Books and other stuff I feel like discussing
By education and experience - Accountant with a specialty in taxation. Formerly a CPA (license has lapsed). Masters degree in law of taxation from University of Denver. Now retired. Part time work during baseball season as receptionist & switchboard operator for the Colorado Rockies. This gig feeds my soul in ways I have trouble articulating. One daughter, and four grandchildren. I share the house with two cats; a big goof of a cat called Grinch (named as a joke for his easy going "whatever" disposition); and Lady, a shelter adoptee with a regal bearing and sweet little soprano voice. I would be very bereft if it ever becomes necessary to keep house without a cat.
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Books Update - Suspense Titles
Here's my reading log for suspense titles:
MOSCOW RULES Daniel Silva
Silva's protagonist Gabriel Allon is a skilled art reconstruction expert. He would like nothing better than to spend the rest of his life working on renaissance paintings in need of a spruce-up. But his other life as an operative for Israeli intelligence comes calling every single time, and he is off to hunt bad guys. In this installment, a murder of a Russian journalist sets off a tangle of intrigue. Allon must grab the lovely wife of a Kremlin bigshot away from her sheltered life in order to go after the baddie behind the scenes.
HIT AND RUN Lawrence Block
I've heard continuing rumors that Block is readying himself to conclude his writing career. The last Matt Scudder (ALL THE FLOWERS ARE DYING) seemed to wrap up that series, and the latest adventures of Keller appear to do the same. When Keller realizes he is being set up for a political assassination charge, he goes on the run, eventually tracking down the truth. Block's recent appearances on some TV talk shows also make me think this is probably the last book in this series.
IN THE WOODS Tana French
A cop in Ireland is assigned to the murder investigation after a young girl is found dead in a construction zone near her home. Complicating his efficiency are his memories of his own survival of an abduction from the same area. During the abduction, two of his playmates died. A complicated psychological novel, with many layers of meaning.
ACTS OF NATURE Jonathon King
Max Freeman and his girl friend are caught unaware in the Everglades by a powerful hurricane, and she is grievously injured. Hoping against hope that they will be missed and located, they encounter two other groups moving through damaged landscape. Not surprisingly, the reader cannot assume that when Max and Sherry are found, that their problems are over. As in previous books, King lets the reader see events from more than one point of view.
BREAKING COVER J D Rhoades
Rhoades writes in a genre dubbed "redneck noir" with characters who live and work in the smaller towns of the American southeast. In his latest, an FBI agent who worked undercover for years collecting evidence on the misdeeds of a vicious motorcycle gang has walked away from his FBI assignment and broken communication with his former life. When he is suddenly confronted with a vicious crime against two children, he intervenes to help them and his cover is blown.
CITY OF FIRE Robert Ellis
A cop newly assigned to homicide must prove herself when a series of murders contains disturbing similarities. Ellis moves back and forth between the killer's point of view and that of the cops, and along the way provides intriguing glimpses into many lesser known neighborhoods of Los Angeles.
BROKEN HEARTLAND J M Hayes
Taking a cue from television's "24" series of programs, in which all action is packed into one day, Hayes presents election day in a small Kansas town, where the sheriff faces stiff opposition. Violence in a local school, and a mysterious body found in the wreckage of a highway accident demand the sheriff's attention and complicate the political decisions faced by the small community. In the end, a rather uplifting read for an election year!
UNDERGROUND Kat Richardson
Harper Blaine is a private investigator working in Seattle. In the opening book of this series, she was injured in a dust up with a disgruntled client, and clinically dead for about 2 minutes. Now she has the ability to move between this world and the next, and is always aware of the presence of things that "go bump in the night." With this unusual skill, she is approached for all sorts of bizarre detective work by all sorts of unusual clients.
In this entry, she receives an appeal to help locate the killer of some of Seattle's homeless, living in the area of the downtown area known as "the underground." Although many tourists in Seattle visit this vestige of the city's history, the portion Harper is working in is far more sinister.
FEARLESS FOURTEEN Janet Evanovich
For a silly, light break from the everyday, in my opinion, nothing beats the latest Stephanie Plum (mis)adventure from Evanovich. Stephanie manages in book after book to stay one step ahead of total disaster. In this latest, the temporary incarceration of a small time shop lifter leads to a wild romp and plenty of laughs. I was going to call this my "guilty pleasure" but I'm not the least bit guilty. I'll always put my name on the library holds list for one of her books.
WHITE NIGHTS Ann Cleeves
Cleeves sets her series in the Shetland Islands, with a policeman who grew up on a nearby island, but is not part of the somewhat insular community he is assigned to protect. To add to the tension, a British policeman often arrives assigned to assist in the investigations, and his presence creates a second layer of potential misstep and misunderstanding. The series is pleasantly readable, with a minimum of gore, and an enjoyable emphasis on human frailty as a motive for murder.
With many in the community on edge in the long midsummer hours of daylight, a visitor to the area is found hanging in a fisherman's shed. But forensic investigation reveals that he was dead before his body was strung up by the noose - so the police are looking for a murderer. Eventually long standing questions about other disappearances are answered, and long festering feelings of betrayal and abandonment are revealed at the heart of the tragedy.
THE BRASS VERDICT Michael Connelly
Connelly brings back Mickey Haller - the "Lincoln Lawyer" of two or three previous books. Recovering from serious injury and addiction to pain pills, Haller is thrust back into the demands of a high profile trial when a colleague is murdered and had named him as a successor to his practice. On the sidelines this time is Harry Bosch, the protagonist of many of Connelly's earlier books, who is investigating the death of the murdered lawyer. The two men feel their way cautiously to a working relationship which will meet both their aims. Connelly is one of the best at keeping his characters fresh.
MOSCOW RULES Daniel Silva
Silva's protagonist Gabriel Allon is a skilled art reconstruction expert. He would like nothing better than to spend the rest of his life working on renaissance paintings in need of a spruce-up. But his other life as an operative for Israeli intelligence comes calling every single time, and he is off to hunt bad guys. In this installment, a murder of a Russian journalist sets off a tangle of intrigue. Allon must grab the lovely wife of a Kremlin bigshot away from her sheltered life in order to go after the baddie behind the scenes.
HIT AND RUN Lawrence Block
I've heard continuing rumors that Block is readying himself to conclude his writing career. The last Matt Scudder (ALL THE FLOWERS ARE DYING) seemed to wrap up that series, and the latest adventures of Keller appear to do the same. When Keller realizes he is being set up for a political assassination charge, he goes on the run, eventually tracking down the truth. Block's recent appearances on some TV talk shows also make me think this is probably the last book in this series.
IN THE WOODS Tana French
A cop in Ireland is assigned to the murder investigation after a young girl is found dead in a construction zone near her home. Complicating his efficiency are his memories of his own survival of an abduction from the same area. During the abduction, two of his playmates died. A complicated psychological novel, with many layers of meaning.
ACTS OF NATURE Jonathon King
Max Freeman and his girl friend are caught unaware in the Everglades by a powerful hurricane, and she is grievously injured. Hoping against hope that they will be missed and located, they encounter two other groups moving through damaged landscape. Not surprisingly, the reader cannot assume that when Max and Sherry are found, that their problems are over. As in previous books, King lets the reader see events from more than one point of view.
BREAKING COVER J D Rhoades
Rhoades writes in a genre dubbed "redneck noir" with characters who live and work in the smaller towns of the American southeast. In his latest, an FBI agent who worked undercover for years collecting evidence on the misdeeds of a vicious motorcycle gang has walked away from his FBI assignment and broken communication with his former life. When he is suddenly confronted with a vicious crime against two children, he intervenes to help them and his cover is blown.
CITY OF FIRE Robert Ellis
A cop newly assigned to homicide must prove herself when a series of murders contains disturbing similarities. Ellis moves back and forth between the killer's point of view and that of the cops, and along the way provides intriguing glimpses into many lesser known neighborhoods of Los Angeles.
BROKEN HEARTLAND J M Hayes
Taking a cue from television's "24" series of programs, in which all action is packed into one day, Hayes presents election day in a small Kansas town, where the sheriff faces stiff opposition. Violence in a local school, and a mysterious body found in the wreckage of a highway accident demand the sheriff's attention and complicate the political decisions faced by the small community. In the end, a rather uplifting read for an election year!
UNDERGROUND Kat Richardson
Harper Blaine is a private investigator working in Seattle. In the opening book of this series, she was injured in a dust up with a disgruntled client, and clinically dead for about 2 minutes. Now she has the ability to move between this world and the next, and is always aware of the presence of things that "go bump in the night." With this unusual skill, she is approached for all sorts of bizarre detective work by all sorts of unusual clients.
In this entry, she receives an appeal to help locate the killer of some of Seattle's homeless, living in the area of the downtown area known as "the underground." Although many tourists in Seattle visit this vestige of the city's history, the portion Harper is working in is far more sinister.
FEARLESS FOURTEEN Janet Evanovich
For a silly, light break from the everyday, in my opinion, nothing beats the latest Stephanie Plum (mis)adventure from Evanovich. Stephanie manages in book after book to stay one step ahead of total disaster. In this latest, the temporary incarceration of a small time shop lifter leads to a wild romp and plenty of laughs. I was going to call this my "guilty pleasure" but I'm not the least bit guilty. I'll always put my name on the library holds list for one of her books.
WHITE NIGHTS Ann Cleeves
Cleeves sets her series in the Shetland Islands, with a policeman who grew up on a nearby island, but is not part of the somewhat insular community he is assigned to protect. To add to the tension, a British policeman often arrives assigned to assist in the investigations, and his presence creates a second layer of potential misstep and misunderstanding. The series is pleasantly readable, with a minimum of gore, and an enjoyable emphasis on human frailty as a motive for murder.
With many in the community on edge in the long midsummer hours of daylight, a visitor to the area is found hanging in a fisherman's shed. But forensic investigation reveals that he was dead before his body was strung up by the noose - so the police are looking for a murderer. Eventually long standing questions about other disappearances are answered, and long festering feelings of betrayal and abandonment are revealed at the heart of the tragedy.
THE BRASS VERDICT Michael Connelly
Connelly brings back Mickey Haller - the "Lincoln Lawyer" of two or three previous books. Recovering from serious injury and addiction to pain pills, Haller is thrust back into the demands of a high profile trial when a colleague is murdered and had named him as a successor to his practice. On the sidelines this time is Harry Bosch, the protagonist of many of Connelly's earlier books, who is investigating the death of the murdered lawyer. The two men feel their way cautiously to a working relationship which will meet both their aims. Connelly is one of the best at keeping his characters fresh.
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