Cut Off From Sky and Earth by Melissa F. Miller

 

Emily is a women's fiction writer who has been asked to write one of a twelve-book series that features retellings of fairy tales.  She has chosen the Grim tale, Maleen the Maiden, in which a princess defies her father by wanting to marry whom she wants to marry.  Maleen and her hand servant are locked up in a windowless tower for seven years, only to realize no one is rescuing them, and they must break out on their own.  Seven years ago, Emily walked into her apartment to find her roommate dead from a stabbing.  Emily is a readhead and believes that she was the intended target. She hasn't told her husband any of this. Tristan, her husband, works as a forensics expert.  He also knows about Emily's past and believes that the recent stabbing death of a local redhead is connected to what happened to her.  He believes that there is a serial killer who may want to circle back and kill his intended victim, Emily.  Tristan is keeping all of this from Emily due to her anxiety and panic attacks.  He's also hiding the fact that he has an evil brother and a father who committed suicide.   

Tristan's therapist (also Emilly's therapist, though she does not know this) suggests a cabin retreat to get away from all his problems.  Triston sees this as perfect for Emily, who has writer's block and a deadline looming.  The cabin is owned by Alex Liu, a woman running from her own past, who is married to a military man and lives on a farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  When Tristan and Emily drive down from Pennsylvania and meet Alex for the first time, she tells them that she was born and raised in a small town in Maine, where Tristan lived until he was nine.  Tristan recognizes the redhead as the woman who was stabbed but survived.  He realizes that her stabbing fits in with the others, and the serial killer seems to strike every seven years.  There is a massive snowstorm coming, and Alex and Emily will find themselves all alone with the sense that someone is watching them.

I enjoyed this book that entwines sections of Emily's book with what is going on.  It is a true page-turning thriller.  But as with books of this nature, there is a real twist at the end that doesn't make a lot of sense.  The ending is not as good as the rest of the book, but I'm still going to recommend it because it is a very enjoyable read with interesting characters, including a marriage where both parties are keeping major secrets from the other and believe they have a great marriage.  They love each other incredibly, but do not really know each other.  This book has a great start to it, but fizzles at the end.  I give it three out of five stars.

Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Cut-Off-Sky-Earth-Novel-ebook/dp/B0FCCMLW8T/ref=sr_1_1?crid=10V5AG59VF87O&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.SOo_z3jGgQ2d6P2Qh6aXSEGsJgPYnEIdpjiSEEAAjCruAeRYE55nnfQloSgTgxUvyfkdr2ox9A6YNLZTiKP37_vIquUXRxFuklmhVjoW5p4.ElG-pzfbEoCJU-_r6hIhOkWNdp7IbKVjbGQAQQKdhCc&dib_tag=se&keywords=cut+off+from+sky+and+earth&qid=1779030880&sprefix=cut+off+from+%2Caps%2C189&sr=8-1

Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier and Anthea Bell

This is a fantasy story about time travel.  The rules of time travel in this book are: You cannot go back in time to a point where you are still alive, you cannot take a human or an animal to the past or back to the present, you are not allowed to bring modern things to the past, you can only go five hundred years in the past and you need a chromograph to guide you to a specific time, otherwise you will flash back on your own.  Gweneth's cousin, Charlotte, has been raised to be the special person with the gene to go back in time.  Sir Isaac Newton predicted that a child born on a certain date would have the gene.  But Gweneth starts to feel nauseous and has headaches.  She soon finds herself being thrown back in time.  Unlike Charlotte, Gweneth has not been trained in history and the million other things you need to know for time travel.  Gweneth's knowledge comes largely from films that she and her best friend, Leslie, watch.  Leslie knows everything about Gweneth's family, including Gweneth's ability to see ghosts.  

Gwenth's mom, Claire, lied about when she was born because she didn't want her daughter to lose her childhood to being prepared to lead a life of danger. Now that Gweneth is traveling back in time willy-nilly, Claire takes her to The Guardians for help.  The Guardians are an ancient order of men who control the chromograph and have spent centuries studying time travel.  Back when Claire was young, her little sister, Lucy, believed that the completion of the twelve time travelers' blood being put in the chronograph would lead to destruction, not the release of a secret.  So, Lucy steals the chronograph with Paul and hides in history with it.  Then the Guardians fix a chronograph that appears in the past.  One of the twelve, Count St. Germain, is the one who provides the new chronograph.  After Lucy, the Guardians had to wait for another time traveler to be born.  This would be Gideon, who trained with Charlotte.  Gideon has been going back in time to collect the travelers' blood for the new chronograph.  When they go back in time to visit St. Germain in the late 1700s, Claire wants to keep Gweneth from seeing Count St. Germain because he is dangerous, and she is right. He can read minds and does a force choke on Gweneth for bringing her cellphone and using it to take a picture of two of the Count's friends to try to impress them.  

While Gideon is handsome, he is also bossy, controlling, and thinks he is better than Gweneth. She wants to prove him wrong by taking this life that has been thrust upon her, and learning all she can from the ghost that haunts the school, Leslie, and her Google searches, and others.   If she has to do this, then she will do it to the best of her ability. Gweneth is utterly believable as a teen who knows little history and a lot of pop culture.  She is viewed as the weird girl among her classmates.  Leslie is the best friend we all wish we could have, and Claire is the best mom.  This book isn't nearly as complicated as it seems.  From the first page, this novel snagged me and reeled me in so that I didn't want to put it down.  The last page of the book ends on a cliffhanger, which left me dying to read the next book in this trilogy. All three books are available for free with Amazon Unlimited.

Quotes

The past would have been awful, no matter what period you landed in. There was always some horrible thing lurking there--war, smallpox, the plague. If you said the wrong thing, you could be burnt as a witch. Plus, everyone had fleas. You had to use chamberpots, which were tipped out of upstairs windows in the morning--even if someone was walking along the street below.

Kerstin Gier and Anthea Bell (Ruby Red, p 19)

Kissing, said Leslie, ought really to be taught as a school subject. Preferably, instead of religious studies, which nobody needed.

Kerstin Gier and Anthea Bell (Ruby Red, p 97)

"Will he die?'

Gideon shrugged. "Not if it was a clean wound.  But 18th-century surgery can't really be compared with an episode of  'Grey's Anatomy'"

Kerstin Gier and Anthea Bell (Ruby Red, p 248)

Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Ruby-Red-Trilogy-Book-ebook/dp/B004GHN2JY/ref=sr_1_1?crid=ZV6U9EC9PK8F&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.i0KBo1oz0QWr2m-aPn-wEsR6zJ9B0hVnXW_b27tleftuwlkgsPPRSVBIFFhESfrbo-n4wPj8YTMVrXU-89OOM6ZU3cpOle82UMwVBQsCfHEk9h0ZJWCE3c9vxnBCczVeQuwBGrGKGpNlrCTJ_trj2cjha6VuDQamaGgoFCakM21w8EH8GMoMO3Xt6aBvyfAGZkXWX6hqtB0lFxzIg66YykZv7S9uyoSmFf7tFC-kfF4.KT8U1TuKFQXODUDQjbTyfUkZsl4Q7-x-l0tlJfTQ8ek&dib_tag=se&keywords=ruby+red+trilogy&qid=1778702720&s=digital-text&sprefix=ruby+red%2Cdigital-text%2C232&sr=1-1

Link to ThriftBooks: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/ruby-red_kerstin-gier/308275/?resultid=d870ce1b-914d-49b2-9d36-73c9a8c6f80c#edition=5802630&idiq=4656503

Winning the Wallflower by Eloisa James

​

This delightful novella is part of the Fairy Tales series, but it is a side story, so you won’t get lost or feel left behind. The wildflower in this book is Lady Lucy Towerton, or Tower as some mean people call her due to her height. Lucy is engaged to marry Cyrus, a man of great wealth, who doesn’t have a title but desperately wants one, and believes that marrying a titled woman will give him a better chance of winning one. 

Cyrus’s mom went against her family’s wishes and married the family solicitor at Gretna Green. She has been shunned by her family and society as a result. Cyrus wants a wife who is above reproach and who won’t cause a scandal. It doesn’t hurt that Lucy has been in the market for three years. Her family is desperate to see her married.

Then Lucy inherits a fortune from an aunt and can now marry someone with a title. She wants to marry Cyrus, but he has yet to woo her or ask her, not just her father, for her hand in marriage. She wants a marriage that will lead to love.

James has done it again! This is one steamy romance! This novella is four out of five on the hot pepper scale. Cyrus is quite attractive, and while he has a ten-point plan for success in his future, Lucy surprises him by not being the woman he thought he was getting. Filled with witty banter, because Lucy is fond of being bluntly truthful and insists that Cyrus be as well. Whether these two know it or not, they are perfect for each other, and it’s a wild ride watching them get there.

Quotes 

Most men don’t like poetry. It’s a defect in the sex.

Eloisa James (Winning the Wildflower, p 8)

Not only has Rupert turned eighteen, but he’s learned to dance. Surely that signals a man is ready for marriage.

Eloisa James (Winning the Wildflower, p 9)

*This novella is only sold as an E-Book.

Link to Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Wallflower-Novella-Fairy-Tales-ebook/dp/B00655KHQG/ref=sr_1_1?crid=20C2Y6WSQ6A82&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.IU6XXB8DTbx7P7DKj8T3LH_r-dijJUQQN-PxGNg9_xjGVVZtXaz6c-sSRx0P5kGYvJg8Z8Nh7PWfmQPJzPlGEc1mw5sWJ3gd7qyPmXLu8T4SS8kJXpTDWWGdfb8ADRNrW9Sgy0LrZsMx1rRCPoXZ3VbyPMim66E9NV9uo6U7eJIcmk6YgTrOxRDY5LuMa9Ce.8eGso-RhI3KyqnWfb07VA4F-v4X-DsfnuIAEgeGv70I&dib_tag=se&keywords=winning+the+wallflower&qid=1778702388&s=digital-text&sprefix=Winning+the+wall%2Cdigital-text%2C178&sr=1-1

The Irish Goodbye by Heather Aimee O'Neill

 

Set in Port Haven, Long Island, this novel is about three sisters who have a sometimes complicated relationship.  Each is holding a secret from the family.  Over a Thanksgiving weekend, these secrets will come out, and the pieces will fall where they will.  

The family never got over the death of the oldest, Topher, who committed suicide about ten years after a tragedy where a teenage boy died in a boating accident that seemed to be Topher's fault.  The boy's parents sue Topher for a large settlement, which means his parents had to take out a mortgage on the house.  Cait, the eldest sister, and Luke, the boy's brother, were there and blamed themselves for what happened.  This is one of the secrets Cait is holding on to, as well as what happened the last time she saw Topher. Cait is a divorced corporate lawyer living in London with her uncontrollable twin children, Poppy and Augustus.  

Alice, the middle child, is married with two boys and has just started back to work.  After the birth of her second child, in which she almost died from preclampsia, she and her husband decided not to have more children.  Now, Alice finds herself pregnant and doesn't want to tell anyone, because she's not sure if she wants to keep it.  The family is Catholic, and her husband and mother are devout.  She has plans for herself, for a change, to go to college and get her degree in business and interior design.  Since she didn't move away, she finds herself taking care of her parents as well as her own family.  She'd really like to think of herself first for once.

Maggie, the youngest, came out to her family in college, but her mother has never really accepted it.  Her ex, who is married to a board member of the private school where Maggie teaches, wanted her to come over when Maggie was in Boston.  Maggie thought this was a chance to get some closure, but the other woman had different ideas.  Now, Maggie is worried that the woman’s husband might have discovered their secret affair and told her principal, who wants to have an important meeting with her after the holiday.  Maggie has a new girlfriend, Isobel, whom she hasn't been all that open with.  Not wanting to be away from her that long, Maggie invites her to the family's Thanksgiving/Reunion party.   

This book is one of Jenna Bush Hager's picks for her book club.  The narration alternates between the sisters as you discover all their secrets and what they are hiding, including the truth of that day on the boat and Topher's suicide,  which all three blame themselves for.  An Irish goodbye is when you leave without saying goodbye. 

 I truly enjoyed this page-turner that grabs you from page one and never lets you go. Reading about this family was a real treat as they try to hide their secrets and figure a way out of them, by themselves, but fail because none of them wants to admit they are in over their heads. 

Quotes

Nora's power of persuasion had never been in a raised voice of threat of punishment. It was in her sadness, her disappointment.

Heather Aimee O'Neill (The Irish Goodbye, p 98)

Desire makes everything clear.

Heather Aimee O'Neill (The Irish Goodbye, 99)

Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Irish-Goodbye-Heather-Aimee-ONeill-ebook/dp/B0DQJ6ZM36/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2R01N156FPZ1M&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.1qHtZdZ7-yWjwIhLHwPv7igItkTQbKstQbrkt6V7glLAyCXdDSEu8P3eqog0UTTMRRZYnNEg7A925CXlpw1h8TNfoV8gUSpgYB_tICfJNPwdjJiKzbp2_W2aqp91JEySoxZTKSD9OPd8J7taLO3LwiVkKqX8sRujkbpczsawymtPRKvWvpYDj3yaBYhocqrYWj111WKGLs3uQsDZWUW0bsqIDi_Rc_EdpnnjsyVnUQI.Mn1Chk10jFkJGQgKvJ-71cH63xjgqjx4sfKewdO-nKU&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+irish+goodbye&qid=1777826701&s=digital-text&sprefix=the+irish+goodbye%2Cdigital-text%2C196&sr=1-1

Orchid Beach by Stuart Woods

Major Holly Barker is the head of a platoon of MPs.  She and another young woman lost in court trying to charge a commanding officer with sexual harassment and attempted rape.  She knows she won't be able to advance further, and she plans to retire with her twenty years in and look for something else.  Along comes Chet Marley, an ex-Army soldier who fought in Vietnam with Holly's father Ham, who's still in the Army.  Chet offers her a job as his Deputy Chief of police at Orchid Beach in Florida, about an island about an hour away from Vero Beach and Fort Pierce.  Chet suspects that someone from his department is feeding information to others.  He didn't make Hurd Wallace Deputy because he doesn't trust him.  

When Holly arrives at Orchid Beach, she calls Chet to let him know she is here, and he tells her he had a meeting with someone about the corruption in the force and will tell her about it first thing in the morning.  Holly goes to work the next day to find that Chet has been seriously shot and in a coma.  Later that day, Chet and Ham's friend from the war, Hank Doherty, is found with a shotgun blast through his head. Hank was the one person Chet would have trusted with what was going on and any evidence there would be for the investigation. 

Another person Chet, Ham, and Hank fought with is the head of security at an exclusive housing development where no one enters without an escort—even Holly. The guards have machine guns and a lot of the staff carries guns. 

As Holly searches for a killer, she finds the one person she can confide in, Jackson Oxencart, a public defender. Holly also picks up a pal in Daisy, Hank’s specially trained Doberman.  Holly also has to find a way to keep the city council happy so she can keep her job.

This mystery is an edge of your seat adventure ride. You don’t know who to trust. It’s a real page turner. Holly is a tough woman in two male dominated fields who must fight to win respect. Jackson is an interesting character with a backstory that matches Holly’s braveness. Daisy is an awesome character and sticks to Holly and protects her. Ham is his own man and cannot be told what to do. This cast of characters really clicks together and forms a team ready to take on anything. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.

Quotes

The airplane is a great seduction tool: by the time you get them back down, they're so grateful to be alive, they just fall right into bed with you.

Stuart Woods (Orchid Beach, p 156)

  

Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Orchid-Beach-Holly-Barker-Book-ebook/dp/B0013FO5T8/ref=sr_1_1?crid=166W5UZE34KCX&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.apQUb7knEEYvnDMoyLcFPNbZe-ts3OPwmjGy35B3wRg.ehlJcFCv0-CHmZuMUuKH9dbUoFmSRJ9j1IgVQB3kBFU&dib_tag=se&keywords=orchid+beach&qid=1777825988&s=digital-text&sprefix=orchid+%2Cdigital-text%2C280&sr=1-1

Link to ThriftBooks: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/orchid-beach_stuart-woods/278124/?resultid=5da5d46d-225b-4859-a9c9-0e954d26c782#edition=2334047&idiq=24226208

 

Shadow Prey by John Sandford

 

This mystery is the second in the Lieutenant Lucas Davenport series. Davenport is a Minneapolis cop who skirts the outside of the law and does as he pleases.  Davenport has a strong and vast network of confidential informants. 

Jennifer, his girlfriend, has had their baby and so far Lucas, the hound dog, is still faithful to her and is helping raise their daughter, Sarah, though they both still have their own places. 

The book opens up with two police officers raping a young girl who needed a ride home because she had been drinking. This is a regular thing for the police in Arizona. The main one, Clay, gets beaten half to death by a group of Native Americans for this. 

This book was written in 1990, so Sandford uses the term Indians. There is also no cell phones, which means that they are constantly looking for a pay phone. There is also no DNA analysis. 

Over a decade later, two Native American men who were involved in the attack, are now hoping to bring attention to the injustices against their people by assassinating those who have harmed them.  They start off small with a slumlord who was also a loan shark to Native Americans. One of them arrives at his place of business and points a gun at him before managing to slice his throat with an onyx knife. 

Three men are behind this: the Crow cousins and their son Shadow Love, who is a very dangerous man, because he doesn’t care who he kills and he has some mental problems that urge him to kill. 

After a big shot New Yorker is murdered, a lieutenant in the NYPD, Lily, arrives in Minnesota to hook up with Davenport and the other officers investigating these Native American crimes. Lucas becomes quite tempted by Lily, who is married. 

Lucas and his family are put in harms way by Shadow Love who is set on killing those he feels betrayed his people, whether they did so, or not.  This book is action packed and full of adrenaline. It’s a heart stopping race in the last several chapters as you are glued to your seat reading as fast as you can til the well-worth-it climax that will blow your mind. 

Quotes

Before she’d always worn soft pink lipstick, and just a touch. This morning, her lipstick was hard-hearted-red, the color of street violence and sex.

John Sandford (Shadow Prey, p 337 *)

It’s a game. And you can’t back off in a game and win. You either go balls to the wall, or somebody takes you out and you’re no goddamn more.

John Sandford (Shadow Prey, p 396)

Oil stains marked the driveways like Rorschachs of failure.

John Sandford (Shadow Prey, p 405)

Nothing happens in the morning, so why get up? All the bad people are out at night. And most of the good ones, as far as that goes.

John Sandford (Shadow Prey, p 412)

* I read a book that contained the first three novels by John Sandford, so the page numbers are different.

Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Prey-Book-2-ebook/dp/B000QUCO6M/ref=sr_1_1?crid=236Z7B44B0YQ4&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Q-qjqpUfBTIPtQ68qioQatl-3CXUcd37hYBpwCbFij7zr4FLPxf88PBZI5M22xcaOqha-ft3ePGVDf1Dh72Z4q1NOzCvaWcWOqgfDRPHFUTBk9DXIrosHBp5L-7JpcFLNk0HNVcjbOziIpPftjq4s9gYLihtJgcqBkqCu93jvKwtP3q-c8uGjZ_SKiJ_FLTUQZkB2Zj3rVXXFDyt-NeDlwP2p9OG7CattKeZC1nCyro.88w6YZ1vdCVNmY9ShWJ-TbVVCssP4-LrKZ_vn1i6ut0&dib_tag=se&keywords=shadow+prey&qid=1777826303&s=digital-text&sprefix=shadow+p%2Cdigital-text%2C206&sr=1-1

Link to ThriftBooks: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/shadow-prey_john-sandford/248699/?resultid=f57b04d6-43ba-49e8-b748-7e5ea8575ff7#edition=23119501&idiq=41343092

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

Link to ThriftBooks: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-monkeys-raincoat-by-robert-crais/250417/?resultid=bc7c1cfa-1189-499e-9522-632808818709#edition=2410712&idiq=2180457

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

Link to ThriftBooks: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/everyone-in-my-family-has-killed-someone_benjamin-stevenson/38615755/?resultid=792147d3-d1ff-42ba-a646-01f4f90c2d2a#edition=66576752&idiq=56363361

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

Link to ThriftBooks: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/rapture-in-death-by-jd-robb/245979/?resultid=e52d6666-9192-4d3b-9743-449f98eb072c#edition=2385594&idiq=948632

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

Link to ThriftBooks: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/even-white-trash-zombies-get-the-blues_diana-rowland/372938/?resultid=f131d6a3-40e6-4ec2-9e23-8ebe8b99e772#edition=6722586&idiq=6001303

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