The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi

 

It is the 1950's and Lakshmi has finally made a life to sustain herself.  She was forced into marriage at fifteen to an abusive man who beat her every month when she wasn't pregnant.  At seventeen, she ran away from her village and family to try to make a new life for herself.  She became a henna artist and soon discovered that she had a real talent for it.  A rich man she met encouraged her and helped her move to Jaipur where he lived.  Introduced to some of the upper class including his wife, she eventually found herself the most prized henna artist in the city.  

Lakshmi has even found the money to build a house for herself.  She is about to move in when her world changes forever.  Her husband appears in Jaipur after all these years, demanding money from her.  He has brought someone else.  After Lakshmi ran away, her mother had another daughter that Lakshmi never knew about.  Both their parents are now dead and the sister, Radha, has come to live with Lakshmi.

Lakshmi is determined that Radha will have everything she never did.  She is only thirteen so there is time for her to get an education.  When Lakshmi pleases one of the ruling class, the woman offers to pay for Radha to attend the most prestigious school for girls in the city.  

Lakshmi should be happy but there are cracks in her life.  She has a second stream of income, giving women who are pregnant and don't want to be herbs and drugs to make them miscarry.  This darker money is made in partnership with the man who brought her to the city.  His wife is influential and Lakshmi is attempting to add more income by arranging a marriage for their son.  But when Lakshmi offends this woman, in a mere manner of weeks her entire world collapses as the woman abruptly takes away her support.  

This is a debut novel and was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club choice.  The author was born in India but immigrated to the United States as a teenager.  Her background is in advertising and marketing.  The novel introduces the reader to the culture and fashions of India and the caste system and lack of opportunities for women that was common in the 1950's.  Lakshmi is a strong woman but her strength make her blind at times to the strength of others as she is determined that she knows what is best for everyone.  Her constant maneuvering and willingness to do anything for money is her eventual downfall.  This book is recommended for readers of women's and historical fiction.

All The Little Hopes by Leah Weiss

 

They are best friends but it's a miracle they ever even met.  Lucy Brown is from the eastern part of North Carolina, growing up on a farm with tobacco and bees with her large family.  Now that the War is on, one of her brothers and her brother-in-law are gone overseas.  Her dad is sought out by the government for his bees.  The Army doesn't want the honey so much but needs all the beeswax he can provide for waterproofing tents.

Allie Burt Tucker is from the mountains of North Carolina.  After her mother's death, her father sends her East to help out his sister who is pregnant and needs help.  But when Burt arrives, her aunt doesn't know who she is or why she's there. The aunt hasn't seen her husband in weeks and thinks Burt is after him. She seems on the verge of a breakdown and one night she throws Burt out in a storm and tells her never to return.  Burt makes her way to Lucy's house and eventually moves in with Lucy's family.

With the war on, Lucy's dad has trouble keeping up the work of the farm plus over a hundred hives.  He trains Burt to work with the bees and also uses the help of the town's gentle giant who is a bit slow but a good worker.  Later he even uses German prisoners of war.  There is some talk about them but the men soon show that they are just like most men, some good, some bad.

Burt and Lucy do all the things thirteen year old girls do.  They tell stories, pretend to be detectives and talk about boys.  They do each other's hair.  Over the next couple of years they grow ever closer as they start to become more adult.  Burt has a close call with an older boy who pretends to like her but has other things in mind.  The girls learn about Ouija boards and use one to solve their most puzzling questions although the answers seem strange and hard to interpret.  But most of all they learn to be a family and form a friendship that will never be broken.

Leah Weiss is a bestselling author who never published until after she retired from her career as an executive assistant at a school.  Her first novel, If The Creek Don't Rise, has sold over a 100,000 copies and is also a novel of the rural South.  Weiss was born in Eastern North Carolina.  I was lucky enough to meet her at an author event when her first novel was published and she is a warm and witty woman.  The characters in this book will bring wry smiles of recognition to women as they look back on their own teenage years and the friends they shared their lives with.  This book is recommended for women's fiction readers.

The Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter

 

Will Trent and his partner Faith are called out at night to a horrific scene.  A former policeman has been found dead in a abandoned nightclub and there are women's bodies as well.  Worse for Will, it appears that one of the women is his sometime wife, Angie.

Thus starts another case that is tied to Angie and Will's background.  Along with the abuses they suffered as children, there is a woman married to a basketball player who has connections to Angie and possibly Will.  Angie is back to her old tricks, teasing Will with her presence and then disappearing, refusing to concede him to Sarah, who Will is in love with.  Will wants to be with Sarah but childhood bonds keep him tied to Angie as well.  Before the case is done, there will be revelations of domestic abuse, corrupt policemen, rape and drugs.  

This is the ninth Will Trent novel.  Although I've loved him as a character I'm ready for him to either be with Sarah and drop Angie completely or the reverse.  There was not much about Faith and Amanda, their boss, in this novel, but prior novels have given their backstories.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.

All Things That Deserve To Perish by Dana Mack

 

Elisabeth von Schwabacher has just returned to her family home in Berlin from three years of music study in Vienna.  She is an accomplished pianist and along with the fact that her father is extremely wealthy will be considered one of the catches of this year's matrimonial events.  But in 1896, there are several things against her as well.  Elisabeth's family is Jewish and there is open discrimination against them in society.  She is also quite outspoken and has returned home with ideas of what women should be able to have outside of a marriage.

Two nobles court her.  One is an old friend but she isn't interested in him romantically.  The other is from an impoverished family although their standing  in society remains high.  Elisabeth is immediately attracted to him but isn't sure she wants to marry anyone.  She decides that this close to the nineteenth century she should be able to do as she pleases and determines that she will take him as a lover.  The noble is more than willing and she does so.  Her family discovers this and are appalled.  They send her away to relatives.

But love will out and the noble and Elisabeth eventually marry.  She goes to his estate only to be shocked at how different it is from the heights of Berlin society.  His family is open with their distaste for her Jewishness as are the other families in the area.  

Dana Mack is a historian, musician and journalist.   This is her debut novel but her articles on various subjects have appeared in publications including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Christian Science Monitor and the Washington Post.  Her background has made her the perfect author to write this novel about women's changing roles in society and the fact that the Jewish population were being ostracized long before Hitler came to power.  This book is recommended for historical fiction readers.

Midstream by Lynn Sloan

 

Polly Wainwright has drifted through her twenties and early thirties.  She once dreamed of making movies but has settled for a job as a picture editor. She moved from her life in New York back to Chicago when her mother was injured in a car crash and just stayed there.  Polly has a partner but he is a war correspondent and has been overseas covering the end of the Vietnam War and his letters are becoming more and more impersonal.  She has an apartment she likes and a routine that just a bit too comfortable.

Then Polly's world falls apart.  Her steady job is suddenly in jeopardy.  Her best friend is facing a serious illness.  She realizes that her boyfriend may not come home and resume their relationship.  What will she do with the rest of her life which is, she realizes, her responsibility to carve into what she wants?

This is a lovely book.  I felt like Polly was one of my best friends as I could relate so totally with her dreams and struggles.  When I was her age, I knew women who just drifted into a life that fit other people's expectations of what women should do and I knew women who took charge and made their lives what they had always wanted it to be.  The book was set in 1974 and this was the time when the feminist movement was strong and women thought about whether the way things had always been for women was going to be enough for them.  Polly is a character that will remain with readers long after the last page is read.  This book is recommended for readers of women's fiction.

The Prince Of Mournful Thoughts by Caroline Kim

 

These twelve stories by Caroline Kim explore the Korean culture and their immigrant experience through time.  The first story, Mr. Oh, is about a middle-aged man who has come to America.  He has a wife who he loves more than she loves him and two successful grown children.  He has a laundromat and he has unexplained pains and depression that he wants explanations for.  His life hasn't turned out as he imagined and he isn't sure what's next.

My favorite story was Magdelena.  A sixteen year old girl tells about going on a picnic with immigrant families on her birthday and then about going with her mother to check on an older woman from their church.  They find the woman near death, dehydrated and almost starving.  She is obviously on the brink of a psychotic breakdown and the girl's mother calls an ambulance and then accompanies the woman leaving her daughter behind to work out what all of this means.  

Readers who are interested in other cultures will enjoy these stories as will anthology readers.  Kim attempts to convey the entirety of the Korean experience, especially that of those who have been forced to move elsewhere in order to survive.  This book is recommended for anthology readers and those interested in the Asian culture.

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

 

Marion Graves and her twin brother Jamie were only six weeks old when their first brush with notoriety occurred.  They were passengers on the cruise ship their father captained when it ran into trouble and capsized.  Many died including their mother and their father was shamed since he chose to save the babies rather than be the last man on board.  He was imprisoned and the twins were sent to Montana to be raised by his brother.

The uncle had no idea how to raise children and was an alcoholic.  He basically let the children run free and raise themselves.  Marian fell in love with flying when some barnstormers came through town.  She was determined to do whatever it took to learn how to fly, dropping out of school at fourteen so she could earn money.  Marian married young to a bootlegger who wanted to control her.  Marian flew the liquor into the States for him but eventually left him to be free.  She ran to Alaska and took another name, living under the radar and flying visitors and supplies into small Alaskan towns.  

Later she was a pilot in World War II, one of the women who flew transport craft from the factory to where they were needed.  She met Ruth and Eddie, a couple she grew close to.  Ruth was also a pilot and Eddie was a navigator.  After the war, she was at loose ends until she met with a woman of great fortune who offered to sponsor Marian's dream.  That dream was to fly around the world, flying over the North and South poles, a flight that had never been made.  Marian could not be dissuaded and took off with Eddie as her navigator.  They never made it and their bodies were never found although the last sighting of them had been in Antarctica.  

Now, one hundred years later, an actress is hired to portray Marian in a film about her life.  The actress, Haley Baxter, has a fellow feeling for Marian.  Haley's parents had been killed in a plane crash when she was a small child and she was also raised by an uncle.  Haley became a child star in Hollywood and then when a scandal broke, she was hounded off her movie and television career.  She needs a comeback badly and the film about Marian might just provide it.  But as she reads the script, starts to make the film and researches Marian's life, she thinks she has found out some of Marian's biggest secrets.  What should she do with this new information?

Maggie Shipstead has written a novel that is fascinating about a woman who won't be boxed into anyone else's thoughts about what she should do.  The novel has been nominated for both the Man Booker Prize and the Women's Prize For Fiction.  Marion is a mysterious woman, determined to do whatever she chooses rather than following society's strictures.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.

Long Gone by Alafair Burke

 

It seems too good to be true.  Alice Montgomery is attending an art exhibit when she is approached by another patron--an attractive, charming man.  They talk and Alice is amazed when the man says that he is helping a friend open an art galley and he is looking for someone to run it.  Alice's last job was in an art galley but since being laid off, she hasn't worked for a year.  She jumps at the chance and agrees to meet the man in the next few days once he has picked out a location.

In New Jersey, a teenage girl runs away.  Was it typical teenage angst or had she run away to escape the bullying she is encountering in high school?  Her mother had never told her about her father but had she run off to try to find him?  The police investigate but don't find much in the way of answers except that her fingerprints are inside the galley that Alice has just opened.

Hank is an FBI agent.  He is obsessed with a man who is a Dirty John figure--he charms women, gets all of their assets in his name then disappears.  The last woman who fell for his schemes is Hank's sister.  The man escaped all charges after her death but Hank is determined to bring him to justice.  He surveils him in his spare time even though he has been warned at work to stop and that unapproved suveillance could cost him his job.

Everything is brought to a head and the disparate threads merge when Alice opens the galley one morning to find it completely stripped of everything; pictures, desks, telephones, office supplies.  The only thing left is a body and it's the body of the man who is Alice's galley contact.  The police question her and her answers don't satisfy them.  It becomes apparent that Alice is the chief suspect and there are questions that the police aren't even investigating.  Can Alice solve the murder?

This is Alafaire Burke's first stand alone novel.  It is fascinating to watch the plot unfold and the various threads weave together into a story that makes sense.  There are hints of relationships that will continue after the case and it is always interesting to think about what happens to people swept up in a police investigation afterwards.  Alice is the archtype of a young woman trying to make it on her own in New York although she has a family that can rescue her when needed.  This book is recommended for mystery fans.

Void Moon by Michael Connelly

 

To the average person, Cassie Black seems like the typical L.A. woman, all business and a bit remote.  She is selling luxury cars but doesn't date the customers who ask her out.  Her boss knows what almost no one else does.  Cassie has just gotten out of prison for manslaughter and is on parole.  Her boss had a similar story at one time and tries to help those in her situation.  The only other person who knows is her parole officer.

Cassie is trying her best to just live her life and get off parole but her itch is back.  She was one of the best cat burglars around and the manslaughter was from a job where things went south and her partner died.  That partner was also the love of Cassie's life and she hasn't been back to Los Vegas since.  But she contacts someone in the business and asks for a job.  She was given the job of stealing from a high roller. He was on a big roll and winning big.  He had a case he kept handcuffed to him whenever he left the tables and Cassie was to steal that case and whatever was in the safe in his room.  The catch: it would have to be done while he was in the room sleeping.

Cassie doesn't like the job.  It's in the same city and even the same casino where her lover was killed.  But she does want the money and agrees to the job.  Things seem to go well and she gets the case but that's the last thing that goes right.  Now she has the owners of the money and the police and a private eye all on her trail.  Can she get away?

This is a standalone novel by Michael Connelly and not one in the Harry Bosch series.  The author obviously researched techniques for safe cracking and installing surveillance cameras as well as picking door locks.  Cassie is a remote figure throughout most of the book as she has learned to be but by the end the reader will be pulling for her to succeed.  This book is recommended for mystery readers. 

Bob Goes To Jail by Rob Sedgwick

 

Rob Sedgwick was born into a wealthy, talented family.  They lived in houses with sixteen bedrooms in New York City, houses with art from names such as Jackson Pollock on the walls.  Rob had two siblings, Kyra Sedgwick, the actress and Nicco, who is an artist.  Rob was an actor with roles in movies and on soap operas.  But apparently that wasn't enough.  From an early age, Rob and his friends experimented with drugs and soon were heavy users.  In his twenties, Rob agreed with a friend to let his grandparent's house, where he was staying while they toured Europe, serve as a safe house for a large marijuana operation.  Rob was thrilled with the money he got and the swagger he acquired as a drug dealer.  He dated a stripper and delighted in taking his friends to watch her perform.  His fantasy world crashed when the DEA showed up at the door and arrested him and the rest of the crew.

Rob was facing jail, perhaps five years or more.  But his family jumped to his defense.  Rob immediately started cooperating with the DEA, naming his accomplices and detailing the operation.  His family obtained an expensive lawyer who gave Rob a checklist of activities to perform before the trial.  Eventually he had his day in court, where he got a four year sentence which was suspended.

Many readers will find this memoir a fun read.  I was less entranced.  The story of rich kids doing whatever they wanted, running wild in New York City and various vacation homes was not appealing.  The contempt he had towards women, ditching his long time girlfriend when she got pregnant and going to prostitutes left a bad taste for me.  While the book was paced in an entertaining fashion and has gotten good reviews from many readers, others will find themselves more appalled than entertained.  This book is recommended for those interested in the New York rich and famous.  

The Hanged Man's Song by John Sandford

 

Kidd calls Bobby his friend although they have never met in person.  They are both computer hackers and Bobby heads up the group of those who make their living this way.  When Kidd can't get in contact with Bobby, he knows its time to make the journey to Bobby's house.  When he gets there, he finds what he had half expected and dreaded--Bobby has been killed.  Worse, the laptop that may hold all the details of who is in the group and what they have been doing for years has been stolen.

With his sometime girlfriend, LuEllen, Kidd and another friend, start to unravel Bobby's life and determine who has killed Bobby and what they plan to do with the information on the laptop.  It's an involved chase and there are other deaths along the way.  Will Kidd be successful?

This is the fourth and final novel in the Kidd series.  It was published in 2004 and eighteen years is a lifetime in computer terms so the technical side is a bit antiquated.  But the story of murder and retribution is fresh and interesting and the reader will be totally involved in the chase.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.

Booksie's Shelves, May 1, 2022

 

How can it be May already?  This year is flying by.  March Madness was an exciting time this year with my beloved Tarheels making it to the championship game.  I've been a Tarheel fan before Michael Jordan played for them so this was one of the few things that can tear me away from reading.  Our North Carolina spring is gorgeous with forsythia, daffodils, roses and azaleas blooming everywhere.  My birthday was in April so that means lots of new books.  Here's what's come through the door:

1. A Thousand Moons, Sebastian Barry, literary fiction, purchased
2. The Searcher, Tana French, mystery, purchased
3. A Prayer For The Crown-Shy, Becky Chambers, fantasy, won in contest
4. Sleepwalk, Dan Chaon, literary fiction, sent by publisher
5. Notes On Your Sudden Disappearance, Alison Espach, literary fiction, sent by publisher
6. Winter's Reckoning, Adele Holmes, historical fiction, sent by publisher
7. Birds Of California, Katie Cotugno, literary fiction, won in contest
8. Elsewhere, Alexis Schaitkin, literary fiction, sent by publisher
9. The Kingdoms Of Savannah, George Dawes Green, mystery, sent by publisher
10. Blurred Fates, Anastasia Zadeik, literary fiction, sent by publisher
11. Midstream, Lynn Sloan, literary fiction, sent by publisher
12. The Sharp Edge Of Mercy, Connie Hertzberg Mayo, literary fiction, sent by publisher
13. Every Man A Menace, Patrick Hoffman, mystery, purchased
14. A June Of Ordinary Murders, Conor Brady, mystery, purchased
15. Redhead By The Side Of The Road, Anne Tyler, literary fiction, purchased
16. The House At Sea's End, Elly Griffiths, mystery, purchased
17. The Birdwatcher, William Shaw, mystery, purchased
18. Perfidia, James Ellroy, literary fiction, purchased

Here are the ebooks I've bought:

1. Sixteen Ways To Defend A Walled City, K. J. Parker, historical fiction
2. The Folding Knife, K. J. Parker, fantasy
3. Orlando, Virginia Woolf, literary fiction
4. A Death Most Monumental, J.D. Kirk, mystery
5. L. A. Confidential, James Ellroy, literary fiction
6. The Big Nowhere, James Ellroy, literary fiction
7. The Final Empire, Brandon Sanderson, fantasy
8. The Well Of Ascension, Brandon Sanderson, fantasy
9. The Hero Of Ages, Brandon Sanderson, fantasy
10. Hounded, Kevin Hearne, fantasy
11. A Line To Kill, Anthony Horowitz, mystery
12. Utopia Avenue, David Mitchell, literary fiction
13. Or Else, Joe Hart, mystery
14. The Book Of Accidents, Chuck Wendig, science fiction
15. L. A. Requiem, Robert Crais, mystery
16. Dream Girl, Laura Lippman, mystery
17. Engines Of Empire, R. S. Ford, science fiction
18. The Heroes, Joe Abercrombie, fantasy
19. The Harlech Beach Killings, Simon McCleave, mystery
20. True North, Jim Harrison, literary fiction
21. Strip, Thomas Perry, mystery
22. A Small Hotel, Robert Olen Butler, literary fiction
23. Broken Verses, Kamila Shamsie, literary fiction
24. Forty Thieves, Thomas Perry, mystery
25. The Fifth Heart, Dan Simmons, horror
26. The Sentence, Louise Erdrich, literary fiction
27. Indigo Slam, Robert Crais, mystery
28. Slow Horses, Mick Herron, spy fiction
29. The Vanishing Triangle, Claire McGowan, true crime
30. The Hand That First Held Mine, Maggie O'Farrell, literary fiction
31. Never See Them Again, M. William Phelps, true crime
32. Voodoo River, Robert Crais, mystery
33. Kiss Of The She-Devil, M. William Phelps, true crime
34. If Looks Could Kill, M. William Phelps, true crime
35. Dead Certain, Peter James, mystery
36. Sharp Ends, Joe Abercrombie, anthology
37. The Little Friend, Donna Tartt, literary fiction
38. The Hidden Soldier, Eoin Dempsey, historical fiction
39. December Park, Ronald Malfi, horror
40. The Bomb Maker, Thomas Perry, mystery
41. The Tiger And The Wolf, Adrian Tchaikovsky, science fiction
42. Count Zero, William Gibson, science fiction
43. Poison Flower, Thomas Perry, mystery
44. Revelator, Daryl Gregory, science fiction
45. The Tiger's Daughter, K. Arsenault Rivera, fantasy
46. The Phoenix Empress, K. Arsenault Rivera, fantasy
47. The Warrior Moon, K. Arsenault Rivera, fantasy
48. Version Zero, David Yoon, science fiction
49. The WVU Coed Murders, Geoffrey Fuller, true crime
50. The Bread The Devil Knead, Lisa Allen-Agostini, literary fiction
51. Salt Lick, Lulu Allison, literary fiction
52. The Crossing Places, Elly Griffiths, mystery
53. Guards! Guards!, Terry Prachett, fantasy
54. Sandman Slim, Richard Kadrey, fantasy
55. The Girl That Was Taken, Charlie Donlea, mystery
56. Little Eyes, Samantha Schweblin, science fiction
57. What Are You Going Through, Sigrid Nunez, literary fiction
58. The Dark Horse, Craig Johnson, mystery
59. Ship Of Magic, Robin Hobb, fantasy
60. God On The Rocks, Jane Gardam, mystery
61. The Treatment, Mo Hayder, mystery

Here's what I'm reading:

1. Great Circle, Maggie Shipstead, Kindle
2. Gathering Storm, Robert Jordan, hardback
3. Long Gone, Alafair Burke, mystery
4. The Kept Woman, Karin Slaughter, kindle
5. The Prince Of Mournful Thoughts, Carolina Kim, paperback
6. Dodge City, Tom Clavin, paperback
7. Bob Goes To Jail, Rob Sedgewick, audio

Happy Reading!

The City Of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty

 

Nahri is a very successful con woman in the bazaars of Cairo in the eighteenth century.  She has always had to survive by her wits; she doesn't remember anything about her family or how she got to Cairo.  But things are about to change.  One day she inadvertently summons Dava, a djinn of mighty powers.  He recognizes Nahri as a healer but they are forced to flee Cairo.  Dava feels responsible for Nahri and decides that they must go to the Brass City, Daevabad.  

The two flee across the desert on a long trip.  Along the way, Nahri finds out some history on Dava.  He was a resident of Daevabad, one of three factions in the city.  A war broke out between the groups and war crimes were committed.  Dava's family was massacred and in return, he killed so many of the other side that he was named The Scrouge.  He was enslaved and lived as a slave for many years.  His body died but he is fourteen hundred years old.   All of Nahri's family and the rest of her group were killed in the war and she is the only surviving healer.  As such, Dava believes she will be honored and protected.  The two encounter horrible beasts along the way but eventually arrive.

The emperor of the city welcomes Nahri and tolerates Dava as her companion.  He has two sons.  The elder will be the next emperor but spends his time drinking and partying.  The younger, Ali, has been trained as a warrior since he was a toddler.  There is instant antipathy between he and Dava and both are drawn to Nahri.  Will war break out again with Dava leading the opposing forces?

This is the first of the Daevabad Trilogy.  It was a finalist for both the British and World Best Fantasy Award.  The world building is superb with magical creatures and intricate histories for the various factions.  The rivalry between Dava and Ali is a major pivot point in this book and will be encountered in the others in the trilogy.  The setting is believable and a location and mythology that is not commonly encountered in fantasy.  This book is recommended for fantasy readers who are looking for something a bit different.

Unseen by Karin Slaughter

 

Things are not going well in Macon, Georgia.  A new drug lord has moved into the city and the Georgia Bureau of Investigations thinks he may have inflitrated the police department.  Will Trent has been sent there to work uncover after a tip from Lena Adams, the woman Will's girlfirend, Sarah Linton, blames for her husband's murder.  After Jeffrey was killed, Lena went to Macon and there she met and married Jeffrey's son, Jared.

Men break into Lena and Jared's house to kill them.  Lena manages to kill the men but not before Jared is shot with a shotgun.  Now he is in the ICU and Jared's mother has called Sarah to come to the hospital.  Lena is hiding a secret from the police with the help of a superior officer and that secret is bringing down more death and destruction.  The mayhem and the fact that Will has to be discreet about his undercover role causes issues between Will and Sarah.  Can Will bring down the drug dealing ring before it breaks up his relationship?

This is the seventh book in the Will Trent series.  The conflicts between Sarah and Will are getting a bit old as this book states that they have been together now for two years.  All of the uncertainty and secrets should have been resolved by now.  But the plot is tense and intricate and the resolution is satisfying.  Lena has been painted as a problem individual since she was first introduced and this book gives her back some of her humanity and a way for her to go forward into the future.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.

Notes From The Burning Age by Claire North

 

Ven has lived through the Burning.  He lived in the monastery, not as a priest but as an archivist who preserved the knowledge of previous ages.  He had the ability to translate these texts that had been largely lost in the populace.  The monastery was very protective of this knowledge, holding it secret so that those who brought about the Burning can't do so again.

But knowledge has a charisma and serves as a lure to those who want power.  In Ven's case, that is The Brotherhood who is determined that Ven will translate every document and give them the tools that will allow them to rule over all.  Ven gives them snippets and becomes a spy against them.  Over the years, he will be held in respect, imprisoned and threatened with torture and degraded daily as the personal slave of a cruel ruler.  With help from his network he manages to escape and raise resistance to The Brotherhood.  Which side will win?

This novel feels like it is set in medieval times.  It is an intricate retelling of how the world almost ended and how it may yet if those who are power hungry gain the secrets of the world before. I listened to this novel and the narrator has the perfect voice to bring Ven to life.   Ven is a fascinating character as are those he encounters both those who are horrific and those who provide care and love.  The author has written many novels and uses several pen names.  Readers will remember her 2014 novel, The First Fifteen Lives Of Harry August, which made the Washington Post Books Of The Year list.  This book is recommended for science fiction fans who enjoy dystopian novels.  

Dreaming Spies by Laurie R. King

 

Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, have been working a case in India for many weeks.  Their next stop will be California but they decide to break the trip with a stay in Japan where neither of them have ever been.  They board a cruise ship for a trip that will take many weeks.  That makes those riding with them very important.  They are thrilled to meet Haruki Sato, a young Japanese woman returning home who agrees to teach them the language and customs of Japan while on the trip.  They are less pleased to see another group of travelers.  Lord Darcy is a figure from Holmes' past and a blackmailer working in the upper reaches of society.  Holmes despises blackmailers and is determined to keep an eye on Darcy, his new wife and his grown son while on the trip.

The couple is shocked when an evening stroll on the ship reveals Haruki balancing far above on a line and more shocked when she confides in them that she is a ninja, the class of warrior below samurai.  She serves the Emperor and more commonly, his son who is Emperor in all but name as the presiding Emperor is in quite bad health.  

When Holmes and Russell reach Japan, Haruki travels with them, introducing them to Japanese baths, food, architecture and inns.  In one of these, they meet the young soon to be Emperor and he requests their help.  Several years before he gave a book to the English king to show appreciation for his hosting.  He learns later that it is a priceless treasure that should never have left Japan and contains a secret document that is critically important.  He is now being blackmailed by Lord Darcy to get the book back.  Russell and Holmes agree to help but the book is lost along with Lord Darcy's life in the blackmail attempt.

Two years later, Russell returns home one night to find Haruki in her kitchen bleeding profusely.  She is in England to try again to retrieve the book and now the blackmail amount is four times as much.  Can she and the Holmes/Russell couple succeed where they failed before?

This is the thirteenth novel in this series and it won the Agatha Award for Best Historical Fiction.  Readers will enjoy reading more about the relationship between the couple as well as their working lives and will learn much about Japan in the 1920's.  This has been a successful series for King and she plans to continue writing novels in it.  This book is recommended for Holmes fans and readers who enjoy historical mysteries. 

The Death Of Santini by Pat Conroy

 

In this autobiographical novel, Pat Conroy details his adult life.  Readers will remember his childhood from his great novel, The Great Santini and his life in high school from the novel based on it, The Prince Of Tides.  Conroy grew up in a Marine family with a fighter pilot for a father.  His father was abusive to Conroy's wife and the seven children, beating them all for little or no reason, making their lives full of anxiety and brutality.

In this book, Conroy details how as an adult, he was reconciled with his father and mother after their divorce.  Conroy himself had three marriages with another long time relationship and three daughters.  But his first two marriages ended in adultery and fighting.  He also reconciled with most of his siblings although the sister who was closest in age to him holds him in contempt and hatred.  The youngest son grew up and lived the life of a schizophrenic and ended up killing himself.  Pat details all of these tragedies and the stories of his extended family on both sides.

In addition, he talks about each book he wrote and what the reaction was to each.  His first book was The Water Is Wide and the people of Beaufort, SC, which was the place he most considered home, were not pleased to be shown as racists who were denying a decent education to the black children descended from the Gullah people.  His novels created outrage and disharmony within his family and his detailing of the brutal education he got at the military college, the Citadel, also was a revelation to many.  But Conroy continued to write his truth and was a very successful novelist.

His third marriage, to Cassandra King, lasted twenty-eight years, ending only with Conroy's death.  Conroy had good relationships with many authors and never forgot a kindness shown to him or to his family.  In my mind, Conroy is one of the great American authors who details the South and the live Southern people live.  This book is recommended for those who enjoy biographies or those who love  the Conroy books.  

Mythic World by Kerby Rosanes

 

Mythic World is a glorious coloring book for adults.  The illustrations are from legends and mythical creatures from around the world.  There are eighty-six pages of incredibly detailed panels to color.  At the back of the book, there are explanations of each legend with the country of origin.  Rosanes is a Phillipines-based illustrator who started his intricate illustrations as a hobby and now works full-time as his fame has grown.  This book is recommended for adults who enjoy coloring.

Shadow Man by Alan Drew

 

Rancho Santa Elena is a bedroom community in California.  Residents come there for the low crime and the excellent public schools, fleeing the dirt and crime of the cities.  The constant construction of new houses is changing the landscape, destroying the ranches and horse trails that had given the city its name.

Detective Ben Wade grew up there.  He left and worked in a city police force but as his daughter, Emma, grew older, he and his wife decided to move back home.  Unspoken was the thought that a move might save his marriage but that didn't work out and his wife, Rachel, is now an ex-wife and Ben lives alone up on the ranch he grew up on.

Now evil has come to the town.  A serial killer is riding the interstates, emerging at night to find victims.  He breaks into houses, often through unlocked doors, and strangles the women he finds there.  The police force is on high alert trying to catch him.  Ben is involved in the case although he is also working the death of a teenage boy found in a strawberry field, the child of immigrants.  Ben worries about his wife and daughter, now alone in a condo and he worries about his town.

Ben was a swimmer at the high school growing up and the teenage boy was also.  Santa Elena has a famous swimming program that produces scholarship level swimmers who win state records and some of whom even make the Olympic team.  But Ben knows there is a dark secret that is the other side of the success and glory that swimming brings the boys.  Somehow it all seems intertwined, the killer, the secrets kept by the city and the boys sacrificed to keep the secret going.  Can Ben save his city?

This is an interesting exploration of several themes.  The erosion of unsettled places as people flee crime, the dark secrets that everyone is suspicious about but not willing to deal with, the effect that teenage trauma can have on adults throughout their lives and the ability to finally confront the evil that has haunted one are all found here.  Readers will be interested in the main character, Ben, and hope that he finds a way forward through the memories that haunt him.  The next book in this series is going to be released later this year and readers will get a chance to see what Ben is like after the events in this book.  This book is recommended for readers of psychological suspense.  

The Water's Lovely by Ruth Rendell

 

Ismay and Heather are sisters and they share a flat.  Their mother and aunt live upstairs as the mother has mental issues.  The sisters are close, perhaps too close, Ismay thinks.  Their mother's troubles started after the death of her husband, the sister's stepfather.  Ismay has always had suspicions that Heather had something to do with that death as the stepfather drowned in the bath and Heather was the only other person home. Ismay wonders if Heather drowned him to protect Ismay from him as he seemed to have more than a stepfather's interest in her.   But nothing was said at the time and now she can't ask Heather about it.

Both of the women have recently found relationships.  Heather has Edmund and she is the first woman Edmund has fallen for.  The two move in together and later marry.  Ismay is madly in love with Andrew but he seems less committed to her. He also desperately despises Heather and Edmund and threatens to leave Ismay unless she gets rid of them.  Then he leaves her anyway for another woman.  When the new woman is found dead, Ismay wonders if Heather is protecting her again.  

Then there is Marion.  Entering her forties, Marion has always had to live by her wits, taking low-paying jobs helping elderly people who she hoodwinks and steals from.  Marion finds out about the earlier death and starts to blackmail Ismay.  How will this play out?

Ruth Rendell specialized in books of psychological suspense.  This book falls into that category.  The reader is drawn into the sisters' lives and the conflicts they are going through.  There are multiple threads, all of which end up being intertwined and satisfactorily resolved.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.