25. A Drink Before the War by Dennis Lehane

#1 Kenzie & Gennaro, Boston Private Detectives

listened on Libby 

282 pgs.

1994
Adult Murder Mystery
Finished 6/7/2026
Goodreads rating: 3.93
My rating: 3.75
Setting: 1994 Dorchester/Boston

My comments: Have always heard about these "gritty" Boston mystery thrillers, so I decided it was about time to read a Dennis Lehane. And that I'd better start with the first in the series. This one definitely showed its age (written in 1994) and included the "N" word dozens of times, which was really disconcerting - such a horrible slur - but the book WAS written 32 years ago. Grrr.  I won't say any more about that, but it quite unsettled me, to tell you the truth.  As much as I've heard and read about gang violence in our urban areas, to read about it so up-close-and-personal was not fun.

Goodreads synopsis: Kenzie and Gennaro are private investigators in the blue-collar neighborhoods and ghettos of South Boston-they know it as only natives can. Working out of an old church belfry, Kenzie and Gennaro take on a seemingly simple assignment for a prominent politician: to uncover the whereabouts of Jenna Angeline, a black cleaning woman who has allegedly stolen confidential state documents. Finding Jenna, however, is easy compared to staying alive once they've got her. The investigation escalates, implicating members of Jenna's family and rival gang leaders while uncovering extortion, assassination, and child prostitution extending from bombed-out ghetto streets to the highest levels of government. A Drink Before the War , the first in Lehane's acclaimed series with Boston detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro, is a remarkable debut that is at once a pulsating crime thriller and a mirror of our world, one in which the worst human horrors are found closest to home, and the most vicious obscenities are committed in the name of love.

5. Love Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood

listened on Libby (borrowed from the library)

2023
389 pgs.
Adult Rom Com (w/steam)
Finished 1/19/24
Goodreads rating: 4.15
My rating: 3.75/4
Setting: Contemporary MIT (& other Boston Colleges) Academia

My comments: The physics department at MIT, where Elsie is up for a coveted position, has two branches, theoretical and experimental physics, which are very much at odd with each other.  And Jack, the darling (and head) of the department falls for Elsie the first time he sees her, when she is "fake dating" his brother to earn extra money.  This sort of comedy of errors is fun to read.  My biggest problem with the book is that the audio reader, Terese Plummer (who's quite good) is also the reader for one-of-my favorite series (Casey Duncan), and every now and then it would throw me off because I was taken to another place and setting just hearing her voice!  Fun book to read.

Goodreads synopsis:  The many lives of theoretical physicist Elsie Hannaway have finally caught up with her. By day, she’s an adjunct professor, toiling away at grading labs and teaching thermodynamics in the hopes of landing tenure. By other day, Elsie makes up for her non-existent paycheck by offering her services as a fake girlfriend, tapping into her expertly honed people pleasing skills to embody whichever version of herself the client needs.

Honestly, it’s a pretty sweet gig—until her carefully constructed Elsie-verse comes crashing down. Because Jack Smith, the annoyingly attractive and broody older brother of her favorite client, turns out to be the cold-hearted experimental physicist who ruined her mentor’s career and undermined the reputation of theorists everywhere. And that same Jack who now sits on the hiring committee at MIT, right between Elsie and her dream job.

Elsie is prepared for an all-out war of scholarly sabotage but…those long, penetrating looks? Not having to be anything other than her true self when she’s with him? Will falling into an experimentalist’s orbit finally tempt her to put her most guarded theories on love into practice?

16. Keeper of Enchanted Rooms by Charlie N. Holmberg

#1 Whimbrel House

both read on Kindle and listened on Audible

2022
347 pgs.
Fantasy & Historical Fiction
Finished 2/14/2023
Goodreads rating: 4.28
My rating: 3.5
Setting: 1846 secluded island off RI & Boston

My comments: 1846, a world where magic has survived through the centuries but is getting diluted with each generation so there's not much magic left.  A house on an island near Boston is haunted by a ghost - well, actually, the actual house itself is the ghost.  An interesting premise.  A 31-year old writer and a prim, similarly aged housekeeper with slightly magical abilities work together to make the house "livable" at the same time they're being stalked by a powerful foe.  I took a great deal of time reading this, since most of it was off and on while eathing out.  So it went slowly, both literally and physically.

Goodreads synopsis:  Rhode Island, 1846. Estranged from his family, writer Merritt Fernsby is surprised when he inherits a remote estate in the Narragansett Bay. Though the property has been uninhabited for more than a century, Merritt is ready to call it home—until he realizes he has no choice. With its doors slamming shut and locking behind him, Whimbrel House is not about to let Merritt leave. Ever.

Hulda Larkin of the Boston Institute for the Keeping of Enchanted Rooms has been trained in taming such structures in order to preserve their historical and magical significance. She understands the dangers of bespelled homes given to tantrums. She advises that it’s in Merritt’s best interest to make Whimbrel House their ally. To do that, she’ll need to move in, too.

Prepared as she is with augury, a set of magic tools, and a new staff trained in the uncanny, Hulda’s work still proves unexpectedly difficult. She and Merritt grow closer as the investigation progresses, but the house’s secrets run deeper than they anticipated. And the sentient walls aren’t their only concern—something outside is coming for the enchantments of Whimbrel House, and it could be more dangerous than what rattles within.

7. The Loot by Craig Schaefer

#1 Charlie McCabe

listened on Audible

2019
329 pgs.
Adult Mystery Series
Finished 1/26/22
Goodreads rating: 4.08
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Boston & suburbs

My comments: A female explosives expert returns from eight years duty in Afghanistan and joins a private security company.  Of course, her trial and first experience with the company has her (successfully) dealing with a bomb. There are lots and lots of ludicrous, longshot kind of figuring-out-clues that would never happen  Oh well.  It was fast paced and interesting, and somewhat believable.  Yes, I'd read more of these, I liked the main characters.

Goodreads synopsis:  She fought for her country. Now she’s fighting for her family.

When Sergeant Charlie McCabe returns from fighting in Afghanistan, she hopes to leave the war behind. Instead, she comes home to a father whose gambling has put him in deep trouble with a violent loan shark. She finds work as a professional bodyguard, but to save her father, she needs to get serious cash together fast.

However, her father isn’t the only one who needs saving. When Charlie’s first client—a wealthy executive with a shady past—narrowly escapes a bomb plot, Charlie’s investigation leads her into the heart of Boston’s criminal underworld. Along the way, she stumbles upon clues about a diamond heist gone wrong that’s been unsolved for decades.

With the clock ticking and chaos descending, Charlie sees a solution to both problems, but it won’t be easy, and it won’t be pretty. A “normal” life may await Charlie on the other side of this mess, but part of her knows that the battle has just begun.

116. Before She Disappeared by Lisa Gardner

#1 Frankie Elkin

2021

400 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery
Finished  12/26/2021
Goodreads rating:  3.94 
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Mattapan (Boston)

My comments: Interesting plot and characters.  I could not envision the tough Mattapan neighborhood, because in the lat 1950's, early 1960's I was able to wander around freely while visiting my Aunt Laura who lived on Hollingsworth Ave.  Now it's a really rough Haitian neighborhood full of gangs.  

     There's a lot of sadness in the story, which overlaps Frankie's own sad history with the current sad story.  Frankie's a wreck - an alcoholic with many, many issuead, but she's looking for redemption in the only way she can -- her knack for finding missing personas who no one else can. Great premise, looking forward to the second in the series, which will come out in 2022

Goodreads synopsis:  From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner, a propulsive thriller featuring an ordinary woman who will stop at nothing to find the missing people that the rest of the world has forgotten

Frankie Elkin is an average middle-aged woman, a recovering alcoholic with more regrets than belongings. But she spends her life doing what no one else will--searching for missing people the world has stopped looking for. When the police have given up, when the public no longer remembers, when the media has never paid attention, Frankie starts looking.

A new case brings her to Mattapan, a Boston neighborhood with a rough reputation. She is searching for Angelique Badeau, a Haitian teenager who vanished from her high school months earlier. Resistance from the Boston PD and the victim's wary family tells Frankie she's on her own--and she soon learns she's asking questions someone doesn't want answered. But Frankie will stop at nothing to discover the truth, even if it means the next person to go missing could be her.

26. Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson

listened on Libby/borrowed from library

narrated by Graham Halstead (great)

Unabridged audio (8:03)
2020
270 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery
Finished 3/23/2021
Goodreads rating: 3.64
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary Boston with soirees to NH and Rockland ME

First line/s: "The front door opened and I heard the stamp of the FBI agent's feet on the doormat."

My comments: OMG, I can't find my notes!  I do remember that I liked this book a lot, that it was impossible to put down, and I loved it from beginning to end.  The idea that a serial murderer could find his/her inspiration from murders in famous books was a fascinating plot idea.  Great narration.

Goodreads synopsis:  A chilling tale of psychological suspense and an homage to the thriller genre tailor-made for fans: the story of a bookseller who finds himself at the center of an FBI investigation because a very clever killer has started using his list of fiction’s most ingenious murders.
          Years ago, bookseller and mystery aficionado Malcolm Kershaw compiled a list of the genre’s most unsolvable murders, those that are almost impossible to crack—which he titled “Eight Perfect Murders”—chosen from among the best of the best including Agatha Christie’s A. B. C. Murders, Patricia Highsmith’s Strangers on a Train, Ira Levin’s Death Trap, A. A. Milne's Red House Mystery, Anthony Berkeley Cox's Malice Aforethought, James M. Cain's Double Indemnity, John D. Macdonald's The Drowner, and Donna Tartt's A Secret History.
          But no one is more surprised than Mal, now the owner of the Old Devils Bookstore in Boston, when an FBI agent comes knocking on his door one snowy day in February. She’s looking for information about a series of unsolved murders that look eerily similar to the killings on Mal’s old list. And the FBI agent isn’t the only one interested in this bookseller who spends almost every night at home reading. The killer is out there, watching his every move—a diabolical threat who knows way too much about Mal’s personal history, especially the secrets he’s never told anyone, even his recently deceased wife.
          To protect himself, Mal begins looking into possible suspects . . . and sees a killer in everyone around him. But Mal doesn’t count on the investigation leaving a trail of death in its wake. Suddenly, a series of shocking twists leaves more victims dead—and the noose around Mal’s neck grows so tight he might never escape.

18. Millionaire at Midnight by Naima Simone

listened on Chirp
narrated by Philip Alces & Ava Lucas
Unabridged audio (7:34)
2017
244 pgs.
Adult Romance w/steam
Finished 3/5/21
Goodreads rating: 4.21 - 452 ratings
My rating: 3
Setting: contemporary Boston

First line/s: " 'The prince slipped the glass slipper on Cinderella's foot, and of course it was a perfect fit.' "

My comments: What a stupid name for this book.  It was exactly like the previous six or eight steamy, fake-fiancé books I've read, but for some reason this is a tome that I particularly enjoy.  The joke's on me!  Like a Nancy Drew mystery, they all seem to follow the same format.  This one is set in Boston, but the setting in very insignificant, unfortunately.  Super rich families, idiot fathers, super-mean society "friends," yada yada yada.  But I'm sure it won't be too long before I read another...again, the joke's on me!  An interesting aside:  the super buff, gruff male protagonist loved reading YA, and many are either quoted or reerred to, which was sorta cool.

Goodreads synopsis:  Boston socialite Morgan Lett is having a run of bad luck. Her fiancé just dumped her for her stepsister, the charity foundation she’s given her life to is in danger of folding, and now, the gorgeous man she bid on and won at a masquerade bachelor auction turns out to be a cold-hearted jerk…and her new employer.

          Millionaire Alexander Bishop needs the best wife money can buy. In order to inherit his family business, he must get engaged—fast. And Morgan, with her beauty and pedigree, is the perfect candidate. Her sharp tongue may drive him crazy, but she needs money to save the foundation she loves, and he needs a fiancée. It’s a flawless arrangement—no strings, no love. But soon she has him craving more, and cursing the platonic terms of their agreement.

57. Marriage of Inconvenience by Penny Reid

#7 Knitting in the City
Listened on Audible Escape
narrated by Angela Dawe and Stephen Dexter
Unabridged audio (16:24)
2018 Cipher-Naught
506 pgs.
Romance
Finished 3/26/2020
Goodreads rating:  4.15 - 11,893 ratings
My rating: 3.5
Setting:  Chicago for 50%, then move to Boston

First line/s:  " 'What did you just say?' My sharp question earned me a sharp look from Ms. Opal. She eyed me from across the room."

My comments:  The most interesting thing about this book was the Boston accent used by the male protagonist, Dan.  Talk about over the top!  The story begins in Chicago and moves to Boston about halfway through.  It appears to be that this is book number seven in a series, and you can tell that most of the characters have been well flushed out previously.  There are a lot of characters in this friend-group, a few too many, actually, though I know they're included to satisfy people who have read the first six books.  For the most part, this is a standalone.  The hardest to comprehend is the difference between the inner insecure feelings of the two protagonists and what they showed outwardly.  They didn't coincide at all, just didn't work.  Super mixed feelings because I did enjoy the story, though it was excruciatingly draw out with very bad guys and very good guys and not much in between.  The epilogue takes place 15 years in the future, where the extended group of friends are still meeting together, only now the all have oodles of kids.  Hard to rate this one

Goodreads synopsis:  There are three things you need to know about Kat Tanner (aka Kathleen Tyson. . . and yes, she is *that* Kathleen Tyson): 1) She’s determined to make good decisions, 2) She must get married ASAP, and 3) She knows how to knit.
          Being a billionaire heiress isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Determined to live a quiet life, Kat Tanner changed her identity years ago and eschewed her family’s legacy. But now, Kat’s silver spoon past has finally caught up with her, and so have her youthful mistakes.
          To avoid imminent disaster, she must marry immediately; it is essential that the person she chooses have no romantic feelings for her whatsoever and be completely trustworthy. Fortunately, she knows exactly who to ask. Dan O’Malley checks all the boxes: single, romantically indifferent to her, completely trustworthy. Sure, she might have a wee little crush on Dan the Security Man, but with clear rules, expectations, and a legally binding contract, Kat is certain she can make it through this debacle with her sanity—and heart—all in one piece.
          Except, what happens when Dan O’Malley isn’t as indifferent—or as trustworthy—as she thought?
★★★★★ Goodreads Choice Award Semi-Finalist for Best Romance ★★★★★

47. From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks

listened to audio on Libby through Bosler Library
narrated by Bahni Turpin
Unabridged audio (6:10)
2020 Katherine Tegen Books
304 pgs.
Middle Grade CRF
Finished 3/6/2020
Goodreads rating:  4.35 - 554 ratings
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Boston/Somerville/Cambridge, Massachusetts

First line/s:  "The day I turned twelve, I was certain it'd be my favorite birthday yet, but then I got the letter."

My comments:   Ms. Marks has written a book with a wonderful 12-year-old voice, real and believable, with faults and fears, ambitions and beliefs.  Becoming acquainted with her imprisoned father for the first time and following clues to help the Innocence Project get him out of jail was the biggest premise of the book.  She also loved to bake, creating a new recipe for Fruit Loop cupcakes as she interned in a local bakery for the summer.  The setting of Boston/Somerville/Cambridge with an emphasis on Davis Square was detailed and fun for this suburban Boston native.  She wasn't perfect, and that made her all the more real.  I didn't like that the mother had completely given up the father as a murderer, even though he protested he'd never done anything wrong.  Then she blocked her daughter from any access to him.  This was harsh and a bit unbelievable.  Put the book down a a point for me.  However, what a great story for kids!  I wasn't super crazy about the narrator, although her reading ability was right on.  Highly recommended.

Goodreads synopsis:  Zoe Washington isn’t sure what to write. What does a girl say to the father she’s never met, hadn’t heard from until his letter arrived on her twelfth birthday, and who’s been in prison for a terrible crime?
          A crime he says he never committed.
          Could Marcus really be innocent? Zoe is determined to uncover the truth. Even if it means hiding his letters and her investigation from the rest of her family. Everyone else thinks Zoe’s worrying about doing a good job at her bakery internship and proving to her parents that she’s worthy of auditioning for Food Network’s Kids Bake Challenge.
          But with bakery confections on one part of her mind, and Marcus’s conviction weighing heavily on the other, this is one recipe Zoe doesn’t know how to balance. The only thing she knows to be true: Everyone lies.

16. Murder Board by Brian Christopher Shea

#1 Michael Kelly, Boston/Dorchester detective
read on my iPhone - Kindle
2019 Severn River Publishing
321 pgs.
Adult Mystery/Police Procedural
Finished 1/23/2020
Goodreads rating: 4.22 - 292 ratings
My rating: 3
Setting: Contemporary Boston/Dorchester, MA

First line/s: "Twelve minutes didn't seem like a long time.  It's the time a morning commuter waits for the next T to arrive.  Or somebody idles in line at their local Dunkin' Donuts in anticipation of their morning jolt.  To those people twelve minutes is an inconvenience, but to Michael Kelly it was an eternity."

My comments:  This is about a Boston homicide cop written by a former Boston cop.  This one was about a Polish family that abducted very young girls - 13/14 - and forced them into the sex trade underground of Dorchester.  The protagonist cop is divorced with an eight year old daughter, born and bred in Dorchester in a family of Irish Americans.  He teams up with an old female friend in the sex crimes unit to solve the murder of a 13 year-old girls and dig into the business surrounding her demise.  For some reason the book seemed to drag, but that may be my fault because I've spent so much time listening to books lately instead of reading the, and read this one in bits and pieces over a two-week period.

Goodreads synopsis:  A Boston homicide detective sets out to find a young girl’s killer—and confronts the dark world of city politics and organized crime. THE FIRST NOVEL OF THE NEW BOSTON CRIME THRILLER SERIES BY FORMER DETECTIVE BRIAN SHEA.
          The young girl was from a good family in an affluent suburb. Her body was found in a shallow grave in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood, not far from where Detective Michael Kelly grew up.
          Solving a murder is never a simple undertaking, but Kelly is driven. Obsessed with finding justice for the victim. Willing to do whatever it takes. Destroy politicians. Stand up to the mob.
          Kelly is a fighter, and he needs to be. Because his investigation uncovers a wide conspiracy—and many more innocent lives are at stake.   
          As the lines between right and wrong begin to blur, Kelly turns to his old connections on the streets of Boston. The search for answers becomes a clash of policing and politics. Of redemption and betrayal. Of greed and violence. To find true justice, Kelly will do whatever it takes...or die trying.                    BRIAN SHEA has served as both a military officer and law enforcement Detective, and his authentic crime fiction novels have been enjoyed by thousands. His books are recommended for readers who enjoy Michael Connolly’s Harry Bosch, David Baldacci’s John Puller, or James Patterson’s Alex Cross.

81. The Ghost Manuscript by Kris Frieswick

Listened to Audible (Chirp)
read by Carrington MacDuffie
Unabridged audio (13:32)
2019 Post Hill Press
432 pgs.
Adult Mystery/Thriller with Fantastic aspects
Finished 8/26/2019
Goodreads rating:  3.83 - 117 ratings
My rating: 2.5
Setting:  contemporary Boston, Ma PLUS

First line/s:  (from preface) "The fear pierced Carys Jones's abdomen, and every other sensation she'd been feeling was consumed."  (from Ch. 1) "The sight of the envelope on Carys's desk set her left eyelid twitching."

My comments:  What an unrewarding ending.  All that buildup and then...blah.  Not enough resolution.  Lots of improbabilities.  The most disappointing for me was the reader - she read flawlessly, it wasn't that.  Her voice iss what put me off, it was too old and mannish, not suited for the character.  And of all the Bostonians depicted in the story, she only gave one a (BAD!!!) New England accent.  The two men from Wales had not even the slightest Welsh accent.  I've heard so many readers that can pull off accents,, whoever chose this reader didn't choose the right one, not even close.  That can make or break storytelling, and it certainly didn't make it for me.  So many thwarted possibilities,, what a bummer.

Goodreads synopsis:  Rare book authenticator Carys Jones wanted nothing more than to be left alone to pursue her obsession with ancient manuscripts. But when her biggest client is committed to an asylum, he gives Carys an offer she cannot refuse. In exchange for his entire library of priceless, Dark Age manuscripts, Carys must track the clues hidden in a previously unknown journal, clues that lead to a tomb that could rewrite the history of Western civilization.
          But there are people who would do anything to stop Carys from finding what she seeks—for reasons both noble and evil. The hunt takes Carys to places she never thought she’d go, physically and emotionally; first to Wales, her estranged father’s homeland, then to bed with Dafydd, a mysterious Welshman who agrees to help her with the search, and finally, deep inside her own psyche, when the monk who wrote the journal 1,500 years ago appears and assists her in her search.

PICTURE BOOK BIOGRAPHY - Her Fearless Run by Kim Chaffee

Kathrine Switzer''s Historic Boston Marathon
Illustrated by Ellen Rooney

2019, Page Street Kids, Salem, MA

HC $17/99

40 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.57 - 130 ratings

My rating:  5
Endpapers:  Eggplant

1^st line/s:   ""Pat, pat, pat.  The summer sun beat down on twelve-year-old Kathrine.  She held out her piece of chalk and marked the tree as she ran past again.  Two laps to go."

My comments:  Another picture book biography winner!  As a young woman in 1967, Kathrine Switzer was the first female to run the Boston Marathon. Not only is this an inspiring book for girls of today, but eye-opening for adults that it wasn't so long ago that women were being denied such basic opportunities.

Goodreads:  Kathrine Switzer changed the world of running. This narrative biography follows Kathrine from running laps as a girl in her backyard to becoming the first woman to run the Boston Marathon with official race numbers in 1967.

Picture Book - Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey

Caldecott Award Winner
Illustrated by the author

1941, Viking Press

HC & price

68 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.22 - 77,467 ratings

My rating:  5
Illustrations:  brown illustrations and text on cream colored pages

1^st line/s:  "Mr. and Mrs. Mallard were looking for a place to live."

My comments: This 1941 Caldecott Award winner is still one of the very best picture books in children's literature.  It's truly distinguished, as well as clever, lovely, comical and heartwarming.  I grew up on this story; AND my grandmother used to take my sister and me into Boston to ride on the Swan boats every spring.  Now there's a beautiful bronze sculpture of Mrs. Mallard with Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack and Quack following her across the Public Gardens.  Oh my goodness, do I love it!

Goodreads:  This classic tale of the famous Mallard ducks of Boston is available for the first time in a full-sized paperback edition. Awarded the Caldecott Medal in 1942, Make Way for Ducklings has been described as "one of the merriest picture books ever" (The New York Times). Ideal for reading aloud, this book deserves a place of honor on every child's bookshelf.

67. Consider by Kristy Acevedo

Holo #1
read on my iPhone
2016, Jolly Fish Press
288 pgs.
YA Dystopia
Finished 12/3/2017
Goodreads rating:  4.17 - 621 ratings
My rating:  4
Setting: Contemporary Boston suburb

First line/s:  "When the Boston outbound T screeches to a stop, I lose my grip on the silver pole and slam into Dominick."

My comments:  What an interesting story, and one, I think, worth reading.  It presented a few problems to me, personally, but I'll look past them after a quick mention.  The protagonist and her brother, Benji, are always at odds with each other for some reason.  Although she explains it a bit, she never says anything about how or where it started.  Or why.  It's disconcerting, unless I didn't read carefully enough to pick it up, and that's not like me (I'm a fairly slow reader).  And I never fully understand her overwhelming need to protect her father, her thoughts and actions about and toward him show that she dislikes him.  Maybe she's more like him than she realizes?  Otherwise, the characters are fully relate-able.  The scenario is one that makes you think....and think...and think some more.  What would you do if there was insistence that the world would end and you had the opportunity to escape to another world, with no facts to base your decisions on?  No actual facts.  Whew!  I've got to read the next book!

Goodreads synopsis: As if Alexandra Lucas’ anxiety disorder isn’t enough, mysterious holograms suddenly appear from the sky, heralding the end of the world. They bring an ultimatum: heed the warning and step through a portal-like vertex to safety, or stay and be destroyed by a comet they say is on a collision course with earth. How’s that for senior year stress?
          The holograms, claiming to be humans from the future, bring the promise of safety. But without the ability to verify their story, Alex is forced to consider what is best for her friends, her family, and herself.
          To stay or to go. A decision must be made.
          With the deadline of the holograms’ prophecy fast approaching, Alex feels as though she is living on a ticking time bomb, until she discovers it is much, much worse.

9. Conversion - Katherine Howe

library book
2014, G. P. Putnam's Sons
402 pgs.
YA CRFish/HF/flip flopping back and forth....
Finished 2/13/16
Goodreads rating: 3.34
My rating:4
Setting:Contemporary Danvers, Massachusetts and 1706 Salem Village, Massachusetts (the same town)

First line/s: "How long must I wait?  His tongue creeps out the corner of his mouth while he writes, the tip of it black with ink, the blacking in his gums staining his teeth.  He looks like he's got a mouthful of tar.  I've been waiting for some time, but Reverend Green's still writing.  His quill runs across the paper, scratching like mouse paws.  Scratch, scratch, dip, scratch, lick, scratch."

My comments:  I chose this book for my YA book group to read because I'd read another by Howe, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, and enjoyed it.  This one took place in the same area of Massachusetts - Danvers, which was originally know as "Salem Village."  Yup, that Salem.  The story goes back and forth between the confession of one of the Salem girls who precipitated the witch hysteria in 1692 and a high school senior in contemporary Danvers.  I've recently read The Crucible - which was a good thing in that I knew much of the story but a bad thing in that I didn't really want to go over through the whole ordeal again.  The contemporary part of the story really kept me reading and anticipating.  This was a good mystery, great characters, and even believable in some of the unbelievable places!

Goodreads synopsis:  From the New York Times bestselling author of The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane comes a chilling mystery—Prep meets The Crucible. 
           It’s senior year at St. Joan’s Academy, and school is a pressure cooker. College applications, the battle for valedictorian, deciphering boys’ texts: Through it all, Colleen Rowley and her friends are expected to keep it together. Until they can’t.
           First it’s the school’s queen bee, Clara Rutherford, who suddenly falls into uncontrollable tics in the middle of class. Her mystery illness quickly spreads to her closest clique of friends, then more students and symptoms follow: seizures, hair loss, violent coughing fits. St. Joan’s buzzes with rumor; rumor blossoms into full-blown panic.
           Soon the media descends on Danvers, Massachusetts, as everyone scrambles to find something, or someone, to blame. Pollution? Stress? Or are the girls faking? Only Colleen—who’s been reading The Crucible for extra credit—comes to realize what nobody else has: Danvers was once Salem Village, where another group of girls suffered from a similarly bizarre epidemic three centuries ago . . .
           Inspired by true events—from seventeenth-century colonial life to the halls of a modern-day high school—Conversion casts a spell. With her signature wit and passion, New York Times bestselling author Katherine Howe delivers an exciting and suspenseful novel, a chilling mystery that raises the question, what’s really happening to the girls at St. Joan’s

MOVIE - Spotlight

R (2:07)

Limited release 11/6/15

Viewed 122/10 at ElCon with Sheila

RT Critic:  98  Audience:  96
Critics Consensus: Spotlight gracefully handles the lurid details of its fact-based story while resisting the temptation to lionize its heroes, resulting in a drama that honors the audience as well as its real-life subjects.

Cag:  6  Wonderful movie, superbly done

Directed by Tom McCarthy (who also co-wrote)

Open Road Films

Based on the book by

Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Stanley Tucci, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schrieber, John Slattery,

My comments: I'm beginning to realize that my favorite movies are the ones that tell a true story.  Perhaps it's the actors that take on these stories?  Whatever the reason, this ensemble cast and clear, un-boring telling of how a huge coverup was detected was super-interesting from beginning to end.  The acting?  Superb!

RT Summary:  The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core.

MOVIE - Black Mass

R (2:02)

Wide release 9-18-15

Viewed 10-1-15 at ElCon with Sheila and Connie

RT Critic:  76  Audience:   76

Cag:  5/Loved it 

Directed by Scott Cooper

Warner Bros. Studios

Based on the true story of Jimmy "Whitey" Bulger,  South Boston crime lord

Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kevin Bacon, Dakota Johnson, Julianne Nicholson....and even Peter Sarsgaard

My comments:  This was a good one.  A true story I could relate to (being "from" Boston) - excellent story retelling and super actors.  Enjoyed every minute.  Interesting to watch the goodness in someone collide with the badness and watch a psychopath become crazier.  And then there's corruption.  Cops.  I grew up in the 60s and cops have always given me the heebie-jeebies, my 60s residue.  This movie reminded me of so much - especially Southie vs. the North End.....

RT Summary:  In 1970s South Boston, FBI Agent John Connolly (Joel Edgerton) persuades Irish mobster James "Whitey" Bulger (Johnny Depp) to collaborate with the FBI and eliminate a common enemy: the Italian mob. The drama tells the story of this unholy alliance, which spiraled out of control, allowing Whitey to evade law enforcement, consolidate power, and become one of the most ruthless and powerful gangsters in Boston history.

46. The Professional - Robert B. Parker

#37 Spenser
listened to cd - audio read by Joe Mantegna
2009 Random House audio
289 pgs.
Adult mystery
Finished in July, 2015 - back and forth from PA to ME?
Goodreads rating: 3.79
My rating: I didn't rate this in July, I'm now doing this bookkeeping in December, so I can't remember my immediate reaction to the story.  I'll go with a 4....

Goodreads synopsis:  A knock on Spenser's office door can only mean one thing: a new case. This time the visitor is a local lawyer with an interesting story. Elizabeth Shaw specializes in wills and trusts at the Boston law firm of Shaw & Cartwright, and over the years she's developed a friendship with wives of very wealthy men. However, these rich wives have a mutual secret: they've all had an affair with a man named Gary Eisenhower- and now he's blackmailing them for money. Shaw hires Spenser to make Eisenhower "cease and desist," so to speak, but when women start turning up dead, Spenser's assignment goes from blackmail to murder.
     As matters become more complicated, Spenser's longtime love, Susan, begins offering some input by analyzing Eisenhower's behavior patterns in hopes of opening up a new avenue of investigation. It seems that not all of Gary's women are rich. So if he's not using them for blackmail, then what is his purpose? Spenser switches tactics to focus on the husbands, only to find that innocence and guilt may be two sides of the same coin.
     With its eloquently spare prose and some of the best supporting characters to grace the printed page, The Professional is further proof that "[t]here's hardly an author in the crime novel business like Parker"

40. Girls' Night Out - Kate Flora

a short story/ebook narrated by Holly B. Goe
listened on Audible...
2014 SheBooks
(52:19)
32 pgs.
Adult Mystery
Finished 6/21/15
Goodreads rating: 4.36
My rating:  5
Setting: Boston area - contemporary

First line/s:  "Getting a six-foot dead man into his SUV wasn't easy for a small woman in stilettos and a pencil skirt.:

My comments:  This was a highly entertaining quick read by an author I'm becoming quite taken with...will definitely read more!

Goodreads synopsis:  When the man who date-raped a friend is found not guilty, the women in her book group decide to take matters into their own hands. 

And here's a bit about Kate Flora that was included after the Goodreads synopsis:  Mystery and true crime writer Kate Clark Flora’s fascination with people’s criminal tendencies began in the Maine attorney general’s office. Deadbeat dads, people who hurt their kids, and employers’ acts of discrimination aroused her curiosity about human behavior. Her books include seven “strong woman” Thea Kozak mysteries and three gritty police procedurals in her star-reviewed Joe Burgess series. Redemption was the 2013 Maine Literary Award winner for Crime Fiction. Her Edgar-nominated true crime story, Finding Amy, has been optioned for a movie. Flora has also published 15 crime stories in various anthologies. 

When she’s not writing or teaching at Grub Street in Boston, Flora is in her garden, waging a constant battle against critters, pests, and her husband’s lawn mower. She’s been married for 35 years to a man who still makes her laugh. She has two wonderful sons, a movie editor and a scientist, two lovely daughters-in-law, and four rescue “granddogs,” Frances, Otis, Harvey, and Daisy. You can follow her on Twitter @kateflora or atFacebook.com/kate.flora.92. 

This is a short e-book published by Shebooks--high quality fiction, memoir, and journalism for women, by women

26. Hundred-Dollar Baby by Robert B. Parker

Spencer #34

Audio read by Joe Mantagna

5 unabridged cds

2006 Putnam Adult

291 pgs.

Adult Mystery

Finished 3/29/2015

Goodreads rating: 3.79

My rating:   4 - Loved it

PBS - will now trade it back in

Setting: contemporary Boston with a couple of forays to NYC

My comments:  It makes me so sad to know that Robert B. Parker is gone.  I feel like I know Spencer, that he's a personal friend.  I've read almost every one of the books in this series at least once.  Spencer's tongue-in-cheek humor, morality, friendships, intelligence, honor, and "his" Boston are all tremendously endearing to me. Then this story, which he wrote nearing the end of his life, about his re-acquaintance with April Kyle and the efforts he went through to "save" her once again. There's a very thin line between goodness and badness - and Parker has always made me realize that there can be a lot of goodness in the bad guys and badness in the good ones. These mysteries, for me, aren't just figuring out whodunnit.  They probe deeper, and leave me thinking for a good long while.

Goodreads book summary:  A client from a decades-old case reaches out to Boston PI Spenser-but can he rescue troubled April Kyle once more? 
          Longtime Spenser fans will remember that once upon a time, though not so long ago, there was a girl named April Kyle-a beautiful teenage runaway who turned to prostitution to escape her terrible family life. The book was 1982's Ceremony, and, thanks to Spenser, April escaped Boston's "Combat Zone" for the relative safety of a high-class New York City bordello. April resurfaced in Taming a Sea-Horse, again in dire need of Spenser's rescue-this time from the clutches of a controlling lover. But April Kyle's return inHundred-Dollar Baby is nothing short of shocking.
          When a mature, beautiful, and composed April strides into Spenser's office, the Boston PI barely hesitates before recognizing his once and future client. Now a well-established madam herself, April oversees an upscale call-girl operation in Boston's Back Bay. Still looking for Spenser's approval, it takes her a moment before she can ask him, again, for his assistance. Her business is a success; what's more, it's an all-female enterprise. Now that some men are trying to take it away from her, she needs Spenser.
          April claims to be in the dark about who it is that's trying to shake her down, but with a bit of legwork and a bit more muscle, Spenser and Hawk find ties to organized crime and local kingpin Tony Marcus, as well as a scheme to franchise the operation across the country. As Spenser again plays the gallant knight, it becomes clear that April's not as innocent as she seems. In fact, she may be her own worst enemy.