Break No Bones

Reichs, Kathy. Break No Bones. Another Temperance Brennan mystery. One thing I enjoy about Reichs' novels is that she takes events from the news and crafts a forensic mystery around them. In Cross Bones , which I discussed here, Reichs mentions the discovery of bones in a tomb in Jerusalem which might contain members of Jesus and the unexplained bones found on Masada during a dig in the 60's. In the last couple of weeks, the story about a similar tomb had made the news (recent news article about the tomb--you've probably read or heard of this --and to the Discovery Channel special) .

I can't really say much about what Dr. Brennan discovers in this latest mystery without giving spoilers. Not that you don't have a clue fairly early on...

I wrote this review the other day, but was interrupted and didn't realize I never published it.

Another note: Hate the lurid cover on this one. Some books attract or repel readers by the cover alone. I read this one because of the author, but the cover would not have attracted me at all.

Fiction. Forensic mystery. 2006. 337 pages.

2007 Reading update (updated 1/1/08)

December 10 books (106 total for the year)

The Yiddish Policeman's Union. Michael Chabon. Mystery? Alternate history? 2007. 411 pages. My review.

The Whale Road. Robert Low. Historical novel. 2007. 338 pages. My review.

The Wheel of Darkness. Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Mystery/supernatural. 2007. 385. My review.

Tips for Quilters. Rachel T. Pellman, ed. Nonfiction. 1993. 234 pages. My Review.

Your Handwriting Can Change Your Life. Vimala Rodgers. Nonfiction. 2000. 167 pages. My review.

Vivaldi's Virgins. Barbara Quick. Historical fiction. 2007. 278 pages. My review.

Shadows & Lies. Marjorie Eccles. Mystery. 2005. 333 pages. My review.

The Indian Bride. Karin Fossum. Mystery. 2005. 297 pages. My review.

The Chinese Alchemist. Lyn Hamilton. Mystery. 2007. 257 pages. My review.

Kept: A Victorian Mystery. D.J. Taylor. Historical mystery. 2007. 351 pages. My review.



November 7 books (96 total)

Friend of the Devil. Peter Robinson. Mystery/suspense. ARC 2008. 372 pages. My review.

A Boy Named Shel: The Life and Times of Shel Silverstein. Lisa Rogak. Biography. 2007. 223 pages. My review.

The Warrior. Kinley MacGregor. Historical Romance. 344 pages. My review.

Ghostwalk. Rebecca Stott. Mystery/supernatural . 2007. 284 pages. My review.

The Cliff House Strangler. Shirley Tallman. Mystery. 2007. 320 pages. My review.

On Borrowed Wings. Chandra Prasad. Fiction. 2007. 310 pages. My review.

Without a Map: A Memoir. Meredith Hall. Memoir. 2007. 220 pages. My review.


October 5 books (89 total)

Stolen Magic. M. J. Putney. Fantasy. 2005. 337 pages. My review.

60 on Up: The Truth About Aging in America. Lillian B. Rubin, Ph.D. Sociology. 2007. 172 pages. My review.

Waiting to Surface. Emily Listfield. Fiction. 2007. 307 pages. My review.

The Lace Reader. Brunonia Barry. Psychological/supernatural. 2006. 353 pages. My review.

Renfield: Slave of Dracula. Barbara Hambly. Gothic. 2006. 306 pages. My review.


September (12) 84 total

The Zookeeper's Wife. Diane Ackerman. Biography. 2007. 323 pages. My review.

Homebody. Orson Scott Card. Supernatural. 1998. 432 pages. My review.

Rebel Angels. Libba Bray. YA. 2005. 548 pages. My review.

The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch. Joseph Delaney. YA. 2005. 343 pages. My review.

The Sisters Grimm: The Fairy Tale Detectives. Michael Buckley. YA. 2007. 284 pages. My review.

The Moonstone. Wilkie Collins. Mystery. 493 pages. My review.

Long Ago in France. M.F.K. Fisher. Nonfiction. Memoir. 1997. 159 pages. My review.

Season of the Witch. Natalie Mostert. Gothic mystery. 2007. 395 pages. My review.

Dissolution. C.J. Sansom. Historical mystery. 2003. 390 pages. My review.

A Great and Terrible Beauty. Libba Bray. YA. 2003. 403 pages. My review.

Bridge of Sighs. Richard Russo. Fiction. 2007. 527 pages. My review.


August (6) -- 72 total-- (**decided not to bother reviewing 2 of the books)

The Millionth Circle. Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D. 1999. 87 pages. **

The Spanish Bow. Andromeda Romano-Lax. Fiction. Historical. 2007. 554 pages. My review.

Mademoiselle Victorine. Debra Finerman. Fiction. Historical. 2007. 289 pages. **

An Ocean of Air. Gabrielle Walker. Nonfiction. Science. 2007. 238 pages. My review.

Among Other Things, I've Taken Up Smoking. Aoibheann Sweeney. Fiction. Coming-of-age story. 2007. 257 pages. My review.

Elizabeth of the German Garden. Leslie De Charms. Nonfiction. Biography. 1958. 424 pages. My review.

The Blue Castle. L.M. Montgomery. Romance. 1993/1926. 218 pages. My review.


July ( 13) 66 total

the guy not taken: stories. Jennifer Weiner. 2006. 279 pages. My review.

The Janissary Tree. Jason Goodwin. Mystery/historical. 2006. 299 pages. My review.

Elizabeth and Her German Garden. Elizabeth von Arnim. Semi-autographical memoir. 1898/2007. 175 pages. My review.

Stealing the Dragon. Tim Maleeny. Mystery. 2007. 365 pages. My review.

The Black Sun. James Twining. Mystery/thriller. 2006. 416 pages. My review.

Echoes of Honor. David Weber. Science fiction/ space opera. 1998. 569 pages. My review.

In Enemy Hands. David Weber. Science fiction/ space opera. 1997. 530 pages. My review.

The Sonnet Lover. Carol Goodman. Mystery. 2007. 350 pages. My review.

Messenger of Truth. Jacqueline Winspear. Mystery. 2006. 310 pages. My review.

The Chess Machine. Robert Lohr. Historical. 2007. 344 pages. My review.

Half Broken Things. Morag Joss. Suspense. 2004. 303 pages. My review.

Sandstorm. James Rollins. Adventure. 2004. 569. My review.

Shadow Cities. Robert Neuwirth. Nonfiction. Journalism/social criticism. 2005. 315 pages. My review.


June (7) 53

Sword & Blossom. Peter Pagnamento and Momoto Williams. Nonfiction. Biography/history/ memoir. 2007. 310 pages. My review.

Abandon. Pico Iyer. Mystery. 2003. 354 pages. My review.

The Book of Fate. Brad Meltzer. Political thriller. 2007. 616 pages. My Review.

Killer Weekend. Ridley Pearson. Mystery. 2007. 323 pages. My review.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall. Kate Bernheimer, ed. Nonfiction. Essays. 1998. 358 pages. My review.

Police at the Funeral. Margery Allingham. Mystery. 1931. 252 pages. My review.

The Gyrth Chalice. Margery Allingham. Mystery. 1931. 191 pages. My review.

May (5) 46

Mystery Mile. Margery Allingham. Mystery. 1930. 254 pages. My review.

Water for Elephants. Sara Gruen. Historical/mystery. 2006. 331 pages. My review.

Jubilee Trail. Gwen Bristow. Historical romance/adventure. 1950. 564 pages. My review.

Inkheart. Cornelia Funke. YA Fantasy. 2003. 534 pages. My review.

All Creatures Great and Small. James Herriot. Memoir. 1972. 437 pages. My review.

April (15) 41

Mistakes Were Made (but not by me.) Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson. Nonfiction. 2007. 236 pages. My review.

The Honor of the Queen. David Weber. Science Fiction. 1993. 422 pages. My review.

On Basilisk Station. David Weber. Science Fiction. 1993. 419 pages. My review.

The Road. Cormac McCarthy. Futuristic. 2006. 241 pages. My review.

Off Armageddon Reef. David Weber. Science ficition. 2006. 592 pages. My review.

The Lizard's Bite. David Hewson. Mystery. 2006. 417 pages. My review.

The Orchid Shroud. Michelle Wan. Mystery. 2006. 336 pages. My review.

The Silent Tower. Barbara Hambly. Fantasy. 1986. 369 pages. My review.

Coraline. Neil Gaiman. Fantasy. 2003. 162 pages.

The Amulet of Samarkand. Jonathan Stroud. YA Fantasy. 2003. 462 pages. My review.

Summers at Castle Auburn. Sharon Shinn. Fantasy. 2001. 342 pages. My review.

Mistress of the Art of Death. Ariana Franklin. Mystery/Historical. 2007. 381 pages. My review.

Evil Genius. Catherine Jinks. YA Fantasy. 2007. 486 pages. My review.

Spirit Gate. Kate Elliott. Fantasy. 2006. 445 pages. My review.

The Book Without Words. Avi. Fable/fantasy. 2005. 200 pages. My review.

March (9) 26

The Rossetti Letter. Christy Phillips. Mystery/historical. 2006. 383 pages. My review.

Blind Submission. Debra Ginsberg. Mystery. 2006. 328 pages. My review.

Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee. Charles J. Shields. 2006. 285 pages. My review.

Finn. Jon Clinch. Fiction. 2007. 283 pages. My review.

Break No Bones. Kathy Reichs. Fiction. Mystery. 2006. 237 pages. My review.

Silent in the Grave. Deanna Raybourn. Fiction. Mystery. 2007. 509 pages. My review.

The Shape-Changer's Wife. Sharon Shinn. Fiction. Fantasy. 1995. 215 pages. My review.

Palace Walk. Naguib Mahfouz. Fiction. Foreign Culture. 1956. 498 pages. My Review.

Break, Blow, Burn. Camille Paglia. Poetry/Criticism. 2005. 242 pages. My Review.

February (11) 17

(in progress: Palace Walk; Break, Blow, Burn; The Shape-Changer's Wife)

Quilted Memories. Lesley Riley. Nonfiction. Quiliting. 125 pages. 2005. My review. (very brief)

40 Fabulous Quick-Cut Quilts. Evelyn Sloppy. Nonfiction. Quilting. 2005. 159 pages. 2005. My review.

The Physics of the Buffyverse. Jennifer Ouellette. Nonfiction. 283 pages. 2006. My review.

Weight. Jeannette Winterson. Myth. 151 pages. 2005. My review.

Candide. Voltaire. Satire. 113 pages. 2003. My review.

A Corpse in the Koryo. James Church. Mystery. 280. 2006. My review.

Traveler. Ron McLarty. Fiction. 280 pages. 2007. My review.

The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden. Catherynne Valente. 483 pages. 2006. My Review.

Written in Bones: How Human Remains Unlock the Secrets of the Dead. Paul Bahn, ed. 185 pages. Nonfiction/Archaeology. 2002. My Review.

The Winter Child. Margaret Maron. 324 pages. Mystery. 2006. My review.

The Poe Shadow. Matthew Pearl. 367 pages. Historical mystery. c. 2006. My review.

JANUARY (6)

The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop. Lewis Buzbee. 216 pages. Memoir, history. My review.

Anne Boleyn: A New Life of England's Tragic Qyeen. Joanna Denny. 327 pages. Biography. My review.

Phantom. Terry Goodkind. 587 pages. Fantasy. My review.

Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found. Suketu Mehta. 542 pages. Journalism, travel, memoir. My review.

The Rest Falls Away. Colleen Gleason. 347 pages. Fiction. My review.

Voltaire Almighty. Roger Pearson. 420+ pages. Biography. My review.

Just Finished, Just Started

I've finished Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs and will review it later.

Right now, two books are in process, but I'm not sure if Charles J. Shields' Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee is going to make the cut. The introduction is terrific, but the first chapter gives me pause. This is an unauthorized biography, and Harper Lee refused to communicate with Shields. While I found the intro extremely promising, the first chapter is setting my teeth on edge, counteracting those positive feelings. Well, I've not really given it a chance, and will set it aside for a while to see if my attitude changes. This was going to be my monthly biography, but we shall see.

I've also begun Finn by Jon Clinch, a novel about Huck Finn's Pap. Whoa! Clinch's writing is almost like reading a nightmare, beautiful and frightening. A study in wickedness. Evil under a microscope. Whitewashing. On page 11, Clinch introduces a morbid echo of the whitewashed fence in Tom Sawyer. The "whited sepulchre" -- a new approach to The Heart of Darkness. This novel is going to be intense and will probably require many short sessions with lots of time to think in between. Lisa at Bluestalking Reader reviewed the novel with great enthusiasm a while back, and when I saw it on the New Book Shelf at the library, I whipped into my book bag without a second thought. Having read fewer than 20 pages, second and third thoughts (and more) are already whirling in a maelstrom.

My thanks to Sam at Book Chase for listing me in The Thinking Blogger Award meme. I particularly appreciate Sam's nomination as I enjoy his blog. As for participating (the rules are listed in the above link) and nominating 5 more blogs, well, check the side bar. Many of these blogs have already been nominated. I just can't choose. :) I've always had difficulty naming 5 or 10 (or whatever) of my favorite books, movies, etc. I'm too wish-washy! The internal debate goes on and on and my frustration with my inability to make up mind, to leave one out, to prioritize-- just grows and grows. I try to link any blog that has grabbed my attention, entertained me, intrigued me, made me curious, but I don't always remember to do so. I will try to be more conscientious about showing appreciation for blog posts in the future, but there are so many entertaining and informative blogs and blog posts...

3 Mystery/Police Procedurals

A Restless Evil - Ann Granger - from Library Journal: "About 20 years ago, the woods at Lower Story were frequented by a still uncaught serial rapist. Now, shortly after a hiker discovers skeletal remains in the woods, a female churchwarden meets her untimely end in the local church: could the two events be connected? Supt. Alan Markby (Shades of Murder) thinks so, especially since he failed to find a perpetrator in the earlier case. With assistance from lover Meredith, he delves into the rumors and facts surrounding both cases, hoping for a break. This is a rock-solid British village procedural, complete with detailed setting, slightly degenerate denizens, and ongoing personal conflicts. "


Not bad.  I enjoyed it enough to be interested in other Mitchell & Markby mysteries, especially since other reviewers indicate that this is not the best in the series.  If A Restless Evil kept me interested and it wasn't the best, then maybe I'll enjoy others in the series, too.


Fiction.  Mystery/Police Procedural.  300 pages.  2002.

Among the Departed - Vicki Delany.  A constable Molly Smith novel.  When bones are discovered in a wilderness hiking area, an old missing persons case comes back into play.  As it turns out, the bones belong to the father of one Molly's childhood friends.  Brian Nowak's  disappearance fifteen years earlier has left the Nowak family weird and dysfunctional.  Many had written Brian's disappearance off as an escape from his wife, but the bones prove otherwise.


 Nicky Nowak returns home for the funeral, and the small town of Trafalgar, BC must look again at a disappearance that is now classified as a murder.


Fiction.  Mystery/Police Procedural.  277 pages.  2011.

Woman with a Birthmark - Hakan Nesser.  This is the second Inspector Van Veeteren mystery that I've read; only four of his 20 Van Veeteren novels have been translated into English.  I read The Return earlier this year and plan to read all English translations in the series.  


Hmmm.  Just discovered that there are several films based on Nesser's books.  Will be adding to Netflix que.


If you enjoy Scandanavian crime fiction, do give this series a try.  Woman with a Birthmark finds Van Veeteren and his crew confronted with a strange murder and no indication of a motive.  Then another similar murder, and Van Veeteren, Reinhart, and the other detectives begin searching for any connection between the two men.  And then another murder....


Fiction.  Mystery/Police Procedural.  1996.  Trans. 2009.  336 pages.

Joy Ellis and Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

This is not one of Joy Ellis' crime series, although it is set in the fens and the main character was with the police until serious injuries changed her life course.  

Brief description:

Who do you turn to when life goes wrong?

Stella’s life has changed forever. Her only support is her amazing grandmother, Beth. But Beth also faces the biggest challenge of her life.

Stella North, a rising star in the police, has her life torn apart by a gunman’s bullets. All her life she has faced danger, but these injuries mean she must give up the job she loves.  Her grandmother Beth is her rock. And Beth is no ordinary woman. At seventy, she runs marathons and has an exciting past that Stella knows very little about.

Will Stella find the strength to overcome the challenges of her new life, and will her grandmother at last resolve the deep emotional turmoil of her past?

As much as I've love Ellis' fen series, this book doesn't fall in my typical choice of genre.  It is classified as Women's Fiction.  I didn't dislike it by any means, but I was hoping for more of Nikki Galena and her crew.

I was already familiar with urban exploration and urban decay from seeing photos on different sites for the last several years, but the novel does an interesting job in discussing this pastime/obsession.  Many of the photos urban explorers take are gorgeous, but most of the locations have a an air of desolation that is hard to shake.  The explorations range from the grand to the industrial, and there is always that combination of fascinating and sad about abandoned buildings.

Source 

NetGalley/Joffe Books

Women's Fiction.  Apr. 28, 2017.  

--------

A while back NetGalley offered a Bill Slider mystery (Old Bones) by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles that succeeded on a number of levels:  good police procedural, great characterization and dialogue, an intricate plot, great writing, and excellent use of comic relief to break the tension. I knew I wanted more of the series, and I happened to find Gone Tomorrow on my last trip to the library.

A well-dressed man is found murdered in a park.  All identification is missing, but a thousand pounds of cash has been left, so robbery was not the motive.  Slider and his team's first step is to discover the name of the victim.  This doesn't turn out to be as easy as they hoped; in fact, nothing in the investigation turns out to be easy, and the death toll mounts.

Harrod-Eagles scatters allusions to literature and contemporary culture throughout, and in the text they feel pretty natural and not at all distracting.  In the chapter titles, on the other hand: "How Grim Was My Valet" and "From Err to Paternity" were obvious and amusing, but most, while funny in their own right, detracted from the seriousness of the plot.  Some were just strained and awkward.  It must have been fun for the author to come up with them, but perhaps the temptation should have been avoided.

Plot and characters--excellent.  Chapter titles--not so much.  

I liked Gone Tomorrow (2001) but Old Bones (2017) shows some differences in writing style that I appreciated more.  Harrod-Eagles has progressed from very good in Gone Tomorrow to excellent in Old Bones--I'm eager to read more in the Bill Slider series, picking up from Gone Tomorrow and moving forward to the more recent books.

Library Copy.

Police Procedural/British.  2001.  367 pages.