Glory in Death - J. D. Robb

Glory in Death by J. D. Robb


First Paragraph:

The dead were her business.  She lived with them, worked with them, studied them.  She dreamed of them.  And because that didn't seem to be enough, in some deep, secret chamber of her heart, she mourned for them.
     A decade as a cop had toughened her, given her a cold, clinical, and often cynical eye toward death and its many causes.  It made scenes such as the one she viewed now, on a rainy night on a dark street nasty with litter, almost too usual.  But still, she felt.
     Murder no longer shocked, but it continued to repel.


My Thoughts:

Glory in Death is the second book in J. D. Robb's series featuring Lieutenant Eve Dallas and Roarke.  It begins with a murder of a noted prosecutor, someone that Eve had worked with and thought well of.  I listened to this one on audio with Susan Ericksen narrating.  She's done all the books in this series and, in my head, she's the voice of Eve.  The reader gets to meet additional characters that will appear in later books and also get to know others better.  The relationship between our two main characters progresses and I like how they are with each other.  For me, this is a favorite series and I'm having fun rereading the early books.  If you like a great series that seems to go on and on, this one is recommended by me.


Blurb:

The first victim was found lying on a sidewalk in the rain. The second was murdered in her own apartment building. Police Lieutenant Eve Dallas had no problem finding connections between the two crimes. Both victims were beautiful and highly successful women. Their glamorous lives and loves were the talk of the city. And their intimate relations with men of great power and wealth provided Eve with a long list of suspects—including her own lover, Roarke. As a woman, Eve was compelled to trust the man who shared her bed. But as a cop, it was her job to follow every lead...to investigate every scandalous rumor...to explore every secret passion, no matter how dark. Or how dangerous.

The Lying Game - Ruth Ware

The Lying Game by Ruth Ware


First Paragraph:

The Reach is wide and quiet this morning, the pale blue sky streaked with pink mackerel-belly clouds, the shallow sea barely rippling in the slight breeze, and so the sound of the dog barking breaks into the calm like gunshots, setting flocks of gulls crying and wheeling in the air.


My Thoughts:

The Lying Game is Ruth Ware's third thriller and I listened to it read by Imogen Church, who also narrated this author's other books.  I like her narration.  I had actually read an advance copy of this book early this year, but decided to try it again on audio and see if my opinion had changed.  First, I'll say that I really liked Ware's first two books, especially her debut.  This one...well, I'll share that it likely won't be my favorite and I'm hoping her next is a little more to my taste.  The story is fine enough and does have some twists and turns.  I also like books that include 'old school ties'.  What I wasn't as happy about was the amount of lying and deception among the characters - especially between Isa and her significant other.  I also got very, very weary of hearing about her baby and caring for the baby.  How many times does the reader need to hear a detailed description of breastfeeding and a child crying?  I wonder if this author has recently had a baby.  Seriously.  Anyway, I don't want to discourage others from trying it.  Not every book by a favorite author is going to be a 'winner' for every reader, right?  I'll look forward to Ruth Ware's next.  And maybe go back and reread her first two.


Blurb:

On a cool June morning, a woman is walking her dog in the idyllic coastal village of Salten along a tidal estuary known as the Reach. Before she can stop him, the dog charges into the water to retrieve what first appears to be a wayward stick, but to her horror, turns out to be something much more sinister...

The next morning, three women in and around London—Fatima, Thea, and Isabel—receive the text they had always hoped would NEVER come, from the fourth in their formerly inseparable clique, Kate, that says only, “I need you.”

The four girls were best friends at Salten, a second rate boarding school set near the cliffs of the English Channel. Each different in their own way, the four became inseparable and were notorious for playing the Lying Game, telling lies at every turn to both fellow boarders and faculty, with varying states of serious and flippant nature that were disturbing enough to ensure that everyone steered clear of them. The myriad and complicated rules of the game are strict: no lying to each other—ever. Bail on the lie when it becomes clear it is about to be found out. But their little game had consequences, and the girls were all expelled in their final year of school under mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of the school’s eccentric art teacher, Ambrose (who also happens to be Kate’s father).

The Golden Hour - T. Greenwood

The Golden Hour by T. Greenwood


First Paragraph:

If this day were a painting, if I were asked to fill my palette with all the colors of that afternoon, you might be surprised by the ones I'd choose: grasshopper greens and cerulean blue.  It was June, I might argue, the last day of school.  Of course, the grass was green, the sky blue.
     But what color is thirteen?  Is it the cinder brown of wide eyes, the crimson flush of hot cheeks?  Maybe a dollop of peach for the chipped nail polish on ragged fingernails, that same fleshy pink for thin legs as they run across that endless green.  A cadmium shirt, and the washed-out cobalt of denim cutoff jeans.  Add blue to black for the hair, tied back, a horse's tail swooshing side to side like a pendulum with each stride.


My Thoughts:

T. Greenwood is another author that I've meant to read for a long time.  I'm glad I selected The Golden Hour to start my journey through her writings.  This is the tale of a damaged woman, Wyn, an artist, who tries to live her life and forget a terrible attack when she was a young teen.  She told part of the truth about that day, but not all of it.  Really not all of it.  And this has stunted her growth as an artist, as a wife, as a friend, as a mother.  When Wyn learns that evidence has been found that might set the man free who was convicted of her attack, she runs away to an island in Maine, to a house that her best friend owns.  There she finds many things, not the least of which is herself.  I liked this book very much and loved the descriptive quality of the writing - the colors, the setting.  I'll be trying other books by T. Greenwood soon.


Blurb:

On a spring afternoon long ago, thirteen-year-old Wyn Davies took a shortcut through the woods in her New Hampshire hometown and became a cautionary tale. Now, twenty years later, she lives in New York, on the opposite side of a duplex from her ex, with their four-year-old daughter shuttling between them. Wyn makes her living painting commissioned canvases of birch trees to match her clients’ furnishings. But the nagging sense that she has sold her artistic soul is soon eclipsed by a greater fear. Robby Rousseau, who has spent the past two decades in prison for a terrible crime against her, may be released based on new DNA evidence—unless Wyn breaks her silence about that afternoon.

To clear her head, refocus her painting, and escape an even more present threat, Wyn agrees to be temporary caretaker for a friend’s new property on a remote Maine island. The house has been empty for years, and in the basement Wyn discovers a box of film canisters labeled “Epitaphs and Prophecies.” Like time capsules, the photographs help her piece together the life of the house’s former owner, an artistic young mother, much like Wyn. But there is a mystery behind the images too, and unraveling it will force Wyn to finally confront what happened in those woods—and perhaps escape them at last.

He Said, She Said - Erin Kelly

He Said, She Said by Erin Kelly


First Paragraph:

We stand side by side in front of the speckled mirror.  Our reflections avoid eye contact.  Like me, she's wearing black and like mine, her clothes have clearly been chosen with care and respect.  Neither of us is on trial, or not officially, but we both know that in cases like this, it's always the woman who is judged.


My Thoughts:

Erin Kelly is an author that I've meant to try for a long time.  Since this is a 'big' year for a solar eclipse (less than 4 weeks away), He Said, She Said seemed an appropriate place to begin.  And, yes, solar eclipses play a big part in the story.  I listened to this book on audio and it was perfectly narrated by Helen Johns and Jonathan Broadbent.  This is quite the twisty tale.  Not particularly fast moving and also lots of pretty unlikable characters, but I was caught up in the drama.  Told from both Kit and Laura's points of view and taking us backwards and forwards in time, we eventually get the entire picture of what happened in 1999 and then, what happened in the later years.  I liked this one a lot and will be checking out other books by Erin Kelly.  Recommended.


Blurb:

In the summer of 1999, Kit and Laura travel to a festival in Cornwall to see a total eclipse of the sun. Kit is an eclipse chaser; Laura has never seen one before. Young and in love, they are certain this will be the first of many they’ll share.

But in the hushed moments after the shadow passes, Laura interrupts a man and a woman. She knows that she saw something terrible. The man denies it. It is her word against his.

The victim seems grateful. Months later, she turns up on their doorstep like a lonely stray. But as her gratitude takes a twisted turn, Laura begins to wonder—did she trust the wrong person?

15 years later, Kit and Laura married are living under new names and completely off the digital grid: no Facebook, only rudimentary cell phones, not in any directories. But as the truth catches up to them, they realize they can no longer keep the past in the past.
 

The Color of Water in July - Nora Carroll

The Color of Water in July by Nora Carroll


First Paragraph:

There must be a precise moment when wet cement turns dry, when it no longer accepts footprints or scratched-in declarations of love; an ordinary moment, unnoticed, just like any.  But in that moment, the facts of a life can change.


My Thoughts:

The Color of Water in July was a nice read for summer.  Set in Michigan on a lake, it tells the tale of Jess and her family, of the secrets that have been carried forward year after year, and of Jess' discovery of them.  She returns to her family's 'summer cottage' in order to arrange a sale.  Her grandmother, Mamie, has left her the property and she's anxious to get the job done and return to her life in New York.  Told from several viewpoints and from various points in time, this was not a thriller, but it was a story that I wanted to finish.  There were definitely secrets and hidden things.  Jess herself was a bit clueless and tame, but she finds herself in the end.  I was satisfied.


Blurb:

It’s been a long seventeen years since Jess last saw her grandmother or visited the family cottage set on an idyllic lake in Northern Michigan. For all that time, she’s been haunted by loss—of her innocence and her ability to trust and, most of all, of a profound summer romance that might have been something more. So when her grandmother leaves the house to her, Jess summons her courage and returns to a place full of memories—and secrets.

There, she stumbles upon old letters and photographs of a time not so much forgotten as buried. As she begins to unravel the hidden histories of her mother and her grandmother, she makes a startling discovery about a tragic death that prompted her family’s slow undoing. With every uneven and painful step into the past, Jess comes closer to a truth that could alter her own path—and open a door to a different future.

The Breakdown - B. A. Paris

The Breakdown by B. A. Paris


First Paragraph:

The thunder starts as we're saying goodbye, leaving each other for the summer holidays ahead.  A loud crack echoes off the ground, making Connie jump.  John laughs, the hot air dense around us.
     'You need to hurry!' he shouts.
     With a quick wave I run to my car.  As I reach it, my mobile starts ringing, its sound muffled in my bag.  From the ringtone I know that it's Matthew.


My Thoughts:

I have not yet read B.A. Paris' first book, Behind Closed Doors, though I've heard a lot about it.  I do own a print copy of it.  However, I decided to go ahead and read, or rather listen, to her second book, The Breakdown.  I have really been on a listening binge - also I've been walking a lot at the gym, so it's all been a good thing.  Narrated by Georgia Maguire, who does a really excellent job, The Breakdown is quite the page turner.  First of all, I'll say that I guessed a lot of the solution to the story very early on - doesn't bother me though.  I know that some are disappointed when they figure out 'whodunit'.  Not me.  That being said, I did have a few surprises along the way.  Cass' worry that she is experiencing 'early onset dementia', like her mother, was very, very sad.  I do understand about caring for parents with dementia.  It's a tragic thing and hard to recover from.  Her fear and anxiety amped up the storyline, but it did get a little repetitive over time.  I'll share that I listened to this book - all 9hrs-20min of it - in just under 2 days.  If that tells you anything.  So, my final answer regarding The Breakdown - a good psychological thriller.  And I'll be reading this author's first book soon and looking forward to her third.    


Blurb:

If you can’t trust yourself, who can you trust?

Cass is having a hard time since the night she saw the car in the woods, on the winding rural road, in the middle of a downpour, with the woman sitting inside—the woman who was killed. She’s been trying to put the crime out of her mind; what could she have done, really? It’s a dangerous road to be on in the middle of a storm. Her husband would be furious if he knew she’d broken her promise not to take that shortcut home. And she probably would only have been hurt herself if she’d stopped.

But since then, she’s been forgetting every little thing: where she left the car, if she took her pills, the alarm code, why she ordered a pram when she doesn’t have a baby.

The only thing she can’t forget is that woman, the woman she might have saved, and the terrible nagging guilt.

Or the silent calls she’s receiving, or the feeling that someone’s watching her…

Not a Sound - Heather Gudenkauf

Not a Sound by Heather Gudenkauf


First Paragraph:

I find her sitting all by herself in the emergency waiting room, her lovely features distorted from the swelling and bruising.  Only a few patients remain, unusual for a Friday night and a full moon.  Sitting across from her, an elderly woman coughs wetly into a handkerchief while her husband, arms folded across his chest and head tilted back, snores gently.  Another man with no discernible ailment stares blankly up at the television mounted on the wall.  Canned laughter fills the room.


My Thoughts:

Not a Sound was a good read for me, or rather, a good listen.  Narrated by Julia Whelan, the story kept me quite absorbed and not minding my walking regimen at the local rec center.  Amelia Winn is an experienced ER nurse who is also trained in collection of forensic evidence.  As the result of an accident while she's walking a victim to her car, Amelia's injuries include the loss of her hearing.  This is, of course, quite an adjustment and Amelia doesn't do well for quite some time.  Finally, however, she's ready to resume more normal life, look for a job, and see how she can manage with her service dog, Stitch.  The mystery was not particularly hard for me to guess, but I know that I tend to be skeptical of everyone in books such as these and often figure out the 'villain'.  I loved reading about Stitch and how he assisted Amelia in her daily life.  This was a book that is 'dear to the heart' of the author, Heather, also a person with a profound hearing loss.  And the story included an oncologist and cancer treatments - the author's son had a rare form of bone cancer and is now an 8-year survivor - wonderful!  I read another book by this author a while back that I didn't like as well, but I need to try her other books.  This one got a thumbs-up from me!


Blurb:

When a tragic accident leaves nurse Amelia Winn deaf, she spirals into a depression that ultimately causes her to lose everything that matters—her job, her husband, David, and her stepdaughter, Nora. Now, two years later and with the help of her hearing dog, Stitch, she is finally getting back on her feet. But when she discovers the body of a fellow nurse in the dense bush by the river, deep in the woods near her cabin, she is plunged into a disturbing mystery that could shatter the carefully reconstructed pieces of her life all over again.

As clues begin to surface, Amelia finds herself swept into an investigation that hits all too close to home. But how much is she willing to risk in order to uncover the truth and bring a killer to justice?

Down a Dark Road - Linda Castillo

Down a Dark Road by Linda Castillo


First Paragraph:

Two Years Earlier
He waited until the children slept.  It was his final kindness.  Give them a few more hours of peace before he took from them the thing they loved most.  Before he shattered their innocence forever.  Took something from himself he would never get back.


My Thoughts:

Linda Castillo's series featuring Police Chief Kate Burkholder is one of my favorites.  I look forward to a new book each summer.  Down a Dark Road is #9 and it's a good one.  As these books continue, we learn more and more about Kate's life as a child and young adult - her Amish life.  She left in her late teens and became a police officer, but she eventually returned to her home area as the Chief of Police.  She understands the issues that the Amish people face, but she also is shunned by many of them because of her current life.  This book is quite gripping and involves a hostage situation and some questionable police decisions.  Kate is also called on the carpet by the town council of Painter's Mill, mostly a political decision, but one that could have consequences in later books.  I listened to Kathleen McInerney's narration of the story and it was as good as ever.  This is a series that I love and I'll be watching for the next book, hopefully in a year or so.


Blurb:

Two years ago, Joseph King was convicted of murdering his wife and sentenced to life in prison. He was a “fallen” Amish man and a known drug user with a violent temper. Now King has escaped, and he’s headed for Painters Mill.

News of a murderer on the loose travels like wildfire, putting Chief of Police Kate Burkholder and her team of officers on edge. But this is personal for Kate. She grew up with Joseph King. As a thirteen year old Amish girl, she’d worshipped the ground he walked on. She never could have imagined the nightmare scenario that becomes reality when King shows up with a gun and takes his five children hostage at their Amish uncle’s farm. Armed and desperate, he has nothing left to lose.

Fearing for the safety of the children, Kate makes contact with King only to find herself trapped with a killer. Or is he? All King asks of her is to help him prove his innocence—and he releases her unharmed. Kate is skeptical, but when the facts and the evidence don’t align, she begins to wonder who she should trust. Spurned by some of her fellow cops, she embarks on her own investigation only to unearth an unspeakable secret—and someone who is willing to commit murder to keep it buried.

Death at Wentwater Court - Carola Dunn

Death at Wentwater Court by Carola Dunn


First Paragraph:

Midnight at Ciro's.  The strains of the Charleston died away amid applause for the...band.  As a babble of talk and laughter arose, the young man led his partner from the dance floor.  The older man watching him noted that his well-cut evening togs were slightly rumpled, his face too red even for the aftermath of the vigorous dance.  The youthful tart hanging on his arm didn't seem to care, though an excess of face-paint made it difficult to be sure.


My Thoughts:

This is first book in a favorite historical mystery series, featuring Daisy Dalrymple, who is an 'Honorable'.  Bernadette Dunne narrates and does a good job.  It's the 1920's and Daisy has decided to earn her own living by writing articles for a magazine.  Her social position allows her access to some historical homes still owned and lived in by the nobility.  She begins at Wentwater Court and all goes well until there is a death, presumably an accident.  However, Scotland Yard is called in and it turns out to be not so simple.  Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher and his team arrive and Daisy is drawn to the detective, even though policemen are not quite respectable or so society says.  Times are changing though and Daisy is very helpful - mostly.  A fun series, with a hint of romance, perhaps...


Blurb:

It's the early 1920s in England--the country is still recovering from the Great War and undergoing rapid social changes that many are not quite ready to accept. During this heady and tumultuous time, the Honorable Daisy Dalrymple, the daughter of a Viscount, makes a decision shocking to her class: rather than be supported by her relations, she will earn her own living as a writer. Landing an assignment for Town & Country magazine for a series of articles on country manor houses, she travels to Wentwater Court in early January 1923 to begin research on her first piece. But all is not well there when she arrives. Lord Wentwater's young wife has become the center of a storm of jealousy, animosity, and, possibly, some not-unwanted amorous attention, which has disrupted the peace of the bucolic country household.

Still, this is as nothing compared to the trouble that ensues when one of the holiday guests drowns in a tragic early-morning skating accident. Especially when Daisy discovers that his death was no accident....

Heaven and Earth - Nora Roberts

Heaven and Earth by Nora Roberts


First Paragraph:

THREE SISTERS ISLAND
September 1699

She called the storm.
     The gales of wind, the bolts of lightning, the rage of the sea that was both prison and protection.  She called the forces, those that lived within her, those that dwelled without.  The bright and the dark.
     Slender, with her cloak streaming back like bird-wings, she stood alone on the wind-whipped beach.  Alone but for her rage and her grief.  And her power.  It was that power that filled her now, rushed inside her in wild, pounding strokes like a lover gone mad.
     And so, perhaps it was.


My Thoughts:

The second book in Nora Roberts' trilogy set on Three Sisters Island - this is Ripley's story.  The Todds take care of the 'Sisters' - Zack Todd is the local sheriff and Ripley, his sister, is the deputy.  Their father had been the sheriff before Zack.  Ripley is strong and no-nonsense and a seeker of justice.  She is also one of the three women descended from the original 'Three Sisters'.  Her element is Earth and her power is strong - so strong that it scares her - and so she tucks it away in her late teens and refuses to acknowledge it or use it in any way.  That's about to change.  MacAllister Booke, a sort of 'Indiana Jones' for the paranormal comes to the island and runs straight into Ripley.  Well, he actually beats her in a swimming race.  And so it begins.  Another reread for me and also narrated by Sandra Burr.  Have I said how much I like this trilogy?  The third will be coming up soon in my audio list.  Can't wait!


Blurb:

Ripley Todd's job as a sheriff’s deputy keeps her busy and happy, and she has no trouble finding men when she wants them—which, lately, isn’t all that often. She’s perfectly content, except for one thing: she has special powers that both frighten and confuse her.

Distraction soon arrives in the handsome form of MacAllister Booke—a researcher who’s come to investigate the rumors of witchcraft that haunt Three Sisters Island. Right from the start, he knows there’s something extraordinary about Ripley Todd. Fascinated by her struggle with her amazing abilities, he becomes determined to help her accept who she is—and find the courage to open her heart.

But before Ripley and Mac can dream of what lies in the future, they must confront the pain of the past. For Three Sisters shelters centuries of secrets—and a legacy of danger that plagues them still…