The 18th Abduction

Title: The 18th Abduction
Author: James Patterson, Maxine Paetro
Published: April 29th 2019 by Little, Brown and Company
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
Genre: Suspense
Series: Women's Murder Club #18

First off, don’t let the 381 pages shock you, the font used is larger than most hardcovers so it will be a quick read. Second, don’t be thrown by the authors use of the name Karin Slaughter as a character in the book, it was an interesting way to introduce the term “Googleganger”.

A long thought dead war criminal “the butcher of Djoba”, and three missing teachers from a prestigious high school have Lindsay and Joe running all over San Francisco. What no one knew at the time was one of these seemingly innocent teachers has a secret, actually more than one, but as the story unfolds their background unfold with it. Add in a woman sitting beside Joe’s car hoping for help when no one else will listen. Quickly two seemingly unrelated stories will be tied together if they can get the butcher to commit a crime. Not just any crime, a crime that will give entry to his past and give Lindsay, Joe, and the rest of the Women’s Murder Club an entrance into a brutal piece of history.

What James Patterson and Maxine Paetro unfold will not be for the squeamish. This is a brutal book that visibly lays bare war crimes. You cannot help but have a visceral reaction to the pictures that are drawn with words that leave a lasting impression. So be warned, this book goes a little deeper than their usual fluff, a book that contains composites of real events and individuals, a book that barely conceals the true criminals that they are talking about.

Shamed

Title: Shamed
Author: Linda Castillo
Published: July 16th 2019 by Minotaur Books
Format: eBook, Hardcover, 304 pages
Genre: Police Procedural
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Kate Burkholder #11

Linda Castillo does not disappoint in this eleventh installment to the Kate Burkholder series. A bit heavier and more disturbing than her previous books, the author takes Kate and the police force of Painters Mill down a dark and disturbing road with the murder of a grandmother and the abduction of a special needs child.

“Da Deivel has hurt Grossmammi” are the first words Kate can get out of terrified Anne Helmuth. Mary Yoder is dead and 7-year-old Elsie is missing. With little to go on and only a basic description, the police are left with very few leads. The locals have no idea who could be responsible, but when an innocent comment is made about Elsie being a gift, new ideas are forming and when you kick over the right rock, family secrets are revealed. Secrets lead up to the highest echelons of the tight-knit Amish community. With the pieces coming together, Kate does not like the picture which is forming and why Elsie, of all children, would be kidnapped. In a desperate need to have her child returned, Miriam Helmuth reveals the truth behind Elsie’s birth and what part both a mid-wife and Bishop Troyer had in a late-night visit to a remote farm.

As notes are being left with those who know more than they should, and bodies piling up, Kate is in a battle with time to have a child returned before any more damage can be done to the families involved and the community that protects them.

This book will grab you from the beginning. You may have the intention of reading a bit here and there, to savor what is being said, but you will not be able to let go until you reach the end and know the pain some have suffered and the dishonesty others will go to when they think they are doing what is best for a child.

Fatal Frost

Title: Fatal Frost
Author: Karen MacInerney
Published: October 18th 2016 by Thomas & Mercer
Format: Paperback, 282 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Series: Dewberry Farm #2

Hoping that book two in the Dewberry Farm Mysteries series would have rounded out the people and places of Buttercup, I was disappoint when instead the book was nothing more than a gosh-golly-gee-whiz, jaunt through a tedious “he said, then she said, then he said” dialogue leaving the reader wanting to jump through the pages and pull something of interest out.

Once an investigative journalist and now a small-time farmer, Lucy Resnick continues to learn the ways of farming and wayward animals. Now that she has found freshly dug holes on her property she does a bit of investigating on her own and when a few clues come together and a body is discovered in a burned out house, Lucy and the bumbling sheriff finally put the pieces together all the while poison-pen letters are winding their way through town.

Karen MacInerney tries to throw too many parts into this one in hopes that something will stick to the proverbial wall, but sad to say, it just came out as a jumbled overcooked mess. Unfortunately, this will be my last trip to Dewberry

The Right Sort of Man

Title: The Right Sort of Man
Author: Allison Montclair
Published: June 4th 2019 by Minotaur Books
Format: eBook, Hardcover, 336 pages
Genre: Historical Cozy Mystery
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Sparks and Bainbridge #1

A brilliant new historical mystery series full of laughs and twists that will keep the reader fully engaged.

Gwendolyn Bainbridge’s husband was killed during WWII sending her into a deep depression and a stay at a sanitarium resulting in her in-laws gaining legal guardianship of her son. Iris Sparks was a spy and “lover without the benefit of clergy” to a married man who has been supporting her. Five months after meeting, and not knowing each other well, decide out of desperation to open “The Right Sort Marriage Bureau”. Three months after opening their door Tillie La Salle, who was recently matched to a local man Richard Trower, was found dead on “a night that was meant for hope”. Gwen and Iris have no choice but to jump into the investigation not only to save their names but to save their business. Each brings something different to the table but when it counts, they both have too much to lose and will go down any dark and dangerous alley to find out who Tillie was since her story, and where she worked, isn’t adding up.

Full of interesting characters, from Detective Sergeant Michael Kinsey who appears to have quite the past with Iris, to gangsters that can get the ladies items that have disappeared during wartime, to characters with multiple names and shady pasts, and my favorite – Salvatore Danielli “Sally”, who is a combination debt collector, office help, writer, and gentle giant.

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

Title: The Bookish Life of Nina Hill
Author: Abbi Waxman
Published: July 9th 2019 by Berkley
Format: eBook, 352 pages
Genre: Women's Fiction
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

A nowhere book that suddenly, because there was nowhere else to go, turned into Fredrik Backman’s “My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry”, then bounces back to nowhere only to finish up as a romance.

I have no idea what happened here, in the past, Abbi Waxman’s books were a must buy, they were full of family, humor, and the realities of life. Yes, to be honest, this book touches on family, a damaged one, but still family. There is humor, sparks here and there, but not sustained. I just found it a disappointing foray into the same Larchmont neighborhood of her two prior books.

The introverted only child of a professional photographer single mother, who left her in the care of a nanny when she could no longer fit in a cardboard box, suddenly becomes aware that there was a father out there. A man who recently died and has mentioned her in his will. Not only is she learning about a man she never knew but she has come to find three sisters, a brother, and a smattering of nieces and nephews. With Nina’s anxiety attacks, over planned journal, pub quiz night, a new family, a new man, and a dearly loved job surrounded by books which is about to close its doors, it is no surprise that this wandering book encapsulates a life half lived. If you are looking for a happily ever after type of book, you will literally find it here since that is how Abbi Waxman decided to end this book – with those exact words.

Knit One Pearl One

Title: Knit One Pearl One
Author: Gil McNeil
Published: December 27th 2011 by Hachette Books
Format: Paperback, 396 pages
Genre: Women's Fiction
Series: Jo Mackenzie #3

Have you ever read a book and felt that the main character had no direction and just kept going until something came to her? Well, there you have Jo Mackenzie of Knit One, Pearl One.

There is a frantic simplicity to this series of an overwhelmed single mother who is trying to build a knitting business in a seaside town, all the while trying to appear that she has her life in order. In this final book, surprise baby Pearl is toddling around and suddenly her bio-father makes an appearance wanting to be more of a central role in his daughter’s life. It’s not the worst idea, considering that there is still a spark between Jo and Daniel, but certain rules will have to be followed.

There is an endearing and quirky cast of characters in this series. In a way, I am sad to see it did not make it past this third and final book since it would have been a perfect series for Hallmark to have picked up.

Full of small laughs and real-life moments, this is a series to savior over your cup of tea or a weekend away.