Dead, White and Blue by Carolyn Hart is the 23rd in her Death on Demand mystery series. These are entertaining, quickly read, little mysteries. It was coincidence on my part to choose a book set during the July holiday season, but probably intentional by the library staff to have it front and center on the New Books shelves even though it came out in 2013 and the library got this copy in March. There were plenty of misleading clues as to whodunnit, but I correctly guessed who it was.
Courting Trouble is Lisa Scottoline's 7th in her Rosato and Associates series. You many recall that I had just begun reading this author in March and planned to read my way in order through her titles. Then came the coronavirus and ended my library checkouts until now. Courting Trouble was the next in order of publication so it was entirely coincidental that this book is also set during a 4th of July weekend! Life imitating art? - Except there were no murders (that I know of) in our neighborhood. ☺
Scottoline's books are fast paced, well-written and in appropriate spots, funny. I really like her asides when the protaganist is making "a note to self". It was so obvious who the stalker/murderer was, that finally being read of him was a foregone conclusion. Or was it? Spoiler alert - I did not see that ending coming!
Doris Kearns Goodwin is a woman and author I admire very much. Her Leadership In Turbulent Times, which was published in 2028, was another book on my next to read list when the library closed due to Covid-19 in March. Again, coincidental that I began reading it on the 4th of July holiday weekend.
It is no wonder Ms. Goodwin has won the Pulitzer Prize for History.
he said/she said by Erin Kelly was touted as a psychological thriller with a killer twist. It took some time for me to get into this story, it built so slowly. But there was an ending twist that I did not see coming.
The Shell Seekers was one of Rosamunde Pilcher's big hits back in the late 80's when I first read it. After re-reading and enjoying the two books of hers in my personal stash, I decided to get this one from the library to read again. And, again, I did not remember anything about it. I came so close to quitting after the first character was introduced - she was so insufferable - but I read on to the next character and was rewarded with a woman I could understand and admire. From there on through the rest of 530 pages, I was enchanted and so, so glad I read The Shell Seekers again.
Another View by Rosamunde Pilcher is one of her earliest books and one I hadn't read before. Like Shell Seekers, it is primarily set in Porthkerris, Cornwall. This was her third book. I can't help wondering if it was a trial for the later expanded Shell Seekers.
Ghost Town by Ed Gorman is an author I once knew in person. It was in the years I worked at Lariam Associates Recording Studio in Des Moines. Ed was in advertising/public relations in Cedar Rapids and a semi-regular at the studio, overseeing some of his advertising spots for??? (Lost to my memory bank.)
I do remember that he talked about the novel he was writing. But at that time I was also dreaming about writing a novel, so I wasn't overly impressed. He did impress me as more than a little self-aggrandizing. I think if I impressed him at all it would have been the times he phoned in ad copy and I was able to keep type it just as fast as he was dictating it over the phone.
Still, I did think about him recently and was curious enough to Google him and find quite a list of books he wrote. Ghost Town was one of his westerns. His dialogue and characterizations were alright but the storyline was disjointed. I doubt I will read any more of his works, but I am glad I finally sampled one of them.
The Red Lotus by Chris Bohjalian has to be the most prescient book I've ever read. It is about scientists purposely developing a virus so virulent there is no known cure or vaccine, then exposing rats to it so they will become carriers in germ warfare.
Mr. Bohjalian is one of my favorite authors, but this was not the book to read during the current pandemic - too close to reality. The bizarre coincidence is that this book debuted on March 17, the day after our state imposed self-isolation, social distancing, limit groups to ten or fewer people and closing schools to help limit the spread of the coronavirus.
I can't help but wonder if this author had an inkling of what was coming or was it just chance that he wrote a pandemic novel now?
Excerpt from The Red Lotus: "Look, my justifications are irrelevant. I know that. I get it.
But Thomas Malthus understood the problem well before anyone: 'The power of population is infinitely greater that the power of the earth to produce subsistence for men.'
It's a fact that our species is destroying the planet, and the more of us there are, the faster the deterioration. The faster the climate change.
Did I actually want a nation ever to use the pathogen as a weapon? Of course not.
But, yes, I did tell myself that if one ever did, it wouldn't be the end of the world. It might, in a twisted sort of way, in fact save it."
I have had those same thoughts for several years now - that a war or pandemic, something, would happen to reduce the world population if our planet was going to survive. I just didn't think it would be in my time. I thought it was still a few decades away.
None of the other books I got and already have lined up for August reading have the subject of pandemics in their storylines. Thank goodness!
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