Fatally Flaky - Diane Mott Davidson

I truly enjoy this culinary mystery series! Goldy Schulz is a funny and quirky character who solves every problem with a shot of espresso or "whipping up" something in the kitchen - my kind of gal. In each book Goldy is catering an event in which someone is murdered - happens every time she steps out of the kitchen. She, against her cop husband's wishes, plays amateur sleuth and usually ends up in "hot water" herself. This series is light reading for a mystery, but has a humerous aspect and is thoroughly enjoyable.

With that said, this book seemed to not be up to her usual fare - or maybe my expectations have begun to set the bar too high. The series (after 14 earlier books) just seems to have gotten "tired."

In Fatally Flaky, Aspen Meadow's renowned Goldie Bear Catering has 2 nearly back-to-back wedding receptions. The first goes off without problem - except that one of the guests never makes it to the wedding. Doc Finn, a well-loved retired community physician, was supposed to give the bride away but his car runs off the road and he dies. But was it an accident? Goldy's godfather (and Finn's best friend) is suspicious and soon Goldy is too.

The second wedding is for the mother of all bridezillas. Billie Attenborough, bridezilla herself, changes dates, guest lists, menues, and finally reception halls on her way to the alter to quiet Dr. Craig Miller. The new reception location is the Gold Gulch Spa - run by Victor Lane, a long time adversary of Goldy's. In touring the new site, Goldy becomes aware that something strange is happening at the spa - clients can't wait to return. The plot here gets a bit transparent, but not crystal clear so the mystery still works.

Goldy's a strong woman. She's overcome a lot of difficulty in her life and created a successful catering business and a circle of wonderful friends. But in this book, she comes off as a bit of a doormat and wimp. Maybe it's because someone close to her becomes a victim in this book and she struggles to cope and grieve throughout her sleuthing. Maybe it's because we have no less than 4 despicable characters for her to contend with this time around. I don't know what to blame it on.

You don't have to read this series in order - but it's nice to grow with the returning characters. Each character has their own personality and quirks, but it's not as apparent if you only read one book. My favorite character is Marla - her best friend and someone who shares an "ex" with her. I have often wondered how Goldy and the other characters keep from gaining weight - lots of cream and other fattening ingredients are involved. It's impossible not to have cravings as you read Goldy cooking her way through a problem. But the big bonus to these books is that recipes are included!

Angels & Demons - Dan Brown

If you liked The DaVinci Code, you will probably like Angels & Demons. It's just as cerebral, but way more action.

Our protagonist, Robert Langdon, Harvard University Symbologist gets a call that will call upon his knowledge of a secret scientific society - the Illuminati. The Illuminati was established in the days of Galileo by a group wanting to discuss new ideas and not be punished by the Vatican. Langdon believed the society was long dead - but the evidence is proving otherwise. A scientist was murdered and a sample of antimatter was stolen from his lab. It appears the highly-explosive antimatter was kept safe in a container in a docking bay in the lab and has only 24 hours of battery life, after that, the explosion will remove several city blocks.

Langdon and the scientist's daughter (and scientist herself) Vittoria Vetra are swept off to Vatican City where 4 Cardinals went missing on the eve of a Papal conclav. The 4 Cardinals were the front runners to be elected the next Pope. In addition, a strange cylinder has appeared on one of the Vatican's security cameras - a camera they cannot now find. It would seem the Illuminati is finally planning to exact revenge on the Vatican - at the exact moment when all the Cardinals will be gathered in St. Peter's to elect the new Pope.

Langdon and Vetra follow clues in works of art all around Rome with the hope of finding the missing Cardinals and clues to the location of the antimatter. Langdon's impressive knowledge of art, religion, and swimming (yes swimming) come to his rescue on many occasions. With the aid of the late Pope's closest aide and the Swiss Guard, they race the clock to find the next clue. As they find each of the 4 locations they are led to, they find a missing Cardinal. At one location, Vetra is kidnapped and Langdon has a new purpose to outwit the assassin. Within minutes to go, he learns the late Pope's aid is the last target. Through all this, a reporter is hot on their heels in the hope of getting a scoop and a name for himself.

Before I knew it, I was halfway through the book - I couldn't read fast enough. It switches from action to mystery and back again many times in a virtual literary roller coaster. The premise is a bit far-fetched, but Brown is a master of twisting fact into fiction and in the vast amount of details he provides, you find it easy to suspend disbelief and enjoy the ride.

Throughout the book you keep changing your mind on who the bad guys and good guys are and in the end I was completely surprised. The ending slowed a little quickly and was a little disappointing in my humble opinion - but it was easily forgiven since the story had left me breathless in several places. The fact that the press was able to do live reports of murders was harder to swallow than the resurfacing of an ancient cultlike society. And I would have liked to get to know Vittoria a little better. But for all the historic and/or scientific inaccuracies that may or may not exist, it's wonderfully plotted. Where else can you find an ancient secret brotherhood, plots against the Vatican, a mad scientist in a wheelchair, antimatter, assassins, AND art all squeezed into a little more than 24 hours.

Letter From Home - Carolyn Hart

This was an amazing book!

Set in a small town in Northeast Oklahoma in the summer of 1944 - World War II era - this book is a bittersweet coming-of-age story first and a mystery second. The mystery plot is merely a stage for each of the amazing characters - especially Gretchen.

The main character is 13-year-old Gretchen Gilman who gets a summer job as a reporter at the local newspaper because all the able-bodied men are at war. The editor doesn't believe it's the place for her, but he's desperate and fair, so he gives her assignments.

Faye Tatum, the local artist and free spirit, is murdered while her husband is home on leave. Since they've recently argued and he's disappeared, everyone assumes he did it. Faye loved to dance and spent many evenings at the Blue Light, which the narrow-minded townfolk don't see as a proper establishment for a lady. This and the stories of a late-night visitor to Faye's house cause many to think the worst of her character and even blame her for her own murder. With the town talking of Faye being a tramp and Clyde being a murderer, their teenage daughter Barb is crushed amid the rumor and innuendo and the loss of her parents.

The Tatum's are neighbors of Gretchen and she wants to write a sympathetic story of Faye as told through the eyes of all the people who knew her best and loved her. This backfires and Gretchen loses friends - but her journalistic integrity never allows her to consider withdrawing her story.

Each chapter opens with a bit of the "letter from home" that Gretchen, now 50 years older and a world known journalist, received from Barb, inviting her to come home and meet with her. After the chapter introduction, all the action of the book takes place in Gretchen's memory. As the letter is opened to us chapter by chapter, so is that summer in Gretchen's life and the murder that consumed the town.

Political ambitions clash during the investigation - as the county attorney and sheriff sort through the facts. The whole town chooses sides. Gretchen, who lives with her grandmother (an absolutely wonderful character) while her mother is working in Tulsa, gets to know the members of the community as they truly are. With the backdrop of the war, food rationing, and fallen soldiers, we look through the lens of the murder investigation and see what it does to the town. We get to see the community members as she does, as they really are. The characters are varied but they tend to fall into 2 categories - ones we like and ones we don't. It is in this world of flawed adults, that Gretchen loses her childlike naive nature.

Both Gretchen and Barb left town at the end of that summer. While the town rests after the murder is "solved" - with their suspicions affirmed - the murder isn't truly solved until Barb meets with Gretchen 50 years later - long after everyone who could be affected by the truth is dead.

Letter From Home captures small-town life to the degree that we feel we personally know this town. The stress that individuals and their community endure during the separation of war are amazingly vivid. While the mystery aspect of the book is good - though I knew the ending before they told me - this book is truly a poignant memoir of a young woman during the summer she grew up

Carolyn Hart did a wonderful job with this book - the story and characters remain with you long after you close the book. I would highly recommend this book to everyone.

One for the Money - Janet Evanovich

Ok, imagine an unemployed lingerie buyer, car repossessed, furniture and most appliances sold to pay the bills, and an empty refrigerator. This is Stephanie Plum at the beginning of the book. Her family tells her that cousin Vinnie needs a file clerk and she swallows her pride and applies - only to find the job has already been filled. But one of his bounty hunters is in the hospital and Stephanie blackmails her way into a week to prove herself in the job. First bad guy, a cop named Joe Morelli who has been charged with murder, who also just happens to be the charmer who took her virginity years ago. Stephanie doesn't really feel comfortable in the job, but the dream of the $10,000 payoff deludes her into thinking she can bring in the bad guys.

One for the Money is fast-paced and hard to put down. Stephanie Plum is cocky and stubborn. She has no bounty hunter skills and doesn't know how to use her equipment. She tends to act first and think later. She spends her time dodging bad guys and bill collectors and yet somehow bumbles her way to some successes - but not with Joe Morelli. She catches up with him several times, but he tosses her keys in a smelly dumpster, kisses her senseless, and just generally has to keep coming to her rescue. The chemistry is palpable.

Stephanie is a real character. She dresses in classic 1980's wardrobe, drinks beer for breakfast, lives with a hampster, and has forced family dinners with her parents. Yet, even with all her cliches, you still really want her to suceed. You want her car to get fixed, you want her to learn to shoot, and you want her to catch the bad guys.

With that said, the book has it's flaws. The characters are a little too stereotypical -- the psycho bad guy, the overbearing mother, the sassy heroine, the rogue love interest, and the crazy grandmother. (Although, in all honesty, the grandmother provides the serious laugh out loud moment of the book when she plays with Stephanie's new gun and shoots the roast chicken in the butt at a family dinner.) Even the New Jersey setting is a stereotype of what we have all heard New Jersey to be. Additionally, there is some violence and some racial stereotypes.

The book is not mentally stimulating - but it is light, funny, interesting, and easy to absorbe. It's not a great thriller, and the gloating criminal confessing to the heroine while he holds a gun to her at the end of the book is really trite and unimaginative. While some of the characters are stereotypes, a few characters are a joy - like Ranger (a bounty hunter who is training her) and her grandmother. Joe and Stephanie have a wonderful chemistry that I'm sure will only get better with future books in the series.

All in all, I enjoyed the book and will read more in the series - if for no other reason, than to have another laugh out loud session.

The Beekeeper's Apprentice - Laurie R. King

This book was wonderful. I love it when I "like" the characters by the end of the first chapter. It makes continuing easy.

Imagine if Sherlock Holmes had retired to the country to work on his experiments, his writing, and take up beekeeping. This is where the story begins.

The book takes place during the time during and immediately post World War I. England is at war and women begin to take on a strong role in keeping the country alive while the men are fighting. Modern ideas are pushing away the remnants of Victorian England.

Through a twist in writing style - our book begins as someone describing how a trunk was delivered . . . a trunk that held many unusual objects and a memoir written by our main character and narrator, Mary Russell.

Mary is a precocious 15-year old who moves into the family farm next door with her aunt after her family is killed in an accident. Mary isn't just any teenager, she's brilliant, and so makes a perfect companion for Holmes. She rebels strongly against her bitter guardian and spends hours on end conversing with and learning from Sherlock Holmes. Mary is an early feminist and Holmes teaches her everything he can before she leaves for college in Oxford. It's sad that most of her teen years are skipped over with broad statements - I would have liked to have seen more of the young Mary. We fall in love with the gangly teenager and suddenly she's a woman who gives Holmes "apoplexy" when he first sees her again after her tranformation. The bulk of the book is set at a time when Mary is of college age.

The two soon have cases to solve - Mary isn't the "sidekick" of Holmes, like Dr. Watson had been - she's his partner and over the course of the book we see that she is becoming his equal in crime detection and his true friend in life. In many ways, she becomes the female Sherlock Holmes. In their crime detection, we follow them through a variety of disguises - from gypsies to transgendered dress.

Their first big case is the kidnapping of an American Senator's young daughter, which soon becomes apparent had a criminal mastermind behind it - the likes of which Holmes hasn't seen since Professor Moriarty. This foe escapes this time, but reappears later and seems to have studied Holmes thoroughly and is now out for Sherlock and everyone he cares about.

The book is not an Arthur Conan Doyle rip-off - though is definitely written in a similar style. If you have read any Sherlock Holmes stories, you will definitely feel like this picks up where they left off. But unlike the earlier stories, this Holmes has aged into a more subtle and infinitely more likeable, imperfect person. One of the reasons we like him is because he has such admiration and affection for his young colleague (our leading lady.) I know that in Doyle's Holmes, ego might not have allowed him to so easily brought on a young, female apprentice, but King's aging Holmes does it believably.

As with most first books to a collection, this one has some slight flaws, but overall is a great mystery. I can't wait to continue on to the rest of the series.

Dead Until Dark -- Charlaine Harris

This is a fun book. Not a heavy read - perfect for a fast weekend pickup.

Dead Until Dark is the first in the Southern Vampire Series and is of the horror/romance/mystery genre (if there is such a thing.)

The story takes place in Bon Temps, LA in a time after vampires have newly become a legal minority. It explains that they are actually victims of a virus and with the creation of artificial blood, they no longer are a danger to society. Some vampires begin "mainstreaming" and others are just nasty folks.

Sookie Stackhouse, a barmaid had "been waiting for the vampire for years when he walked into the bar," couldn't wait to meet her first vampire, but they didn't show up in her small town until Bill moved back to the family homestead with hope to find a home. Sookie, the storyteller in this book, has a "disability" of her own - she can read minds. She considers it a handicap and tries to keep it blocked at all times - this takes a lot of effort and people see her as different and even slow. In every other way, Sookie is average -though quite naive, a little sassy, very proper, and surprisingly brave. She is immediately taken by Bill because she can't read his mind - think about it, do you really want to know what the person you are kissing is thinking?

Shortly after Bill makes his appearance in Sookie's life, an old high school acquaintance dies. Then a coworker. Both of these women were "fang-bangers" or vampire groupies. Sookie tries to solve the murders because she's afraid Bill will be blamed. Though he's not off the hook, he earns some respect as he agrees to speak before the Daughters of the Glorious War and tell them what the Civil War was really like. The police attention quickly turns to Sookie's brother - quite the male slut - as it is uncovered that's he's been involved with both women. The murders continue and a vigilante group begins to form. Sookie tries opening herself up to others thoughts in order to solve the murder.

The sex scenes are a little odd, but not too graphic. Her meetings with the head vampire are definitely a little bloody, but nothing too horrific. The addition of a shape-shifter was unnecessary, but a little funny.

The best part of the book - by far - is the depictions of small town America. Harris completely captures small-town life - gossip, attitudes toward outsiders, generosity, and taking care of your neighbors. I will definitely be picking up #2 in the Southern Vampire Series.

Star of the Sea -- Joseph O'Connor

Wow! This book was not my usual fare!

Don't get me wrong, it was good . . . it was excellent. But I couldn't get over the feeling that I was back in college literature class. This book is not today's usual - it's literature.

The journey of the Star of the Sea is metaphor for the progression of the world at that time. On the ship is a microcosm of the world during the Irish Potato Famine as seen through the eyes of a few main characters.

Pius Mulvey and Mary Duane are Irish. They are, however, opposite sides of the same coin. Mulvey sees the injustice and hardship and learns to take what he wants. Friendship is a luxury to him and his selfishness leads way to maliciousness. It is decided by some of his countrymen that he needs to murder the perceived source of their misery. Mary sees the injustice and hardship and does whatever necessary to survive and possibly rise above it. She represents all immigrant women and seems to always be choosing between the lesser of two evils.

David Meredith is an English Lord that grew up seeing his father's tenants as friends. His father did not view his tenants kindly and, after losing his money in a bad investment, died, leaving it to his son to evict the tenants and sell the land. For his and his ancestors injuries to the tenants - David will die. David appears to have good intentions, but is seldom forceful enough to follow through. He represents the weakening aristocracy and, as such, can never make it in the New World. He has a problem with the drugs prescribed to help him sleep - but it isn't apparent whether the drugs weaken him to lapses of moral behavior or are just a part of his overall weakness.

Dixon, the narrator of the book, tells the story from the viewpoint of the lead male characters (himself included.) He's an American journalist - and represents the New World. He's very forward thinking for the time and gives voice to people with no voice.

The author uses captains logs and adds real people from the period to the character list, which ads a sense of realism. The listing of the newly deceased at the beginning of each of the Captain's entries keeps the tone melancholy. But, is it a novel or a history lesson? At one point, Meredith is quoted as saying "History happens in the first person but is written in the third. This is what makes history a completely useless art." O'Connor, by way of his alternating points of view - makes the telling of history in the first person and we are more enlightened for it.

Star of the Sea is a murder mystery - but not really. There is a murder (sort of, is it considered murder if it's really what the person wants to happen?) There is a mystery, but you don't realize what the mystery is until the very end of the book.

All in all, I am better for reading this book - but I'm not sure how quickly I'll pick up anything else by this author because it was quite a chore to get through.