21st Birthday

Title: 21st Birthday
Author: James Patterson, Maxine Paetro
Published: May 3rd 2021 by Little, Brown and Company
Format: Hardcover, 416 pages
Genre: Police Procedural
Series: Women's Murder Club #21

First Sentence: Prologue: Cindy Thomas followed Robert Barnett’s assistant down the long corridor at the low firm of Barnett and Associates in Washington, DC.

From the Publisher: When young wife and mother Tara Burke goes missing with her baby girl, all eyes are on her husband, Lucas. He paints her not as a missing person but a wayward wife—until a gruesome piece of evidence turns the investigation criminal.

While Chronicle reporter Cindy Thomas pursues the story and M.E. Claire Washburn harbors theories that run counter to the SFPD’s, ADA Yuki Castellano sizes Lucas up as a textbook domestic offender . . . who suddenly puts forward an unexpected suspect. If what Lucas tells law enforcement has even a grain of truth, there isn't a woman in the state of California who's safe from the reach of an unspeakable threat. (Goodreads)

My Opinion: For me, Patterson’s books rarely live up to expectations, and 21st Birthday was no different. Even the title was a misnomer since nothing in the book, other than one of the victims was twenty and not going to see their 21st Birthday made the number significant.

All was going according to the usual pace until two-thirds of the way, the pivotal courtroom scene, was nothing more than a retelling of the previous 250-plus pages. The thriller/suspense climax culminated in an ending that was dry and felt like the familiar we hit our contractual page count, let’s call it a day scenario.

So why do I continue with this series - a good question. The best I can come up with is --I have invested time, the characters are familiar, and hope. Hopeful that one day all the pieces will fall in place, and the writing team of Patterson and Paetro will shock and surprise me.

As a funny note, in the author note section, Patterson gets a full page showing off his accolades while Maxine Paetro gets two sentences.

Danger at the Cove

Title: Danger at the Cove
Author: Hannah Dennison
Published: August 17th 2021 by Minotaur Books
Format: Kindle, Hardcover, 304 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Island Sisters Mystery #2

First Sentence: “Do you mind moving those plants into the potting shed before you run my errand, Ollie?” I pointed to the flimsy trays of plastic pots filled with geraniums, begonias and lavender that stood next to the empty cast-iron urns along the flagstone terrace. “There’s another storm forecast for early evening and I don’t want them to blow away.”

From the Publisher: Renovations on Tregarrick Rock Hotel are coming along, and Evie Mead thinks they just might be done by opening day. Then one of her sister Margot’s old Hollywood friends, Louise, arrives unannounced—and expecting VIP treatment.

Evie has half a mind to tell Louise to find other accommodations, but Margot pleads with Evie, saying that Louise—despite her upbeat and demanding attitude—is grieving her recently deceased husband. Evie pities her, and besides, the sisters need help. A simple rewiring project has resulted in a major overhaul of the hotel, and they’re way over budget. The small life insurance policy left to Evie by her own husband is gone, and they are desperate for funds. Margot believes that Louise, a marketing guru, can put the hotel on the map and give it the boost it needs.

But when a member of the hotel staff is found dead, and then another murder follows, the sisters’ plans crumble before their eyes. Who would do such a thing—and why? In a rollicking adventure involving a shipwreck filled with buried treasure, a dashing and mysterious Australian named Randy, and old rivalries stretching back to far before Evie and Margot ever set foot on the island, it’s all hands on deck to find the killer—and save the hotel. (Macmillan)

My Opinion: Disappointed that the body didn’t show up until midway through the book, but glad when Detective Inspector Patty Williamson, and her Columbo ways, appeared. Her brashness quickly extrapolated each person’s bits and pieces to come to a plausible, if convoluted, reasoning as to why the death occurred, even if she had to use Kevin Bacon and Bacon’s Law.

I’m still not a hundred percent sold on this series; I think it is growing on me, yet, I am not fully on board. I like the sister’s being chatelaines of the estate, I like the remoteness, but there is still something missing, maybe a truer sense of danger and intrigue, which I think would make me a full-fledged fan.

The Rocky Road to Ruin

Title: The Rocky Road to Ruin
Author: Meri Allen
Published: July 27th 2021 by St. Martin's Press
Format: Kindle, Paperback, 352 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Ice Cream Shop Mysteries #1

First Sentence: If you looked up "New England" you'd probbly find a picture of my hometown, Penniman Connecticut.

From the Publisher: Riley Rhodes, travel food blogger and librarian at the CIA, makes a bittersweet return to her childhood home of Penniman, Connecticut - land of dairy farms and covered bridges - for a funeral. Despite the circumstances, Riley's trip home is sprinkled with reunions with old friends, visits to her father's cozy bookshop on the town green, and joyful hours behind the counter at the beloved Udderly Delicious Ice Cream Shop. It feels like a time to help her friend Caroline rebuild after her mother's death, and for Riley to do a bit of her own reflecting after a botched undercover mission in Italy. After all, it's always good to be home.

But Caroline and her brother Mike have to decide what to do with the assets they've inherited - the ice cream shop as well as the farm they grew up on - and they've never seen eye to eye. Trouble begins to swirl as Riley is spooked by reports of a stranger camping behind the farm and by the odd behavior of the shop's mascot, Caroline's snooty Persian, Sprinkles. When Mike turns up dead in the barn the morning after the funeral, the peace and quiet of Penniman seems upended for good. Can Riley find the killer before another body gets scooped? (Goodreads)

My Opinion: After the first chapter, I was ready to put it down and say, Thank you, Next. I have never understood when an author has three hundred pages a need to introduce the vast majority of the characters at once. Let the wine breathe let each personality note come into its own at the right time. There is no urgency to rush and bewilder your audience.

As the story unfolds, there are parts of Riley Rhodes's past which did not add to the overall storyline. A background seemingly placed for intrigue rather than purpose. Then as Meri Allen gets the story rolling, she will suddenly take a left turn with unnecessary filler. The reader will find the usual set of friends, family, and pets, but most disappointing is a couple of undeveloped but appealing characters, which seem to have been forgotten at the end.

Hopefully, with her next book, she will expand in a few places, tone down the repetition, and add a humorous quirkiness to the town of Penniman, Connecticut.

The Blue Zones Kitchen: 100 Recipes to Live to 100

Title: The Blue Zones Kitchen: 100 Recipes to Live to 100
Author: Dan Buettner
Published: December 3, 2019 by National Geographic
Format: Hardcover, 304 pages
Genre: Cookbook

First Sentence: If you want to live to a healthy 100, eat like healthy people who’ve lived to 100.

From the Publisher: Building on decades of research, longevity expert Dan Buettner has gathered 100 recipes inspired by the Blue Zones, home to the healthiest and happiest communities in the world. Each dish--for example, Sardinian Herbed Lentil Minestrone; Costa Rican Hearts of Palm Ceviche; Cornmeal Waffles from Loma Linda, California; and Okinawan Sweet Potatoes--uses ingredients and cooking methods proven to increase longevity, wellness, and mental health. Complemented by mouthwatering photography, the recipes also include lifestyle tips (including the best times to eat dinner and proper portion sizes), all gleaned from countries as far away as Japan and as near as Blue Zones project cities in Texas. Innovative, easy to follow, and delicious, these healthy living recipes make the Blue Zones lifestyle even more attainable, thereby improving your health, extending your life, and filling your kitchen with happiness. (Amazon)

My Opinion: I’m not a person who usually reads cookbooks. In the past, they have always been a means to an end. How do I make? What can I substitute? What would work for a potluck? Yet, I found myself drawn to Sardinia, Okinawa, Nicoya, Ikaria, and Loma Linda, which Dan Buettner was taking me to.

What first appeared as blue check marks on a map has expanded to a new way of thinking about simple food and how health and longevity are rooted in the basics that past generations have taken for granted.

The recipes are not complicated, but it may take some time getting used to a diet not centered on meat and dairy but rather beans, herbs, and vegetables. Once you get past that, you begin to realize calorie-heavy processed foods are taking years off your life and feeding chronic illnesses.

I know you have heard it all before, but by taking small steps, you eventually reach the top, and if the top means fewer medications, better habits, and more years doing what you enjoy, how can that be a bad thing.

No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality

Title: No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality
Author: Michael J. Fox
Published: November 17, 2020 by Flatiron Books
Format: Hardcover, 256 pages
Genre: Memoir

First Sentence: I'm going down. It's a flash fall. Vertical to horizon in a blink.

From the Publisher: The entire world knows Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, the teenage sidekick of Doc Brown in Back to the Future; as Alex P. Keaton in Family Ties; as Mike Flaherty in Spin City; and through numerous other movie roles and guest appearances on shows such as The Good Wife and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Diagnosed at age 29, Michael is equally engaged in Parkinson’s advocacy work, raising global awareness of the disease and helping find a cure through The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, the world’s leading non-profit funder of PD science. His two previous bestselling memoirs, Lucky Man and Always Looking Up, dealt with how he came to terms with the illness, all the while exhibiting his iconic optimism. His new memoir reassesses this outlook, as events in the past decade presented additional challenges.

In No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality, Michael shares personal stories and observations about illness and health, aging, the strength of family and friends, and how our perceptions about time affect the way we approach mortality. Thoughtful and moving, but with Fox’s trademark sense of humor, his book provides a vehicle for reflection about our lives, our loves, and our losses.

Running through the narrative is the drama of the medical madness Fox recently experienced, that included his daily negotiations with the Parkinson’s disease he’s had since 1991, and a spinal cord issue that necessitated immediate surgery. His challenge to learn how to walk again, only to suffer a devastating fall, nearly caused him to ditch his trademark optimism and “get out of the lemonade business altogether.” (MacMillan)

My Opinion: Michael J. Fox invites the reader into the messy and often hilarious life of a person looking down the barrel of a terminal illness. There are parts where you aren’t sure if you should be laughing, but with his interminable optimism, you can’t help but laugh along with him while picking up his words of wisdom.

No Time Like the Future will stay with the reader for a long while. Mr. Fox is not only telling the story of the progression of his Parkinson’s, but he is also telling a story of resilience and the work of his foundation. Yet, more importantly, this is a story of family, and how no matter what has stayed together, and how he adores every moment of the life he shares with them.

Death at the Gates

Title: Death at the Gates
Author: Katie Gayle
Published: August 2nd 2021 by Bookouture
Format: Kindle, Paperback 248 Pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Epiphany Bloom Mysteries Book 3

First Sentence: Pip woke to the smell of burnt polyester.

From the Publisher: Hurlingham House school is a high-achiever’s heaven, full of happy, hard-working pupils. There’s just the small matter of the dead body on the field… Sounds like a case for Epiphany Bloom!

When Epiphany Bloom’s best friend’s sister Claire is accused of trading exam papers for money, Epiphany agrees to see Ms Peters, the headteacher of Claire’s fiercely competitive school, to provide moral support. Claire has always been a model student and is loudly protesting her innocence: surely it’s all just a misunderstanding.

But when Ms Peters hears about Epiphany’s previous sleuthing exploits, she enlists her help to track down the true culprit!

Taking a job as a PE teacher, Epiphany soon realises she has plenty of suspects for the exam scam mastermind. The broke young teacher with a shady past? The father willing to buy his daughter anything – including grades? The school governor desperate to keep Hurlingham House at the top of the ranks?

Then Epiphany finds one of them dead at the school fair, and it becomes clear someone is taking the cut-throat culture of the school too literally – and when mysterious accidents start happening around her too, it seems the killer knows she’s onto them. (Goodreads)

My Opinion: Sorry Pip and the writing team of Katie Gayle, but this is where we part ways. The first book was an enjoyable introduction to Epiphany Bloom, book two was a major letdown, and book three was a chore to get through.

Pip is too illogical, immature, and redundant for me. By the middle of the book, which is where the dead body finally shows up, and the reader had already put all the other parts of the book together, Pip’s antics finally grated on my last nerve.

I’m still trying to figure out if this series is a romance with murder on the side, a wrong place at the right time murder investigation with a bit of romance, or a wanna-be woman detective with two men lazing about hoping for something more. Either way, I am done.

Tell Me

Title: Tell Me
Author: Anne Frasier
Published: July 27th 2021 by Thomas & Mercer
Format: Kindle, Paperback, 286 pages
Genre: Police Procedural
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Inland Empire #2

First Sentence:Four female hikers walked single file along the narrow, footworn Pacific Crest Train in Southern California, with Emerson the last in in line.

From the Publisher: What really happened in the forest? Hidden crimes and secrets of the past converge in a riveting thriller by Anne Frasier, the New York Times bestselling author of Find Me.

No strangers to evil, criminal profiler Reni Fisher and detective Daniel Ellis both still grapple with traumatizing pasts. It unites them. So has a crime they must solve before someone else dies.

At a campsite on California’s Pacific Crest Trail, a guide is murdered and three young hikers vanish without a trace. The only lead is a puzzle in itself: a video of the crime scene, looking eerily staged, uploaded to social media. The girl who posted it can’t be found. Is it a viral hoax gone unspeakably wrong, or is there something more sinister at play in the forest?

The case intensifies when one of the missing is found wandering down a dirt road, confused and afraid. As Reni and Daniel struggle to sort fact from fiction, a secret past collides with the present, threatening to sever their relationship. Are some truths too much to bear? Will this be the case that finally breaks them? (Goodreads)

My Opinion: This series, Inland Empire, is a can’t put down for me. Criminal profiler Reni Fisher and detective Daniel Ellis both have horrible past experiences, damaged in their own way, and determined to bring good back into the lives needing their help the most.

There is always a gory don’t eat lunch first part of the book, but once you get past it, you can take a breath and follow along as they piece the puzzle together, leaving just the right amount of border unfinished, so you don’t get to the end before the author intended.

There was one part of the storyline where I felt Anne Frasier lied, a part where I thought she was better than that. A part that still sticks with me and makes me question why she felt the need to deceive. There had to have been an easier way to rewrite this portion, and I wished she could have a do-over.

Home by Nightfall

Title: Home by Nightfall
Author: Charles Finch
Published: November 10th 2015 by Minotaur Books
Format: Hardcover, 304 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Series: Charles Lenox Mysteries #9

First Sentence: It was a blustery London Morning in the autumn of 1876, wind and rain heavy in the trees lining Chancery Lane, and there, damn it all, stood before Charles Lenox something that nobody should have to tolerate before breakfast: a beaming Frenchman.

From the Publisher: It's London in 1876, and the whole city is abuzz with the enigmatic disappearance of a famous foreign pianist. Lenox has an eye on the matter - as a partner in a now thriving detective agency, he's a natural choice to investigate. Just when he's tempted to turn his focus to it entirely, however, his grieving brother asks him to come down to Sussex, and Lenox leaves the metropolis behind for the quieter country life of his boyhood. Or so he thinks. Something strange is afoot in Markethouse: small thefts, books, blankets, animals, and more alarmingly a break-in at the house of a local insurance agent. As he and his brother investigate this accumulation of mysteries, Lenox realizes that something very strange and serious indeed may be happening, more than just local mischief. Soon, he's racing to solve two cases at once, one in London and one in the country, before either turns deadly. (Macmillan)

My Opinion: I can never make it past the midway point of a Charles Finch/Charles Lenox book without feeling the need to skim the rest of the way. That is where the story bogs down with the author’s need to over-describe people, places, and customs. Home by Nightfall contains the usual repetition and cast of characters found in previous books, with the only bright spot being Lady Jane. Her humor and normalcy outshine her husband and his brother Edmond, who tend to sideways think their way through a situation.

So why do I keep reading this series? I have no answers other than the time invested so far into this series and the hope the next will capture me since a quarter of them do.