March Reads I

It is looking like the number of books read in March is going to be as thin as those read in February.
I picked up Rita Mae Brown's "Full Cry" while in Southern CA so I wouldn't run out of reading material on the way home. The book is the third of seven in her "Sister" Jane Foxhunting Mysteries. I bought the used book because I have been reading some other novels by Rita Mae Brown and have enjoyed them. I was a bit surprised by how much I enjoyed learning about fox hunting. The murder mystery was secondary to my enjoyment of the book. Gibson Memorial does have some more books from this series. I plan to read them in the future.
While in Tucson, Kristina shared the names of some of her favourite authors and books. When I got home I was able to find one of them in our library: Carol Shields's "Unless". Shields won the Pulitzer Prize in 1995 for "The Stone Diaries" which I had read.
"Unless" is the story of a successful wife, mother, author who has known very little unhappiness in her life. Then her eldest daughter drops out of college to sit on a street corner, silent except for a sign around her neck which reads "GOODNESS". The book tells of the family's struggle to help and understand as well as deal with their own changes as a result.
The book was a bit slow-going for me. I couldn't seem to concentrate on the story or pick up all the underlying nuances. It is probably one of those books I will have to read again when I am in the 'right' mood.
Charlaine Harris's "Grave Secret" is the fourth of her 'Harper Connelly' Mysteries. And the fourth one I've read. I like this character. I also like Harris's 'Aurora Teagarden' and 'Lily Bard' Mysteries series. I have not read any of her very popular 'Sookie Stackhouse' novels yet though our library seems to have all of them - getting on the popularity of the vampire genre bandwagon.
After being struck by lightning as a teenager, Harper Connelly develops the ability to find dead bodies and see how the person died. She and her step-brother travel around the country using her talent to help grieving families and law enforcement agencies. Her one hope is to someday discover what happened to her older sister who disappeared on her way home from school several years before.
That mystery is finally solved in this fourth book in the series. As it has been the one constant thread in this series, I'm wondering if this will be the last 'Harper Connelly' or if Ms. Harris will continue writing about her. These mysteries are quick, entertaining reads - what I needed after "Unless".
Yesterday I finished Janice Law's "The Night Bus". Just as I learned about fox hunting in "Full Cry", I learned alot about music in this book. The book begins with our heroine, Cath, running away from her life. She has a one way ticket on the night bus to Florida. Law does a good job of letting us see how disoriented Cath is without telling us why. By the time the police find her on a Miami street following a mugging, Cath no longer remembers who she is or where she is from. The muggers took her purse. She has no identification.
After a nationwide bulletin is sent out, she is identified and her sister-in-law comes to Florida to bring her home. She tells Cath her name, that she is married, that she is a musician and singer, none of which Cath remembers. It isn't until she arrives home and recognizes the house as her Aunt Elizabeth's that she begins to slowly regain her memory. And although she finally remembers her husband, she can't remember why she stabbed him; why she took the night bus. She begins remembering more and starts putting pieces together, but not in time to save her from a deadly confrontation.
The jacket cover says Ms. Law is also the author of the critically acclaimed Anna Peters mystery series. Gibson Memorial does not have any of those so next time I am at the Half Price Book Store I will look there.
Speaking of which, my trip there last week was a costly one - a little under $50 worth of books came home with me. I guess I was in a weakened condition that day.