The Antidote For Everything

Title: The Antidote For Everything
Author: Kimmery Martin
Published: February 20th 2020 by Berkley
Format: eBook, Hardcover, 352 pages
Genre: Fiction
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

After reading the endnotes and seeing how Kimmery Martin had first intended for this book to go, I am so glad she scrubbed those chapters and started again with a less conventional path and a story that is both timely and memorable.

Kimmery Martin does not tell you everything about her characters or situations in the first pages, or even the first chapters. You are slowly learning about them as their narratives, and their current controversy is unfolding.

Doctor’s Georgia Brown and Jonah Tsukada, work for a private religious-based hospital in Charleston. Jonah is first to notice some of his patients are either not showing up for appointments or are being asked to leave by the administration. No one is telling Jonah why but when he confides in his best friend Georgia, they begin to uncover a duplicitous plot to remove patients, and their doctors, who the hospital deems unworthy of treatment. At its core, the reasons are deplorable and when the doctors delve into the motivations, they are confronted with a series of lies and career-ending innuendos which not only put their careers on the line but their lives also.

Of course, there are love interests and deceptions, but at the core is friendship, integrity, justice, and the meaning of family for people who have had to scrape and claw for everything they have.

There are a few parts that do not mesh as well as they could, but these broad-brush moments are forgiven since the book worked for me. So much so that I now must go back and find Kimmery Martin’s first book, The Queen of Hearts.

Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators

Title: Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators
Author: Ronan Farrow
Published: October 15th 2019 by Little, Brown and Company
Format: Hardcover, 448 pages
Genre: Exposé

It is no surprise that the casting couch has been around for decades, what did surprise me was the extent some will go to protect the evil around them for the sake of a paycheck. Yes, it is a harsh commentary, but those who knew better should have done better and those who protect criminals should be held accountable for allowing the depravity to continue.

Unfortunately, it took years to be heard. It took too long for the depth of this story to come to light and the truth behind the ‘catch and kill’ movement, of silencing, to be shown for what it is. Unfortunately, the entertainment industry is not the only one involved. Every segment of employment has this going on. Every company out there has had to deal with abuse and threats in the workplace and as long as those in control offer payouts for silence, this problem will never go away.

Risking his career and name, Ronan Farrow, brought to light the behind the scenes shenanigans of the wealthy and powerful. Though there was one main individual at the center of this book, he isn’t the only one perpetrating this crime. He may have had the money, influence, and most deplorable, the right contacts to intimidate and silence, he didn’t do it alone, and it took the courage of a lone voice to bring this account to fruition.

Fascinating from beginning to end, some parts are not for the squeamish or easily shocked. There are raw moments and times that you want to put the book down and pretend that it never happened, but you can’t --a reader, with any conscious, cannot look away.

Egg Drop Dead

Title: Egg Drop Dead
Author: Vivien Chien
Published: February 25th 2020 by St. Martin's Press
Format: eBook, Paperback, 320 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Noodle Shop Mystery #5

I still say that the best part of this book is the Mahjong Matrons and if Vivien Chien ever leaves them out, I will probably stop reading the series. As a matter of fact, they should be the focus of the next book. Just imagine the matrons, who always have the answers, sending Lana out to do their own personal sleuthing. I have this whole Lincoln Rhyme: Bone Collector scenario going on in my head -- but I digress.

To generate additional business for the Ho-Lee Noodle House, Lana decides to offer a catering service. Of course, Donna Feng, who always has one worry or another, hires Lana for a party and just when Lana thinks the evening went well, the body of one of Donna’s employees is found floating in the pool. Of course, we are not going to jump to the conclusion that the person with the wet clothes has anything to do with it so for the next 300 odd pages we follow Lana and her menagerie of friends, private investigators, the police, and co-workers through a maze of who-done-it.

To be fair, there were a couple of, ‘oh, I didn’t see that coming’ moments, but for the most part, the attempted blackmail plot coordinated by bumbling fools was a stretch. Yet once again, Lana Lee, manager of the Ho-Lee Noodle House outsmarted the criminals and trained professionals alike to bring peace to her life and those of her community.

Bewitched, Bothered, and Biscotti

Title: Bewitched, Bothered, and Biscotti
Author: Bailey Cates
Published: December 31st 2012 by NAL
Format: Paperback, 330 pagess
Genre: Paranormal Cozy
Series: Magical Bakery Myster #2

You know those series where you are not fully engaged but keep reading because there is an interesting premise and you hold out hope it will eventually grab you? Well, the Magical Bakery Mystery series is in that category for me. I am not fully engaged with the main character, but there does seem to be an interesting interaction between her group of hedge witches and that is what brings me back.

Katie Lightfoot, baker at a local Savannah bakery, is still dabbling with her powers and the realization that she comes from a predominant witch family. When she finds a corpse, with an interesting tattoo, she had no idea what a cauldron of trouble she has stirred up and with the help of her new community, and two eager suitors, Katie finds herself dodging a secret society and hearing a voice from her past that just might save her life.

This series has all the needed elements, yet, it comes across as too simple. Too by the book and procedural as if the author is still feeling her way around the characters and situations which she is putting them through.

All the Best Lies

Title: All the Best Lies
Author: Joanna Schaffhausen
Published: February 11th 2020 by Minotaur Books
Format: eBook, Hardcover, 336 pages
Genre: Police Procedural
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Elly Hathaway #3

Joanna Schaffhausen always waits until the very end for a twist that the reader never saw coming.

FBI Agent and author Reed Markham has been by Ellery’s side since the first book and now it is time to tell his story. His biological mother was killed when he was an infant and now with his sister pushing for the whole Markham family (Reed’s adoptive family) to take DNA tests, for fun, Reed’s life has been thrown for a loop.

In 1970’s Las Vegas, Camilla Flores was found murdered and her son unharmed. The neighborhood was bad and though she had friends, they couldn’t help when evil loomed around the corner. Her friend, a police officer, tried to help. His partner was sympathetic but time went on with no conclusions and they eventually married and forgot about Camilla. Camilla’s neighbor tried to help with the baby but after the murder, she left town and the baby was eventually put up for adoption. Fortunately for Reed, the Markham’s were able to adopt him and raise him in their growing family, but even they kept a secret that they hoped would never come to light. Now that Reed knows the truth of his parentage, he won’t stop investigating until he understands who attacked his mother, his father’s involvement, and what secrets the neighbor knew.

The boundaries between Reed and Ellery have always been murky, but this time, Reed needs her help instead of the other way around. She isn’t going to judge and get in the way, she will fight for and with him in just the same way that he has for her and with the two of them focused on the same thing, there will be no stopping them, that is until a bullet almost ends Reed’s life, but still, Camilla will get the justice that she deserves.

Alone in the Wild

Title: Alone in the Wild
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Published: February 4th 2020 by Minotaur Books
Format: eBook, Hardcover 368 pages
Genre: Police Procedural
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Rockton #5

This is turning into my all-time favorite series. I can’t say that it is solely for the plotlines, or the banter between unforgettable characters, or even the societal facets. All I can say is that it comes together in a perfect blend of people and circumstance with just the right amount of compassion and humor from people that you would not think to have an ounce of sympathy or empathy amongst them.

What begins with the subtle mewing of an infant found buried under the body of a dead woman leads to Detective Casey Duncan questioning life choices and how previous body trauma, which left her unable to have a child of her own, might derail her life with new love Sheriff Eric Dalton.

As they are searching for which group the child came from, Casey begins to have unexpected feelings which lead to troubling thoughts as to what would be better for the child -- returning her to the scavengers and nomads in the area or having the child remain with her in Rockton. A hidden community, which she calls home, that is made up of killers and psychopaths and those running away from killers and psychopaths.