Waiting on Wednesday - Broken Promise

This is a weekly event that highlight a book we can't wait to be published.  It's hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Have you ever read a book by Linwood Barclay?  If you haven't and if you like a good suspense novel that almost always has something very unusual happening to an "ordinary" person, you might try one.  I've read several of his books and enjoyed each one of them.  I'm always happy to see a new one come around.  My selection this week is:

Broken Promise

by Linwood Barclay

Publication Date: July 28th

After his wife’s death and the collapse of his newspaper, David Harwood has no choice but to uproot his nine-year-old son and move back into his childhood home in Promise Falls, New York. David believes his life is in free fall, and he can’t find a way to stop his descent.

Then he comes across a family secret of epic proportions. A year after a devastating miscarriage, David’s cousin Marla has continued to struggle. But when David’s mother asks him to check on her, he’s horrified to discover that she’s been secretly raising a child who is not her own—a baby she claims was a gift from an “angel” left on her porch.

When the baby’s real mother is found murdered, David can’t help wanting to piece together what happened—even if it means proving his own cousin’s guilt. But as he uncovers each piece of evidence, David realizes that Marla’s mysterious child is just the tip of the iceberg.

Other strange things are happening. Animals are found ritually slaughtered. An ominous abandoned Ferris wheel seems to stand as a warning that something dark has infected Promise Falls. And someone has decided that the entire town must pay for the sins of its past…in blood.

Top 10 Characters (or Books or Series) That You'd Like To Check In With...and say "What's Up??"

This is a weekly event hosted by The Broke and The Bookish where bloggers relate their "top ten" of a certain topic.  This week's topic - Top 10 Characters You'd Like To Check In With - meaning, you read the book or the series and it's over, you loved the characters, and you're thinking back and wondering...what happened next and what would their lives look like if you were to "take a peek" years later.  We all have characters that we love or like a lot or love to hate or whatnot.  Sometimes the story ends and you'd really like an update.  And what came next?  And next?  Because perhaps you'd think - "ah, I knew it!!!" - or perhaps you'd yell - "no possible way!!!".  Well, here's a list of characters or books or series that I'd love to invite to a "character" reunion.

1. Harry Potter and everyone in his world - OK, I don't know about you, but this would be my top wish if I had wishes.  Yes, yes, I know that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has an epilogue chapter.  I also know that J. K. Rowling wrote that chapter very early on and knew exactly where her characters were heading.  But, seriously, I want to know what happened in between.  And what happened after that.  It's not too much to ask, right?

2. The Stand by Stephen King - Post apocalyptic world after the ultimate battle of good and evil prefaced by the flu pandemic which strips the world of most of the people.  I want to know what happens to the ones that were left at the end of the book.  I shouldn't name them in case you haven't read it, but I loved those characters.  So, what happened next??

3. Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomvist from The Girl With Dragon Tattoo trilogy - Amazingly enough, right before I wrote this post, it was announced that another author, David Lagercrantz, will take on Stieg Larsson's characters and continue the story of uber-hacker Lisbeth and investigative journalist Mikael.  Not sure how it will turn out, but I do know I'll try the new book, The Girl in the Spider's Web.  To be published in the fall.

4. Elinor Dashwood from Sense and Sensibility - This is my favorite Jane Austen book.  I've loved reading it, more than once.  I loved the film adaptation written by Emma Thompson, who also played Elinor.  I'd like to know what happened next for Elinor and her husband and extended family.  I have great sympathy for Elinor, who had a lot to contend with - her mother and sisters and friends and frenemies.

5. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows - I loved this epistolary book.  Loved it.  The time period, Juliet and all the marvelous characters, the method of telling the story (have I said that I love epistolary fiction?).  I'd love to go back to Guernsey years later and see what has happened to all the wonderful people that populated this book.  If you haven't read this one, please, read it!  It's just lovely.

6. Alice's family from Still Alice by Lisa Genova - I'd love to check in on Alice's family - her children and grandchildren - and find out how they are.  I know what life would have been like for Alice and indeed for her loved ones in the years after the book.  That's not the time period I mean.  I'd like to visit in 15 years or 20 years.  Talk with them.  Hug them.  Say that I understand how much they miss Alice.  I miss my parents too.

7. Nora Roberts' Three Sisters Island Trilogy and the characters she created that populate that most favorite series of mine - The three woman (witches by birth) of Three Sisters Island - Nell, Ripley and Mia, the men they love, and the people that live in their world.  I've read this trilogy many times and always enjoy it.  I have a fondness for books and TV series about witches and I'd love to see the next generation of witches on Three Sisters.  Hey Nora - hear me??

8. The Lily Bard mystery series by Charlaine Harris - Yes, that Charlaine Harris, who also wrote about Sookie Stackhouse.  She wrote about other characters first.  And I really like Lily Bard, a house cleaner, karate expert, and reluctant sleuth.  There were 5 books in this series, set in Shakespeare, Arkansas.  The first was Shakespeare's Landlord.  Lily had a lot of secrets and had suffered a lot of trauma in her life.  I'd love to know how she is doing since the last book, Shakespeare's Counselor was published in 2001.

9. The Bo Bradley mystery series by Abigail Padgett - There were 5 books in this series, beginning with Child of Silence.  Bo Bradley was an abuse investigator for the San Diego Juvenile Court System.  She saw and ferreted out some awful things, while trying to keep her own bipolar illness under control.  Bo's character was insightful and tenacious, but she often pushed herself beyond her limits.  I'd love to know how she is doing.  The last book, The Dollmaker's Daughters, was published in 1997.

10. The Benni Harper mystery series by Earlene Fowler - I'm not sure if this series is at an end, but I'm afraid it might be.  There have been 15 books published relating the adventures of Albenia "Benni" Harper, who is the director of a folk art museum in San Celina, California.  She's married to Police Chief Gabe Ortiz and has many family members and friends in the small town.  All the titles of the books are quilting patterns and that craft is included in the books.  The first book is Fool's Puzzle and the latest, Spider Web, was published in 2011.  Come back, Benni!  Come back!!

I could probably think of a bunch of other characters that I'd like to include, but I will end my list at 10.  What characters would you like to visit again??  I'd love to know.  Give me the scoop.

In which the mystery book group heads back in time and down South with Natchez Burning...

It's time again to relate the saga of my monthly mystery book group meeting.  I love these meetings and really enjoy discussing mysteries of all sorts with other avid readers.  And, believe me, the members of this group are avid and involved readers.  We have a great time.  Our author for this month was the very talented Greg Iles and the book for discussion was Natchez Burning, which comes in at 800+ pages.  A long one and it's only the first book in a trilogy.  Because of that, members could select any book by Greg Iles to read, but they also knew that we would be talking about Natchez Burning more specifically - including the possibility for spoilers.  Most all the attendees took the 800 page plunge.

First though, let me tell you about our goodies.  We meet at a branch library and so we don't eat at every meeting, but all are free to bring treats as the spirit moves them.  We have official potluck sharing quarterly.  At this meeting, we had a member bring the most beautiful Easter cookies.  Mine was so lovely that I had to take a picture to share.  The Texas state flower is the bluebonnet and look what was on my cookie!  I loved it and decided it was almost too pretty to eat.

OK, back to Greg Iles and Natchez Burning.  We talked about the author in general for a while, sharing a few bits of information.  He's a native of Natchez, Mississippi.  He writes mostly thrillers set in the Deep South and has a particular knack of including the Southern setting in interesting ways.  He started out writing standalone novels and then began writing some with Penn Cage as the main protagonist.  Is Penn Cage based on Greg Iles?  Well, partially, I think.  There are similarities.  A few years ago, Mr. Iles was involved in a horrific car accident, which left him critically injured.  It took him many, many months to recover.  He was in the process of writing Natchez Burning at the time and when he began writing again, he realized that the story he wanted to tell was much bigger than he first imagined.  This book and the two that will follow, The Bone Tree (available later this month) and Unwritten Laws (2016), tell a broad spectrum story of the civil rights era of the 1960's.  It's an epic tale.

Most of our group liked Natchez Burning or loved it.  We had a couple who were dismayed by some of the brutal actions of characters in the stories.  And make no mistake, there are despicable acts.  Some members stated that they had marathon reading sessions trying to finish - it was gripping in the extreme.  Almost all are eager to read The Bone Tree.  We did discuss more about the book, but one question I posed to the group ended up taking most of our time.

I wasn't sure how well the question would work or if people would be comfortable sharing, but as our group is mostly made up of people who were at least small children in the 1960's, I asked "where were you at that time and what do you remember".  We had a very good response.  Many remembered the big events of the 1960's - President Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King being assassinated - the Freedom Riders - riots in cities - protests on college campuses.  Some told of where they lived at the time - states in the North or states in the South and what the atmosphere was like.  One member lived in Washington DC and so had vivid memories of the political aspects.  I found it all fascinating and I think everyone was interested.  And it let us all know more about each other and our backgrounds.  It was an informative sharing session.

Natchez Burning has been nominated for Best Novel in the 2015 Thriller Awards and also for Best Novel at the Barry Awards.  Also, it's just been announced that it will become a cable series through Sony and Amazon Studios.  Will be looking forward to it.

Our book for the May meeting is The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling) and I need to get busy reading that one.

A Cold White Sun by Vicki Delany

A Cold White Sun is the 6th book in Vicki Delany's mystery series set in Trafalgar, British Columbia.  Such a gorgeous setting.  I listened to this book that is read by Carrington MacDuffie.  She does a good job with the narration.  But that setting - wow.  I really need to visit British Columbia.  I love mountains.

It's Spring Break time, late March, in Trafalgar and so the tourists are everywhere.  Molly Smith, Constable with the Trafalgar Police Department, doesn't mind the tourists, but she knows that her job will be busy for the foreseeable future because of them.  The week begins with a murder.  A high school English teacher, Cathy Lindsay, is out walking her dog on a forest trail when she is shot in the back and killed.  The leads are few.  Detective Sergeant John Winters is on the case and he needs Molly's help to make inquiries among the victim's family, friends and co-workers.

Trafalgar is a small town that depends on skiers and hikers for their revenue stream.  Nice teachers just don't get shot here, especially by sniper rifles.  Was Cathy Lindsay the intended victim?  Her husband is hiding a few things; her son has been in trouble; there's a co-worker who may or may not have had a relationship with Mrs. Lindsay; and not all her students were fans of hers.  Winters and Smith have a lot to sort through.

Meanwhile, the ongoing story concerning Molly's mother, Lucky, and her potential relationship with Molly's boss, Paul Keller, continues.  Also, John Winter's wife, Eliza, has a new employee at her art gallery that seems a little odd and perhaps unstable.  And Molly herself is still a bit unsure about her feelings for RCMP Officer Adam Tocek.  Trafalgar is a small town, but there are some big stories brewing.  And even though it's Spring Break, the snow and ice are unrelenting.

I've liked this series so much.  Through it, we've seen Molly grow into her position as a police officer.  She's maturing in her ability to handle herself and has several opportunities to show that in this book.  I have one more book to read before I am caught up.  I'll be getting to it soon - Under Cold Stone.  Can't wait!

The Stranger You Know by Jane Casey

Jane Casey's series featuring DC Maeve Kerrigan is very quickly moving to the top of my "favorite series" list - very quickly.  I've now finished the 4th book, The Stranger You Know, and am pretty much desperate to get the 5th, The Kill.  Happily, though it has not been published in the US yet (seriously, what is it about the disparity of publish dates between the US and the UK??), it is available on Audible for my listening pleasure.  So, I'll be listening to The Kill once I'm through with my current audio book.

The Stranger You Know is a fast paced thriller of a book.  Lots of things happen and our characters' lives move forward.  Maeve is still on Superintendent Godley's special murder squad.  Her regular partner is still DI Josh Derwent, maybe the most sexist pig man that she's ever known.  However, I have a definite soft spot for Derwent and he finally comes to the forefront in this book.  Maeve's significant other, Rob, formerly her colleague but now working for another specialized team, spends most of the book off on training at the FBI.  And the new DCI Una Burt (can you believe that name?) seems to despise Derwent for some unknown reason.  There's got to be more to that story.

Three women have been strangled and mutilated in their homes.  The crime scenes are fairly horrific and the pressure is on to find the killer.  DCI Burt is in charge and DC Kerrigan is assigned to assist her in liaising with the other detectives that were on the first two cases.  Again, Godley is keeping Derwent out of the loop.  And then he tells Maeve why.  DI Josh Derwent is considered to be a suspect in these crimes.  It's not the first time that Derwent has been accused of murder.  As Maeve finds out, a girl that Derwent was close to in his teen years was killed in a similar manner and he was a suspect then as well.  Secrets that Josh has kept from his colleagues are revealed and Maeve finds herself in a position that she never thought she would be in - defending her partner.

As this series has progressed, my admiration for Kerrigan has increased.  She definitely has a knack for seeing the tiny threads in a crime scene that might lead to real clues.  Her mind jumps readily to possibilities and she follows up.  Some of this, she has learned from Superintendent Godley, but some of it she has acquired by watching Josh Derwent, who is very good at his job.  I like Derwent.  He's got a hard shell and he pokes fun at Maeve and makes her angry and frustrated, but he has a sense of honor and loyalty that just shines through when you know where to look.  His early life was hard and he keeps his innate kindness well hidden.  In The Stranger You Know, lots of questions are answered and we find out why he has such a shield on his true self.

If you haven't read Jane Casey's great series, I highly recommend it.  The first book is The Burning.  Try it, you might like it.

Bookish Nostalgia - April 2015

When I had my previous blog, My Random Acts of Reading, I did a feature now and then that I called Bookish Nostalgia.  I talked about books or authors that had been favorites at earlier times of my life - as a kid or a teen or my early 20's.  I had fun with it, but I kind of ran out of ideas and topics and I don't want to duplicate those.

Several of my favorite bloggers have their version of looking back at what they've read in the past.  Tina at Tina Says does this early each month.  She shares what she was reading in that month 10 years before and calls it Blast From the Past.  I love it and you should take a look.  A new-to-me blogger or one I found after I came back and began this blog is Cleo at Cleopatra Loves Books.  (You should read her blog too!)  She started a monthly event called Five of the Best.  In it, she highlights her favorite book from each of the last 4 years, plus the current month.  Again, lots of fun.  Some other blogs have also shared these "look backs" and I'm sure there are more that I don't know about.

I've decided to renew my Bookish Nostalgia tag, tweak the "looking back" and make it a monthly event as well.  I've shared that I've kept a book journal of my reads for almost all of the last 22 years, since 1993.  I thought I would check my journals and see what I was reading 20, 15, 10, and 5 years ago.  My reading has changed some over the years, but I was always more of a mystery reader than anything else.  However, not completely.  Some of the books are no longer in print.  Some authors are gone now.  It has been interesting to see how much I could remember about the books (in order to pick a favorite), but I also sometimes have a vivid memory of what was going on in my life at the time.  So, here's my first Bookish Nostalgia.  My favorite book from April of:

April 1995 - Desert Heat by J.A. Jance - The first book in her Joanna Brady series, set in Cochise County, Arizona.  About the widow of a deputy sheriff that takes her husband's place in law enforcement.  This series is still on-going and is up to 14 books.  A very good beginning.

April 2000 - To Play the Fool by Laurie R. King - 2nd book in the Kate Martinelli series about a homicide cop in San Francisco.  There were 5 books featuring this character.  Laurie R. King also writes the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes long-running series.

April 2005 - Colony by Anne Rivers Siddons - This is a family saga of a woman from the South Carolina Low Country who marries a Boston man and spends summers at his family's home on the coast of Maine.  Her mother-in-law is very domineering, but as time passes, the young woman adjusts and becomes more like her husband's mother than she would ever dream.  I just remember that I loved this book.  It's a little long, 640 pages, like any good family saga.

April 2010 - Paula by Isobel Allende - When this noted author's daughter, Paula, became ill and fell into a coma, she wrote this book about her family.  It begins, "Listen, Paula, I am going to tell you a story...".  I read and discussed this book with a reading group.  It's one I still remember so well, a very moving story.

Well, that's what I remember of the Aprils of years past.  Please let me know what you think of this feature.  And if you've read any of these books.  Thanks, as always, for visiting.

Waiting on Wednesday - Entry Island

This is a weekly event that highlights a book we can't wait to be published.  It's hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

I'm very excited about this week's selection, another by an author I love, Peter May.  It's not set on Lewis Island in the Scottish Hebrides like his recent trilogy, but it does have a connection to that place.  I cannot wait until September when this book will be published here in the US (it's already available in the UK).  My anticipated book this week:

Entry Island

by Peter May

Publication Date: September 15th

When a murder rocks the isolated community of Entry Island, insomniac homicide detective Sime Mackenzie boards a light aircraft at St. Hubert airfield bound for the small, scattered chain of Madeline Islands, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, as part of an eight-officer investigation team from Montréal.

Only two kilometers wide and three long, Entry Island is home to a population of just more than 100 inhabitants, the wealthiest of whom has just been discovered murdered in his home. Covered in her husband's blood, the dead man's melancholy wife spins a tale for the police about a masked intruder armed with a knife.

The investigation appears to be little more than a formality--the evidence points to a crime of passion, implicating the wife. But Sime is electrified by the widow during his interview, convinced that he has met her before, even though this is clearly impossible.

Haunted by this strange certainty, Sime's insomnia is punctuated by vivid, hallucinatory dreams of a distant past on a Scottish island 3,000 miles away, dreams in which he and the widow play leading roles. Sime's conviction soon becomes an obsession. And despite mounting evidence of the woman's guilt, he finds himself convinced of her innocence, leading to a conflict between the professional duty he must fulfill and the personal destiny he is increasingly sure awaits him.

Tuesday - First Chapter - First Paragraph - Tell Me No Secrets

I've decided that on the weeks that I don't participate in Top Ten Tuesday, I'll try to join in on Diane's weekly event and share the first part of a book that I'm reading.  The host of First Chapter - First Paragraph is the lovely blogger behind Bibliophile by the Sea.  Here's an intro to my current book, Tell Me No Secrets by Julie Corbin:

     They say that everybody has a secret.  For some, it's a stolen extramarital kiss on a balmy evening after two or three glasses of wine.  For others it's that girl, teased mercilessly about the shape of her nose or the whine in her voice until she has to move school. 

     Some of us, though, keep secrets that make liars of our lives.  Take me, for example.  The skeleton I fear isn't hiding in my closet.  The one I fear lies underground.  Her name was Rose and she was nine years old when she died.
     I'm not going to make excuses for what I did.  I'm going to tell my story as it is and as it was.
     This isn't the beginning but it's a good place to start...


So what do you think?  Would you keep reading?  Or is this one too intense?  I found Tell Me No Secrets on my shelf - had forgotten about it - picked it up and have been totally absorbed.

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

And Then There Were None is one of my favorite Agatha Christie books.  It's certainly one of her better known books.  I have read it multiple times and listened to it as well.  When I heard that Dan Stevens (yes, that Dan Stevens - Matthew from Downton Abbey) was narrating a new version of this book, I decided it was time to give it another listen.  And I totally enjoyed it.  Dan Stevens has a lovely voice, by the way, and he did a good job with multiple characters.

In case you don't know the story, And Then There Were None tells of 10 people who come to an island off the coast of Cornwall, I think.  Anyway, they had all been invited as a guest or hired by a couple, the Owens.  When it becomes clear the first evening that their host and hostess are delayed, the guests begin asking questions and it turns out that none of them have ever met the Owens, even the staff.  Later in the evening, everyone is startled to hear a voice, a recording, that accuses each person in the room of murder.  Naturally, everyone denies the charges, but before the evening is out, at least one person will die.  And there are more deaths to come.  Are the accusations true?  How does the rhyme framed above each of their bedroom fireplaces relate?  And how will they all get off the island when an awful storm comes up?  A lovely locked room mystery.  Such fun.

Ten little soldiers went out to dine;

One choked his little self and then there were nine....

This version has been updated a bit to be more suitable for today's audiences.  In this one, the island is known as Soldier Island and the rhyme references and little figurines that keep going missing are also soldiers.  I can go along with that.  The previous versions had words that were in the vernacular at that time, but not so much now.

And in case you're not familiar with a "locked room" mystery, it is one where the crime seems to have been impossible for someone to commit and get away or the pool of suspects is completely limited, like on an island or in a locked room.  Therefore, the murderer has to be among the characters...or does he or she?  That's the puzzle.


There have been at least two film adaptations of this book, one in 1945 called And Then There Were None, and one in 1965, entitled Ten Little Indians.  Each may or may not have changed the ending of the story.  I'm not telling.  I liked both films.  The second one was set in the winter in a mansion in the Alps and the characters had to get to the house by a sort of ski lift thing instead of by boat.

I also have read at least two books that are homages to Agatha Christie's tale.  One was a Young Adult book entitled Ten by Gretchen McNeil.  Teens at an island house party with a DVD that has a message:  vengeance is mine.  Also, Katherine Hall Page sets her 16th Faith Fairchild book, The Body in the Ivy, on an island with a college reunion.  Faith is catering and she finds her job is more dangerous than she thought since the guests are dying one by one.

One last movie I'll mention that isn't exactly like And Then There Were None, but it does include a group of famous literary sleuths who are invited to a mansion to solve a very strange mystery.  One of them will be murdered by midnight.  It's a comedy and one of my favorites - Murder By Death - featuring a much younger Maggie Smith as half of a detective couple, Dick and Dora Charleston.  See, another Downton Abbey connection.  If you've never seen this movie, you really should hunt it up.  It also include many other wonderful actors and Truman Capote as Lionel Twain, their host.

So, I've given you a look at where my mind runs when I'm rereading an old favorite and a classic.  Hope you find something you like.

Salad Love by David Bez

I want to introduce you to a book, which the author himself says is not a cookbook, that has 260 crunchy, savory, filling meals you can make every day.  It says so - right on the cover.  It's called Salad Love and the author is David Bez.  Now David is very upfront about the fact that he is not a chef - he's an art director.  However, he is a man who wanted to eat in a healthier manner.  He wanted to be energized in the afternoons and not droopy.  He wanted to prepare his own lunch every day at the office.  And he wanted his meal to be both fresh and tasty.

Salad Love is the result of David Bez's experiment.  A whole book of maybe the most beautiful salads I've ever seen in my life.  Art director, remember?  They are lovely and very much a feast for the eyes.  When I first opened this book, I was amazed at page after page of luscious looking salads.  I thought, I'll never be able to make my salads look like this.  And that's probably true.  However, each salad page contains a beautiful photo and a detailed recipe of 5 or 6 ingredients for the salad and 3 or 4 ingredients for the dressing.  Simple.  Really.

The book begins with some instructions on how to assemble a salad.  There are then some components like vegetables, fruit, protein and fresh herbs.  There are something like 30 dressings listed - with recipes.  There are the tools David used - with pictures.  And then there are the salads themselves - divided into the 4 seasons.  That's it.  Simple.  Beautiful.  Healthy.

Some of the ingredients are a little exotic for me - quail eggs, salmon caviar, and squid.  Others are very familiar - avocados, blackberries, hazelnuts.  Some I don't like - kale and goat cheese.  Mostly, the salads are interesting and unique combinations that look really appealing.  And, yes, I could find many that I'd like to try.

So, here are a few that are on my list (2 for each season):  Summer - Strawberries, Melon & Almonds and Oak-Smoked Cheddar, Peaches & Blueberries.  Fall - Hot-Smoke Salmon, Corn & Broccoli and Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Zucchini & Pine Nuts.  Winter - Celery, Chickpeas, Pumpkin Seeds & Mint and Roasted Potatoes, Black Olives & Capers.  Spring - Roasted Chicken, Avocado & Croutons and Cauliflower, Hazelnuts & Dried Apricots.

What do you think?  Does Salad Love sound like a winner?  It does to me.  Now, where did I put my chickpeas?

Linking this review to Weekend Cooking on Beth Fish Reads.  And thanks to the folks at Blogging For Books and the publisher for sending me a copy of this book.