30. None of This is True by Lisa Jewell

listened on Libby
380 pgs.

2023
Adult psychological "thriller"
Finished 4/3/24
Goodreads rating: 4.15
My rating: 2....barely
Setting: contemporary London

My comments: Nope.  Not for me.  Do you want to be sad, depressed, and bored for over ten hours of your life?  Then this is the book for you!  Slow and repetitive with barely any surprises that you couldn't figure out were coming.. this is a very popular "thriller." that just didn't do it for me.  I did enjoy the setting of contemporary London, though.....

Goodreads synopsis:  Lisa Jewell returns with a scintillating new psychological thriller about a woman who finds herself the subject of her own popular true crime podcast.

Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins.

A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.

Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realise that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.

But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.

Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?

42. Kismet by Lauren Blakely

2022

251 pgs.
Adult romance
Finished 5/27/2022
Goodreads rating: 3.60
My rating: 3
Setting: contemporary London

My comments: Unusual in that about 2/3 of the way through the book there s no heartbreaking secret that is finally exposed to the other half of the romantic couple!  There is nervous anticipation about what is going to happen about the two protagonists being up for the same job, but you never have any kind of nervousness about it because you know it will all be solved.  So, no strife, visiting places in London...quite a bit of steam, way too repetititive.....but a very non-angsty feel good novel.

Goodreads synopsis:  My first evening in London feels like kismet when I bump into a charming, book-loving Englishman, and by the end of the night, he’s making me see stars. I’m floating when we make plans to meet again.

Then fate decides to pull a fast one on me.

Turns out my smoldering new lover is my red-hot competition, and we’re vying for the same promotion at the elite auction house I crossed an ocean for.

If that’s not enough, the hottie and I are forced to work together on a brand new collection.
Every. Single. Tempting. Day.

What's an American woman in London to do?

Staying far, far away would be the safe choice, especially when I learn about his past and how it mirrors mine.

But I don’t always play it safe with my heart…

Contents Include: A grumpy/sunshine office romance, secret gardens, knee-weakening kisses by the river and a hero who loves books.

5. Cyber Count by S. L Beaumont

#1 or 2 Kat Munro (Don't need to read#1 if there is one before this...)

read on Kindle

2021
330 pgs.
Adult Police Procedural/Mystery
Finished 1/22/22
Goodreads rating: 4.30
My rating: 3
Setting: Contemporary London

My comments: This is all about cyber crime and crypto coin.  There are two major crimes being investigated by Kat and her cop sorta-boyfriend, Adam.  There are some really sleazy characters and it's written very simply (yet with lots of cyber crime info that I didn't care enough about, so it went in and out of my head).  Run of the mill.

Goodreads synopsis:  Has cyber-crime escalated to murder?

Forensic accountant Kat Munro puts her traumatic past behind her and begins dating journalist Connor O’Malley, whose investigations into online crime attract the wrong kind of attention. When a colleague’s teenage son goes missing, and his friend’s body is discovered, Kat finds herself working with DS Adam Jackson again.

The murder enquiry leads Adam to an exclusive London school where allegations of drugs, gaming fraud and child pornography abound. As he gets deeper into the investigation, Adam is forced to face issues in his private life while suppressing his feelings for Kat.

The faceless hackers become desperate, and Connor is found drugged with his research missing. Can Kat and Adam put the past behind them to solve a series of seemingly unrelated incidents before someone else becomes the victim of an elusive cyber-crime network?

145. Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith

#5 Cormoran Strike

Listened on Libby (borrowed from one of my libraries)
narrated by Robert Glenister
Unabridged audio (31:52)
2020
944 pgs.
Adult murder mystery
Finished 12/2/2020
Goodreads rating: 4..335 - 31,606 ratings (lots of 1 ratings from people who haven't even read the book, but from people objecting about J. K. Rowling's supposed transphobia.)
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary London and Cornwall

First line/s: " 'You're a Cornishman, born and bred,' said Dave Polworth irritably."

My comments (also posted on GoodReads):  Three "negatives" and many positives to ponder as I finish this  book.  Yes, it was too long.  Way too long.  There were too many people to remember, although Galbraith did a decent job of reminding the reader each time one was mentioned.  And thirdly, I didn't like all the chapter beginnings (quotes from Spenser's Faerie Queene).  Other than that, it was spot on....great mystery, excellent plot (just too lengthy), great characters, and a really perfect ending, both for the professional pair of Strike & Robin, and for their personal side as well.  Enough going on in their personal lives to keep that part of the story quite interesting. 

Goodreads synopsis:  Private Detective Cormoran Strike is visiting his family in Cornwall when he is approached by a woman asking for help finding her mother, Margot Bamborough — who went missing in mysterious circumstances in 1974.

           Strike has never tackled a cold case before, let alone one forty years old. But despite the slim chance of success, he is intrigued and takes it on; adding to the long list of cases that he and his partner in the agency, Robin Ellacott, are currently working on. And Robin herself is also juggling a messy divorce and unwanted male attention, as well as battling her own feelings about Strike.
           As Strike and Robin investigate Margot's disappearance, they come up against a fiendishly complex case with leads that include tarot cards, a psychopathic serial killer and witnesses who cannot all be trusted. And they learn that even cases decades old can prove to be deadly .

19. Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal

listened on Audio
read by Myra Syal
Unabridged (10:34)
2017, William Morrow
304 pgs.
Adult CRF, quite racy in places!
Finished  2/19/2019
Goodreads rating:  3.91 - 25,470 ratings
My rating:  4.5
Setting: Contemporary London

First line/s:  :Why did Mindi want an arranged marriage?"

My comments:  This book IS actually full of exotic stories, as well as insight into the Punjabi/Indian/Sikh culture in contemporary London. Told from the point of view of a modern British young woman of Punjabi heritage, the twists, turns, inter-generational friendships, arranged marriages, and honest peeks into a fascinating culture enthralled me totally. And listening to the lilting accented reader was a special added treat.

Goodreads synopsis:  A lively, sexy, and thought-provoking East-meets-West story about community, friendship, and women’s lives at all ages—a spicy and alluring mix of Together Tea and Calendar Girls.
          Every woman has a secret life . . .
          Nikki lives in cosmopolitan West London, where she tends bar at the local pub. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she’s spent most of her twenty-odd years distancing herself from the traditional Sikh community of her childhood, preferring a more independent (that is, Western) life. When her father’s death leaves the family financially strapped, Nikki, a law school dropout, impulsively takes a job teaching a "creative writing" course at the community center in the beating heart of London’s close-knit Punjabi community.
          Because of a miscommunication, the proper Sikh widows who show up are expecting to learn basic English literacy, not the art of short-story writing. When one of the widows finds a book of sexy stories in English and shares it with the class, Nikki realizes that beneath their white dupattas, her students have a wealth of fantasies and memories. Eager to liberate these modest women, she teaches them how to express their untold stories, unleashing creativity of the most unexpected—and exciting—kind.
          As more women are drawn to the class, Nikki warns her students to keep their work secret from the Brotherhood, a group of highly conservative young men who have appointed themselves the community’s "moral police." But when the widows’ gossip offers shocking insights into the death of a young wife—a modern woman like Nikki—and some of the class erotica is shared among friends, it sparks a scandal that threatens them all.

9. Lethal White by Robert Galbraith

Cormoran Strike #4 (J. K. Rowling pseudonym)
listened to on audio - from TPPL
read by Robert Glenister
2018, Sphere
656 pgs.
Adult Mystery
Finished 1/20/2019 (Ashley's 17th birthday)
Goodreads rating:  4.30 -- 43,301 ratings
My rating: 4
Setting:  In and around London, contemporary time

First line/s:  "If only the swans would swim side by side on the dark green lake, this picture might turn out to be the crowning achievement of the wedding photographer's career."

My comments:  I love listening to Robert Glenister read Cormoran Strike.  I can even tell when he uses different accents for different places in England!  This was a l-o-n-g mystery, but quite a bit of it told the story of Robyn's wedding, first anniversary, and all the turmoil and activity surrounding these events, which definitely fit really well into the telling of the story.  We have such an investment in Cormoran and Robyn, and it's always interesting to see where this goes, or might be headed, in each subsequent book.  The mystery is engaging and complicated, very complicated, but it's pretty easy to not get confused.  Every single tiny little detail is examined, discussed, and fits in like a puzzle piece.  A little too long, a few too many minute details repeated, but otherwise a very interesting, thought-provoking mystery.

Goodreads synopsis:  “I seen a kid killed…He strangled it, up by the horse.”
          When Billy, a troubled young man, comes to private eye Cormoran Strike’s office to ask for his help investigating a crime he thinks he witnessed as a child, Strike is left deeply unsettled. While Billy is obviously mentally distressed, and cannot remember many concrete details, there is something sincere about him and his story. But before Strike can question him further, Billy bolts from his office in a panic.
          Trying to get to the bottom of Billy’s story, Strike and Robin Ellacott—once his assistant, now a partner in the agency—set off on a twisting trail that leads them through the backstreets of London, into a secretive inner sanctum within Parliament, and to a beautiful but sinister manor house deep in the countryside.
          And during this labyrinthine investigation, Strike’s own life is far from straightforward: his newfound fame as a private eye means he can no longer operate behind the scenes as he once did. Plus, his relationship with his former assistant is more fraught than it ever has been—Robin is now invaluable to Strike in the business, but their personal relationship is much, much trickier than that.

42. Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith

#3 Comoran Strike
listened to cd while driving
2015 Mulholland Books
492 pgs.
Adult murder mystery
Finished 8/4/16
Goodreads rating:  4.2 - 73,514 ratings
My rating:  4
Setting: Contemporary London

First line/s:  "He had not managed to scrub off all her blood."

My comments:  I love the escapades that Cormoran and Robin find themselves in, and I like having to guess and figure out connections in the mystery as I read/listen.  This third-in-the=series did seem to labor on a bit too long (months of surveillance on five different people helped me stay mightily confused at times), but it certainly kept me entertained on the road - 15 cds worth of entertainment.  Most of the time I greatly enjoy the reader of this book, but sometimes I think he makes Cormoran come off more like Hagrid than a charming 30-something.  A cliffhanger-type ending makes me wonder in what direction Galbraith/Rowling is going with the Strike/Ellacort relationship.,,,

Goodreads synopsis:  Cormoran Strike is back, with his assistant Robin Ellacott, in a mystery based around soldiers returning from war.
       When a mysterious package is delivered to Robin Ellacott, she is horrified to discover that it contains a woman’s severed leg.
       Her boss, private detective Cormoran Strike, is less surprised but no less alarmed. There are four people from his past who he thinks could be responsible – and Strike knows that any one of them is capable of sustained and unspeakable brutality.
       With the police focusing on the one suspect Strike is increasingly sure is not the perpetrator, he and Robin take matters into their own hands, and delve into the dark and twisted worlds of the other three men. But as more horrendous acts occur, time is running out for the two of them…
       Career of Evil is the third in the series featuring private detective Cormoran Strike and his assistant Robin Ellacott. A mystery and also a story of a man and a woman at a crossroads in their personal and professional lives.

28. Hard Light - Elizabeth Hand

#3 Cass Neary, Photographer
read the actual book
2016, Minotaur Books
355 pgs.
Adult mystery
Finished 5/16/16
Goodreads rating: 4.17
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary England - half London, half the moors

First line/s:  "A stolen passport will only get you so far.  In my case, that was through Customs and Immigration at Heathrow, where I stood in the line for EU travelers, praying I wouldn't have to fake a Swedish accent as an impassive official ran a check on my documentation."

My comments:  I read the second book in this series because Ms. Hand is a Maine author, one of my go-to choices.  Then I read the first, which is set in Maine (yay!).  When I saw this , the third in the series, on the shelf at the library, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it.
          I really enjoyed this book.  A lot.  Couldn't wait to finish it.  Maybe I'm not quite as shocked about Cass Neary's failings and downfalls (klepto, druggie, alkie), a bit enamored with her deep-down humanity and amount of knowledge of the world and its history, and in agreement with some of her "who cares" attitude about people and situations.
     This was a great story - half taking place in a cold, wintery contemporary London and the other half taking place out on the stormy English moors.  Good mystery, great characterization, a really interesting delve into the underground music and film-making life of the 60s and how poorly it's all aged.   More Cass Neary will be appreciated.  She's really grown on me.

Goodreads synopsis:

MOVIE - Dough

NR  (1:34)

Limited Release 4/28/16

Viewed 5/5/16 at The Loft

RT Critic:  60  Audience:  60

Cag:  4/Liked it a lot

Directed by John Goldschmidt

Docier Entertainment

Jonathan Pryce

My comments:  Unfortunately, this is one of the movies I saw in the spring that I didn't review right away, so forgot my initial reaction other than I liked it a lot, but not hugely.....

RT Summary:  Curmudgeonly widower Nat Dayan (Tony award-winning actor Jonathan Pryce, currently in HBO's "Game of Thrones") clings to his way of life as a Kosher bakery shop owner in London's East End. Understaffed, Nat reluctantly enlists the help of teenager Ayyash (Jerome Holder), who has a secret side gig selling marijuana to help his immigrant mother make ends meet. When Ayyash accidentally drops his stash into the mixing dough, the challah starts flying off the shelves and an unlikely friendship forms between the old Jewish baker and his young Muslim apprentice. DOUGH is a warmhearted and humorous story about overcoming prejudice and finding redemption in unexpected places.

25. The Girl in the Ice - Robert Bryndza

#1 DCI Erika Foster, London
read on my iPhone
2016 Bookouture
396 pgs.
Adult Mystery
Finished 4-21-16
Goodreads rating: 4.00 (1000+ ratings)
My rating: 3.5
Setting: Contemporary London

First line/s:   "The pavement glittered in the moonlight as Andrea Douglas-Brown hurried up the deserted high street.  Her high heels clicked in the quiet, frequently breaking rhythm - a result of all the vodka she'd consumed."

My comments:  This was a decent mystery, and I'll go for at least the sequel, which comes out in about a month. I'd like to get to know the protagonist a little better...she's got a few ego?? (not sure that's the right word) issues that are interesting....

Goodreads synopsis:  Her eyes are wide open. Her lips parted as if to speak. Her dead body frozen in the ice…She is not the only one. 
         When a young boy discovers the body of a woman beneath a thick sheet of ice in a South London park, Detective Erika Foster is called in to lead the murder investigation. 
         The victim, a beautiful young socialite, appeared to have the perfect life. Yet when Erika begins to dig deeper, she starts to connect the dots between the murder and the killings of three prostitutes, all found strangled, hands bound and dumped in water around London. 
         What dark secrets is the girl in the ice hiding? 
         As Erika inches closer to uncovering the truth, the killer is closing in on Erika. 
         The last investigation Erika led went badly wrong… resulting in the death of her husband. With her career hanging by a thread, Erika must now battle her own personal demons as well as a killer more deadly than any she’s faced before. But will she get to him before he strikes again?
         A page-turning thriller packed with suspense. If you like Angela Marsons, Rachel Abbott and Karin Slaughter, discover Rob Bryndza’s new series today – at a special launch price. 
         Watch out for more from DCI Erika Foster
         She’s fearless. Respected. Unstoppable. Detective Erika Foster will catch a killer, whatever it takes. 

MOVIE - The Lady in the Van

PG-13 (1:44)

Limited release 12/4/15

Harkins Camelview at Fashion Square 14 on Friday 2/5/16 after PLC Conferience - recliners in a "regular" theater - 1st one other than Roadhouse I've been to!

RT Critic:  93 Audience:  76
Critic's Consensus:   Led by a marvelous performance from Maggie Smith, Lady in the Van wrings poignant, often hilarious insight from its fact-based source material.

Cag:  6 Simply marvelous  

Directed by Nicholas Hytner

Sony Pictures

Based on the book by Alan Bennett

Dame Maggie Smith

My comments:  Wow.  A great movie with the most marvelously played lead of all time!  This was a great story and great acting, rich with humor and reality and deep thinking opportunities. Let people be themselves particularly if they're eccentric.  There's usually a reason!  I loved it, and didn't think of my surroundings once in the entire film.  Highly recommended.

RT Summary:  This film tells the true story of the relationship between Alan Bennett and the singular Miss Shepherd, a woman of uncertain origins who 'temporarily' parked her van in Bennett's London driveway and proceeded to live there for 15 years.

MOVIE - Burnt

R (1:40)

Wide release 10/30/15

Viewed 1/228/16 at Kolb Century Gateway

RT Critic: 29   Audience:  48
Critic's Consensus:  Burnt offers a few spoonfuls of compelling culinary drama, but they're lost in a watery goulash dominated by an unsavory main character and overdone clichés.

Cag:  4/ Liked it a lot

Directed by John Wells

The Weinstein Company

Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller

My comments:  Bradley Cooper.  Yup, that's my comment.  Bradley Cooper.  No need to say more!  Set in London, this is the story of a man's regrets, pain, obsessions, dependency, and dealing with outwitting his own self-destructive ways.  Sounds heavy, and it was in places, but if watched with a smirk (Bradley Cooper!) the story is quite palatable and completely entertaining.

RT Summary:  Chef Adam Jones (Bradley Cooper) had it all - and lost it. The former enfant terrible of the Paris restaurant scene had earned two Michelin stars and only ever cared about the thrill of creating explosions of taste. To land his own kitchen and that third elusive star though, Jones will need to leave his bad habits behind and get the best of the best on his side, including the beautiful Helene (Sienna Miller). BURNT is a remarkably funny and emotional story about the love of food, the love between two people, and the power of second chances.

55. Sapphire Blue - Kerstin Gier

Book # 2 in the Ruby Red trilogy
read the actual hardcover book!
2012, Henry Hold (originally published in 2009 in German)
362 pgs.
YA Fantasy - time travel
Finished 8/19/2015
Goodreads rating: 4.20
My rating:  4
Setting:  Contemporary London (with forays through time back to the 1950's and 1782)

First line/s: "The streets of Southwark were dark and deserted.  The air smelled of waterweeds, sewage, and dead fish.  He instinctively held her hand more tightly."

My comments:  Throughout this book, the second of three, the aspect of romance seemed a little heavier. I tried to put myself in the place of an 8th or 9th grade girl and that's when I realized that this is so on the mark.  Kids in that age group, kids raised close to family and in a private school, would probably have similar reactions to boys (and drinking) as Gwen.  She's practically swooning over handsome Gabriel....well, I did plenty of practically-swooning when I was that age.  I actually remember when I'm forced to!  So we shouldn't get grown-up, mature thinking and reactions and attitudes, I realized.  I think the Ms. Gier has pretty well hit the mark.  The mystery and tension are still pretty high as well.  I'm really looking forward to seeing how it all works out in book number 3!

Goodreads synopsis:  Gwen’s life has been a rollercoaster since she discovered she was the Ruby, the final member of the secret time-traveling Circle of Twelve. In between searching through history for the other time-travelers and asking for a bit of their blood (gross!), she’s been trying to figure out what all the mysteries and prophecies surrounding the Circle really mean.

          At least Gwen has plenty of help. Her best friend Lesley follows every lead diligently on the Internet. James the ghost teaches Gwen how to fit in at an eighteenth century party. And Xemerius, the gargoyle demon who has been following Gwen since he caught her kissing Gideon in a church, offers advice on everything. Oh, yes. And of course there is Gideon, the Diamond. One minute he’s very warm indeed; the next he’s freezing cold. Gwen’s not sure what’s going on there, but she’s pretty much destined to find out.

14. The Evelyn Project - Kfir Luzzatto

Read on my iPhone

2012 Kindle edition, Pine Ten LLC

305 pgs.

Adult CRF/Mystery (supposedly)

Finished 2/9/15

Goodreads rating: 3.83 (30 ratings)

My rating:  1 - Yuck

Setting: Contemporary London, Italy, Austria

1st sentence/s: "London welcomed Franco back as he alighted on the sunny sidewalk, right after the end of his weekly student reception hour, by cunningly thrusting upon him an elderly millionaire who spoke in riddles."

My comments:  I hate reviewing a book when I don't like it, but I guess I've got to be honest.  I didn't like this story - or the storytelling - at all.  It was all tell, no show.  It was like the author made an outline and then filled in a few nouns and verbs.  No character development and very little plot development....nothing surprising or disconcerting, and no reason to read through until the end.  Yuck.

Goodreads book summary:  A loving father's cry for help gets into the wrong hands, and a hundred years later things get out of control.
          Evelyn’s father did everything that was in his power to save his dying daughter, black magic included. But when a century later his plea for help gets into the wrong hands, all hell breaks loose.
          Caught in the slippery battlefield between the Vatican and a cult that wants to change the past, a young Italian professor and a beautiful French aspiring actress are too busy running away from murder and conspiracy to let physical attraction develop into love.
          And it doesn’t help that Her Majesty's Secret Service decides to take an interest in what everybody else is doing and to pull some strings of its own. Quite the contrary, in fact…

7. The Silkworm - Robert Galbraith (J. K. Rowling)

#2 Cormoran Strike 

Listened to on cd in the car AND read 

Audio read by 

14 unabridged audio discs (17.5 hours)

2014 Mulholland Books/Little Brown

456 pgs.

Adult Murder Mystery

Finished 1/17/15

Goodreads rating: 4.01

My rating:   4/ Liked it a lot

TPPL - both audio and book

Setting:  Contemporary London, England

1st sentence/s: " 'Someone bloody famous,' said the hoarse voice on the end of the line, 'better've died, Strike.'" 

My comments:  Good story, but overly long, I think.  I like the characters of Strike and Robin and I love the story that's developing between them.  I look forward to more.  (Oh, and I'm not so crazy about all the quotes at the beginning of the chapters...50 chapters, 50 quotes.....

Goodreads book summary:  Private investigator Cormoran Strike returns in a new mystery from Robert Galbraith, author of the #1 international bestsellerThe Cuckoo's Calling.
          When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, Mrs. Quine just thinks her husband has gone off by himself for a few days—as he has done before—and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home.
          But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine's disappearance than his wife realizes. The novelist has just completed a manuscript featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows. If the novel were to be published, it would ruin lives—meaning that there are a lot of people who might want him silenced.
          When Quine is found brutally murdered under bizarre circumstances, it becomes a race against time to understand the motivation of a ruthless killer, a killer unlike any Strike has encountered before... 

54. The Cuckoo's Calling - Robert Galbraith

J. K. Rowling writing a Robert Galbraith
Cormoran Strike #1
audio read by Robert Glenister
13 unabridged cds  (16:00)
2013 Mulholland Books/Hachette Audio
455 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery (Private Investigator)
TPPL
Finished Sat. 12/14/2013
Goodreads rating: 3.85 (8,321 reviews)
My rating: 4
Setting: 2010 London, England
1st sentence/s:  "The buzz in the street was like the humming of flies.  Photographers stood behind barriers patrolled by police, their long-snouted cameras poised, their breath rising like steam.  Snow fell steadily onto hats and shoulders, gloved fingers wiped lenses clear."

My reaction:  Cormoran Strike is quite an interesting character.  Illegitimate son of a famous rocker and long-dead groupie mother; very, very large; a prosthetic instead of a foot and lower leg; quite self-conscious; and very, very smart, he runs a detective agency that hasn't much business. The mystery itself is interesting with a smooth somewhat-of-a-surprise ending, and the relationship that unfolds between Cormoran and his temp, Robin, is really nicely done.  The story was a little longer than it had to be, with repetition of facts in a number of places that could have been lessened.  I enjoyed listening to it, the reader's British accent which added reality to the setting and situation.  I'll happily read another about this interesting character if and when it appears.

Goodreads:  A brilliant debut mystery in a classic vein: Detective Cormoran Strike investigates a supermodel's suicide. After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.
     Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, thelegendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.
     You may think you know detectives, but you've never met one quite like Strike. You may think you know about the wealthy and famous, but you've never seen them under an investigation like this.

23. The Night Ferry - Michael Robotham

audio read by Clare Corbett
2007 Recorded Books
11 unabridged cds (12.25 hrs.)

384 pgs.

Finished on the road 

Genre: Murder Mystery

Goodreads Rating: 3.75

My Rating: Very, very good (4.5)

Acquired through PBS

Setting: London, England and Amsterdam

Goodreads Review:  "Alisha Barba's dreams of being a detective were shattered when a murder suspect broke her back across a brick wall. Now on her feet again, with her police career in limbo, she receives a message from an old school friend, Cate Beaumont, who is eight months pregnant and in trouble.On the night they arrange to meet, Cate is mown down by a car that kills her husband instantly. As paramedics fight to save her life they discover there is no baby. Her pregnancy is an elaborate lie, a cruel deception.  Why? What happened? As Alisha sets out to answer these questions she is drawn deeper and deeper into a dangerous quest that will take her from the East End of London to Amsterdam's red light district and into a murky underworld of sex trafficking, slavery and exploitation."

My comments on Goodreads: Very, very good - I'll give it five stars - it kept me interested and guessing for over 2000 miles on the road 'cross country.  I particularly enjoyed the lilting, British-accented reader, her performance added realism to an already interesting story.  I enjoyed the British and Dutch settings as well. Great read.  (I really loved the last line - "The end of one story is merely the beginning of the next.")

A Walk in London - Salvatore Rubbino

illustrated by the author
2011, Candlewick Press
32 pages (2 are foldouts - making a large map of the Thames)
Goodreads:  4.20
my rating:  I love England, I love this book (4.5)

Endpapers:  Map of London.  On back endpaper, there's a index.
Illustrations:  Mixed media - simple - full page - no white
1st sentence/s:  "Hello!  There's me, and that's my mom!  We just got off the bus in Westminster - in the heart of central London!"

Very informative book about some of the highlights of London, as seen through the eyes of a mother and daughter.  Included on each page are short pieces of historic information that would greatly interest kids who are (or are to become) history buffs.  Included are:  St. James Park, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden, Plazza Westmister/The Strand, St. Paul's Cathedral, "The Monument," Tower of London, the Thames, and Big Ben

Author/Illustrator's first picture book was A Walk in New York.  Lives (and walks) in London.

52. The Other Rembrandt - Alex Connor

Silver Oak Publishing, 2011
Pap $14.95
for adults
392 pgs.
Rating:  4
First line:  His body was bent over, his head submerged in the confines of the basin, his knees buckled, trousers pulled down.
Setting:  London, Amsterdam, and New York
OSS:  Marshall Zeigler, who has always avoided his family's interest and business in the art world, finds himself pulled into it when his father is brutally murdered.

The entire story revolves around letters that Rembrandt's mistress, Geertje Dircx (oh, how I wish I knew how that was pronounced) wrote while she was incarcerated in a prison/asylum.  She tells of the Rembrandt, and of Rembrandt's students who, under Rembrandt's tutelage and instructions, painted portraits in his style and passed them off as the great master's.  The letters have been secretly held by Marshall's father, Owen, and could change the whole world of Renaissance art.

Four murders take place surrounding these letters, and Marshall has to piece it all together.  Woven into the fabric of the story are the letters that Geertze Dircx wrote.  She had been treated horribly by Rembrandt, and had secrets to tell, of Rembrandt's cruelty, of an illegitimate son, also a painter, and of the art scams pulled off by Rembrandt.  And, apparently, some of this is based on actual hints and facts that have been passed down through the years!

There are many characters, and we must decide who to trust, who is telling the truth, who has secrets of their own to hide.  I figured out the culprit about 2/3 of the way through the book, but the surprise twist at the end surprised me, and keeps me wondering still.  The book kept my attention and made me think.  I liked it.

44. Small Acts of Amazing Courage - Gloria Whelan

A Paula Wiseman Book, Simon & Schuster, 2011
HC $15.99
for:  Mid Grades
218 pgs.
Rating:  3.5

In 1919 India, being the daughter of a high-ranking British official gives you wealth, prestige, and power.  In Small Acts of Amazing Courage, Gloria Whelan tells of such a daughter,15-year-old Rosalind James.  Rosy's father has been away a lot, leaving her care to Rosy's mother and a huge household of various Indian servants.  Rosy has grown up with her maid's daughter, loves the bazaar and all things related to India.  Her father greatly forbids her to have anything with the native population.  She's strong headed and disobeys him.  And this leads him to send her to England - for the first time in her life - for a "proper" education, under the care of her two aunts.

The setting goes from privileged life in India to a steamship from Bombay to England, to life in England and back to India again.  Along the way we meet Gandhi and many of his followers and sympathizers, learning about nonviolent protesting and the plight of the Indian people.  We learn a bit about Hinduism, the caste system, and the colonials.  It's an interesting taste, but it's just a taste.  I would have liked a little deeper look into life of this girl.  Where some books are just too long and involved, this one needed a little more.  I love Gloria Whelan's work, and I was a bit disappointed with this one.