Playing With Boys

By Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez

Sometimes things just come together. It did for Alexis when she met two strangers. One was an unemployed actress and the other was a writer with a story that needed to be told. And Alexis was just the one who could bring these two together and change all three of their lives for the better.
The actress, Marcella, is beautiful, talented but has been stuck playing the hot Latina rolls. Rolls she is getting too old for and that no longer appeal to her.
The writer, Olivia, needs to tell the story of her father's murder by the Salvadoran death squads. But she is a beginner writer and Alexis is just the professional she needs to bring her vision to the world.
As for Alexis, she manages a Mexican pop band and she is itching to start her own management company and Marcella and Olivia are just the people she needs to stretch her wings. Together, the skies the limit.

This was a pretty good read. Alexis is the main character, and she has the typical romance novel love story where the girl is involved with the wrong guy and that guy treats her badly and then she finds a new guy but the new guy is either taken or oblivious but eventually he wakes up and discovers his true feelings for the girl. The usual.

Review from Kirkus Reviews.

Venus Plus X

By Theodore Sturgeon

Charlie Johns woke up to find himself among people who looked human but preferred to think of themselves as the next step beyond homo sapiens. They call themselves the Ledom. They appear to be neither male nor female. But as Charlie Johns finds out, the key word is appear.
They live in peace and harmony and close to nature in an enclave hidden from the rest of the world. They are not aliens, they are fully human, but they live a lifestyle alien to accepted norms. They have set themselves aside in an attempt to create a society free of war and division and hate. Any their ultimate goal is to renew humanity when the rest of us manage to destroy ourselves.
But what are the Ledom, really? Charlie is charmed by them and agrees to help with their little project. They claim to have brought him there to weigh them in the balance and give them his true impressions of what they have created and of their genderless society. But Charlie senses he is not getting the full truth of the matter. And then he happens upon a little hidden family of Ledom: two fathers and their grown daughter. And the lie is exposed. The Ledom are not natural hermaphrodites. They are surgically altered to become so:

—of man with grafted uterus coupling with man with grafted uterus.

—of the knives and needles stitching a manmade and inhuman newness into the bodies of babes.

The story is interspersed with flashbacks to a group of regular Americans living their everyday lives with their kids, their jobs and their friends, a sort of contrast to the everyday lives of the Ledom.

What a boring story. The Ledom are boring. The regular folks back home were boring and their story was pointless, came across as filler to make the book longer. The big surprise at the end, that the Ledom were not a natural mutation but were the result of surgical intervention wasn't surprising or shocking.
What the author totally fails to address is where do they get all those grafted uteruses? One assumes from female babies. So what happens to those baby girls after their uteruses have been removed? The Charlie character is more outraged at boys with grafted uteruses than he is at the probable murder of every female baby born to the Ledom males. Oh, and he is also upset about men loving men.

 

 

The Synthetic Man aka The Dreaming Jewels

By Theodore Sturgeon

Horty is just a grade school kid when he gets in trouble for eating ants at school. When his adoptive father finds out, he punishes Horty by shoving him into a closet but accidentally catches the boy's hand in the hinge, severing three of the Horty's fingers. After the man leaves the room, Horty grabs his favorite toy, a jack-in-the-box called Junky and runs away.
Junky is just a toy but the toy has two eyes made of crystal. The crystals look like ordinary glass but are something else entirely. And Horty is bonded to the crystals, as becomes apparent when a thief unknowingly damages the toy and Horty cries out in pain.
Fortunately for Horty, he has fallen in with a small group of carnival people, one of whom recognizes Horty for what he really is, something that Horty himself does not know. And she makes it her duty to protect and educate Horty and hopefully turn him into the human being that he truly is not.

This is such a gratifying story. Horty starts out a weak and defenseless child but he takes satisfying revenge on those who harmed him and those he cares about. It's always nice to see justice rain down on those who deserve it.

Review from Kirkus Reviews.

The Risk Pool

By Richard Russo

The story of a boy and his dad. Ned's dad Sam is unreliable. At one point he was gone for years. He drinks too much and gambles too much and chases women. He can't keep a job. He is jealous and refuses to give Ned's mom, Jenny, a divorce.
But when Jenny ends up in a mental hospital, Ned ends up with Sam, who is an indifferent parent at best. From his dad, Ned learns all about drinking, gambling and shady business.
Jenny eventually is well enough to return home and continue raising her son. Life becomes more predictable but certainly less exciting for Ned once Sam is no longer in charge of him. Though he wasn't well cared for under his father's wings, it certainly was an education in the ways of the world. And Ned becomes quite familiar with some of the more "colorful" characters that inhabit his father's world.

This was a engaging story of a boy learning to understand his errant father and his troubled mother. And of learning how to avoid the missteps that blighted his father's life in so many ways. Good read. And not without its humorous moments:

It was a rare night that did not generate at least one fight in the pool room, and while most of the combatants were either too drunk or too inept to hurt each other much, bystanders were sometimes mangled hideously. My father said if it was just him, he'd let me stay and shoot  to my heart's content, but there was one thing he never wanted to do, and that was report to my mother that I'd been killed in the pool hall.

Review by Publishers Weekly.

The Chisellers

By Brendan O'Carroll

A continuation of the story of Agnes Browne and her family, begun in The Mammy. 
The two oldest children are more of a focus in this story than in the first. The oldest son, Mark, is doing quite well in his job at the furniture factory. But his younger brother, Frankie, has fallen in with a gang of skinheads and eventually steals his mother's money she won playing bingo and runs away to London.
Agnes and the kids have a new home, as the place where they were living is slated to be torn down. So even though problems still have to be dealt with, overall, things seem to be getting better for Agnes and her brood.

This was a pretty good read, a lovely story of a son who stands by his mother and of a son who does the exact opposite and comes to his just desserts.

Review by Publishers Weekly.

The 5th Wave

By Rick Yancey

So aliens have decided to attack humanity. So far they have released four waves of strikes. The first wave took out technology. The second wave was huge tsunamis that attacked coastal populations. The third wave was plague. The fourth wave was assassins whose job is to hunt down the survivors. The fifth wave is to turn the remaining humans against one another. This is done by capturing survivor children and turning them into an army of killers, fooled into believing any survivors they find are either the aliens or are pawns of the aliens and must be destroyed.

This another entry in the teen dystopian novel genre. Our brave young teen heroes are the only ones capable of standing up against the aliens, especially since the author quickly kills off any adults who are left alive.
This is also another entry in the "everyone is a suspect and no one knows who can or cannot be trusted" genre, a common theme in fiction these days.
This is also another entry in the "alien falls in. love with the human" genre.
Nothing that new here, really.

Review from The Guardian.

The Infinite Sea

By Rick Yancey

Book 2 in 5th Wave trilogy.

This book finds the ragged band of human escapees from the alien's training camp living in a deserted hotel in Ohio. Cassie, Ben, Ringer and the other kids are just barely surviving and living in fear of being spotted by the aliens and their human/alien hybrid killers known as the Silencers.
Meanwhile, Evan Walker, due to his alien enhancements, survived the destruction of the training camp, Camp Haven, and has been rescued by a fellow Silencer, Grace, a girl who actually knew Evan before the alien attack. Evan strings Grace along, trying not to reveal that his sympathies now lie humankind and not the alien overlords. He bides his time for as long as he can but finally  escapes, headed to Ohio and the rest of the kids.
Ringer, one of the more capable kids in the group, is sent out on a mission to find a cave system they read about as a possible refuge for the winter, as the Ohio location is too dangerous. She is followed by Teacup, who was supposed to stay behind. They are both captured by the aliens and Teacup is used as a tool to break Ringer, both physically and mentally.
Evan shows up at the hotel, just in time to warn the remaining kids that the latest arrival, a little girl named Megan, is actually a walking time bomb. Unfortunately, Grace shows up and she is focused on killing everyone in the hotel, including Evan. The kids fight for their survival and manage to escape just as Evan detonates the bomb that was attached to Megan and the whole building is destroyed, including anyone left inside.
Back at the alien base, Ringer is getting to know her attendant, Alex, who she calls Razor. She gradually converts Alex to her side and together they plot their escape. Which will be made much easier by the biological implants the aliens have installed in Ringer's body, against her will. Together she and Razor bust out of captivity and steal a helicopter and little Teacup.
But you can't trust anyone and Ringer soon finds herself betrayed and captive once again.

The first book was depressing. This one is even more so. There is a lot of brutality and people getting beat up and hurt and killed. I found it to be way too violent for me to enjoy. I also find combat uninteresting and usually skip those parts, of which there are so many in this story. I doubt very much that I will read the third book in the series. I only read this one because I bought it when I bought  the first book. My mistake.

See also a review by The Guardian.

How to American

By Jimmy O. Yang

When Jimmy was about 13, his parents migrated from China to the United States, wanting their two sons to have the advantages that they hoped America could give them.
Jimmy figured out how to be American by watching a lot of TV, mainly BET where he fell in love with rap and hip hop and stand-up comedy. But, being a good son, he continued on with his education and graduated from college with a degree in Economics and the promise of a good job with an investment firm. Imagine his parents' shock when he suddenly announced he didn't want the job. And that he wanted to do stand-up comedy.
So this is his story, from his first days in America to his first ventures as a performer and the struggle just to survive on his own and then getting a part in a TV show which led to roles in cinema. He focuses on his professional life and reveals nearly nothing about his personal life. He does not mention any girl friends or lovers.

This was a pretty good read, if only for a foreigner's take on life in America. It is at times mildly amusing but not hilarious. Jimmy may be a comedian but this is not a funny story. This is the story of his life as an immigrant and as a performer.

Rogue Star

By Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson

The stars are intelligent and mankind has joined the universe as equal citizens, living in peace and harmony with all the beings of the galaxies. Except for two weirdos who have decided that they want to create an intelligent star for themselves. Who knows why?
They set up their lab on Earth and create a tiny, intelligent star being. But things go wrong from the moment of the stars creation, when they are attacked by the Sun. The young star is not hurt but the two men are along with the girl friend of one of them.
The baby star arises and finds the humans and tries to help the most gravely injured of the three, the man with the girl friend. But the man dies and the star absorbs his knowledge and comes to the mistaken conclusion that it loves the girl just like the man did.
The star tries to woo the girl but she is freaked out and things go seriously wrong with the young star jumping to wrong conclusions and the poor girl becoming the object of its obsession.

This was a weird and stupid story. I wonder if the authors were on drugs when they wrote it. Maybe it would make more sense if the reader were on drugs too.

Starchild

By Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson

 Book Two of The Starchild Trilogy

Who is the Starchild?
The super computer behind The Plan of Man has received an ultimatum: release humanity from the rule of The Plan or the Starchild will turn off the stars and the Sun.
The Plan of Man was devised to help humankind exist in peace and safety. But it has resulted in a highly regimented society where personal freedom is sacrificed to the needs of the state. It worked fairly well until the Reef was discovered.
The Reef is a vastly huge space reef built by the tiny fusorians. It teems with life and air and warmth, strange plants and animals and has room for everyone who might want to go there. But The Plan won't allow that. And that is what the Starchild will change, despite the best laid plans of The Plan as is shown when the Starchild follows through with his threat and briefly extinguishes the stars and the Sun.
And so we have Boysie Gann, sent by The Plan to a space station near the Reef. He is meant to discover who the Starchild is and where he dwells. His mission is covert because The Plan thinks some of the men stationed there are no longer loyal. Too late, Boysie discovers that The Plan's suspicions are correct and Boysie gets shanghaied and wakes up to find himself on the Reef, being cared for by a kindly stranger and his baby dragon-like creature called a pyropod. His mission has come to a sorry end and before much longer The Plan has captured him and now he is accused of disloyalty and the dreaded iron collar is fastened around his neck.  He is even
accused of being the Starchild himself.
In order to get at the secrets The Plan thinks are concealed in Boysie's brain, he is placed into training for direct mind-to-mind communication with the super computer behind the The Plan of Man. In the first book in the series, The Plan communicated by means of paper tape. But in this story, communication has advanced to a tonal kind of communication, a kind of singing to the computer that requires extensive training. Boysie is forced through a  crash course so he can be plugged directly into the computer by means of a socket inserted surgically in his forehead. But just as his training is coming to its conclusion, the Starchild launches an attack on the facility and unleashes pyropods, spreading death and chaos.
After the attack is defeated, once again poor Boysie, who fought valiantly against the pyropods, is accused of being the Starchild. But despite the suspicions against him, Boysie is once more sent out on a mission, a mission to find the lost spaceship, the Togethership, which is supposed to contain a super computer that is the twin of The Plan computer. Using that ship and its computer, The Plan will go after the Starchild.

This was an OK story. A bit chaotic. The whole thing about the tonal communication with the computer was another miss and as jarring as the use of paper tapes in the first story, The Reefs of Space.  I also didn't really understand the how the being dead yet not being dead mechanic worked. Boysie is tended to by a kind man when he find himself injured and abandoned on the Reef. But he then finds out that man has been dead for years. He also encounters a man who he knows was executed in the past. There is also some indication that Boysie somehow is in two places at once. It not really explained, or if it is, I didn't get it.

The Reefs of Space

By Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson

Book One of The Starchild Trilogy
Thirteen billion people and a world on the brink of collapse. Desperate for a solution, a super computer was created and put in charge of controlling humankind's worse impulses. Called The Plan of Man, people are indoctrinated to follow the absolute authority of The Plan unquestioningly.
Humankind has expanded out into the solar system and has discovered a remarkable and strange thing, a mighty reef, out beyond the last planets of the solar system. The Reef was built by fusorians, minute things who convert the loose hydrogen of the universe into reefs full of life, strange plants and amazing and even dangerous animals. The Reefs are vast and inhabitable by humans, with plenty of room for everyone. But The Plan is against the idea of people living there. The Plan claims humans cannot handle freedom and for their own good must remain under control of The Plan.
Steve Ryeland is a scientist who is ordered to create a jetless drive. For it has come to The Plan's attention some of the creatures of the Reef move effortlessly and quickly through space in a way that does not require propulsion. The Plan wants this jetless drive and it wants to use it to conquer the Reef and bring the escaped humans who live there back under The Plan's control.
But Steve has some problems. His memory is impaired. He has been declared an enemy of The Plan and is forced to wear an explosive collar around his neck that can be detonated at any time if his superiors decide it is necessary. Steve's memory loss is related to a man who escaped to the Reef and to the jetless creatures that dwell there. This is why The Plan sees him as a "Risk" and had the collar placed around his neck. Steve knows more than he is saying but he can't say what that more is because he simply doesn't remember. Somewhere in his brain is the answer to the jetless drive, the whereabouts of the escapee and the key to getting the horrible explosive collar off his neck.

This was an OK story. Written back in the 1950s and 60s, it has a super computer that communicates by way of teletype and paper tape. So that was a bit jarring and kind of ruined the story for me.
But putting that aside, the most interesting thing about the story is the Reef and its creatures. But most of the story takes place on Earth and not enough on the Reef.
Part of the story takes place at the Body Farm, a prison for people deemed too dangerous or useless to remain in society. The inmates dwell in peace and not much is expected of them beyond staying fit and healthy and not causing the guards any problems. Their ultimate destiny is to prove spare parts for citizens in need: arms, legs, lungs, hearts, even nerves and spinal columns.
At first Steve is amazed by the food they are served. Steaks and rich mashed potatoes and gravy, plenty of cream and butter, the sort of food consumed by the privileged and not by the average man. He finally figures out that the food is chock full of tranquilizers to keep the "cattle" calm and placid. Steve is supposed to be this brilliant scientist, the only one capable of figuring out the jetless drive and yet he fails to immediately realize that the placid inmates of the Body Farm are all drugged to the gills and that the drugs are in the delicious food they are gobbling.
So, like I said, it was an OK story. Kind of disappointing and not very perceptive and very much a product of its time.

The Sky Is Yours

By Chandler Klang Smith

It's a city under siege, mostly deserted by those who used to live there. City services are failing or gone. But still there are those who refuse to leave and who continue to fight against the forces trying to destroy everything.
Three young people come together to change the fate of the city, completely unknowing of their destiny. Swan, a baroness, trained by her ambitious mother to be the perfect daughter and perfect wife to some rich young man. But Swan has a secret and it may bring about her early death. Duncan, the spoiled wastrel indulged by his mother and a disappointment to his father, and the sole heir to a fabulous fortune and Swan's intended. Abby, a foundling raised by a crazy woman in a garbage dump. She is the key to the salvation of the city although no one knows this, not even Abby.
The three young people come together for Duncan's and Swan's wedding. Duncan, who has never actually met his bride, brings little orphan Abby to his wedding. He and Abby met when he crashed his flying machine on her garbage island. Abby saved him and bandaged his wounds and promptly fell headlong in love with the first man she had ever seen.
Swan does not handle having her fiancé's girl friend at their wedding too well, but since the contracts are all signed and under her mother's control, she goes ahead with it. But home invaders break into the mansion and Duncan's parents and Swan's mother are killed and the three young adults escape the chaos and come together briefly but end up going their separate ways. Lost in a dying city, completely unprepared to stand on their own two feet, and with anger and resentment and misunderstandings poisoning their relationships, they will be forced to face their individual destinies and truths.

This was an OK read. The premise, of a city under siege by two dragons, was kind of stupid. Oddly, the city stands alone against this assault, with no help from a national government or from any allies at all. Also oddly, the wealthy choose to stay there even though there is no logical reason for them to do so.
Really, this book doesn't make a lot of sense. The only really sympathetic character ends up dead. It's a strange story and it just didn't appeal to me very much, I think mainly for two reasons. First, it was supposed to be funny. But it mostly wasn't. Unless you find the grotesque and disgusting funny, which I don't. Second, the main characters are just not appealing people, except for one. And she comes off as dumb as dirt. I didn't like them and so I didn't care what happened to them.

Bring on the Empty Horses

By David Niven

Niven looks back on his Hollywood days, focusing mainly on the actors and others in the movie business rather than on himself. He details his friendships with famous actors like Errol Flynn, Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable.
He talks about the writers, the bigwigs, the women. He exposes their affairs, their excesses, their addictions, their disappointments, their unhappy relationships and the efforts to hide it all from the judgmental press of that time.
It's a look back at time when movies were just starting to become a huge international business and the beautiful faces were capturing the audience imagination. It's an enjoyable excursion into a land and people most of us can only dream about.

Personal Effects

By Marissa Piesman

Thirty-something NYC lawyer Nina Fischman is lonely. She choose the professional life, and even though she has been involved with several men, none of the relationships stood the test of time. Now she second guesses herself, comparing herself to her sister, married to a successful man and with young children. Frankly, Nina is disappointed with herself.
Recently, her best friend Susan has moved back to NYC. In the past Susan has been a bit of a gadabout, unsettled in her life, both working and personal. Susan too, is questioning her past choices and has returned to New York because she has decided she wants to be a married woman. To help her find the right man, Susan has placed personal ads in various New York publications and has been on a few dates with men who responded to the ads. But one of those men turns out to be a dangerous person and Susan ends up strangled and dead.
Nina, as Susan's closest confidant, works with the police to figure out who the killer is. Unfortunately, Susan didn't reveal a lot of detail about the men in her life. All Nina knows is that Susan said he was good-looking, physically fit, had good hair, liked hiking and wore contacts. Susan never told anyone the man's name.
So, together with police detective James Williams, Nina will place personal ads similar to those that Susan had placed, hoping to attract the killer. Which means that Nina will find herself going out on dates with several strangers, hoping and dreading that one of them may be a murderer.

This was an interesting if unlikely story. I really can't see the police ever agreeing to such a lamebrained scheme. Or that the killer wouldn't moderate his behavior, at least for quite a while, rather than continuing on as if nothing terrible had happened.
But despite the weak plot, I did enjoy the story. It was fun following Nina on her dating adventures with the various suspects.

Check out the review by Publishers Weekly

On a side note, this is what the characters in the book have to say about donald trump:

Well, I don't understand why the public is so fascinated by him. To me he is just another boring, narcissistic businessman. There's nothing cool about him.

This book is copyright 1991. So even back then New Yorkers were seeing through trump.

The Mammy

By Brendan O'Carroll

Agnes Browne is a street vendor, recently widowed, with seven kids. Her dead husband was no prize and his absence makes life both harder and easier for Agnes. Harder because of less money coming in and easier because he was abusive.
They married young when Agnes became pregnant. Neither of them had much in the way of education. The husband worked as a laborer. If it weren't for charity and the church, life would be nearly impossible for such a large, young family. The oldest child is 14 and the youngest 3.
Now that her husband is out of the picture, Agnes is determined her children don't end up as ignorant and unskilled as she and the husband were. She is especially determined that the oldest child continue his education and learn a trade. But the boy is equally determined to quit school and get a job to help out his mother.
Somehow, they all work together and create a happy and loving home, just getting by, but sometimes just getting by is good enough.

Agnes Browne's situation is difficult, but this is not a sad story. This is a rollicking and happy look at an Irish family loving each other and working together to help each other. And getting into scrapes and dealing with sorrows and setbacks and discovering new possibilities and new hopes.

Check out the review from Publishers Weekly

Conjugal Rites

By Paul Magrs

Trouble is once again afoot in the seaside resort town where Brenda and Effie live. Lately townsfolk are glued to a late night radio broadcast, The Night Owls, hosted by their old enemy from the first book in the Brenda and Effie series, Never the Bride, Mr. Danby. The radio program encourages locals to call in and spill the goods on their fellow citizens.  Mr. Danby and his radio show seem to have a hypnotic effect on his listeners, as they stay up all night listening to their neighbors bad mouth each other. When Brenda tunes in to see what is what, she is upset to discover one of the targets of the malicious radio gossip is Brenda herself.
But that is not the only rotten thing in town. Brenda's long lost and not missed ex is in town and he has only one thing on his mind: wooing and marrying Brenda, whether she is willing or not.
This adventure will take Brenda and Effie to hell and back and will change everything in both their lives.

This was a fairly good story. The story, for the most part, shifts from Brenda to Effie, as Brenda disappears from quite a large part of the story. Effie's and Brenda's young man friend Robert steps in as Effie's sidekick and he and Effie work together to bring Brenda back. But Brenda being lacking from much of the story spoiled it for me, as I find her story more interesting than that of the other characters.

Night Shift

By Charlaine Harris

Book 3 of the Midnight, Texas series.

Here, once again, are the characters from the first two books: Fiji, Bobo, Manfred, Chuy, Joe, the Rev, Olivia, Lemuel, Mr. Snuggly and others.
A new disaster has struck the tiny town of Midnight. Lonely people are coming to the crossroads in the heart of Midnight and killing themselves. After three people have done this, the locals realize that something is seriously wrong.
The key to the mystery is in the old books that Lemuel is trying to get translated. It gradually becomes clear that a demon was interred under the crossroads hundred of years ago and that the spell that bound it there is starting to wear off. It has been calling the vulnerable to itself and gaining power from their deaths.
The Midnighters must act before it can rise and seize Fiji, the witch, and create a demonic kingdom on Earth.

This was a fairly good read. To me, the best thing about it was getting to know more about the odd inhabitants of Midnight. I hope this is not the last book in the series, as I would like to read more about that strange crew.

The Mating Game

By June Johns

Zoos are one of the places of last resort for the world's endangered animals. So breeding these animals to propagate the species is very much a part of many zoos today.
But breeding the different species is no easy task. So many animals, especially the most endangered, have a very specific set of requirements for successfully bearing and raising their young.
From monkeys and apes, to rhinos and hippos, bears, penguins, reptiles, snakes and even more, June Johns takes a look at the reproductive lives of the animals found in one particular zoo in England.
So, apparently, the love lives of animals of all sorts are fraught with danger and murder. Moms killing their babies, dads killing their offspring, the grown offspring killing their parents...who knew raising babies in a zoo setting was so brutal and bloody?
This book was written in the 1960s. Hopefully zoos have grown more learned in their dealings with their resident animals and are able to provide safer, more nurturing habitats for all the animals under their care.

This was an interesting read. It is not a book meant to amuse the reader, it is very factual in its descriptions but I found it quite engrossing.

Day Shift

By Charlaine Harris

Book Two in the Midnight, Texas series.

Manfred the psychic is settling into his new home, getting to know the different folks who make up the core of Midnight, Texas.
He travels out of town to see a wealthy client, Rachel Goldthorpe. In a strange coincidence he sees fellow Midnighter, Olivia, dining with a couple at the same hotel where he is staying. The people Olivia is with turn up dead in an apparent murder/suicide. As an acquaintance of Olivia's, Manfred is questioned by the police as to his connection to her and to the two dead people.
Then, during his consultation with Rachel, she suddenly dies. She was an older woman and had recently been very ill. But still it seems a bit suspicious. Manfred comes under suspicion because he is being accused of stealing Rachel's jewels, which her son claims she must have been carrying in her purse at the time of her death, since he can't find them anywhere in her house.
It looks even worse for Manfred when it turns out that Rachel's cause of death was an overdose of her own medication, placed in her personal bottle of drinking water that she had with her during her meeting with Manfred. Never mind that Manfred never had access to her medications and likely didn't even know what medications she was taking. It is all just too fishy for the police and he ends up being suspect number one.

This was an OK read. Take away the fantasy elements, though, and it is just another mystery novel. The story does have a subplot about weretigers (like werewolves but with tigers) that comes together at the end with the murder mystery, but in a rather contrived way.

Review by Publishers Weekly.

Kill the Dead

By Tanith Lee

When Parl Dro was a young teen boy, a girl he liked was killed and her ghost began haunting him. It drew strength from Parl Dro and tried to tempt him into joining it in death. This was the beginning of Parl Dro's start as an exorcist, one who puts the dead to permanent rest,
Parl Dro is not alone in this tale. He is joined by a talented musician who plays an extraordinary instrument. Myal Lemyal has not had a prosperous or happy life. As he explains to Parl Dro, he wants to write an epic song and thus make his fortune. He wants to base the song on Parl Dro's battle with the ghost town of Ghyste Mortua, a battle that rumor has it is Parl Dro's ultimate destination.
A third "person" will accompany the two men on their trip to Ghyste Mortua: the ghost of Ciddey Soban. Ciddey may be dead, but her need for revenge against Parl Dro burns. Parl Dro came to Ciddey's house and against her wishes laid to rest the ghost of her dead sister, a ghost that Ciddey had purposely freed from the grave. Upon discovering what Parl Dro had done, Ciddey promptly killed herself, crazed with grief upon losing her sister for the second time. Her ghost has attached itself to Myal Lemyal and is following him and Parl Dro on their fateful journey to face the killer ghosts of Ghyste Mortua.

This was not an interesting story. It was boring. Although I did find the twist at the end to be unexpected and surprising. It kind of redeemed the rest of the story.