On This Week in 2005: A Bit of the Unusual

Writing these monthly posts is always a trip down Memory Lane. How much do I remember about this book or that one? Do I still read this author's books? Do I even read that genre anymore? A person's reading tastes can certainly change over the years.

When I looked through my 2005 book journal to see what I'd been reading at this time eleven years ago, I discovered that I was sampling a bit of the unusual. Let's take a look--

It will undoubtedly surprise a few of you that I enjoy reading stories set in medieval Japan (probably because it's been a while since I have). This enjoyment of mine began with the excellent television mini-series Shōgun. When I learned that it was based on a novel by James Clavell, I had to read it. As a result, I became both a Clavell fan and a quasi-student of Japanese history.

Lian Hearn's Across the Nightingale Floor is the first of her "Tales of the Otori"-- a series of four books set in an imaginary, ancient Japanese society dominated by warring clans. Takeo is a young boy, plucked from his remote village, who becomes a pawn in a political scheme.

It is a fabulous story that I remember to this day-- including my delight when I learned what a "nightingale floor" was. Let's say you are a warlord with many enemies trying to kill you. You're going to need to sleep sometime, but how? You can't even trust your own men, let alone those pesky ninjas. Sleep in a room with a specially constructed floor that will squeak hideously at the slightest movement upon it... a nightingale floor.

The entire Tales of the Otori series is well worth the read if you like this sort of thing, but if you only want to "test the waters," please choose this one! (Can you tell that I rated it an A+?)

Carol O'Connell's Mallory's Oracle is her first Kathy Mallory mystery published in 1994. Kathy is not your usual main character. As a child, she was a thief living on the streets of New York City when Detective Louis Markowitz rescued her and raised her in his home. Ten years later, Mallory's early criminal instincts and her intelligence have been channeled into computer science for the NYPD. When Markowitz is found murdered, Mallory-- forced to take a leave from the department-- decides to seek vengeance on her own.

I think Mallory was one of the first main characters to be radically "different" in terms of intelligence, behavior, and how she viewed the world that I came in contact with in modern fiction. In this first book, she really doesn't have much use for humans outside of the man who rescued her, and although I have no problem with characters who are different, I never warmed up to her, and I didn't continue with the series. I rated it an extremely respectable B+, but the desire to continue just wasn't there.

No Human Involved is Barbara Seranella's first "Munch" Mancini mystery published in 1997. Seranella wrote a lot of herself into her main character, and from everything I've read and heard, she was an exceptional person who died much too soon of kidney failure.

"Munch" has been a heroin addict forced to steal and turn tricks to support her habit, but now she is determined to stay clean, earn an honest living (as an auto mechanic), and be normal-- mostly due to Asia, a little girl Munch is raising as her own. 

There is so much honesty, so much heart, so much sheer will in Munch that you can't help but want her to succeed. She knows what rock bottom is, and she doesn't ever-- ever-- want to be there again. 

Seranella knows how to write good, solid mysteries, but it's the powerful combination of Munch and of Seranella's bone-deep honesty and humanity that makes me mourn the author's death to this day. What an exceptional talent!

What was my rating of No Human Involved? A.


And thus endeth my look back at the unusual stories and characters I read about eleven years ago. That's some very, very good reading!


 

The Man Who Cast Two Shadows by Carol O'Connell

First Line: Rain rat-tatted on the plastic hood of her slicker.

When a woman killed in Central Park is mistakenly identified as NYPD Sergeant Kathy Mallory, her superiors have a good reason for finding her and bringing her back from suspension. After having identified the victim, Mallory learns that her main suspects all live in the same apartment building, so she moves in and sets herself up as bait. Using her genius with a computer and the building's electronic bulletin board, she begins playing a deadly game of cat-and-mouse.

If you're the type of reader who prefers likable, touchy feely main characters, move away from this book (and the entire series). Kathy Mallory is not the character for you. Found living on the streets as a young child, she was taken in and raised by a police officer and his wife, both of whom soon realized that Mallory's sociopathic tendencies required special handling. Mallory does not form relationships like normal people. She doesn't bond; she doesn't chit chat; she doesn't smile; and she certainly doesn't laugh. She's like a hand grenade with a loose pin-- Handle With Care. A small portion of her past is revealed in The Man Who Cast Two Shadows, and although readers will be moved to feel compassion towards her, rest assured that Mallory herself will show none to anyone.

The plot is tight and suspenseful, dealing with the woman's death, Mallory's toying with a killer, and a boy who may have telekinetic powers. The setting of New York City could be declared one of the cast of characters. O'Connell shows a touch of poetry now and again in her prose, but the tone of her poetry is bleak. More of the story could be told from Mallory's point of view, and there are a few too many times when we're told about her behavior rather than seeing it for ourselves. All in all, Mallory is like a black hole at the very heart of this book, and if you can withstand her gravitational pull and resist the need for her to change, you are in for a treat involving one of the most fascinating characters in crime fiction.

The Man Who Cast Two Shadows by Carol O'Connell

ISBN: 9780515118902

Jove © 1996

Mass Market Paperback, 336 pages

Police Procedural, #2 Kathy Mallory mystery

Rating: B+

Source: Paperback Swap 

@ The Poisoned Pen with Author Carol O'Connell

On the way to The Poisoned Pen last Thursday to see Carol O'Connell, I tried to describe her well-known character Kathy Mallory to Denis. The best I could come up with on the spur of the moment was, "Mallory's a cross between Dexter and Bones." I don't know why my mind latched onto two mystery series turned television series, but it did-- and I do know that the two I chose don't come close to describing Mallory, but at least Denis had some sort of clue before O'Connell arrived. You just have to love a man who doesn't mind attending events when he's never heard of the authors. Besides, when we get home, he gets busy looking up their books so he can read them!

Denis sat at the back with an acquaintance of ours while I did my usual browse-and-buy. (Most people's B&Bs are bed and breakfasts; mine is actually B&BB-- browse and buy books.) Once I had that completed, I found my favorite chair and got comfortable. I watched a woman with a print-out in hand carefully browse the shelf of Laurie R. King books. I had to smile, not only because I tend to do most of my browsing with list in hand but because I'd just perused that section a few minutes before.

Owner Barbara Peters came in a few minutes early and talked to us about the event for Frederick Forsyth at the Arizona Biltmore the evening before. According to Peters, approximately 260 people showed up to see him, and she then proceeded to share a few tidbits.

"Forsyth writes in a shed at the bottom of his garden," she told us. "He still uses a typewriter because-- as he told us-- 'The last time I heard, no one could hack into a typewriter.'" The author then asked Barbara a question: "Why did you name your bookstore The Poisoned Pen?" "Because I've always liked the idea of poison pen letters," she replied. "'Poison Pen' was taken, so the store became The Poisoned Pen."

"Charles is the only character who's bullet proof."

Barbara Peters and Carol O'Connell

After a few minutes dealing with uncooperative microphones, author Carol O'Connell and host Barbara Peters settled in to talk about Mallory's world.

There are quite a number of fans who wait patiently for a kinder, gentler Mallory to appear-- and in particular for a relationship between her and Charles Butler, the gentle giant who's been hopelessly in love with her for years. O'Connell just shakes her head. "Mallory relates to Charles the way she relates to everyone else." (In other words, don't expect a sociopath-- Mallory-- to have normal relationships.) However, we do know one thing by reading the books: in one of them, Charles, in his nineties, is looking back on life. "Charles is the only character who's bullet proof," admitted O'Connell. Peters quickly added, "But we don't know how things turn out for Mallory."

Talk then moved to O'Connell's newest book, It Happens in the Dark, about dead bodies that keep turning up at performances of a Broadway play. "I've always wanted to do Broadway," the soft-voiced O'Connell told us. "The lighting director is essential to any play and does have an important role in the book." In doing her research, O'Connell learned that people are not allowed backstage unless they are working on the production, due to insurance reasons, so O'Connell did more checking and was finally allowed backstage in an old burlesque theater.

In the book, reviewers begin calling it "A Play to Die For." O'Connell smiled and said, "It's a reverse lottery-- make your will out before attending the play. Believe me, if it's that scary, they will come."  The play, indeed, is a critical part of the book. When asked if she had to write an entire play in order to complete the book, O'Connell said, "No. I had to know how the play began and how it ended. The actual fun of writing a book is pulling it all together at the end."

Peters asked, "Is the theater critic based on anyone?" to which O'Connell replied, "I don't think I can answer that without getting sued." Other little tidbits she shared with us included a character in the play who had to wear a fat suit and all the logistics involved with that, and probably one of her best responses: "I try to leave as many bodies on the floor as Hamlet does in his closing scene."

"New York City is a character in the books."

Carol O'Connell

Barbara Peters loves the depiction of New York City in O'Connell's books, and it was easy for us all to see that the author really couldn't envision herself living anywhere else. She told us of neighborhoods that could change completely in a short period of time. O'Connell had been told that an area called The Ramble in Central Park was a mugger's paradise, so she was extremely nervous the first time she went there. It's where she found an ancient birdwatcher completely at ease. The birdwatcher asked her if she wanted to know why The Ramble was no longer dangerous, and of course O'Connell did. "The developers came and started buying up the Upper West Side. By the time they were finished, they'd outsourced crime, and crime had to move on." O'Connell loves and respects New York, and has an insatiable curiosity about it. All these combine to turn her New York commentary into poetry.

She also told us about a book signing in New York City in which a male photographer was annoying the bookseller and the crowd-- and making them all nervous. The photographer was behind O'Connell when he came up close to whisper to her, "Don't worry. I'm from the CIA." The situation wasn't helped any when a female in the audience announced to them all that she was Kathy Mallory and then pulled her jacket aside to show them her gun in a shoulder holster. At this point, O'Connell was hoping that the photographer behind her was a cop... or that he really was from the CIA!

"I'm the only prospective juror who gets laughs."

Available Now!

Lawyers seem fascinated about her occupation when O'Connell is called for jury duty. They ask her all sorts of questions, and the devil in her likes to play with them a bit. Her answers tend to get a lot of laughs from everyone.

The evening began to wind down with O'Connell talking about her writing. There is a cat called Nose in the second book in the Mallory series, The Man Who Cast Two Shadows. When the third book was published, she received a ton of letters from fans wanting to know why Mallory hadn't adopted Nose. The answer was simple: that would be completely contradictory to the type of person Mallory is.

"I trick you into believing Mallory is changing by introducing pieces of information about her past."

Most of O'Connell's reading consists of research, and when she's not reading for that purpose, she tries to find the most boring things to read that she can. Why? Because she's a chronic insomniac, and the more boring the book, the more likely it will be to put her to sleep. 

When asked about the requests for her books to be made into films or television series, O'Connell told us that her publisher, Putnam, gives all those requests to an agent in Los Angeles who "makes them all go away. No one bugs me." It's obvious that O'Connell will be quite content if none of her work shows up on large screen or small.

What book is she working on now? O'Connell refused to tell us. She doesn't give out hints on works in progress, citing a man in New York City she knows as The Poet. He's been talking about his poetry for thirty years, and in that time, he's written ten pages... and published nothing. "I don't believe in talking my work to death."

"When Mallory stops being interesting to me, there will be no more books about Mallory," O'Connell stated. She was serious, but the twinkle in her eye told me that she still finds Mallory to be very interesting indeed.

August 2013 New Mystery Releases!

This summer is turning out to be a spectacular one for me as far as reading goes-- and I know why. I've been saying (politely) "No, thank you" to 98% of the advanced readers copies that I get offered.

Instead of walking past the shelves that house my staggering numbers of books to be read and averting my eyes, I'm walking up to them, removing books, and reading them. Guess what? The numbers of A+ (AKA "Wow") books I've read is growing.

Does this mean that I've also stopped looking for books to add to those to-be-read shelves? Please, don't make me snort (and we'll both be happy). I've gleaned a baker's dozen of books I've added to to my wish list that are being released during the month of August. I've grouped them according to release dates, and naturally I've included all the information you need so you can add them to your lists, too. Yeah, I know. Ain't I nice?  *wink*

=== August 1 ===

Title: Guilt Edged
Author: Judith Cutler
Series: #6 in the Lina Townend series about an antiques dealer in England
ISBN: 9780727882936
Publisher: Severn House Publishers
Hardcover, 224 pages

Synopsis: "When a middle-aged woman enters Lina Townend’s antiques shop wanting to sell a white Beswick china horse which she claims is a cherished heirloom, Lina’s instincts tell her to avoid the sale.    Suddenly, wherever she goes, Lina sees the supposedly rare white horses.  Something strange is afoot.

As she looks further into the matter, it turns out that the horses are only the tip of the iceberg. But Lina’s investigations are attracting unwelcome attention.  With her business partner Griff laid up in hospital and her relationship with her boyfriend Morris floundering, when she herself falls under suspicion for theft, Lina doesn’t know where to turn."

Title: Tahoe Chase
Author: Todd Borg
Series: #11 in the Owen McKenna series set around Lake Tahoe, Nevada/California
ISBN: 9781931296212
Publisher: Thriller Press
Paperback, 351 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "92-year-old former Olympic ski racer Joe Rorvik is devastated when he finds his wife Cynthia down below their deck, still alive but comatose after a fall. While the fall looks like an accident, Joe Rorvik hires Tahoe Detective Owen McKenna to investigate. 

McKenna can't find anything suspicious until people close to Joe's wife start dying in other accidents. McKenna finds motive when he discovers that the victims all opposed a new ski resort development. 

Joe's wife had made friends with a young French woman named Simone Bonnaire. While Simone is in danger from her abusive boyfriend, she hasn't taken a position against the ski resort. She doesn't appear to be a target of the killer. McKenna encourages Simone to escape her boyfriend by pursuing her dream, a solo ski trek through the Desolation Wilderness. After she leaves, McKenna learns that he's made a terrible mistake and that Simone is the next to die. But he can't save her because she is out of touch and unreachable except by the killer who has already begun his final chase."

=== August 6 ===

Title: If Bread Could Rise to the Occasion

Author: Paige Shelton

Series: #3 in the Country Cooking School series set in southern Missouri

ISBN: 9780425252239

Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime

Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

Synopsis: "A fresh school year begins as Gram and Betts anxiously await the arrival of their new crop of students. But their enthusiasm is thwarted when a stranger named Freddie O’Bannon arrives and claims to have proof that he was accepted to the school despite what is in their files. And when the ghost of Cylas Gent, a young man who might have a romantic past with Gram, also appears, there are suddenly two mysteries demanding their attention.

But just as Gram and Betts start sifting through the past, one of their new students is murdered. Does the seemingly sweet Freddie O’Bannon have something sinister to hide, or are Gram’s ghosts trying to teach her a lesson? Either way, it’s up to the country cooks to catch a killer before another living soul gets burned."

Title: Heirs and Graces

Author: Rhys Bowen

Series: #7 in the Royal Spyness historical mystery series set in England

ISBN: 9780425260029

Publisher: Berkley Hardcover

Hardcover, 304 pages

Synopsis: "Here I am thinking the education I received at my posh Swiss finishing school would never come in handy. And while it hasn’t landed me a job, or a husband, it has convinced Her Majesty the Queen and the Dowager Duchess to enlist my help. I have been entrusted with grooming Jack Altringham—the Duke’s newly discovered heir fresh from the Outback of Australia—for high society.

The upside is I am to live in luxury at one of England’s most gorgeous stately homes. But upon arrival at Kingsdowne Place, my dearest Darcy has been sent to fetch Jack, leaving me stuck in a manor full of miscreants…none of whom are too pleased with the discovery of my new ward.

And no sooner has the lad been retrieved than the Duke announces he wants to choose his own heir. With the house in a hubbub over the news, Jack’s hunting knife somehow finds its way into the Duke’s back. Eyes fall, backs turn, and fingers point to the young heir. As if the rascal wasn’t enough of a handful, now he’s suspected of murder. Jack may be wild, but I’d bet the crown jewels it wasn’t he who killed the Duke…"

Title: Cover Story

Author: Erika Chase

Series: #3 in the Ashton Corners Book Club series set in Alabama

ISBN:  9780425252116

Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime

Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

Synopsis: "It’s time to celebrate when club member Molly Mathews’s childhood friend, Teensy Coldicutt, moves back to town—complete with a published book. But as the club plans Teensy’s book launch, Molly is attacked and Teensy’s books are stolen. Who would be so desperate for 150 copies of a sexy novel written by an elderly widow? Then Ashton Corners is hit with another shock when Teensy’s publisher turns up dead—and fellow club member and former police chief Bob Miller is taken into custody.

Convinced that Teensy’s missing books hold the key to the murder, Lizzie Turner and her band of readers are determined to hunt them down. But the plot thickens when their search leads them straight into a counterfeiting ring. Now they must unravel this surprise twist before the killer gets the chance to write someone else off…"

Title: Cloche and Dagger

Author: Jenn McKinlay

Series: #1 in the Hat Shop series set in London

ISBN: 9780425258897

Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime

Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

Synopsis: "Not only is Scarlett Parker’s love life in the loo—as her British cousin Vivian Tremont would say—it’s also gone viral with an embarrassing video. So when Viv suggests Scarlett leave Florida to lay low in London, she hops on the next plane across the pond. Viv is the proprietor of Mims’s Whims, a ladies’ hat shop on Portobello Road bequeathed to both cousins by their beloved grandmother, and she wants Scarlett to finally join her in the millinery business.

But a few surprises await Scarlett in London. First, she is met at the airport not by Viv, but by her handsome business manager, Harrison Wentworth. Second, Viv—who has some whims of her own—seems to be missing. No one is too concerned about the unpredictable Viv until one of her posh clients is found dead wearing the cloche hat Viv made for her—and nothing else. Is Scarlett’s cousin in trouble? Or is she in hiding?"

Title: Pall in the Family

Author: Dawn Eastman

Series: #1 in the Family Fortune series set in Michigan

ISBN:  9780425264270

Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime

Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

Synopsis: "The aptly named Crystal Haven is the destination for tourists seeking psychics, séances, and the promise of contacting the spirit world. In this small western Michigan town, everyone knows the Fortune family. Rose is gifted with tarot card readings. Her sister, Vi, is a self-proclaimed pet psychic. And Rose’s daughter Clyde is…

A cop. A cop on leave from Ann Arbor, more specifically, who’s come home to kooky Crystal Haven to reevaluate her life. Mom and Aunt Vi can’t wait for Clyde to finally embrace her own psychic gifts and join the family business. Clyde would prefer the low-stress lifestyle of a dog walker and the low-key company of her nephew, Seth.

But when a local psychic is killed, leaving behind a traumatized Shih Tzu, it seems to be in the cards for Clyde to get involved. With her old flame Mac leading the investigation, that may prove awkward. Whether she uses her skills as a cop or her long-denied psychic abilities, it’s up to Clyde to divine a killer’s identity before someone else suffers more misfortune." 

Title: A Cold White Sun

Author: Vicki Delany

Series: #6 in the Molly Smith police procedural series set in British Columbia, Canada

ISBN:  9781464201608

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press

Paperback, 250 pages

Synopsis: "It’s the end of March and Trafalgar, British Columbia, is preparing for the last influx of the seasonal skiers. Teachers, parents, and students are preparing to relax at home or head off on vacation. But for high school English teacher Cathy Lindsay, the week of relaxation doesn’t work out as planned. She’s gunned down by a sniper on a hiking trail, her small dog the only witness.

Cathy Lindsay is an unlikely candidate for a murderous ambush: she was a respected teacher, in an apparently solid marriage to an Internet developer, living a quiet life. Sergeant John Winters, with the help of young Constable Molly Smith, digs into the Lindsay marriage and friendships, searching for a motive, but one thought continually niggles at the back of his mind: is it possible this was not a random killing but a case of mistaken identity?"

Title: A Place of Confinement

Author: Anna Dean

Series: #4 in the Miss Dido Kent series set in Regency England

ISBN:  9781250029676

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Hardcover, 416 pages

Synopsis: "The dependably sharp Miss Dido Kent is suffering her sister-in-law’s attempts to marry her off to the ghastly clergyman Doctor Prowdlee. Dido, however, is determined to refuse him, as well as his abominable side whiskers. As punishment she is sent to accompany her hypochondriac—and quite wealthy—Aunt Manners on a trip to Charcombe Manor. The family hopes that revisiting her childhood home will keep Aunt Manners in good spirits, and Dido in her good graces.

However, upon their arrival it’s clear to Dido that there is much more at stake than her aunt’s favor. The rich heiress Letitia Verney has disappeared while visiting Charcombe, and Mr. Tom Lomax is suspected of abducting her. Dido is inclined to believe in his innocence, but how is she to explain by what method a young lady could enter through the front door and not appear on the other side? And this isn’t the only enigma that the Elizabethan manor holds: there is a deserted wing in which lights mysteriously appear at night, a crying ghost which keeps visitors awake, and memories of old family quarrels.

When the senior Mr. Lomax comes to town to defend his son, the mystery intensifies—and so does Dido’s romantic life. With lives and reputations on the line, it’s up to Dido to put the pieces together to save the Lomaxes and find the vanished young Miss Verney." 

Title: Eva's Eye

Author: Karin Fossum

Series: #1 in the Inspector Sejer police procedural series set in Norway. (They've finally published the first book in the series in English!!!)

ISBN: 9780547738758

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Hardcover, 304 pages

Synopsis: "The original Inspector Sejer mystery available for the first time in English.

Eva Magnus is a struggling artist and the divorced mother of a seven-year-old child, Emma. One afternoon she and Emma are walking by the river when an unknown man's body floats to the surface of the icy water. She tells her daughter to wait patiently while she calls the police, but when she reaches the phone box Eva dials another number altogether.

When the police discover the body, it doesn't take long for Inspector Sejer and his team to determine that the man, Egil, died in a violent attack. But Egil has been missing for months and the trail to his killer has gone cold. It's as puzzling as another unsolved case on Sejer's desk: the murder of a prostitute who was found dead just three days before Egil went missing.

Sejer sets to work piecing together the fragments of these two impossible cases; soon enough he realizes that they might not be as separate as they had seemed."

=== August 20 ===

Title: It Happens in the Dark

Author: Carol O'Connell'

Series: #11 in the Kathleen Mallory police procedural series set in New York City

ISBN: 9780399165399

Publisher: Putnam

Hardcover, 368 pages

Synopsis: "The reviews called it 'A Play to Die For' after the woman was found dead in the front row. It didn’t seem so funny the next night, when another body was found—this time the playwright’s, his throat slashed.

Detective Kathy Mallory takes over, but no matter what she asks, no one seems to be giving her a straight answer. The only person—if 'person' is the right word—who seems to be clear is the ghostwriter. Every night, an unseen backstage hand chalks up line changes and messages on a blackboard. And the ghostwriter is now writing Mallory into the play itself, a play about a long-ago massacre that may not be at all fictional. 'MALLORY,' the blackboard reads. 'TONIGHT’S THE NIGHT. NOTHING PERSONAL.'

If Mallory can’t find out who’s responsible, heads will roll. Unfortunately, one of them may be her own."

=== August 27 ===

Title: A Question of Honor

Author: Charles Todd

Series: #5 in the Bess Crawford historical series set in World War I-era England and France

ISBN:  9780062237156

Publisher: William Morrow

Hardcover, 320 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "Bess Crawford enjoyed a wondrous childhood in India, where her father, a colonel in the British Army, was stationed on the Northwest Frontier. But an unforgettable incident darkened that happy time. In 1908, Colonel Crawford's regiment discovered that it had a murderer in its ranks, an officer who killed five people in India and England yet was never brought to trial. In the eyes of many of these soldiers, men defined by honor and duty, the crime was a stain on the regiment's reputation and on the good name of Bess's father, the Colonel Sahib, who had trained the killer.

A decade later, tending to the wounded on the battlefields of France during World War I, Bess learns from a dying Indian sergeant that the supposed murderer, Lieutenant Wade, is alive—and serving at the Front. Bess cannot believe the shocking news. According to reliable reports, Wade's body had been seen deep in the Khyber Pass, where he had died trying to reach Afghanistan. Soon, though, her mind is racing. How had he escaped from India? What had driven a good man to murder in cold blood?

Wanting answers, she uses her leave to investigate. In the village where the first three killings took place, she discovers that the locals are certain that the British soldier was innocent. Yet the present owner of the house where the crime was committed believes otherwise, and is convinced that Bess's father helped Wade flee. To settle the matter once and for all, Bess sets out to find Wade and let the courts decide.

But when she stumbles on the horrific truth, something that even the famous writer Rudyard Kipling had kept secret all his life, she is shaken to her very core. The facts will damn Wade even as they reveal a brutal reality, a reality that could have been her own fate."

Title: How the Light Gets In
Author: Louise Penny
Series: #9 in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache police procedural series set in Canada
ISBN: 9780312655471
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Hardcover, 416 pages

Synopsis: "Christmas is approaching, and in Québec it’s a time of dazzling snowfalls, bright lights, and gatherings with friends in front of blazing hearths. But shadows are falling on the usually festive season for Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. Most of his best agents have left the Homicide Department, his old friend and lieutenant Jean-Guy Beauvoir hasn’t spoken to him in months, and hostile forces are lining up against him. When Gamache receives a message from Myrna Landers that a longtime friend has failed to arrive for Christmas in the village of Three Pines, he welcomes the chance to get away from the city. Mystified by Myrna's reluctance to reveal her friend's name, Gamache soon discovers the missing woman was once one of the most famous people not just in North America, but in the world, and now goes unrecognized by virtually everyone except the mad, brilliant poet Ruth Zardo.

As events come to a head, Gamache is drawn ever deeper into the world of Three Pines. Increasingly, he is not only investigating the disappearance of Myrna’s friend but also seeking a safe place for himself and his still-loyal colleagues. Is there peace to be found even in Three Pines, and at what cost to Gamache and the people he holds dear?"


Books, glorious books; August is awash with them! Favorite writers (like Todd Borg and Louise Penny), writers I've just discovered and want to read more of (like Anna Dean), and series that I've enjoyed, abandoned, and want to get back to (like Karin Fossum and Carol O'Connell).

Which ones of my baker's dozen caught your eye???