71. Stay Dead by Anne Frasier

#2 Elise Sandberg, Savannah homicide detective
listened on Audible
20014 Thomas & Mercer
310 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery/Police Procedural
Finished 7/31/2018
Goodreads rating:  4.13 - 4910 ratings
My rating:  4.5
Setting: contemporary Savannah, GA

First line/s:  "The voice on the phone was hesitant."

My comments:  I loved the unusual way this book came together...Elise surviving a harrowing kidnapping, but we don't know of any of the details of the case or the crime.  They emerge slowly, intertwined with present happenings.  Very cool, and a good way to present the story.  I love these characters - all of them, even the bad guys!  The Savannah setting, the Gullah culture, the wonderfully written characters, and the touch of will-the-or-won't-they combine to make this a terrific read!

Goodreads synopsis:  New York Times bestselling author Anne Frasier takes readers back to her dark, enchanting Savannah—a place as terrifying as it is mesmerizing.     
          Homicide detective Elise Sandburg is traumatized after her run-in with a madman the press has dubbed “The Organ Thief." As Elise takes refuge in her deceased aunt Anastasia’s abandoned plantation to investigate and recover from her ordeal, she begins to question everything—from her dangerous line of work to her complex relationship with her handsome, tortured partner, David Gould. But with a madman on the loose, and her mother’s claims to still hear from aunt Anastasia, she may have more immediate problems on her hands. In Elise’s world, where cold hard crime mixes with the local Gullah culture, nothing is ever what it seems, and no one is above suspicion—not even the dead.

2. Small Wars - Lee Child

Jack Reacher #19.5
(1:30) on Audible
audio read by Dick Hill
2015 Transworld Digital
44 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery "short story"
Finished
Goodreads rating: 3.97
My rating:  4
Setting:  Georgia

First line/s:  "In the spring of 1989 Caroline Crawford was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel.  She bought a silver Porsche to celebrate.  She had family money, people said, and plenty of it.  A trust fund, maybe.  Some eminent relative.  Maybe an inventor.  Her uniforms were tailored in D. C. by the same shop that made suits for the president.  She was held to be the richest woman in the army.  Not that the bar was high."

My comments:  Short and sweet...a short story, I guess.  Another interesting look at brother Joe.... It's fun to read (listen to) a shortie in between the regular book-length ones.  Decent story, too.

Goodreads synopsis:  A young lieutenant colonel, in a stylish handmade uniform, roars through the damp woods of Georgia in her new silver Porsche - until she meets a very tall soldier with a broken-down car.
       What could connect a cold-blooded off-post shooting with Reacher, his elder brother Joe, and a secretive unit of pointy-heads from the Pentagon?

49. Killing Floor - Lee Child

read by Dick Hill
listened to in the car on the CD player - driving west from PA
1997 Brilliance Audio
12 unabridged cds
525 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery
Finished 8/5/15
Goodreads rating: 4.02
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Margrave, GA

First line/s:  "I was arrested at Eno's Diner.  At twelve o'clock.  I was eating eggs and drinking coffee.  A late breakfast, not lunch.  I was wet and tired after a long walk in heavy rain.  All the way from the highway to the edge of town."

My comments:  I'm skipping around reading this series, and this is the first of them chronologically.  It gave a teeny, tiny more insight into protagonist Jack Reacher and why he is living life in his chosen, off-beat way.  The mystery was great, fascinating, kept you guessing, and entirely improbable.....which was totally okay with me!  This is the perfect book for a reluctant reader from young adult onward.  It's hard to put down.

Goodreads synopsis:  Ex-military policeman Jack Reacher is a drifter. He's just passing through Margrave, Georgia, and in less than an hour, he's arrested for murder. Not much of a welcome. All Jack knows is that he didn't kill anybody. At least not here. Not lately. But he doesn't stand a chance of convincing anyone. not in Margrave, Georgia. Not a chance in hell.

14. Between, Georgia - Joshilyn Jackson

(Note:  I don't really like this cover....)
Audio read by the author - PERFECTLY!!

8 unabridged cds/ 9 hours

2006 Hachette Audio

294 pgs.

Adult Contemporary Realistic Fiction (Chick Lit, I guess....)
Finished 3/2/2014

Goodreads Rating: 3.85 (7,619 ratings)

My Rating:  Absolutely delightful (5)

PBS

Setting: Contemporary Between, Georgia (halfway between Atlanta and Athens, GA)

1^st sentence/s:  "The war began thirty years, nine months, and seven days ago when I was deaf and blind, floating silent and serene inside Hazel Crabtree."

My comments:  Joshilyn Jackson - the author - read this book so beautifully that I wanted it to go on and on.  Love stories/chick lit aren't usually my thing, but this was so much more.  I loved the writing, I enjoyed the story, I was fascinated by a mother being deaf AND blind, I was intrigued by the personalities of the three very different sisters, and I didn't mind taking a peek into a tiny Georgia community. "The south" is one part of the country that I do not relate to, or know very much about.  I read Gods in Alabama - also by Jackson - a couple of years ago and remember very much enjoying it. Think I'll try another, especially if she's reading it herself.

Goodreads Review:  Nonny Frett understands the meanings of "rock" and "hard place" better than any woman ever born. She's got two mothers, "one Deaf-blind and the other four baby steps from flat crazy." She's got two men: her husband, who's easing out the back door; and her best friend, who's laying siege to her heart in her front yard. She has a job that holds her in the city, and she's addicted to a little girl who's stuck deep in the country. And she has two families; the Fretts, who stole her and raised her right, and the Crabtrees, who lost her and can't forget that they've been done wrong.