January Reads Part 3

Number 7 was PLUM LUCKY by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin's Press, c2007, ISBN 978-0-312-37763-2). This is the third between the numbers book that Janet has put out featuring Stephanie and crew with a quick walk on by Morelli and Ranger and more of Diesel who we've seen in VISIONS OF SUGAR PLUMS and PLUM LOVIN'. This book also features Snuggy, Briggs, Lou Delvina and Doug, the talking horse.

It's St. Patty's Day and Stephanie's Grandma Mazur is MIA. Stephanie tracks her down to Atlantic City with Lula and Connie, playing the slots, with someone else's money. That someone else kidnaps Grandma Mazur and the romp is on.

The book begins:

My mother and grandmother raised me to be a good girl, and I have no problem with the girl part.

My eighth book read during January was THE REMAINS OF THE DEAD by Wendy Roberts (New American Library, c2007, ISBN 978-0-451-22268-8), set in Seattle, Washington. Sadie Novak owns the company Scene-2-Clean and along with Zack Bowman, an ex-cop, cleans up after death so the families don't have to. When a grieving mother hires her company to clean up after the murder-suicide of her son and daughter-in-law, Sadie gets more than she bargained for. Oh yeah, and after the suicide of her own brother years ago, Sadie can see and talk to the newly departed (except for suicides.) Her job is to help them cross over. A little talent that gives many around her a good case of the heebie jeebies. I thought this was a really fun book and I will look for more by this author. It had a great, surprise ending and I was quite taken with the occupation of the main characters. If I wasn't a librarian, I might be a crime scene cleaner upper.

The story starts:

She dipped a scrub brush into the cleaning fluid and stroked the bedroom wall in wide, arched swipes.

Number 9 in line, was not a book that I really cared to read but one I thought I needed to read because of all the controversy surrounding it, IF I DID IT: CONFESSIONS OF THE KILLER by OJ Simpson (Beaufort Books, c2007, ISBN 978-0-8253-0588-7). The story played out in Brentwood, California and featured OJ Simpson, Nicole Brown Simpson, Ron Goldman, Paula Barbieri and Kato Kaelin with some other people thrown in for historic measure.
Honestly, this book made me sick but I'm glad that the money is not going to OJ Simpson or his family but to the Goldman family since they were given the rights by a judge to satisfy a $38 million wrongful death judgment against the former football star.

The book begins:

I'm going to tell you a story you've never heard before, because no one knows this story the way I know it.

And finally, number 10, was BLOOD DREAMS by Kay Hooper (Bantam Books, c2007, ISBN 978-0-553-80484-3). Set in Venture, Georgia (Prophet County), this book is the beginning of a new psychic series featuring Noah Bishop and his SCU team. In this book, twelve women are murdered in the Boston area ending with the daughter of a US Senator. The killer goes underground and resurfaces in Venture, GA where Dani Justice is having psychic visions about the murders and people she's never met -- until they show up on her doorstep asking for her help. Together they will have to use all of their abilities to stop a madman from continuing his rampage.

I liked this story alot. It has kind of a Groundhog's Day effect to it, with the dream sequences, but I thought that made for a more interesting story. I haven't met a Kay Hooper Noah Bishop SCU book that I didn't like.

The first sentence of the book is:

It was the nightmare brought to life, Dani thought.