Z is for Zero

"Z is for Zero", as in there won't be another book.  Sue Grafton has died.  How sad for her family and for those of us who couldn't wait to read her books.  I've read them all, including "Kinsey and Me", which compares Kinsey to Sue's life.  There were many parallels.  As you can see from my recent review of "Y is for Yesterday", I considered it one of her better books. How brave of her to tackle another book while fighting cancer, and it appears nobody knew. I'll miss her writing. Kinsey is now retired and Sue Grafton is resting in peace.

Book Review

New Boy by Tracy Chevalier
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A short book which follows 11 year-olds as they cope with the arrival at their school of a new boy, Osei Kotate, a diplomat's son. Osei has been to several schools, in different cities, in his short life due to his father's occupation. He is used to the adjustment period, especially when he is the only black boy in the school. The story, a modern retelling of Othello, takes place in one day, from the morning playground, through class time, lunch, recess, and the end of the day. In this brief time, friendships are formed, jealousies are developed, and lies that result, change and damage everyone involved. Very well written and thought-provoking.


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Book Review

Y is for Yesterday by Sue Grafton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've read all of Grafton's books and think this is one of her best. Kinsey is hired by a wealthy family to find out who is blackmailing their son, just released after ten years in the California Youth Authority, for his part in the death of a girl. The blackmail has to do with a tape that was made ten years earlier of a sexual assault on one of the girls in their circle. She supposedly had the tape and was going to use it against one of the boys, a bully who controlled his friends by threats and intimidation. Instead, she is murdered, and the tape never surfaces until now, when one of the players is back home. Who had the tape and why did they wait so long? Kinsey asks herself these questions and many more as she interviews everyone in the group, now adults with different lives. As she deals with this, she is also stalked by Ned Lowe, a psychopath we learn about in "X", who is still out for revenge. Kinsey has to solve the blackmailing issue while trying to stay alive. The story goes back and forth in time, so the reader learns the motivation of all the teenagers involved. Very clever plotting that will hold your interest until the end, which will be surprising.


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Book R

Holiday Greetings

Best wishes to all for a happy healthy Christmas season and a New Year filled with good health and many blessings.

Book Review

Murder in Containment by Anne Cleeland
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Loved the book! Doyle and Acton are the most interesting pair of sleuths I've read about in a long time. Anne Cleeland has created a mystery series with all the rainy, foggy atmosphere that London can provide, along with a couple, seemingly mismatched, who are perfect together. The plotting is excellent, the story line captivating, and you can hardly put the book down. Looking forward to reading #5.


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Reading Suggestions

I've decided not to review Marcia Clark's second book in her defense attorney Samantha Brinkman series. It's an entertaining book, following Ms. Brinkman's wily ways.  You soon learn she will do anything for a client, even if it means crossing a line that she shouldn't. Instead of expanding on this, I want to tell you about a series I've discovered that is so engaging I wish the author had more books than three. She may be working on a fourth. I hope so.

The first two books are "Murder in Thrall" and "Murder in Retribution", set in London with the main characters Scotland Yard detectives.  I'm getting ready to read #3, "Murder in Hindsight". The author, Anne Cleeland, has created the most charming, and unlikely pair, in Kathleen Doyle and Michael Sinclair, Lord Acton. Kathleen is Irish through and through, with a brogue you could cut with a knife. Lord Acton is a polished, refined, Chief Inspector, who happens to be wealthy, titled, and single. They work together as investigators, although the aloof and proper Lord Acton seems completely out of place with the young, chatty, but smart, investigator Kathleen. The books are very well written and you may think you know what will happen to these two, but you need to read the book to really find out. Ms. Cleeland must have done a great deal of research to get the Irish brogue so accurate. If you're a mystery lover, try these books. You won't be disappointed.

Happy New Year!

It's been a while since I've posted but I'm here to say "Hello" again and hope you have a great new year with lots of good reading.  My last book review was Marcia Clark's novel with a new main character, a defense attorney Samantha Brinkman.  The book had such an amazing twist at the end that I doubted there would be another with this character.  But there is one, "Moral Defense", which I'm reading now.  Apparently this is a new series for Clark so we can expect more with this protagonist.  I'll be sure to review it when I'm finished.  Have any of you read her books?  If so, what did you think?