Tuesday Book Review

Four-star review of The Body in the Sleigh by Katherine Hall Page

 

In this entry to the long series about a minister’s wife who more often than not can be found investigating a crime, the Fairchilds are on Sanpere Island in Maine for the Christmas holiday. Tom is recovering from surgery, but Faith discovers a dead body of a young woman in a sleigh that’s part of the town’s decorations for the holiday. Throw in an abandoned baby and you get a well-written Christmas mystery. A quick and enjoyable read.

Tuesday Book Reviews

Four-star review of The Hill of Secrets by Galina Vromen

The author has requested that I state that this review contains spoilers. (Actually, she wanted me to remove spoilers from the reviews om Amazon and Goodreads). Therefore, I'll leave a space in case you don't want to read the spoilers)

There were parts of this book that I loved, including the setting, since I’ve been there several times and even sold my book at Fuller Lodge, the mentions of Maria Martinez’s San Ildefonso beautiful pottery, the exploration of the reactions of families uprooted from their homes and brought to the somewhat desolate yet beautiful area, and even most of the characters. I could have done without the romance between a sixteen-year-old girl and a twenty-something boy as well as the extramarital affair, although both played into the story. The changing attitudes of a few characters toward what was being created at Los Alamos was very real. I’ve seen the movie Oppenheimer, which did not touch on some of what was described in this book, and I’ve read other books about what it was like there during the war. This fills in what was missing from those books.

Tuesday Book Review on Wednesday

Four-star review of Circle in the Water by Marcia Muller

I usually love Muller’s mysteries, especially the Sharon McCone ones, but this didn’t have the spark of previous novels in the series. I still enjoyed reading how Sharon and Hy and their operatives worked out what was behind a series of pranks played on several privately-owned streets in San Francisco.  It’s always enjoyable to spend time with the official and unofficial members of the investigative company. Still, there were too many hints early on as to who the culprits were and the short novel was over too soon.  

Tuesday Book Review on Wednesday

Five-star review for Alchemy’s Reach  by Chris Allen and Pat Walkow

 When Jennifer Murphy finds an old map of an old town in southeastern New Mexico not far from where she runs the family ranch, she has no idea how it would change her life. Until recently covered by a lake that had dried up due to a drought, Alchemy was considered a ghost town by Oldtimers. When Jennifer’s brother returns from a job as a logger in Oregon and she shows him the map, he and his dog set off to explore. This murder mystery was a quick and easy read. The descriptions of life in smalltown New Mexico are dead on. The characters are interesting and the dogs are fun. 

Tuesday Book Review

Four-star review for The Silent Watcher by Victor Mentos

This gritty thriller about the investigation of similar murders of groups of family members carried out by a detective who seems to crave pain and an advocate and legal representative for juvenile victims, called a guardian ad litem was a gripping fast read. I found the detective as unlikable as the GAL was likable. The behaviors of the judges and lawyers were predictable and also hard to take. Okay, so this takes place in Las Vegas, which we’re reminded often, especially whenever the detective drives to a dive bar in the older part of the city, and the novel is redeemed by the plot and unusual viewpoint of the GAL. Toss in hints of cannibalism and other unsavory practices, this might be too unsavory for some.