Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryfam

Title: Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryfam
Author: M. C. Beaton
Published: June 7th 2000 by St. Martin's Press
Format: Hardcover, 197 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Series: Agatha Raisin #10

“With Fairies shining lights and a Stubbs stolen”, Agatha Raisin and Sir Charles Fraith take on the sleepy village of Fryfam in an attempt to figure out what is behind the goings on in this sleepy village. With country Lord of the Manor Tolly dead, in the very same way a pseudo-character in a thrown together book Agatha is writing, Agatha and Charles must now bumble through the village and interview the locals without drawing any more attention to themselves.

I was sure I had read this book before, but for the life of me, I could not remember it or even the setting when I picked it up. Since it is a short book, why not spend a couple of hours and delve back into Agatha’s world of insults and intrigue. A world where Agatha cannot be left to her own devices, and away from James, without a melancholy that could topple her completely.

Agatha has always been one of my guilty pleasures and once you get past the author’s horrible editing and regular reuse of names, really, how many Jims, James, and Jimmies can a person meet, you settle down and enjoy not only the people of Carsley, but apparently Fryfam and their fairies.

Oh, there is a very nice turn at the end of this book. A turn anyone reading subsequent books knows already, but I was glad to put that missing piece in the right place.

In Dark Company

Title: In Dark Company
Author: Linda Castillo
Published: May 29th 2018 by Minotaur Books
Format: ebook, 60 pages
Genre: Suspense
Series: Kate Burkholder #9.5

In Dark Company, a novella, draws you in from the start. A seamless hour or two taking you back to Painters Mill and the Amish community Police Chief Kate Burkholder has sworn to protect.

A girl stumbles out of the dark with no memory of her name or where she came from. Her language is familiar to Kate but not quite the Pennsylvania Dutch of her own childhood. Kate can make out some of the words to the story the girl is telling, enough to believe she is telling the truth -- someone is chasing her and she is in danger.

That someone is banking on the belief small town cops are not sophisticated enough to figure out why Elisabeth needs to die. She needs to keep her mouth shut and if it mean tracking her to the hospital and finishing the job there, then that is what needs to be done.

Since Elisabeth does not know her full story, Kate is playing catch up until the final moments. The moments when a decision has to be made between love and loyalty.

A Perfect Husband

Title: A Perfect Husband
Author: Hilary Boyd
Published: February 8th 2018 by Quercus
Format: Paperback, 480 pages
Genre: Women's Ficton

I enjoy Hilary Boyd’s books. They are designed for readers who are not interested in following a redheaded twenty year old with bouncing curls trying to find their place in the world or have a knight in shining armor ride in to save the day. They are books about women making tough choices. Characters having seen the good and the bad, who get themselves out of bed every day and do what needs to be done for both themselves and for those they love. Do not get me wrong, there is romance and passion, but there is also the acknowledgement of the real work needed to keep a family going.

From the outside, Lily and Freddy appear to have the perfect marriage, a second chance if you will, he a music producer and she his charming wife. What others, including Lily herself, are unaware of is Freddy’s gambling addiction until her world boils over and she discovers not only is the house rented, but also every penny her late husband left to her is gone. Freddy, being less than stable, runs off to the island apartment of his late grandmother and tries to pull himself back together only to find an easy way out by tumbling into the arms, and bed, of an older wealthy woman who does not mind paying for his company. Meanwhile Lily is left to fend for herself in the home of a less than welcoming sister, manipulated by a nephew battling his own addition, and concerns over her own adult children result in a never-ending whirlpool of drama.

Readers bounce back and forth between wanting to shake Lily into understanding her precarious situation and cheering her on. A balance between wanting to meet up for coffee and girl talk and wanting to turn in the opposite direction when you see her walking your way. I do not know many who would stick with the feckless Freddy, but Lily has some unknown, until now, strength and that is what keeps the pages turning.

Rockets' Dead Glare

Title: Rockets' Dead Glare
Author: Lynn Cahoon
Published: June 5th 2018 by Lyrical Underground
Format: eBook, 77 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: A Tourist Trap #9.25

I was really hoping that authors were past the requisite novellas that were so rampant for the last couple of years. I understand that they have commitments to their publishers and other series that need their time, but unless a short snippet is filling in a blank from the previous book, it does not need to exist. If the story is burning a hole, and needs to be told, make it the main plot of the next book. They should not put something out there solely for the sake of filling a publisher’s requirement.

Rockets’ Dead Glare is just a small single narrative of the body of the local fire inspector found in a burned out building. The story, and the reason behind the death and its discover, could have been incorporated into another full-length book as a subplot. It could have gone deeper and been the main plot with something else thrown in on the side, but that was not the choice that Lynne Cahoon made and therefore letting down her readers.

Unless you are a stickler for reading every book in a series, I would suggest that you skip this bit and wait until the next full-length book is published since Rockets’ Dead Glare adds nothing to either the relationships of or the tourist town of South Cove.

Red Alert

Title: Red Alert
Author: James Patterson and Marshall Karp
Published: March 26th 2018 by Little, Brown and Company
Format: Hardcover, 338 pages
Genre: Suspense
Series: NYPD Red #5

With two cases pulling Zach Jordan and Kylie McDonald in opposite directions tensions boil over and someone has to decide which is more important – homemade bombs that are killing prominent men that are planning a new housing project or a documentary filmmaker ready to ignite her own bomb when it comes to exposing those that are supposed to be helping the most vulnerable.

As part of the Red Team, a task force designed to protect the rich and famous of New York City, Jordan and McDonald have seen their fair share of exploitation, but when they learn the truth about those that have sacrificed other for their own benefit, decisions have to be made. Do they let vengeance play out, or do they step in and balance the playing field.

Where the truth leads should not be a shock for readers of Patterson’s books. There is always an “oh, that’s interesting” moment. A time where the author, and his co-author du jour, must make a stance and though the bad guy deserves what is coming, there has to be an equal justice for all moment.

A laid-back weekend book that will not take you away from anything important since it is easy to pick up and put down. There is no deep meaning or heavy thought, just an easy breezy day or two that takes you into the spoils of the big city where the rules do not apply to those that cannot afford the opening bid.