The Heron's Cry by Ann Cleeves, The Child in the Photo by Kerry Wilkinson, Art Matters by Neil Gaiman and A Borrowing of Bones by Paula Munier

 

I read this in April, but it won't be published until Sept. 7.  I intended to schedule it, but I'm tired of waiting that long to review a book.  I will mention it again closer to publication.

from description:North Devon is enjoying a rare hot summer with tourists flocking to its coastline. Detective Matthew Venn is called out to a rural crime scene at the home of a group of artists. What he finds is an elaborately staged murder--Dr Nigel Yeo has been fatally stabbed with a shard of one of his glassblower daughter's broken vases.

Dr Yeo seems an unlikely murder victim. He's a good man, a public servant, beloved by his daughter. Matthew is unnerved, though, to find that she is a close friend of Jonathan, his husband.

I enjoyed the first of Cleeves' new series featuring Matthew Venn, but not as much as her Vera series.  However, I'm liking it better as I grow familiar with the characters in the Two Rivers series.   The Long Call introduced her new characters and The Heron's Cry continues their development.   So...a nifty police procedural as well-written as is typical of Cleeves, and characters who are evolving make The Heron's Cry another great addition to the Cleeves' body of work.

NetGalley/St. Martin's Press

Police Procedural.  Sept. 7, 2021.  Print length:  400 pages.

 

from description:  I stare at the newspaper article about a baby snatched from the back of a car thirty years ago, and wonder why someone would post it through my door. Looking closer, my blood freezes. The little girl in the photo has an unusual scar – just like mine.  

Kerry Wilkinson is another of my go-to mystery and police procedural authors.  The Child in the Photo is a stand-alone and a compelling read as I became engaged with Hope's search for the truth.  

It isn't my favorite from this author, but I enjoyed the relationship between Hope and her best friend Stephen and the twists as Hope begins to realize that the family she has known and loved is not her biological family.  Her feelings of frustrations, confusion, and anger, as she delves into the past and several deceptions by people she meets.  

NetGalley/Bookoutre

Mystery.  June 14, 2021.  Print length:  318 pages.

I listened to this as an audio book and thoroughly enjoyed Neil Gaiman's very English voice;  the only drawback was that since it was an audio book, I didn't get to see Chris Riddell's drawings.

My favorite was Gaiman's talk "On Libraries, "  which emphasizes the importance of libraries and fostering young readers.  Of course, you would all agree with his opinions, as you are readers, too, but it was a pleasure to listen to.

from description:   

Art Matters bring together four of Gaiman’s most beloved writings on creativity and artistry: 

• “Credo”, his remarkably concise and relevant manifesto on free expression, first delivered in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo shootings
• “Make Good Art”, his famous 2012 commencement address delivered at the Philadelphia University of the Arts
• “Making a Chair”, a poem about the joys of creating something, even when words won’t come 
• “On Libraries”, an impassioned argument for libraries that illuminates their importance to our future and celebrates how they foster readers and daydreamers.

I listened to this as I was working on some small Nightmare Catcher dolls.  I was watching a K drama when the main character gave the love interest, who was troubled by night terrors, a Nightmare Catcher doll.  It was very similar to Junker Jane's monster dolls, and I went upstairs and immediate began gathering scraps to make some of my own.  (Melanie, have you watched It's OK Not to Be OK?)  Audio books are wonderful to listen to while working on these eccentric little creatures.    

The next audio book I listened to was A Borrowing of Bones (which I downloaded some time ago on Lark's recommendation, but had not listened to.)

from description:  First in a gripping new mystery series about a retired MP and her bomb-sniffing dog who become embroiled in an investigation in the beautiful Vermont wilderness

It may be the Fourth of July weekend, but for retired soldiers Mercy Carr and Belgian Malinois Elvis, it’s just another walk in the remote Lye Brook Wilderness—until the former bomb-sniffing dog alerts to explosives and they find a squalling baby abandoned near a shallow grave filled with what appear to be human bones. U.S. Game Warden Troy Warner and his search-and rescue Newfoundland Susie Bear respond to Mercy’s 911 call, and the four must work together to track down a missing mother, solve a cold-case murder, and keep the citizens of Vermont safe on potentially the most incendiary Independence Day since the American Revolution.

 Yes, I'm still a sucker for working dogs, and Mercy, Elvis, Troy, and Susie Bear kept me interested the entire time.  Amy and Helena and Patience were also great characters.   A Borrowing of Bones was a suspenseful mystery and a new series to follow.

Thanks, Lark! 

I was still making dolls, but in addition, I was also managing some household chores like dusting, mopping floors, etc.   Now, I have a cleaner house, four completed dolls and two more in progress all while being entertained .  

Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder

from description:  From the beet fields of North Dakota to the campgrounds of California to Amazon’s CamperForce program in Texas, employers have discovered a new, low-cost labor pool, made up largely of transient older adults. These invisible casualties of the Great Recession have taken to the road by the tens of thousands in RVs and modified vans, forming a growing community of nomads.

While I enjoyed the film based on the book, I found the book more interesting and informative.  The stories of the folks who lost their homes through a variety of setbacks and the devastating 2008 financial collapse was an eye-opening and disturbing experience.  Across the spectrum of education and previous income, the loss of jobs and homes wreaked havoc on thousands of people, but the effect of those who have "aged out of the job market" was particularly brutal.  

Perhaps the most unsettling aspect is that large corporations-- that make billions and pay little or no taxes--use these elderly workers (from 60-80 years old) as low-paid, temporary labor for 12 hour labor-intensive shifts.  Although most of the nomads interviewed kept an upbeat attitude in public, the consequences of the callous treatment by companies that use this disposable labor is disturbing, and regardless of trying to keep a positive spin on the situation, the nomads are not unaware of the precariousness of their lives.  They have lost homes, savings, pensions, healthcare, and security.  

It is disconcerting to learn of this subculture of people who have fallen from middle-class to "houseless" travelers.   

Perhaps it is time for Jessica Bruder, to revisit this phenomenon in the wake of the pandemic.

Recommended.

Nonfiction.  Purchased.

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After another week of rain, this morning is clear!  

I liked this letter from a seven-year-old girl to Old Navy about pockets.  

I also want pockets deep enough to put my hands in and to hold things, not those shallow pockets most often found on women's clothing.  Maybe we should all follow Kamryn's example and write companies about what we want in the clothing department!

  

 

Emerging from Malaise

 I've been reading, even if I haven't been keeping up with reviews.  For about 6 weeks, I was in an apathetic phase.  One of those "do the least possible and know that the doldrums/indifference will end eventually."  This May has been the rainiest I can remember, and that probably had some impact on my attitude.  There have been so  many garden chores that needed to be done before the summer heat, and my frustration would mount when it was too wet and rainy to get them done.   

The Mother's Day Weekend in New Orleans with Amelia, Bryce Eleanor, and Suzie (a wonderful girls' weekend) brought me out of that funk, and when I got back home, Fee had raised the fountain and moved the Happy Buddha in front, and I can't look at it without smiling.  

Cosmos, Homestead Purple verbena,diplodenia, and golden stonecrop 

 

Asters

Coreopsis

Then we had several days without rain, and I could weed and transplant and garden at will.  It rained last night and the prospect is for more today and for the next several days, but that's OK now.  I've finished the bigger chores, and Fee has done the even bigger ones.  

Some of the books I've recently enjoyed. 

A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey was recommended by Ruthiella at Booked for Life.  One of my favorite books from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction is Tey's The Daughter of Time, so it is not surprise that I enjoyed this one.  I agree with Ruthiella that this not one of Tey's best, but it was only her second book.

from description:  When a woman's body washes up on an isolated stretch of beach on the southern coast of England, Scotland Yard's Inspector Alan Grant is on the case. But the inquiry into her death turns into a nightmare of false leads and baffling clues. Was there anyone who didn't want lovely screen actress Christine Clay dead?  

Initially, I wasn't to taken with this one, but it turned into one of those books that I enjoyed more as I continued reading.

First published in 1936.  

Detective Fiction from the Golden Age.

Mark de Castrique was recommended by Cathy at Kittling Books.  I was looking for the character Virgil she described, but she also mentioned that readers should begin with the first in the series. 

Blackman's Coffin (Sam Blackman #1) didn't have Virgil, but it was the beginning of a new-to-me series. 

from description:  Sam Blackman is an angry man. A Chief Warrant Officer in the Criminal Investigation Detachment of the U.S. military, he lost a leg in Iraq. His outspoken criticism of his medical treatment resulted in his transfer to the Veteran’s Hospital in Asheville, NC. Then an ex-marine and fellow amputee named Tikima Robertson walks into his hospital room.

Tikima hints that she has an opportunity for Sam to use his investigative skills--if he can stop feeling sorry for himself. But before she can return, Tikima is murdered, her body found floating in the river.

When Tikima's sister comes to Sam with an old journal from 1919, things get really interesting.  The Biltmore Estate figures largely in the mystery and Thomas Wolfe also figures into the old case.  

I'm definitely in for more in this series!  

Kindle Unlimited/ Poisoned Pen Press

Mystery.  2003; 2008.  Print length:  256 pages. 

A couple of weeks ago I started J.M. Dalgliesh's new series Hidden Norfolk.  Then I decided to go back to his earlier series Dark Yorkshire with detective Nate Caslin.  I'd read three books in that series several years ago and decided to move on to the fourth, Blood Money.

from description:  As the extremes of nationalist hate descend upon York, a refugee is tortured to death while a straightforward case of a bankrupt’s suicide proves to be anything but simple. How does an enigmatic campaigner with a secret to keep link these two disparate worlds? Shining a light onto corporate finance draws Caslin to those who prefer to live in the shadows.

Detective Nate Caslin's latest case is filled with twists and turns, a number of deaths that seemed either suicides or accidental may have a more sinister connection; Russians, oligarchs, and a "follow the money" theme with a surprise at the end.

Kindle Unlimited.

British Detective.  2018.  Print length:  251 pages.

 

The Adventure of the Deceased Scholar by Liese Sherwood-Fabre and One Lost Soul by J M Dalgliesh

Having enjoyed the two previous books in this series about a young Sherlock Holmes, I wouldn't have wanted to miss this one.  

The Oxford-Cambridge annual boat race turn into a tragedy as a young man is found drowned.  

The Holmes family is drawn into the investigation because he is one of Mycroft's fellow students and because Mrs. Holmes is present.  Even if Mycroft and Sherlock could avoid a mystery, Mrs. Holmes certainly can't.

Mycroft is reluctantly involved because his reputation is threatened.  If the young man who drowned is designated a suicide, the Crown can take his estate and leave his family destitute.  His sister decides to blackmail Mycroft into helping prove that the death was not a suicide.

The threat of blackmail certainly gets the family's attention and even Mycroft, the reluctant investigator, knows what is at stake and does his best.  

NetGalley/Little Elm Press

Historical mystery.  May 15, 2021.  Print length:  314 pages.

I've read several books in the Dark Yorkshire series featuring DI Nathaniel Caslin by J M Dalgliesh and decided to try the Hidden Norfolk series featuring DI Tom Jansen.  

One Lost Soul is the first in the Hidden Norfolk series and introduces DI Tom Janssen, whose character is without some of the problems Nate Caslin has in Divided House, the first in the Dark Yorkshire series.  I like that the author has created a very different MC in Tom Janssen, that and the settings help keep the two series easily separated.

One Lost Soul does have that "first book in a series" feeling as the characters and setting are introduced.  It also has a much less complex investigation than those in the Dark Yorkshire series.  

Briefly, a young girl has been found murdered and there appears to be an attempt to cast blame on one suspect, but there are several other possibilities.  DI Tom Janssen, DCI Tamara work together with the youngest member of the team to determine who is responsible.  I will probably read the next one to see if I'll continue with the series, and I know I will get back to Nate Caslin in the Dark Yorkshire series, now that I've been reminded.  :0

Kindle Unlimited

Police Procedural.  2019.  Print length:  294 pages.

------------

Garden:  I took some garden pics early this morning.  My thanks were 3 mosquito bites along my cheek bone from ear almost to my eye.  Huh?  That had to have happened when I was putting one of those mosquito donuts in a puddle  where the water hadn't drained from the storm the other day.  I didn't even realize those nasty little buggers had found their target until the itching started. 

And so it begins:  the annual war between human and mosquito.  It is a no-win situation, just damage to both sides.

Need to refill the birdbath

 

The February snow was so unusual that it never occurred to me that throwing bird seed on the snow would be a problem.  I've been pulling sunflowers ever since.  Some I've left, obviously--because it is so fascinating to see how quickly they grow!  

The Homestead Purple Verbena didn't do much last year, but this year it is trying to take over.  

Edgrrr prowls/patrols his patch 

Now to finish enjoying my coffee and Fee's blueberry bread.  Yum.

One, Two, Three by Laurie Frankel

 This is the first book I've read by Laurie Frankel, but now I'll be looking for more.

Seventeen years ago, the small town of Bourn welcomed a new chemical factory that promised a better economy for residents and delivered poisoned water, death, and birth defects before closing down.

Norah Mitchell has headed up a class action suit that never goes anywhere, but she continues looking for the smoking gun, undeterred by setbacks.

Her daughters, triplets, are the voices in the story.  Mab (One), Monday (Two), and Mirabel (Three) have grown up in the damaged town and provide the narration.  Mab is "normal" in appearance and behavior; Monday is on the high end of the spectrum--bright, but obsessive about being touched and extremely literal; and Mirabel is a genius, but wheelchair bound and unable to speak without the aid a vocalizer.  

Sounds depressing, doesn't it?  And yet as we meet each girl, we are immediately and irrevocably drawn into their relationships with each other and with other members of the town.  The writing is neither sentimental nor maudlin, and the girls, each in her own right, are forces to be reckoned with.  I was immediately captivated with One, Two, and Three and engaged with each one in their struggles to prevent a repeat of the previous disaster...because the chemical plant wants to re-open--promising that all the problems have been rectified and offering much needed well-paying jobs.  Who will trust them this time?

Poignant and funny and suspenseful.  

Highly Recommended.  Loved it.

NetGalley/Henry Holt

Coming of Age/Topical.  June 8, 2021.  Print length:  416 pages.

  

Glimmer Lake series by Elizabeth Hunter

 

Sometimes, I enjoy light books that don't have too much emotional or social turmoil, and the Glimmer Lake books gave me just that with a paranormal twist and a little romance.

Three friends are on their way for a little girl time together when a car accident sends them off the road and into a deep lake.  All three survive, but the circumstances include a rescuer who doesn't exist.  Robin, Val, and Monica emerged from the lake with new abilities that require some serious adjustment.

The first book deals with Robin who now has the ability to see ghosts.  The second book features the extremely reluctant Val, who finds that by touching certain objects she suddenly knows much more about the owner than she wants to.  The third book focuses on Monica psychic dreams.  

I found the books to be exactly what I needed during a period of anxiety.  The friendships between these three middle-aged women and the way each adjusted to her new abilities was fun--especially because they find themselves solving mysteries.

If you enjoy female friendships adorned with a little supernatural, some mysteries, and a little romance, you might find these books fun and comforting. 

I haven't read Elizabeth Hunter before, but the next time I am in the mood for something that will lighten my mood and keep me entertained, I'll look for what else she has to offer.

After reading the first in this three-part series, I couldn't not know what this threesome got up to next, so I dashed through all three. :)

Kindle Unlimited.

The Custard Corpses by M J Porter, Murder in Pembrokeshire by Gretta Mulrooney, and Farewell My Herring by L.C. Tyler

I chose this one largely based on the strange title.

from description:  Birmingham, England, UK, 1943.

While the whine of the air raid sirens might no longer be rousing him from bed every night, a two-decade-old unsolved murder case will ensure that Chief Inspector Mason of Erdington Police Station is about to suffer more sleepless nights.

Young Robert McFarlane’s body was found outside the local church hall on 30th September 1923. But, his cause of death was drowning, and he’d been missing for three days before his body was found. No one was ever arrested for the crime. No answers could ever be given to the grieving family. The unsolved case has haunted Mason ever since.

A cold case that has bothered Sam Mason for years comes to the forefront again when Robert McFarlane's sister comes to Sam on her annual visit about the death of her brother.  This time, however, she brings an old newspaper clipping about what child murder that took place three years after young Robert's.

Interested, if not exactly hopeful, Sam is determined to follow any lead.  As it turns out, there are similarities Sam can't ignore...and yet cannot decipher.  Sam's wife makes the most important connection that sends Sam and Constable O'Rourke  through many twists and turns as "new" old cases keep turning up.   

The concept is interesting and the investigation kept me involved.  Slow in places and sometimes a bit repetitious, The Custard Corpses still managed to provide an intriguing and unusual historical police procedural.  

Read in April.  Blog review scheduled for ????

NetGalley/BooksGoSocial

Historical Police Procedural.  March 25, 2021.  

I've read a couple of books in Mulrooney's Tyrone Swift series and a couple in her Siv Drummond series and enjoyed them.  

from descripton:  An isolated community.

No Wi-Fi, no mobile signal.
No witnesses.

Detective Tyrone Swift is invited to stay with Afan Griffith, an old friend living in a small community in rural Pembrokeshire. Cut off from the rest of the world, with no mobile signal or Wi-Fi, something’s got Afan worried.

But Afan isn’t there to greet Swift when he arrives. The next day, Swift discovers Afan’s body on a lonely stretch of the nearby coastal path — stabbed to death.

Before becoming a private detective, Swift had been with the Met and also had spent some time in France with Interpol, where he and Afan had become friends.  Murder in Pembrokeshire has Swift outside of his usual world in the isolated community in Wales.  

Puzzled and concerned that his friend isn't there to meet him as planned, Ty sets off the next day for a walk and discovers Afan's body.  Determined to unearth the killer and the motivation, Ty remains at the commune to unravel some of the many secrets members of the small community are keeping that might prove useful in finding Afan's killer.

This isn't my favorite in the series, but I did enjoy it.

Read in March.

NetGalley/Joffe Books

Detective.  March 23, 2021.  Print length:  243 pages.

Another book selected mostly for the unusual title, but also for the beautiful cover, Farewell My Herring was every bit as unusual as the title implies.

I did enjoy this comical crime novel, there is plenty to amuse the reader in the amateur detection of Ethelred and Elsie. A bit too overtop for me to want to read another, but it was a fun satirical adventure.

I had a look at his other titles--they all contain the word "herring." Ok, so when I saw this title I was immediately reminded of Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler, but when I looked at Tyler's other "herring" titles, Agatha Christie was well represented: Ten Little Herrings, The Herring in the Library, The Herring on the Nile, etc. Chandler and Christie were certainly the source of the Herring titles. :)

NetGalley/Alison and Busby
Comic Crime? April 22, 2021. Print length: 227 pages

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

 

From Description:  Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission--and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

 Strangely, I abandoned both The Martian and Artemis, but Project Hail Mary was a definite hit for me.  

There is a lot of science/physics/math that I didn't understand, but made me think that solving problems with this knowledge could encourage young people into STEM courses.  Even a "mathophobe" like me was intrigued and felt the excitement of problem solving.  

Middle School science teacher, Ryland Grace wakes up from an induced coma far in space, with no memory of how he got there.  His two crew mates didn't survive, and it takes him a while to  remember even  his name, but he gradually realizes that he has a great deal of knowledge about the ship and its functions.  At first, his knowledge is a little surprising to him, but as his memory returns in fits and starts, and he experiences flashbacks of his previous life, he understands the mission of Project Hail Mary and its importance--a last ditch effort to save Earth and humanity.  

He is alone in space...until he isn't.  He finds an unexpected ally, and the two of them risk their lives over and over to make sure their missions are completed.  Here, Weir excels at creating a dynamic between Ryland Grace and Rocky and moves beyond the typical space adventure into something more.  The need for Grace and Rocky to communicate, to except each other's abilities and limitations, and to work together using their combination of skills in order to save their respective worlds is the crux of the book.  Yes, it is a space adventure, but not in the usual sense--Project Hail Mary combines suspense and humor and "humanity" in the midst of some abstruse science and mathematics.  

As I mentioned, the science and math was beyond me, and yet I found the way Weir used it (or perhaps, overused it)  made me see the solving of mathematical and scientific puzzles as exciting as solving a mystery in a police procedural.   Never thought that could happen.  

I was completely engaged from first to last with this novel.  Rocky is the highlight and an unforgettable character--you really need to meet him!  

Read in March; review scheduled for April 25.

NetGalley/Random House/Ballentine                                                                                                        Science Fiction.  May 4, 2021.  Print length:  496 pages.  

Swimming Back to Trout River

 

I've read several books, both fiction and nonfiction, that concern the Cultural Revolution, but this is perhaps the most unusual and certainly one of the best. 

  Swimming Back to Trout River gripped me from the beginning and my interest never flagged.  Beautifully written with characters who are individual and complicated, hopeful and talented, and then confronted with the Cultural Revolution's efforts to purge capitalism, foreign influence, and tradition.  Young intellectuals were sent to the countryside to experience manual labor and "rehabilitation."  

Momo, Cassia, and Dawn were young and talented, but the upheaval in their lives after being sent to the countryside required remarkable resilience.  When the Cultural Revolution ends, Momo, Cassia, and Dawn attempt to rebuild their lives in different ways, and Junie, Momo and Cassia's daughter is left in China with her beloved grandparents.

Momo's goal is to reunite with Junie, to bring her to America.  Junie, however, cannot imagine a life away from Trout River.

One of the most impressive elements in the story in the influence of music on the main characters and the importance of art and creativity in their lives.  

Beautifully written, thoughtful, and perceptive, Linda Rui Feng has written a novel that will linger with its readers in many ways.  It is one of my favorite novels of last year.  Highly Recommended.

Read in December; blog review scheduled for April.

NetGalley/Simon & Schuster.

Multicultural History.  May 11, 2021.  Print length:  272 pages.

The Sister's Twin, What You Never Knew, Hadley and Grace, and This World So Fierce

 

From Description:  How do you solve a murder when the victim is still alive?

Lily Spencer knows her twin is fated to die. And she can’t stop envisioning the end.

A stranger in the night.
A vicious blade.
The tarot card he will leave behind.

Lily’s clairvoyant friend has foreseen it all. And her eerie insights are never wrong.

A killer is coming to the care home where the sisters live. It’s only a question of when. And why.

In desperation, Lily turns to curmudgeonly sleuth Ray Flowers for help.

She may be elderly but she’s anything but defenceless. And she’s not giving up on her sister.

Not without a fight.

Someone is killing vulnerable old people, but who is the person planning the murders and why?   Lily and Rose are essential to the plot, but Elspeth Moore is by far the most entertaining character!  Give Elspeth a tarot deck and a cricket bat, and she's got things under control.  Well, almost.   Ray Flowers is reluctant to get involved...until he is forced to believe.  I enjoyed this one.

Read in March; review scheduled for  April 11.

NetGalley/Joffe Books

Mystery.  April 1, 2021.  Print length:  201 pages.

From Description:  

Idyllic Avril lsland, owned by the Bennett family, where their hundred-year-old cottage sat nestled in acres of forest. Forty-year-old June Bennett believed that the island had been sold after the summer of her father's disappearance when she was only twelve years old. It's months after the shocking death of her older sister May in a fatal car accident, that June finds out that the cottage was never sold. Avril Island is still owned by the Bennett family and now it's hers.

Old secrets and an old friend await June on Avril island.  What June thought she knew about that last summer on the island when she was twelve--is not nearly what she thought.

I wanted to know all the secrets, but from very early in the book June's character seemed less than realistic.  In the end, I wasn't even satisfied knowing the secrets.

Read in March   

NetGalley/Crooked Lane Books

Mystery.  April 13, 2021.  Print length:  304 pages.  

Hadley's husband is abusive and Grace's husband has a gambling habit.  When Hadley decides to take the two kids and leave Frank, she plans on getting some of his money first.  Grace, who works for Frank, has also decided to take the money Frank owes her and with her infant son make a get-away.

Kind of the heist from hell when the two women get into it during their separate attempts at theft.  As it turns out, they are going to need each other as the two hit the road with kids in tow.

Favorite character: Skipper who has lived with Hadley for most of his eight years and is special needs.  

It does have the escape element of Thelma & Louise, but this time there are three kids added to the mix.

Read in March.

Kindle Unlimited.  2021.  344 pages.

From Description:  
Trish and Nikki are Orphans who live on the poor side of town. But they know what it means to have a family that cares, even if that family is not blood. Their foster parents can't have children of their own, so they raise children who come to them from a world of pain and loss. When the family is asked to take in one more, they can't refuse. But it might be one more than they can handle.

"The World So Fierce" is a story of the other side of tragedy. The orphans are a surrogate family, but when they take in one more child could their family break? What happens when one orphan can't turn his life around?

A family who fosters and adopts children who need a home and a family--agrees to take in seventeen-year-old Mike, who is preparing to leave state custody.

The hope that Mike will be able to turn his life around is part of Bud and Molly's basic philosophy, but will he be able to join the family as a member or will he be a destructive influence?  Even with the best of intentions, can everyone be saved?

Mary Marcotte is a blog friend, a retired teacher, and an avid quilter.  This is her debut work that takes place in South Louisiana, a world Mary knows well.

Read in April.

Orphans/FosterFamilies.  2020.  90 pages.

Thief of Souls by Brian Klingborg

Thief of Souls is a police procedural set in a small Chinese village and the first in a new series by Brian Klingborg.  This is the first time I've read anything by Klingborg, so here is a little background from Amazon's author page:   "Brian Klingborg is a graduate of Harvard's Regional Studies East Asia program, and spent many years living and working in Asia and Europe. In addition to his first novel, Kill Devil Falls, published in 2017, he's written widely on Chinese martial arts."
 

When reading a book set in another culture, it is nice to know the author has some first hand knowledge and familiarity with his subject.

From Description:  "Lu Fei is a graduate of China's top police college but he's been assigned to a sleepy backwater town in northern China, where almost nothing happens and the theft of a few chickens represents a major crime wave. That is until a young woman is found dead, her organs removed, and joss paper stuffed in her mouth. The CID in Beijing--headed by a rising political star--is on the case but in an increasingly authoritarian China, prosperity and political stability are far more important than solving the murder of an insignificant village girl. As such, the CID head is interested in pinning the crime on the first available suspect rather than wading into uncomfortable truths, leaving Lu Fei on his own."

Lu Fei is an interesting character: a little lonely, not entirely unsatisfied with his backwater assignment, determined to do his best.  When a superior wants an arrest quickly, Lu Fei must continue the investigation on his own, not only to solve the murder, but to prevent an innocent man from being convicted.  

As it turns out, the young woman's death and the method is part of a pattern, and Lu Fei finds himself on the trail of a serial killer.

The plot is interesting on its own, but the connection with the Chinese bureaucracy and culture added to my appreciation of the novel.

Read in Feb.; blog review scheduled for April 9.

NetGalley/St. Martin's Press

Police Procedural/Cultural.  May 1, 2021.  Print length:  288 pages.

The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells

Last summer I discovered the Murderbot Diaries through a review by Bookfool and fell in love with Murderbot, a construct AI and SecUnit, who has altered its governor module and is now self-aware and trying to find out more about itself now that it is free from having to obey commands from the Company.  

All Systems Red, the first novella, gives some background about its name and his job is protecting the Company's clients. MB binge-watches Sanctuary Moon as a way to relax.  There's humor, action, suspense, and a villainous corporation called Graychris.

Artificial Condition has MB leaving its friends? (it is still trying to understand exactly what it is and friends is another new concept).  (I keep having to correct my pronouns.  MB is genderless, but I keep typing "he" or "his.")  Anyway, MB manages to get on a Research Transport with an AI that MB names ART, for Asshole Research Transport.

---  

In short, I loved the above novellas, and recently, when I was giving myself a rest from gardening and nursing my aching back, I discovered that I had a bunch of audible credits and spent several days catching up on the series.  Listening to novellas doesn't take too long, and I worked on some embroidery and went about catching up on neglected household chores while engrossed with the new additions to the Murderbot Diaries.

Rogue Protocol is the third novella in the series, and I enjoyed getting back to the adventures of MB and its transition to becoming more itself and more human in its flaws.  

MB decides to get more evidence against GrayChris corporation for Dr. Mensah.  He It meets Micki, a bot MB considers a pet.  Upbeat, friendly Micki is quite a contrast to grumpy MB, and MB finds Micki irritating.  By the end of the novella, MB has unintentionally and without acknowledging it, learned something about friendship.

Audio book 

From the beginning, the density of these novellas (I'm not usually fond of novellas) has surprised me, and I've enjoyed all the snarky humor and the way in which MB develops in its search for identity.  In Exit Strategy, he returns to Preservation Station to aid Dr. Mensah.

Moving from SecUnit to human, if we consider what "human" means, MB becomes more accepting of his need protect others as an essential part of its self.  Continuing to make fun of human flaws and failures, it is also subconsciously aware of its own similar failings.  

This was intended to be the last of the series, but fortunately, Wells has continued!  

As much as MB has evolved, he still doesn't feel comfortable with humans (with a few exceptions of his friends from All Systems Red), but when a body is found on Preservation Station, MB is drafted into the investigation.  More confident in his abilities, he works with Insah, who still isn't comfortable with SecUnits of any kind, to resolve the mystery.

(Note this was published after the full-length novel Network Effect, but chronologically belongs here.)

 NetGalley/Tor/Forge

Science Fiction.  April 27, 2021.   

  Network Effect is a full-length novel that brings ART back into the picture!  

I'm so enamored with this series, and it was fun having a longer version. 

Will Martha Wells go back and add to the novellas that lead up to the novel or will she take MB on to further adventures with ART?  Whichever way Wells proceeds with this series, I'm in for the count.  

As long as she keeps MB having adventures, I'll keep reading!

Read in March; blog review scheduled for April 5.

Tor/Forge

2020.  Print length:  350 pages.

April!

 I've been gardening and reading.  My Kindle is never far from my reach, and I rest and read when my back and knees get tired.  Spring is such a lovely time of year, and before it gets too hot, I need to get as much done in the garden as I can.  Things are beginning to look up in some areas.  Other areas are in awful shape, but work continues, and if my back and knees hold out, I'll have a partial shade garden with ferns and hostas.

The worst and hardest area is where the jasmine and a ground cover have taken over.  I've dug, hacked, and pulled vines for days and may never finish.  One day, while resting, I took a bunch of the vines and wove this little wreath.  Fee was not impressed, and I admit it had a Blair Witch Project ambiance.  Upstairs, I found this rabbit head I made several years ago (I have a bunch of heads that never got bodies) and stuck it in.  :) Now it looks more like Easter than Blair Witch.

My compost area will be fenced off soon, so that's one ugly area that will be improved.

Everything I divided last month is doing well and will spread again.   

 Recently read, but not reviewed:

I've got several reviews already scheduled, but will be reviewing and scheduling these soon.

Lately, I've been behind on so many things because I'm tired from wrestling with garden chores.  At the end of the day, I don't have much energy left.  My new thyroid prescription should help the energy level, but that old saying, "not as young as I used to be" is also true!

How is spring treating you?  Gardening? Books? Crafts?

Happy Easter!

What the Devil Knows by C.S. Harris (Sebastian St. Cyr)

 In 1814, Sebastian St. Cyr is confronted with a series of murders that are so similar to the Ratcliff Highway Murders that London must consider whether or not the real murderer was John Williams after all.  Is the real murderer active again?  Is it a copycat?

Based on the actual Ratcliff Highway Murders, Harris presents another possibility to the gruesome murders that took place in 1811, and as usual, the blend of fact and fiction is practically seamless as Harris' research is impeccable.

I look forward to each new Sebastian St. Cyr book.  The author's knowledge and examination of the political and social norms of the time, combined with her intriguing characters, result in great mysteries and an image of the Regency period that feels genuine.

My favorite character is Hero, partly because of personality and partly because she always gives insight into the culture of the poor.  A quiet character, Hero is also a determined woman who writes social articles about the lower levels of society, the impoverished, ill-treated, and forgotten men, women, and children of the period.  Sebastian pursues justice in his way, and Hero seeks justice in her own dedicated way.  Sebastian carries most of the novel, but Hero's involvement provides the support needed.

Read in Feb.; blog review scheduled for March 29.

NetGalley/Berkeley 

Historical Mysteries.  April 6, 2021.  Print length:  336 pages.