How does Ellie, a twenty year old pharmacy student at University of North Carolina, born and raised the daughter of a pharmacist in Round Hill evolve into a freedom fighter, voter registration worker, civil rights activist in 1965? What does this mean to everything she ever took for granted in life? A personal note: I … Continue reading The Last House on the Street – Diane Chamberlain
Category: Book Reviews
Well of Rage: Murder in Mobile – Lynne Hesse
In 1974, a black high school football player in a recently desegregated school in Mobile Alabama went missing. It's now March 2000. J.C. Grey is stuck with the task of training (and, read between the lines, making her want to quit or forcing her out) rookie officer Carly Redmund. He's unhappy with the assignment but … Continue reading Well of Rage: Murder in Mobile – Lynne Hesse
A Thousand Steps – T. Jefferson Parker
This is a slightly quirky, dysfunctional family, mystery set in 1968 Laguna Beach California. Matt Anthony is the strangely stable kid with a brother fighting in Vietnam, soon to come home, and an older sister Jazz who is still in high school. At sixteen, he can drive his Mom's van but usually travels by bike … Continue reading A Thousand Steps – T. Jefferson Parker
When You are Mine- Michael Robotham
Philomena McCarthy, daughter of a highly successful mobster is a rebel and, against all odds, has made a career with the Metropolitan Police force in London. During a domestic violence check, she meets Tempe Brown, a woman who was a few years ahead of Phil in school. Unfortunately, the man who is violently abusive to … Continue reading When You are Mine- Michael Robotham
The Mitford Vanishing; and The Mitford Secret – Jessica Fellowes
The Mitford Vanishing -2021 For all of you who already have read Jessica Fellowes' five Mitford family murder mysteries featuring former nurserymaid turned sleuth, Louisa Cannon, why didn't somebody tell me about them?! The Mitford Vanishing finds Louisa married to former D.I. Guy Sullivan and mother to their baby Maisie nearing a year old. Louisa … Continue reading The Mitford Vanishing; and The Mitford Secret – Jessica Fellowes
The Sisters Sweet – Elizabeth Weiss
This captivating story unfolds as an oral history of a family, a mother, Maude Foster Szasz from Ohio, father, Lenny Szasz, a Jew from Eastern Europe and their twin daughters Harriet and Josephine. The story hopscotches from as early as 1889 to the mid-1930s, but not in a linear fashion. Nor is it confusing. The … Continue reading The Sisters Sweet – Elizabeth Weiss
The Lincoln Highway – Amor Towles (Audible)
Yes, it took me a month to listen to all 16.5 hours of this beautifully produced and cast audiobook, because I limited my listening to long car trips. For once, flying through this engaging, mesmerizing story was not as good as putting it aside for a bit here and there and chewing over what I … Continue reading The Lincoln Highway – Amor Towles (Audible)
Bryant & May: London Bridge is Falling Down – Christopher Fowler
The Peculiar Crimes Unit is finally biting the dust for real. We know it's true, because the Met has taken all government property from the ramshackle building on Caledonian Road and plans to make some money in the process, since the neighborhood is gentrifying fast. How will Arthur Bryant --keeper of arcane facts of London … Continue reading Bryant & May: London Bridge is Falling Down – Christopher Fowler
Winter Water – Susanne Jansson
This is a sad story about a house near a small seaside tourist island in Sweden, about loss, about grief, about breakdowns, about friendship. It is extremely difficult not to give away the parts of the story that matter. in a review. Martin and Alexandra, their three year old son Adam and infant daughter Nellie … Continue reading Winter Water – Susanne Jansson
Somebody’s Daughter – Ashley C. Ford
"I decided to pretend to be good, the kind of good that seemed to be best. The silent kind." Ashley Ford navigated through a complicated, loving and abusive childhood and beyond, knowing her father was in jail but not why. She was four when he was imprisoned, old enough to have cloudy memories but too … Continue reading Somebody’s Daughter – Ashley C. Ford
They Called me Bookworm 