The Wife by Alafair Burke

When Burke opens the novel, Angela Powell is finding out an incident at her husband's office through his eyes.  The young woman went on and on about her engagement and he made a comment about being too young to get married and her getting upset about it.  You read the police report where she seems suspicious in her nonanswers.  You like Angela and you know that she went through something traumatic when she was a teenager, that she was kidnapped by a man held captive for three years before being found with a kid, named Spencer.  You don't want her world to explode with a true accusation of sexual harassment.  But then you watch as she doesn't mean to help them dismantle that case by blaming the victim.

The ADA leaks the case to the press hoping to get more accusations to come forward.  And one does. A Kelly Lynch accuses him of raping her.  She has pictures of belt strap marks on her wrists and his DNA on her underwear and her skirt.  Jason Powell explains to his wife that he had an affair with her but that he didn't rape her.  That she was helping him take down her company Oasis which was doing questionable business practices and that he had brought together with some investors. But if they were not on the up and up he had wanted to know about it and to end his relationship with them and to bring them down too.

Angela's best friend Susanna senses that she isn't telling her everything when Angela starts to tell her about a bad night she and Jason had, Susanna gives her a paper on when women don't realize they've been raped.  Now, things don't look too good for Jason.  Burke emotionally manipulates you from the very start making you feel guilty for not wanting to believe the young intern to the very end of the book where a surprise awaits you.  To be honest this book pissed me off with its emotional wrangling.  But I believe I just didn't like being manipulated to this degree.  If I am being honest I would give it two stars for being poorly written, but I think I am letting something that the author did well affect my judgment on this review.  I, therefore, give it an extra star for the work she put into it.

Link to Amazon:   https://www.amazon.com/Wife-Novel-Psychological-Suspense/dp/0062390511/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1546262794&sr=8-1&keywords=the+wife+alafair+burke

Star Wars Vol. 4: Last Flight of the Harbinger by Jason Aaron (Writer), Chris Eliopoulos (Writer, Artist, Letterer), Mike Mayhew (Artist), Jorge Molina (Artist), Matt Milla (Colorist), Jordie Bellaire (Colorist) Scott Hanna (Inker), Joe Caramagna (Letterer),

This comic features the Scar Command, an elite stormtrooper fighting squad that is now being led by former Imperial spy Sergeant Kreel known as the Gamemaster who was the warden on the infamous smuggler's moon Nar Shaddaa.  A man who answers directly to Darth Vader and who has come up against Luke Skywalker in the past.

Luke and Leia get it into their heads to steal a star destroyer in order to break a blockade covering planet Tureen VII who have been loyal to the Rebels and are paying for it with the blockade.  There is no way through the blockade but if they stole a star destroyer and attacked the blockade with it, providing cover for the Rebel forces to come in after to take care of the rest of the ships, then they could break the blockade.

They attack the ship and Luke flies his ship on board the Harbinger star destroyer to help blow the engine. Everyone will have used escape pods or flown off of the ship to have gotten off the ship by then because the ship was getting ready to blow up.  Instead of blowing up the ship goes to hyperspace, leaving behind an impressive explosion.

It takes two thousand to run a star destroyer but they have around two hundred.  However, they aren't the only ones on board the ship. Stalking the ship is the Scar Command set on taking back the ship for the Empire.  Captain Sana, Han's ex-wife is also on board helping out Luke, Leia, Han, and the gang against these unwanted guests.  Also included at the beginning is a short story from the diary of Obi-Wan Kenobi about when Luke was a kid and a comic at the end dedicated to the memory of Kenny Baker who portrayed R2D2 and shows the droid having an adventure.  This was an excellent comic which is what you would expect from Jason Aaron who wrote it. It lets you see life from the stormtrooper's side for a change and the plot was unique and really cool. The art was so amazing that at times I felt I was looking at a photograph.  I give this book five out of five stars. 

Link to Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Vol-Flight-Harbinger-ebook/dp/B01NH4Y224/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1545854014&sr=8-1&keywords=star+wars+volume+4+last+of+the+harbingers

The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi

"The Interdependency with it's religious and social ethos of interconnectedness combined with a guild-centered, monopolistic economy, they'd created possibly the most ridiculously complex method of ensuring the formal caste system of nobles intertwined with a merchant class, and common workers underneath, complicated proceeding even further.  And yet it worked. It worked because on a social level, apparently enough people wanted it to, and because at the heart of it, billions of humans living in fragile habitats prone to mechanical and environmental breakdowns and degradation, and with limited natural resources, were better off relying on each other than trying to go it alone. Even without the Interdependency being interdependent was the best way for humanity to survive." (The Collapsing Empire p 276)  At the head of the whole thing is the emperox who had the largest guild, was the head of the church, and had a seat on parliament.

River-like things called Flows are located between habitats with one Flow going in and one going out to a particular habitat.  The Hub is the only one that has Flows going to nearly all habitats. The End is the only habitat that you can grow things on in the ground.  The Flow leading from the End to the Hub has collapsed.  It is the first but it won't be the last to do so.  The emperox's scientist from the End Lord Marce is studying this problem and what can be done while the Emperox Grayland II is dealing with the church, the parliament, and the guilds by saying she has had visions just like the first Emperox Rachela I did.   She is trying to get her kingdom to accept the collapse of the Flow system that will leave the habitats isolated and the Interdependency no more.

Meanwhile, her two Wu cousins are both working to overthrow her and put themselves on the throne.  One wants to work with the House of Nohamapetan through the Countess and her daughter Nadashe who is in prison for treason and trying to murder the emperox and for murdering her own brother the man who was in contention to be the emperox's consort.  Jasin Wu tries to have her murdered in prison while Deran saves her life.

Countess Nohamapetan does not have control of her House finances, Lady Kiva of Legos does.  I love Lady Kiva. She's such a cool bitch and a half.  She knows what she wants and goes after it, but it you cross her you better think about moving to another planetary code before she can find you and mess you up.  She becomes a close ally to the emperox and helps her with the work she needs to get done, especially against the Nohampetan.

Lord Marce who first figured out there were problems with the Flow and is the scientist trying to figure out the problems of the Flow and Emperox Grayland II become closer emotionally and she wants them to become closer physically but how to go about it?  It's pretty funny how she does.  This book is quirky and funny in its own way.  The characters are great. Nadashe is cunning and ruthless and out to win the crown for herself in the way she wants to as soon as she can get out of this prison situation which she sees as a temporary setback.  Scalzi in this series writes very strong female characters. I applaud him for this.  Not that there aren't strong male characters in this novel. Lord Marce is one as is Lord Assan a member of the executive committee of the Interdependency that consisted of members of the guild, parliament, and the head of the church.  Lord Assan plotted cross-purposes with the Wus trying to decide which one to back.  He is a real asshole, which he would tell you himself.  This is a stellar book and I would give it more than five stars if I could, but since my meter only goes to five I'll have to settle for giving it a strong five stars out of five.

Quotes

The now-dead-and-somewhat-smeary Amit Nohamapetan’s office was room was befitted the head of his family’s operations in the Hub system, tastefully appointed in the manner that strongly implied it was furnished entirely through the preferences of a hired interior decorator rather than Amit’s own inclinations, if he had any, which he probably hadn’t, and landed with all the modern technological assistants and innovations that any modern executive could want or need. “All except for a ‘Hey your fucking sister is planning to shove a shuttle up your ass’ alert,” Kiva thought to herself.  Which to be fair was admittedly a specialized item.

-John Scalzi (The Consuming Fire p 70)

  

Kiva considered that she might be developing a thing for Fundapeldo, which on the one hand was a very not-Kiva thing to do, but on the other hand who gave a fuck if it was “not-Kiva”, because she wasn’t some fucking fictional character destined to do whatever some goddamn hack wanted her to do.

-John Scalzi (The Consuming Fire p 296)             

Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Consuming-Fire-Interdependency-John-Scalzi/dp/0765388979/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1545837790&sr=8-1&keywords=the+consuming+fire

Lark! The Herald Angels Sing by Donna Andrews

It's Christmas time in Caerphilly and Meg Langslow is in charge of the children's Christmas pageant at Trinity Church.  In all of the excitement they don't at first realize that the baby in the manger isn't Pastor Robyn's child Noah, but a baby girl, Lark, with a note attached to her claiming to be the child of Rob Langslow, Meg's brother and that the mother just couldn't take care of the child anymore.  Meg calls Chief Burke in order to get to the bottom of this.

The problem is that Rob's fiery-tempered red-haired girlfriend Delaney, whom he has been trying to figure out a way to propose to does not take this news well at all.  Because even if the DNA test comes back negative it doesn't mean that he wasn't sleeping with the woman at the same time he was starting to date her.  Meg gets the idea from grandfather and his talk of cuckoo birds that the mother might hang around and see that her daughter is safe before leaving.  So the Shifleys set up a guard around her house and sure enough, they find her.

It turns out that she is Janet Caverly whose husband is being falsely accused in Clay County, the Hatfield to Caerphilly's McCoys, of killing a Plunket or a Dingle one of the families in Clay County.  One of the Sherriff's men actually did it and put the blame on her husband Mark.  He either won't survive to the trial or he'll get railroaded into a long jail sentence since both the Sheriff, the mayor, and the judge is all Dingles.  Mark was there as an accountant and uncovered misuse of funds as well as the sale of moonshine and marijuana.  He had a contact in the government but it appears that that contact was crooked because now he and his family are on the run separately.

But now they have had word that the Dingles have captured Mark so the Shifleys have gone in to try to rescue him.  On their own, grandfather, Meg's dad, her brother, Clarence the vet, and members of Blake's brigade, the animal rescue unit of her grandfather have decided to go in and attempt a rescue of Mark themselves.  Meg calls Janet's friend Rachel who lives and works in Clayville and finds out from her that both groups have been arrested.  Now it's up to the women to do what they can to get the men out of the jam they have gotten themselves in.  They plan on bringing Christmas to Clayville.  Normally when a mystery series book doesn't have a mystery to solve it ticks me off. But this book was just so funny and perfect for Christmas.  One of my favorite new characters from the series Ekaterina is in it using her spy equipment and know how.  You really wonder where the story is going to go about halfway through because it doesn't seem to have a direction without a mystery or a body to follow. But Andrews quickly fixes that in a hilarious way.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would definitely read it again next Christmas.  I give this book the highest I can give it: five out of five stars.

Link to Amazon:   https://www.amazon.com/Lark-Herald-Angels-Sing-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B079DVPYQR/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1545661034&sr=8-1&keywords=lark+the+herald+angels+sing+by+donna+andrews

DC Universe Rebirth Harley Quinn Vol 1: Die Laughing by Amanda Conner (Writer), Jimmy Palmiotti (Writer), John Timms (Artist), Chad Hardin (Artist), Bret Bevins (Artist), Joseph Michael Linsner (Artist), Jill Thompson (Artist, Colorist), Alex Sinclair (Colorist), Hi-Fi (Colorist), and Dave Sharpe (Letterer)

This book is broken into three stories. The first story is about a teenage alien who comes to earth and thinking that cows were the higher species, pretends to be one on a farm where they slaughter cows.  He gets slaughtered and turned into meat that goes into hot dogs that get sold to Nate-Mate hot dog stand.  When people eat the hot dogs with the alien in it they become flesh-eating zombies.  Harley's teammate Toolkit gets bit by one, so Harley slices off his arm. She then catapults him into the local hospital with the arm in a cooler so it can be reattached when she realizes that getting bit by a zombie does not necessarily make you a zombie.  The rest of her teammates hold up at the bumper cars and get rescued by Poison Ivey with a weed whacker.  They have to find a way out of the bubble that has encased Coney Island.  Meanwhile, the parents of the alien are on the lookout for their son and are wondering what on earth could have happened to him.

In the second story, Bolly Quinn from India has roped Harley in on a mission to stop an organization from ripping off grannies of their hard earned money through telemarketing.  The third story is about a punk rock group called the Purple Satins who go around dressed as knights and steal from others. Harley is interested in getting them because they killed her favorite postman and stole a package meant for her from Arkham.  The Police Commissioner is willing to give her some reward money if she can take care of this problem for him since one of their members is a Senator's son and they keep getting away with it because of this.

Harley gets the idea to form a band of her own and infiltrate them that way.  With Tony on guitar, Eggie on drums, and Toolkit with his problem arm on bass they make an awful band, but with Harley's flair for the dramatic they pull it off and get in close with the Purple Satins.  Now to figure out what they are up to. To be honest, this comic was a big let down to me.  I mean, going after telemarketers and a rogue teenage alien chopped up in a hot dog?  The stories were all pretty lame. I didn't even finish the book.  I love Harley and her psychotic self,  but this was way more ditz than psycho and the author surrounded her with idiots and such a large cast its hard to keep track of everyone. The art, however, is still pretty good, though and worth half a star.  I give this book two and a half stars out of five. 

Link to Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Harley-Quinn-2016-Vol-Laughing-ebook/dp/B01M0DN1SL/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1545410443&sr=1-1&keywords=dc+universe+rebirth+harley+quinn

Gambit: Classic Vol. 1 by Chris Claremont (Writer), Howard Mackie (Writer), Bill Jaaska (Penciler), Mike Collins (Penciler), Jim Lee (Penciler), Lee Weeks (Penciler), Joe Rubinstein (Inker), Whilce Portacio (Inker), Scott Williams (Inker), Klaus Janson (Inker), Mike Rockwitz (Colorist), Brad Vancata (Colorist), Glynis Oliver (Colorist), Steve Buccellato (Colorist), Christie Scheele (Colorist), Joe Rosen (Letterer), Pat Brosseau (Letterer), Tom Orzechowski (Letterer), and Richard Starkings (Letterer) and Comicraft (Letterer)

This book is separated into two stories: one where Gambit is brought into the X-Men by Storm and one of Gambit's own involving his home life back in New Orleans.  In the first one, the Nanny has regressed Storm back to a child and given her false memories.  She has turned back into being a thief in Cairo. But she has memories of an older woman who looks like her and of other people. Memories of a life that is different than the one that is in her mind now.  Now she is in America stealing from bad people and returning what they stole.  The problem is the Shadow King is after her and at one of her heists she runs into Gambit who saves her life and the two become pals and go up against both the Shadow King and the Nanny.

In the second half of the book, Gambit finds out that the Tithe is due, which it shouldn't be because he brokered a peace between the Assassins and the Thieves when he killed Assassin Julian and his sister Bella Donna died.  Only Julian isn't completely dead and Bella Donna isn't completely dead, which leaves him and Rogue on shaky ground since Bella Donna is his wife.  Since Gambit, or Remy Lembeu, married Bella Donna he belongs to the Assassins clan now not the Thieves.  The Tithing Man is coming with the elixir of life to give it to the Thieves but it can save Bella Donna or give Julian the full life he needs.  After he died he was given the elixir and brought back to life, but it only partly worked.  He needs the elixir to keep him strong.

There's a fight for that year's elixir from Candra the giver of the elixir that will involve going to Chandra to get part of it as there are three vials of the elixir that must be mixed together in just the right way.  Who will get the elixir of life or will any of them?  Can Belle be saved and what will that mean for Gambit and Rogue? Gambit is one of my favorite Marvel characters with his Southern charm that can sweet talk a bee out of its honey or charm a snake into doing its will.  I also love playing cards so I really love it when he uses them to explode things.  It was great reading how he joined the X-Men, though you really wanted the comic to keep going and find out what happened next.  What was really great was going back to New Orleans to read about his life back there.  Anytime you can find out about his history is great as he rarely gives anything away.  This was two fabulous comics.  I give it five out of five stars.

Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/X-Men-Gambit-Classic-Vol-1/dp/0785137297/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1545225463&sr=8-1&keywords=gambit+classic      

I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradey

Set in the 1950 English countryside this latest book in the series finds eleven-year-old Flavia de Lucia's father the Colonial has rented out the family home to a film crew for the holidays in a desperate attempt to earn some money to get them through until next year.  Daffy and Feely are pretty excited as their favorite actress is in it, Phyllis Wyvern.  Also in it is the famous actor Desmond Duncan and the actress Marion Trodd.  And as usual the same Brish crew she always works with including the same director she always works with Val Lampman.  Wyvern confesses to Flavia that she is actually fifty-nine-years-old.

Wyvern gets Lampman to agree, though he is not happy about it, to put on a show for the locals to raise money for their church roof.  Wyvern and Duncan do the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet and Gil Crawford, a local, misses her lighting, so she comes over and slaps him across the face and then goes back to the stage where the lighting is now correct and performs perfectly, but the Vicar who had planned on having others perform after her, decides against it after that display.

Soon they realize that the snow is too much and everyone is snowed in and must stay for the foreseeable future.  Flavia can't sleep and goes out in search of some company with Phyllis whom she knows stays up late watching her old films.  She can hear one end as she makes her way across the house.  When she goes into her room she finds her dead with film wrapped around her neck in a bow.  She goes and gets the trusted Dogger and he says she was indeed strangled and to go and get the doctor.  Flavia had noticed that someone had made up her face and dressed her in the outfit that went with the film that was playing.

Who killed Phyllis? Was it Val who it turns out is her son? Or one of the other actors? Or was it Gil or one of the members of the crew for some hidden reason?  Flavia also plans to set off some explosive fireworks for Christmas Eve from the roof of the house.  She has also been working on her secret birdlime formula for Father Christmas that she plans on using to slather on top of the chimneys so that he'll stick to them, or he won't and that'll be proof that he doesn't exist.  Will she find out one way or another?  Will she be able to figure out who killed Phyllis in time too? Flavia is a true delight to read about with her chemical mixtures and fanciful detecting trying to outwit the actual detectives while seeking the Chief Inspector's approval at the same time.  Meanwhile, her two sisters treat her admissibly and she is forced to return the favor except when they are holding their truces.  And she will need help from her sisters to solve this case.  This is a wonderful book and a great read. I give it five out of five stars. 

Quotes

Older sisters are much alike the world over: half a cup of love and half one of contempt.

-Alan Bradley (I Am Half-Sick of Shadows p 34)

Theater, I suppose, is a form of mass mesmerism, and if that’s the case, Shakespeare, despite his chemical shortcomings, was surely one of the greatest hyponists who ever lived.

-Alan Bradley (I Am Half-Sick of Shadows p 129)

Because it is a well-known fact that more than two men shut up together in an enclosed space for more than an hour constitute a hazard to society.

-Alan Bradley (I Am Half-Sick of Shadows p 159)

Perhaps, I thought, whenever we began to breathe the breath of others, when the spinning atoms of their bodies began to mingle with our own, we took on something of their personality, like crystals in a snowflake. Perhaps we become something more, yet something lesser than ourselves.

-Alan Bradley (I Am Half-Sick of Shadows p 163-4)

One does not preach sense to a Church of England clergyman.

-Alan Bradley (I Am Half-Sick of Shadows p 165).

          Well, there are those of us who create because all around us, things visible and invisible are                crumbling. We are like the stonemasons of Bablyon, forever working, as it says in Jeremiah,
          to shore up the city walls.

          -Alan Bradley (I Am Half-Sick of Shadows p 201-2)

          She was more than brave. She was British.

         -Alan Bradley (I Am Half-Sick of Shadows p 222)

  

Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Am-Half-Sick-Shadows-Flavia-Novel-ebook/dp/B004X6PSCW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1545065982&sr=8-1&keywords=i+am+half+sick+of+shadows+by+alan+bradley

The New 52! Suicide Squad Volume 4: Discipline and Punish by Ales Kot (Writer), Matt Kindt (Writer), Patrick Zircher (Artist), Rick Leonardi (Artist), Andy Owens (Artist), Derek Fridolfs (Artist), Marc Deering (Artist), Sami Basri (Artist), Keith Champagne (Artist), Carmen Carnero (Artist), Jason Keith (Colorist), Brad Anderson (Colorist), Wil Quintana (Colorist), Matt Milla (Colorist), Jeromy Cox (Colorist), Jared K. Fletcher (Letterer), Taylor Esposito (Letterer), Sal Ciprianao (Letterer), and Dezi Sienty (Letterer)

In the previous comic the Joker wasn't really dead and he kidnaps Harley but she escapes and goes back to the Suicide Squad.  Boomerang also comes back. Voltaic joins the Squad. He has the power to harness electricity.  Waller sends them after Red Orchid, Yo Yo's sister,  who has something she wants and who isn't working alone. Things go down badly and not everyone makes it out alive.

Waller uses a secret serum on Deadshot to bring him back from the dead and now the Suicide Squad consists of him, Voltaic, Harley, King Shark, Cheetah, and the Unknown Soldier.  The newest member who doesn't work in the field is James Gordon Junior, a psycho serial killer, who will work with her in analyzing the members and situations.

Their first mission is in Las Vegas where a group of people hope to hypnotize everyone to their message.  Deadshot and Harley are on the ground where Deadshot happens to look at a billboard where the hypnotic tracer was located.  Unknown soldier happened to spot some activity on a billboard and investigated it and found some goons planting the tracer and got rid of them and reported back. Deadshot finds one of the goons on the ground and uses enhanced interrogation to get the information that he works for someone called Mother.  Waller knows exactly who that is and that's bad news especially in who she works with.  Also included are a comic about Harley and a comic about Deadshot. The one about Deadshot leads to volume five.  I loved how the writer put cards under the characters giving their names and a description of them like King Shark. His name is Trixie. Hi likes to Party. or Harley Quinn. Diplomat. or James Gordon Junior. Serial Killer. Analyst. Excitable.  I really love this series.  The introduction of James Gordon Junior really adds to it and I'm very interested to see where it is going to go next.  I give it five out of five stars. 

Link to Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Suicide-Squad-Vol-Discipline-Punish-ebook/dp/B00JRILLTU/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1544793588&sr=1-2&keywords=the+new+52+suicide+squad

DC Rebirth Edition Wonder Woman Volume Two by Greg Rucka (Writer), Liam Sharp (Artist), Bilquis Evely (Artist), Mirka Andolfo (Artist), Nicola Scott (Artist), Scott Hanna (Artist), Mark Morales (Artist), Andrew Hennessy (Artist), Raul Fernande (Artist), Laura Martin (Colorist), Romulo Fajardo Jr (Colorist), Jodi Wynne (Letterer), and Dave Sharpe (Letterer)

In the previous comic Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor wind up working together to help save a group of women including Dr. Barbara Ann Minerva, aka Cheetah from Urkkartaga in the wilds of the jungle.  Steve works for an organization and his boss, Commander Etta Candy is worried about her boss Sasha who has been acting strangely.  Sasha takes something from one of their investigations to give it to the people she really works for and Etta follows her and finds out that Sasha is really a robot.  Wonder Woman has been struggling with the different versions of the truth that are warring inside of her and finally arrives at the answer. The gods have been lying to her for the past seven years. She hasn't been going back to the island of Themyscira where she was born. When she set out on her mission she was told that she would never be able to return, but she believed that she was able to. She has lost her faith.

Dr. Minerva clues in Etta and Steve on Godwatch who are behind everything including making Minerva Cheetah.  There's Dr. Veronica Cale who is behind it all because two gods Phobos and Deimos stole her daughter's face away seven years ago.  They want to go to Themyscira and the only way to get there is through Diana.  They will give her her daughter's face back if she does this.  So her and her business partner Dr. Adrianna Anderson built Cyberwalk, a creation that allows the wearer to get close to someone and pick up memories and thoughts from someone it touches.  The suit killed Anderson, but Cale brought her back to life as Doctor Cyber, an all-knowing computer AI system.  Then there's the muscle: Poison and Colonel Maru's mercenary team.

Steve and Etta go to break Diana out of the mental hospital while Minerva goes to try to talk some sense to Cale.  While Minerva is there she agrees to become the Cheetah again.  Diana decides its time to stop hiding out and return to Themylscira for real this time and fight the evil that is threatening it and try to save Barbara Ann.  Also included in this book is a Christmas comic with Wonder Woman and Batman that is decidedly too short though the artwork is really good.  There is a lot of information crammed in this comic, but it is not hard to follow at all even though it hops around in time a great deal.  It's hard to feel sorry for Dr. Cale when she's portrayed as a bit of a bitch before the gods come in and destroy her life.  But Dr. Anderson is a really nice person and a great character who gets warped when she is turned into Doctor Cyber the evil AI system.  This is such a wonderful book that really explores the human condition.  I give this comic my highest rating five out of five stars.

Link to Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Wonder-Woman-Rebirth-Deluxe-2016-ebook/dp/B07F17P97R/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1544557595&sr=8-7&keywords=wonder+woman+dc+universe+rebirth

Toucan Keep a Secret by Donna Andrews

Meg is taking charge of locking up the church at night and looking after the toucan in the pastor Robyn Smith's office. Robyn has been babysitting the toucan for a parishioner who is in the Navy and away on a tour of duty.  Meg and the church have been taking over Robyn's duties since she is pregnant and on bedrest.  There are those against this, but these are the same people against having a female pastor or females on the vestry council, who made decisions about the church.

One of those people, Mr. Hagley, Meg finds dead in the crypt where the cremated remains are found one night when she is locking up and she hears noises outside that lead her there and his body.  She notices a crowbar as though someone was trying to remove someone from the crypt.  In the process, several of the ashes of different graves were disturbed as well as some of the plaques.  Also found was a gorgeous ruby ring that may or may not be real.

Mr. Hagley had been having financial difficulties and wanted to have his wife's ashes removed from the crypt in order to sell the expensive plot to someone else, but the process was taking some time and he might have decided to take matters into his own hands it seems which is why he was in the crypt that night.  Then someone else came along perhaps looking to unearth the Van der Lynden jewels that went missing during the heist back in the 1980s.  It was said that Mrs. Van der Lynden faked a jewel robbery at a New Year's Eve party complete with thieves hired by her son, Archie.  But things went wrong and two of the thieves were shot dead and the rest were eventually captured, but the jewels were never recovered leaving some to believe that Mrs. Van der Lynden had hidden them somewhere. She had been hoping to get the insurance money but she never did.  She died six years later pretty much broke.  Her son Archie was sent to prison for his part in the robbery, but he denied that his mother had anything to do with it.  He said that he was going to sell her jewels because he needed the money.

When Meg goes to check out the church by doing a drive-by, she notices a flashlight bobbing up and down in the rooms and so she stops and calls the cops. Then she finds her car window being shot out by a gun. She hightails it out of there, but circles back once the police have arrived at the church.  Someone thinks that the toucan is a parrot and can identify them and wants to take out the bird. Only Meg took the bird home with her the night of the murder. Toucan's, by the way, cannot talk.  Meg takes the bird to the zoo for safekeeping.

Meg's dad wants to do a reenactment of the robbery and Meg's for that if it will keep him out of Chief Burke's hair about the murder.  Problem is he wants her to be involved with it and she's quite busy with her own stuff and with following up on leads in the investigation herself.  She's supposed to be asking the families affected by the break-in how they would like things handled. If they would still like to remain at the church and if so if they would like to have a ceremony when their ashes are replaced.  Could this be placing Meg in contact with a killer who hid the jewels in the crypt inside their relative's ashes, since everyone whose ashes were disturbed has something to do with the robbery?  Mr. Hagley was not well liked and won't be missed by really anyone.  But there's a larger mystery here to be solved.  I really loved this book. The characters were great, such as Dr. Womble, the retired priest who could wander off on different topics and we got to see an old fan favorite Ragnor again and his wild house since this was the house that the robbery took place at.  The plot is fun to read too.  I give it four out of five stars. 

Link to Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Toucan-Keep-Secret-Langslow-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B0791JWR91/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1544450905&sr=8-1&keywords=toucan+can+keep+a+secret

Sleepless by Sarah Vaughn (Writer), Leila Del Duca (Artist), Alissa Sallah (Colorist), and Deron Bennett (Letterer

Pyppenia's father has died and now a new king, his brother is being coronated.  Pyppenia's is the daughter of the old king's mistress but is considered legitimate because of who her mother is.  Her mother is a star reader and all their children are considered legitimate.  Pyppenia's looking forward to seeing her mother again, but her mother who has read the stars feels that it is best that she stay where she is for now and sends Nnende instead.

Pyppenia is guarded by a young man, Cyrenic, who fought in the wars and has taken the sleepless vow to protect her.  This means that he will not ever sleep again and will spend his time protecting her till he dies.  The problem is that some begin to see things and then go crazy.  Eventually for all of them going without sleep will kill them one day if something else doesn't do it first.

There have been two attempts on Pyppenia's life. One overt and one hidden in poisoned food that the dog detected.  Is the King's daughter behind it? She certainly hates her enough. Or is it Lord Helder who wants her out of the way because the King wants him to marry her and he wants to marry the princess in order to gain power.  Can the king be trusted? Also, Cyrenic and Pyppenia have feelings toward each other that they never act upon but the undercurrent is there.  This is a fascinating story of palace intrigue and some magic with the ability to foresee the future. It holds interesting characters and a great plot. I give it four out of five stars. 

Link to Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Sleepless-Vol-1-Sarah-Vaughn-ebook/dp/B07CTY3SK6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1544202619&sr=8-1&keywords=sleepless+comic

Shelter In Place by Nora Roberts

On July 22, 2005, many lives were changed forever in Rockport Maine, a town not far from Portland.  Three teenage boys, JJ Hobart, Kent Whitehall, and Devon Paulson went on a shooting spree at the local mall.  JJ took the theater and the other two started in the mall proper. They were to meet inside the mall, but Simone Knox had seen someone covered in blood come out of the theater she was about to go back into after having gone to the bathroom.  She immediately called 911 and they told her to go back to the bathroom and hide, which saved her life.  By calling the police she saved lives and ended the life of JJ because the police arrived quickly and officer Essie McVee shot him down.

But still, around 96 people died, including her best friend Tish and her other best friend Mi-Hi Jung was put in the hospital in critical condition, but pulled through.  Others weren't so lucky. Reed Quartermain had been going to ask Angie out on a date and she died while he survived and managed to save a four-year-old boy.  His best friend Chaz hides some people in the shop he works at in the back.

Time passes and Simone decides to go to Columbia in order to be near Mi who chooses that college because it's in New York City which is where Tish planned on going to after high school in order to pursue her dream of being an actress. Mi dreams of being a scientist, but Simone doesn't know what she wants to do with her life. She really just doesn't want to think about much of anything, especially that night.  Her grandmother Ci-Ci is a famous artist and believes that Simone has an artistic bent but doesn't want to push her in any direction.  Simone's parents want her to be a lawyer and marry well.  Finally, Simone must choose what she wants to do with her life.

Reed knows what he wants to do with his life. He wants to be a cop. He goes to the Academy after college and joins the force that Essie McVee is on in Rockport and the two deepen their friendship.  McVee finds love with a professor and marries.  Reed dates, but doesn't find anyone in particular to love or that one house he's been looking for to own that is calling to him, so he stays inside his ratty apartment. Meanwhile, he and Essie get notified when one of the victims of the massacre die and Reed is beginning to notice a pattern with the deaths even though some are accidents some are suicides, some are murders.

It turns out that the real brains behind the massacre was Patricia, JJ's younger sister. She manipulated the three boys into doing what she wanted them to do. She planned the event for Christmas time so there would be maximum damage, though. They jumped the gun and got killed in the process. Patricia plans on getting revenge for her brother's death by killing the survivors.  She'll start off by killing just three a year so no suspicion will fall on her endeavors.  She's saving McVee and Simone for last.

This is an amazing book and quite a departure for Roberts.  There's a touch of romance, but it's certainly not the main component.  Not by a long shot.  It examines the lives of people touched by tragedy who try to move on with their lives in the best way they know how.  And how the one person who orchestrated it goes after the remainders in honor of the brother she loved so deeply.  As you read, the survivors pull their lives back together and make successes of themselves while Patricia slowly falls apart and devolves into a horrific monster. This is one of Roberts best works.  I give it a strong five out of five stars.

Bloggers Note* Roberts set this book in Stephen King country and gave it a King touch with a psychopath on a rampage.  CiCi claims to be psychic. And there's an Overlook hotel. No idea of what happens inside this hotel, though.  In the book she wrote before this one, Year One, it has been compared to King's Stand.  Is she further exploring King's world? This is just one blogger's speculation.

Link to Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Shelter-Place-Nora-Roberts-ebook/dp/B076BGDMK9/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1544015538&sr=8-3&keywords=shelter+in+place+nora+roberts

How the Finch Stole Christmas! by Donna Andrews

The town is putting on a performance of A Christmas Carol and they have hired a slightly over-the-hill actor, Malcolm Haver to play the lead. The problem is that Haver drinks too much is belligerent, and isn't always there for rehearsals.  No one in town will sell him booze, but he is getting it somewhere. One night Meg Lagslow follows him out into the county and finds his "bootlegger" and plenty more besides that. It turns out the guy is running a puppy mill, is selling some of the illegal Gouldian Finches that her grandfather's friend from Fish and Wildlife is working on a sting to shut down, a Tiger, and an assortment of other wild animals.  She takes pictures and looks in the window of the house and sees a little old lady in a wheelchair with a million cats too.

Meg takes this information to Chief Burke as well as to her grandfather. They plan a dawn raid. Meanwhile, Ekaterina, who came from Russia and runs the Caerphilly Inn, is keeping a close eye on Haver and what is in his room such as alcohol, and his movements within his room.  That night Haver doesn't come home and his agent doesn't come back til late.  Haver shows up passed out at another Inn so he sort of has an alibi for the murder of his bootlegger whom they find the next morning when they do the raid on his house.  His neighbor, though, who hated him for harming his sheep with his dogs is missing.  And it's possible the people he was selling the animals to might have killed him.

Meanwhile, the play must go on and it's not looking good for Haver because Meg found a gun in his dressing room that matches the type of bullets that killed the bootlegger.  Michael may have to go on in Haver's place and quite frankly with all the absences Haver's has Michael's been filling in any way so he's prepared.  But this is Jamie and Josh's, Meg and Michael's kids first play. Will it be ruined?  This delightful mystery is perfect for the holidays.  There's not much of a murder to solve, but you don't really care because the book is so much fun.  Meg and the gang really deliver.  I give this book four out of five stars.

Quotes

I am becoming somewhat anxious. He comes from Los Angeles, you know, California. They do not have snow in California. I suspect he knows even less about driving in the snow than Virginians do.

-Donna Andrews (The Finch That Stole Christmas! p 89)

Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/How-Finch-Stole-Christmas-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B06Y17ZKGS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543843947&sr=8-1&keywords=how+the+finch+stole+christmas














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