Lucky Number 13

Aah, how I hated for it to end.

What? Why, I'm talking about Janet Evanovich's latest book, LEAN MEAN THIRTEEN (St. Martin's Press, c2007, ISBN 0-312-34949-1).

Set in "the Burg", in Trenton, New Jersey, this is of course the 13th in a long line of number books featuring Stephanie Plum, the hunky Joe Morelli and the delicious Ranger. Also making appearances are Lula, Connie, Joyce Bernhardt, Grandma Mazur, Stephanie's parents and her ex-husband Dickie Orr.

It begins:

For the last five minutes, I'd been parked outside my cousin Vinnie's bail bonds office in my crapola car, debating whether to continue on with my day, or return to my apartment and crawl back into bed.

That's all I have to say about the book. This is one series where I keep everything really close to the vest because so many of my readers read this series and I'm not taking away from their enjoyment.

But I will say this: Duck! That's not an exploding car!

6th Target

June was definitely a months for sixes for me. The sixth month, the sixth Sookie Stackhouse book, 6th TARGET and I read 6 books. I had to throw the last one in there, although true, I couldn't have a 666 post.

The 6TH TARGET by James Patterson (Little, Brown & Co., c2007, ISBN 978-0-316-01479-3) is the 6th book in the Women's Murder Club books featuring Lindsay Boxer, Yuki Castellano, Cindy Thomas, and Claire Washburn in sunny San Fran, CA.

In this book, Claire is a victim along with four others on a ferry shooting. Lindsay collars him, Yuki prosecutes him and Cindy writes about him. There is a second storyline with missing children.

Definitely typical Patterson. 1 page chapters, good and quick story. His books don't challenge me at all (and I'm not sure they ever did) but I don't think he is trying to be a Salinger or a McCarthy.

I know several people on one of my list-servs who just groan when they hear Patterson's name mentioned as being read. But the fact remains, whether he's writing the books, has a co-writer or a ghost writer, he has a formula that works, people eat up his stuff and he sells a lot of books.
He must be doing something write.

The book starts:

A killer in waiting, Fred Brinkley slumps in the blue-upholstered banquette on the top deck of the ferry.

I see that starting this fall on ABC, the Women's Murder Club comes to prime-time. I don't know if I'll watch it because I have the characters in my head already and I don't want them to be ruined by actors that don't fit the image I have. But, who knows? The show might be broken down into 45 second spots and quite palatable. We'll see. Take a look.

Definitely Dead

DEFINITELY DEAD by Charlaine Harris (Ace Books, c2006, ISBN 978-0-441-01491-0) is #6 in the Sookie Stackhouse series. Set in Bon Temps and New Orleans, Louisiana Sookie's cousin Hadley, a vampire girlfriend to the Queen vampire of New Orleans has been killed and is now "definitely dead" (hence the title.) Sookie has to go take care of Hadley's estate but certain somebodies don't want Sookie digging to deep and they'll do anything in their power to stop her.

Charlaine Harris has this thing with sexy male otherworldly characters this book hosts Quinn, a steamy, sexy weretiger that Sookie hooks up with.
This is a very fun series and I look forward to each new installment.

It begins:

I was draped over the arm of one of the most beautiful men I'd ever seen, and he was staring into my eyes.

I heard that song before

In I HEARD THAT SONG BEFORE by Mary Higgins Clark (Simon & Schuster, c2007, ISBN 978-0-7432-6491-4), Kay Lansing meets and marries the wealthy Peter Carrington in a whirlwind affair. Shortly thereafter, Peter is indicted on double murders and Kay fights to figure out who the bad guy is to free her husband.

Set in Edgewood, New Jersey (as far as I can tell, a fictional location) this book was typical MHC stuff.
In my opinion, people who read her books (and I'm one of them) read her books because she writes a very formulaic story; there aren't ever a lot of surprises. Decent storytelling, same story-different characters syndrome but the bad guy always loses and the good always prevails.

And who doesn't like a happy ending?

The first sentence:

My father was the landscaper for the Carrington Estate.

To whom it may concern

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN by Kay Cervetti (Camel Knee Publishing, c2000, ISBN 0-9701781-0-7) is an autobiographical account of a woman's search and discovery of her birth mother. She also finds out she has many more siblings.

The author is a local author and I found her book when I was browsing through a local library (not my own.) I read it for the local flavor as well as the successful end result. For those who may not know, I have a brother who was given up for adoption in 1968 and I've been looking for him since my father told me about him in 1988. But alas, to know avail. I hoped to glean some helpful information from this book but her search was very quick and pretty painless. Mine is almost 20 years and going strong...

If you know of any guys who were born here in Dubuque, IA on July 19, 1968 and were given up for adoption, please pass this post on to them. It could bring a family together and end my search once and for all.

First sentence?
Yeah, I forgot to write it down...Sorry!

Blind Fear

My next read was BLIND FEAR by Lynn Abercrombie (Pinnacle, c2006, ISBN 0-7860-1728-7).

Set in Atlanta, Georgia it starts with a young rookie officer searching out retired Hank Gooch (fuzz that was) to help locate Officer Mechelle Deakes who has disappeared. Deakes has been kidnapped, blinded and locked in a room and has a certain amount of time to solve one of their old cold cases or she will die.

This book is written in 3rd person and is apparently the second in a series although I don't think that matters as this story is fine if read as a stand-alone.

The first sentence:

Hank Gooch ran the glowing bar of steel through the blazing tube of the propane forge one more time, pulled it out, thrust it into the water.

I enjoyed the story but I didn't care for the dialogue. I have a picky-picky thing about writing dialogue per the locale. I understand that if they live in Atlanta, Georgia they are going to have an accent but to see it written is just weird to me. I guess I want to envision in my head the way they talk...I don't want the author to do it for me. The words are one thing, the inflection another.

Like I said, picky-picky.

Moon Called

Aside from Janet Evanovich, I am finding out (somewhat to my chagrin) that my favorite genre has become fantasy, or I guess anything that includes vampires or werewolves.

Patricia Briggs' book, MOON CALLED (Ace Books, c2006, ISBN 0-441-01381-3) has the latter.

It begins:

I didn't realize he was a werewolf at first.

Set in the Tri-Cities, Washington, Mercedes aka Mercy Thompson works as an auto mechanic and she takes a new wolf on to work at her shop and soon, wolves and people alike are trying to kill her and Adam, her neighbor and the Alpha pack leader.

This book has a lot of werewolf politicking happening in it, but it is a great, quick and easy fantasy read.

First in a series, the second BLOOD BOUND, quickly made it to my TBR pile.

Kettle Corn

Are you all familiar with the joys of kettle corn? I had always thought I'd had it, until I attended one of our local fairs recently and had some pushed upon me. Apparently I was wrong because although I'm not a beeg popcorn-eater, I do love kettle corn.

It was too late for me to return and get a bag for myself but I found two things:
Velma's Wicked Delicious Kettle Corn and microwaveable kettle corn in the aisle of my local grocery store. Although not as sweet as the kind you get at fairs, it's a definite keeper snack since I can limit myself to an individual bag versus a 5-lb bag.

That doesn't mean I won't splurge.

Yummy! Kettle corn makes life good.

Things that make me laugh

Simple things in life make me laugh. I especially love to laugh at life and other people.
Like this guy for example.
Married to a cop, I know that sometimes the job can get to be too much and it's good to see this guy laughing at himself (or someone off camera) during his dance moves.

I'm recommending dance lessons for my husband's force!

The winner

The winner of my portion of the Dorothy-L contest is Patty Andersen. Thanks to all of the members who played and submitted recipes! I'll be back to my Hook, Line and Stinker posts directly after the weekend.

~Shannon