January Reads Part Dos

Book four for the month was ORGANIZE YOUR CORPSES by Mary Jane Maffini (Penguin Group, c2007, ISBN 978-0-425-21580-7), a cozy mystery set in Woodbridge, NY. Charlotte Adams is a professional organizer with two adorable dachshunds, Truffle and Sweet Marie. She agrees to take a job organizing for her old teacher, Helen "Hellfire" Henley. Miss Henley has some important documents to find but the next day she is found murdered and Charlotte is moved to the top of the list of suspects. Something is not right with the Henley family, however, and enlisting the help of her friends, Charlotte aims to find out what it is, while saving lives all around her and trying not to get killed herself.

This book was sent to me by Miss Maffini because she had read that I too, like her, have a doxie that is the light of my life. I'm really glad she sent it too, because although I am not a big fan of either cozies or books written in first person, I enjoyed this book alot and will look for the other Charlotte Adams books.

The book begins:

"Is this some kind of death wish?"

Next up was a non-mystery, GOOD DOG. STAY. by Anna Quindlen (Random House, c2007, ISBN 978-1-4000-6713-8). It is the author's account of living with her Black Lab, Beau and then Bea, a yellow Lab puppy as Beau gets older and more infirm. My favorite part of the book was the fantastic photographs of wonderfully expressive dogs. A very short read, with only 83 pages, I read it in one sitting while the wind and snow howled outside. If you read MARLEY AND ME and liked it, I think you would enjoy this quick little read as well.

The book starts:

For several years I was that most pathetic of creatures, a human who walks into the veterinarian's office without an animal.

And 6th on my list was A KILLING RAIN by PJ Parrish (Kensington Publishing Co., c2005, ISBN 0-7860-1606-X), the sixth of the Louis Kincaid novels. In this book, someone is after Austin Outlaw, the ex-husband of Louis' girlfriend, Susan. Then, Susan's son Benjamin is kidnapped and all bets are off. Louis is on the case. While tracking the baddies from Captiva to Miami, Louis is paired up with Miami detective Joette, commonly called Joe, Frye. She turns up in a later book as well which I am looking very forward to reading, because the relationship that develops between Louis and Joe is HOT! PJ Parrish never disappoints and this book is no exception!

The book's first sentence is:

Sunday, January 10, 1988

The road in front of him was empty.