to the end; I do NOT handle children-in-danger stories well. Also, bear in mind that these books do not stand alone.
Demetrios and the newly-arrived imperial envoy leave Anna and the crusaders in plague-ridden Antioch to seek allies in Egypt, but barely escape with their lives.
Harper has abandoned the whodunit entirely to write a traditional historical novel; the First Crusade is as much a character as any of the real or invented people. But the story was just too depressing to keep me reading, as Demetrios suffered one horrible torment after another. I got halfway through and then skipped to the end. I’ll still check out any future books by this author, but with hope rather than expectation that he will turn out another wonderful Byzantine mystery.
“Star” Svensdotter is the big boss of the project to build the first space habitat at the L-5 point. With only a couple of weeks to go before the habitat is officially commissioned, Star and her managers face trouble from Luddites and a power-mad space navy commander. But conventional troubles pale when an extraterrestrial intelligence arrives.
A lot of the book simply explored how Ellfive was designed and built, which wasn’t relevant to the plot but which I found intriguing enough to keep reading. Stabenow’s heavy-handed promotion of a feminist agenda didn’t help the storyline either; she could have simply let her strong, competent female characters speak for themselves. I’m ordinarily very fussy about having an interesting, strong, logical, and well-organized plot, which this book didn’t. But it kept me reading anyway, and I’m looking forward to the next one.
City lawyer Clay Parker moves to small-town Texas and tries to adjust to bizarre partners, crooked ranchers, and a beautiful court scheduler who may have her own agenda.
This story has neither likable characters nor a plot. I almost gave up in the first few pages when attorney Parker allowed himself to be passed off in court as a medical expert. I'd have saved myself some wasted time if I had. Parker is alternately wimpy and stupid. The partners may be brilliant but they sure don’t show it, and they are both utterly despicable. The clever title had a marginal connection with the book. When I got halfway through and still hadn’t found a story, I gave up.
Pretty decent introduction to the basics of eBay and starting a business, although some of the eBay details are now outdated, such as paying extra for a Gallery photo. However, I read it hoping it would explain how to find sources of large lots to resell, and it did not contain any information on that topic.
in Children of Hastur (omnibus)
Timing clues: follows The Heritage of Hastur
After the destruction of Caer Donn, Lew took the Sharra matrix offworld. But his father’s dying command brought him back to Darkover, to rule the Domain of Alton and protect the rights of his brother Marius. As Kadarin and Thyra try to raise Sharra against the Terrans, Lew finds an unknown daughter and Regis finds the Hastur Gift.
In an introduction, Bradley states that this is a re-writing of her most unsatisfactory Darkover book, The sword of Aldones. This complicated and convoluted story has some holes but does resolve the Sharra problem.
In Edinburgh to do a one-man show for the Festival Fringe, Charles is present when an actor is stabbed. But Charles doesn’t believe it was an accident.
Something is missing from this series, and I’m not sure what. The clues are competently presented, but the characters are all one-dimensional and (much worse) neither characters nor story are interesting. I gave up halfway through.
in The ages of chaos (omnibus)
Timing clues: Ages of Chaos, laran breeding program is going on
Lord Allart Hastur is dragged from his retreat at the Nevarsin monastery to marry and breed more laran-gifted children, and accidentally falls in love with his designated wife. Spoiled Dorilys is heiress to Aldaran, but her powerful storm control laran has killed two potential husbands and started a war between Lord Aldaran and his brother, who wants the whole domain. Leronis Renata comes from Hali Tower to train Dorilys in her laran and teach her discipline, and falls in love with her brother Donal.
This is the first Darkover book that I really haven’t liked or found easy to read. The characters seem to spend most of their time whining about hating their laran, and in these pre-Compact days life is dangerous and the Tower leroni spend their time coming up with new, ever more deadly laran weapons. I skipped the last third of the book.
in A world divided (omnibus)
Timing clues: Kennard Alton is a teenager.
Terran Larry Montray befriends Darkovan Kennard Alton, who invites Larry to visit the Alton estates. When Larry is captured by bandits, Kennard rescues him, and the two boys must travel through the unexplored Darkovan forests to escape.
Solid adventure story, with the usual tendency towards unbelievable coincidences that allow the heroes to reach their destination against incredible odds.
Fat and lonely as a child, Olivia Bellamy is now a successful New York decorator, and her grandparents hire her to prepare their old summer camp for their 50th anniversary renewal of vows. Unfortunately, the best (and only) contractor in town turns out to be her former crush Connor Davis. As they work together on the camp and Connor tries to guide his troubled half-brother Julian, they both fight their desires to renew their relationship.
The story starts well but then bogs down in several chapters of flashback, which can be skipped without losing any of the plot. But as the relationship between Olivia and Connor develops, their respective memories continue to clutter up the storyline. The introduction of each new character also calls for at least one flashback to explain their emotional scars. I get impatient when two characters’ angst keeps them from getting together for most of a book. All I can say in its favor is that the continuing flashbacks don’t feel as intrusive as the first several chapters and I enjoyed the book anyway.
After moving from New York to Hawaii, Paul moves out, leaving Marissa to cope with their daughter on her own.
Yet another small teaser followed by a LONG flashback, which I hate. None of the characters seemed real or interesting. I gave up after the first 50 pages, still in the boring flashback.
Honest but plain Jane is accused in the murder of her cheating husband Hiram.
I could not get into this combination murder mystery/soap opera. The characters were either unlikeable because they were nasty or because they were stupid.
Surgeon Cherijo Grey Veil takes an assignment on a distant world to escape her Terran father. She makes powerful enemies and good friends, a mysterious linguist tries to get close to her, and her father repeatedly tries to get her to come back to Terra.
The book began well, I can’t make any complaints about a slow start. And Viehl was great at inventing alien species for Cherijo to treat. But then it turned into a steady stream of Cherijo-saves-patient-in-spite-of-upper-management interspersed with calls from her father trying to bully her into resigning, and my interest level dropped further with each same-old same-old. I tried to at least get halfway through the book before giving up, but I couldn’t.
Mercy’s former husband returns to town, detoxed and wanting to see Tedi. Overweight patient Clarence and his asthmatic sister Darlene continue to ignore Lukas’ and Mercy’s treatment plans. An arsonist hits a number of places around town, and fireman Buck is suspected. Tedi’s friend Abby is desperate to keep her parents together, even if they only unite when she is injured. Bailey Little continues his campaign to punish the hospital for Dwayne’s death.
I’m not sure why I like this series. There are typically a dozen or so storylines going on at once, and many of the characters aren’t realistic. But I can’t put the books down because the stories are so involving.
A man reminisces about growing up in a small town, his mother’s death and his father’s remarriage, and a murder that occurred when he was a boy.
Utterly boring, as most reminiscences of small-town life seem to be; what could have been a story is buried in house and family details. I forced myself to get through the first 50 pages before giving up.
in Shadows over Lyra (omnibus)
When Lady Alethia is rescued from kidnappers by the fey Wyrd, she is offered the chance to study magic in the Shee capital of Eveleth while her brother Har and his lowborn friend Maurin march with Shee soldiers to lift the siege of Brenn.
Fast read and workmanlike quest-for-missing-objects-of-power fantasy, with the now-obligatory supportive men and independent women, and some truly awful monsters; Wrede must have Technicolor nightmares.
Ellie doesn’t believe in the supposed suicide of a newly-pregnant friend.
I’ve decided I don’t like this series because it hits too close to home. In the first book, Ellie’s baby daughter was placed in just as much danger as Ellie. In this book, not only was Ellie’s fellow AF wife killed but she was just barely pregnant as well. I don’t do well with children in danger.
Jane lives in a rent-controlled Manhattan studio and works as a book editor at very small Posh Press. Desperate to get married since she is already 28, her life only gets worse when her engaged younger cousin Dana sees her lunching with celebrity Natasha and insists Jane bring her nonexistent boyfriend to the wedding.
I don’t find whiny New York women interesting, especially when they get themselves in trouble by lying. Move someplace real, tell the truth, and be a woman who is happy whether married or single. I gave up about a quarter of the way through, and gave up on this author at the same time.
What an amazing collection of unlikeable people doing uninteresting things! From the grand society dame constantly putting down her daughter-in-law to 9-year-old abandoned children who treat family members like servants, there was not one character I’d like to have spent time with. I barely made it a quarter of the way through the book.
Confusing collection of stories featuring a group of supposedly Southern women.
I can’t stand authors who think putting women in a Southern town and having them curse and drink makes them original characters. It doesn’t even make them interesting. This particular book also skips around timewise, so the reader can’t tell whether she is in pre-WWI or modern day. I barely got a quarter of the way through before giving up.
Erlendur and his associates investigate a 60-year-old murder, while in a prewar parallel story a battered wife tires of her husband’s abuse.
I can’t really discuss the technical flaws of the book, because I immediately get too engrossed in the story, and I’m not sure why. None of the characters are really likeable, a palpable gloom permeates the book, and the “whodunit” isn’t hard to figure out. But I keep reading them and looking for more.
King Mendenhar of the Enchanted Forest comes to visit dragonland and finds Princess Cimorene distraught over the missing King Kazul. He accompanies her on her quest to rescue the dragon king, acquiring a witch and a magician on their way.
Interesting enough story, but the relationships seemed very superficial and the plot scattered. Even Cimorene’s close friendship with Kazul has disappeared. Will probably satisfy very young teens but not older ones.
Another tale of miserable people suffering until they turn things over to God.
I am generally not a fan of who-is-suffering-the-most contests. If they help people find peace with God, fantastic. But I prefer a story with likeable characters, and this is noticeably lacking. Maybe they’d be likeable if they weren’t so miserable, but they are. I couldn’t get into it, two innocent children suffering terrible injuries during the first 20 pages sent me running away.
A young British lieutenant tries to repair his battered ship on an unknown South Sea island.
I should have paid more attention to the book’s description, Horatio Hornblower meets Lovecraft. I hate horror, and the mystical evil island would have made old H.P. right at home. In addition, the short prelude in which the future lieutenant starts training with the sword never fit into the rest of the story.
Whiny narrative of unloved college student with dysfunctional family trying to cope with life and wannabe boyfriend.
I have to give up on this author. I find nothing interesting about unlikeable characters, and that is her specialty.
in Magicians of Quality (omnibus)
In the 1700’s, two young women correspond about their adventures. Kate suffers through a London Season, while Cecelia, left at home in the country, befriends a lovely heiress.
Told entirely through letters, the story has a very Austen-ish feel, although Austen’s England didn’t have a Royal College of Wizards. Think of it as Elizabeth Bennett meets Harry Potter. Kate and Cecelia are a bit sillly but overall quite likeable, and even one of the aunts turns out to be a good sort. Very readable.
Ian Rutledge is assigned to find the missing bodies when a drifter is arrested for the murder of his long-missing wife but her man and children have disappeared.
I like this series because I enjoy convoluted plots, as long as they eventually make sense. This one doesn’t disappoint. Not a good choice for readers who want to solve the mystery themselves, but great for the reader who likes being surprised again and again before reaching a believable ending. I do wish the title had some connection to the story, though.
When Lukas Bower joins the small-town emergency department, he finds a hostile director, drug-seeking patients, and a fellow physician not recovering from a bitter divorce.
One of the better Christian fiction efforts I’ve read recently. Viable story, real (i.e., imperfect) characters, believable resolution. A bit predictable, but tolerable.
Story of a woman transported to Botany Bay who marries a settler. Not very interesting, I only got about 1/4 into it before giving up.
Grim story of a Tribeca paramedic who takes photos of dead and injured people and helps steal drugs for others to sell. Totally lacks the lyrical quality that underlay the grimness in Burke’s amazing second book, Black Flies.
Think of this as Supernatural Noir. The hard-boiled detective in the seedy office is hired by the beautiful rich woman to find her daughter, but instead of getting beat up by human thugs in the process, his would-be killers include faceless nightmares and a killer-for-good sets him up in order to save him and repay a debt. Of course the beautiful rich woman isn’t what she seems … probably fans of noir and supernatural thrillers will enjoy this series, but I’m not one so I’ll be skipping the rest.
Something about this book just bothered me. The author plays fair with information (although the “why” was a bit unusual) but the whole atmosphere was gloomy, reasonable given the heroine’s recent experiences but unpleasant.
Douglas’ brother and sister take center stage in this sequel to Singer of Souls. Bridie, a former policewoman, goes to Scotland to find out who killed Grandma MacLaren and clear her brother’s name; Scott, a PTSD victim and former Marine, tries to care for a baby dumped on his doorstep who is (unbeknownst to him) Douglas’ child. There were three problems with this book, one of which was not its fault. First, it was a much darker book than its predecessor. You may wonder how it could have been darker than a book about a drug addict desperately trying to go straight, but it was. Second, it just wasn’t as interesting. There didn’t seem to be anyone likeable to root for. Finally, I just cannot handle stories featuring a child in danger. As a mom, it hits too close to home. Hardcore fantasy fans will probably enjoy this; I got a quarter of the way through and gave up.
This is the antithesis of a cozy mystery; Clio, a physician-turned-mystery-writer, is determined to find who killed her longtime best friend, a gay man named Luke, in a particularly grisly manner. She quickly finds a massive conspiracy, interspersing detection with polemics to prove that homosexuals can be happy. No big secret about whodunnit or why.
The fictional story of a woman who was born in Africa, captured into slavery and taken through the Middle Passage to America, learned to read on a South Carolina indigo plantation, and eventually won her freedom and became a voice for the abolition movement. Well-researched but suffers from being fiction; such a remarkable life just isn’t believable unless it’s true-life.
This disturbing book suffers from a lack of focus. On the one hand, it presents personal stories about the forced mass migration from Africa to the New World, and how it affected not only the Africans but the white men who transported and sold them. On the other hand, it frequently gets lost in statistics (the sheer number of Africans who made the Middle Passage doesn’t become any less mind-boggling when broken down into how many came from the Gold Coast, Ivory Coast, Bight of Biafra, etc.,) and even the narratives suffer from a dry writing style. But it still portrays a shameful chapter in Anglo history.
For some reason, disjointed and purposeless memoirs have become popular lately, and this is another one. Am I the only person honest enough to say “this is boring?” The narrator didn’t bother to keep her marriage together or stand up to her preteen daughter. I’ve kept chickens, and they sure are enjoyable to watch, but not as the author describes them. About the only use I can see for this wandering between chicken-raising, house-reconstructing, and child-raising, is that it does contain some good raising-chicken advice.
I don’t mind intertwining unrelated stories, but (a) they have to be interesting and (2) the author has to present them without confusion. And I always need some likeable characters to enjoy a story. This book blew all requirements. After 100 pages of an anti-heroine who kills would-be rapists in between rubbing out those with the power to write something and have it come true, her hostile co-rubbers-out, and a madwoman threatening that the world is about to end, I gave up. And I never did figure out what the title had to do with the story. The book description sounded MUCH better than the book itself turned out!
The title of this book should have clued me in that I wasn’t going to like it. I detest size-obsessed heroines, whether they express it by constant dieting and exercising or by trying to convince everyone else that they are not overweight. Heather fits in the second category, and suffers the added handicap of being a former teen pop star whose mother ran off with her life earnings. Add her working as a college dorm administrator in which two young women are found dead at the bottom of elevator shafts, and I’m surprised I made it halfway into the book before giving up.
Yet another hard-edged and suspicious heroine. This one hides from her past working as a maid and studying martial arts to protect herself, but her story-telling tone is so bitter, it’s hard to work up any sympathy for her when she gets involved in the murder of the owner of the apartments next door. It just didn’t catch my interest, although the police chief was more sympathetic (and competent) than in most mysteries. Oh, and Shakespeare is a small Southern town, nothing to do with the Bard.
There are two major problems with this interestingly-titled series. First, all the authors who try to write sequels to Jane Austen seem to have the same problem; their writing sounds stilted and awkward, whereas Austen’s was formal but flowed. The characters don’t seem as real as Austen’s originals, either. I suspect the reason is that Austen herself was simply writing as she spoke and basing characters on real people she knew, while the modern authors are trying to artificially reproduce a lifestyle and type of speech which is not natural to them. Second, this author adds a supernatural element as well! While there was some speculation on items with magical powers in Austen’s time, she certainly never used genuine magic as a story element! I had hopes for the series, so the execution was quite disappointing. Interestingly, two of the Austen-sequel-writers marry Kitty off to a clergyman!
Sheesh. Why do authors think “nurse” in the title means it has to be a romance, usually with a stern but kindly doctor? I promise you, in 20 years of nursing I never got distracted from my patients by the attentions of a gorgeous physician.
In this sequel to Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog, the Bishop sends one man after another to investigate a mysterious apparition that keeps leading to tragedy at a retreat run by monks. He refuses to send Sister Pelagia because nuns are not allowed, and of course she is the only one who can unravel the mystery. Just as slow-moving and wordy as the previous book, in the grand Russian style, so I skipped a couple of pages at a time fairly often. In addition, there were too many plot holes – for instance, a woman doesn’t become a femme fatale just by deciding to. But the plot-twists-within-twists will delight hard-core mystery fans.
I wanted to like this author so much. She is trying to write real stories with a Christian worldview, which I applaud wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, the characters don’t ring true and the stories just aren’t interesting. Her scattered approach to plot development doesn't help. I forced myself through the first 100 pages and then gave up and skipped to the end.
This last of the original Myth Adventures books takes place concurrently with Sweet Myth-tery of Life. As Skeeve puzzles over whether to marry Queen Hemlock, the rest of the troop tracks down rumors of rebellion and personal threats against Skeeve. Not the best of the Myth books -- Guido's fake-Mob-style narration quickly palls -- but enjoyable for those who have read the previous Myth books and want more of their adventures.
No likeable characters in the whole book, including the supposed heroine. Too bad they weren’t ALL killed.
Shy, unsuitable nun with a gift for solving mysteries is sent to find the killer of rare white bulldogs and finds a conspiracy leading to murder as well. Translated from the Russian original, this well-plotted story has a very Russian feel, with a slow pace and lots of distractions. I skipped a few pages whenever the scene description or speeches got too boring and didn’t miss any of the plot.
I kept wondering if I’d be able to finish this, since it features the irresponsible mother/child raising himself combination that I detest. It didn’t help that neither Sam nor his mother Lydia are particularly likable, and the frequent distractions into Sam’s self-promoting daydreams aggravated me further. I managed to get through a completely unbelievable murder-of-Kennedy scene but it was too much when the two teens became obsessed with asking questions about sex. Never mind school, parents, or even how other adults react, the kids just keep asking. (Supposedly, the Wyoming kids celebrated when the “nigger-lover” was shot. I lived in Florida at the time and attended a segregated school and every single person there was shocked and grieved at Kennedy’s death.) Unlikable characters and offensively stupid plot – if there is a reason to read this author, I haven’t found it.
Two distant cousins were born in the same house on the same day and raised as sisters, living in modern-day India but under traditional rules. The story started well but as it progressed, it became too much of a soap opera for my taste, which is a shame because I enjoy interesting stories set in other cultures. There was also a lot of copout in the ending (can’t really call it a resolution).
This is a juvenile book, but that’s not why I gave up on it. I’m a mother, and I don’t find it entertaining to read about neglectful parents, children forced to raise themselves, or equating creativity with irresponsibility. Children might enjoy the story, but they get bombarded with this false philosophy enough from TV and movies.
Skeeve has woman trouble! Queen Hemlock has demanded Skeeve marry her or she will abdicate, leaving him as sole ruler of Possiltum. Meanwhile, she hires him to straighten out the kingdom’s finances. Vic sets him up with a blind date who introduces him to Bloody Marys … you get the picture. The resolution with Hemlock is a bit of a copout; although the reader knows Skeeve is naïve, some of his more worldly team members should have anticipated it. And the book as a whole feels more like a collection of incidents, each an excuse to promote some aspect of the author’s philosophy, than a cohesive story. But it’s still enjoyable light reading.
Surprising, involving story of a heroin addict/musician who quits drugs and starts a new life with his grandmother in Scotland. When the faery queen shows interest in his music, his life takes an unexpected turn, and I was concerned this would turn into a magical version of “The Fugitive.” I’m not sure the ending qualifies as “satisfying” but it was unexpected.
Grim, grisly police procedural, not the type of mysteries I enjoy.
I wanted to like this book so much. A novel about a practicing Christian in the real-life workplace? Sounded fabulous. And then it turns out the heroine was homeschooled as well? What a great opportunity to portray a real person! And what a letdown when the book made it clear the heroine and her six siblings had no social skills and knew no one outside their family because they had been homeschooled -- not an accurate presentation of homeschooling at all. And the heroine winds up the token ditzy Christian in a TV newsroom full of unlikeable people. I gave up about halfway through in bitter disappointment.
I couldn't get into this story of a medieval Japanese police commissioner who is actually interested in solving crimes, and I'm not sure why. Maybe it was the slow pace -- suited to the culture but dragging to my American taste. Maybe it was a hero who had to violate his culture's mores in order to pursue the truth. Maybe it was the emphasis on appearance over reality -- again, entirely correct as a representation of the culture, but not a point of view with which I have any sympathy. Rowland clearly understands the mindset and problems of Japanese society of the time, but did not come up with an involving story. There was also way too much telling the reader what Sano thought, violating a basic rule of storytelling: show, don't tell.
Depressing story about a bunch of loser women who define themselves by having hot shoes, even at the cost of their credit ratings or marriages. Since I require sympathetic characters to enjoy a story, and consider shoes just something to protect your feet, I hated it. Jennifer Weiner fans will probably love it.
Something about this book just didn't work. The heroine tries too hard to be both a proper Victorian widow and an independent woman. The hero manages to paint himself too black. It feels more like a romance novel than a true mystery, and I don't like romance novels. I got halfway through and then just skipped to the end; I wasn't interested enough to plod through how the author was going to get there, and only mildly curious about whodunnit.
At last, a likable heroine! But surrounded by a possessive and vindictive husband, a native shaman with his own ruthless agenda, and a deadly rivalry with the English. The story is original, but so slow-moving you can read two pages and then skip ten without missing anything.
I don't like to slam anything set in Wyoming, but I couldn't get into this very strange story of a mentally "different" man who becomes obsessed with a woman he sees for the first time on her wedding day. It didn't make me want to see what happened to the characters.
I was almost halfway through this book when I started wondering why I was reading it. Nothing was happening. No developing plot, no characters undergoing change, no threat to the heroine, just another dysfunctional family full of not-quite-believable characters plodding through life. My time is too valuable to waste on something not useful OR enjoyable. The title was sure an eye-catcher, though.
For some reason, there has been a flood of books lately with the same plot: successful city girl is dragged back to small-town roots, finds true love, and decides to stay. This is another one; enough already! As someone who moved from a city to a medium-sized town, let me assure you that not everyone in a city is miserable and not everyone in a small town is happy. I'm so tired of that plot, I couldn't even read this book.
Yet another working-single-girl-looking-for-perfect-guy romance novel. I don't like them when they are set in the 1800's and I don't like them any more when they are set in modern-day Washington, D.C., and the ditzy heroine works as health-care-policy advisor to a senator. Criminally unrealistic, and this one was boring as well.
Absolutely amazing story of a Kansas City man who gave away $100 bills to needy people for many years. Not as well-written as I would have expected from a professional news reporter, but the subject was so awe-inspiring I finished the book anyway. If you can read this without thinking "I could do this!" I'll be very surprised. Also steers people to the website http://secretsantausa.com for those who want to copy this pathbreaker.
Interesting concept: an amateur detective who doesn't mysteriously guess everything right. Great red herrings, too. But the characters didn't ring true, and the reader isn't really given the information to figure out whodunit. I don't demand that everything be spelled out, but to expect the reader to realize that a certain piece of information is missing, with no hint that it even exists, is just too convoluted to be fair. Having said that, I did read it all the way through and plan on reading the next book in the series.
When adored basketball coach (and secret wife-beater) Boyd Watson is murdered, abused wife Danielle is the prime suspect. But Danielle insists she didn't kill him, and Hannah is determined to prove her friend's innocence. Starts a bit slow and I sure wish Hannah would tell off her buttinsky mother, but the ending was logical (and, unfortunately, too realistic).
Very disjointed story about an Irish child whose noble parents are killed by Cromwell, is taken to the Netherlands by a kindly sea captain, and winds up in an arranged marriage in the Dutch East Indies. Not very believable.
The main character, a formerly high-income professional woman, is working low-paid off-the-books jobs rather than pay alimony to her ex-husband, and spends most of her time terrified that he'll find her and send her to jail. I've never been a fan of the cut-off-your-nose-to-spite-your-face philosophy, and her unsympathetic co-workers and customers just seemed to be what she deserved. The murder mystery is wedged between what she goes through to keep ex-hubbie from finding her, and neither was interesting enough to hold my attention. Another series I won't be reading more of.
This was another series I just couldn't get into. Society-girl-to-rags, forced to earn a living by attending society events for a newspaper, with two sisters and parents that make my family look positively functional ... figuring out whodunit was the smallest piece of the puzzle.
I couldn't manage to finish this SF book for two reasons. First, I require at least one likeable major character to enjoy a story. There wasn't one here. Second, while I don't mind disjointed stories as long as they come together in the end, the stories have to each be interesting enough to make it worth my time to follow them. These weren't. The idea of "time storms" was somewhat intriguing, which is why I did try to read the book, but it's a shame the idea wasn't developed in a coherent way.