Homeless Blanket #22 - The Vivian

Greens and Purples

10 rounds before final round

Final round is Herschner's #1087 Greige (8 oz.)

4 x 7 = 28 squares

Easy Peasy Pineapple Fluff

1 pkg. Instant vanilla or cheesecake pudding mix

1 (20 ox.) can crushed pineapple, juice and all

1 (8 oz.) container whipped topping

Mix pudding mix and fruit together, let sit for 5 min.

Fold in whipped topping.

Refrigerate for at least an hour.

Try with different pudding flavors (banana cream, coconut cream, white chocolate, vanilla, cheesecake...)

Try with different fruits:  fruit cocktail, chopped ccanned peaches, chopped mandarin oranges....

Taco Tater Tot Casserole

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 chopped onion
• 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
• 1 tsp each of cumin, dried cilantro,
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• 1 can corn (drained)
• 1 can Rotel Diced Tomatoes & Green Chiles (not drained)
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 cups shredded Colby Jack Cheese
• Tater Tots or Crispy Crowns

Scramble ground beef, then add rest of ingredients through the sour cream with 1 cup of the cheese.

Cover with remaining cheese, then layer on tater tots.

Bake at 400 for 30-35 minutes.

Thanks, Cooking in the Midwest

16. Fragile Designs by Colleen Coble

listened on Audible
352 pgs.
2024
adult murder mystery 

Finished 2/27/24
Goodreads rating: 4.24
My rating: 2
Setting: Contemporary Beaufort & Savannah, Georgia

My comments: I'm afraid there were more things I disliked about the story than liked.  Very little that happened was believable.  The series of events and their numerous characters were even less believable.  The outcome was ridiculous.  Over-the-top mean, jealous sisters who instantly change their tune after many years.  And at the HEA, the baby that was adopted three years previously - a huge part of the plotline -  was not even in the picture! Absolutely no mention.  And the 70-year-old reunited twins discovered their birth mother was still alive and kicking.  On top of all that, add a whole lot of praying and I can't believe I even finished this story. So much eye-rolling during this listen.      I DID like the setting.

Goodreads synopsis:   NOTE:  This synopsis says the neighbor/co-protagonists' name is SIMON.  It's Not!  If I remember right it's Lucas.... Family secrets can be the most dangerous of all. When Carly Tucker’s police-officer husband is killed during a home break-in, she knows that her side hustle finding the antique treasures at flea markets isn’t enough to support her and their infant son, Noah. So her grandmother’s proposal to have her and her two sisters restore the family’s waterfront Beaufort home into a bed-and-breakfast--that Carly will run--is immediately intriguing. But it’s equally daunting with the animosity that exists between the three sisters. What Carly never expected as she begins to go through the attic was to find a letter in a trunk, written in her husband’s handwriting . . . dated two days before his death. Eric had discovered that Carly’s grandmother was adopted--a fact Carly is certain Gram is not aware of--and had already begun trying to track down her birth family. Is it possible that Eric’s death wasn’t random after all? With few options, Carly reaches out to Gram’s neighbor Simon—and the older brother of her high school sweetheart--who is a local homicide detective. One of the items in the trunk is an enameled egg. If it truly is a Faberge egg, the value could set Carly up for life . . . and would certainly be worth killing for. The journey to find the truth and protect her family will have Carly delving deep into the lost treasures of Eastern Europe--if she and Simon can survive that long.

15. The Shadows of Pike Place by D. D. Black

listened and read both on Audio and Kindle
272 pgs.
2022
Adult murder mystery

Finished 2/24/2024
Goodreads rating: 4.35
My rating: 3.5
Setting: Contemporary Seattle

My comments: Pretty decent mystery, but I don't like the way it keeps dragging in a problem from the protagonist's past that's going to hang over book after book.  This episode was about an extremely rich Seattle family whose matriarch was murdered using yellow oleander.  Austin and his sidekick reporter friend jumped in with both feet to figure it out.  So much that would never really happen, but it's fiction, right?

Goodreads synopsis:  Sometimes the past is better left buried.

When the matriarch of a rich Seattle family dies under suspicious circumstances, private investigator Thomas Austin is on the case. This time, the suspect list is easy.

Seven people were in the lakefront mansion with the millionaire when she died: a spoiled son, a jealous brother-in-law, a beloved chef, a rebellious grandson, an arrogant memoirist, and a pair of successful daughters. All had motive. All had opportunity. But which one is the killer?

To solve the case, Austin must look into the past of one of Seattle's most powerful families. With the help of a fiery reporter and a long-lost diary, he uncovers a series of dark secrets that betray the criminal underbelly of old-money Seattle.

But the closer Austin gets to the truth, the more dangerous the investigation becomes. Sometimes, when you dig into a secret past, the past comes out to bury you.

Cleaning Up My READING DUMPS

2023 Reading Dumps

2022 Reading Dumps

2021 Reading Dumps & Need to Disburse

2021 - 9 Crapola Dumps  some need disbursing still

2020 Reading Dumps

 Mystery Series August 2020 - December 2023 (all disbursed)

Elly Griffiths 13-14-15 (All Dispersed)

All My Yearly Reading Lists

2024 Reading List

2023 Reading List

2022 Reading List

2021 Reading List

2020 Reading List

2019 Reading List

2018 Reading List

2017 Reading List

2016 Reading List

2015 Reading List

2014 Reading List

2013 Reading List

2012 Reading List

2011 Reading List

2010 Reading List

Mystery Series "Dumps" from Previous Years

 Alphabetical by Book Title

          Dispersed

Bad Memory - Lisa Gray

#2 Jessica Shaw

2019, 311 pgs.

4/8/22 

Audible.  It took me awhile to get through this for some reason....it was somewhat interesting, but didn't grab me.  There were two mysteries being investigated that really were part of the same mystery, unbeknownst to any of the main characters.  That someone could be in jail for 30 or 40 years and be completely innocent distressed me.  And that inky blackness dug away in the back of my mind throughout the story.  3.5

          Dispersed

Crimson Lake - Candice Fox

#1 Crimson Lake

2017, 348 pgs.

6/8/22  

     Number one in a series of three so far.  The unique setting of northeaster Queensland along the tropical, crocodile-infested border is actually one of the characters in the story!  And what a story it is, I couldn't stop listening.  Police officer Ted Concaffy is falsely accused of abducting and raping a 13-year-old, which has, of course, turned hi life more than pside down.  He has escaped from Sydney to this tiny town of Crimson Lake and immediately becomes acquainted with the other Crimson Lake pariah, Amelia Farrow, who was charged with the murder of a young girl when she herself was only around 17.  Skinny and totally covered with tattoos, Ted never knows what she is going to be muttering.  She absolutely refuses to ride in a car, always riding on her yellow bicycle.  Such anger at some of the horrible characters suffused me as I read!  How Ted could keep his cool when horrible things that people with vendettas against him threw at him, I'll never know.  Amanda and Ted spend about a third of the book searching for the killer of a local popular author.  The intricate, excellent story intertwines three or four stories so brilliantly!  Read by an Australian-accented narrator, I was right there with them.  Fascinating.  5

          Dispersed

Fallen - Linda Castillo

#13 Kate Burkholder

2021, 320 pgs.

9/11/2021  

A 29-year-old previously Amish is murdered in a motel room in Painters Mill, beaten brutally with a bat.  Kate discovers that not only does she know this woman, she had babysat forRachel Schwartz many years ago. Rachel had been a wild child, leaving the Amish life when she was 17.  She was still friends with her best friend from childhood.  Kate, with the help of Tomasetti, solves part of the mystery quite quickly, but then discovers that there's more...much more.  This was an interesting story.  I liked it better than some of the more recent titles in the series.  4

          Dispersed

In the Clearing - Robert Dugoni

#3 Tracy Crosswhite

2016, 335 pgs.

10/12/21  read

Tracy investigtes two different murders, one a cold case from 1976 and the other of a wife and son both claiming to kill the father.  Set in Seattle near the Yakima reservation.  A niteresting plot that kept my attention most of the ride from Carlisle to Trenton and even back to Portland.  4

          Dispersed

The Insider - Craig Schaefer

#2 Charlie McCabe

2020, 329 pgs.

3/3/22  read

Contemporary Boston.  Interesting, complicated plot of a couple of different groups of very bad guys...and one buffoon assignment (??)  Bad cops a a smooth, brilliant antagonist from Charlie's past.  I'm sure there's going to be a number three....but when?  4...almost a 5 but a little too dragged out.

          Dispersed

Red Hot Fix - T. E. Woods

#2 Justice series/Mort Grant/The Fixer

2014, 288 pgs.

10/24/21  read

T. E. Woods can certainly spin a good tale!  Same two protagonists.  Mort is dealing with two different murders that are related and Lydia is dealing with her own pedophile case.  Hopping back-and-forth between the two keep it totally and completely interesting.  A female serial killer, a supposed prostitute name Trixie, is killing johns.  A national league basketball owner is murdered halfway through the book after we follow him in his pursuits with his team.  Looks like the series will continue, and I'm on it!  4.5

          Dispersed

The Short Drop - Matthew Fitzsimmons

#1 Gibson Vaughn

2015, 397 pgs.

8/16/20  read

Well, this was a great purchase.  I'm not a huge fan of political thrillers, but I enjoyed eing inside the head of this extremely bright ex-marine hacker who is trying to figure out what happened to a very close friend who disappeared/was kidnapped ten years previously.  Along the way he makes many discoveries about questionable details of his own past.  Definitely not a dull story.  I wasn't crazy about the narrator, he did something wierd with the end of his words that I didn't care for.  4.5

          Dispersed

Tell Me - Anne Frasier

#2 Inland Empire

2021, 285 pgs.

4/14/22  read

     Audible and Kindle.  A good mystery told from both the inside and outside of the investigation, from bad guys and good guys point-ov-views.  Nice twists that I didn't see coming.  I really do enjoy Frasier's writing, characters, and plot twists.  4

          Dispersed

Whispers from the Dead - Karen Ann Hopkins 

#2 Amish Sheriff Serenity Adams

2015, 282 pgs.

7/6/22  read

     Audible and Kindle.  Serenity is asked to travel to another Amish/English community in northern Indiana to figure out why a series of barn burnings are taking place.  I don't like the way the reader does Amish OR men's voices, she has a slowness to them that makes them sound like they've got some medical disabilities, lol.  The story is okay.  There are some questionable Amish cultural factors that don't quite meet what I've come to know about the Amish, but I realize there are many big AND small differences between communities.  Also, some of the things that Serenity does seem pretty questionable to me.  3.  Sequel on hand.

          Dispersed

The Woman in Blue - Elly Griffiths

#8 Ruth Galloway

2016, 370 pgs.

7/23/22 read

    Audible.  This one was all about the Catholic Church and priests and religion, something that makes Ruth Galloway uncomfortable.  Too many coincidences and reasong for thigs happening that are iffy to say the least.  This was okay, but not one of my favorites.  And this isn't so much Ruth's story as it is a compilation of everyone's.  So many different characters to remember!  3.5

             Dispersed

Secrets in the Grave - Karen Ann Hopkins

#3 Serenity's Plain Secrets

2015, 253 pgs.

7/22/22 read

     Audible and Kindle.  So many names, confused all the time because she keeps pulling back people from the first two novels -- which I don't remember.  I still don't like her very much, Daniels is okay.  Don't get their relationship at all.  The mystery was so-so, I figured it out early.  Okay for driving, though.  3

          Dispersed

Hidden in Plain Sight - Karen Ann Hopkins

#4 Serenity's Plain Secrets

2016, 217 pgs.

August, 2022 read

     Kindle.  Another Serenity Adams, Amish community in Indiana, who takes off all sorts of time to take a supposedly {quick" trip - many times back-and-forth to Lancester County , Pa to help them solve a 15-year old cold case.  I don't get the same feeling about the way the Amish are portrayed in this book as I have in  many of the others, both Christian and non-Christian base that I've read. Don't think I'm going to read any more of them.  3

9/13/2022 

No Mercy - Blake Pierce

#1 Valerie Law

58. on September 2022 list, but no summary?  Perhaps in another dump?

62.  Hatchet Island (#13 Mike Bowditch) -  Paul Doiron, Audible (5) 9/22/22

64. The Midnight Man - Kindle (#1 Slayton Thrillers) Caroline Mitchell 2021 (3.5) 10/4 GR

65.  The Night Whispers (#2 Slayton Thrillers) Caroline Mitchell - 2022 Audible&Kindle (3) 10/6 GR

            dispersed

Desert Star - Michael Connelly

#5 Renee Ballard

2022, 400 pgs. 

December, 2022 read

     OMG, what has Michael Connelly done?  He's killing off Harry Bosch?  He's made him an old man with a terminal illness.  Might this be happening to Michael Connelly himself?  This was a very interesting story because of all-of-a-sudden Harry was depicted as being older...being called "old man" constantly.  And I hated that.  The storytelling was good, finding a cold case murder from many years previously, but it's left me with a totally unsettled feeling, because I don't know in what direction Harry Bosch will be going.  Reading about him and watching him on Amazon Prime has sort of been a big part of my life in recent years, and always brings me closer to Steve.  Connelly even brought Mickey Haller int the mix at the very end, almost like he was wrapping up loose ends.  Is this the last Harry Bosch?  How can I evev rate this one?

             Dispersed

Exiles - Jane Harper

#3 Aaron Falk, Australia

2022, 356 pgs.

3/25/23 read

     Grew on me more and more as the story progressed.  At first it just seemed to jump all over the place (it actually did this throughout the story), but once I got used to it, it was easier to follow along a little more esasilty.  A complicated story that kept you wondering all the time - which I like.  Definitely a good mystery.  Happily every after...no more Aaron Falk to come.  Ever.  4

      Dispersed

Beyond Reason - Molly Black

#1 Reese Link

2023, 201 pgs.

6/17/23 Read

     Kindle.  A brand new rookie police officer in a coastal Maine town gets assigned her first case - a homicide - and is paired up with a young but seasoned state police officer.  Very unbelievable, as are all the stunts and judgment calls that she makes.  Perhaps if she was more seasoned I would believe more, but I kept shaking my head.  3

      Dispersed

Hallowed Ground - Linda Castillo

#14.5 Kate Burkholder Short story

6/23/23 Read

     Human bones are found and then Burkholder and Tomasetti discover cemetery graves have been dug up.  They solve it quite easily.  4

      Dispersed

Close to Home - Robert Dugoni

#5 Tracy Crosswhite

2017, 362 pgs.

6/24/23  Read

     Set in Seattle and across the ferry in Bremerton, this one follows Tracy and her fellow detectives on two interesting cases- one a hit and run, the other a drug overdose of one of Dell's nieces.  Much of the story involves the Navy, including some of its personnel - lawyers - from the Navy base in Bremerton.  There's a lot of back-and-forth on the ferry.  Also, Tracy is constantly trying to get pregnant since she's at the end of the line for that possibility ... and the story ends with a possible HEA.  4

     Dispersed

Dead Man's Wake - Paul Doiron

#14 Mike Bowditch

2023, 320 pgs.

7/31/23 finished

     This one takes place completely on an island, Moose Island, on Belgrade Lake.  Mice and Stacy are on one side of the lake at Mike's stepfather's summer place when they hear a crash from near the island across the lake.  Since Charlie Stevens is also present at the engagement celebration, he is a participant in most of the story, as is his airplane.  Good story, kept my attention, made sense, and was definitely full of MAINE!  4

           Dispersed

AN Evil Heart - Linda Castillo

#15 Kate Burkholder

2023, 320 pgs.

8/27/23 Finished

     Libby.  Pretty gross murder of a young Amish guy with two close-up arrows, both through and through.  Plus....Tomasetti and Burkholder get married at the very end of the book, in the last four minutes or so!  4

      Dispersed

The Final Equinox - Andrew Mayne

#2 Theo Cray & Jessica Blackwood

2022, 336 pgs.

9/3/23  Finished

     This was interesting but had far too much scientific jargon that totally made no sense to me at all.  I ended up skimming about 1/3 or the book.  I couldn't keep all of the characters straight - who could have been the bad guys, who could've been the good guys, who was on what side..... It will be interesting to see what other people have rated and reviewed about this book, perhaps it's a better actual READ than LISTEN?  3

      Dispersed

9/19/23

Nearly Mine - Molly Black

#1 Grace Ford

2023, 170 pgs.

     Kindle.  I don't think I really liked the protagonist in this one.  She was a little too cocky sure of herself all the time, just a little better than everybody else.  The murders were a little far-fetched as well.  If I'm able to get book 2 on the cheap I'll probably try it out.  Will be easy to pass.  3

        Disbursed

11/25/23

The Spy Coast - Tess Gerritsen

#1 The Martini Club

2023, 341 pgs.

     Audible and Kindle.  Ex CIA agent Maggie lives on a small farm on the coast of Maine near four of five other ex-CIA agents that she had worked with years before.   She both quit the CIA and lost her beloved husband 16 years before.  But somehow, the bad guys from her last case (you guessed it - 16 years before) found her.  The story was fun to follow and try to figure out.  Set in Maine and Bangkok with quick side trips to other glamorous places.  Two time periods.  4

NOTE:  Tess Gerritsen lives in Camden, ME

      Disbursed

12/10/23

The Bones at Point No Point - D. D. Black

#1 Thomas Austin

2022, 264 pgs.

     Audible.  The serial killer in this book does some pretty horrible stuff - killing newborns and leaving their bones in a bag on the beach.  This book introduces Thomas Austin, the NYC cop who caught the original baby killer and has now retired to the coast of Washington state to run a small hamburger joint in a small town near Seattle.  When similar baby bones are discovered on the beach of his new community, Austin is asked by the police to consult.  There are some interesting characters, and the story moves right along.  Not bad, but not great.  I will read more because I want to see how this character is going to develop.  3.5

Elly Griffiths - The End of the Ruth Galloway Series After 15 Installments

 I got really behind with tracking my books in 2023, and I read a lot of Elly Griffiths, so I'm going to combine all the missed ones below:

#13 The Night Hawks

     Finished 6/3/23  (4)

     I almost didn't like Ruth in some of this book!  She took over as the head of the archaeology department and it felt as if she had become a little bit snotty.  Maybe she's always been this way?  LOL.  There is the introduction of a new character, the guy what has been hired to take her old job and the university - xyzcyz Gold.  He is definitely an unknown commodity, Unking and gruff and eager...but seems to change his attitude by the end.  No reasons, in particular, for either of these personality traits. Hmmmmmm.  And why in heck is she so drawn to Nelson?  I just don't get it, his personality is pretty crappy.  Good mystery, though the reason that she and Michelle were brought together near the end was WAY too out there.  I read this on the entire drive to Maine of Brendan's graduation.

#14 The Locked Room

     Finished 6/17/2023 (4.25)

     COVID-19 hits the world.  This book is set between February and May of 2020 and consists of multiple murders that are set up to look like suicides at the beginning of the pandemic.  I don't this there were quite as many characters as usual, which made it a little easier to follow.  It was a good one, although it had very little about archaeological forensics, which was really quite ok.  During the whole time, Nelson's wife, Michelle, was out of town, staying with her mother in Blackpool, so there were a number of first time types of visits between Nelson and Ruth.  I still don't get what she sees in this guy.  He must be quite a looker!

#15  The Last Remains

     Finished 8/7/2023 (4.5)

     Listened to this one back and forth OTR to Maine.  A good one, and it appears to neatly tie up the relationship between Nelson and Ruth.  I really hate to see this series end.  One of my favorites.

14. Lying Beside You - Michael Robotham

#3 Cyrus Haven

listened on Audible
352 pgs.
2022
Adult Mystery - British

Finished 2/18/2024
Goodreads rating: 4.31
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Nottingham, England

My comments: Back-and-forth between Cyrus and Evie as we follow the progress of a murder, then kidnapping situation.  The plot drags for the first half, but moves along really well in the second half.  One drawback for me: the narrator makes all the male voices sound like the character's a little bit slow....  And no matter how much I think about it, I cannot come up with any possibilities about why it was titled the way it was. A good story, once it got moving...I plan to read the next in the series while this one is still in my head.

Goodreads synopsis:  Cyrus Haven and Evie Cormac return in Robotham’s latest page-turning, psychological thriller in this series.

If I could tell you one thing about my brother, it would be this. Two days after his nineteenth birthday, he killed our parents and twin sisters because he heard voices in his head. As defining events go, nothing else comes close for Elias, or for me.

As a boy, Cyrus Haven survived a family massacre and slowly pieced his life back together. Now, after almost twenty years, his brother is applying to be released from a secure psychiatric hospital—and Cyrus is expected to forgive Elias and welcome him home.

Elias is returning to a very different world. Cyrus is now a successful psychologist, working with the police, sharing his house with Evie Cormac, a damaged and gifted teenager who can tell when someone is lying. Evie has gone back to school and is working part-time at an inner-city bar, but she continues to struggle with authority and following rules.

When a man is murdered and his daughter disappears, Cyrus is called in to profile the killer and help piece together Maya Kirk’s last hours. Police believe she was drugged and driven away from the same bar where Evie is working. Soon, a second victim is taken, and Evie is the only person who glimpsed the man behind the wheel.

But there’s a problem. Only two people believe her. One is Cyrus.

13. The Boyfriend Candidate by Ashley Winstead

listened on Libby

2023
384 pgs.
Adult RomCom
Finished 2/10/2024
Goodreads rating: 3.83
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Austin, TX

My comments:  Another fake girlfriend/boyfriend trope.  Very cute.  Set in Austin, Texas, Logan is running for governor.  He is young and smart, brash and outspoken, running for governor.  Alexis is, shy and a "yes-girl" because she doesn't want to be unkind to anyone, and a school librarian.  Of course there are all sorts of miscommunications between the two but ultimately, as it always does in this sort of novel, the love story wins.  (She had no idea who he was in the beginning?  Yeah, right.....)  Just plain fun - with lots of eye-rolling.

Goodreads synopsis:  As a shy school librarian, Alexis Stone is comfortable keeping out of the spotlight. But when she's dumped for being too meek-in bed!-she decides she needs to change. And what better way to kick-start her new more adventurous life than with her first one-night stand?

Enter Logan, the gorgeous, foul-mouthed stranger she meets at a hotel bar. Audacious and filterless, Logan is Alexis's opposite-and boy, do opposites attract! Just as she's about to fulfill her hookup wish, the hotel catches fire in a freak lightning storm. In their rush to escape, Logan is discovered carrying her into the street, where people are waiting with cameras. Cameras Logan promptly-and shockingly-flees.

Alexis is bewildered until suddenly pictures of her and Logan escaping the fire are all over the internet. Turns out Logan is none other than Logan Arthur, the hotshot candidate challenging the Texas governor's seat. The salacious scandal is poised to sink his career-and jeopardize Alexis's job-until a solution is he and Alexis could pretend to be in a relationship until election day…in two months. What could possibly go wrong?

12. The Taken Ones by Jess Lourey

#1 Steinbeck & Reed

listened on Audible
339 pgs.
2023
Adult Murder Mystery

Finished 2/7/2024
Goodreads rating: 4.27
My rating: 4.5
Setting: contemporary Minnesota

My comments: Van Reed is a cold case agent for the MBsomething-or-other - I think the same agency that Virgil Flowers works for.  Her horrible upbringing in a cult has left her bruised with psychic nightmares about really bad people.  The characters in this book certainly dip into every possible type.... including a LOT of stupid, mean cops!  Well written. Liked it a lot.

Goodreads synopsis:  Two girls vanished. A woman buried alive. Between two crimes—decades of secrets yet to be unearthed.

Summer 1980: With no fear of a local superstition, three girls go into a Minnesota wood. Only one comes out. Dead silent. Memory gone. No trace of her friends. The mystery of the Taken Ones captures the nation.

Summer 2022: Cold case detective Van Reed and forensic scientist Harry Steinbeck are assigned a disturbing homicide—a woman buried alive, clutching a heart charm necklace belonging to one of the vanished girls. Van follows her gut. Harry trusts in facts. Their common ground is the need to catch a killer before he kills again. They have something else in common: each has ties to the original case in ways they’re reluctant to share.

As Van and Harry connect the crimes of the past and the present, Van struggles with memories of her own nightmarish childhood—and the fear that uncovering the truth of the Taken Ones will lead her down a path from which she, too, may never return.