Category: Books

Title: The Age of Doubt (Inspector Montalbano #14) Author: Andrea Camilleri Category: Mystery Published: October 23, 2008 Rating: 2½ out of 5 Add: Goodreads Purchase: Amazon | IndieBound | Book Depository The day after a storm, Inspector Montalbano encounters a strange woman who expresses interest in a certain yacht scheduled to dock that afternoon. Not long after she's gone, the yacht's crew reports finding a disfigured corpse. Also at anchor is a luxury vessel with a somewhat shady crew. Both boats will have to stay in Vigàta until the investigation is over and, based on information from the woman, Montalbano begins to think the occupants of the yacht might know more about the man's death than they're letting on. The Montalbano mysteries are funny and dark and full of food. Montalbano himself can be a jerk, but he's amusing, intelligent but crass. The mystery here, who was the corpse and who killed him, was well-done, enough twists to keep me interested and a timely theme. The recurring secondary characters are a little...

Title: Daylight Moonlight Author: Matt Patterson Category: Picture Book- Nature, Animals Published: March 28, 2013 by Schiffer Publishing Rating: 2½ out of 5 Add: Goodreads Purchase: Amazon | IndieBound | Book Depository Daylight Moonlight is a visually engaging book that provides a unique way for children to learn about the animals that populate different habitats by day and night. Patterson has painted 22 scenes total, in the forest, desert, underwater, seashore, wetlands, grasslands, mountains, public parks, and even your own backyard. This book is a fun way to get children excited about nature. I love the format of this book. Each pair of paintings shows the same location at day at night, but of course a different set of animals is out and about depending on the time. The illustrations are beautiful and detailed and the variety of animals pictured is great. The guide at the back of the book is helpful in identifying all the critters and I would suggest the adult reading this out loud to a child should review them...

Title: The Anatomist's Apprentice (Dr. Thomas Silkstone #1) Author: Tessa Harris Category: Mystery - Historical Published: January 1, 2012 Rating: 2 out of 5 Add: Goodreads Purchase: Amazon | IndieBound | Book Depository The death of Lord Edward Crick has unleashed a torrent of gossip through the seedy taverns and elegant ballrooms of Oxfordshire. Few mourn the dissolute young man—except his sister, the beautiful Lady Lydia Farrell. When her husband comes under suspicion of murder, she seeks expert help from Dr. Thomas Silkstone, a young anatomist from Philadelphia. Thomas arrived in England to study under its foremost surgeon, where his unconventional methods only add to his outsider status. Against his better judgment, he agrees to examine Lord Edward’s corpse. But it is not only the dead, but also the living, to whom he must apply the keen blade of his intellect. And the deeper the doctor’s investigations go, the greater the risk that he will be consigned to the ranks of the corpses he studies. I wanted to like this one, I...

Title: The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot #13) Author: Agatha Christie Category: Mystery Published: 1936 Rating: 3½ out of 5 Add: Goodreads Purchase: Amazon | IndieBound | Book Depository "Mr. Hercule Poirot--you fancy yourself, don't you, at solving mysteries that are too difficult for our poor thick-headed British police? Let us see, Mr. Clever Poirot, just how clever you can be." Was the anonymous note a brilliant challenge or a crackpot hoax? The answer is as loud and clear as a woman's scream--precisely that of Alice Ascher, a shopkeeper in Andover bludgeoned to death on the job. Next to her corpse, a clue that's as simple as ABC. Alphabetically speaking, the master Belgian sleuth suspects it's now a matter of one down, twenty-five to go... “Who are you? You don't belong to the police?" "I am better than the police," said Poirot. He said it without conscious arrogance. It was, to him, a simple statement of fact. Poirot is so sure of himself. He can be egotistical, boisterous and...

Another month, another mailbox post.  Mailbox Monday was started by Marcia and is hosted by Caitlin of Chaotic Compendiums this month. Books I received/bought in February: Game Drive by Marie Moore - from the author Death on a Pale Horse: Sherlock Holmes on Her Majesty's Secret Service by Donald Thomas -  from Pegasus via NetGalley Pinot Envy by Edward Finstein - from Bancroft Press via NetGalley Crime of Privelege by Walter Walker - from Ballantine Books A Dying Fall by Elly Griffiths - from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt via NetGalley God Is on the Cross: Reflections on Lent and Easter by Deitrich Bonhoeffer -  from Westminster John Knox Press via NetGalley      ...