Tag Archives: book

Mar31

The Chateau on Sunset by Natasha Lester- review

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I haven’t done a review in a while as my husband passed away on March 4th and I haven’t been able to focus on writing for a bit. I have read a few books and hope to get more reviews done soon.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy for review.

Fire was the theme of this book. It played a large part in the story. A late 1950s, early 960s take on the Jane Eyre story, the author did an excellent job weaving in elements of the source material in this coming-of-age tale.

The young orphan, Aria Jones, after her parents died in a fiery automobile accident, comes to live with her aunt at the Chateau Marmot, an icon in Los Angeles. The aunt, a former actress has turned tranquilizer user after a mysterious event a number of years ago. She stopped acting and holed up in a set of rooms in the chateau when her engagement to a Hollywood producer ended. She wasn’t much of a substitute parent for her fourteen-year-old niece, the child of her brother.

Left to her own devices in the hotel, Aria tries hard to not make a nuisance of herself. Two young actresses sort of take her under their wings and act kind of like big sisters for her.

Over the years, Aria doesn’t leave the hotel much. She works to stay low profile but a lot of people in the chateau rely on her sensibleness. She calls the hotel doctor to help a lot of the young actresses who find themselves in bad situations. She also babysits a lot of the actors’ and actresses’ children and hordes money to save to live in Hawaii when she is an adult. Her biggest desire is to escape the hotel but she never seems to want to even walk all the way down Sunset Boulevard.

When she is almost an adult, a rock star purchases the chateau. He has a child whose mother passed away. Aria asks to babysit the child who happens to be the same age as Aria was when she moved to the chateau herself. She has success bonding with the teen and forms an attachment with the rock star father.

Several mysteries exist in the chateau. Why a friend of Aria’s aunt died in an apparent suicide; who lives in one of the bungalows secretly; what secrets does the famous producer hide; what does the rock star hide from his past as well as his present; and why did Aria’s aunt go from wildly popular as an actress to a recluse living on Quaaludes and other drugs?

Fire appears on the regular in this book and it haunts the protagonist’s life.

I absolutely loved this book. Lots of good meaty drama in the story. The protagonist was very likable and the two friends she made when she first came to the chateau were complicated young women who had deep side stories themselves.

The rock star who was based on Rochester was an enigma as well and the protagonist drew him out in the same way Jane Eyre drew out Rochester.

The protagonist’s story traces—in a 1960s fashion—the path of Jane Eyre. As someone who has been to the Marmont, I enjoyed the fact that the writer made the hotel itself a real character in this novel.

Overall, this is an excellent read and a very good, mystery heavy, take on the classic tale. 

BLURB:

A sheltered young woman living at the Chateau Marmont falls under the spell of a scandalous, secretive man as all of Hollywood’s glamour swirls around her—a stunning feminist reimagining of Jane Eyre from the New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Seamstress.

In 1957, newly orphaned Aria Jones is sent to live with her aunt, a fading star who hides away in Hollywood’s infamous Chateau Marmont. There, two aspiring actresses, Calliope and Flitter, take grieving Aria under their wing.

But the Marmont isn’t meant for small girls with big hearts, and Aria’s first few nights reveal an insidious secret that continues to haunt her as she grows up in the hotel’s halls, where the bright lights of Hollywood cast even darker shadows. If Aria can just stay invisible and invite no trouble as she saves money, then she can leave the Marmont and live life on her own terms—alone, but free. 

All her carefully laid plans are shattered when the hotel is bought by Theo Winchester: a reclusive rockstar turned unexpected caretaker of his daughter Adele, and unlike any man Aria has met before. To earn the last bit of money she needs to escape, Aria becomes Adele’s tutor, which brings Aria closer to Theo and ignites a passion she never expected. 

Suddenly, Aria finds herself wondering if she still wants to remain invisible—and if inviting trouble is a risk she’s willing to take to pursue what she truly desires.

Feb9

The Ones Who Never Left by Gabrielle Mullarkey

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I received this book to review for Rosie’s Book Review Team. Thank you to the author for the copy.

Creepy house, young couple, small town in Yorkshire, mystery man who roams the woods, housekeeper with an odd name, and a lot of weirdness in the history of the house make for a great premise for a story.

And for a great majority of the book, I enjoyed it. There was enough mystery and intrigue to satisfy me as a reader. I liked the protagonist and felt bad for her in the way she was treated by a number of characters in the story. I like a story where I have someone to root for as the action progresses.

Without any spoilers, though, I have to say that the last few chapters changed my whole opinion of the book. The ending was especially disappointing to me and it tainted the whole reading experience. To go from enjoying the book to dissatisfaction was jarring to say the least.

I can’t say much more as I don’t want to go into too much detail of what changed it for me, but I am going to give it four stars for being well-written, satisfyingly macabre, and mostly well-drawn characters. Had those last chapters been different, this one would’ve easily have been five stars for me. I’m not quite sure if that was a cliffhanger at the end, but I hate them and that is also part of my dissatisfaction with the book.

Jan26

The Red Queen by Martha Grimes

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I’ve read every book Martha Grimes has ever written and the Richard Jury series has been one of my favorite series since the 1980s when she first started writing them. I still own all her work and she has always been an “auto buy” for me.

I never, ever thought I’d say this about one of her books, but this one should never have been written, much less published. It was only about 250 pages in total. Probably about 180 of them were filler and nonsensical. It would have been a great short story if the murder part of the plot had been distilled to its essence and published that way.

I love the recurring characters of the series, but the whole subplot with Sgt. Wiggins and Brian Macalvie was a distraction that served no purpose other than to add word count and pages to the book. The promise in the blurb that it would tie into Jury’s investigation went nowhere and there was no reason to have this whole road trip escapade in the book.

Melrose Plant served no purpose other than to eat and drink in his club with Jury. Even his “job” working at the victim’s stables offered no clues to solving the mystery like they usually do.

There was a chapter about pigs that was absolutely ludicrous as well as a visit to the characters of Plant’s home town that basically only served to remind us of all the quirky people who live in the village.

Jury also popped into several pubs where he’d solved crimes in recent books and we got to see him interact with bartenders in those places.

In short, this seemed like a goodbye “tour” of the series. If I’d known that, I might not have spent $28.00 on a short story with a lot of filler and nonsense woven in. This sort of makes me livid. I get that the author is now 95, but maybe she should have stopped with the book before this one rather than leave us long term fans with such a bitter taste in our mouths.

Nov21

REVIEW: Miller and Kelby: Major Case Squad Files by Maxine Flam

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Thank you to the author and Rosie’s Reviews for the copy of this book to review.

It took me a while to get through these stories. Each was pretty short and could easily be read quickly. When I did read them, I read two at a time during my lunch breaks. They were okay reads but I wasn’t compelled to return to them promptly.

While the premise of each story was creative and well thought out, the two main characters were written with very similar personalities and I was glad there were a lot of voice tags so the reader could tell who was speaking.

There were a few things that bothered me about the whole series of stories. There was a police psychologist that the two main characters consulted on over 70% of the tales. This guy was a mind reading savant of some sort because every case, on very little information, he nailed what kind of suspect they should look for; it was especially jarring in the eleventh story. In that one, he barely knew one thing about the crime and spouted off a lot of details. When the reader was invited in the head of the perpetrator, his thoughts mirrored exactly what the psychologist said was the type of killer and the motivation for murder they were looking for in their quest to solve the case. This happened in each story where the psychologist gave advice to the main characters.

there was another thing that bothered this reader. The two partners would set up a stake out at a particular location and that very same night, the killer would show up to their location.  I know these are short stories, but they were too easily solved with the psychologist and the killer playing right into their set up to catch him.  There were no moments of disappointment that they had to try again at another time. I felt there was no real drama or really high stakes (until the eleventh story which was the one with car salesman murders).

My favorite story was the one with the food critic (story number ten) as none of the things that bothered me were present in that story. I’m wondering if the stories were presented in the order the author wrote them as it appears her story telling improved as this reader kept reading.

In short, the writer of these stories has a nice way with prose and plotting. I just wanted the stories to be more fleshed out and a little harder for the protagonists to solve, along with more high stakes as there were in stories eleven and twelve.

3 stars

BLURB:

“Two Detectives, One City

The time: the late 1970s

The place: Los Angeles, California

Joseph (Joe) Miller and William (Bill) Kelby are detectives with the Major Case Squad. They get the hard-to-solve cases. And they solve them the old-fashioned way with grit and determination, forensics, and help from the department psychologist.

Miller and Kelby are a dedicated detective team that Los Angeles turns to when there are unsolved murders in the city. And solving murders is their specialty. They put their lives on the line every day for the citizens of Los Angeles, a city that rarely sleeps.”

Oct6

Daughter of Egypt by Marie Benedict- A Review

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Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book for review.

Marie Benedict has done it again. She’s written a well-researched book with dual timelines and both historical eras are realistically and accurately portrayed.

The two protagonists are the daughter of an earl and the daughter of a pharaoh who moves from princess to queen to pharaoh herself. Both are real historical characters with the daughter of the earl being one of the first people into the tomb of King Tut.

The Earl of Caernarvon was deep into Egyptology during his lifetime and collected many artifacts and participated in digs every year for a long while. He was the patron of Howard Carter, archeologist and being in the home with these two men, the earl’s daughter, Lady Evelyn, called Eve by the family, became fascinated with Egypt as well. She was very interested in the female pharaoh, Hatshepsut and dreamed of finding her tomb and uncovering why almost all of the history of this pharaoh had been wiped out.

Hatshepsut herself was a strong woman ahead of her time. Born the daughter of Thutmose I, she was the God’s Wife of Amun. When her father died, she married his heir and her half-brother, Thutmose II and ruled with him as queen. When he died in his turn, she was regent for his infant heir, Thutmose III. Eventually, she ruled with him. She dressed as a male pharaoh and became a pharaoh herself in this co-ruling era. When Thutmose III’s son became pharaoh in his own turn, Amenhotep II tried to erase Hatshepsut from history by destroying her monuments and statues. He ascribed the trade routes, buildings, and other advances she made in her reign to other pharaohs.

The novelization of these two true historical figures is very well done and humanizes the female pharaoh in a wonderful way. I admit I didn’t know much about her, if anything, but I found myself fascinated by her as written in this book.

Both women faced obstacles as females in their worlds and each were strong and fought for what they wanted even when they had to disguise their strong spines behind a gentle exterior.

This was a great set of two stories showing how women in history were able to find fulfillment despite the odds against a woman in their respective time periods.

A bit of romance was sprinkled in for the Lady Eve as well as Queen Hatshepsut.

This is a great book with a lot of interesting history along with compelling stories. It moves well and isn’t dry or tedious as one might expect with the dry, dusty setting of Egypt for a lot of the book. Two enthralling stories in one with a tie to each other, not only in the history of Egypt, but in obstacles women have faced in history with finding their place in the world against strong odds.

Five stars.

Aug12

The Plot Twist by Eleanor Goymer, a Review

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Allie is a romance writer with writer’s block and a book due imminently.

Martin is a famous writer of murder mysteries who hasn’t had a new book out in so many years that he calls himself a former writer.

They share a publishing house and meet in an alley at the publisher’s summer party where both are avoiding certain people at the party. Also on that alley is an attractive young man who Allie had a conversation earlier when he was passing out hors d’oeuvres.

Both Allie and Martin are in a bind. They’re required to honor their contracts or return their advances. Allie still has hers but she doesn’t want to part with it. Martin has loaned his to his daughter and he’s positive she’s spent it all. And his wife has no idea.

Each of the writers are called in to the office of the publisher to see the new guy running the place. The man with no soul. After their meetings, separately, they both head to the cafe across the street to lick their wounds. Recognizing each other from that alley encounter, they sit together to commiserate.

The conversation turns to Allie’s boyfriend who broke up with her the night of the summer party. She’s not upset as they’d drifted apart, but she did fantasize about him being the victim of a serial killer. Martin talks about needing advice from a romance writer on how to reignite the passion in his marriage.

Martin tells her she should write a murder mystery with her idea about the serial killer, but her contract is for a romance, so she tells him he can have her plot if he helps her with her writer’s block by sharing the story of how he and his wife met as well as the romantic gestures he creates in his quest to win back his wife.

The story jumps off from there with many situations that cause the reader to cheer for both of the writers as well as laugh at some of the situations Allie finds herself in.

Allie is an absolutely charming character who steps into interesting scenarios as she flirts with and sort of dates the handsome man who was also in the alley that night. She also continues to try to work through her writer’s block and finds herself telling many fibs to her editor in the process.

Martin’s journey feels a little easier but he’s not the main protagonist so that was fine with this reader.  He’s a likable character as well. There is a twist in the tale that leads to more angst for Allie.

This was a fun book and a pretty quick read. It was left in my little free library on a Friday and I finished it that weekend. I’m not one to read a lot of romance as there are certain aspects of some of them I don’t enjoy, but this was witty, charming, and somewhat unique. I recommend it.

BLURB:

This love story is a work in progress…

When romcom author Allie Edwards crosses paths with bestselling crime novelist – aka publishing dinosaur – Martin Clark at a party, they discover they both have crippling writer’s block, overdue manuscripts and precisely zero words to show to their respective editors.

With deadlines looming, Allie and Martin decide to switch plots and tell each other’s stories. In the writing process, Allie not only gains a father-figure in Martin, but also meets gorgeous events caterer Will, the answer to the leading man-shaped hole in her life and her lack of spicy material.

Caught between love and her career, what could possibly go wrong?

Jul30

Wild Instinct by T. Jefferson Parker

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Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this wonderful novel set in California. A modern-day novel with some historical factors blended into the tale.

Lew Gale is a detective in Orange County, California.  He is also part of the indigenous Acjacheme tribe. He is sent to investigate the killing of a man by a lion. What he finds is anything but a simple man vs. wild animal scenario. In addition, the victim is a prominent citizen of the county.

Things get convoluted and the trail leads Lew and his new partner in many directions, keeping the reader engaged in the mystery and the action. The new partner wasn’t someone I really could get behind based on her spying on her child and other things the character had going on in her life.

There are flashbacks to Acjacheme tribe lore which was a fascinating part of the book. Clearly, the author did a lot of research into the tribe. I had not heard of this particular tribe before picking up this book and enjoyed learning about them.

Many social issues come into play in this story, like Lew’s PTSD from his time in the military, tribal rights, the historical treatment of indigenous peoples by the church, and greed of corporations and the people who run them.

Even with the social issues raised in the story, there is no feeling of lecturing by the author. It is all seamlessly interwoven into the mystery and action. The story may have bogged down in some places, but it was still an enjoyable read.

A really good read for the fan of the genre. The reader is also educated about many things without feeling as if they are in a classroom.

Four stars

BLURB:

The hunt for the truth is the deadliest game.

Former Marine sniper Lew Gale, now a detective with the Orange County California Sheriff’s Department, is assigned to track and shoot a mountain lion that has killed a man in the rugged country east of Laguna Beach, California. The victim is Bennet Tarlow, a rich developer and man-about-town in upscale coastal Orange County.

The investigation takes a chilling turn when Lew and his new partner, Daniela Mendez, discover that Bennet was dead long before the lion got to him. And while he might have been the first to die, he certainly will not be the last.

Jul22

Measured Deception by Richard E. Kalk and T. Ann Pryor

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Thank you to the author and publisher for the opportunity to review this book for Rosie’s Review Team.

This is a story set in the 1980s mostly in Los Angeles. The two main protagonists are LAPD Detective Nick Blaine and his partner, Phillips.

Faced with solving the crime of the murder of a young man who seemed to be loved by everyone, they’re led on a quest through the gay community of Los Angeles looking for any possible motive.  Blaine pretty quickly settles on a suspect or two, but kept an open mind for a while.

Blaine eventually enters into quite a cat and mouse game with the suspect he eventually settles on. The case takes him and his partner from Los Angeles to Chicago and even to Louisiana and Mississippi.

The story was interesting and held my attention. A couple of misused words threw me out of the story a few times, such as throws for throes and taught for taut.

Other than these small nits to pick, the story held up well and I liked the tenacity of the detectives in not letting the case grow cold as it so easily could have. They persevered and worked to find proof that their suspect was the right one.

It seems this will be a series (or it may already have earlier books) and I’m sure I’ll pick up the next one as well. An enjoyable, easy read.

Four stars

BLURB:

From the real life experiences of an award winning LAPD detective comes the riveting novel Measured Deception.

Justice doesn’t always come to those who seek it. Sometimes, in this world, justice is denied…

After twenty soul bending years as a detective with the LAPD, Sergeant Nick Blaine thought he knew evil. That was until he came across the murder of Ainsley Brown, a charismatic young gay man trying to live unapologetically in 1980s Los Angeles. Popular on the social scene, Ainsley was beloved by all but one man. The man who loved him so much he would rather see Ainsley dead than with another. Yet, the murders don’t stop with Ainsley Brown. Before he’s able to catch his killer, Nick Blaine will find himself taken from the streets of L.A. to the bayou of Louisiana and back again, all while hot on the heels of a killer.

Having suffered heart-breaking loss, Blaine must not only solve the case, he must also figure out a way to find comfort and solace in a world determined to let his demon chase him. With every step Blaine and his faithful partner in crime, Detective Phillips, find themselves falling deeper into a cesspool of murder, drugs, and sex. Will they be able to stay afloat?

Jul11

Death Ride: The notorious 1940s kidnap and murder of a New Orleans police detective by August Palumbo

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I picked this one up as I’m acquainted with Gus Palumbo. He’s a former officer with both the New Orleans Police Department as well as a former agent of the ATF. His previous book, Assassin Hunter (a memoir of a particular case he was investigating and his life at that time) was a great book so I knew this one was a not to be missed book.

Meticulously researched, with the author’s personal conversations with the surviving detective as well as copies of evidence that survives, including photos of the people involved, this book tells the story of post World War II era New Orleans and a particularly heinous crime involving the death of a detective. The book also highlights the differences in criminal procedure and the courtroom that are vastly different from today.

For example, the two robbery division detectives on duty had worked a full night shift and were within an hour of the end of their shift. A report of a person stealing $450.00 and a gun from someone in a hotel came in and the new NOPD policy was that these calls had to be taken by the officers on duty at the time and could not be passed on to the next shift.

This was the Monday morning of Labor Day weekend. One detective only wanted to spend the day with his two young sons fishing. The other wanted to rest and spend time with his pregnant wife.

The trip to interview the person at the hotel who was robbed turned into a trip to Gulfport, Mississippi which was about two hours away with the lack of an interstate and the speed limits of those days.

The next difference from today to back then was the detectives took the victim with them to question and/or arrest the perpetrator.

Two detectives who’d been awake all night, guns, a victim, and a perpetrator all in the same sedan driving back to New Orleans through small towns and some swampy, barely populated areas was a recipe for disaster. And a disaster it turned out to be.

The story has quite a number of twists and turns and sometimes unfathomable actions on the part of the criminals.

A number of people acted heroically in various ways and the death toll could have been much higher had certain individuals not taken on those brave actions.

As a lawyer myself, I was especially intrigued by the quickness of the trial being set and heard. It was also a big shock to read that the court conducted a capital murder case in two days.  Two very long days.  One day, proceedings went on until eight pm. The second day, testimony went on from nine a.m. until after midnight. The jury went out at almost three a.m. and returned a verdict at five thirty a.m.  That is insane.  These days, everyone is so conciliatory to juries, and they’d never be made to stay in a courtroom that long. That would be an appealable issue for sure. A tired jury who wants to go home and go to bed is a sure-fire way to get a new trial these days, but not then.

Of course, in those days, juries were all male so that’s another difference and probably a good thing as one of the defendants had a following of women who seemed fascinated with him.  I have personally never understood that bad boy attraction, but we all know it happens.

Today, I think we’d categorize the one defendant as a sociopath and narcissist. He definitely loved the spotlight on himself as well as had zero remorse for any of his actions.

This book was intriguing and very readable. I felt sad for the surviving detective as he had to navigate the rest of his life with the realization of the mistakes that he and his partner mad, the death of his partner and his own harrowing escape as part of his burdens in life. I was happy to learn he had made a success of two careers after the horror of that time period in his life.

If you like true crime books, this one is excellent.

5 stars.

Jun11

Postmortem: What survives the John Wayne Gacy Murders by Courtney Lund O’Neil

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Postmortem.

What survives the John Wayne Gacy Murders by Courtney Lund O’Neil

Many thanks to Kensington Publishing and Penguin Random House for the ARC copy of this book for my unbiased review.

When the mother of the author of this book, Kim Byers, was in her teens she worked at a local drugstore in her hometown in Illinois. One of the young men who also worked in the store was a friend of hers who she sometimes hung out with when they weren’t at work. His name was Rob Piest.

One fateful night in December 1978, while they were at work, Kim was cold as she was working near the door and each time a customer came in, the chill wind made her shiver. Rob was kind enough to lend her his jacket.

When there was a lull in shoppers, Kim took the opportunity to put in the roll of film she took recently to be developed. She tucked the stub into the pocket of the borrowed jacket.

At some point in the evening, a contractor, a Mr. Gacy, who was measuring for a renovation to the store had a conversation with Rob about working for him for higher pay.

Rob wasn’t old enough to drive so his mother usually picked him up when his shift was over.

Rob got his jacket back from Kim and told her he was going out the back door to talk further with the contractor.

When he didn’t return, both Kim and his mother, who had arrived to take Rob home, became worried.

Unfortunately, Rob was never seen alive again. Kim’s receipt in his jacket pocket would lead to the end of John Wayne Gacy’s reign of terror and the discovery of the numerous young men buried under his house. Sadly, it was too late for Rob.

This meticulously researched book focuses on the aftermath of that night in December and all the ripples through time in a number of families due to the actions of the monster that was John Wayne Gacy.

This book is important as it doesn’t glorify Gacy and shows the reader the very real effect such encounters have in the lives of the survivors as well as the families they eventually create for themselves. The Postmortem of the title refers to the aftermath of violence on everyone touched by it.

The author is in a very unique position as she sees first-hand how her mother’s entire life has been affected by her friendship with Rob and her unintentional role in helping to bring down a serial killer.

Kim was a brave young woman to come forward and to testify in Gacy’s trial, but it affected her and her belief in personal safety, which also affected her children. She made a good life for herself, but she has definitely held on to some of the trauma of the days, weeks, and months after the incidents occurred.

This book is well worth a read as it deals with psychological trauma and how that can actually be passed on to the next generation without meaning to be.

I learned a lot about generational trauma in this book as the oldest daughter of Kim, Courtney Lund O’Neil, the author of this book shared her insights as well as information on her mother’s experiences in bringing down a serial killer. 

BLURB:

On a December night in 1978, Courtney Lund O’Neil’s mother, teenaged Kim Byers, saw her friend Rob Piest alive for the last time. At the end of his shift at the pharmacy where they both worked, fifteen-year-old Rob went outside to speak to a contractor named John Wayne Gacy about a possible job.

That night Rob became Gacy’s final victim; his body was later found in the Des Plaines River. Kim’s testimony, along with a receipt belonging to her found in Gacy’s house, proving that Rob had been there, would be pivotal in convicting the serial killer who assaulted and killed over thirty young men and boys.

Though she grew up far from Des Plaines, Courtney has lived in the shadow of that nightmare, keenly aware of its impact on her mother. In search of deeper understanding and closure, Courtney and Kim travel back to Illinois. Postmortem transforms their personal journey into a powerful exploration of the ever-widening ripples generated by Gacy’s crimes. From the 1970s to the present day, his shadow extends beyond the victims’ families and friends—it encompasses the Des Plaines neighborhood forever marked by his horrific murders, generations of the victims’ families and friends, those who helped arrest and convict him, fandom communities, and many others.

Layered and thought-provoking, Postmortem is a complex story of loss and violence, grief and guilt, and the legacy that remains long after a killer is caught.