Monday, June 23, 2014

The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney

Rose Janko is missing. It has been seven years since she disappeared, and nobody said a word.

When Rose married the attractive Ivo Janko, she became part of a travelling Gypsy family. But many wondered at the time, were they really suited? Rose is quiet and shy; Ivo - taciturn yet charismatic. Rumour had it she ran off when her baby boy was born with the family's genetic disability. But her father Leon is not so sure. He wants to know the truth and he hires a private investigator to discover it.

Enter Ray Lovell, a small-time PI who has the added advantage of being of Gypsy descent and therefore not an outsider. He agrees to take the case. But after seven long years he fears the trail has run cold, and his investigation is hampered by the very people who ought to be helping him - the Jankos. They are a close-knit clan, and the last thing they want is a stranger digging around in their private business. Ray cannot understand their reluctance to help. Why don't they want to find Rose Janko?

Good read. A very good mystery with twists and turns. A bit of a surprise ending.  I had thought of all sorts of explanations but not the correct one.  Kept me interested.

Friday, June 20, 2014

Interlude in Death by Nora Roberts

If anyone is going to make an enemy of a respected police commander, it's Lieutenant Eve Dallas. When Commander Skinner offers her a promotion if she'll give up her husband Roarke to his custody, Eve reacts badly. Roarke's Irish roots contain a murky past, but now he's a changed man - so why is the Commander so intent on bringing him to justice?

With Eve and Commander Skinner at one of Roarke's holiday resorts to give a talk to a police convention, Skinner's thwarted vengeance will soon bring death to their luxury surroundings...

This is a short story and not quite as good as her full length novels.  Still a good read.  An interesting mystery with the usual humourous bits.

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

The Postman by David Brin

Gordon Krantz survived the Doomwar only to spend years crossing a post-apocalypse United States looking for something or someone he could believe in again. Ironically, when he's inadvertently forced to assume the made-up role of a "Restored United States" postal inspector, he becomes the very thing he's been seeking: a symbol of hope and rebirth for a desperate nation. Gordon goes through the motions of establishing a new postal route in the Pacific Northwest, uniting secluded towns and enclaves that are starved for communication with the rest of the world. And even though inside he feels like a fraud, eventually he will have to stand up for the new society he's helping to build or see it destroyed by fanatic survivalists. 

This book sneaks up on you. I wasn't sure about it at first but the more I read the more I got into it and it has stayed with me after I've finished it.

I'll be looking for more by this author.

Saturday, June 14, 2014

The Book of Lies by Brad Meltzer

Meltzer builds suspenseful fiction on a previously little-explored historical nugget: Jerry Siegel, the teenage creator of Superman, lost his father in an unsolved murder in 1932. The author offers a compelling theoretical solution by way of an adult protagonist who is dealing with his conflicted feelings about his own father. Cal works for a rescue mission, picking up vagrants in need of shelter, when he stumbles across a man who turns out to be the father who abandoned him in childhood. The two men join forces in pursuit of what they believe is the lost Book of Cain, the weapon used in the Bibles original murder scene. Meltzer invokes multiple viewpoints as Cal, his father, a mysterious young woman who seems to have befriended the father, a rogue ex-cop, and a hot Federal agent converge on Cleveland in search of the biblical treasure.

A good read. Lots of action, lots of twists and turns. Some the red herrings were very obvious. 

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Shakespeare's Champion by Charlaine Harris

Shakespeare, Arkansas, is a small Southern town with plenty of secrets, and Charlaine Harris's Lily Bard is just one more of its residents - albeit one harboring a few secrets of her own - with a desire to live quietly. Lily keeps to herself, between her job as a cleaning woman for several townspeople and her visits to the gym, where she's a devotee of karate and bodybuilding. These two pursuits seem a bit odd for the petite Southern woman, but as work and play, they keep her focused and balanced. When a fellow gym member is found dead after a workout with a barbell across his throat, Lily wants to believe it's an accident. But looking at the incident against the background of other recent events in Shakespeare, including a few incidents that appear to be racially motivated, she's afraid it could be a part of something much, much bigger - and much more sinister.

Fantastic read. A good mystery, a touch of romance, lots of action and interesting characters.
I love this series. 

Friday, June 6, 2014

The Secret Lives of Dresses by Erin McKean

The story follows Dora Winston as she sashays toward a degree in "vagueness studies" while engaged in a fruitless flirtation with her coffee shop boss. She's got no idea what to do with her life, and then her adored grandmother, Mimi, has a stroke, and Dora is whisked back to Mimi's vintage clothing store, where she learns more about Mimi, thanks to the secret (and ploddingly overwritten) stories Mimi has stashed away on pieces of paper stuck in the pockets of her most intriguing inventory. Flashbacks flesh out Mimi's wisdom and wit, while store workers Gabby and Maux complete the trilogy of strong and funny women who run the business and help Dora find her way.

A pleasant light read. Loved the stories (and the descriptions) of some of the dresses.

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Dark Predator by Christine Feehan

As brutal as the undead he hunted, executioner Zacarias De La Cruz’s savage journey is over. After a thousand years in a gray world, he has accomplished everything he set out to do. His brothers are safeguarded, and each has a woman who completes him. But with his centuries as a killing machine now left to the past, and without a hunt to define him, Zacarias wonders, for the first time in his life, who he really is. 

The answer awaits him in the vengeance of an old enemy, in the consequences of a bloody family legacy and in Marguarita, a woman he once saved—his lifemate, his deliverance, and the greatest risk yet to both their lives. 

Supposedly the last in this series, and I think it's about time.  I thought it had great potential, but about 100 pages of Zacarias going on about how close he was to turning evil and how dark he was and how animals could feel that he was almost evil was more than enough.

An OK read, but not nearly as good as some of the others, especially the earlier ones, in this series.