The Monkey's Raincoat by Robert Crais

 

This first book in Crais' PI Elvis Cole and Joe Pike series was written back in 1987.  Set in Los Angeles, it begins with Cole meeting two women: one, Ellen, who doesn't want to go to the police, and Janet, her best friend, one of many who push her around.  Ellen's son and husband are missing. Her husband, Mort, picked the child, Perry, up from school and disappeared.   After taking the case, Cole goes to Ellen's house when she calls to say someone has broken into her home, looking for something.  Ellen again refuses to go to the police because she believes it was her husband who ransacked the house, and he has a right to do that.  Cole thinks that someone other than her husband did this while looking for something they thought her husband had stashed.  Ellen sends her children to stay with Janet, and she goes to stay with Cole with Pike as a guard dog.  Mort had a lot of affairs, and it seems that his current mistress is an actress.  The two went to a party at a drug cartel boss's house, where two kilos of lab-grade coke went missing.  Someone tells the boss that Mort stole the cocaine.  Cole hopes to find the cocaine in time to save Ellen's son.  

Elvis Cole is a big smart ass, whose mouth gets him into trouble, which gets him taken out by the bad guys.  Pike is kinda scary, but the person you want at your back in a fight.  You have to keep in mind when this book was written.  A couple of times, some things might be seen as racist or sexist.  They did not bother me.  I grew up in the eighties and remember it well.  This is classic Sam Spade detective fiction, which makes sense, considering it won the Anthony and McCavity awards and was nominated for the Edgar and Shamus awards.  This mystery is filled with snark and one-liners, and for those who like PI detective stories, this one sure hits the spot.    

Quotes

He leered and made a pistol with his fingers and shot me.  I considered returning the gesture with my .38.

Robert Crais (The Monkey's Raincoat, p 25)

But good news, like magic, is sometimes in short supply.

Robert Crais (The Monkey's Raincoat, p 27)

Teenage girls reek of disapproval better than anyone I know.

Robert Crais (The Monkey's Raincoat, p 38)

All the good things are in childhood. Innocence. Loyalty. Truth. You're eighteen years old. You're sitting in a rice Paddy. Most guys give it up.  I decided eighteen was too young to be old.

Robert Crais (The Monkey's Raincoat, p 79)

Bud holds up better warm than any other beer. Great for that tailgate party when you're on stakeout.

Robert Crais (The Monkey's Raincoat, p 101)

"He likes you quite a lot."

"That's the Marine.  Marines are all faeries at heart."

Robert Crais (The Monkey's Raincoat, p 218)

There are so many maybes in my life that they begin to lose all meaning.

Robert Crais (The Monkey's Raincoat, p 240)

Link to Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Monkeys-Raincoat-Elvis-Cole-Novel-ebook/dp/B004JN1D1O/ref=sr_1_1?crid=SI5Y4JUUPWHE&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.2zjTOfMC-qOJnCuygb0TEerG2wD5CGHViN8vFvRj5aCCs4X10GR4UeeDERuWhPmvEZL0HE6cjZAQ9UqqJf8alHbEySqFF19NEWOhLsvM5cm-rNO5zETEuZsniRuXpjWJ22JVw6eTzRFcBi9TBsgoksDbvvA3dDFyBkg9xas1I8POyLgklM1ZyAH3qngTmUIb4trl0MhKkvK3uk-jTw5TEbtnCaCkF6lerXHdV7LSBao.lmfXa7LciXd9BcOnMLkiYjXs42cZixkMriTFOxpvfS8&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+monkeys+raincoat+robert+crais&qid=1777646105&sprefix=the+monkey%2Caps%2C197&sr=8-1

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Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

 

Stevenson includes an epigraph at the beginning of his mystery novel, listing Ronald Knox's Ten Commandments for Writing Detective Fiction, from 1929.  These commandments include: you can't look into the mind of the killer, you must have a reliable narrator, nothing supernatural, and no twins unless the author has prepared you for it.  The book opens with two brothers, Ernie and Michael.  Michael has run over the body of a man who had been shot.  For some reason that will be made available later, Michael strangles the man.  Ernie feels the need to call the police on him, which goes against the family.  Their father was a small-town crook who was killed while trying to rob a gas station.  After his death, the cops believed the family to all be crooked and would harass them with claims that one of them had committed a crime.  So, Ernie's telling the cops what Michael had done was the ultimate in betrayal.  

Michael has served his three years and is getting out, so Ernie's mother, Audrey's sister, Katherine, decides to hold a family reunion at a mountain lodge in Australia.  The list of family members/ suspects includes Katherine's husband, Andy; Marcelo, the stepfather; Sophie, a doctor; Marcelo's daughter; Erin, Ernie's wife; and Lucy, Michael's ex-wife.  They all get there a day before Michael arrives.  Michael is being driven there by Ernie's wife, Erin.  The morning of the day that he arrives, a body is found in the snow of the mountains.  No one recognises him.  Sophie is asked to examine the dead body by the local police officer.  Everyone believes that he died of exposure, but Sophie suspects that he was murdered in the same fashion as the Black Tongue's victims were.  While working in the hospital, she came across one of his victims who died within a week, and this dead body had similar markings.  When Michael arrives, he is taken into custody by the cop who locks him up in the Drying Room until the detectives can arrive.  Yes, the weather is keeping everyone from leaving or the police from coming up.  It turns out that Michael got out of jail a day earlier and cannot account for his actions at the time of the murder.  More people die in this book.

The title of this book is accurate: everyone in his family has killed someone.  Not necessarily murdered, but killed.  For example, you find out that Sopie is being sued for malpractice upon the death of a patient.  The narrator has a voice that is hard to peg down.  Ernie has a voice that is part sarcastic, part cynical, and filled with dark humor.  He uses a lot of foreshadowing that you might not discover, and follows the rules faithfully. He gives you a fair shot at solving the mystery, though I didn't.  I'm afraid that while he left clues, I didn't follow through on all of them, so the solution was a bit of a surprise to me.  This is the first book in an Ernie series that, so far, contains four novels.  I really enjoyed Ernie's voice and way of explaining things.  It made the novel go along quickly.  This book was very intriguing and fun, and I can't wait to read the next Ernie mystery.     

Quotes

Infamy is easy to Google.

Benjamin Stevenson (Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone p, 20)

It was the type of place where you could lick the windows instead of buying a drink and the sous chef was a microwave.

Benjamin Stevenson (Everybody In My Family Has Killed Someone, p 20)

The wind was cruel; it found every crevasse in my clothes, invaded and patted me down like I owed it money.

Benjamin Stevenson (Everybody In My Family Has Killed Someone, p 24)

There's a difference between being watched and being seen.

Benjamin Stevenson (Everybody In My Family Has Killed Someone,p 35)

Being a mother to fatherless boys is no small feat. Audrey had to be amorphous: the prison warden, the snitchy inmate, the bribe-taking guard, and the compassionate officer all rolled into one.

Benjamin Stevenson (Everybody In My Family Has Killed Someone, p 35)

One day, you'll realise family isn't about whose blood runs in your veins, it's about who you'd spill it for.

Benjamin Stevenson (Everybody In My Family Has Killed Someone, p 47)

I'll hold it here to mention that I know some authors are incapable of having a woman throw up without it being the clue to a pregnancy. These same authors seem to think nausea is the only indication of childbearing, not to mention their belief that vomit shoots out the woman's mouth within hours of plot-convenient fertilisation. By some authors, I mean male ones. Far be it from me to tell you which clues to pay close attention to, but Sofie's not pregnant, okay? She's allowed to throw up of her own volition.

Benjamin Stevensonn (Everybody In My Family Has Killed Someone, p 56-7)

It was easier to tell where my dad had been than to see where he was. The empty armchair in the living room.  The plate in the oven. Stubble in the bathroom sink. The empty holsters in a crack in the fridge. My father was footprints, residue.

Benjamin Stevenson (Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone, p 73)

Corporate law is just the next evolution of skullduggery: the criminals are the same, they just drive better cars.

Benjamin Stevenson (Everybody In My Family Has Killed Someone, p 76)

Lucy smokes like she's siphoning gas, so I knew it was her from the short, desperate gulps.

Benjamin Stevenson (Everybody In My Family Has Killed Someone, p 78)

It wasn't like we lost our spark; it was that we didn't have the tools to make it anymore.

Benjamin Stevenson (Everybody In My Family Has Killed Someone, p 90)

Andy, Katherine's husband, who wears his wedding ring like some men wear Purple Hearts.

Benjamin Stevenson f(Everybody In My Family Has Killed Someone, p 106)

But a bad person who thinks they're a good one--that's what got him into trouble.

Benjamin Stevenson (Everybody In My Family Has Killed Someone, p 112)

Time was not only borrowed, it was charging interest.

Benjamin Stevenson (Everybody In My Family Has Killed Someone, p 203)

My editor had crossed out my first go at this sentence and written Hypo=Cold, Hyper= Hot in the margin, in that helpful yet smug voice editors are born with, wishing to both correct you and impart their correctness upon you at the same time.

Benjamin Stevenson (Everybody In My Family Has Killed Someone, p 224)

The weather was only having a smoke and would return invigorated.

Benjamin Stevenson (Everybody In My Family Has Killed Someone, p 236)

People have a habit of saying, "That's all I'm saying", when they're saying an awful lot.

Benjamin Stevenson (Everybody In My Family Has Killed Someone, p 240)

It was as cold as a fridge inside a freezer.

Benjamin Stevenson (Everybody In My Family Has Killed Someone, p 273)

Link To Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Everyone-Family-Has-Killed-Someone-ebook/dp/B09Y94K74X/ref=sr_1_3?crid=28TX9JWQMYW29&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.idH__oEa592ZUkWqJ7jopjDI0qII1c0UCa-bKyBkt5xK_99Q-dbLKK7ilBSk0CPQu58FIQ76L7ETGIK8ityQxuTXLdsIHfgIfETcWoB_Z5XeOiDhCOxLDE4YGlaC3g3Bq3Oj8GQxurax5uMFS12rn6NEANyAsS6iegcJ-Z4JcYd1lJ44dqnqW0USr73-rrrCPDRH-oXaCys0XWpAGWMuYWyegEOwxAmXQUraHhMOx1o.y3YnBodGOHUzgVuM3pTOkDvJpmZrJ8yIZZcvJGAeC3w&dib_tag=se&keywords=benjamin+stevenson+books&qid=1777215514&sprefix=Benjamin%2Caps%2C178&sr=8-3

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Listen For the Lie by Amy Tintera

Lucy ran as far away as she could five years ago when her best friend was found brutally murdered with Lucy walking aimlessly down the road in a dress stained in her friend Savannah’s blood. The whole town suspected her, including her abusive husband and her parents. 

Then, a podcaster named Ben decides to do a podcast about her and the murder and it’s not only being raked up again, but she loses her job and her boyfriend.

Lucy’s beloved drunk grandmother is having an eightieth birthday celebration with all the family coming. The grandmother also contacts Ben and tells him she can get Lucy to talk to him.

As soon as Lucy drives into her hometown she is shunned and verbally assaulted by everyone in the town. Lucy herself doesn’t remember what happened that day and part of her wonders if she did kill Savannah. As Ben posts his podcast several times a week, secrets about the town get revealed and possibly even a murderer.

Lucy has a voice in her head telling her to kill someone and she fantasizes about the ways to kill that person, leading the reader to think that maybe she did it and is completely insane. These scenes are hilarious in a darkly humorous way. Then this book goes from being darkly humorous to just being dark. I got a little whiplash from it. 

I had no clue who killed Savannah until the very end. It just seemed like it could be anyone in that town, including Lucy. This town seems a bit like Peyton Place with all the secrets it has. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and am looking forward to reading more from this author.

Quotes

I need to tell my feelings to chocolate. Lots of chocolate.

Amy Tintera (Listen For the Lie, p. 11)

Telemarketers and Grandma — the only people who use the phone the way it was originally intended.

Amy Tintera (Listen For the Lie, p. 12)

"Are you drunk?"

"Lucy, it is two o'clock in the afternoon. Of course, I'm not drunk. I'm merely slightly tipsy."

Amy Tintera (Listen For the Lie, p. 13)

I’ve never liked men who can be described as having boyish good looks. They’re always smug.

Amy Tintera (Listen For the Lie, p 21)

There’s only one way iced tea is made, in her opinion—sweet enough to leave a nice coating of sugar at the bottom of the glass.

Amy Tintera ( Listen Fir the Lie, p 48)

You look like the fun kinda of mess.

Amy Tintera (Listen For the Lie, p 143)

Kids have zero fucks to give about your feelings.

Amy Tintera (Listen For The Lie, p 146)

Men don’t protect us, not really. They only protect themselves. The only thing men ever protected me from is happiness.

Amy Tintera (Listen For The Lie, p 167)

And people hate that quality in a young woman, don’t they? They don’t know what to do with a girl who isn’t looking for their approval. They feel like they need to take her down a peg.

Amy Tintera (Listen For The Lie, p 169)

In the end, life is just sweatpants and children who resent you and all your choices. But no one wants to hear that.

Amy Tintera (Listen For the Lie, p 170)

Better to be interesting than likable, in my opinion.

Amy Tintera (Listen For the Lie, p 172)

She’s one of those people who can do an effortless messy bun, and I dislike that about her.

Amy Tintera (Listen For The Lie, p 206)

My sense of self preservation is really battling it out with my desire to prove my mother wrong.

Amy Tintera (Listen For the Lie, p 215)

People don’t believe women who fight back. When a man lashes out, people say he’s lost control of his temper or made a terrible mistake. When a woman  does it she’s a psychopath.

Amy Tintera (Listen For the Lie, p 219)

Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Listen-Lie-Novel-Amy-Tintera-ebook/dp/B0C4JLQH5C/ref=sr_1_1?crid=AZW2JU6XVFH0&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.AqMir2ezjFd1inQicVLLwjWb844KthUDPSga4HKFMmr_7bBW1KI29v77hegJUM88v7iYaTF9Zxzcn_KD_lmZjAKaQvfm7cRpEun7Wnydh8oZJyb9sL7xJoRE0HF3a1mMmR7vZw0rfaS_GuMUmUlhTiqoKokAo9yhp5Y3RlSntOb3BN6eeowgEDxCuJpLL4c4TuNmaQvSNp58litW-tfwuYo8i63ML8JBq0pkAh4WqvE.Sc-bzQLbUyqVSZYVmq48G_V-9SLgHrqasytxv2dYWq4&dib_tag=se&keywords=listen+for+the+lie&qid=1776013219&s=digital-text&sprefix=listen%2Cdigital-text%2C204&sr=1-1 

Link to ThriftBooks: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/listen-for-the-lie_amy-tintera/38611974/#edition=66510138&idiq=63857138

Rapture in Death by J.D. Robb

 

This is the fourth book in the Lieutenant Dallas cop mystery series featuring Roarke, her new husband.  This series takes place in the year 2058 in New York City.  Roarke and Dallas are spending the last week of their honeymoon on a satellite planet in space where Roarke is building a resort.  An autotech is found by his roommate to be swinging from the rafters, dead of an apparent suicide.  His roommate insists that he wasn't depressed or suicidal.  Since Dallas is there, she does a preliminary investigation and plans on handing the death over to the Innerspace police.  But something is nagging her about the death; perhaps the way the autotech had a huge smile on his face.  

With the three weeks of their honeymoon up, it's time to go back to work.  Dallas has a full plate waiting for her at cop central.  She has cleared it with the Commander, allowing her to have Peabody as her permanent assistant.  A successful defense attorney has been found by his husband in the bath with slit wrists.  The husband insists that it doesn't make sense.  The lawyer would never kill himself.  Dallas gets suspicious about the husband and a female co-worker who finds reasons to be around him and throws herself at him, but neither of them really pans out. There are no drugs in his system, and nothing makes sense, but the attorney has a creepy smile on his face.  

Dallas's friend, Mavis, has hooked up with a musicologist who is making her music better and taping a demo for her to play for the record companies.  This musicologist, Jess, has secrets and his own game plan.   Is Jess the one behind this rash of suicides that now counts a senator and a newspaper gossip rag editor?  This is a book where I knew  (remembered?) who had done it and got frustrated by Dallas's bullheadedness.  Overall, it's a great book and a really interesting mystery.  How hard would you have to try to override the body's natural sense to survive, and what would motivate you to do something like this?   Robb's mystery is a real mindbender and has Dallas flummoxed as to why these obvious suicides seemed like homicides, with no evidence to back up her cop's hunch. I recommend this book to mystery lovers everywhere.

Quotes

Women are so much more courageous and more vicious than men, all in all. Don’t you agree?

J D Robb (Rapture in Death p 281)

Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Rapture-Death-Book-4-ebook/dp/B000OIZTAO/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.izQdiA2c6HAx2Z8FEbbfKQKRLnwNeYXaGBgincTy2XXqDQl70nLNvRqgs0efcTZVHViIjuVaK5oLKLzIlcU70H0hsUqmpzsYgcsBdKpW4PhhDoLdPMQpRrj-hI8S1G5ss68sggBlOTO6o2WgbmpTpE4SQGIQw0mdujEGWiYdNhXXYs02tCwU54l6IBq8XlErTVWvlljoJeUkrlVpaCmXbhBAeB3_qOB7qUYqR8H8zMM.bl-1XD2G62JsLX3YHLfo-6gtH1BTWd5a2GR3N72Vn8U&qid=1775239406&sr=8-1

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Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues by Diana Rowland

 

This is the second book in the White Trash Zombie series with Angel, who was turned into a zombie by Marcus, a sheriff’s deputy, in order to save her from death. Angel works at the coroner’s office where she has a nice supply of brains. Their friend Ed, who tried to kill them because they were zombies, is on the run after decapitating three or so zombies. 

Her and Marcus jumped into a relationship and now Angel feels the need to end it because he treats her like a child and wants to make decisions for her.  His family and friends look down on her for being a high school dropout, though in accordance to her probation,  she is studying for the GED.

When she returns with two bodies to the morgue, someone comes to the door and puts a gun to her face and demands that she give him one of the dead bodies. She complies, but later an article in the paper brings up her past and indicates that she lost the body. The coroner puts her on non-paid leave, which means no more brains. 

There’s a super secret lab working on making brains and growing back the zombies from their heads alone. This lab is looking for a live zombie now in order to create more zombies and use the fake brains to feed them.

This book has it all: mystery, espionage, thrills, horror, humor, and a dash of romance. It is better than the first book, which was an incredibly funny mystery. Rowland has created a whole new world with zombies and humans and humans who want to be zombies. It will take all of Angel’s smart ass instincts and common sense to solve this complex puzzle. 

Quotes

Hello my name is Angel, and I’ll be your zombie today.

Diana Rowland (Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues p 3)

Screw that. Life’s too short to be with someone for the wrong reasons.

Diana Rowland (Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues p 142)

Rebels? Seriously? A rebel alliance of zombies?

Diana Rowland (Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues p 182)

Zombie Super Powers, activate, you fucking bitches.

Diana Rowland (Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues p 280)

Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Even-White-Trash-Zombies-Blues-ebook/dp/B007P7HXT2/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2GBGXPSA5H7H1&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.cqcm97AV0unFzyMKU08l_iobPf-dHvoTSF9aHgc0RUI_LeX0piDdve8f7jdzOB2MlwmVu94Gc54hZJas6JwPMmHxNmfeQ5uW4yqqCNNbOg7ftyD3r4HrFIRpyr2luWJD9SciHs0quC1ADK_HNCUCctRZL0nI1mRINhlMVHmypc3zaUZbHhYmAzwqjdy1oJu4civZ7wtkMk9HJblCIecRKBwUvcatvkiW6IAB4-ZyKwg.IWQ_TXtE0D2moI15ITb8119Q9uIaawEYNAzGhYICi3I&dib_tag=se&keywords=diana+rowland&qid=1775238897&s=digital-text&sprefix=diana+rowlan%2Cdigital-text%2C223&sr=1-3

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The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

 

Nora Seed woke up one morning to a knock on the door. A jogger was there asking if she had a cat because he found one dead in the street. When she goes to work she finds out she’s been fired. On her way home, her elderly neighbor tells her that he doesn’t need her to pick up his prescription for him, which was one of the few social interactions she had. Then she gets a call from the parent if her only piano student saying that the child will not be taking any more lessons.  Nora isn’t just having a bad day, though. She’s having a bad life.

That night Nora ODs on pills to try to kill herself but finds herself in between life and death at a magical place known as. As the Midnight Library. The librarian is her old school librarian who helped her a lot when her father died. There is a Book of Regrets that is very full of all the  things she had missed out on that would have made her life come out better.

The library is full of an infinite number of books that open to put her into a multiverse of possibilities. The librarian tells her she must try out different lives until she comes to the one she likes best. In each life she is placed there with no memory of that life before that moment. When she finds her life she will gain those memories back.

Some of the lives she tries are an Olympic swimmer, deciding to say “yes” to Dan, a glaciologist, and a singer in a world famous rock band.  Sometimes she stays in a world for half an hour before being drawn back to the museum and sometimes weeks or months.

This is a fascinating look at regrets and what they cost us and getting an answer to what could have happened. Who wouldn’t want to glimpse at the “road not traveled”. The novel’s prose is quite quotable, as you can see below, and memorable. The book has a sequel entitled “The Midnight Train” that I can’t wait to read. This is a beautifully written book that opens your eyes to many possibilities and how to live a life without regret. 

Quotes

A person was like a city. You couldn't let a few less desirable parts put you off the whole. There may be bits you don't like, a few dodgy side streets and suburbs, but the good stuff makes it worthwhile.

Matt Haig (The Midnight Library, p. 48)

She stepped outside, wondering whether a life could really be judged from just a few mistakes after midnight on a Tuesday.

Matt Haig (The Midnight Library, p 50)

It turned out to be near impossible to stand in a library and not want to pull things from the shelves.

Matt Haig (The Midnight Library, p 68)

Librarians have knowledge. They guide you to the right book. The right worlds.. They find the best places like soul-enhanced search engines.

Matt Haig (The Midnight Library, p 84)

Regrets don't leave. They weren't mosquitoes. They itch forever.

Matt Haig (The Midnight Library, p 84)

“I don't know if I can do this.”

“You're overthinking it.”

“I have anxiety. I have no other type of thinking available.

Matt Haig (The Midnight Library, p 109)

Grief is a bastard.

Matt Haig (The Midnight Library, p 120)

There are more possible ways to play a game of chess than the amount of atoms in the observable universe.

Matt Haig (The Midnight Library, p 195)

Nora wanted to live in a world where no cruelty existed, but the only worlds she had available to her were worlds with humans in them.

Matt Haig (The Midnight Library, p 197)

Nora wondered, quietly, if there was any place Dylan didn't or wouldn't love. He seemed like he would be able to sit in a field near Chornobyl and marvel at the beautiful scenery.

Matt Haig (The Midnight Library, p 204)

She had known three types of silence in relationships. There was the passive-aggressive silence, obviously, the we-no-longer-have-anything-to-say silence, and then there was the silence that Eduardo and she seemed to have cultivated. The science of not needing to talk. Of just being together, of together-being. The way you could be happily silent with yourself.

Matt Haig (The Midnight Library, p 210)

Fear was when you wandered into a cellar and worried that the door would close shut. Despair was when the door closed and locked behind you.

Matt Haig (The Midnight Library, p 215)

Shle realised that you could be as honest as possible in life, but people only see the truth if it is close enough to their reality.

Matt Haig (The Midnight Library, p 242)

It was interesting, she mused to herself, how life sometimes simply gave you a whole new perspective by waiting around long enough for you to see it.

Matt Haig (The Midnight Library, p 281)

Alas, String Theory is no longer able to trade in these premises. Due to an increase in rent, we simply couldn't afford to go on. Thanks to all our loyal customers. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right, You Can Go Your Own Way, God Only Knows What We'll Be Without You.

Matt Haig (The Midnight Library, p 258)

Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Midnight-Library-Novel-Matt-Haig-ebook/dp/B085BVSXS9/ref=sr_1_1?crid=R54EFNL0QZZB&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Ewdrwdpu2v6EQwcVD2wcEsuwDuXXxHYUsbZ5iJHNbnmb_2eaUBj98rw3ikftwPRVBh_--N2UkKD7M1hjQhvT_h2aUDzkhY5HOzOxQbw2z0DnRhCP2rw-rBH4WtILo6JJSxz_hOqoTJgwTGo4eVD4hrW0brkp_MBoq4zfak8VU3gqWcBat9hgWMr1LM_5o8Y5A1oY5rdbtDkngcZHluntqo65XGBF2CCZyMkYjiY5cAY.CkfV-frOhGOEwhOz49tY0DvpgIyeEVxqg0jw4pwHvNY&dib_tag=se&keywords=midnight+library&qid=1775239090&s=digital-text&sprefix=midnight+li%2Cdigital-text%2C194&sr=1-1

Link to ThriftBooks: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-midnight-library_matt-haig/26805242/?resultid=f154e0df-9482-4ab7-90df-ebb960851255#edition=30129282&idiq=42743577

To Catch a Spy by Mark O'Neill

 

In 1952, David Dodge wrote To Catch a Thief, which was turned into a stellar Hitchcock movie with CarGrant and Grace Kelly.  O'Neill has written a sequel to this book/movie. It's a year later, and Francie is coming back to the Riveria to model clothes designed by Marcel Julian.  John Robie is still there and staying mostly on the straight and narrow.  John and Francie stayed in touch until her last letter, when she tells him how selfish he is, only thinking of himself and how he'll always be a thief.  John was devastated by the letter and is determined to see her while she is in Cannes and convince her otherwise.  However, Francie has moved on to a man named Alex, who was the one who introduced her to Julian and who only thinks of her, a decidedly different man from John.

John wants an invite to the party the night before the fashion show and knows that his government friend Paul, who is also a Count, will have tickets, so John offers his services to collect the information Paul needs to shut down a spy network at the party.   Paul has little information.  John uses his thief skills to learn more about this spy ring by first following someone across the rooftops and catching the man before he can jump, but the man escapes his hold and falls to his death with a bag full of money that John steals.  He was more scared of who he was working for and being caught alive than death.

John finds Francie, and she tells him off in a very hurtful way.  John tries to explain that his whole life, he has only had himself to depend on, which is why he seems selfish.  But then Alex shows up, puts his arm around Francie, and John realizes that she has indeed moved on and is happy.  John is by no means giving up on her. He does, however, become sidetracked by spies and a local cop who was made a fool of when John turned out not to be the cat burglar in the first book, who is trying to set him up if he can't catch him in the act.

It also turns out that Francie has been handing envelopes with secret messages to and from different people. While Paul thinks she may be in on it, John refuses to believe it of her.

The author winks at you a bit in this book when he makes a reference to an English director and when Francie lands in the Prince of Monaco’s lap at the fashion show. Grace Kelly met the Prince while shooting the movie and left Hollywood for him.

 This is a really good book. My favorite character is Vittorio, John’s house keeper who comes from Italy and works for him to pay off a debt she feels she owes him for helping out her and her twelve brothers. Vittorrio will jump on the back of a man to attack him and has a comedic way about her. I really would have loved to see Hitchcock make this book into a movie. 

 

Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Catch-Spy-Mark-ONeill-ebook/dp/B0D1XMV53C/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1QRYMYRDF5OUU&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.VOVvIKhv__iHUAcfyOaQKyNHHisQrievzv0ioA5gj2nNcZE63hWkO9VLt4xDr2Gx9eLUKzJqvUXebmZ179YJYyPyyMe5WvCbvYh56c1rXuzd4bBE_sdj4eQXQHUmUHGJ0TGtpO_gyvCIgRcAwMeWHKSNVX8bl537rbh6M99pQVgmurVO_HJMOnysun6nH7RvAdlZVt5yy-OGGx-IUe_js0zk31LvuUXI-thJuxbc3As.GEB_oXSEjqWT5y0RA9K9Q5HJPwKWuuvsDumQ7urDPa0&dib_tag=se&keywords=to+catch+a+spy&qid=1775238724&s=digital-text&sprefix=to+catch+a+spy%2Cdigital-text%2C280&sr=1-1

Band of Sisters: The Women of Smith College Go to War by Lauren Willig

 

This book focuses on the lives of  Smith College graduates who formed the Smith College Relief Unit during World War I.  They formed in April of 1917 and were composed of women who wanted to help the people of France during the war in rebuilding and replanting their country.  

Emmaline Van Alden is from an old, rich family whose mother spends her time stumping for women’s rights and ignoring the work that her daughter does in the tenements. Emmie never feels like she belongs because everyone wants to be her friend due to her family name. 

Enemie’s only true friend is Kate who went to Smith on a scholarship and is now teaching French to rich girls, bored out of her mind. Kate hasn’t really kept in touch with Emmie because she overheard Emmie’s cousin, Julia tell someone that Kate was Emmie’s “charity case”. Emmie asks Kate to join her on this project and secretly pays her way so Kate would not have a reason to say no. Kate, being poor and Catholic, never fit in at Smith. 

Emmie is put in charge of buying the animals, cows, hens, and goats. The French rooster happens to look a lot like the American hen. After months of no eggs, they realize the hens are actually roosters and they need to buy hens. 

These women achieve amazing things in a short time, but then the boche (Germans) surge into the many villages that they are helping. These women risk life and limb to do a major evacuation of the villagers to somewhere safe from the bombs and guns. The British military told them to leave but they refused to do so until all of their people were safe.

Willig weaves the fiction of the characters with real life events to achieve an incredible novel that tells the untold story of these brave women who risked their lives to help strangers who became close friends. 

While the characters are fictional, all the events written about really happened, including a coup within the organization and the firing of the amazing woman in charge of the unit.  This is an amazing story of brave women who went beyond the traditional roles for women and let France know that they cared about them.  Willig has written a stellar novel that tells these women’s experiences in an engaging way and sheds a light on these women whose stories have been hidden and untold. 

Quotes

How did one scream in pain if one had no mouth left with which to speak?

Lauren Willig (Band of Sisters, p59)

You needn't sugarcoat it. Sugar's been ratoihned.  We've had our quota for today.

Lauren Willig (Band of Sisters, p 80)

Washing is highly overrated. There's nothing like a good layer of dirt for keeping the warmth in.

 Lauren Willig (Band of Sisters, p 229)

She'd been poorly for so long--we thought her illness was...a sort of hobby.

Lauren Willig (Band of Sisters, p 178)

If you want to be loved, don't take on responsibility.

Lauren Willig (Band of Sisters, p 373)

True friendship isn't abstaining from hurting one another, but forgiving each other when you do.

 Lauren Willig (Band of Sisters, p  373)

Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Band-Sisters-Novel-Lauren-Willig-ebook/dp/B089T1SYDS/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1D2OQK96FELNG&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.d3sNH9nf0PrdJ6IxBI_dSUXLeD35cznm_iaL3pQXAYM.-d_3CTsKLJqrpr2kRxRVX1tMbM5z6b95E53AU9Pnmyc&dib_tag=se&keywords=band+of+sisters+lauren+willig&qid=1774801199&s=digital-text&sprefix=band+of+sis%2Cdigital-text%2C186&sr=1-1

Link to Thriftbooks: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/band-of-sisters_lauren-willig/28116388/?resultid=c698cfa1-94d9-4095-8fe8-23258368f8fb#edition=35441987&idiq=45186468

Rules of Prey by John Sandford

This book was published in 1989. It was the first in the police Lieutenant Lucas Davenport series that takes place in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Lucas works Vice and has connections all over town. He is also a game designer and has made a great deal of money doing it. 

In this cop mystery, Lucus finds himself working alongside, yet independently, from homicide when a serial killer begins to stalk the streets of the Twin Cities. This killer ties up and rapes his victims before stabbing them in the chest. He also leaves notes behind that are his rules for murder and not getting caught.

Unfortunately, the killer leaves a witness with his third victim, Carla, who maces him and beats the crap out of him with a pipe. He gets away, but whatever he saw that was special about her, is now gone.  Carla is able to give Lucus information about the killer, such as, he has a Texas accent, is pale, and doesn’t work out. He also wore a pair of Air Jordan Nikes. The killer has a type, whether he knows it or not, which is dark haired, dark eyed women. 

Piece by piece Lucus begins to form an idea of this man who sees him as a challenge since he is a gamer. I have to say, this serial killer is one lucky S.O.B in that they keep getting close to him, but he manages to slip away. I enjoyed the looks behind the killer’s eyes and into his thoughts. Lucus isn’t a perfect stand up cop (he plants evidence, punches out a rookie, and breaks in to houses to see what he can find), he also loves sleeping with intelligent women, one of which informs him that she is pregnant. How he reacts says a lot about his morals. This book really kickstarts a long series that I can’t wait to read.

Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Rules-Prey-Book-1-ebook/dp/B000QUCO58/ref=sr_1_1?crid=XSZPA5VWUR8W&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.yyecbZNGQX2Ao4vR1wCIjqwuOFUOLdUznaL7biTsOT2zYG9DlD7gITR4rlKgQ4clzpp2lmMMf6JR9QLAsvnFMInMlivJYE4mxJjbje0qN1vcb095f3qlGriNQjg8L1ODBZZ8CwBwNF4HGhnswSf7y0VrTonOueFGmHk2NSXYhBlBrwL7QGMRTohmMg1BdkybvNUMMpLIpWjBiVhv_612BEfG0T95iiVB_fALWkmHzuk.KVab4zBcyL86TTnvtXVD6lYi1qOfhUv_jUnftNZHT7E&dib_tag=se&keywords=rules+of+prey+john+sandford+book+1&qid=1774802283&sprefix=rules+of+p%2Caps%2C235&sr=8-1

Borrowed Hearts by Kiva Hart

 

This novella is part of the Hearts series written by Kiva Hart and set around a holiday. The holiday in question is Easter. Aria is an elementary school teacher whose live-in fiancé she found having sex with a woman he works with—an affair that has been going on since he proposed. Aria realizes she needs a break and decides to go spend the money she got from pawning her engagement ring on a cabin at a resort in neighboring Whisper Falls. 

To add insult to injury, her car breaks down in the middle of the road on the way there. An obnoxious man named Becket, stops to yell at her for blocking part of the road. It turns out that he is the owner of the resort and he gives her a ride.

After checking into her cabin, she goes to draw a nice, hot, bath but discovers that there is no water. When she goes to complain at the front desk, Becket is there arguing with his mother about having a girlfriend. In exchange for a very nice upgrade, Aria proposes that she play the part of girlfriend when his family arrives for Easter weekend. Aria thought that she had come out on top of their agreement until she meets his family.

While I enjoyed the St Patrick’s Day novella more, as it was a better written novella, I still enjoyed this one in its simplicity and sweetness. This delightfully fresh novella is perfect for Easter and spring.

Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Borrowed-Hearts-Dating-Romance-Holiday-ebook/dp/B0GCTQ34P4/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1BN0T7WPKQ1EV&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.sHXYBibkAzcO9duvtnYhoWC-6JSRiuv3ZzAVEo--BtuOiGl04hF42QQ9Agum2dErSXJ08IhiCy8cZ75zqPmbpsqgRsEmdQ40hG0Ii-ESu9OJWPseXphmILRS4Czn8vyQYAdzOLoc6wR5LRGYKsnRTpKTWQmIv1vppUYHTDXSn67pIwYOBQwE4Jpn1PqDba08XksK4PT05bu3I482l3IV6EhcUPf1pKkdzYQZENU121Q.TTqmCo2Aj7dfzMDPBdXuZZPe5L6ZqSBmi0H6VE0Hbp0&dib_tag=se&keywords=borrowed+hearts+kiva+hart&qid=1774802201&sprefix=borrowed+h%2Caps%2C175&sr=8-1

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

Millie has just been released on parole after serving ten years of her sentence. Life on the outside is tough for someone with a record. After losing her last job she is now living in her Nissan car. She has interviewed for a maid’s position living inside a large house on Long Island. Nina Winchester, the lady of the house, will be her boss.

When Millie shows up for her first day of work the house is trashed. Nina, it seems, has mental health problems and likes to make messes she knows Millie will have to clean up. Nina is also playing psychological games with Millie’s mind, such as asking her to drop everything and pick up her daughter from school, only to find that someone else is picking her up. 

Nina also acts very jealous of Millie when her handsome, sweet husband, is around. Her husband, however, only has eyes for Nina and is devoted to her and her child. The gardener, Enzo, warns Millie that she is in danger, though Millie doesn’t believe him.

This book has a mean psychological twist that keeps you guessing as to what’s really happening in the house. I saw what the twist was long before it happened, but that didn’t stop me from reading this book. This book was like eating cotton candy: fills the ache of a sweet tooth, while being a light read that you can enjoy anytime, but preferably in the summer. This was an enjoyable read and I will probably give the next book in this series a try.

Quotes 

I whirl around—​Cecelia is standing behind me, her pale blue eyes boring into me, wearing a white frilly dress that makes her look like a little doll. I’m of course talking about that creepy talking doll in The Twilight Zone that murders people.

Freida McFadden (The Housemaid p, 28-29)

I hate him so much for loving me.

Frieda McFadden (The Housemaid p, 262)

Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Housemaid-absolutely-addictive-psychological-jaw-dropping-ebook/dp/B09TWSRMCB/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=1FT6WWUNRUE4S&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.9sLRAWKJGR6-_V9aGjzdVesVC0mIHerYpX85kiFw_Ua4frMasoAthsehXdvIyulO37G1Q9rokGw6h86ZNUZB918JWGYm3hd335ET9wnsulCS-8R2iaL1mO69iitVXmthzcvktw_3qMu8Q3rboXVWGzHyxZY2z2JxboTfJBdlBqxygavPoWwK2mdGXnXGzUtLL9E9y5g4vXzrPO6wgoHuWA.rMtxUrs87kOnPwt1dQZPEX3ZTRQ1Yp33LKfJvY_sdXY&dib_tag=se&keywords=housemaid&qid=1774614998&s=digital-text&sprefix=house%2Cdigital-text%2C184&sr=1-1

Fly Girls: How Five Daring Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History by Keith O'Brien

 

O’Brien looks back to the time period between World War I and I, the golden age of flight. Women were becoming increasingly more interested in flying and racing planes against the men. This book explores the lives of five women who were legends of the skies, including: Florence Klingensmith, Ruth Elder, Amelia Earhart, Ruth Nichols, and  Louise Thaden.

Florence Klingensmith, a high school drop out and sheep herder, studied to get her mechanics degree so she could work in planes and took flying lessons when she could. She discovered that the only way she would get up into the air, since planes were so expensive, was to be a stunt girl. Klingensmith had determination and stubbornness to go as far as she could in flying.

Ruth Elder was on her second marriage when she decided to be the first woman to cross the Atlantic and later enter into air racing competitions.  Ruth Nichols, who came from a wealthy family, could afford the lessons, but was being pushed by her family to marry well. Louise Thaden got her start selling coal when she was introduced to Beech, a man who made planes and turned her life around. 

For years women fliers tried to enter air races, but were turned down by the men. Cliff Henderson was put in charge of the National competition and was told to make it one no one would forget. He invited women to enter an all women’s race that would become known as the Powder Puff Derby. 

The men sabotaged their planes. Someone emptied the oil out of Elder’s plane and replaced it with gasoline. Someone also cut the wires holding the wings up on another woman’s plane. The women were told they needed to look after their planes, but the damage was done and even though no one got killed because of the incidents, it took time to repair and caused the women to be late getting back to the race.

 A woman dies in this race and due to that and another death, the men decided that the air was no place for a woman, even though men die all the time in the air. When a woman dies the cause is considered pilot error, but when a man dies, it’s considered to be something wrong with the plane.

I found this book fascinating. The women come from all stations of life and share the same passion for flying go through the same discrimination. Today, most of these women have been forgotten, except Amelia Earhart, who wasn’t the best pilot. I highly recommend this book and I enjoyed it immensely.

Quotes

And the work of married men and women should be split. She should taste the grind of earning a living—and he should learn the stupidity of housework.

Amelia Earhart 

Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Fly-Girls-Young-Readers-Aviation-ebook/dp/B07FKFFH1Q/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2GAFSDQ1WOV8O&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.hA1jZt2NaD76VGnIpAxoz_ikly0gt5_ClJunRrXT3rBlYQ9UOiRKjFiP-gbI36JS9dgx6lOfw8j9Vb5Drutm8g.f08dXVJ6poUrLDTVoLP6bYgiUoR8ITxZ3ZZqTxNJxoE&dib_tag=se&keywords=fly+girls+by+keith+obrien&qid=1774121351&s=digital-text&sprefix=fly+girls%2Cdigital-text%2C158&sr=1-2

Link to Thriftbooks: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/fly-girls-how-five-daring-women-defied-all-odds-and-made-aviation-history_keith-obrien/18641885/?resultid=9905e9cb-0264-4360-846d-108263ac65a2#edition=19843228&idiq=31188168

A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage by M K Oliver

 This book snares you with the first page, when Lalla Rook is standing over the body of a man she has just killed with a vegetable knife. He had snuck into the house when the French nanny, Aimee, doesn’t close the door all the way. He sneaks up on her and tries to strangle her while she is chopping carrots. 

Lalla is a sociopath who came from a poor, bad family, where her father killed her mother, then himself. She lived in the streets until she meets a man, Hollis, who takes her away from all that. They marry, but Lalla gets sick of him and shoves him off a mountain in the Alps. 

Lalla reinvents herself and breaks up an engagement between Stephen and Debbie in order to marry Stephen herself. It’s not just the money; she cares for him in her own little way. They have a daughter, Nelly, who is six and also a sociopath. Her school is constantly telling Lalla about her escapades like drowning the class hamster. They also have a son Nelson, who is three. It’s his birthday party that Lolla is working on when she kills the stranger.  

Instead of calling the police she moves the body where no one will stumble across it until she can decide what to do with it. Unfortunately, her friend Cait, goes into the kitchen and finds a bloody mess. Lalla ropes Cait into it by getting her fingerprints on the knife and her DNA on the body. That’s how she keeps Cait from calling the police.

Lalla has a plan for life: help Stephen make partner, get Nelly into Adam’s, a ritzy elementary school, move to Hampstead, and be the perfect wife and mother. Stephen keeps thwarting her plans since he doesn’t think they can afford to live in that kind of neighborhood and he has no interest in making partner. He’s also still down because of his father’s death and is being manipulated by his mother, who hates Lalla.

Will Lalla ever be able to get rid of the body and be free of the detectives hounding her about a missing man who they say has been following her? Will her plan come through? Lalla’s whole world is starting to fall apart and it’s interesting how she manages it. I found this book funny and absolutely fantastic. This is the author’s first book and he knocks it out of the ballpark. I can’t wait to see what he writes next. I cannot recommend this book enough.

Quotes

I’ve not called the police because it was  I who stabbed him seven times in all, which no doubt the authorities will call overkill. The truth is, it’s surprisingly difficult to kill someone with a vegetable knife.

M K Oliver (A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage p3)

Sophie kissing my cheek; I smell eau-de-motherhood—coffee, crayons, wet wipes, and white wine.

M K Oliver (A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage, p. 7)

Sexual innuendo is an easy win in social situations. Less so in a job interview, as I once found out.

M K Oliver (A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage P,13)

Perfection isn't a mask, it's full-body armor.

M K Oliver (A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage, p. 28)

We're women Cait, the law doesn't work for us.

M K Oliver (A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage P, 32)

Without the distraction of romance, married love is simply a rational business choice based on intellectual compatibility, economic benefits, housing, prospects, propagation of the species and reasonably reliable sexual gratification (current period excluded).

M K Oliver (A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage P,42)

There's only so much adrenaline one can squeeze out of not following washing machine instructions.

M K Oliver (A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage P45)

It has only just occurred to me that I married a man who would look at a Titian and ask how much it costs to insure.

M K Oliver (A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage P,51)

A successful marriage is about many things, not least knowing when to give your husband the impression that he has won.

M K Oliver (A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage P,52)

A man who can't excite my mind isn't going to satisfy my body.

M K Oliver (A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage P,64)

A successful marriage is a joy solely for the happy couple; a failing marriage, however, is a pleasure for all to enjoy.

M K Oliver (A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage P,119)

It's not the reality that kills you; it's the lack of it.

M K Oliver (A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage P,153)

I sometimes wonder if the best real estate agents have sociopathic qualities.

M K Oliver (A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage P,159)

The past should be on the “do not travel” list. It is full of unresolved conflicts and liable to flare-ups.

M K Oliver (A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage P,167)

It's your story. You decide which character to play, so you don't have to choose the victim; you can choose the hero.

M K Oliver (A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage P,179)

One violent man can do a lot of damage, but one strong woman can do a great deal more.

M K Oliver (A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage P,190)

I have en enormous respect for a dog's ability to manipulate its owner and live a life of luxury with minimum contribution.

M K Oliver (A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage P,198)

Love doesn't mean thrilling each other every day, Stephen. Love means committing a future together, forming a shield against the world. Love is a plan, not a feeling.

M K Oliver (A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage P,285)

It's the past. It calls to us all. Feels like it might offer certainty when the present doesn't. It's best not to listen. The past lies something terrible.

M K Oliver (A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage P,357)

Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Sociopaths-Guide-Successful-Marriage-Novel-ebook/dp/B0FCG6XJQZ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2IQEXHAOBGTSC&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.VHyX4V24Si-v9a4nkxxraIegL3jr1kIb1m55hQSpbkZ0ove0Ntz72iB9hdiwTi9TsxNXvD6FLsDmTEUdqNXcRqsPc0J0anQspScopUWsUEXY8vhKizoulyLmKtXh_b5LDxMvHm1v_k47WXGfT7PxHG5Xduk9iFqbxMBDufMRnRO_zE4NI4dY5UdQLxVtc-xVbz35kRIo1LGyMXwHNgAhtMz1_33JHwigOsdVkY96K08.Zf8c6cSAWNmDqjYefNA4AwWG_s38axWkRA-2wMJmUeo&dib_tag=se&keywords=m+k+oliver&qid=1774121160&s=digital-text&sprefix=m+k+oliver%2Cdigital-text%2C185&sr=1-1

My Life As a White Trash Zombie by Diana Rowland

 

Angel wakes up in a hospital with a vague memory of a car accident in her head, but there are no marks on her body. The nurse tells her that she ODed, which isn't much of a surprise to her since she is a pillhead and high school dropout, who has a record and couldn't hold down a job to save her life.  The police come by to talk to her about why she was found naked on the side of the road, not far from someone who had been decapitated, but she doesn't remember all that much from that night.  She expects to be sent to drug rehab, but finds herself being released from the hospital.  Someone left her some clothing, some bottles of iced latte, and a note telling her to drink one bottle every other day and that she had a job waiting for her the next day at the morgue as a driver.    

The first thing she notices is that drugs do not have any effect on her.  The next day, she is told by her coworkers that even though the morgue needed a driver that there is a hiring freeze.  Everyone assumes that she has some kind of political friend who pulled strings.  She then notices that the iced lattes make her feel better and keep her from smelling of death.  It's becoming clear that something happened that night that has made her different, though she cannot tell how or why.  She gets more weird notes from her benefactor.  One of them tells her when she's craving something, to eat it. She craves the brains inside the autopsied bodies, and after she runs out of lattes, she is overcome with the need for brains, and therefore, she eats.  

She is still living with her alcoholic and physically abusive father and has an on-again-off-again relationship with a guy named Randy.  A sheriff's deputy, Marcus, whom she is immediately attracted to, befriends her along with others, even though they know her past and don't hold it against her.  Angel learns a lot at the morgue from the ME and from Nick, the annoying snob who trains her. She actually enjoys her new job more than the lousy minimum wage ones she had.  While on the job, she meets another zombie who works at a funeral home and has a side business selling brains.  He's the one who tells her she is a zombie, something she feared she was but could not accept.  He shows her the ropes a little bit more than the benefactor has.  

As more headless and brainless bodies turn up, Angel sees a connection and wonders if she did it or if there is a rogue zombie out there killing to get a free meal.  This novel, first in a series set in southern Louisiana, is a quirky mystery wrapped in a zombie puzzle.  Angel is an interesting character who changes her life around only when she becomes a zombie. I really loved this book and can’t wait to get my hands on the next in the series.

Quotes

I knew that nurses had the power to make your life suck more than it already did.

Diana Rowland (My Life As a White Trash Zombie p 2)

Maybe get my hair cut so I had bangs that covered my forehead? I made a face. Bangs. Ugh. I'd rather have parts falling off.

Diana Rowland (My Life As a White Trash Zombie, p. 101)

Well that sucks the shit out of a dead rat's ass.

Diana Rowland (My Life As a White Trash Zombie, p. 218)

Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008GZWH16/?bestFormat=true&k=my%20life%20as%20a%20white%20trash%20zombie&ref_=nb_sb_ss_w_scx-ent-bk-ww_k1_1_18_de&crid=2EKM8KB58MJTB&sprefix=my%20life%20as%20a%20white

Link to ThriftBooks:https://www.thriftbooks.com/browse/?b.search=my%20life%20as%20a%20white%20trash%20zombie#b.s=mostPopular-desc&b.p=1&b.pp=50&b.oos&b.tile

A Very Vegas St. Patrick's Day by Kayley Loring and Connor Crais

Happy St. Patrick's Day

This book is the third book of the Very Holiday Series.  It opens with Cora and Nolan in a Vegas hotel room, waking up to discover they got married in a drunken haze the night before.  Nolan is in love with her and wants to stay married; Cora needs to be convinced.  Then the book goes back in time to when they first met at an airport bar and decide to go back to her hotel room and have sex.  

There is a lot of sex in this book.  At first, you wonder if you've stepped into an erotic romance and think that there might not be a plot.  I promise there is one. I give this book a five on the ghost pepper rating for how hot it is.   This is a great book and I highly recommend it.  It's a great St. Pat's Day read and smoking hot.

The beginning of each chapter has either an Irish saying or an Irish toast.  Here's the list for today's special day.

Irish toasts/sayings

May the best day of your past be the worst day of your future.

Irish Toast

May all of your ups and downs be under the sheets.

Irish Toast

It is better to spend money like there's no tomorrow than to spend tonight like there's no money.

Irish saying

May the joys of today

Be those of tomorrow

The goblets of life

Hold no dregs of tomorrow.

Irish Toast

May the Irish hills caress you,

May her lakes and rivers bless you,

May the luck of the Irish enfold you,

May the blessings of St. Patrick behold you.

Irish toast

May the most you wish for be the least you get.

Irish toast

Marriages are all happy. It's having breakfast together that causes all the trouble.

Irish saying

May the roof above you never fall in and those gathered beneath it never fall out.

Irish toast

May you always have a clean shirt, a clear conscience, and enough coins in your pocket.

Irish toast

The Irish ignore anything they can't drink or punch.

Irish saying

There are two kinds of people in the world, the Irish and those who wish they were.

Irish saying

Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0924NW8JV?binding=kindle_edition&searchxofy=true&ref_=dbs_s_aps_series_rwt_tkin&qid=1773755006&sr=8-1