The Paradox Hotel

 

By Rob Hart

January Cole is the head of security at the Paradox Hotel. The hotel serves the wealthy time travelers who have paid big money to visit the past. January used to travel to the past too but now she is can no longer due to health concerns. Unfortunately, repeated trips to the past have a deleterious effect on the time travelers health. January is in danger of slipping into the final, last stage of being "Unstuck" where the sufferer becomes catatonic. Being this far along in the affliction means that sometimes January gets glimpses of the future and of the past. 

But there are big doings at Paradox Hotel because the government is going to sell the time travel business to private investors and the four main investors have checked into the hotel for meeting to determine who will gain ownership of the hotel and the time travel business. Not surprisingly though, someone has decided to try to gain an advantage by cheating and is willing to commit murder to do so. Which January realizes when she sees a dead man in one of the hotel rooms that no one else can see and it is clearly one of her frequent glimpses of times future and times past. And since she is the only one who can see this future, it is up to her to solve a murder that has not yet been committed.

I enjoyed this story quite a bit. Although I didn't care the ending, which seemed like a gyp for poor unhappy January, who is still mired in grief for her lost lover. Still, it was quite an interesting story. 

Review by Kirkus Reviews.

The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections

 

By Eva Jurczyk

Universities need donors. Donors provide funds for all kinds of perks and improvements. And when donors provide the funds for a university library to purchase a rare, old book, it is not unreasonable of them to want to see the book they paid for.  But the book in question has gone missing. And the only man who can tell the university where the missing book might be is unconscious in a hospital bed and is probably dying.

So Liesl Weiss has stepped into his position while he is in the hospital and has to deal with the disappearance of this $500,000 rare book. And she is being undercut on all sides by the university president and by many of the other members of the Department of Rare Books. Even though Liesl has been a part to the library staff for a nearly twenty years, for some reason, people (mostly the men) don't think she is up to the job of supervising the Department of Rare Books. 

So between trying to track down the missing book, coping with the donors, and trying to get the university president into contacting the police about the loss, Liesl is afraid she is not up to the job either.

This is not really a book about a mystery. It's really about a woman coping with a stressful job and dealing with her own doubts and insecurities. The missing book is just another source of stress for the woman. So even though it's not a real mystery story, it was still a pretty good read. 

Review from Kirkus Reviews.

Persephone Station

 

By Stina Leicht

Angel was forced out of the military and now she and her crew work for a local crime boss, Rosie, on the planet of Persephone. 

When Persephone was first settled, it appeared to be an abandoned planet with only ruins left by a long-gone civilization.

Turns out, though, this was not the case. The ruins were left by a race called the Architects. And they were the ones who raised up the current intelligent residents who call themselves the Emissaries. Although the Architects are vanished, the Emissaries remained but they prefer to keep themselves hidden. 

The corporation that now owns the planet has a deal with the Emissaries, they keep them hidden and the Emissaries provide them with advanced technology. But there has been a change of leadership at the corporation and the new leader has decided to just take what she wants by force from the Emissaries, who are a peaceful people and not accustomed to war.

The Emissaries have an ally on their side, the crime boss Rosie. And Rosie has hired Angel and her crew to travel to the Emissary city and protect them from being invaded by the obsessed woman who is leading the assault against them. 

This was an OK read. Unfortunately a large part of it concerns the battle between Angel's crew, the Emissaries and the corporate forces. Unfortunately I don't have any interest in reading a play-by-play of battlefield action. So I just skimmed large parts of the second half of the story. Outside of  battle stuff, the rest of it was pretty interesting. I did feel that the aliens were rather tame and bland and too human-like. 

A review by Kirkus Reviews.

Doonesbury : The President Is a Lot Smarter Than You Think

 

By G.B. Trudeau

A collection of Doonesbury cartoon stripes from the late 1960s and early 1970s. A trip back in time for those who grew up in that era and a visit to the past for those who didn't: a really fun read.

The Big Steep

 

By Sandra Balzo

The Big Steep is the name new arrivals Vivian and Philip have chosen for the tea shop they are planning to open in the childhood home of Vivian's mother, Vana. But during the innovation process, the body of a baby is found buried in a compost heap on the property. And in the course of a few days, two more people end up dead, starting with Vivian. 

So who killed Vivian? And why? Does it have anything to do with the dead baby? The baby's death was dated to the early 1960s, when Vivian's mother, Vana, was just a small child herself. So how could Vivian's murder possibly be connected to that of the baby?

Oh, the 1960s: free love, drugs, communes, hippies. All sorts of shenanigans. And Vana's parents were in the thick of it, even in the small town of Brookhills, Wisconsin. Who knows what skeletons will come to light now that the bones of an innocent child who was buried in a compost heap have been found?

This was an okay read. The blurbs on the front of the book and on the back are comparing it to the Laura Childs Tea Shop mystery series. I haven't read any of Childs' books, so if it compares or not, I don't know. I do know that it winds up in a complicated tangle of relationships dating back to the 1960s that I found rather hard to follow. A few too many plot twists are thrown at the reader in the space of a few pages.

Here is a review by Publishers Weekly.

Call Me When You Find America : Doonesbury

 

By G.B. Trudeau

A collection of daily strips of Doonesbury, dating from the early 1970s. The copyrights are from 1971, 1972 and 1973.

 A trip down memory lane for an old-timer like me. A look back to an era of change and confusion for those who didn't live through it. 

My Brother Michael

 

By Mary Stewart

It's about 1958 or 59. A young British woman, Camilla, is in Greece on vacation. By mistake, she comes into possession of a car just when she is running low of funds and yet she still has several places that she wants to visit. She was told the car was needed in Delphi by someone named Simon and since she wanted to go there anyway, she takes the car and heads out.

Arriving to the Delphi area, she tracks down a Simon, but this Simon denies knowing anything about who ordered the car. But he decides to help Camilla track down this other Simon who needed a car. However, their inquiries lead nowhere. Their trips around the area trying to find the missing Simon lets them also indulge their interest in Greek ruins and Greek history. It also allows Camilla to find out more about her Simon and his reasons for coming to Delphi.

Simon's brother Michael was in Greece, working for the British government, helping the resistance  against the German occupation during World War II.  Michael was killed there and Simon is there to find out more about his brother's death. Something about Michael's last letter to his family hinted that he had found something important. 

Camilla and Simon visit the Greek family that Michael was close to just before he was killed. They are told that Michael was attacked and killed by a member of the resistance who was piling up weapons, money and stores to be used in a communist plot to overthrow the Greece's government. And that Michael found the stockpile and was murdered to silence him. Further, the man who did it has recently returned to Greece for reasons unknown. 

Together Camilla and Simon dig deeper into the circumstances that led to Michael's death and come up against some very dangerous and unsavory characters in the process.

This was an OK read. One problem I had with it were the many detailed descriptions of the scenic points of interest in the Greek countryside. There are a lot of them, it sometimes reads more like a travelog than a mystery story. After reading through a couple of them, I just started skipping them. Also I found it odd that this diffident young woman was so willing to travel around Greece in company of a man who was a total stranger to her. But other than that, the mystery story itself was interesting. 

The Old Reliable

 

By P.G. Wodehouse

Poor Smedley Cork is a bird in a gilded cage, yearning to escape to freedom. When his wealthy brother died, the terms of his will required his widow to take care of Smedley for the rest of his life. And the widow, Adela Cork, follows the terms of the will to the letter, providing room and board for Smedley but nothing more. Plus she makes him drink yoghurt everyday, something Smedley deeply resents,

But Smedley has a plan. Before the Corks bought their mansion, it used to be the home of a Hollywood star who was known for the many lovers she entertained in her bedroom. She died in a plane crash and the Corks bought the mansion fully furnished with all her belongings. Rumor has that she kept a diary that has never been found. Smedley has a plan to search the premises for this diary and then sell it for $50,000. And thus gain his freedom from his hated gilded cage.

But there are snags. Mainly Wilhemina, who has loved Smedley since she was a young woman and a Smedley running free with $50,000 in his pocket is not a Smedley who would be willing to settle down and marry "Bill," as Wilhemina goes by. Second is a larcenous butler who also knows about the diary and feels it will be much better off in his hands than in Smedley's. And finally, when the diary is found, there's Adela, who has snatched the diary right out of Smedley's hands and locked it up in safe. She also wants that $50,000 to pay, as she says, for all the money she has spent maintaining Smedley in her home. She's not a very nice person. But all will come out right in the end, although probably not the way that Smedley was hoping for.

This is a typical Wodehouse plot, just reworked with different characters. But even though the plot is quite familiar and predictable, it still is a good, funny read.

 

The Ladies of the Secret Circus

 

By Constance Sayers

Althacazur is a demon prince who fell in love with a human woman in the early 1900s. She died while giving birth to her two babies, conjoined twins Esme and Cecile. The babies were raised and loved by the damned souls of Althacazur's cursed secret circus. The damned perform in his circus as part of their punishment for their sins. But one day, paying a visit, Althacazur is repulsed by the babies being conjoined and he uses magic to separate the two girls and to give them the organs they lacked. It was very hard on the two girls who were adolescents at the time. It was especially hard on Cecile and Althacazur wiped her memory of the whole process. As for Esme, on her was placed the burden of maintaining the magic which required the spilling of human blood. 

Forward to modern times, and Lara is on the verge of marrying the love of her life, Todd. But the day of their wedding, Todd vanishes, leaving behind everything that is important to him. As Lara tries to cope with his disappearance, she learns that Todd was not the first man to disappear in the same strange way, on the same day thirty years ago. And who also had a connection to the women of Lara's family.

This was an ok story. Lara travels to France to track down the connection between her family and the secret circus of the demon prince Althacazur. Althacazur didn't seem very demonic though. Also, the ending was rather flat and disappointing.

Here is a review by Publishers Weekly.

The Man Who Died Twice

 

By Richard Osman

They call themselves the Thursday Murder Club. They are a group of four retirees in Britain who have a knack for solving mysteries. Now they have some new mysteries to investigate. First, there is the letter from a man decades dead. Next, the mystery of who mugged and beat Ibrahim, one of the murder club members, putting him in the hospital. Linked to the dead man's letter, there is the question of 20 million British pounds worth of missing diamonds. And  the gangster banker who needs those diamonds back or blood will flow. Throw in a local drug lord and someone is going to end up dead. Or many someones.

I enjoyed this book although I did find the plot got a too convoluted for me. The characters are interesting but a bit hard to understand if you haven't read the first book, The Thursday Murder Club. The story is told with a light touch, for example, the gangster banker is less concerned about the dead bodies buried on his property than he is about his forthcoming garden party. And the drug lord (who is a woman) is constantly worried about her appearance and if she is attractive enough. These humanizing touches make the villains seem almost endearing even though they are the absolute scum of society. But they all get what the deserve in the end.

Check out the review by Kirkus Reviews.

Retief's War

 

By Keith Laumer

Retief, the super diplomat, is back again, saving a planet and its people from the ills of galactic civilization, from the greedy Groaci and the locals from themselves.

The Quopp are composed of many tribes, each tribe unique and quite different and with most tribes cheerfully dining on the members of other tribes. Quopp is a world rich in metals and the Quoppina evolved to be partially mechanical and partially organic. 

A newly discovered world, the Terrans were quick to set up an embassy on Quopp. The leader of the diplomatic mission, of which Retief is a member, is Ambassador Longspoon. Longspoon came up with the "bright" idea of turning Quopp's criminal class, the Voion tribe, into the police force. But one ambitious Voion, Ikk, gets himself appointed Prime Minister and decides he and his tribe will take over Quopp. In short order, the embassy is bombed and the members of the Terran delegation locked up. All except Retief, who slips away, determined, with the help of any of the locals he can convince to stand up to the Voion and with the help of some Terran settlers, to get to the bottom of Ikk's takeover.

Disguised as a Quoppina, Retief travels to the jungle countryside looking for allies and inspiring the local tribes into not fighting each other and instead fighting against Ikk's army of Voion. In the process, he discovers that the Groaci are involved and backing, advising and arming Ikk's troops, for their own greedy reasons.  

In addition to trying to fend off the start of a world war, Retief also has to rescue a group of women whose space ship was shot at in space and it crashed landed in the jungle. Among those women is one who, unknown to Retief, is someone he cares greatly about. But it's all just business as usual for Retief of the CDT!

This was an ok read. A lot of it is about the various conflicts and battles that Retief engineers and gets involved in. The most interesting thing is the variety of Quoppina, the intelligent beings of Quopp, who come in all sizes from tiny to gigantic and who have wheels instead of feet. Some of the Quoppina are like trucks, some are like bulldozers, some are like cargo planes and some have specialized nippers, cutters and manglers depending on their evolutionary niche in the world. 

What wasn't so interesting were the many fights and battles to wade through. I just skimmed the battle scenes. I don't care about the action, I don't need a play-by-play, I just care about the outcome. 

Still A Few Bugs In The System

 

By G.B. Trudeau

I think this was one of the first Doonesbury collections to be published back in the early 1970s. In it Mike Doonesbury is just a lad freshly launched into college life, probably still a virgin and striving to find a girl friend. 

Here we meet some of the recurring characters that featured in the strips, B.D. the jock; Mark Slackmeyer the rebel; Berne, the science nerd and Calvin, the black activist. 

Sample from the book:

For me, this was a visit back to the good old days, as I was a teen in the 1970s. I truly enjoyed revisiting that time as depicted in these strips. I probably like them better now than I did in my ignorant youth.

Dept. Of Speculation

 

By Jenny Offill

The story of a woman's search for love, getting married, having kids, getting tossed aside for someone younger but hanging on to her man in the end, probably.

It's told oddly. No names mentioned, not even her name. It's told in snippets with lots of blank spaces between the snippets. The copy I read had 177 pages but it has so many blank spaces I read it in less than two hours. The style really put me off at first and I started the book then stopped and left it sitting for several weeks. I did finally get around to it but I still didn't care for its anonymous style. It was an OK read, other than the annoying style, pretty much a typical depiction of a marriage. 

Here is a review by NPR.

Seek You : A Journey Through American Loneliness

 

By Kristen Radtke

Radtke takes a look at why people feel so isolated and lonely these days. She talks about her own struggle with loneliness and also looks at other professionals' thoughts about and studies of loneliness, including the negative effects it has on people and on society. And I also enjoyed the illustrations.

I picked this book up in the new book section of our local library. It was classified as fiction and I thought it was a graphical romance novel. OK, I was disappointed when I started to read it and bit angry at the library for misclassifying it. But I decided to keep on reading it and I quickly overcame my disappointment. It is a really worthy look at the way people are affected by loneliness and how, in the end, it just pushes us deeper and deeper into our isolation. It was interesting and surprising and I liked it. But I'm still not happy that the librarians decided it belonged in fiction. Just because it is a graphical essay? I suppose they had their reasons.

Go here for a review by NPR.

Kingdom of the Wicked

 

By Kerri Maniscalco

Emilia and her twin sister Vittoria are young witches, direct descendants of a goddess. They live with their parents and grandmother who run a small, popular restaurant. That they are witches is a secret they keep from everyone because the persecution of witches still continues among the local populace. 

Emilia and Vittoria are as close as most twins are. At least that is what Emilia always believed. But when she finds Vittoria's dead body and sees that her sister's heart has been ripped out, Emilia, in her effort to track down her sister's killer, discovers that Vittoria has been performing dark, dangerous magic, magic she was using to discover who has been murdering other young female witches in the area. Emilia takes up Vittoria's quest, vowing to find her sister's killer, no matter what it takes. And to do so, she calls forth a demon prince, Wrath, who she forces to help her in her quest for justice for Vittoria. It isn't long, though, before Emilia realizes that she is not the only one who has called forth demon princes and that the gates of Hell are weakening and all Hell is about to break loose.

This was an OK read. Prince Wrath turns out to be a pretty nice fellow, devastatingly handsome, of course. And Emilia, of course, finds herself attracted to him against her better judgment. But since this is a Young Adult novel, they most the two do is exchange a few kisses and have a naked, but chaste, bath together. 

The book ends on a cliffhanger designed to keep the reader coming back for the next book in the series. But I wasn't interested enough by this book to follow up with the next one in the series.

Here is a review by Kirkus.

Judgment on Janus

 

By Andre Norton

Naill Renfro finds himself on Janus, a frontier world. He signed up to be a laborer and ended up in near slavery. But his life is about to undergo a startling change, beginning with the day he uncovered a buried alien treasure. 

He and all the new hires had been warned about these treasures, warned not to touch them and told to report any found. For those who handle the treasures fall ill of the Green Sick, a deadly fever. So frightened of this disease are the settlers, that any who fell ill are abandoned in the wilderness, presumed to die there either from the fever or eaten by predators. 

But Niall was fascinated by the beautiful glowing objects he uncovered and he couldn't keep himself from touching them. As he had been warned, he was infected and he lapsed into unconsciousness and his body was dumped into the forest. 

How long he lay there he didn't know. But when he woke up, he was a changed man, no longer even human. His body was stronger, his skin the green of growing plants, his eyes able to see in the dark, his ears large and pointed and his entire body completely hairless. And his mind was filled the thoughts of another person, Ayyar, the Lord of Ky-Kye. And he was soon to realize that he was not the only human so changed, not the only human to be converted by the Green Sick into an Iftin, the long-vanished original inhabitants of the planet Janus.

This was an interesting story, as Niall grapples with the conflicting parts of his new life, human vs alien. He no longer can be part of human society but the memories of Ayyar are not complete enough to guide him in his new life. In addition, he and the other changelings have to deal with the doom that took out those who came before, the Iftin. 

Here is a review by Patrick T. Reardon.

The Butler Did It

 

By P.G. Wodehouse

It's a tontine! 

It all begin with a gathering of New York millionaires at J.J. Bunyan house. In addition to the millionaires, also in attendance were an art expert, Mortimer Bayliss, who worked for Bunyan and Bunyan's butler, Augustus Keggs. It was the Bayliss who suggested the tontine. Each of the ten millionaires would contribute $50,000 to the pot. But instead of the last millionaire standing getting the approximately $500,000, the money would go to the millionaires' son that was the last one to get married. Of course, the sons were not to know about the tontine.

Jump forward about twenty-five years. All of the millionaires' sons except two have gotten married. One is J.J.'s son, Roscoe who is now living in England as is J.J.'s former butler, Keggs. Turns out Keggs was listening in when the tontine was formed and it also turns out Keggs is a man with rather flexible morals. He goes to Roscoe and reveals to him the facts of the tontine, expecting Roscoe will pay him well for the information. Instead all he gets from Roscoe is 50£. In revenge, Keggs fingers the wrong man, namely one Stanhope Twine, as the other man in the running for the tontine payout. Knowing Twine is an unsuccessful artist who is engaged to a friend of Keggs and that Twine is too poor to actually marry his fiancee, Keggs suggests that if Roscoe bought a piece of Twine's art for a hefty sum, about $20,000, then Twine would be able to marry his fiancee, Jane Benedick. Roscoe decides it's a good idea and spends $20,000 on Twine's sculpture.

Meanwhile, Bill Hollister, whose father was one of the tontine millionaires, is also in England, working at an art gallery. He happens to meet Twine's fiancee, Jane Benedick, and he falls in love at first sight. Jane's uncle, Lord Uffenham, is trying to sell off some of his old family paintings and is working with Bill's art gallery. Uffenham doesn't like Twine and when he discovers Bill has fallen for Jane, he bonks Bill in the head in order to make Jane realize she loves Bill too. And it works, Jane rushes to his side with bandages and gentle caresses. 

And Keggs springs his revenge on Roscoe, revealing that Roscoe wasted his money on the wrong man. Keggs also tells Bill that his dad was part of the tontine and if Roscoe marries first, Bill will get the $500,000. But if it means Bill can't marry Jane, Bill is not interested. He would rather be with Jane than with the $500,000. 

But somehow true love will triumph and Wodehouse makes all right at the end.

This is a typical later Wodehouse story of lovers overcoming complications and finding each other, and usually getting a bit of loot in the process. Same story, slightly different circumstances. Still I thought the tontine plot was pretty good and I did enjoy the story.

You Might Be A Redneck If...This Is The Biggest Book You've Ever Read

 

By Jeff Foxworthy

Illustrations by David Boyd.

A huge collection of Jeff Foxworthy's "You might be a redneck" jokes. His jokes poke fun at the more countrified denizens of all parts of the US, but especially the South. It's not literature but it is a lot of fun. I've included an image of the back cover which shows David Boyd's art work and a few of Foxworthy's jokes. Enjoy!

Lore Olympus

By Rachel Smythe

Mount Olympus, but in modern times: the gods have cars, apartments, cell phones. New girl in town is innocent Persephone who attends her first adult party and drinks too much. As a joke, a boyish god put her, passed out, in the back of Hades' car. Hades leaves the party and heads home to the Underworld and so Persephone finds herself in his kingdom. They kind of hit it off and Hades gives her a white fur coat to wear because it is cold in the Underworld. He then takes her back to her apartment. 

Once she gets back, the other gods tend to tease her about her feelings for her new boyfriend. She sends Hades a message but number shows as unknown so he just deletes. His lack of response confuses Persephone about whether they had a connection or not. Complications ensue.

Did I really need a retelling of the myths of the Greek/Roman gods? No. I have no affinity for myth and superstition.  Frankly, I only picked up the book because I was in a hurry and I couldn't find anything better and I was looking for an easy read to soothe a stressful day. So this book was definitely not for me. Gods and myths don't interest me.

Here is a review by Etelka Lehoczky on NPR.

Coyote Waits

 

By Tony Hillerman

A Leaphorn/Chee mystery.

Delbert Nez assured fellow office Jim Chee he didn't need help apprehending a vandal who was painting rocks in the desert. But when Nez failed to join Chee for coffee, Chee became concerned and went looking for him. He got to the location in time to pull Nez's body from Nez's burning patrol car, injuring himself in the process and to arrest a drunken Navajo man who was on scene and holding a gun. But Chee was too late to save Nez, who was already dead of a gunshot wound. And all the drunk man, Ashie Pinto, would say, when questioned, was, "I am ashamed." 

Chee has to spend some time in the hospital due to the burns he suffered pulling Nez's body out of the car. Still recovering and facing more surgeries, Chee is off duty and feeling guilty. So he starts to investigate Nez's murder unofficially. He is helped by Nez's defense attorney, Janet Pete, who is also an ex-girlfriend of Chee's. 

And of course there is Lieutenant Leaphorn, who, even though the murder did not occur in his area, is drawn into the investigation because it turns out Pinto is a relative of Leaphorn's recently deceased wife, Emma. Leaphorn feels like it is what his wife would have wanted, that he help prove Pinto's innocence. 

This was an interesting story with a bit of a twist at the end. It all pins upon whether Butch Cassidy, the bank robber, didn't die in Bolivia, but came back to the States and continued to commit crimes and possibly died in the badlands of New Mexico on the run after a train robbery. And upon the antics of a shy teenage boy who wants to declare his love to his crush. But before the mystery of Officer Nez's death is fully solved, two more bodies will be found.

And here is a review by Publishers Weekly.

Influence

 

By Sara Shepard and Lilia Buckingham

Delilah is just a teen but one of her videos went viral and now she is the new Influencer phenomenon. In fact, she has gained so many followers, that her parents moved the whole family from Minnesota to Los Angeles to help Delilah further her career as an influencer. In Los Angeles there are so many events and opportunities to get the attention so vital to a career as an Influencer.

Delilah meets two other teen influencers who become her friends, Jasmine and Fiona. Jasmine is a famous former child star of a hit TV show That's Hot! and has a huge following. Fiona has become famous with her online fashion critique show, Sizzle or Drizzle  and she too has a large following. Delilah is thrilled to be recognized and included in these two girls' lives.

On the other hand, there is Scarlet, a very aggressive and manipulative Influencer who is not afraid to do what it takes to come out on top. She too has a large and profitable fan base. 

And finally there is Jack, who is famous for his YouTube prank channel and who is also known to be Scarlet's boy friend. And who promptly begins to pursue sweet, innocent Delilah behind Scarlet's back. 

All these young people have secrets: Delilah's is that she doesn't discourage Jack from chasing after her like she should and she is hiding from Scarlet's angry fans who have discovered Jack's unfaithfulness to Scarlet. Jack's, of course, is that he would rather be with Delilah but is finding it difficult to be honest with Scarlet, whom he selfishly keeps in the dark. Jasmine's is that she is tired of the role of child star and wants to move on from that part of her business life. And she is also not straight and is tired of keeping it a secret. Fiona's is that she believes she is responsible for the death of a classmate and finds herself being blackmailed by someone who claims to know her secret. And finally there's Scarlet, who may not be quite as in charge of her own life as she wants the world to believe she is.

So this is a murder mystery but it is also a fun look at the behind-the-scenes lives of the Influencers that are so important to today's online communities. I frankly enjoyed it although I think the murder plot was not necessary to the story and it would have been just as enjoyable without anyone having to be bumped off. 

And here is a review by Kirkus Reviews.

Revelator

 

By Daryl Gregory

When Stella was ten, she was left with her grandmother who had a small farm in the hills of Tennessee. Motty, as everyone called her, was a hard woman who used brute force to discipline her granddaughter. 

It doesn't take Stella long to figure out that Motty and other members of the family have a secret they all share. And that the secret involves a small church located on Motty's property. Sneaking around, Stella discovers that there is a hidden chamber in the church that leads down into a cave. And in that cave is a strange creature that needs and takes and gives, but only to the women of Motty's and Stella's bloodlines.

The story then jumps to the about 10 or so years in the future. Stella no longer goes to the family church and attends its weird "god." She has become estranged from her family after the death of a teenage boy for which she is blamed. But when she finds out a new girl has come to stay with Motty, she feels she must intervene to protect this child, even though the girl, Sunny, seems completely enthralled by the church and its cave creature.

It took me a bit to get into this story, but once I did it really grabbed me. I didn't start out liking Stella much. But I began to understand her view point more and more as the story moved along. At first she seemed a real bitch. But she had her reasons. And her efforts to protect young Sunny were admirable if, it turns out, misguided. 

Here is a review by Publishers Weekly.

Retief and the Warlords

 

By Keith Laumer

Retief is a First Secretary in the Corps Diplomatique Terrestrienne. His boss is Magnan, Assisstant Deputy Undersecretary of Inter-species Affairs. The inter-species Magnan is currently concerned about are the Haterakans, a warlike species making inroads against a group of frontier Terran worlds. Magnan's solution to Haterakan aggressions is four fold:

• PAUPER or Panel for Alien Uplift Protection Enlightenment and Relief.
• CHUMP or Council for Humane Understanding of Minority Problems.
• SUCKER or Special Unit for Conferring Knowledge on Emergent Races.
• Retief - throwing the work all on Retief and sending him off to deal with the Haterakans.

Retief gets captured by a Haterakan, Fleetmaster Harrumph. Expecting a hero's welcome when Harrumph returns to Haterakan territory with his captive, instead Harrumph and Retief are arrested and tortured and placed into an arena for public execution.  The execution doesn't go quite the way the Haterakan leader, Grand Admiral Hikop, anticipated. Thanks to the chaos that Retief creates, he and Harrumph escape in a stolen spacecraft and make their way to Terran territory and throw in with the locals who are standing against the Haterakans invaders.

A few parts of this story are amusing like Magnan's three programs meant to contain the Haterakans with what are basically bribes and Retief and Harrumph being tortured as Retief finds the torture mildly annoying at worst. But other than that, the book is mostly about the struggle between the local Terrans and the invading Haterakans, with battles and plotting and even a fist fight. I think Laumer is at his best when he is being funny and funny is mostly lacking in this story. 

Best. State. Ever.

 

By Dave Barry

Barry travels around his home state of Florida and reports on some of the more out-of-the-way attractions. 

As a fan of Dave Barry, this book is right up there as one of his funniest, which is saying a lot because he really is an amazing, funny wonderful writer. His books never disappoint. Here are a few of the jokes I encountered that made me laugh out loud: 

"The Fountain of Youth is purely mythical, like the Easter Bunny, or edible vegan food."

 

"As an aging Boomer . . . if they really are having wild sex up there [The Villages], I say more power to them. It's good for people our age to have sex. It upsets the children."

 

 . . ." I shot my brother Phil with it [BB gun] at a fairly close range and he did not die. In my defense, I had a good reason for shooting Phil; namely, I wanted to find out what happens if you shoot somebody with a BB gun. (Answer: He tells your mother,)"

It a fun book and almost makes me want to visit Florida. Almost.

Here is a review by Kirkus Reviews.

The Masqueraders

 

By Georgette Heyer

Anyone who supported the Pretender in the recent Scottish rebellion is going to end up dead if they fall into the hands of the English government. So perhaps this reason enough for Prudence and Robin to switch their genders and for Prudence to pose as young Peter Merriot and for Robin to pose as her sister, Kate. Anyways, this is what their enigmatic father has commanded them to do and he further wants them to travel to London and stay with a friend of his, Lady Lowestoft, and to be introduced to London high society. But on their way, they encounter a young woman in distress. The woman, Letty Grayson, set out to elope with Gregory Markham. But she has changed her mind and wants to return home to London. But Markham is a scoundrel and Prudence and Robin overhear him threatening young Letty. So they step in and rescue Letty and send Markham off on a false trail. Shortly after he is gone, Sir Anthony Fanshawe appears. He is a friend of her father's and set out to stop the elopement. He discovers she no longer needs rescuing, thanks to Prudence and Robin, who he believes are Peter and Kate Merriot. This chance meeting will change the lives of all four of these travelers on the London road.

The logistics of this masquerade are a bit problematic because it requires Prudence and Robin to remain in disguise continually without let up. Prudence is described as a tall woman, who is passing as a beardless youth. Her brother, Robin, is a short man with rather feminine features. At the time in which the story is set, the late 1740s, male and female clothing was bulky enough to make such a fraud possible, perhaps. 

Basically, the story is a romance novel, with Robin and Letty falling in love, and Prudence and Anthony falling in love. The Robin and Letty plot line is a bit more believable because Letty falls for Robin when he is in his masculine persona, not knowing he is also Kate. But Anthony falls for Prudence without ever seeing her dressed as the woman she is. He sees through her disguise and decides she is the woman for him. 

Anyway, it's a pretty enjoyable read although it does have some grim undertones: the threat of execution if Prudence and Robin are caught and Markham's continued plot to capture Letty and force her into marriage. 

Here is a review by Austenprose.

Zarsthor's Bane

 

By Andre Norton

A Witchworld novel

Peace of a sort has come to High Hallack. Not that it matters to Brixia, who has been on her own for three years or so. Her home, her friends and family are all dead and gone and she has been wandering the wilderness on her own, barely managing to stay alive, her only friend a cat she calls Uta. Even though the enemy has been defeated, there are still plenty of dangers for a woman alone. Looking for a secure place to make camp for the night, Brixia comes across a wounded man, Marbon, and his young companion, a teenage boy, Dwed. Brixia steers clear of the two but her cat, Uta, joins them. Marbon, who sustained a head wound, is clearly not in his right mind, but the sight of Uta awakes something in him. Brixia ends up joining Marbon and Dwed on their journey, even though she really doesn't want to. Together the four of them are searching for Zarsthor's Bane, which Marbon believes is a weapon that will restore his lost lands and which Dwed hopes will restore Marbon's lost senses. And Brixia accompanies them because of some strange urge that compels her to follow along.

Another entry in the Witchworld series, this follows a familiar path, people on a mysterious quest that they don't really understand into the dangerous lands of the Old Ones. It was an OK read, if a bit too similar to so many of the Witchworld stories. 

The Husbands

 

By Chandler Baker

Nora Spangler has a problem: her husband. She is a working mom and her husband, Hayden, doesn't put as much effort into helping out around the house as she would like. Basically she is tired of having to tell him what needs to be done. She wants him to pitch in without being asked or told. If there are dirty dishes in the sink, put them in the dishwasher. If laundry needs done, just do it. Pick up the toys, wipe your child's runny nose, stop at the grocery without being asked. He's a grown man, can he not see when there is spilled food on the floor? Or that the toilet paper roll is empty? Why does he need his wife to point these things out to him? It's not so much that Hayden isn't willing to help out. It's that he can't seem to figure out for himself what obviously needs to be done.

Nora also wants to move and has found a house she really likes in a subdivision called Dynasty Ranch. The homeowners association is really particular about who they want living there. The main leaders of the HOA is a group of professional women very much like Nora, all accomplished working mothers: authors, psychologists, surgeons, realtors. But unlike Nora, these women's husbands are helpful and self-motivated which puzzles and intrigues Nora. So when Nora and Hayden decide they could use some marriage counseling, one of the HOA women offers her services as a psychologist.

Not too far into the sessions with Dr. White, it becomes apparent to the reader, if not to Nora, the Dr. White is conditioning Hayden into becoming the ideal husband. When Nora finally grasps what is going on, she realizes that something deadly has been happening at Dynasty Ranch. And if she doesn't go along, it could be fatal for both her and Hayden.

This was a fun read. Nora is trying to make partner at the law firm where she works and all the stress of coping with her job and her child and her home life has her on the verge of a mental breakdown and yet she still decides this is the time to have another baby and shop for a new house and try to impress the ladies of the HOA. She just keeps piling more and more on her plate. No wonder she lies awake at night, crushed under the burden of unrelenting responsibilities. But life of the women she meets at Dynasty Ranch is everything she wants her life to be. Seeing her come to the realization that there is a steep price to pay to have that perfect life was an enjoyable journey and, I must admit, very beguiling. 

Here is a review by Kirkus Reviews.

Retief: Diplomat At Arms

 

By Keith Laumer

A collection of Retief stories, dating from 1961 to about 1966.

• Ultimatum aka Mightiest Quorn (1963) Settlers on a planet are suddenly and unexpectedly invaded by an alien race, the Quorn.
• Native Intelligence aka The Governor of Glave (1963) Malcontents on a wintery planet take over the government only to find out governing a planet is a lot more complicated than they imagined.
• The Prince and the Pirate (1964) A palace coup is attempting to oust the rightful ruler of Elora. The rebels have formed an alliance with the Terran ambassador but Retief is siding with the royals.
• Courier aka The Frozen Planet (1961) A criminal organization has brutal plans for a planet of farmers and ranchers. 
• Protest Note aka The Desert and the Stars (1962) The settlers of Flamme have worked hard to make their planet liveable. But now squatters have shown up and are ruining everything. 
• Truce or Consequences (1966) The inhabitants of twin planets are at war, declaring each other intruders on their home worlds. 
• The Secret While visiting with the Terran ambassador, D'ong, the Grotesque Minister of Foreign Affairs for Grote reveals he has a tea bag which can produce endless amounts of tea. The ambassador declares he must know the secret of D'ong's tea bag. But before inquires can be made, D'ong is kidnapped by the Groaci.

I first started reading Retief stories because they were silly and funny. Of this collection, only two of the stories are silly and funny, Truce or  Consequences and The Secret. The rest of the stories in this collection, Laumer's earlier Retief stories, are not funny.  If they had been the first Retief stories I had encountered, I wouldn't have read any more Retief stories. In the earlier stories, Retief is a kind of superman and Malcolm is just a corrupt diplomat. In the funny stories, Retief is still a kind of superman, but a lot faster with a quip. And Malcolm is just a gullible fool who never seems to understand what is really going on. I, for one, am glad Laumer went from writing serious Retief stories to goofy Retief stories with stories featuring giant squirrels, aliens that look like a pile of spaghetti to an alien that is a big as a hill and who entertains his visitors in his innards.

Spring Fever

 

By P.G. Wodehouse

Young lovers of the late 1940s, thwarted in love. First is Stanwood Cobbold, a strong young fellow but none too sharp, Stan has a very rich father who does not approve of Stan's love interest, Eileen Stoker. She is a Hollywood actress and she is off to London and has told Stan she will not marry him because he is dependent on his father for money. 

Next is Lord Shortlands, aka Shorty. He is in love with his cook, Alice Punter. But he shares his home, Beevor Castle, with his rival, the butler, Mervyn Spink. Spink also desires to wed Mrs. Punter, but neither man measures up to her demands: she wants to own a pub and be her own boss. The man she marries must be able to provide her with said pub. Neither Shorty nor Spink can do so. Shorty's income is nil after taxes and he depends upon his eldest daughter for spending money. And Spink is a gambler but not a very lucky gambler.

And then there is Lady Teresa, also one of Shorty's daughters (there's three of them). She would like to fall in love with Mike Cardinal, a Hollywood agent who is also in London trying to get Eileen to sign with his agency. Mike is leading-man-handsome and Terry had a bad experience with a handsome young actor who cheated on her. She fears that Mike is also what she calls a flibbertigibbet, according to her a man who chases after other women while wooing one woman. 

They all end up at Beevor Castle, with Mike posing as Stan, and Stan posing as a Mr. Rossiter, with Shorty and Spink hatching various plans to get their hands on the funds needed to woo Mrs. Punter and with Terry becoming engaged three different times to Stan and Mike. And I can't leave out Augustus Robb, a former burglar and booze-hound who has reformed and is now an ardent Christian and employed as Stan's valet and who turns out to be a dark horse.

To quote the Scottish poet, Robert Burns, "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft a-gley / An' lae'e us nought but grief an' pain, / For promised joy." So it is with the schemes of the plotters in Beevor Castle. But unlike Burns' little mouse, all comes out beautifully in the end. A fun and lighthearted story, typical Wodehouse, I really enjoyed reading it again. 

Crock : You'll Pay For This . . . All Of You!

 

By Parker, Rechin and Wilder

Daily strips from the comic strip Crock. Copyrights from the late 1970s. Authors only listed by their last names but Parker is Brant Parker, Rechin is Bill Rechin and Wilder is Don Wilder. Parker worked on the strip from 1975 to 1976. Bill Rechin from 1975 to 2011. And Don Wilder from 1976 to 2011. The strip ended in 2012 but still appears in reruns. Source: Wikipedia. 

A mildly funny comic strip, it tells about the lives of the men of a Foreign Legion post in some nameless desert country and their encounters with the locals, including bandits and rebels and lovely maidens (some the maidens are not so lovely and some are probably not so maiden). The Commandant is the vicious Vermin Crock, who delights in the suffering of his men and whose cruelty is one of the main features of the strip.

A slice of daily life for the men of Crock's command:

Dog On It

 

By Spencer Quinn

The first book in the Chet and Bernie mystery series.

Chet is Bernie's dog. Chet was in training to become a police dog but failed his final exam. Bernie used to be a police officer but now he is a private detective whose personal life is a mess. He smokes, he sometimes drinks too much, he is divorced, he doesn't get to see his young son enough, his car is about thirty years old and he is chronically short of cash. But at least he has Chet, the police dog drop-out. And Chet is a loyal companion and enthusiastic doggy detective alongside Bernie.

Bernie's latest case is that of a missing teen girl. Madison is only fifteen and she goes missing twice. The first time she shows up the next day. But the second time she doesn't show up. So her mom hires Bernie to find her daughter. Unfortunately Madison's dad tries to throw a monkey wrench in the search, claiming that she will come back on her own in due time. But that isn't enough to keep Bernie from investigating. Then Chet disappears and doesn't come home for days. Chet gets back home and then Bernie disappears and only Chet has a clue as to where Bernie is. But Chet is only a dog and can't ask anyone for help!

This was a pretty good read. Chet is the narrator of the story and even though Chet's thoughts are probably a lot more complex than a dog's probably are, it was still fun to read a story told by a dog. Chet is a good boy and he loves Bernie and is completely loyal to him. Chet does get into some serious danger and is injured which I didn't care for. Over all though, other than the principle voice of the story being that of the dog, this is a typical and fairly mild mystery story without much gore and with no murders. 

Review by Kirkus Reviews.

The Orphan Witch

 

By Paige Crutcher

Persephone was abandoned when she was just a baby. She grew up in the foster care system and never found a forever home. She was a child around whom strange things happened, strange things for which she seemed to be the catalyst. 

Now a grown woman in her thirties, Persephone is still plagued by strange occurrences and  lives her life on the run, ready to bolt at a moment's notice. 

Unknown to Persephone, someone has been looking for her. That person is Hyacinth Evers and when she finds Persephone, she invites her to come stay at her family home on Wile Island. She believes Persephone is her long lost cousin whose mother and grandmother were forced to leave their home on Wile Island and live in exile. Hyacinth also believes that Persephone is an untrained witch and that together with herself and her sister Moira, who are trained witches, they can lift a curse that was placed on the island a hundred years ago. 

But  Hyacinth and Moira are not the only witches on Wile Island. Two other sister witches live on the island. Ellison and Ariel Way are certain that the Evers sister's attempts to lift the curse will actually destroy the island. That combined with bad blood that dates back to their shared childhood has turned the Way sisters against their Evers cousins. And against Persephone as the unwitting, untrained tool of the Evers witches.

This was an OK read. The first part is pretty intriguing as Persephone accidentally causes several men to attempt to kill themselves simply because she looked them straight in the eyes. But once she arrived on Wile Island, it got a bit boring, living the rural witchy life with the two sisters. But just in time, Persephone meets a man of mystery who sets her toes to tingling. That certainly made the story a bit more engaging. But overall the story never really grabbed me. 

Review by Publishers Weekly.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built

 

By Becky Chambers

Sibling Dex is a monk at Meadow Den Monastery. Dex is feeling a bit discontented and decides they (throughout the story, Dex is never referred to as he or she, only as they) want to be a tea monk. Tea monks are monks who travel around making tea. They brew the tea they feel their clients need and listen to their problems and give the client feedback. Sometimes it is just sympathy, sometimes it is gentle advice, sometimes it is just a quiet moment in which to relax and enjoy their tea. Tea monks hitch a camper to a bike-like vehicle and peddle along to the next destination on their route. They are very popular with the communities they visit.

Back before Dex's time, the people on this world were just like us, with their factories and their technology. Part of the technology was intelligent, humanoid robots. Who suddenly one day became self-aware and who walked away from their robot jobs and into the wilderness. This event caused the people to rethink their way of life and they shut down most of the factories and put aside much of the land to let it return to wilderness. And they tried their best live their lives in the most sustainable way possible and with the fewest negative impacts on their world.

So Dex learns to be a very skillful and valued tea monk. People enjoy his teas and they appreciate his care of them. But Dex is not satisfied. The same feelings that caused him to leave the monastery now push him to leave his tea route and venture off into the wilderness, ostensibly to search for an abandoned monastery, Hart's Brow Hermitage. But soon after setting forth on his search, a robot wanders into his camp and kind of attaches itself to Dex. So together Dex and his new companion, the robot Mosscap, will travel through the wilderness, searching for Hart's Brow and getting to know each other and possibly becoming fast friends.

The first part of this story was the best part, with Dex setting forth to become a tea monk and learning his craft. But after Dex is joined by Mosscap it became a lot more philosophical. And I'm not the least bit interested in philosophy. 

Here's a review by Publishers Weekly.

The Beast Master

 

By Andre Norton

The war with the Xik was finally over and humankind won but at the cost of the complete destruction of planet Earth. Hosteen Storm was a Galactic Commando and Beast Master in the galactic Confederacy and now that the war is over, he has no home to go back to. He chose to be repatriated on Arzor because it has a climate similar to his Navajo homeland. His four "beasts" will be with him, as the military as no further use for them. They are Surra, a dune cat; Baku, an African black eagle; and two meercats, Ho and Hing. 

Arzor is a frontier world and it has a native population referred to as Norbies. They are tall, thin humanoids with yellow skin and horns. They can't speak human language and humans can't speak their language so they communicate by using sign language. The Norbies are hunter/gatherer people that live in tribal groups scattered across the planet. They have accepted the presence of humans settlers. Humans activities on the planet consist mainly of ranching the local herd beasts. So basically it's the Old West, revisited.

Hosteen has another purpose in coming to Arzor. He is on the trail of a man, Brad Quade, from Arzor who killed his father when Hosteen was little. 

Hosteen's skill with horses quickly lands him a job and earns him the respect of the locals. And his work with his animal companions impresses him employers even more. One of his fellow workers is a Norbie, Gorgol who becomes Hosteen's friend and who teaches him the sign language Norbies and humans use to communicate. 

Once Hosteen and his new employer and company are on the trail, they run into trouble when they get caught in a heavy downburst. The valley they are in quickly floods and only Gorgol and Hosteen manage to survive. They rest are swept away along with most of the supplies. But both Gorgol and Hosteen are no strangers to surviving on their own. They bury the bodies of their companions and set out to find a way out of the deadly valley. But before they can, Hosteen discovers that the Xik, who he thought had been thoroughly defeated, have a secret base on Arzor. And that they are trying to foment a war between the Norbies and the human settlers. 

This is pretty much just a frontier Western, with the settlers as the cowboys and the Norbies as the Natives. With the twist that the Navajo man is the cowboy who sympathizes with and understands the Natives. Frankly, I found the story boring.

Here is a review by Kirkus. This is their review from 1959 and they refer to the author as he. Andre Norton was the author's pen name. Her real name was Alice Norton. 

 

Bertie Wooster Sees It Through

 

By P.G. Wodehouse

Bertie has woman problems once again. When Lady Florence Craye asks Bertie to escort her to a night club, Bertie ends up being arrested in a police raid and Florence ends up breaking off her engagement to G. D'Arcy Cheesewright. Florence then transfers her attention to Bertie, to whom she was once engaged, laboring under the misapprehension that Bertie always has been and still is hopelessly in love with her. Which he isn't. But he is too diffident to tell her the truth.

The rejected suitor, D'Arcy longs to murder the man he blames for Florence's defection. But he has placed a large bet on Bertie winning a darts tournament and the money is more important than revenge. 

Bertie's favorite aunt needs his help with a financial matter and Bertie travels to Brinkley Court to help Aunt Dahlia out. Things being what they are, D'Arcy and Florence are also staying there along with several others. All of these people are involved in various plots, with poets and novelists and ladies' magazines and hen-pecked husbands and fake necklaces and angry accusations and blackmail and burglary and broken engagements and new lovers and plotting spouses and mustaches and ladders at windows. And, of course, Jeeves, Bertie's manservant, who is the only one who can see the way through.

This is a classic Bertie and Jeeves story. It is silly and fun and it makes you wish so very much that you could be there, with Bertie and Jeeves and jolly Old England. It has everything you want in a Bertie and Jeeves story and it does not disappoint. Lighthearted, comical and a grand trip to a time and place that never really existed except in the mind of P.G Wodehouse.

The Box in the Woods

 

By Maureen Johnson

Back in 1978, four teens snuck off to the woods to get high and fool around. But what should have been just teenage nonsense resulted in all four kids murdered.

Now teen sleuth Stevie, famous for solving a cold case dating from the 1930s, has been invited to Sunny Pines camp for kids by its new owner, Carson. Carson wants to do a podcast about the more than forty year old mass murder and he hopes Stevie can use her sleuthing skills to solve what the professionals could not. As a bonus, he will give jobs to any of her friends she brings along with her. 

Stevie has been working at a grocery store for the summer and the idea of a summer at a camp in the woods is very appealing, especially since two of her friends are eager and willing to join her. So the three head off to Sunny Pines and Stevie is happy to be on the trail of the person or persons who brutally murdered four teenagers one warm summer night forty-two years ago.

As far as mysteries go, this was a pretty good read. It wasn't as engrossing as some mystery stories I have read. But it also wasn't as boring as some I have slogged through. It kept me engaged. The one thing I didn't much care for is the killer was not one of the main characters and is only briefly mentioned in passing a few times in most of the book.  I don't like it when authors pull some obscure character out of the background of a story to be the killer. But other than that, I enjoyed the book.

See also Kirkus for another review of the story.

The Foundling

 

By Georgette Heyer

Adolphus Gillespie Vernon Ware, Duke of Sale is only twenty-four years old. An orphan, he has been raised by his uncle, Lord Lionel Ware. A sickly child, Gillie has grown up to be a biddable and diffident young man.  Currently his uncle is in charge of Gillie's money and of his many estates but in a few months, Gillie will be of age and will gain control of his vast wealth and many properties.

All his life, Gillie has been closely cared for by his uncle and the people hired to care for him. His butler, his valet, his nurse are all old family servants and they truly love the young Duke. But Gillie is feeling a bit oppressed by the close care and supervision and sometimes wishes he was just an ordinary fellow, free to come and go as he chose. 

Gillie is unpleasantly surprised that his uncle has arranged a marriage for him with Lady Harriet Presteigne, a quiet and docile young lady he has known for a long time. Although he doesn't dislike Harriet, Gillie still feels like he is not in control of his own life. But despite this, he travels to town to propose to Harriet and his proposal is accepted, both young people doing exactly what they are expected and required to do. 

But after be coming engaged, Gillie is wishing even more that he were free to live his life as he chooses. So when he finds out his cousin is being blackmailed, Gillie decides to pose as his cousin Matthew and confront the blackmailer himself. So he sets off on a grand adventure in which he rescues a runaway school boy and a hapless maiden and thwarts a villain determined to squeeze as much money as he can out of the wealthy young Duke.

This is one of my favorite Heyer stories. It is not so much a romance as it is the adventures of the young Duke. The Duke proves his capability over and over again, dealing with thugs and rogues and rambunctious school boys and a very beautiful but very stupid young woman, the Foundling. It's a lot of fun and a lot is going on in the story and the ending is not only very satisfying but also a bit surprising. 

See also a Review by Austenprose.