Iron Lake

If you enjoy Craig Johnson, then William Kent Krueger is right up you alley. Both write the cold backcountry police procedural with folklore and the surrounding environment being as essential a character as anyone else mentioned in the storyline.

Cork O’Connor and his attorney wife Jo are in the middle of a separation due to his downward spiral after losing an election to maintain his position as sheriff. Now out of the house and trying to keep an old run down seasonal restaurant afloat, Cork receives a call from a friend that is panicked over her missing son. Of course, there is more to the story, since Paul’s last newspaper delivery was to the local judge’s home and now the judge has been found with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Everyone but Cork is in a hurry to close this case, but there is something nagging at Cork. This suicide is tied up too neat and clean and that is just something that does not settle right with the ex-Sheriff in him.

Then one night it all comes to a boiling point. A Windigo is calling out names, ambitions fuel murder, secrets that should stay hidden are photographed for all to see and Cork is right there in the middle with an unlikely ally and a future that will undoubtedly be even more complicated then what he was bargaining for.

I really enjoyed this book and look forward to the next in the series. There were a couple of loose ends left dangling and I am glad that Krueger did not wrap everything up in a neat little bow. This is a book that you have to let sit with you for a little while. You have to let the relationships float around in your brain and wonder aloud, what if or what about, before you can put the whole story to rest.

Good job Mr. Krueger.

One Good Turn

OK, I will give it to Kate Atkinson; she has a way of zinging an ending where you do not see it coming. There is always something at the end that makes your head do a whip-a-round and you find yourself saying, “Really, what did I miss that got us to this point”.

If you are one of those cheater types that reads the last chapter or paragraph before you start a book, then you will ruin this whole reading experience, so just take your time and get to the good parts in due course.

Like the previous book, there are multiple plotlines – an automobile accident with a brawl in the middle of the street; a home developer and his wife who have a problem with deceptive business tactics not to mention missing money; and then there is Jackson Brodie, the former cop and private investigator who while in Edinburgh to see Julia in a play discovers a body. Of course, this body cannot stay put and washes out to sea before the local constable can come to verify its existence, making Jackson look like a daft fool.

As the stories weave their way to the conclusion, the reader begins to see how each are interrelated. How even the slightest nuance actually has a point and the dry humor that is exhibited in the unlikeliest moments has you rereading wondering in this politically correct day and age if they can really say that.

Overall, I don’t think I liked this book as well as the first Jackson Brodie, Case Histories, I just couldn’t find myself attaching to the characters in the same way as I did the first time around. Though the writing and the stylizing of the stories are good, the overall enjoyment of One Good Turn was not the same as Case Histories. Will I read more, maybe one day, just need to take a break and wait until the feeling hits me again.

I do suggest that you read them in order since some of the characters flow from one into the next and you might feel that you are missing something even though Ms Atkinson does an admirable job of rehashing some bits from the previous story so you do not feel completely in the dark.

I do recommend that you do check out this series, from the beginning and be prepared for an enjoyable time and a thinking person’s adventure into storytelling.

Book Giveaway

In Honor of my 4 Year Anniversary. I have decided to host my first book giveaway.


Compliments of Simon and Schuster

WOMEN FOOD AND GOD
An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything
Geneen Roth

No matter how sophisticated or wealthy or broke or enlightened you are, how you eat tells all.

After three decades of studying, teaching and writing about our compulsions with food, bestselling author Geneen Roth adds a powerful new dimension to her work in Women Food and God. She begins with her most basic concept: The way you eat is inseparable from your core beliefs about being alive. Your relationship with food is an exact mirror of your feelings about love, fear, anger, meaning, transformation and, yes, even God.

A timeless and seminal work, Women Food and God shows how going beyond the food and the feelings takes you deeper into realms of spirit and soul—to the bright center of your own life.

Geneen Roth is the author of eight books, including the New York Times bestselling When Food is Love and The Craggy Hole in My Heart and the Cat Who Fixed It, a memoir. She has been teaching groundbreaking workshops and retreats for over thirty years. Roth is a contributor to many publications from Huffington Post and Good Housekeeping to O:The Oprah Magazine, and has appeared on numerous national shows including Oprah, 20/20, Good Morning America, The View and NPR's Talk of the Nation . She lives in northern California with her husband. For more information about her work, please visit www.geneenroth.com.

 To Enter - Just leave a comment with an email address in case you win.
 US Shipping Only
 Winner will be selected on Sunday - April 24th
 Good Luck to all who enter!

Cozy Mystery Challenge 2011

Cozy Mystery Challenge:

1. The Ghost and Mrs. McClure (Haunted Bookshop, Bk 1) :: Alice Kimberly (Berkley)

2. Town in a Blueberry Jam :: B. B. Haywood(Berkley)

3. The Diva Cooks a Goose :: Krista Davis (Berkley)

4. Agatha Raisin and The Day the Floods Came :: M. C. Beaton (Minotaur Books)

5. Holiday Grind :: Cleo Coyle (Berkley)

6. Vision Impossible :: Victoria Laurie (NAL)

7. The Main Corpse :: Diane Mott Davidson (Bantam)

8. Dead and Berried :: Karen MacInerney (Midnight Ink)

9. Aunt Dimity Down Under :: Nancy Atherton (Viking)

10. Chocolate Covered Crime :: Cynthia Hickey (Barbour)

11. Buzz Off :: Hannah Reed (Berkley)

12. Bean There, Done That :: Sandra Balzo (Severn House Publishers)


This year I swore I was not going to particiate in any more challenges. I am awful when it comes to going back to the original posting and letting the challenge sponsor know what I have completed. So I just seem to fade into the abyss.

But this year,I am hoping it will be different. As they say, there is always hope.

I had already put together my list of books that I want to read by the end of the year and there just happened to be 12 cozies, so I figured, why not.

Here are the rules, if you wish to join, stop by and let Kris know you are interested.