B is for Burglar / Sue Grafton / 321 pages

Kinsey Millhone is back into business, and she is assigned to locate Elaine Boldt, a woman who had been missing since her departure to Florida.  Kinsey interviews close friends and anyone who was familiar with her, in both Santa Teresa, California and Miami, Florida.  She also learns the story of Miss Boldt's friend, Marty Grice, who had been murdered six months before her disappearance, and one part of Kinsey believes that Miss Boldt may have took off as a result, either from paranoia or she may have been one of the suspects responsible for the murder; another says that she might already be dead.

I liked this book better than the first one, for the characters were more diverse in both appearance and personality, Kinsey revealed hidden depths to herself that made her more three-dimensional, and wowIdidnotexpectthatplottwistatall.
Overall, a very a good novel; I'm already partway through the third book, C is for Corpse, which I'll blog about in March.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children / Ransom Riggs / 382 pages

This is a wonderful young adult novel and series.  The vintage photographs are amazing and the way they are worked into the story is fantastic - though Riggs gets better at this as the novel goes on.  The first few pictures have a very obvious indication in the text that you are supposed to look for the picture and it's not always on the facing page.  This doesn't work as well for an audiobook, because you will want to look at the pictures as you read along.


16-year-old Jacob lead a normal, ordinary life.  His family is moderately wealthy.  He is taken care of, though a bit neglected - but he doesn't have a closest under the stairs for a room or anything like that. Then he gets a phone call to check on his grandfather, and finds his grandfather on the verge of death in the woods behind his home.  Jacob is the only one to hear his grandfather's cryptic last words and decides to try to find the magical island and the children's home his grandfather had always told him stories about.


The book is a little different from the movie.  Emma and Olive trade powers for the movie, but Jacob is still attracted to Emma.  The ending of the movie is so different from the book, that I get the feeling that the director stopped reading halfway through and just created his own ending.  Both the book and movie are very good, but they should not necessarily be compared to each other.

The Bone Collection: Four Novellas/ Kathy Reichs/ 388 pages

The Bone Collection is a group of four short works by Kathy Reichs.  Each deals with a different story of Temperance Brennan's work as a forensic anthropologist.  Bones in Her Pocket is tale of a water logged body and raptor rescue.  Swamp Bones takes the reader to the Florida Everglades and introduces the world of Python roundup.  Bones on Ice explores the conquest of Everest and what can go wrong.  First Bones tells the reader how Tempe moved from academia to police work.  Each is an interesting read in the hands on style of Reichs previous books.  These books will appeal to the reader who likes the puzzle solving aspect of a murder mystery.

Where is Joe Merchant?/ Jimmy Buffett/ 416 pages

Where is Joe Merchant? is the debut novel written by Jimmy Buffett.  In this book Jimmy Buffett  introduces the reader to an array of unique and unusual characters whose lives intertwine in a totally unexpected way.  Each character is given a back story that brings them up to current time.  The charm of the book is the way they all come together in the Caribbean.  Frank is a pilot, deep in debt, Trevor is his ex-girlfriend, looking for her brother, Desdemona is building a rocket, Colonel Cairo is intend on owning his own country.  The question remains, where is Joe Merchant?

Double Dexter / Jeffry P. Lindsay / 337 pages / November challenge (Horror)

This 6th novel follows much the same formula as previous novels in this series.  Watching the friendly neighborhood serial killer try to balance family, work, and very illegal playtime is humorous, but perhaps the author has spun out the formula a few too many times to make it feel fresh and new.  Dexter's lovely (and increasingly neurotic) wife plays a larger role than in previous novels.  She never quite gets enough development to feel like a real person, but that may be the author's clever way of showing how Dexter views her.  She seems to only be foremost in his mind when she's not in the kitchen cooking.  He then sets about figuring out how to get her back into the kitchen.  Dexter's monstrous step-children seek out new brushes with death and destruction as Dexter tries to hold them in check.  While I've mostly enjoyed this series, I will also be glad to see it come to an end with the next novel, Dexter's Final Cut.

The Dance: A Novel (The Restoration Series) / Gary Smalley and Dan Walsh/ 352 pages

The Dance is the first book in the Restoration Series by Gary Smalley and Dan Walsh.  Jim and Marilyn Anderson have been married for 27 years.  Jim cannot understand why Marilyn would move out just weeks before their daughter's wedding.  A new mutual friend who teaches dance classes also teaches Jim about himself and Marilyn.  Meanwhile, Marilyn must contend with a dance instructor who offers her private lessons and a chance to compete.  Toss in two sons and a hurricane to the mix for an interesting story about the dance that couples dance together.  For more information see the SCCCLD website.

Dexter in the Dark / Jeffry P. Lindsay / 302 pages

Psychological suspense. This is the 3rd book in the series which inspired the Showtime series Dexter. Check out the 1st of the series Darkly Dreaming Dexter.  This novel begins rather philosophically, leading the reader to understand that Dexter's "dark passenger" is an entity separate from Dexter himself - and there are more "shadows" out there.  Dexter meets his most fearsome foe to date, all while planning a wedding and carefully mentoring his fiancée's children to be neat and polite little monsters.  Dexter regains some of the edge lost in the 2nd novel although he did lose his dark passenger for a while.

Dearly Devoted Dexter / Jeffry P. Lindsay / 292 pages

The 2nd novel in the Dexter series features a more tamed Dexter than in the first.  Constantly watched, Dexter can't let his "dark passenger" out to play.  Therefore he settles into a more domesticated life with Rita and spends most of his time either with her or helping his dear sister to catch a sinister serial vivisectionist.  There's some dark imagery in this book - even more than the first, but Dexter seems to have lost his edge.  I hope the next novel in the series brings deadly deranged Dexter back while he manages the women who seem determined to get ever closer to him.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter / Jeffry P. Lindsay / 288 pages

Several years ago, I was able to get 3 months of free Showtime, and I began watching the first season of Dexter.  Sadly the preview ended and I was unable to watch the remaining seasons.  The TV series followed this book pretty faithfully.  As I listened to the author's narration, I remembered all the dark humor that drew me to the TV series.  I love the premise of a serial murderer who only kills other serial murderers, and this novel took Dexter through a number of twists and turns to explore his deadly dark personality.  The word play is fun to listen to and Dexter's questioning of his own sanity is humorous in a dark way.  I would highly recommend this book.

World Gone By / Dennis Lehane 308 p. 20th Century Challenge

World Gone By / Dennis Lehane 308 p.

In the past ten years, Joe Coughlin has distanced himself from his former life as the crime head of Floridian gangsters. Prohibition is behind him. He acts as the consigliere to the Bartolo crime family. He feels he is farther enough from the family business to be on the good side of everyone, even the law. So he is surprised to learn that there is a contract out on his life. Raising his son alone after his Cuban wife was murdered, he works to keep most of his work hidden from his 10 year old son. He is a seemingly master at juggling his service to the various fractions of his "family", his politically connected mistress, and his son.  There are deeper currents running through his life that he cannot control.  That life is unraveling.  How it plays out is what Lehane is superb at.  A page turner that is more than a mystery more than a crime story.

Last to die / Grippando / 369 p.

The third in a lawyer-as-detective series featuring Jack Swyteck, this title falls squarely in the middle of the action-detective genre. Readers who enjoy their mysteries with a little more grit, masculinity, and violence (but not too much gore) will enjoy this book.

Synopsis
Lawyer Jack Swyteck is asked to defend an accused murderer by the murderer's brother, whom Swyteck saved from death row. The wealthy victim of the murder in question leaves a will with six beneficiaries, all of them former enemies. The one to inherit the money will be the last one alive. Thus ensues a murderous game to eliminate the other inheritors. Jack's client has a nasty past that makes him the chief suspect and so Jack must use his best lawyerly wiles to keep his client free while he searches for the real killer. There are a plethora of twists and turns in the fast-paced plot that will surprise the reader until the book ends in a satisfying conclusion.

Analysis
I have not read the first two books in this series, but this books stands very well on its own merits. Though some characters' backstories must have been covered in the previous two books, those backstories do not interfere with the plot in this volume. Instead, those backstories are intriguing enough to make the reader want to read those previous titles as well.

For a books that involves involves violence and some unsavory characters, I found this book to be quite charming. With none of the sense of foreboding that seems to accompany too many novels of this kind, Grippando constructs a storyline that reflects a hope for humanity along with the suspense that readers seek. That sense of hope allows the reader to enjoy the ride without feeling dirty afterward.

Swytek is flawed and is aware of his own failings, but is utterly likable. He is surrounded by characters who are also flawed. But not all of them are likable. The bad guys are clearly bad. Characters do not switch loyalties. All the switching happens in the plot. That plot is a bumpy, unpredictable ride all the way to its surprising end.

Set in Florida, this would be a great summer beach read. I highly recommend this book for readers of mystery and suspense. It will not leave you looking over your shoulder and is relatively light on the gore, despite it's violence, but it will still leave you wanting more.