Audiobook Review: Death of the Demon by Anne Holt

Audiobook Review: Death of the Demon by Anne Holt

by Carol11 Comments
Title: Death of the Demon (Hanne Wilhelmsen #3) Author: Anne Holt Reader: Kate Reading Category: Mystery- Police Procedural Audio published: June 18, 2013 by Blackstone Audio (First published 1995) Rating: 4½ out of 5 stars Add: Goodreads Purchase: Amazon | IndieBound In an orphanage outside Oslo, a twelve-year-old boy is causing havoc. The institution’s aging director, Agnes Vestavik, sees something chilling in Olav’s eyes: sheer hatred. When Vestavik is found murdered at her desk late at night, stabbed in the neck with a kitchen knife—with Olav nowhere to be found—the case goes to maverick investigator Hanne Wilhelmsen, recently promoted to superintendent in the Oslo police. Hanne suspects that Olav witnessed the murder and fled, and she orders an investigation of the orphanage staff. But Hanne is hopeless at delegating, hopeless at pooling information, hopeless at sharing responsibilities. Only Hanne’s supreme deductive skills keep her on the job, but this, however, is one case where her instincts are leading her astray. Meanwhile, Olav makes his way to his once unfit mother’s apartment in central...
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Book Review: The Rainbow Goblins by Ul de Rico

Book Review: The Rainbow Goblins by Ul de Rico

by Carol3 Comments
Title: The Rainbow Goblins Author: Ul de Rico Category: Childrens - Fantasy First Published: 1978 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars Add: Goodreads Purchase: Amazon After seven goblins try to steal it, the Rainbow is careful never again to touch the earth. There are seven evil goblins, each a different color, who travel the land far and wide and each time they find a rainbow, they lasso it and suck out its colors, filling themselves. Up until this time the Valley of Rainbows, where rainbows are born, had been safe, but the goblins heard of the valley and travelled there. The night before their attack, they go over their plan in a nearby cave during a thunderstorm, but the roots are listening. The next day, thanks to the flowers, the rainbow survived and the goblins drowned. On the one hand, I enjoyed this story of why rainbows never touch the ground and why there are so many beautiful, colorful birds. On the other hand, the goblins were nasty for no real...
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Thursday’s Tale: The Tsarevna Frog

by Carol7 Comments
Today's tale. "The Tsarevna Frog," comes from Russia and features a couple of the more famous Russian fairy tale characters, Baba Yaga and Kostshei the Deathless. It was retold in Folk Tales from the Russian by Verra Xenophontovna Kalamatiano de Blumenthal, 1903. At their father's orders, Tsarevitch Ivan and his two older brothers shot arrows in different directions to find brides for themselves. The other brothers' arrows landed in the houses of the daughters of an aristocratic and a wealthy merchant. Tsarevitch Ivan's arrow landed in the mouth of a frog in a swamp and his father insisted that he marry the frog, that it was his destiny. The father then gave the three brides two challenges, to bake a loaf of bread and to weave a rug. During the night of the challenges, Tsarevitch Ivan's frog wife turns into a beautiful, wise young woman named Vassilissa, who called her servants to perform the tasks. In the morning, Tsarevitch Ivan was astounded and took...
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On DVD: Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters

by Carol11 Comments
Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters From: Paramount Pictures DVD Release: June 11, 2013 Theater Release Date: January 25, 2013 Category: Action/Adventure, Fantasy MPAA Rating: R Director: Tommy Wirkola Rating: 3 out of 5 stars Purchase: Amazon Fifteen years after a horrific experience in a deceptively inviting ginger bread house, an orphan Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton) have become famous for ridding the countryside of witches. Despite their stellar success record, the brother and sister face a unique challenge when an extremely powerful witch is identified as the culprit stealing children from a local village with the intent to sacrifice them in an ancient magical ceremony to be held on the night of the Blood Moon. As Hansel and Gretel race against the clock, making several unlikely allies on the way (among them include a troll and a witch hunter fanboy), they unexpectedly come across a link to their own pasts and the secret their parents took with them when they disappeared. Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters is not a good movie,...
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Audiobook Review: The Brothers of Baker Street by Michael Robertson

by Carol4 Comments
Title: The Brothers of Baker Street (Baker Street Letters #2) Author: Michael Robertson Reader: Simon Vance Category: Mystery Audio published: March 1, 2011 by Blackstone Audio Rating: 3½ out of 5 stars Add: Goodreads Purchase: Amazon | IndieBound | Book Depository When brothers Reggie and Nigel Heath choose 221B Baker Street as the location for their law office, they don’t expect that their new office space would come with one huge stipulation, answering the letters sent to Sherlock Holmes, the most famous resident of that address. Reggie is distressed because the love of his life, actress Laura Rankin (whom Nigel also adores), is gallivanting around with media mogul Lord Buxton. And while Reggie is working on a new case involving one of London’s Black Cab drivers who is accused of murdering two American tourists, the letters to Sherlock Holmes are piling up. There's even one from someone who claims to be the descendent of Professor James Moriarty. I first met Reggie, Nigel and Laura in The Baker Street Letters, which I...
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Audiobook Review: Dragons at the Party by Jon Cleary

by Carol5 Comments
Title: Dragons at the Party (Scobie Malone #4) Author: Jon Cleary Reader: Shaun Grindell Category: Mystery Audio published: May 1, 2013 by AudioGo (first published 1987) Rating: 3 out of 5 stars Add: Goodreads Purchase: AudioGo It is Bicentenary year and Australia is having the party of its lifetime. Detective Inspector Scobie Malone, hero of three previous Cleary books and the most human of cops, would much rather be out on Sydney Harbor with his family, watching the fun. Instead he is on duty, investigating the murder of an aide to President Timori, who has just arrived unwanted in Australia following a coup in the Spice Islands republic of Palucca. With Timori is his glamorous wife, Delvina, a lady as famous for her extravagance as for her lust for power. Clearly the bullet was meant for the President, and Malone has the task of tracking down the hit man before he takes a second shot. Malone identifies the would-be assassin as Miguel Seville, an international terrorist now turned contract man,...
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