Category: Books

I so wanted to love Nevermore by William Hjortsberg. It's a historical mystery starring Harry Houdini, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Edgar Allan Poe's ghost. A killer is loose in New York, basing his murders on Poe's works, and true-life friends Doyle and Houdini must work together to outwit the killer before they become victims themselves. Sounds fabulous, doesn't it? I found the mystery itself pretty interesting. The idea of someone recreating Poe's decidely disturbing stories is fascinating in and of itself. I even liked the tension between Doyle's belief in a spiritual world and Houdini's need to expose mediums as frauds. It was all the sub-plots I could have done without. Actually, it was just one sub-plot that bothered me. Houdini in this novel is pretty arrogant, which is fine. I don't actually know much about Houdini, aside from that he was an amazing escape artist, but how he was portrayed here didn't really make me want to learn more about...

I know when I pick up a Kate Wilhelm book to listen to or read that I'll enjoy it. They're not all perfect, but I like her style, her descriptions and the way she occasionally mixes in a bit of the paranormal with an otherwise perfectly ordinary mystery. In The Price of Silence, Todd Fielding accepts the editor position at a small town weekly newspaper, The Brindle Times. Todd, but the way is a strong female protaganist, the type of character Wilhelm excells at. she's smart, pretty and determined, but she has weaknesses too, just doesn't let them overwhelm her. When a local girl disappears, written off as a runaway by the police despite her mother's protests and those of her teachers and friends, Todd starts investigating and is alarmed to discover several girls have disappeared over the years in similar circumstances. And the modern crimes have an eerie tie-in to Brindle's past, a connection that may, at least in my...

An apology in advance: Amber and I finished reading this around Easter time, but I just haven't sat down to write a review of it until now, so don't expect too many details, just overall impressions. E. Aster Bunnymund and the Warrior Eggs at the Earth's Core! by William Joyce picks up where Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King left off. The bad guy, Pitch, is in hiding, but everyone's sure he's plotting some evil. And low and behold, while Nicholas St. North, the wizard, Ombric, and young Katherine are out of town, all the children of Santoff Claussen are kidnapped. Our three heroes must work together with their new ally, E. Aster Bunnymund, the last of the great Pookas, to save the children and defeat Pitch and his Fearlings again. Bunnymund is just downright cool. He's a tunneller extraordinaire and, of course, the place to go to find him is Easter Island. He's a man-sized rabbitesque creature,...

With long series, it can be tough to keep the characters the same age, but tough to let them grow older too. Last Ditch by Ngaio Marsh is an interesting combo. Inspector Alleyn, her main detective character, and his wife, Troy, don't seem to have aged much, but their son Ricky is now about 21. This is the second of Marsh's stories that feature Ricky I've listened to, the first being Spinsters in Jeopardy, when he was just a kid. Apparently, I'm just not a Ricky fan. In this one, Ricky is staying at a small village on one of the Channel Islands in the British Channel off the coast of France. His plan is to write a novel, but he's not getting very far. He has, however, gotten to know many of the always colorful locals, falls for one of the richer women even though nothing comes of it, and stumbles across a dead woman in a ditch, apparently the...

Blue Eyes by James Charyn was first published in 1977, but is being re-released as an e-book. It's definitely dark, gritty, a look at the dirty underside of New York. It's a classic pulp fiction, not a genre everyone will want to read, but I found it compelling. I'm not feeling very good today, so I'm going to cheat a little and give you the blurb from the back of my copy. Manfred Coen is no ordinary cop. He's blonde, blue-eyed, and Hollywood handsome. Tracking down the kinapped daughter of a porno-film producer is his assignment - but the intricate art of ping-pong is his passion. The wrist slams and the phony spins in the sleazy ping-pong parlor merge with the mad, scrambling reality of Coen's search, which takes him to the white slave markets of Mexico and back to New York to face the ultimate ping-pong match with a hustler hired at $100 an hour to humiliate him, and a crazed...

I'm sure I'm in the same position as a lot of moms out there. Live gets busy, so when I saw Hurry Less, Worry Less for Moms by Judy Christie, I knew I had to read it. I'm the target audience, a Christian mom trying to juggle everything from work to hanging out with my family to finding time to exercise, not to mention laundry and dishes. Hurry Less, Worry Less for Moms is a practical, helpful book. There are ten short chapters, each with a different focus, but all leading to a more fulfilling, peaceful family life and becoming the mother, and woman, that you want to be. Each section follows a format. It starts with an encouraging word and an everyday step, then follows the discussion about the topic, whether it be peace, finding joy, or becoming organized, with actual practical advice, lists of ideas, advice from other moms. Then the chapter ends with a tip, a "mom's special...