Tag Archives: #Tuesdaybookblog

Feb6

Murder in the Family, by Cara Hunter, a Review

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This book was quite clever in its premise and execution. It’s set up like a documentary series about a cold case involving the murder of the stepfather of one of the filmmakers.

The story is set up as a series of production notes, articles about the murder, and interviews on camera with various people who have information about the case. The filmmaker is in the background for most of it, but appears a few times to set the scene for the people on the program.

The other characters are various professionals who have experience as either law enforcement, journalists, or other crime backgrounds.  We have a retired detective inspector, a criminal prosecutor, a journalist, forensic psychologist, crime scene investigator, a retired NYPD detective as well as the producer of the show and the filmmaker with his two sisters.

Newspaper articles, text messages, emails, true crime aficionados in message forums, and dialogue in the documentary make up the majority of the book. There are no chapters per se and this is a fun way for the reader to get the story and try to figure out the clues as well as who may have something to hide.

I loved this book and the way it was presented. It was unique and enjoyable. I did figure out who did it but I usually do. The ride to get to the solution is what I enjoy and this one was an intriguing one. While I did figure out whodunit, I was wrong on the why dun it.  LOL

The presentation of this story was ingenious and original. I really enjoyed it.

BLURB:

It was a case that gripped the nation. In December 2003, Luke Ryder, the stepfather of acclaimed filmmaker Guy Howard (then aged 10), was found dead in the garden of their suburban family home.

Luke Ryder’s murder has never been solved. Guy Howard’s mother and two sisters were in the house at the time of the murder—but all swear they saw nothing. Despite a high-profile police investigation and endless media attention, no suspect was ever charged.

But some murder cases are simply too big to forget…

Now comes the sensational new streaming series Infamous, dedicated to investigating—and perhaps cracking—this famous cold case. Years later a group of experts re-examine the evidence – with shocking results. Does the team know more than they’ve been letting on?

True crime lovers and savvy readers, you can review the evidence and testimony at the same time as the experts. But can you solve the case before they do?

Jan2

Every Time We Say Goodbye by Natalie Jenner- Review

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This is a follow up book from Bloomsbury Girls which I read and reviewed for Rosie’s Book Review team. I appreciate St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing an ARC copy of this book for me to read and review.

The story is set in the 1950s and is the continuation of the life of one of the women who worked at the bookstore in Bloomsbury, London. Vivien, in addition to working in the store, is also a playwright and chose to leave for Italy for a period of time when her success as a playwright was called into question. She took a job working at a film studio in Rome and worked on rewriting some of the screenplays being filmed there. Rome is still recovering from WWII and all the various issues that time period caused in Italy.

While there, she has to deal with the censorship of the Vatican as they have full control of what is acceptable or not in what film audiences are allowed to see.

Vivien also meets some interesting people and forms friendships with them. As well, she forms a romantic entanglement with an older man.

The story is richly layered with individual characters who are uniquely drawn and have multi-faceted personalities.

Vivien is a character we grew to admire in Bloomsbury Girls and this book finds this reader still rooting for her and hoping she gets resolution of a matter that has haunted her since the war. One of the young men she meets while working at the studio also has an interesting story line about events that happened to him during the war. Both of them were characters this reader grew attached to and hoped for the best outcome.

The author is very talented and the prose is beautifully written. The flow of the story is well done as well. This book does not have to be read after Bloomsbury Girls as the story is complete without it being necessary to know the events of the other book. Some of the characters are recurring, but it’s not vital to know those back stories. I do love how real life famous people are woven into the tale. Sophia Loren and Ava Gardner even make appearances. Such fun to addition to the story.

A lovely read.

Oct9

Salt of the Earth- JJ Marsh- a review

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Set in Switzerland in the era of WWI and up to the mid-1920s, we first meet Seraphine where she lives in the Alps. Her life is hard. She’s the illegitimate child of an unwed mother who has found a husband and given birth to two other children. The two children (sons) suffer from cretinism (congenital hypothyroidism) and the daughter (as well as the mother) has a goiter condition.

The daughter has the burden of caring for the family with her work tending the sheep as well caring for her brothers. The father is off patrolling the borders and the mother is clearly depressed and doesn’t do much other than sit at the house. The only break Seraphine gets is when she’s at school.

We’re then introduced to Bastian, a young man who was in medical school but conscripted into the army during the war. Eventually, he is mustered out and returns to school in Zurich. We meet his friends and learn about his life.

The chapters alternate with the two main characters and also include newspaper articles of the era detailing the Russian revolution and the Swiss workers’ strikes, as well as letters between a number of people that help move the story along.

Eventually, Bastian comes to the Alps to assist a doctor who is working on a cure for cretinism and goiters and the two main characters meet.

The book is called Salt of the Earth for a reason as this doctor, among others, believes these conditions are caused by a lack of iodine in the diet. It’s especially important to not have an iodine deficiency in the preconception stage. The doctors’ work focuses on helping the people of the Alps and concentrates as well on the pregnant population to try to stop these conditions from manifesting in the infants and children.

Intrigued by the story and the iodine component, I took a deep dive into the history of this disease and who started the research into a cure. The author used the real history in the story, even naming the doctor, H. Eggenberger, as a peripheral character, as well as using Otto Bayard as a mentor to the male protagonist.

She also used Anna Heer, a female doctor, who founded the first professional nursing school in Switzerland. The female protagonist also did some work with a real person, Lotte Volger, who specialized in moulaguese. I had never heard of moulages so did a look around online about them as well. They were wax models of how certain conditions manifested themselves on patients. Lot of great innovation happening in Zurich medically in that era and I love how it was woven into the tale without being boring.

I learned a lot reading this story. I love novels that use real events from the past as a jumping off point for the book. When such whets my appetite for more information, that’s even better. The author even worked in a famous murder that occurred in Santis, Switzerland in order to get the male protagonist out of a sticky situation he found himself in. It was quite a clever use of a historical event in the time period.  

I’m also curious about the author and why this thyroid condition intrigued her enough to write this book. I guess I’ll never get the answer to that question. Haha.

Historically set with a lot of references to everything that was happening in this era, this is an enjoyable story with characters who speak to the reader with their kindness and concern, not only for their loved ones, but for humanity at large. I liked the characters and the setting as well as how the author wove all the elements together.

A lovely read and beautiful story that I very much enjoyed.

Aug22

The Hoax- by Nikki Rodwell- Review

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This is going to be a strange review as, in the beginning, I hated both of the main characters in this book. One of them was a terrible, terrible, terrible human being. The other was a victim of the first. But he had a lot of unlikable characteristics himself. I almost put it down several times and walked away. I could only manage a chapter or two a day as I began this one.

The father character, Ronnie, was downright abusive to everyone he knew but mostly to his son. It was hard to read the awful things he did to the poor boy growing up.

Based on the blurb, I knew this was going to turn into a thriller type book even though it was slow getting there.  By the end of chapter eight, I thought I had the story figured out. When I decided I’d figured the case out, it motivated me to keep reading and I was able to read more than a chapter at a time. I still was angry at Ronnie, but I was determined to see if I was right about how this would play out. LOL  

I went on reading, getting more and more agitated at this Ronnie guy’s behavior. As I went on, though, the psychology classes I took kicked in and I became more sympathetic to the son. He was definitely a product of his upbringing. A mostly absent mother and an absolute jackass of a father. Of course, I did see that the father was also a product of some things that happened to him as a boy but, he was too far gone for me to have any sympathy for at all.

It turns out I did figure out the outcome of the story. I’m glad I finished it as it was definitely well written and the author must have some psychological training or had good advice on this work. She crafted a character in Ronnie that evoked strong feelings—albeit negative ones—that compelled me to keep reading. So, well done to the author.

To sum up, a slow start, a character who isn’t likable, and a female character who was clueless, along with a younger character we learn to understand, all add up to a read that is compelling and well written. I recommend plugging away at this one if you enjoy psychological thrillers.

Feb6

Finding Verity by Jenny Loudon

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The story of Verity is beautifully written and deals with a woman who made choices as a young lady that led her to a marriage where her own dreams were put on hold to raise her family and grow a business. She had an artistic soul and wanted to be like her father and be a landscape painter but went into interior design as a way to make a living.

Before her marriage, she met a man named Edward who was a free spirit. She was attracted to him but ultimately made the decision to marry a man named Matt. A man who subsumed her and her spirit.

The journey of Verity as she approaches fifty and becomes an empty nester is the bulk of the book. She and her husband live in London in the Fulham area. They had discussed for many years moving to the countryside when their children left home so she could follow her dream of being a painter. Now that the time is at hand, her husband is balking at the idea.

While I enjoyed the beautiful prose of the author and the story was well-told, (Ms. Loudon’s also has a lovely gift for description), I absolutely hated the character of Matt. And got pretty annoyed at Verity for her personality and how she allowed him to get away with treating her as he did. I don’t want to give any spoilers so I’ll leave it at that.

I did begin to skim through some of the story as I was so upset over the relationship between Verity and her husband. I think my own strong personality and innate sense of justice led me to the anger I felt for her and at him and that may have interfered with my 100% enjoyment of the story.

If you like stories of women finding themselves even at a later time in their lives, this one could be right up your alley. It didn’t fully sit well with me but it was well written and for the right reader, it’s probably a gem.

Aug8

A Haunted History of Invisible Women by Leanna Renee Hieber and Andrea Janes- A Review

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Interesting, informative, and sometimes insulting.

I am somewhat torn about this book. There were some things to love about it and some things to hate as well.

Being someone who is intrigued by the spiritual and historical and having read/enjoyed some of Leanna’s fiction work, the premise and authors of this book intrigued me and led me to want to read it.

Quite a number of the ghost tales were known to me—in fact, one of them was very well known as I spent a semester at Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama in high school in a program called Step Ahead where incoming high school seniors could take two classes (for credit) in the summer. I was pleased that one of the first tales told in this book was about the red lady from there. That summer I lived on campus, we used to walk down to the dorm (Pratt Hall) where the poor girl supposedly died and talk about how tragic that was. A few times, it seemed there was a face at one of the windows on the top floor. Perhaps a flight of fancy since we were told the room had been boarded up. Nevertheless, it was nice to see the story in this book.

Clearly, the authors did a wonderful job fully researching the various stories they chose to share. The way the tales were sorted into categories made sense and the organization was well done. The book had a nice flow to it and a good variety of stories.

Some of the prose was a bit too woke and strident for me. There were also some places that it seemed as if the authors were lecturing or looking down on the reader. It was odd to me for them to basically attempt to shame the very demographic of people who would be attracted to reading the subject matter of this book. It was also strange since one of the authors owns a ghost tour company and the other one leads ghost tours. If you make your living from the industry, how can you legitimately look down on your customers? Seems a bit cynical to me. I almost stopped reading a couple of times because of this, but eventually picked it up again as the actual ghost stories and histories of the places were intriguing.

Overall, I enjoyed this one. I recommend the book for the stories and thorough historical research. Just skim over the parts where the writers’ judgment of the reader is problematic. I’m giving this one 3.5 stars for the historical detail and quality of the tales.

I received a copy of the book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. September 27, 2022 release date.

Jul19

The Girl from Bletchley Park by Kathleen McGurl

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A tale of two protagonists. One from the 1940s and WWII era, Pam, and one from modern times, Julia, her granddaughter. The story alternates chapters between the two women. This book was an easy read as the author’s style was straightforward and uncomplicated. I found myself yelling at the modern woman for the way she allowed her husband to treat her and talk to her. I wanted to smack him for his nastiness and his thoughts that all she was basically good for was to cook and clean for him while he lolled about.

The girl from WWII who worked at Bletchley Park was naïve and a little bit too sweet for my taste but I did enjoy her storyline. She found herself working as a code breaker and signed the Official Secrets Act as part of her job. She took that very seriously although she almost messed up a few times as the story went on.

Pam was a popular girl, making friends easily and having two very different men attracted to her. She met them both when she was billeted at Woburn Abbey. One was the gardener there and the other was a young man who worked with her at Bletchley. Adventures ensue and she has to make some hard decisions, but eventually figured out her true feelings about the things happening in her life.

The modern protagonist had a lot go wrong in her life, but she drew strength from her children She was pitched a lot of curveballs as the story unfolded.

While I solved both storylines pretty early on in the book, it was still an enjoyable read and I think it is a good story for people interested in that time period as well as readers who like stories that tie together the past and the present. 

May3

Black, White, and Gray All Over..A Memoir..by Frederick Reynolds

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This memoir of a Compton police officer appealed to me for several reasons. First, the time period of the officer’s service which was partially during the Rodney King trial and the Los Angeles riots. Other important events were the gang wars and murders of rap and hip hop artists. Second, the officer grew up in Detroit and initially was headed down the wrong path and ended up turning his life around. He was a bright, sensitive child who was led astray when he got a bit older. Trying to find a way to fit in as well as to find a way to escape from his difficult home life.

The author did not try to sugarcoat his past or the difficulties he faced in his marriage and relationships with his children. The memoir was intriguing and educational. The fact that the author didn’t paint a rosy, perfect picture of himself was admirable. Not many people have the kind of insight to themselves as he does. He came from a hard background and grew up with issues between his parents and that seemed to lead to his desire to escape his reality that led him down the wrong path to start with.

I admire how he shared his journey and how we, as readers, were able to follow along and watch him grow and change. There’s a strength in that kind of honesty. He seems like he’d be a great person to sit down and share a beer or coffee with and chat long into the night. His front row seat at many events that shaped the world we live in is intriguing and being able to have a chat with him about those various events would be a great way to spend an evening. His perspective as a black man was enlightening to this reader. Race relations are volatile in our country (and have been for a very long time) and learning how people of other races see and interpret the world is vital. Those endeavors can hopefully go a long way toward peaceful coexistence in our time.

If I have one complaint about the book, it would be how it got bogged down with names and descriptions of all his coworkers and the perpetrators he arrested.  There was way too much of that in the book. It dragged down the prose. The reader doesn’t need to know everyone in the room or at the crime scene or what they looked like—unless it adds to the story.

Overall, this is an interesting read and journey through a snapshot in time in the Midwest and along the west coast. Events that had national impact here in the United States. And it is, above all, the tale of one man’s story of the obstacles he faced on the way from anger and a life of crime to well-respected law enforcement officer, and ultimately, to his happiness and destiny.  

Mar29

Hot Water by Christopher Fowler- a Review

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This book by the author of the wonderful Bryant and May series is a standalone book set in the area near Nice, France,

The story was intriguing and multi-layered as Fowler’s books always are. He definitely keeps the reader entertained and on tenterhooks. Various threads come together in an intriguing way by the end of the book.

Steve is a 42 year old British man who has a desire to have a sexual relationship with an 18 year old—which, of course, is gross anyway—but it set the stage for the events of the story. Steve arranges to rent a holiday home near Nice for a business trip for his wine business. He invites the girl, Summer, to join him. The leasing agent tells him he has to rent it for two weeks, so he invites the girl for the first week and his wife and son for the second week. He is supposed to arrive a few days before his family so he can sleep with the girl.

Hannah, a 23 year old young woman, is the cleaner for the house that Steve rents. Hannah is not supposed to interact with the guests, but when she meets Summer, she breaks the rule and becomes involved in the girl’s life. Steve’ arrival is delayed and the plans change wherein he’s going to arrive a mere few hours before his family—time enough for a quickie, but then Summer has to go.

The day Steve’s family is supposed to arrive, Hannah can’t get in touch with Summer. She believes the girl left with a gay friend to stay with him now that Steve’s family is arriving. When Hannah arrives to clean, she finds items left by Summer strewn around the place.

As the week goes on, other things appear—like Summer’s phone and passport. The people in the house, Steve, his wife and son as well as Steve’s employee, Giles and his wife, are all hiding things. Everyone in the villa has issues and secrets.

Hannah becomes more and more suspicious about what really happened to her friend. A local child goes missing as well, causing Hannah to investigate that in addition to what happened to Summer. Did her friend leave voluntarily? Did she leave before anyone else arrived? Did she argue with Steve? Is she gone off with friends? Or is her body buried somewhere on the property? And how does the missing child and the gardener fit into the picture? What about the other guests, the villagers and even her boss?

This is a great, convoluted story that really appealed to this reader.  Lots to unpack and a ton of pieces to put together to get to the truth of the events that occurred in the vacation villa. I recommend this one as a fun beach read—even if you’re not in the Cote d’Azur!

Mar22

Ashes in Venice by Gojan Nikolich – a review

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I chose this one to review as I thought it took place in Venice, Italy. I love Venice and was looking forward to an adventure in that city. Imagine my shock when I started reading and the first chapters were full of graphic violence and not a canal or Doge’s palace in sight. I actually went back to the cover several times on my kindle to see if I was reading the right book. And yes, it still said Ashes in Venice.

The action takes place in Las Vegas and eventually, when the character got to the Venetian Hotel, I thought maybe that was where the title came from even though that was still misleading. I admit, I was liking the main character and was intrigued by how the various threads of the story were coming together, but I also have to admit I was very distracted by why I thought from the blurb that the story was set in Italy.  Eventually, all that became clear but it was deep into the body of the book before it did.

The graphic violence was pretty startling. I’d warn potential readers about that. It wasn’t really gratuitous, but it was a bit over the top for this reader. I could see how it fit into the storyline, but sometimes, it was too much.

The story itself was gripping and the book was a page turner. I stayed up late to finish it when I got close to the end. I figured out a lot of it by about midway through, but it was compelling enough for me to read to the end and see if I was right.

Overall, I liked the story and the flawed detective who was trying to solve the crimes. He was a completely drawn personality, warts and all. His love for his wife who was ill was lovely. He had gambling and financial issues, but he was doing his best to make things good for his wife. The humor the author gave him in his internal thoughts was a welcome relief from the violence of the story. I really enjoyed the wit of the author.

The author’s imagination is a wild place based on the evidence in this tale. Some of the things he conjured were mind blowing. Clever, violent and unique is how I’d describe this book. If you’re squeamish, though, give it a pass. 4 stars.