My book blog created 2012 books I read & review. Separated my readings from mu writings on my other blog, Pat's Posts. . Eventually I may display my entire library here.(2024 April update still evolving collections, much to do) I have moved some reviews from the other blog to here. Design of this blog is a work in progress, in 2023 WTH my photos all disappeared. I have not yet replaced them. (Bizarre Google Blogger)...
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For some reason I cannot determine I am unable to merely start writing alongside the image of the book. So I will just try this as I cannot spend more time trying to figure out WTH Blogger is doing now.
This book was published in June 2006 but I recently picked it up at a used book sale for $1. I have read novels by this author in the long ago past. But after reading this mystery I am no longer interested in any more of her writings.
Using the fictional character of Sherlock Holmes woven into a modern tale of a San Francisco police detective sounded interesting. However, it became too clear the fictional detective, Kate Martinelli is a lesbian in a partnership with her "wife" and together they are raising the wife's child. Sorry but I am not interested in reading about 2 lesbians no matter the intrigue. Too much information, culminating with them being the first 2 married in SF.
The book further spreads the gay life style over the fictional life of Sherlock Holmes. And describes a fictional group of Sherlockian enthusiasts who gather for dinner to discuss the detective. This mystery centers on Philip Gilbert's finding a manuscript that might have been written by the late Sherlock. Philip is a devoted fanatic of Holmes. So much that his apartment is done up in Sherlockian decor. and furnishings. Philip is found dead and the crime investigation begins. Martinelli will successfully solve this crime with the help of her partner on the force, Al Hawkins.
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| Inside cover flap |
Besides too much gay lifestyle there is continuous description of the Battery area of SF, the Presidio, and oin and on. I found that boring but kept reading as it did not taqke much concentration and I skimmed a lot of that.
It could have been an ok mystery but I give this only *** and will not be reading anymore by this author.
I started reading this new to me author and series in May although this first novel was published in 2012. A new author to me and one I will continue to read. I was attracted by the mention of Jack Reacher my favorite character by Lee Child who endorses Diane Capri's work and mentions how he especially admires one of the main characters, Kim Otto. There are many books already in this series and as of today, September 26 I have read only 4, all purchased new on Amazon. I plan to review the others here soon and will be buying more although I took a spending break currently. Below I have copied the list of all in this series, a few such as Jack In A Box which I have also read are short stories (novellas). I was unaware of that when I purchased it but now that I know about these I will likely download those to my kindle instead of purchasing a hardcopy. The author has other series too that sound like books I would like to read, so many books, so little time! She also has a site to sell these directly.
One nice feature was the list of primary characters at the beginning. I really appreciate that and she may be the only one I've read lately who does so., Kim Otto and Carlos Gasper are the two FBI detectives assigned to find Jack Reacher, previously unknown to them, this secret project by Charles Cooper. There is something so secretive agouti their mission that even they are kept in the dark and told there will be no admittance of any FBI involvement should they stumble. Otto and Gasper are totally different personalities, previously unknown to each other and are picked by Cooper so undisclosed reasons. .Pg. 14., "The FBI operated in tyhe glare of every possible spotlight. Keeping something under the radar added layers of complication. Under the radar meant no official recognition,. No help, either. Off the books. She didn't have to hide but she'd need to be careful what she revealed and to whom. Agents died during operations under the radar."
And so their partnership begins with Otto as lead agent. She is ambitious. Gasper is a survivor and a family man and wants to maintain his job for another 20 years. Different life experiences too.
From the author's website: "It’s been a while since we first met Lee Child’s Jack Reacher in Killing Floor. Fifteen years and sixteen novels later, Reacher still lives off the grid, until trouble finds him, and then he does whatever it takes, much to the delight of readers and the dismay of villains. Now someone big is looking for him. Who? And why? Hunting Jack Reacher is a dangerous business, as FBI Special Agents Kim Otto and Carlos Gaspar are about to find out. Otto and Gaspar are by-the-book hunters who know when to break the rules; they’ve been told Reacher is a stone cold killer. Reacher is a wanted man, but is he their friend or their enemy? Otto and Gaspar don’t know what they don’t know about Jack. Only the secrets hidden in Margrave, Georgia will tell them."
I so enjoyed this first novel that when I finished it on June 2, I wrote this note to myself: "OMG more twists than a coiled snake. Who was/is the villain, thought perhaps even Cooper, but no???" The writing is good, clear and the twists are well tangled. I give it 5 *****
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| Back Cover of Don't Know Jack |
We learn toward the end 187-195) the identity of the woman whose car plunges into the riverbed in Pechewa while she is returning home to Ohio from visiting her grandfather in Indiana. It is Tree Kingston who lived at Limestone with her husband Ramsey. It is Tree who will continue haunting we learn in the closing pages.
In 200 pages this novel twista the mystery of this home through it's history beginning in 1810 with the Wyandot Indians who come for their chief known as Leatherlips to the settlers. They abduct him, accuse him of witchcraft, kill him beginning the Limestone curse. (Pgs 3-5) There is a long list of inhabitants of the home that will be built along the limestone on the riverbanks of the Scioto . At times I set this aside and read something else, because it was agonizing to read of the constant tragedies. Yet I kept coming back to it in a day or so because I wanted to know what would happen next. A good read, better than not being able to put it down. Taking longer allowed me to savor the writing. Definitely well written, poetic at times. a 5 *****
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| Limestone Back cover |
Published 2021 by the Author. I purchased thru Amazon and read this end of July 2024. Margaret Belle was a new author to me.
This is a light mystery with comical parts and a nicely written story about three cousins, Franny, Ellie and Sandy who get together to reminisce and enjoy themselves near the lake cottage where they spent summers years ago, Orange Lake Newburg, New York. They are all of vintage years After their grandmother died an Aunt by marriage into the family inherits the cottage though it had been promised to all the surviving aunts as a family legacy. The prologue in 1971 describes the plotting of Verna Ferguson and how she did achieve sole possession of the cottage denying access to the rest of the family. These women were younger girls then and knew little of what had happened other than what their families had shared. Sandy is now 60 years old and has just finally gotten the courage to leave her abusive husband Robert after a long marriage. No one knew about the abuse she tolerated all those years. Franny has a farm she has worked hard to keep and now with the help of a farmhand , who is an excon to whom she gave a chance . and who has been very helpful and devoted, she can get a way with the others. Ellie is a writer who has decided to go the Orange Lake to research information for her next book and decides to invite the cousins for a mini reunion.
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| Backcover |
The author shares the inspiration for the book at the back, a 1953 newspaper story
Page 296, copied below reflects the feelings of local Detective Sam Summers who gets involved watching out for the women at the request of a friend. "Had three over-the-hill women ever caused this much chaos anywhere? Ever?" This is at the news conference and ceremony feting the women who solve a long closed col case about missing bank funds.
This is a very easy read, enjoyable and wistful in parts. a **** 4 star
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| Cover |
Published in 1999, 410 pages and a Readers Guide at the end for thoughts and discussions. I acquired it at a book sale and read it March 2024. Just catching up on postings. . A very charming fiction tale set in a fictitious small town of Tall Pine in northernmost MN. Many different personalities in the characters ranging from comical to stoic to hysterical to the pitiful, etc. Reminds me a bit of Virgil Wander by Leif Enger which I likely have not reviewed here but read last year or so and enjoyed.
An aspiring film maker from Hollywood finds in the unsuspecting Fenny Ness the perfect personification of Inge, a main character in a film, to be made " Ike and Inga "
The brief prologue opens wit h 4 words Fenny wished she had never spoken, "One burrito supreme please." The Cup O'Delight Cafe, run by Lee O'Leary, is where all the locals gather daily to eat and stay in touch. Lee O'Leary has a mysterious ingredient she keeps secret that makes her coffee legendary. Tall Pine is on the Rainy River in the farthest northern part of MN bordering on Ontario Canada.
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| Prologue |
This review from Amazon:"In the small town of Tall Pine, Minnesota, at the Cup O’Delight Cafe, the townsfolk gather for what they call the Tall Pine Polka, an event in which heavenly coffee, good food, and that feeling of being alive among friends inspires both body and soul to dance. There’s the cafe owner, the robust and beautiful Lee O’Leary, who escaped to the northwoods from an abusive husband; Miss Penk and Frau Katt, the town’s only lesbian couple (“Well, we’re za only ones who admit it.”); Pete, proprietor of the Shoe Shack, who spends nights crafting beautiful shoes to present to Lee, along with his declarations of love; Mary, whose bad poetry can clear out the cafe in seconds flat; and, most important of all, Lee’s best friend, Fenny Ness, a smart and sassy twenty-two-year-old going on eighty. When Hollywood rolls into Tall Pine to shoot a movie, and a handsome musician known as Big Bill appears on the scene, Lee and Fenny find their friendship put to the test, as events push their hearts in unexplored directions—where endings can turn into new beginnings."
A delightful tale that twists and all comes happily together at the end though not without some sorrow and twists. We never do learn the secret of Lee's coffee. A nice pleasant read, 4 ****
I read this novel in April. Very good writing and a true glimpse of the author's family roots.
I left this review on Amazon: " Absolutely enjoyed this novel. Good solid writing throughout. I had long forgotten some of the things from midwest childhood days back ago such as minnows in the creeks , tadpoles, words that were common to me as a child and so long forgotten about. I chuckled reading about those lawn jockeys! Memories surfaced immediately . A good book can do that. I learned somethings too, such as the origin of the term "Hoosier." There were some descriptives I found amusing and original such as "Walmart Picasso" and "brunetteitude. " Nostalgic to read about someone visiting her elderly grandfather as I had similar experiences with my elderlies relatives in PA. Reading along I was rooting for Peachy and was convinced all would be right. As a good read, it has a double twist at the end which I did not expect. I do not want to give away any of the intrigue with spoilers.
One thing I found odd was no page numbers in the book, fortunately it is not massive but I like to make notes and usually just reference the page numbers. So with this I tore pink postits and staggered them in the book.
